eLearning4schools.net

This activity could really cut across the curriculum and provide a focus and content to base work around in a number of subject areas.

The most difficult thing here is getting started and deciding who you may need, there are two main approaches here:

1. There may be someone who is the news that may be has connections or is from the local area who you simply feel could be an inspiration to the students and allow them to ask lots of questions. This may be a local politician, a sports person or celebrity.
2. The second approach is to look through your schemes of work and then figure out where an external person could add value to a particular topic and then do a bit of research and then draw up a short list. Again this could be a local business man, a charity, a soldier etc.

Now this is the interesting part where effectively an interview could fuel so many outcomes. Here are just a few that could be the end product from the interview:

1. A presentation is produced summarizing the interview (all subjects depending on topic and interviewee).
2. The interview could have been recorded and the edited to then be broadcast via the school website (all subjects potentially but a really useful quick task for ICT and Media Studies students).
3. The interview could act as an introduction to topic or project (all subjects)
4. The interview along with further information could be used to produce a life story, poem or news paper article based around the life and experiences of the interviewee (all subjects but possibly particularly useful for English for creative writing, History for describing modern history may be World War 2 or Religious Education and Citizenship for describing an event).
5. The interview could form the basis of a critical thinking task especially if the interviewee is very passionate and opinionated for one particular perspective.
6. The interview could simply form part of the students research for a project or some coursework (all subjects but especially Business, Travel and Tourism and Sociology).

Since 1998 there has been a very significant investment in ICT in schools through the National Grid for Learning Programme.

Virtually every school is now connected to the Internet and the average number of computers in schools for teaching and learning has virtually doubled or trebled in recent years with some schools having enough computers for one each and many one for every two pupils.

But despite all these advances and this investment the vast majority of schools are only now beginning to tap the potential of ICT to enhance teaching and learning and to modernise the way in which schools are run and organised.

This blog is therefore relevant to everyone concerned with primary and secondary education. Over the next week I will highlighting some specific ideas for using ICT in class ranging from one off activities to year long projects.

So please sign up to the RSS feed and make sure you do not miss out on any star tips and ideas.

Bring your digital photos to life with Photo Story 3 for Windows. Create a photo slideshow of your life’s most memorable moments. You can capture your memories just the way you want them - with the a single click, you can touch-up, crop or rotate pictures. It’s that easy. Then, add stunning special effects, sountracks and personalize your stories with titles and captions. The file size makes it easy to send your photo stories in an e-mail or take them with you on a Window Mobile based portable device. Start sharing your stories today.

This is a great tool and easy to use. You could use it to allow students to present information in a new way. For example:

- English - develop a modern day interpretation from a scene in Hamlet.
- Geography - produce a show detailing a field trip with findings.
- Science - a show to talk through an experimentation.
- History - a show to give a summary of the causes of an event in history and the consequences.
- Food Technology - details of how food hygiene in the kitchen.
- Economics - theory explained in pictures.
- Religious Education - an overview of a religion that details important facts.

Below are some examples of what can be done with Photo Story. If you search on Google Videos or YouTube you can find lots more examples of what is possible.

Here is a video tutorial that explains how to use Photo Story 3:

Click Here for another Video Tutorial for Photo Story 3. And you can download it free over at Microsoft!

We have all been there. Coming from a corporate background I can especially! The longest powerpoint I sat through had 347 slides!!!! Loosing the will to live just does not describe how I really felt with enough passion….but it was bad! However, now in my classroom occasionally I forgot all that I was taught and other teachers certainly have not been told in the first place.

So below is some handy tips…aimed at a corpoarte audience but still quite relevant.

| View | Upload your own

Blogging has great potential as a means of communication but also as a creative outlet for students as well as another avenue for reflection. 

One of the eLearning4schools.net put a great blog together a year or so ago to help teachers and students in his school to create and use blogs.  We think it is a great starting point for you to take a look at.  bloggingguide.wordpress.com