Year 8 Leavers Awards Evening

Congratulations to all of our Year 8 Students who won prizes. You can find your photos by clicking on the link below.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas. Look forward to seeing you all as College Students.

Take care and Good Luck

Mike Farrelly


Year 8 Prize Winner Photos

Year 8 Leavers Formal

Wow what an amazing night. Congratulations Year 8 you were all stunning.

The link to your photos is here.

A Night at the Oscars!

St Edmunds

Finally just a few photos from St Edmunds - I've put these in to illustrate one of the devices which seems to be quite popular. It is the HTC Advantage. The great thing about this device is that the keyboard can be removed from the screen and used separately. Or the screen can be used without the keyboard at all.

Unfortunately it does not seem to be available in NZ -there are some other models that are on offer though.

A visit to FutureLab

I spent the afternoon with Dan Sutch from Future Lab. (In an amazing converted Banana Warehouse overlooking the Bristol Canal!) I could write a huge amount about what we discussed, but would not do our conversation justice.

My feeling is that visiting their website is by far the best way to get a glimpse into some stunning work that is currently underway and what is around the corner.

I still can’t get my head around 3D Imaging printers…u design it and then the printer creates it!!! And a very short throw projector which sits virtually up against the whiteboard on the floor!!! NO MORE CABLES!!

Make sure you particularly look at www.createascape.org.uk


Thanks Dan!

A BIG THANKYOU

Thanks Sheila for pulling together my visits while in Bristol.

Sheila works for the iCity Learning Centre, part of ICT the support provided by the Local Authority to schools in the area.

The best comparison I can give is that they are a little like eTime for those of you who know them, but are funded by what would be our local Ministry of Education

I will attach some of the photos of the Learning Centre - what was fantastic was that local students also used this space as a place to come to Learn and work as well as Teachers!

21st Century Learning Environments

I was privileged to be able to look around Brunel Academy in Bristol. (Secondary School starting at Year 7)

Brunel has recently been rebuilt as part of a British Education strategy.

Brunel featured open naturally lit spaces and a clearly understood and easily seen set of values.



Main Entrance.

They are currently looking at how Mobile Learning will be used at their school. Currently they are looking towards Netbooks as their preferred solution.

Thanks Amando for all of the time provided.



Main Corridor




Yes all students carry a swipe card! taken from the main Office area looking towards lower corridor.




You can learn many things from Harry Potter



These plaques illustrated the thoughts of the students and were located on both sides of the entrance.



Looking down on one of the open computer pods. The school philosophy on display is very evident throughout the building.

Lord knowle Primary

Long Knowle is a Primary School located in Wolverhampton. Students at the school are from Reception to Year 6. They have been trialing the use of Mobile Learning Devices for approximately three years. The initial implementation was done at the Year 5 & 6 level with the programme now moving down as far as Year 3. Long Knowle have chosen to use an HP PDA as their device.




Although this particular device does have some limitations such as not having a camera, their choice fits what they believe. The device has a clear screen and is easily held and used by the students. Navigating around the PDA is straight forward and the students were confident using the devices. I watched a Year 3 student opening and closing documents and programmes very happily after only three weeks with the device.

The school has chosen programmes which are interactive in nature rather than passive. It seems that this is a very important factor when considering any mobile learning.



What they are actually asking their students to do is to be involved with their learning by using programs which they create the content for, rather than just being passive and responding to what the program tells them to do.
There is heavy use of “Pocket Slides” and “Sketchy.” (See the links previously) and the students enjoy using these.

Another lesson I observed was around the use of eBooks. The eBook reader allowed students to read the books on their devices, but more importantly let them make annotated notes and links on pages as needed.






Some observations…
• High levels of engagement for both boys and girls
• Devices used as part of the lesson – but not the point of the lesson
• Clever software which allows management of the devices in bulk
• The PDA’s were coded so that each student knew exactly which was theirs
• A swap out system was available if a student had trouble with their device. A loan one was available
• The lack of camera was worked around by having a digital camera available in the room…still a negative in my opinion. New models do have cameras, but cost is prohibitive
• Parents commit to a monthly fee over a two or three year period. This includes insurance. (Approximate ten pounds) Students then own these after the period is finished. The PDA also had the ability to act as a phone if a Sim Card was fitted. This option not available at the school
• The look of each of the devices was the same.. this means when they started them up all the software was in the same place for each device. This allowed for the teachers to be able to help and demonstrate to students by hooking up their PDA’s to the Smart Boards. Students then did not have to try and locate programmes in a different place
Thanks to all the staff and students at Long Knowle.