Thank you to Andrew Brown for pointing me to Jing.
I used this to create a quick screencast of the basic use of OneNote.
Update: The screencast embed is proving to be uncooperative so I have replaced it with a link
http://www.screencast.com/t/ear1ho8W9Be
Over the last 3 weeks I have been helping develop the beginnings of a Wiki based around the use of the Samsung Q1 UMPC in Education. This is growing quickly but it need more people involved even if its to ask about what different people are doing with the technology.
We have been using Google Sketchup for quite a while now. Here is an example of some of the work.
The work is all the S1 pupils from one class. The pupils split themselves into groups. They decided on what they needed to do. They got the plans of the square and shared the work out amongst them. They worked out the sizes from the scale on the plans (1:400). They asked if they could go and visit to take photo's of the elevations. Transferred the images over onto the PC's and started to edit them-They wanted to remove the people and the cars they didn't want. They took the images and used them the create the textures.
6 of the year went to the Young Engineers Conference in Glasgow last Friday and while their they took the different models of the various buildings and placed them into a single model and created the animation. They then exported the animation as an AVI file and made the video in MovieMaker.
All this before they get a hold of the UMPC's!
What do you think?
PS I am giving presentation on this at SFL (SETT)
We looked at how the whole school community could take the skills and knowledge that they were learning in the classroom and apply them. We are removing the 'Core' lessons from S3 - S4 and making Wednesday and Friday Afternoon's Project Afternoon's.
Project proposals are being developed at the moment. All staff getting ideas together and looking at how practical they would be. We have split the year into 6 week blocks. A staff member can offer a single block of 6 weeks using either one afternoon, and offer a different project the other afternoon (12 hours) or both (24 hours), a double block etc.
My proposal is setup a media group that will produce a TV News programme for the school intranet and podcasts for the internet. I plan to run this all year but I am hoing that the group producing it will change over the year.
This is how we are approaching a Curriculum for Excellence. What do you think?
No this not a new educational initiative. It is the Royal Commission for Ancient Historic Monuments Scotland RCAHMS
We had a big day with Brian Wilkinson and a group from the Royal Commission.
We took all S1 and S2 (I know, that's still less than 60) to see a couple of the local sites. We were suppose to split the year group into 3 sub groups and go to 3 different sites but it was wet, very wet.
S1 went first. We took a Minibus and 2 LWB Landrovers and got as close as possible to the sites. The groups moved up towards the sites along the muddy tracks. They then split into groups of 3 and they measured the remains and recorded them. They asked great questions and listened to he answers. They then headed back to the transport. We got back in time for morning break.
The S2 repeated the trip periods 3&4. Getting back for lunchtime.
S1 were in history and Geography those periods. Those teachers went with the S2. I took the S1's together and got them to work on a PC in the 3's they had worked together at the site. They tried to recreate what the sites would have looked like in Sketchup.
The team from RCAHMS seemed very impressed with what they had produced.
I would like to thank the Staff, the Royal Commission team and especially the pupils who walked in rain and mud and still had a great time.
I see from CNET News that the first OLPC Devices have been given into the hands of the end users.
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What a brilliant concept the OLPC is. It allows large scale Creation, sharing and using of educational resources.
I have read much about this project from the beginning. It has had many observers initially laughing and then attacking the project. Some were very well thought out questions but others were ......... infantile at times.
In terms of what we plan for our pupils ........ well I think the model is quite different. Though I have been watching closely to see how they solve the similar problems we have.
What do you think of the OLPC?
That quite a collection letters in the title isn't it? For those outside Scotland I should explain.
HMIe - Her Majesties Inspectors of Education are the body charged with setting and maintaining standards in Scottish Education.
They are publishing a document tomorrow on the state of ICT in Scotland.
It is being launched via the Anderson High School website.
Their is a very interesting video right now which gives a snap shot of the report.
I will be checking the report myself early tomorrow morning.
Today was a big day. Nothing to do with the project.
I finalised
the mortgage to build a new house. I have been working towards this for 3 years now. So the excitmenting moments have generally come and gone.
Over the last year I have been thinking about the technology that I will put in the house.
So many options:
CAT 5/CAT 6, wireless, telephone, Video, audio, control, heating....... the list of options is long.
One of the first decision that was made was the kind of heating to be used. This has lots of options again. We opted for a Ground Sourced Heat pump. This takes heat from a large area of ground and transfers it to a smaller area of the house. This means that for maximum efficiency we will go for underfloor heating.
Next is the important things.........music. Having looked and researched I have 2 options:
- Sonos wireless system
- Cambridge Audio CAT 5 System.
I am planning to put in a CAT 5 system anyway for the telephone and (of course) the pc's. So at the moment cambridge audio in in front.
So, should I also put Sky (Council Telly is very bad here) through the CAT 5 as well? At the moment the answer is no. By the time I buy the kit from Sky and then add in the encoders and decoders at each end of the CAT 5 cable the price goes through the roof.
I plan to run the satellite cable throughout the house and place freesat boxes in the bedrooms. The main room will have the the full sky package playing through a projector.
To cap it all I am planning to use Recycled plastic roof tiles. Made from car tyres, plasic and limestone. To these in use have a look at The Centre of Alternative Technology Web site
Tonight I stepped down as director of Islay Energy Trust.
The trust is in place to develop sustainable energy projects to aid the socio-economic development of the island and to develop education and awareness of sustainability issues.
I am passionately committed to these values and will still be involved in a less formal way.
So way did I step down? ..................Time.
With being the PT of a dept, ICT Cordinator, working on developing the School of Ambition programme, planning to build a house and trying to have a life as well. Being a director of a company was too much.
I plan to still be involved in developing parts of the projects but it was a mixed emotion night.
PS I had Nothing to do with the website!
Tomorrow is the start of a new term.
Man, that was a quick term and then holiday! Though I am very keen to get back and into this term.
The reason for that is not just to get inside a different building having been stuck inside most of the holidays due to the awful weather but I have a new member of staff joining us for the next 6 months. Good luck Alaric.
This will free me up to get the next stage of the project setup and to provide direct classroom support to embed the technology.
The next stage over the next couple of months is to get network projectors and speaker systems into teaching areas, get servers setup and, of course, continue with the training and support for staff.
Wish us luck
I have been looking at resources and reports from around the world of schools using Tablet PC's or UMPC's.
A simple Google search produced so many reports that it has taken me a while to sift through them.
I am going to attempt to summerise the some of the ones which stood out to me.
This is a small Vermont boarding school which is using Tablet PC's extensively. Mark Payton has been Blogging on the project since March '05.
I have found the questions, thoughts and solutions here to mirror my own and have even pre warned me about problems that I hadn't considered.
I have found this to be a bit of a Mine. Lots of digging produces some Diamonds, like Ray Kurzweil's interview
Tablet PC's in Singapore Schools
This is a full evaluation of tablet PC's in 2 Singapore schools.
Its no wonder that one of the big names in Tablet PC's has its say too
Do you have any more?
We have been developing the use of Google Sketchup.
I think this is a good way of introducing the concept 3D drawing.
We have been using Pro/Desktop for a few years. This a great application but has a sever learning curve to get you going. Even with the help of the CADinSchool site.
The pro/desktop application from PTC is a full CAD package. In schools this can be bought for £90 for 300 licence's. As you can see this alone makes it an interesting package but you can only get it at this price if you complete the training.
Do you think this a model for the future? Educational use at a reasonable price but only if you have invested the time in learning how to use the app properly.
Google Sketchup I saw as the way of introducing this professional level CAD work in S1/2 but the senior courses are using it too. Do I stop them? Do I direct them to use a much more complex application? So long as the results are what they design and not simplify their designs to make them easier to draw.
The framework to introduce Sketchup in S1 is to take a woodwork model they have already made and redraw it on the computer.
In S2 after drawing the school we are investigating old villages on Islay and starting to draw the buildings in Sketchup. The next part is to place these old villages on Google Earth. The pupils have responded extemely well. They are starting to realise how large the population of Islay was (15000 compared to 3500 now).
