Since this is the last week of term for most of our schools, it is not surprising that I have not received any updates from them this week. They will be far too busy with end of term concerts, parents' evenings etc., to be doing much on the Internet. Consequently, this will be the last update until early September. Unless, of course, we receive any news about our current bid (see June 30th).
We will be organizing some sessions for the project schools on Web authoring early on in the term. Thanks to Microsoft (UK Education), we have a license for FrontPage 97 for each school so we will be expecting the schools to get their paages up and running over the next year. If the current bid is accepted, we will be able to have consultants going in to the schools to help them with this.
I received a report today from Janet Jenkins of the Socrates Mailbox Project. As you will have read in several previsous updates, Janet has been working with Hillmead Infants school. This report is meant as an internal document which will make up a main report that will be published in November. Their Project Manager believes that they will get further funding for a second year and Janet is keen to continue working with Brixton Connections Schools.
See you in September. Have a nice Summer (or Winter if you are in that part of the World).
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The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in the USA has a monthly journal called 'The Institute'. The July issue includes an article entitled 'Schools around the world trying to integrate the Internet' which features our project and the Our Day Today global project.
"Phil Redman, a teacher advisor in the Lambeth borough of London, is helping teachers understand this new tool under a government funded inner-city initiative called the Brixton Connections Project. . . 'They need more education. They need more confidence,' he said. 'I don't think any of our teachers have become experts, but several are keen on using the Internet and have come to grips with it.'
Redman, a teacher himself, has the freedom to develop his own Internet projects for students and teachers. The first global project at his school united 66 elementary schools around the world. For 'Our Day Today' these Internet penpals used their math skills and their new computer skills to complete class surveys and then tally the results. The students then did optional writing assignments including 'day in the life' stories to share cultural information. . ."
Last week I optimistically reported that Jan at Loughborough Infants was getting her computer back that morning and that Steve was visiting to re-install the software. Unfortunately, the machine was still not working properly, and is now to be replaced by the service engineers. However, Jan still has the Centre's machine, so she was able to email her update this week. Last Wednesday Jan was invited to attend a seminar on Young children, media, multimedia and links with literacy, at CLPE (Centre for Language in Primary Education), where she contributed to the discussion on the Internet section. Jan also continues with her NCET course (see June 25th) and even gets to spend some time in Coventry!
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Following on from last week's report, the Steering Committee met and as expected, the main discussion was around our current bid. However, I have heard this morning that we will not be able to bid for an extension for five years as planned. In fact, any expenditure will have to be completed before March 1998. This is causing us to rethink our strategy so as not to burden the schools with equipment that we will be unable to support with either human or financial resources. So instead of our original idea of installing networks in each of the schools we will be bidding to increase the provision of systems and telephone points. One bid of good news is that we can include the cost of quite a bit of training in the bid. All in all it will amount to about £210,000. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
We were pleased to welcome Janet Wilson and Hannah Rajahbally from RMifl to the meeting. They both stayed on after lunch to have a chat about IFL and it's content. They have some good ideas and I look forward to seeing them implemented on the web site.
Jan at Loughborough Infants is getting her machine back this morning. Steve Oram, of the IT Learning Exchange is in the school as I write, reinstalling all the software. Let's hope it all works OK and nothing is lost.
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There is quite a lot to report on this week. Jan, at Loughborough Infants, emailed to say that unfortunately due to all their technical hitches they missed their monster exchanges because of it being the end of term in America. Thus, their partners did not get their descriptions on time. However, they plan to make up Loughborough's monsters when they return to school in August. Jan's machine, incidentally, has gone back to the workshop and she has borrowed the Centre's system for the time being.
Kelly the Possum continues to thrive in Class 3 and was taken to Camberwell Bus Garage and the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. (Lucky Possum). Class 3 have started doing their data handling from their The View From our Window project. Finally, they have been invited by NCET to take part in an e-mailed computer course running next term.
Sharon, from Mostyn Gardens, emailed to say that their internet machine has been used by the year 4 supply teacher. They nearly had a new web page but unfortunately, it got stolen along with the class computer. Year 6 has started a fact finding mission with Nestle and Smarties and Sharon is going to start an Internet club in an attempt to get things going.
I had an email last week from Moira Jenkins of The Central Bureau for Educational Visits & Exchanges (part of the British Council), to say 'We are producing a television programme about the benefits of school linking using email and the Internet. "Windows on the World - School linking and the Internet" will be broadcast in November 1997 on BBC2 and will refer viewers to further information available on a "Windows on the World" website.' She went on to say, 'As well as providing information to viewers, the "Windows on the World" website will also offer links to good examples of school home-pages and other sites of interest. We would like to make a link to your website.'
RMifl's new front page has a link to Nic's (Stockwell Infants) Stockwell Periodical. Well done Nic!! Also, RMifl recently sent out a newssheet to all its' members, highly recommending a visit to the Brixton Connections site.
The Project Steering Committee meets on Wednesday this week. Among the items being discussed is our bid for phase 2 of the project. It seems that there is a possibility of further funding being made available and we have submitted an outline bid. The bid is very ambitious and proposes to take the project well into the next millennium, up to 2003. I hope to give more details in next week's update.
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Two of our schools have posted updates to their web pages this week. They are Stockwell Infants and Hillmead Infants. Both updates include several pictures of work done in the schools. Do take a look and let them have any comments. Hillmead's page show pictures taken with the project's digital camera of some displays around the school. Stockwell's includes another edition of their now famous periodical. The pages show samples of work covering several curriculum areas.
Nic, at Stockwell Infants, used Microsoft's FrontPage 97 to produce his pages. They are the first of the project schools to use this program. I am hoping that we will be able to get a copy for each of the project schools by September and run training on using the application. It is a target for the project for all schools to have a thriving web page.
Loughborough Infants are still having problems with their system unfortunately. Jan had to come in here last week to send email relating to the Monster-eye project. An engineer is going in again today and is liasing with our colleagues at the IT Learning Exchange in an effort to get it sorted out once and for all.
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We have news from both of the Loughboroughs this week. Liz, from the Juniors, emailed to say that they have started writing to Barbro in Sweden about children at Loughborough corresponding with her children from the same age range. Their school is about an hour outside of a city in Sweden. Hopefully, they will start the kids writing to each other next week.
Jan, from the Infants, called to say that a production company had been in filming during the week. They were making a programme for BBC Education's late night slot. Jan said the children had been busy with their Minds-Eye Monsters (see the May 12th update), and everything seemed to go well. We don;t know when the programme is going to be transmitted yet. As soon as we do, I'll let you know of course. Unfortunately, Loughborough Infants have been having a lot of trouble with their computer recently. They've had several bits replaced already and are now waiting for a new hard disk drive. I hope the engineers can restore all their data OK.
We had an Introduction to the Internet course at the Centre last Wednesday which was attended by colleagues from several of the project schools. We looked at using email and the World Wide Web and how they could be used educationally. At the end of the day, we put everything together in a little exercise. They had to find a picture of the Mona Lisa, download it and then attach it to an email to their colleagues!
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Liz at Loughborough Juniors has emailed to say that they have been trying to internet to find information on hair and hair fashions. They had connection problems, so it was a little frustrating for the group. However, they did find some interesting photos of hair styles and read about some hair related diseases!
Beth at Santley emailed to say that they have been accessing the Web sites of musical groups and pop stars to compare them with Victorian music and musicians. She goes on to say, 'If I'd known we were going to find the Spice Girls - I wouldn't have bothered!!!'
Both Stockwell Infants and Hillmead Infants will be updating their web pages soon. It is a target of this project for all schools to have their sites up and running by the end of next term. I am currently looking for support from sponsors for web page editing software for the schools.
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After all the excitement of the Our Day Today project things have quietened down a little. I have had several replies from colleagues in America saying that they would like to participate in the pollution project, (see last week's update). However, time is going to be tight as they break up for the summer around June 23rd. Yes, almost an entire month before we do! The kits should be going in the post as I write this.
Anita and Cheryl emailed to say that they have had another training session as part of the edIT offer. See the January 20th update for more details.
Last November, I mentioned that the Authority was organizing an Introduction to the Internet session for Heads and Governors. This took place last Wednesday at the Cyberzone Internet Cafe in Croydon. It was well attended by eight governors and myself, and the feedback from the governors was very positive.
We are on half-term next week - so the next update will be in early June.
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The March 17th update included the news that Loughborough Infants had registered for the Minds-Eye Monster project. Now, Jan has emailed to say that they have finally found a school in Florida to exchange monsters with and should start exchanging designs this week . Also, Class 3 have been busy writing e-mails to their travel buddy exchange class in Australia. They are still waiting for the rest of the photos for their View from our window project.
An number of schools in Lambeth will shortly be involved in a pollution monitoring project looking at the effects of pollution and what can be done to reduce it. This is being timed to coincide with "Walk to Work Week", when it is hoped that the number of vehicles on our roads will be (slightly) reduced. As part of this project, participating schools will be issued with monitoring kits that will be sent back for analysis. All of the schools that participated in the Our Day Today project have been emailed to see if they would like to join in. This will give some very interesting comparative data. All ready, a number have replied. More news on this as it happens . . .
Talking about Our Day Today, I've had a message from an assistant editor of a newspaper at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in Piscataway, N.J., USA. She had visited the Our Day Today site and wants to interview me about the project and the Brixton Connections project in general. I await her phone call with interest.
So it's goodbye to the bubbles and hello to candy! Yes, it's time to change the background again. I hope you like this one, do let me know at: phil@rmplc.co.uk.
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Last week I finished as usual by saying 'More next Monday', completely forgetting that yesterday was a Bank Holiday. It was a nice surprise to find out the mistake though.
Our colleagues at Hillmead Infants have sent in an article written by Janet Jenkins (Socrates Mailbox Project) for a distance learning conference in Hungary. I've extracted a section on 'Receiving a Letter', that took place in their school:
"We are in a primary school in London. Three children, Harriet,
Claire and Becky, and a teacher sit in front of a computer. The computer is linked to the
Internet through a modem and dial up connection. The teacher starts the session with a
question:
T: What are we going to do?
H: Were going to ask the computer some questions
T: Well.
H: Were going to answer some letters
T: Harriet knows what to do, she helped me yesterday. (Harriet takes the mouse and starts
clicking to log on) What are we going to do?
All: We will ask other computers to answer some questions
Harriet succeeds in dialling up with a little help from the teacher
T: What's it doing now?
C: Making a telephone call to other computers
T: What do we do next? Becky now takes the mouse and gets on to Netscape
T: How do we ask if there are any letters?
All: Click on the envelope.
A letter from America has arrived! The children read it aloud, in unison. The teacher
helps by scrolling it up the screen. The letter is too long to see it all at once.
T: What can we do to make it easier to read?
All: Some discussion then all shout Print!
Discussion follows about the cost of long phone calls. The children agree the next thing
to do is:
All: Tell the computer to turn off the phone!
T: How do we do that?
Becky points at the icon of a door. Go out the door.
T: Try that What does it tell you?
All read: "One or more connections still active. Do you want to disconnect?
All shout: Yes!
The three children are aged between 5 and 7. Already they are acquiring the IT skills they
will need for life in the information age. They are new to using email but have used
computers in class regularly since they started school and are quick to understand the
process involved in electronic correspondence."
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Jan Docker of Loughborough Infants emailed to say that last week she was interviewed by a journalist for a newspaper article on children and the internet. She also spoke to Joanna Mack who is interested in filming children using the internet for a programme for teachers for showing on BBC 2. This programme goes out at some strange time late at night. Class 3's travel buddy has arrived. Her name is Kelly and they think she is a Possum. The photos for a View from My Window project are also filtering in.
Cheryl and Anita from Hillmead Infants emailed to say that the Reception Classes are disappearing under all the cards they have been sent from the original postcard exchange.
The Our Day Today section had it's final update today.
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The Project Steering Committee met last week, with extension of the project taking up much of the discussion. Essentially, Brixton Challenge's sponsorship of the project ends next March so if the project is to continue, we need to look for other sponsors. Several possibilities were discussed and these are all to be investigated further. Hopefully, Brixton Connections will live on.
We have some sad news now as it has been confirmed that Santley School is closing at the end of this term. Beth has emailed to say that they would like to contact as many European countries as possible before they close. So if any readers can help with this, please contact Beth at santley@rmplc.co.uk. There is some good news though. Christchurch CE were somehow missed out of the original list of schools so will be taking over Santley's equipment. We wish them a warm welcome to the project.
The Our Day Today project pages have been updated several times since my last update. By tomorrow, the final updates of the data should be posted.
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All the schools are now back from their Easter Break and raring to go for the Summer Term. No updates from them this week then but hopefully we'll have a few next week.
The Project Steering Committee meets tomorrow and I am expecting colleagues from RM and Microsoft to attend along with representatives from some of the schools. A report of the meeting will appear in next week's update.
The Our Day Today database continues to grow and the final spreadsheets and charts should be posted later this week. More work samples are going up today and these are being updated as they come in. The project has been very successful and we have made many of wonderful contacts.
This morning I met with a representative from Videotron to discuss their services to schools. Many schools have expressed interest in their Internet 'fixed rate' offer and we hope to be mailing schools in Lambeth later this month with details. More on this as it happens.
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