Teaching Ideas and Resources

AutoCollage – a simple Workshop

StuBall — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:37:00 GMT

There are two main keyword phrases that people use to find this blog from a web search. These are Autocollage and the Deep Zoom Composer Workshops. So when I was asked at a recent Innovative Teachers workshop, Did I have any guides about Autocollage?, writing an AutoCollage Workshop seemed to be a good idea.

So, this post is based on the way I present AutoCollage at workshops. You should be able to modify this to suit your own needs. It is not a comprehensive guide, but more of a simple walkthrough.

What is AutoCollage?

AutoCollage is best described as an application that ‘allows you to create beautiful collages of your favourite pictures in a few clicks of a mouse’ . But, I always challenge teachers to look at this as not only as something to work with photos. But as an application that can allow pupils and students to record their thinking and ideas, letting them tell digital stories. This post will guide you through how to make a photo collage and some of the settings that you can use to get better results.

Firstly, you will need to get yourself a copy of AutoCollage. As a teacher you can download a free copy from the Partners in Learning Network . You will need to be a member, you can sign up for free with your Windows Live ID. Once signed in you can find AutoCollage by following these links Resources>Tools and Programmes> More Tools and Programmes or by clicking HERE. You will also need to ensure that you have the latest version of the .NET framework installed.

Starting AutoCollage

Before you start AutoCollage, create a folder in your Pictures folder called Autocollage projects. Run AutoCollage, it will search your default Pictures folder. If you have a lot of images in this folder AutoCollage will display them. This could take some time. So, make it look in your new folder by clicking on your newly created folder. You should see it listed in the area called Image Browser.

Don’t wait for the images to load, you can click and select this folder immediately. Next, click the options button and change some of the settings. Click the Input Tab, now select Display detected faces and select Allow manual face detection. Repeat with Display ranking information and select Allow manual ranking.

These simple steps will help when you being to create your collages.

Next, transfer your images to your autocollage project folder. You will also need to ensure that the images are oriented correctly and are the images you want to use. AutoCollage does not have any image editing features so you cannot rotate or delete an image from inside it. You need to do this from your project folder and this is easy to do with the built in tools in Windows.

In AutoCollage, select the folder where your photos have been stored. You will see them begin to appear. Once all the images have been loaded. You need to choose how many images you want to use. Usually this is the same as the number in the folder. To change the number of images to be used, adjust the slider accordingly. You need to use a minimum of 7 images and there is a maximum of 50. If you select a value more than the number of images, you will get an error message, just agree to create the collage. If you select a value less than the number of images in your folder, AutoCollage will automatically remove images from the collage. You have no control over which images it removes.

Now you are ready to create your collage, click the Create button, marvel at the animation,which always seems to mesmerise teachers and students alike. In moments your photo collage is created. If you don’t like it, click Create again. Although you have little control over how the images are used, there are some factors that you can use to influence your collage creation.

Changing the options in AutoCollage

At the start of this workshop you made some changes to the options. You can use these to influence how your images appear.

AutoCollage uses facial recognition to identify the faces in images. If you have set the manual recognition options, you will be able to select an area of an image that will be the focus point for the collage.

To do this click and select an image, it will enlarge. Next, press and hold the CTRL key, click and drag over the area you want to highlight. A yellow box will appear. This area will be the focus. This is very useful, as you can see from this example ,when you have images that are not faces.

The second element of control is to rank the images. Click on an image, you will see an icon in the top left of the chosen image. Clicking this will give

you a variety of choices for ranking priority. This is useful to place a particular image at the centre of the collage. In this case, I have ranked this image top ranked, number 1 and all the other images, to the lowest setting of avoid this image. Using the same images as before, you can see how changing the ranking order affects the college design, with the top ranked image now appearing in the centre.

Once created your collage is saved as a JPEG and used in the same way as any other image.

In the next post, I will talk about how you can use AutoCollage in the classroom for digital storytelling and recording students ideas and thinking.

In the meantime enjoy experimenting with this great resource.

InnoVID competition - FAQs

StuBall — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:21:00 GMT

The InnoVID competition is Microsoft's competition for UK Teachers to showcase their best practice using Office 2007 , and a chance to win 20 Netbooks for your school. It caused a great deal of interest on the Microsoft stand at BETT this year. We tried to anticipate all the needs of teachers who would enter the competition, but even Kristen and I can't think of everything. So here are a list a of most recent frequently asked questions we have received.

Question: Is this competition open to teachers who work in FE Education and Sixth Form colleges?

Answer : Yes, as long as you are a teacher working with pupils and students between the ages of 4-18 then you are eligible to enter.

Question: I have loads of ideas for videos can I enter more than once?

Answer : No, its great you have lots of ideas. But, we can only accept one entry per teacher. Your school can submit as many entries as it likes, although each entry must but from a different teacher. So why not share your ideas with your colleagues and encourage them to submit a video?

Question: I work as a support teacher in a number of different schools. Can I enter the competition?

Answer : Yes you can, but you must nominate a school to which the prize would be given if you won. You must also obtain the permission of the Headteacher/School to enter the competition on their behalf.

Question: Can students enter this competition?

Answer : No, this competition is only open for teachers in the UK.

Question: I am a teacher who has just retired, can I enter the competition?

Answer : No, this competition is only open to teachers currently working in or with UK Schools?

Question: I am a trainee teacher, can I enter the competition?

Answer : Yes, but you must be currently on teaching practice in school for an extended period and have permission of the Headteacher/School to enter the competition on their behalf.

Question: Do I have to use the Microsoft software mentioned in the competition details?

Answer : Yes, This competition is about about sharing and showcasing the ideas and innovations teachers are developing and using in their classroom, with our technologies.

Question: I only have Office 2003 in my school, can I make video using that, even if it is about something you can do is Office 2007 as well?

Answer : No, we are only looking for videos that show how you use Office 2007 in the classroom. (Even if it is an activity that could be undertaken in Office 2003, which wouldn’t have the ribbon menu for example.)

Question: I want to show how I use Office 2007 with the internet, will Community Clips record mouse and screen actions outside Office 2007?

Answer : Yes, Community Clips can be run from inside Office 2007 from the Ribbon bar. Or as a separate application, which resides in the notification area of the your windows task bar.

You can find full details of the InnoVID competition in the community on the Partners in Learning Network HERE. If you have any further questions, we will be happy to try and answer them. Please post them as a discussion thread in the community, and Kristen and I will respond. (Be sure to read the Terms and Conditions and other people's questions first, though, as your question may already have been answered there.)

Thanks, and good luck!

Bringing the Partners in Learning Network to your SharePoint site

StuBall — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:10:00 GMT

Back last year we announced the release of the first web part that let you ‘plug’ in the Innovative Teachers Network to your SharePoint learning environment. There have been a number of developments and significant changes, especially to the Innovative Teachers site, now the Partners in Learning Network (PILN). To reflect this we have commissioned a new and redesigned web part, which can fit into any SharePoint-based virtual learning environment. This enables you to log in to the PILN and search for resources, communities or professional development without leaving your VLE.

This web part joins the wealth of other free resources offered by the PILN and can be downloaded from our partner Hunterstone’s website. Click this link to download the web part http://www.getthesis.com/itnwp.htm .

It is probably a good idea to contact your IT manager or SharePoint developer to install this web part. If you or they require any support in installing this webpart, support documentation is included in the download.

So now teachers can access the Partners in Learning Network directly from their VLE, putting the great resources and activities it contains at their fingertips.

If you haven’t already done so, you can easily add this blog to your your school site or portal using an RSS feed. That way your teachers can keep up to date with all the latest news from Microsoft Education and the UK Partners in Learning Network.

BETT 2010 wrap-up – and NEW Parental Engagement materials

KristenW — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Well…BETT 2010 ended for us on Saturday night, as we literally limped to the train station to head home. After four days on the Microsoft stand and four evenings out at business dinners, I, for one, was utterly exhausted. But it was a great week. Here are the highlights for the Partners in Learning team:

Launching the Innovids Teacher Video Competition and giving away 10,000 memory sticks announcing the contest. If you weren’t able to come to BETT to pick up a memory stick, last week’s blog post and the Partners in Learning Network will tell you everything you need to know about entering the contest – and possibly winning 20 netbooks for your school!
Attending the BETT awards dinner, where the Partners in Learning Network was a finalist in the Service and Support category. We didn’t win, but we had a great table of our partners from the UK and abroad and had a fantastic time celebrating the work we’ve done this year.
Meeting so many teachers on the Microsoft BETT stand. Stuart and I had four days worth of conversations with teachers during the week. We couldn’t have spoken to everyone without the help of our colleagues Alan Hamilton and Dave Garland, who were a huge help throughout the week. Thanks, Alan and Dave!
Speaking to new content partners who want to give away FREE content on the Partners in Learning Network in the new year. Stay tuned for updates on this one in the coming weeks and months.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the week came on the very first morning, though, when Minister for Schools and Learners Vernon Coaker used one of the videos we created with the DCSF in his speech to open BETT! For the past few months, the Partners in Learning team have been travelling to schools all around England, speaking to them and filming their stories of using technology to better engage parents in their children’s learning.

Research shows that when parents take an active interest in continuing their children’s learning outside of school kids perform better in school. And secondary schools have a requirement to provide real-time online reporting to parents in 2010 (primaries will follow in 2011). We found three secondary schools and two primary schools who are all in different environments and circumstances (urban, rural, large, small, etc) and who have had some really creative ideas to help them address the challenges of bringing parents into the school’s community.

We’ve created two videos and one written case study for each of the five schools.

- The Overview video tells the story of each school, why they felt engaging with parents was important, and the impact they’ve seen as a result of the work they have done.

- The How To video goes into more detail about the steps each school took to improve their relationship with parents, including the technology they used and how they addressed any challenges they faced in this process.

- And the written case study is a printable reference you can take away with you if you want to share these schools ideas with others at your school.

The Minister chose to show the overview video from Blatchington Mill School in Hove, East Sussex, but all 10 videos are fantastic, and available on the Microsoft Web site. The other schools we worked with are:

Clunbury C.E. Primary School, Shropshire
Monkseaton High School, Tyne & Wear
Hawes Side Primary School, Blackpool, Lancashire
Twynham School, Christchurch, Dorset

A big thank you goes to all of these schools for giving us such great stories to tell. We hope you’ll check out these videos on Microsoft.com and that you’ll learn something new that you can use at your school.

ANNOUNCING the Microsoft “Innovid” Video Competition

KristenW — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:00:00 GMT

We’ve been alluding to this for weeks, and it’s finally here! Today – on this blog and at the BETT show in London, we’re announcing a video competition for teachers in the United Kingdom**. We want to see your best ideas for using Microsoft Office 2007 products and features in your teaching – regardless of the subject you teach. Enter your video in the Innovid Video Competition and you could win 20 Windows 7 netbook computers for your school!

Keep reading for more details!

Camera

Simply produce a how-to video for other teachers showing how you use Microsoft technologies to engage your students. The idea is that you will inspire other teachers to jump in and try!

Lights

Before you start videoing you’ll need a few things. First up, you’ll want our free artwork, music and other tools to help you create a really polished video. And you’ll want to thoroughly review our guidelines.

For example:

The video must be no longer than 4 minutes and follow the easy template provided online
The 2007 Microsoft® Office System must be the focus of your video, but you can refer to any other Microsoft technologies that help you bring learning to life.

Action!

You’ll find all the information and help you need at our online community – the Partners in Learning Ne twork. If you’re not already a member, don’t worry. You can join online and immediately benefit from communities, shared lesson plans, learning programs, opportunities to collaborate with like-minded colleagues plus loads of resources, free tools and learning programmes that you can use in your classroom. You can also:

download the video template and guidelines
get complimentary tools to help you, including Windows® Movie Maker and Microsoft® Community Clips™
ask questions and be inspired by virtual classroom tours created by other teachers.

The competition officially starts NOW, and the due date for all video submissions is 17:00 on 29 March, 2010. So you have plenty of time to put something together. Once on the Partners in Learning Network, LOOK FOR the InnoVID Video Competition community, JOIN that community, and you’ll find the 5 EASY STEPS you need to complete to enter the competition, as well as all the materials you’ll need.

(There is also a place in the community to ask questions or get help.)

We hope you enjoy this fun competition, and the chance to win 20 Windows 7 netbook computers for your school! Stuart and I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

**NOTE: We know there are a lot of teachers who read this blog from outside the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, this competition is only open to teachers in the United Kingdom. We’re sorry to disappoint any of you from other countries who wished to enter. We still love you, but we’re only allowed to offer this competition in the country where we actually work! We encourage you to contact your Microsoft office if you’d like to see something similar in your country.**

New InnoVIDS now available – videos for teachers by teachers

StuBall — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:33:00 GMT

Not trying to sound like a Hollywood film trailer, but, they have been 5 months in the making, we have finally completed all the Innovative Videos we originally started at our 2009 Summer Camp. 10 of our most Innovative Teachers have contributed over 35 instructional videos, that can help you use a wide range of Microsoft applications in your classroom. The latest videos cover applications such as Songsmith, Deep Zoom and Photostory,

We have placed links to all the videos in a community on the Partners in Learning Network. You will need to join the network to access and download these.

The Partners in Learning Network is free to join. Once you have registered with your Windows Live ID. Click on the community tab and join the Innovative video ideas for teachers by teachers community. You will also find another 10 videos listed and a link to this community listed in the ‘New videos added’ article on the home page.

This article has 10 examples from the videos we first produced. For an example of the latest videos click here. This example is by Dave Garland from saltash.net community school. He describes how to use Songsmith in the classroom, and even sings to prove what a great application it is. Songsmith is available as a free download to members of the Partners in Learning Network.

We think these videos provide a comprehensive and valuable resource for the professional development of teachers, even the process of making them has became a professional development exercise in itself. For details of how we made these InnoVIDS, keep a look out for some exciting news later this week, watch this blog for details or if you are at the BETT show this week, come and see us on the Microsoft stand.

BETT 2010 - a New Years resolution you can keep

StuBall — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

One of my new Year’s resolution is to get fit again; I suspect many of you have a similar resolution. Well, it's not going to be workout videos for me. No, I’m going to endure the annual marathon that is the 2010 BETT show. If last year's event is anything to go by, I should lose loads of weight, or at least die trying! But it's up to you, the potential visitors to the Microsoft stand, who will keep me on my feet and busy with questions about the Partners In Learning Network, if my weight loss is going to be successful.

The Partners in Learning Team have been limbering up for the event over the last three months, and we think we have a programme that will make your visit to BETT and the Microsoft stand a productive one. First, we have a number of ‘pods’ where we be able to show you the ‘new and improved’ Partners in Learning Network. We will be able to demonstrate the new features and what the site can offer you in terms of supporting professional development in your school.

We will also have an announcement about a special competition. I can’t tell you any more until next week (yes, it’s that big a deal). But I can tell you that if you are at BETT, make sure you come visit us and ask for a USB stick, which will have all the competition details on it.

Supporting us on the stand will be Dave Garland from saltash.net community school, who will be presenting on the work his students have done with the preview version of Semblio, and Alan Hamilton from Stirling High School, who are part of the Innovative Schools Programme.

But we are not the only team with great stuff on the Microsoft stand at BETT. You will be able to see presentations and demos about Windows 7, Office 2010, Bing Maps and Microsoft Education Labs and much, much more.

We have so much great stuff to show you that we should be quite busy, especially as we have 10,000 USB sticks to give away. Surely, I will lose some weight. Mind you, I have the BETT awards dinner to attend, as we are shortlisted for an award for the Partners in Learning Network. So I might end up undoing all my good work in just one evening!

I am pretty confident I can keep my resolution and lose some weight, I certainly need too. But, I can give you one resolution that you can definitely keep, and that is visit us on the stand D30/D40, ask about our competition and claim your free USB stick.

We will be posting full details of the competition when we make the official announcement next week, so keep an eye on your RSS feeder for the update.

In the meantime, hope to see you at BETT and any inferences that this post has made that Kristen needs to lose any weight are purely coincidental.

European Safer Internet Day- 9th February 2010 - Free Parents Internet Safety Presentation

KristenW — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Here’s another opportunity for a free training - this time for the parents of your students. Microsoft has a vested interest in making sure the internet is a safe place for children and young people. Our colleague Karina Gibson leads a lot of our work on online safety. As well as being part of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), we’re also a partner of CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) and a number of our staff are trained by CEOP as volunteers to visit schools and educate children through presentations, using the Think You Know resources.

Through doing this work, we’ve realised that there’s a big gap in knowledge amongst parents, and that they need a lot more help. This year, in addition to the CEOP trained volunteers, we also have other volunteers who are invited by schools to talk with parents.

European Safer Internet Day

To support European Safer Internet Day and the launch of the new digital code for children “Zip it, Block it, Flag it” Microsoft is offering all UK schools the opportunity to host their own parents awareness session. These virtual sessions offer your school the opportunity to host a parents evening with a presentation led by a Microsoft volunteer to inform and educate parents on the technology their children are using and how they can keep them safe when online.

About the Presentation

The presentation will be a live webcast that you can join from your school at no cost. All you need is to connect to the Internet on a screen or whiteboard and your parents will be able to see the presentation and you can submit questions from them should they have any.

The presentation itself talks about the benefits and safety concerns of the Internet as well as introducing basic information on how technology such as social networking and instant messaging is used by young people. It is designed to build confidence for parents in understanding the technology as well as a providing guidance and practical advice to safeguard their children and where to go for help.

The presentation will take place on the 9^th February 2010 at the following times:

12.30-13.30
15.30-16.30
16.30-17.30
18.00-19.00
19.30-20.30

Running A Session

The session will be streamed over the internet, when you sign up you will receive the following:

Detailed guide to on how to join the presentation (including information of a short practice session)
Parents guide to Microsoft technology and parental controls
CD ROM for parents showing how to set up parental controls
Sample letter to use to invite parents

How to Sign Up

To book to host a virtual parents presentation for your school please book a place by January 28^th 2010 by calling Karina Gibson on 0118 909 2803 or drop her an email email stating which session you would like to join.

If this date doesn’t work for you, but you know that you’d like to do something for your parents, then it’s worth dropping an email to Karina. Although we don’t have volunteers all around the country, and they are stretched quite thinly, we are always willing to see if we can accommodate requests for talks to parents or students.

New Year, new learning opportunities: Microsoft IT Academy “License To Learn” Tour

KristenW — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year, and welcome back to the grind - I mean, to school and work and all the rewarding things they have to offer! We have lots of exciting things planned for our blog readers this year, and we can't wait to share them with you. To kick off our first week back, I wanted to make you aware of this great CPD opportunity from our colleagues in the IT Academy programme. These events are being held at cool locations all over the country, and they’re FREE to attend (and you get lunch out of the deal – what more could you ask for?). Here’s the full story…

This February sees the launch of a new series of Microsoft IT Academy events.

Held in iconic locations across the UK each event will be useful to Educators who want to:

Find out how the Microsoft IT Academy Program works
See how Microsoft Certifications can secure GCSE points and funding through OCR
Explore the revolutionary “License To Learn” solution – developed to meet current economic challenges in education
Witness the launch of an exciting new Microsoft Certification

The FREE events will feature guest speakers from Microsoft, OCR, Zenos and Prodigy Learning.

Places are limited – to register or find out more visit www.licensetolearntour.com

Free Lunch provided

If you can’t wait until February you can meet the IT Academy Team at Stand M20 at BETT SHOW, call 0845-399-1553 or email itacademy@prodigysolutions.com.

The Microsoft IT Academy Program offers educational establishments extensive benefits and the opportunity to deliver Microsoft’s popular I.T. Training and Qualifications to their Students, Staff and wider community.

Click here to find out which Microsoft qualifications you could deliver.

Happy Christmas to all of you.

StuBall — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:28:36 GMT

I can’t believe its that time of year again, yes, we in in the middle of preparation for the BETT show 2010. Many of you maybe thinking about Xmas, sorting presents , writing cards and decorating the tree. None of that for the Partners in Learning team. No , we are busy , like Santa’s elves, making sure that we everything we need to let visitors to the Microsoft stand know about the Partners in Learning Network. Ordering USB sticks, packed full of useful information and videos to give away, . Then we have to organise teacher experts to present with us and help on our interactive pods. So, if you want to know more about Semblio in the classroom, then come and visit us at the BETT show and ask them. We can also tell you about and show you the new Partners In Learning Network site, where you can find great resources such as free versions of Autocollage and Songsmith. As well as our very popular InnoVIDS, videos to help teachers use technology in the classroom, about which we will have some very exciting competition news to announce at BETT and on this blog.

We will also be attending the BETT Awards Dinner, where we have been shortlisted for an award in the ICT Service and support category, with a bit of luck, we may get it, so fingers crossed. More good news is that we have been nominated for an Edublog award, for this blog.

That just leaves me to thank you all for your support, have a great holiday and we look forward sharing a great 2010 with you.

Visiting our Innovative Schools in Scotland

KristenW — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:27:00 GMT

Stuart and I haven’t had a moment to relax since our very successful Innovative Teachers Forum last week. Last Friday, I ran a workshop at a school in Lewisham for school and local authority leaders going through BSF or other significant school transformation projects. And at the crack of dawn (actually, before the crack of dawn) on Monday, we both flew to Scotland for two days of visits with our new Innovative Schools, Calderglen High School in East Kilbride and Stirling High School in Stirling.

We started the visits at Calderglen High School, where we had a packed agenda for the day. We met our colleague Walter Patterson at the school, and the three of us were immediately split up and taken on tours of the school, led by three of the year 6 school captains. These kids were such stars, and I learned quite a bit about the school, the students, the classes, and more from my tour guide James. Over the course of the day we also sat in on portions of 6 classes, which gave us a good idea of the kind of teaching and learning that occurs across the curriculum, and enabled us to meet quite a few of the wonderful teaching staff at the school. We had separate meetings with the entire leadership team and the ICT leads team, and were able to have a candid conversation (no teachers present!) with student representatives from all years at the school. At the end of the day, Stuart led a very well-attended workshop on free ICT tools and ideas for Calderglen’s teachers (pictured at right).

One of the unique things about Calderglen is that it is partnered with a special needs high school, Sanderson High School, which shares the facilities. The photo at left pictures the student common area at Calderglen (called The Street), which has an open door to Sanderson. Kids from both schools can pass back and forth to attend classes or work together.

On Tuesday, we drove to Stirling High School, one of the oldest schools in Scotland in a gorgeous new building, pictured at right. Depute head Lesley Allen was our guide for the day, giving us a tour of the facilities (which included an indoor pool, rooftop garden and a Heritage Room containing wood panelling, tables and chairs from the original Stirling High). We sat in on two classes, one of which was completely taught by the students, and met with the other depute heads and some teachers who were interested in ideas for teaching with ICT.

The highlight of the day for me was the lunchtime meeting with the school’s Eco Club. Stuart and I were very impressed by the cross-curricular learning that goes on in this award-winning after school activity. The students were passionate and articulate and were clearly learning a great deal and applying that learning in a way that helps the school and community.

Stuart and I headed back to Glasgow airport absolutely exhausted from the whirlwind trip, but energised and excited to work with both schools and their staff in the coming year.

You can follow our work with these schools on this blog, and on the Partners in Learning Network, where resources that these schools will receive from both the Worldwide Innovative Schools Programme will be made available to any school who joins and completes their school profile. You can also learn about UK Innovative Schools and Innovative Teachers workshops on the Partners in Learning Network, so that you and your school can take advantage of these free events as well. (Or follow Stuart @innovativeteach on Twitter, where he’s always Tweeting about these things and more…)

Thanks again to students, staff, and leadership at both Calderglen and Stirling for such a great start to our week!

Blogs for Teachers – my favourites

StuBall — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:16:00 GMT

I must admit that as a teacher, I never had time to read any blogs -- it was often too much just to read the Times Educational Supplement. But now I think that if and when I return to the classroom, blogs will be the mainstay of how I will gather information to inform and develop my teaching. Over the past year or so I have been indebted to a number of bloggers for their inspiration, energy and support. So these are my nominations for the 2009 Edublog Awards:

Best individual blog www.olliebray.com

Best individual tweeter http://twitter.com/olliebray

Best new blog - http://chickensaltash.edublogs.org/

Best teacher blog http://chickensaltash.edublogs.org/

Best educational tech support blog http://blogs.msdn.com/ukschools/

Best elearning / corporate education blog http://blogs.msdn.com/ukschools/

Best educational use of a social networking service - http://saltashrainbow.ning.com/

Best educational use of audio - http://mediasnackers.com/

Best educational use of video / visual - http://mediasnackers.com/

Lifetime achievement – John Davitt - http://www.newtools.org/

Thank you to all of these bloggers for your enlightened insights into the world of learning and technology.

Tell us: What are your favourite education blogs?

The 6th Annual UK Innovative Teachers Forum

KristenW — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:58:00 GMT

Yesterday, Stuart and I and our teammates from Microsoft gathered with our colleagues from SSAT, Shireland Learning to welcome over 75 educators to Birmingham for our Innovative Teachers Forum. As Stuart has mentioned, this year’s Forum was our biggest and best yet. We received more VCTs from you for consideration in our awards, we had more people attending the forum than ever before, and we had a day full of highlights from our amazing keynote speaker (John Davitt) and our workshop leaders. The entire day was buzzing with conversation (in-person and on Twitter #itf09), and I have heard nothing but positive feedback from those who attended.

After registering and receiving the requisite goodie bag (which this year was a nice computer bag that included a copy of John Davitt’s new book, a USB stick and some other free things), all attendees assembled for a welcome by Steve Beswick (our director of Education at Microsoft), and John’s keynote. I was definitely in the minority in the room, in that I had never seen John speak before. I thoroughly enjoyed the talk, which John later described to me as a bunch of thought-provoking ideas that you could “store in the right brain for later.” Some of the nuggets I took away:

Shopping is more important than learning in today’s society. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get feedback on our learning the same way we get feedback on eBay profile?
Curriculum should be many paths to the same destination
Wouldn’t it be great if students got the same prompts for learning that we get when we purchase something on Amazon? (Students who learned this, might also be interested in this topic…)

We also heard about many, many new tools available for free for use in the classroom. This continued in the first workshop I attended, given by our own Stuart and Dave Garland, from saltash.net community school in Cornwall. Educators in that session never stopped taking notes as Stuart and Dave listed free software, Web sites, and other applications for use in education, along with examples of how the tools are being used today. (All of these will be posted on the Partners in Learning Network for anyone to share.)

For the afternoon workshop, I also attended John Davitt’s workshop, which is well described by Ollie Bray on his blog. My group used the random activity generator to put three words in local dialect into a 20-second audio file. (Not as exciting as the knitting Ollie and his group are working on at left, but still fun.)

There were lots of opportunities for networking and for educators to look at the VCTs of our 14 award- winners. After a question and answer session with all of our workshop presenters, we had our awards ceremony. Microsoft selected four teachers to join us in Berlin in March for the European Innovative Teachers Forum. This was not an easy decision, trust me. After much deliberation, we ended up with these four teachers:

Dave Rogers (Priory School Specialist Sports College) Pirates and social networking
Simon Horleston (Howe Dell Primary School) EcoVids
Amy Lewis (saltash.net community school) Heroes
Jan Webb (Weston Village Primary School) A classroom without walls

We also awarded Dave Garland with a “special award” to be given to a person in a school who may not actually submit VCTs, but is responsible for the vision and drive behind ICT integration. Dave will be joining us in Berlin as a judge for the European Forum.

All in all, it was a fantastic day. Stuart and I are already planning for next year, when we hope the event will be even bigger and even better. We would love your suggestions for location or ideas for speakers and workshops, so feel free to send them our way or post them to the Partners in Learning Network.

Congratulations to all of the teachers who won awards at the Forum yesterday. We’re continually impressed by the amazing work UK educators are doing in the classroom every day.

UK Innovative Teacher Award Winners

StuBall — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:08:00 GMT

After receiving the highest number of entries ever for a Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum, (I say that every year, but it’s true.) I am pleased to announce the Virtual Classroom Tours that will be celebrated at the awards event at the Innovative Teachers Forum in Birmingham on Dec 1st (sign up HERE to attend the free conference).

The judging proved to be a very difficult and challenging exercise, with every one of the entries illustrating the outstanding work being undertaken in schools throughout the UK. But, Kristen and I were able to select 10 Virtual Classroom Tours in the Microsoft Innovative Ieachers category. These VCTs represent some of the best uses of technology to develop teaching and learning across a wide range of different school and scenarios.

This year's Microsoft UK Innovative Teachers Award winners are...

Name	Virtual Classroom Tour	School
David Rogers	Pirates and social Networking	Priory School Specialist Sports College
Georgie Carey	Modelling Bonding	saltash.net community school
Simon Horleston	EcoVids	Howe Dell Primary School
James Edwards	E-Safety	saltash.net community school
Ceri Williams	The Firework Code	Pontnewydd Primary school
Amy Lewis	Heroes	saltash.net community school
Dave Garland	LearnoVids	saltash.net community school
Simon Woodhouse	Pizza Profits	Sawtry College
Qamar Riaz	Using OneNote and Songsmith in Revision	Shireland Collegiate Academy
Jan Webb	A classroom without walls	Weston Village Primary School

For this year's Innovative Teachers Forum, we have support from some of our partners. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust sponsored an award category looking for projects that looked at impact and improvement on learning. Their award winner is:

John Rutherford	Playing for Exam success	Marlborough Science College
and the highly commended runner up
Sophie Baker	Tracking & assessing course work	The Sandon School

In the category Sponsored by Shireland Learning, who were looking for the best use of a Microsoft learning platform, the winners are:

Surinder Nhandra	Primary Winner	Crocketts Lane Primary
Zoe Atherton	Secondary Winner	Baxter College

You can find all these virtual classroom tours in this community on the Partners in Learning Network.

Congratulations to all these award winners and thank you to all those who took the time to submit a project, we a truly in awe of the fabulous work you are undertaking everyday with your students.

If you would like to the meet these award winning teachers and find out more about the work they do, they will presenting their projects at the UK Innovative Teachers Forum being held on the 1st December in Birmingham. This conference is FREE to attend. You can register and find out more here, but places are filling up quickly, so be sure do this soon if you are interested. At the event, you'll also have a keynote from John Davitt and choice of 4 workshops, offering practical advice on the use of technology to support teaching and learning. All delegates at the event will receive a free copy of John Davitt’s book, ‘New Tools for Learning’ .

Congratulations to all of this year's Innovative Teachers Forum award winners. We look forward to seeing you all at the forum next week.

BETT Awards 2010 – Innovative Teachers is shortlisted!

StuBall — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:39:00 GMT

Over the past two weeks we have been blogging about the Innovative Teacher Awards in Brasil, and how well our two UK Teachers did at the recent Worldwide event. So imagine our surprise to find that the Innovative Teachers Programme, which this blog is part of, has been shortlisted for a BETT award.

We have been nominated for the ICT Service and Support Award. We are absolutely thrilled that the work that has been undertaken by teachers across the UK through the innovative teachers network is having such prestigious recognition. The winners will be announced at the BETT show in January. Fingers crossed that when we see you in January at Olympia, we'll have an award.

You can see the full list of Award nominees here.