You may know families in your school who have benefitted from the government’s Home Access scheme. Thousands of families have taken advantage of this offer to provide computers and broadband for their children to use at home and school.
You may not be aware that families can apply for home access packages with assistive technologies, to help their children with special needs. To date more than 7,000 families have taken advantage of the offer for assistive technology packages, but there are many more still available to families who can benefit from them.
If you know a student who might qualify, it may be worth having a chat to their family to make sure they are aware of this offer. The deadline for assistive technology applications is the end of November. More details (from Becta) are below.
So what will a learner get in a Home Access package with Assistive Technology? As each package is tailored to the learner’s individual needs it’s difficult to say exactly, but it could include anything from specialist access devices, such as a mouth-controlled mouse, dedicated software to help them more easily interact with web pages or even touch screen technologies to help them access a computer and the internet.
Want to learn more?
Details about the eligibility criteria for Home Access packages with Assistive Technology, the type of equipment on offer and how to apply can all be found on the dedicated website www.homeaccess.org.uk If you’d like to see a short film about how Assistive Technologies are making a real difference to learners with severe disabilities or special educational needs take a look here.
You can also learn more about how Assistive Technology helps learners, as well as finding helpful support resources by visiting the Our Home Access website’s Assistive Technology and SEN pages.
What school doesn’t care about these measures these days (for better or worse…). Well…our friends in the IT Academy programme might be able to help you out a bit. They have some new offers for teachers and students in the form of new certifications – and they have data showing that Microsoft certifications really do give your school tangible results.
The IT Academy team will be at our Innovative Education Forum in Manchester on 29th and 30th with computers set up to allow teachers to test out certification exams on the spot. (There are still spaces left for the Forum – but they’re filling up fast! To register, go to the Partners in Learning Network!)
In addition, they’re running online seminars to give you an idea of what Microsoft Certification really means and how you might take advantage of it at your school. Details on the online seminars are below – check them out or visit the IT Academy stand at our Innovative Education Forum in a few short weeks!
Click here to register.
We are pleased to announce the 10 UK Innovative Education Award Winners who will be presented with their awards, as recognition of their Innovative Teacher status, at our Education Forum in Manchester. (There are still a few places left. sign up HERE ). They join an ever increasing group of UK Innovative Teachers, that include Dan Roberts, Ollie Bray, Alessio Bernardelli, David Rogers and of course our latest worldwide event winner Jan Webb.
Judging such great projects always proves to be a very difficult and challenging exercise. The standard and quality of every one of the entries illustrates the outstanding work being undertaken in schools throughout the UK. They also show the outstanding progress being made in classrooms throughout the UK in integrating technology effectively into learning. They represent some of the best uses of technology across a wide range of different schools and scenarios.
Congratulations to this year's Microsoft UK Innovative Education Award winners Who are...
You can view and download these projects for this community on the UK partners in Learning Network
Please join me in posting a comment to congratulate these great innovative teachers.
This was my 6th Worldwide Innovative Education Forum and in my opinion it was far the best. Here are my reasons why:-
All this in a global context , which is such a unique feature of the Microsoft Partners in Learning programme, to be able to bring teachers, schools and educators from across the globe to share best practice, ideas and innovation.
I have listed a number of blog posts below describing the event. But here are my own experiences that I would like to share.
I am always drawn to projects where teachers have gone ‘over and above’ to provide engaging learning for their pupils. Two teachers from India, Asija Himani and Krishna Sharma had projects that I found inspiring. Krishna’s project inspired her students to attend school, but the amazing fact was she is doing this with 215 students and one laptop , that she has bought herself, and will take her 15 years to pay back the government loan. Asija’s project was how she had created a scheme of work for the application of mathematics. This involved students using fractal mathematics to measure cancer cell development. I was amazed at how she had brought two very complex subjects to a level of understanding that was accessible for her students.
It was also great to catch with some old friends. Chu Tsz Wing, a teacher from Hong Kong who I met at last year’s event, was back with a Microsoft OneNote project inspired by a conversation we had together last year. This was very humbling to know that it is possible to have such an influence.
Also, meeting the people of Capetown was a pleasure and a surprise, especially hotel worker Desmond, who greeted me in perfect welsh. He had lived in Machynlleth for a while, we welsh are global people.
Finally, I must thank the UK Team that attended. Jan Webb and Simon Horleston, for their fantastic presentations and efforts to talk to as many people as possible. They both reached the semi finalist stage of the competition , with Jan going on to win an award in the Collaboration category. Congratulations to both of them. Many thanks to Steve Baker and Merlin John , who had the arduous, but rewarding task of judging some of the 150 projects. Thanks also to our two Mentor Innovative School Headteachers, Tony McDaid from Calderglen High School and Madeline Cotson from Huyton Arts and Sports Centre for Learning, and finally Maureen McTaggart for her insightful and complementary comments and great company.
Merlin John Online
Webb’s Wide World
The Official Microsoft Blog
Cool Cat Teacher Blog
Ewan McIntosh’s Blog
Lianne Morgan’s Photostream
If you would like to find out more about Microsoft Partners in Learning and how you can take part in an Innovative Education Forum, then register for the next event being held in the UK. It’s free and spaces are filling up fast.
Don’t miss out, register today