Not a lot to report this week as the schools are preparing for the end of term tomorrow.
The Our Day Today database continues to grow and the pages are being constantly updated.
We return on April 14th so the next update will appear around that time.
See you then, and for those having a holiday - make it a good one.
About half of the external responses to Our Day Today have been received and the Our Day pages have been updated today with all the data received so far. This has been a fascinating project to co-ordinate with some very interesting data collected, so please do spend a few minutes looking at the results.
Jan from Loughborough Infants emailed to say that they have registered with the Minds-Eye Monster project and hope to find a partner school soon so they can start monstering!
Janet Jenkins writes about the Socrates MAILBOX project:
"The Mailbox project, supported by the EU, is looking at the impact of the use of communications technology on learning in school. Through Brixton Connections, Hillmead Infants has this term been participating as one of 16 schools all over Europe. I have learnt a lot from what I have seen there - using email is a great motivator and helps children to build up skills in written and oral communication. The increase in self esteem is very clear, as id the confidence that comes from working together in a collaborative team with a teacher.
Over the next few months the MAILBOX team will be analysing and writing up our findings. One product that will emerge will be practical guidelines for teachers on using the Internet. These will be drafted by early Autumn and I hope we shall be able to try them out with Brixton Connections teachers. I will report on progress again next term.
Thank you, Hillmead infants!"
We now have 75 schools participating in the Our Day Today project and entries have closed. Please visit the Our Day Today pages for a fuller update.
Four more schools have now been upgraded (not the six we expected last week). Last Tuesday's session went very well and was an improvement on the previous session. We had a lot more time for testing and familiarisation with the systems at the end of the day. The final seven schools (I hope) are coming in in Wednesday.
Apart from an interesting message from 2 five year olds at Hillmead Infants last week, the schools are really quiet at the moment. Perhaps they are all getting ready for the Our Day Today work. Or, they are still getting used to their new systems.
Another 15 or so schools have joined the Our Day Today project. Please visit the Our Day Today pages for a fuller update.
The first 4 schools have been in to have their systems upgraded and another 6 are coming in tomorrow. Things went quite well last Tuesday but we didn't really have enough time for proper testing of the systems. We have made the day tomorrow a little longer, so hopefully all will go well.
John Meadows from South Bank Uni. has been in touch to say that a site in Finland has set up a Children's Virtual Art Gallery. They are featuring Hill Mead Infant's Christmas card entries. Do pay them a visit.
Janet Jenkins from the MAILBOX project wrote to tell us that the Socrates MAILBOX project now has a home page. You will find it at: http://tecfa.unige.ch/socrates-mailbox.
Nic Mitchell from Stockwell Infants and Jan Docker from Loughborough Infants, went along to Southwark Education to do a presentation about the Project last Friday. Apparently it all went very well. Nic plans to update his pages this week.
Jan and colleagues are very busy collating the information from their surveys from their The View From our Window project. She asked me if I could post a big thank you to all those who participated. Consider it done, Jan! She also says that Class 3 are very busy as they are going to participate in a travel-buddies exchange with a school in Australia.
We're back again, after a well-earned rest, with quite a hectic four and a half weeks in front of us. Tomorrow, the first batch of schools are coming in for their upgrades and, of course, March 12th is Our Day Today. We now have over 60 schools outside of the project group participating, and I hope to begin building the Web pages very shortly.
All the upgrade components have arrived, including some bonus Internet Starter kits from Microsoft. We have, I think successfully, upgraded the Centre system but we did run into one or two problems. However, after obtaining some support from the folks at RM we got everything working. Let's hope tomorrow goes OK.
Obviously, there is not a lot to report from the schools this week due to last week's holiday. However, once we get going with the new systems, I'm sure there will be a new surge of enthusiasm.
Applications are still coming in for the Our Day Today project. We now have a school in Russia and an eleven pupil school in Australia among the participants.
Jan at Loughborough Infants has asked me to remind everybody that The View From our Window project closes on Friday. They have had responses as far apart as Holland, USA, Australia and Coventry! This interested Jan as she hails from Coventry. Last week they took part in a survey run by a school in Birmingham about how the children get to school.
Cheryl at Hillmead Infants reports that they are registered with the Weather Vane project that was featured in last week's hotlinks. It fits perfectly with Year Two geography work.
Tomorrow, Steve Oram (from the IT Learning Exchange) and myself will be carry out an upgrade to the Centre's Internet system. This will give us a chance to see how it works on the school machines. Unfortunately however, we are still missing a vital component. Fingers crossed, it sure is hard to type like that, it will arrive in time.
Finally, I had a phone call today from Japanese television who are at this moment browsing this site with a view to approaching one of our schools to feature in a programme. More news on this as I get it.
That's all for this week. Next week is half-term so the next update will be on February 24th.
Details of our global project are now circulating the world and have generated a lot of interest. We have had replies from several states in America, from Australia, Canada and Europe. I will soon be building up some Web pages for the project so please watch for details. In the meantime, to read about Our Day Today just click on the link.
Jan from Loughborough Infants reports that The View From our Window project has got under way and we've had a few responses. They are limiting it to the first 20 or so replies so would like people to register early. Again, click on the link to read about the project. They were going to be filmed doing internet stuff with Australian schools today by the Australian Broadcasting Commission, but thankfully, says Jan it has been postponed for a couple of weeks.
Cheryl at Hillmead Infants reports that they are starting their Socrates Mailbox project shortly with Janet Jenkins observing the children using the Internet. She says that the children are a little nervous, but I'm sure they will do OK.
Finally, if you have a look at the Microsoft in Education UK pages you will find an article about the Brixton Connections Project written by yours truly in the IT Specialists section.
[Top of this page / Project Home Page / Last Term's Updates / Eduweb]
The project Steering Committee met last week and among other items approved our upgrade and project plans. All the components have now been ordered, and letters will shortly be going out to the schools with details. Many thanks to Microsoft UK, Research Machines and Dan Technology for their help with this.
The project is entitled Our Day Today. Details have been circulated to various mailing lists around the globe and can be also obtained by email or by following this link. There will soon be area on this site with current news about the project.
Simon and Jan from Loughborough Infants are also running a project as I mentioned last week. Once again, details have been posted around the world. For a project description, please follow this link.
Staying with Loughborough Infants, Jan has emailed some more news. The Australian Broadcasting Commission have been in touch wanting to film some Internet stuff. Also, Sky Computer Channel have also been in touch along the same lines. Finally, Jan had an e-mail from a school wanting to do a survey on how children get to school. They've certainly been busy there!
[Top of this page / Project Home Page / Last Term's Updates / Eduweb]
Last week I met Janet Jenkins from the Socrates Mailbox Project. They want to work with one of our schools and Janet will be visiting Hillmead Infants School this week to discuss it with them. Cheryl and Anita from Hillmead report that Michael from edIT came to give us some training. The level of the training was a little bit basic for our two 'old hands' but they feel that the two less experienced visiting teachers from Stockwell and Loughborough found it useful. Indeed, Jan from Loughborough Infants says that Liz from class 1 had a great time.
Hillmead also report that they have re-registered for the postcard exchange. They are still the only English school and they are getting a lot of postcards from the USA.
Simon, the class 3 teacher at Loughborough Infants wants to set up a global snail mail project under the title The View from our Window. This will involve registering by e-mail and sending the postal address, then taking a photo of the view from the classroom window and sending it to our school and class 3 will send a photo back. It can also involve a written piece about the school. They hope to set this up next week. If you would like to participate, please email Jan.
Beth from Santley writes that they are awaiting more replies from the Canadian school and getting ready for a return visit from OFSTED. We wish them all the best.
[Top of this page / Project Home Page / Last Term's Updates / Eduweb]
Two main news items this week. Firstly, last Thursday at the BETT exhibition, David Blunkett (the Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment) mentioned the Brixton Connections project as an example of how families of schools can work together supported by their local authority:
"Within local communities - often disadvantaged communities - technology is helping to bring schools together. In the "Brixton Connections Project", 15 primary schools through the "Brixton Challenge Fund" have each received a multimedia computer, a fast modem, a colour printer and connection to the Internet.
The schools have collaborated on projects, have helped one another with their web pages, and are now in email contact on a regular basis. The LEA provides regular updates on how the project is developing, regular training opportunities and regular contact both electronically and personally, and shows the positive role a local authority can play in supporting its schools."
Secondly, RM have just told us that they are making Classmate 95 available for non RM PCs. This means that all the components are in place for our upgrade plans - except for the money. A small problem!
Hopefully, news from the schools next week.
[Top of this page / Project Home Page / Last Term's Updates / Eduweb]
Not much to report this week as the schools and I only returned after the Christmas vacation this morning. However, with the BETT exhibition happening at Olympia this week I thought I had better get something up just in case anybody visits the site. I should be speaking about the project at an NCET Seminar on Thursday afternoon so maybe I'll see some of you there.
There is some news from one of the schools. Caldecot have been busy putting up some web pages on a visit to the Science museum. Do have a look at their pages and see what you think.
[Top of this page / Project Home Page / Last Term's Updates / Eduweb]