ICT Update 1st Edition Welcome to the first edition of the Kelvin Hall ICT Update. Its purpose is to help all staff keep up to date with the many T&L ICT opportunities the school is embracing. We hope you find the first edition useful and interesting. We appreciate there is lot of new information to digest and understand. This is why you can go back and re-read it any time by clicking on the ICT Update link on the Learning Platform Staff Landing Page. Please contact me on mcelroyd@kelvinhall.net if you would like any more information about any of the updates or to arrange further CPD.
Updated Staff LP Landing Page On the left is a view of the new recently updated Staff Learning Platform Landing Page. Blue buttons take you to key documents. The others take you to other LP spaces and web sites. Please remember to click on the Shared Spaces tab at the top of the page whenever you want to get back to the Landing Page.
Help using school ICT facilities We understand that it is hard for all staff to keep up with the many new programs and websites that become available. More staff ICT CPD will be delivered. However, many of us learn best by practising a skill learnt in a training session or trying it out ourselves at a convenient time. To help promote this type of training there is a new button on the Learning Platform home page which takes you to the growing list of ICT user guides.
T & L ICT Links This page has links to six useful sites for planning lessons. You may not have heard of True Tube which is a great site for planning PSHE lessons. Khan Academy contains hundreds of videos created by teachers explaining concepts in a wide variety of subjects.
Online homework setting An online homework area for teachers to use has been set up on the Learning Platform. This will provide a number of advantages. Students get a reminder if they missed the lesson when it was set, failed to write it down properly or have mislaid their planner. In addition, it will be easier to monitor homework setting and parents will be able to check what was set as well. Note the simple step by step user guide that explains how to set homework online is in the Learning Platform section of the ICT User Guides
Summer Exam Support Can all staff encourage Y10 and 11s to make full use of this new area on the LP as much as possible? They could use it to do revision activities in class as well as doing their own revision in school and at home. Each space has copies of exam papers, mark schemes, revision summaries etc. On the left is the example home page for Psychology. Can anyone identify the five famous psychologists?
Navigating around the LP Navigating around the LP is getting easier. Students and staff can access each subject home space by clicking on each of the coloured buttons as shown.
Parents access to the LP We will soon be launching the Learning Platform to our parents. They will have their own landing page with links to useful information as shown. In addition, they will also gain private access to up to date online information about their son or daughter. They will also be able to access the Summer Exam Support and Homework spaces.
Research and Learning Teams Clicking on the Researching & Learning Teams link will take you to a LP area where each team will have its own space. The blue team’s space is shown on the left. Links to the resources for each Monday session will be provided from now on.
Update on breakout areas Here are a few important updates about breakout areas. Firstly, the Student Council is publishing new rules for their use. They will also support staff supervising these areas. Their rules cover three main areas: • General use e.g. leave area tidy, remember to put chairs back etc • During lesson time e.g. students should do set work by teachers, not get distracted, only be there for a short time to complete an activity and go back to their classroom to have their work checked by their teacher • During breaks e.g. students wishing to do school work will be able to get those playing games to log off There will be further updates about this soon but a key point is the Student Council would like teachers only to send out students who are confident and able to work independently. They also wish staff to monitor what students are doing through RM Tutor. A user guide showing how to do this will soon be issued.
Good laptop trolley care As you know most departments have their own sets of laptop trollies. It is really important that all of us remember to care for this equipment. Hence, can staff please remember to ensure all laptops are put back into each shelf and attached to each power lead? The trolley then obviously needs to be put back in its designated place and put on charge.
Watching video options 1 ClickView now comes in two formats. ClickView Player can be loaded from Core programs and used to play videos to students from a whiteboard or for students to play on school computers. ClickView Online now allows teachers and students to view the same videos outside school e.g. teachers for planning, students to complete homework / revision activities. Advice on how to login appears on both the Student and Staff LP landing pages
Watching video options 2 A key advantage of students being able to access ClickView Online is that teachers can embed videos into LP Spaces. This example shows how Y10 & 11 students can watch an important ICT video as part of their online revising before the upcoming summer exam. Please contact me if you or your department would like to learn how to do this. It is also a great way to make LP spaces look much more interesting and up to date.
Watching video options 3 This is a very new facility where it is possible to stream live TV on your whiteboard. To do this simply key in “iptv� into the address box in Internet Explorer. It is also possible to have TV documentaries recorded and played back through this service. For more help and support on using this facility please look at the help guide which is in the Omniserver folder in the ICT userguides i.e. choose this folder after clicking on the blue ICT user guides button or contact Rob Earle to have a programme recorded.
Using Omni-Server to Watch Television Programmes
Student email All students now have access to their own school email account. There is a link to login on the Student LP Landing Page. They login using their school username and password. As you can see from below all students have been sent an email from ClickView which gives them instructions on how to activate their account. Note teachers can use student email to send out messages and encourage students to post homework to them.
Student iPads The long standing problems with our 2 sets of 16 iPads have now been fixed. Teaching staff are once again encouraged to book them to use them as a versatile learning tool. Note, we recommend that they are only used for browsing the Internet activities or using the subject specific apps which currently reside on them. Please contact Chris Comins to book or Doug McElroy to get support on any T&L ideas you have involving their use.