National

The web offers a rich, rapidly expanding resource but are you and your students ready for the challenges that represents? Learning in the 21st century demands independent learning skills and a revised role for educators.

Can you and your students research and solve problems effectively?

Ben Williamson and Sarah Payton lead a hotseat discussion...

A new secondary curriculum whilst the old one is still in place. A new primary curriculum, but with some strong dissident voices. A new Children, Families and Schools Bill which may, or may not, affect ICT. A new-ish Ofsted framework and SEF. Oh yes, plus the technology is changing almost daily. And we haven’t even mentioned popular and parental perceptions yet….
Believe it or not, the job is manageable – but you have to be methodical and build capacity. Here’s how.
 

Claire Moore asks: Should there be a 'one size fits all' form of eportfolio in order to ensure easy transition from trainee to qualified teacher and developing on to CPD record?

A number of organisations are looking at the provision of e-portfolios, including the Education Service in Northern Ireland and the Institute for Learning.  In addition, our recent research grants have shown a number of establishments that have had a good deal of success over recent years.

We are interested in identifying our next steps and to see where we go from here.

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Vital, the ICT CPD programme for education professionals, is the first ever sponsor of the Best Volunteer category at the Yorkshire Evening Post “Best in School” Awards.

Ben Williamson and Sarah Payton of Futurelab are currently in the Vital Hotseat, ready to answer your questions. The Hotseat allows you to discuss topical issues with ICT practitioners, based on an introductory article or podcast posted here on the Vital website. The discussion remains open for two weeks.

Vital has teamed up with Elluminate Live! to bring audio and video conferencing to the Vital Community. Making use of Elluminate’s technology, which allows participants to talk to each other, share a whiteboard, or observe what is happening on each others’ screens, a TeachShare is anything from a meeting, discussion, or presentation, to a demonstration of a classroom technique. 

Vital’s Programme Director Peter Twining will be speaking at the ICT for Education Conference 2010 on 2 July, debating the role of ICT-focused staff development. Exploring what is known about effective CPD and drawing on the work of the Vital Programme, the presentation will suggest a model for 21^st century ICT CPD and work on approaches to learning emerging from the Schome Park Programme.

Vital is teaming up with Elluminate, Inc. to offer teachers the opportunity to use exciting new approaches in communicating with each other. Elluminate provides web conferencing, teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and social networking solutions designed for education. With Elluminate, you can create a 21st century teaching and learning environment that increases learner retention and results.

This week has seen the third of our keynote discussions, on leading and managing ICT, and the start of a new Q&A with the team from Shireland Academy.

Log in to read the transcript of the keynote, hosted by ICT educational consultant Terry Freedman, or ask the Shireland team a question on how they have created a whole school learning platform to raise achievement levels across the curriculum.