This is the final update this term. Some of the project members will be taking their machines home with them for the summer so they will return raring to go in September. Then we will be expecting the project to really get into gear!
Hillmead infants are interested in contacting a Spanish school to work with. Any such school reading this page, please email them direct: hillmdin@rmplc.co.uk.
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The funding crisis mentioned in the last update appears to be over, at least for the moment. Now we can concentrate on getting more funds for this year for more training.
Several colleagues from the project attended our IT conference on July 7 and we were able to organize a short workshop for them and other attendees had the opportunity to browse the World Wide Web. Several more of the project schools are now up and running and I am going to visit two of the schools next week to get them started. So far I have visited four. Some of the schools have been doing work with the children, particularly using the WWW. For example, Stockwell Juniors have been doing some work with year 6 involving weather maps.
Also attending the conference were seven visitors from the United States and one from Canada. One of the Americans, Rick Donahue from Eastchester Middle School, has his own WWW site at http://www.westnet.com/~rickd/.
Earlier this week I visited RM IFL's headquarters at Abingdon. I was shown the internet equipment (exciting stuff eh!) and was given a guided tour around the building. We discussed plans for the project and ways that RM could help. One thing we arranged, for example, was for Jim Owers to visit us early next term to run a basic course on HTML. Then hopefully, project schools will have their own updated pages.
The project is still generating a lot of interest. This week I have had contact with South Bank University who are interested in cooperating with us. Also, Lambeth Council have recently issued a press release about the project. The Chief Executive, Heather Rabbatts, is taking a keen interest and said, "Our children will be well prepared for the leap forward in computer technology which is transforming the world of work and learning."
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Following our brief write-up in the TES last week a reporter contacted colleagues in some of the schools and is going to write a feature article for the October Computer Update.
A couple more schools have set up their equipment and are now on-line. We have our Primary IT Coordinator's Conference this Thursday and RM will be in attendance. I am hoping that most of the project schools will be there so I will be able to spend some time with them on the day.
The Project is being hampered at the moment by a lack of funds coming through from Brixton Challenge. It seems that the revenue promised at the end of last financial year didn't come through. Unfortunately, I had already spent most of it. This year, money is needed for phone bills and of course for training. Projects like this will not work unless you can get the teachers out of the classroom for training.
Those schools which are on-line are finding email the most difficult aspect. Although we are using Internet Chameleon at present which is fairly easy to use, colleagues are still getting confused. Also, the fact that you have to connect and then run any client programs is confusing. It is very easy to forget to log off at the end of a session. What I would like to see is an easy press button intuitive interface that handles everything. If any manufacturers have such a product and would like to sponsor our use of it, then please get in touch.
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By the middle of this week, all schools had received their equipment. However I have only received email messages from four of them. I don't want to pressurize colleagues at this stage as at this time of year, as all teachers know, they have a lot on their plate. Loughborough Juniors have been in contact with colleagues in Arizona - more about that later.
If any readers have time to email colleagues then click here to go back to our homepage and if your browser supports it, you can do so from there. A copy to me would be appreciated.
Finally, the project has got a brief mention in the TES Computer Update this week (page 4). A reporter is shortly to visit some of the schools to put together a feature for a later issue.
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Teachers from all of the 15 schools involved in the project attended a one day training course at the Lawn Lane Centre during this week. Ten colleagues took their equipment away with them, while five will have it delivered next week. Already a couple of colleagues have emailed others in the group.
The training went pretty well with email being the most problematic area. However, I think everybody now has a basic grasp of how it works. If anybody reading these pages can spare some time, perhaps you would like to contact one of the schools and help them along.
We also had one or two technical problems. Firstly, one of the computers refused to work. A faulty video card was diagnosed and our Premises Officer graciously drove it back to the suppliers who replaced it on the spot. Then, a modem refused to dial. The supplier put a replacement in the post to arrive by yesterday lunchtime. Lastly, RM. changed the name of one of our schools from stjohn to stjohnce but didn't tell us. That meant that everybody's address book had to be edited and St. John's received none of the welcoming messages that should have been waiting for them. Unfortunately, there are still 10 schools with the wrong address for St. John's so until they have made the changes stjohn will be getting some of our project mail. Perhaps they would like to be honorary members of our project.
The World Wide Web part of the training went well. Popular sites visited were The Whitehouse, to listen to the President's welcome; Yellow Brick Road a good starting point for Early Years teachers; The Vikings are a popular topic subject; and Views of the Solar System.
As an introduction to the day, a video of Blue Peter's launch into the Internet was shown. Later, from the starting point of the BBC Web site, colleagues were set the task of finding the Blue Peter pages.
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Teachers from the 15 schools involved in the project will attend a one day training course over this week. They will work on their own equipment that has been provided for them from the project funding. At the end of the day, they will be able to take their equipment back to school and start accessing the Internet.
The training will be fairly basic as very few of the teachers have any experience of using the Internet and will cover the basic elements of using Electronic Mail and the World Wide Web. Richard Selwyn from NCET will be attending the first day of the training bringing with him copy of the Blue Peter Internet video.
It is hoped that each school will soon have it's own Web Home page detailing the work they are doing using the Internet.
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