Well what a year of change it has been for Microsoft UK Partners in Learning. The year began with Kristen (remember her!) starting her maternity leave, that left me as the only team member, it’s ok I am not looking for sympathy! I enjoyed the peace and quiet. Next,  BETT 2011 , I teamed up with Dan Roberts (@chickensaltash) we did our best to make ‘Maths Sexy’ with Mathematics 4.0 , but it was Mouse Mischief the free plug-in for PowerPoint , that lets you connect up to 25 mice, that was the big hit. Jan Webb joined the team and accompanied myself and Teachers to the European Forum in Moscow, we came away not only with some interesting stories , but two award winners.

One of the surprises of the year was the emergence of a self developing network , dubbed the K-Team which is a growing network of UK teachers that utilise the Partners in Learning Network to develop and share ideas about Kinect in the Classroom and Kodu, look out for more ideas from them in the new year.

Our online resources in Partners in Learning continued to grow and develop with our YouTube channel getting over a 100,000 views worldwide. we will be adding more of our teacher videos from our free training events for teachers in Scotland , Wales and during the Easter and Summer breaks. We will announce those events on this blog. The network of teachers using Partners in Learning as part of their learning is still growing and was evident with all the new faces at this year’s UK Forum.

We began our Partners in Learning Institute programme for Elite teachers and Educators, with Dan Roberts attending the first Partners in Learning Institute training in Seattle. We will be launching our our programme in the New Year, in the meantime if you are at BETT, keep a look out for our top educators wearing these badges.

We end the year with yet more success at the Worldwide Forum in Washington D.C., award winner Gareth Ritter continues to have an impact globally, expect to see more of him next year.

So it seems things have come full circle, I am still the only member of the team, but the good news is , I have the pleasure and challenge of filling the very expensive shoes of Kristen as the new UK Partners in Learning Manager, thanks to everybody for your support this year. I am looking forward to supporting and growing the best educator network I know in Partners in Learning next year. It’s going to be very exciting. See you all at BETT 2012, and something's haven’t changed that much @chickensaltash will be joining me there too.

Ellie Jones is our BETT Princess and the mastermind behind organising this year’s BETT show for the Microsoft Education Team. She has coerced us all to writing a short synopsis of what we are presenting on our stand D30 and D40 next week.

Many of these demo’s are also going to be presented in much more detail from both Microsoft staff and teachers already using some of these products in their classroom that will be shown throughout the 4 days on our theatre stand. So, if you would like to come have play on the Kinect, experience a new innovative way of communication via Lync or just pop by and say hello, we look forward to seeing you next week.

Playful Learning – Ben Nunney, Academic Developer Evangelist

‘’Games aren’t just the thing you do once you’ve done your homework – they’re proven to enhance the classroom experience, drive home learning objectives, and can serve as an engaging and inspiring plenary. Microsoft had done amazing things over the past 12 months with Kinect which, using an array of sensors, makes you the controller. By connecting the Kinect up to your PC you can bring the Kinect Effect to your classroom. At BETT 2012 this year, we’ll have a whole bunch of demos for you to play with, and see what a touch of gaming can do for your school!’’

Private Cloud – Andrew Fryer, IT Pro Evangelist

‘’What on earth is a Private Cloud and why does it matter to schools at all? The idea is actually very simple; it’s the adoption of the techniques that are used to deliver the online services we all use like Hotmail, Amazon etc but inside your own school or network of schools. The key to this approach is extreme automation and standardisation to provide services as and when schools need them. You could be forgiven for thinking is all about saving money, but the real benefit is agility, allowing schools to innovate and adapt as they need to.’’

Public Cloud – James Marshall, Live@edu Specialist

“Come and see where it’s really happening, over on the public cloud pod! We’ll be showing off the latest and greatest technology Microsoft has to offer including Microsoft Office 365 for education, Live@edu, Windows Intune, and more!
Find out how you can harness the power of “the cloud” to provide the most awesome and up to date technology to your students and staff and save your institution money at the same time!

So, spare a few minutes and prepare to have your negative nephological notions nuked by our team of experts!”

Get Online @ Home - Clare Riley, Group Manager, Education Relations

‘’If you have students in your class, or your school, who don’t have access to a PC at home, then THIS is the pod for you. Prices start below £100 for a Windows 7 PC. Come and see the Get Online @ Home refurbished desktop and laptop computers which come with Windows 7; Security Essentials; and a starter version of Microsoft Office. This is a great offer to share with parents and with the management team in your school. You can help families access this offer themselves , or you can encourage your school to use Pupil Premium funding to provide computers for disadvantaged students.’’

Productivity - Andy Downs, Schools Internal Business Manager

‘’Seamlessly communicate more effectively and efficiently than ever before within your Institution (and beyond) from a single user interface.
Today’s world demands the ability to work real-time wherever and whenever with no boundaries…

An integrated Windows based platform (Exchange, Lync, SharePoint and Office) enables such abilities as: Instantly scaling from an email or an Instant Message to a complete Audio/Video Conference; Working collaboratively on shared documents in a central area and even driving towards a paperless environment.

Immediate savings in time and money are easily recognisable, but there are many other compelling benefits for your Institution - including positive impact on your Green Agenda!’’

Windows Phone – Simon Ibbitt, Further Education Business Manager

‘’Think you know about Smart Phones!?! Think again! This year at BETT Microsoft will be showcasing the latest Windows Mango Smart Phones, buy HTC Nokia and Samsung.

Microsoft really are ‘putting people first ‘. The Smart Phone is now part of the class room for both teachers and students alike. We can show you the power of Skydrive, the One Note and Lync integration and Office 365 for your phone. Or, perhaps you would like to see one of the hundreds of Apps, specially designed for education?’’

So come find us at BETT and see how Microsoft really gives you ‘'anytime, anywhere learning for all'.

Curriculum – Stuart Ball, Partners in Learning Manager

‘’The UK Partners in Learning Network connects teachers and educators across the globe, and unlike many other ‘teacher networks’, it actively contributes to teacher’s professional development through events and resources. At BETT 2012 this year @innovativeteach and @chickensaltash will present in their inimitable style and demonstrate some fantastic new resources such the Microsoft Learning Suite, Partners in Learning School Research and the new Partners in Learning Network site. This along with examples of how being part of the Partners in Learning Network has changed the way teachers think and have improved the learning opportunities for students, makes this session one of the most impactful you could attend.’’

MultiPoint Server – Steven Goddard, Senior Programme Manager

Windows MultiPoint Server is a simple, cost-effective way for more students and teachers to gain access to the latest technology, improving learning and helping students prepare to compete in a global economy. With Windows MultiPoint Server, a single computer supports multiple users at the same time, each working independently using their own monitor, keyboard and mouse and with a familiar Windows computing experience. Schools can provide more students with access to the latest technology, even with limited budgets.

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again when I pack my bags and head off to Olympia. This year for the first time without my trusty sidekick (Kristen) and as the new UK Partners in Learning Programme Manager.Luckily I will have  Dan Roberts from saltash.net community school co-presenting with me. So I am sure our presentation will be slick and well rehearsed as ever.

This year we will be reflecting the stage of transition that we are currently in with the Partners in Learning programme. We will be highlighting and demoing the new Partners in Learning Network site, although still in Beta, we will be illustrating the new features and how it is a lot easier to add global collaboration  to your professional/personal learning network.

At past BETT shows we have always demonstrated some of the free applications from Microsoft that teachers are using in this classroom. This year we will highlighting the Learning Suite, this is an application that has aggregated many of our favourites , such as AutoCollage, SongSmith and Kodu into a simple downloader, simplifying the installation process. We will also share lots of ideas how such applications can be used in the classroom with a ‘playful learning’ theme. There may even be prizes!

One of the unique features of the Partners in Learning Network, that sets it aside from other so called ‘Teacher Networks’, is that we give something back. So that schools and teachers can  develop themselves professionally. Working with the SSAT we have developed a self review tool called, Partners in Learning Schools Research. This site allows School Leaders and teachers to identify the real ICT needs and areas of development of their school. This supports the 21st century transformation agenda, and allows schools to make informed decisions about the implementation of ICT to enhance and support learning.

One outstanding feature of the Partners in Learning Network is to bring teachers together to collaborate and share ideas, this is reflected in the teachers we have on the Microsoft stand. They include, amongst others, the brilliant Ollie Bray, who be presenting on Games based learning. Our stand has a dedicated Xbox and games area, you will find the Princess of Kodu herself, Nicki Maddams and the current genius that is the K-Team AKA Ray Chambers, Gareth Ritter and Jimmy Edwards.

It’s going to a great couple of days, so make sure you visit us, we can guarantee you will go away with a wealth of ideas, resources and contacts that will make your BETT visit worthwhile.

This week in the UK the BBC are running a week long series of events called Stargazing Live . If you were at the BETT show last week you will have seen us give a brief demo of WorldWide Telescope. This is an awesome free application from Microsoft that utilises images from space telescopes like Hubble and image libraries from NASA.

It makes an ideal companion to any activities involving Earth and Space, and can easily support astronomy events like Stargazing Live. Being free its ideal for your students to download and encourage them to get involved in astronomy. So, if you are out looking at the stars this week, avoid any disappointment as a result of cloudy skies and download this application from www.worldwidetelescope.org

WorldWide Telescope is also part of the Microsoft Learning Suite, which is a collection of Microsoft free software and is available on our Partners In Learning Network . Select Free Tools> Learning Suite and make sure you choose the UK English version.

Enjoy!

Last weeks huge announcement at BETT 2012 by Education Minster Michael Gove caused a lot of debate, interest and discussion. Especially on the Microsoft stand, where we had lots of questions about what this new curriculum might look like and what resources that  are available to support it. Amongst our offerings are Dreamspark, our developer tools for students (www.dreamspark.com ) and the many offerings from Microsoft IT Academy , including  the new resources to support gaming. So what role can Partners in Learning in supporting teachers in developing this ‘new’ vision of ICT.

We already have amazing teachers who are modelling and sharing best practice. Many of whom were on our stand at BETT, and if you

You can find more teachers like Gareth and expect to see more support on the Partners in Learning Network. www.pil-network.com

We have talked about the Learning Suite in a blog post in December. But since then we have undertaken some great work around its development and it’s evolving in to great free software and resources package for schools, teachers and students.

Inspired by some brilliant thinking from our Partners Manager, Mark Stewart, we have been able to add an additional tab, that allows companies that partner with us to give away free content. We have 7 partners on board and will be looking to add more in the the future.

Here are those Partners and an outline of the resources they are offering free through the Learning Suite.

Britannica

Providing free access to popular articles, images, study guides and games from the Britannica Online Schools Edition . With articles on the Solar System, Pollution, Percentages, Ancient Greece and Weather. There are Study Guides onPercentages, Human Eye and Ancient Greece and a collection of images, videos, & games about the Human Eye, Photosynthesis, Fractions and Literacy

Oxford University Press

Providing free access to 2 hours of English Language practice exercises, written by www.oxfordenglishtesting.com . A fantastic offer of Year free subscription to the online Essential GCSE ICT Test and Assessment Tool and Free access to Oxford Owl, providing parents guidance on primary reading, math and more

Nelson Thornes

Providing Math essentials, that offer tips and advice to help secondary students prepare for their exams. .

Hodder Education

Practice every question, supporting students through exams. Walk through questions, self assessment tools and customized question resources for teachers to use with their classes.

Global Grid for Learning

Global Grid for Learning provides a safe and reliable way for teachers and students to search, stream and download high quality and copyright-cleared learning resources from trusted content providers. Our growing library of over one million digital multimedia resources makes it easier for teachers to engage, motivate and inspire media savvy students.

Global Grid for Learning ensures teachers and students have seamless access to the digital content they need, when they need it for anywhere, anytime teaching and learning.

Autology

A PC content search tool that provides relevant, contextual content based on the work you are doing at the time. You can boost your assignment results by using Autology to place appropriate educational resources from leading media companies and educators at your fingertips.

SciencePhoto

Science Photo Library's Free Educational Starter Pack is a selection of scientific images and video clips that will assist you in creating lesson plans, stimulating class discussion and building engaging presentations and handouts.

You can only get these free resources through the Learning Suite from the Partners in Learning Network – www.pil-network.com and more importantly they are only available through the UK version of Learning Suite

You will need a Windows Live ID, or Facebook ID or Gmail ID or Yahoo ID to create your profile. Next click on Learning Suite by Microsoft link. On the next page click the download for free button.

The next stage is important in getting the correct version. When Learning Suite begins it’s installation process,  make sure the region selected is ‘United Kingdom(English). When the Learning Suite has installed you will have  access to some of our great free applications, and to the free content from these partners, by clicking on the Microsoft Partners Tab.

If you have already installed the UK version of Learning Suite, then run it again and it will update itself and add the partner tab.

If you are looking for support resources for many of the applications in the Learning Suite then, you should check out our YouTube Channel. This Learning Suite playlist has over 20, 3-5 minute videos created by Teachers explaining how to use these applications in the classroom.

Download Learning Suite for free resources and applications from Microsoft – www.pil-network.com

Want to give your students a voice? A voice of leadership? A voice that needs to be heard? Help them shout! Shout connects educators with rich content, tools and expertise that get students to take action on global issues.

New to the Shout programme this year are the Shout technical sessions. Join members of the K Team (a virtual team of teachers on the UK Partners in Learning Network and TakingitGlobal for the first session on Thursday, Feb 2 and learn how you can program and create interactive Shout games in the classroom.

The is your chance to discover and experience the work of the award winning Ray Chambers from Lodge Park Technology College. Ray has just won a Learning without Frontiers Award for Secondary School Innovation. He will share ideas and developments of using the Kinect SDK, to create applications for learning. Kinect is a webcam-style add-on peripheral for the Xbox 360 console.

This online webinar will also reveal how you can create your very own Kinect Shout Adventures game and provide educators and learners with a virtual platform to collaborate and share good practice.

 Register for the free Shout technical sessions here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Kinectintheclassroom

Participate in the wider Shout project and join the first of three interdisciplinary conferences, “Water Questions: When We Want to Learn More,” on Feb. 7-8. These sessions will be led by Smithsonian experts. Participants will gain not only a global view but also a broad perspective, from the art world to the zoo, from underwater to outer space, from current problems to future solutions. Register at www.shoutlearning.org to join the conferences.

Today commemorates the day Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne after the death of King George VI. Her coronation took place on the 2nd June 1953 and this year, on that date , there will be a weekend of celebrations to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

To mark this auspicious occasion the Royal Commonwealth Society  have announced a fantastic project called the Jubilee Time Capsule .  All you need to do is sign up, pick a day in the last 60 years and tell a story of why that day is important you. You can use photos, videos, words, songs, poems. The best story from each of the 22,000 days will be showcased in front of Her Majesty The Queen as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 2012. Could one of your students or your school be chosen?

If you are looking for some different approaches to telling a story digitally, then we have a number of free resources that can help. Have a look at this guide, Digital Storytelling in the Classroom , it has loads of tips and ideas.

Free applications such as AutoCollage, Songsmith, Moviemaker and Photostory 3 are great tools, you can download them individually from www.pil-network.com ,or if you have Windows 7 through the Learning Suite. For help and ideas in using these tools check out our YouTube Channel

So why not use these free tools with your class and students to create and tell a story for the Jubilee Time Capsule, you never know, you could be presenting it to Her Majesty The Queen.

With technology continuing to grow and the fact that children and young adults use the internet everyday, whether it be in the classroom, at home getting their homework done before dinner or chatting to their mates whilst playing the latest game, the question has to be asked, do they know and understand their children’ online lives?

Today, CEOP will be releasing ‘’The Parents’ and Carers’ Guide to the Internet at Safer Internet Day (SID), an entertaining and light-hearted look at what it takes to be an online parent.

 Think You Know have released a promotional pack which includes all the information you need to run an event for parents or activities for children ahead of SID. If you would like to download this, you can do so here, just click on the Key Stage area you are interested in.

Today, March 1st , Wales celebrates it’s patron Saint, St David. So it’s a good time to remind you of the Language Interface Packs that are available for Windows 7, Office 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010, of which welsh is one.

Language packs enable creation of sites and site collections in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of SharePoint Server 2010 or SharePoint Foundation 2010. Multiple language packs can be installed on the same server. You can download the Welsh Language pack and installation instructions here

Wales is a bilingual country and for schools having the ability to provide a welsh language version of their learning environment or portal is an important aspect, even more so in schools where pupils are taught through the medium of welsh and come from an english speaking background, having the school portal available in both languages is essential.

Mike Isted at Pembrokeshire Local Authority sees the welsh Language pack from Microsoft providing…

“The ability for teachers and pupils to use software through the medium of Welsh or English as an important facet of our approach to Microsoft Office and our SharePoint Portal.  Welsh language packs are a key part of this.”

If you are looking to support students and parents whose first language is not english, you can find out more about the Microsoft Local Language Program at this site, it may have resources that can help -

http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/community-tools/llp/

Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus

This is series of posts prompted by a recent tweet from Mike McSharry - @mikemcsharry , asking for some inspiring ideas for Microsoft PowerPoint. Now, it’s very easy to criticise the use of Microsoft PowerPoint and suggest other alternatives, but from experience those just end up getting used in the same way, with flashing, spinning animations, bright colours and loads of text for example. This video perfectly highlights the traps and pitfalls that presenters, be they students or teachers often fall into.

So here in my first add-in that I think can add something to yours and student’s presentations. Having to  ‘jump’ out of a presentation using a key combination or hyperlink can be a little distracting when presenting, so the LiveWeb View add-in is a great tool. It allows you to add a website directly to a PowerPoint slide, meaning that you do not have to leave your presentation to view or update the website.

The add in uses a macro and can be downloaded from this link.

 http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm

Then follow these simple instructions.

1. Extract the contents of the zip to a folder.
2. Launch PowerPoint.
3. Click on Tools | Add-ins to bring up the add-ins window.
4. Click on Add to bring up the 'Add New PowerPoint Add-in' dialog box.
5. Navigate to the folder where the contents of the zip file was extracted and select 'LiveWeb.ppa' and click on OK.
6. You might be prompted with the macro virus warning. Enable the macros. When the Add-in is properly loaded, it will display a 'X' against the add-in name.
7. That's it. You have successfully loaded the add-in. Now put it to use.

This slide from my BETT presentation shows the new Partners in Learning Network site LIVE in the slide. This means you can also use other PowerPoint features such as animations, alongside the site you are showing.

You can find a lot more out about how teachers are using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 in innovative ways in the classroom on our YouTube Channel.

It is award ceremony time at the moment, Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes. It unlikely that UK Partners in Learning has been nominated in any of those. But we have  been shortlisted for a 2012 NAACE Impact Award for Adviser or Consultant or Support Service, which is a fantastic achievement in itself.

To support our shortlisting I had to make a video showing the the impact that the UK Partners in Learning team has had on educators. A rummage through my hard drive produced a number of videos from which I was able to create this ‘rough’ compilation. How many of the UK Partners in Learning ‘super stars’ can you spot?

If we have had an impact on you and your learners, we would welcome and encourage you to tweet your support using the #naace hash tag. Or at least keep your fingers crossed, as we will be doing this Friday night.

Today is also World Maths Day . So this is a good time remind you of some great free Maths resources available from Microsoft.

Maths Worksheet Generator is a resource that we have not talked about  a lot. The idea of teachers just creating worksheets, didn't seem that innovative, but when you think of giving this tool to students, for them to decide on the maths problems they need to work on and practice, based on their evaluation of their own work, then it becomes a completely different idea.

The Maths worksheet generator will  generate multiple maths problems based on a sample, and then creates a worksheet. By analysing the maths problem you provide, or one of the built-in samples, the generator determines the structure of the expression and provides similar problems.It even produces the answer sheet too.

The Math Worksheet Generator works best with Word 2007/2010. If you have that, then the tool creates an editable Word document, it does work in other versions, but the worksheet is not editable.

So why not download Maths Worksheet Generator and get your pupils to create a worksheet to challenge their Parents to a Maths solving duel at home today.

Other Maths Resources

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 provides a set of mathematical tools that help students get school work done quickly and easily. With Microsoft Mathematics, students can learn to solve equations step-by-step while gaining a better understanding of fundamental concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, and calculus.

You can find out what Mathematics 4.0 can really do in this video

Free Teachers Guides for Mathematics 4.0 are available at
http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/mathematics_4.0.aspx

Add Math functionality to Office

A simple free add-in Microsoft Word and OneNote 2007 and 2010 and allows you to create solve and visualise equations directly from these Microsoft Office applications.

The Math add-in for Microsoft Word and OneNote is available for download at :

http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/office/2010/default.aspx#add-ins

Our UK Partners in Learning YouTube Channel has great video of how to use these add-ins in the classroom.

Remember that these resources are free to all educators and students. So why not celebrate World Maths Day by passing on the download links to them.

All these links and others are available in the free Microsoft Learning Suite .

After the great success of previous training Camps, we will be running another Easter Camp this year – this is an open invitation to all of you reading this blog to apply. So if you have time this Easter, perhaps your plans for other events and holidays have not materialised and you still want to spend time with other innovative educators, then this is an ideal event for you.

Easter Camp takes place at Microsoft UK Headquarters in Reading, starting 10:00am on Tuesday 10th April and finishing 4:00pm on Wednesday 11th April.

You will need to make your own arrangements for travel, however we would recommend the train. There is a free bus that will take you from Reading Station to Microsoft Headquarters.

Your accommodation cost will be covered and hotel booked by us. We have 15 free places.

This event is ideal if you have never had any experience of programming or developing games in the classroom, but have always wanted to. It is perfect for non – ICT Teachers who want to include programming into their subject. Also, if you are an ‘expert’ come along and share your expertise. Our training camps are always great fun.

What will I be doing at Easter Camp?

This year’s  theme is Playful Learning and gaming – and this will include  exploring ideas of how we can develop the use of Kodu and other gaming ideas in the classroom to developing student thinking and creativity.  You will work together to develop resources for you to take back to your school.

You will join a growing group of educators in the  Partners in Learning Network and have opportunities to contribute to the work Microsoft Partners in Learning are undertaking in education in the UK.

How do I apply?

We don’t want videos or lengthy biographies from you, to apply, just simply email  to itnukteam@hotmail.co.uk  before the closing date 12:00pm 19th March 2012 , your details, subject area, school etc.

What will I need to bring?

We expect you to bring some of the tools you are using already:

• If you have one, please bring a USB XBOX controller (not essential)
• a laptop running Windows Vista or Windows 7, with the following free downloads functioning fully:

Kodu, Movie Maker 2.6,  associated software such as Silverlight and .net framework installed.

All these FREE tools can be easily downloaded by installing the Microsoft Learning Suite.

What will I be expected to do?

• To create a teaching resource (we will help with this)
• To share what you have learnt when you go back to school
• Sign up to the Partners in Learning Network at www.pil-network.com
• Upload your teaching resource to the PIL network

You will receive a certificate welcoming you as a Partners in Learning Teacher and more ideas about how to enhance learning through the use of technology.

We are looking forward to receiving your applications. If you have any questions post a comment or contact us via email itnukteam@hotmail.co.uk

Get applying and Good Luck

In this guest blog post , Gareth Ritter describes a great free app from Microsoft Research

A still photograph is a limited format for capturing a moment in time. Video is the traditional method for recording durations of time, but the subjective “moment” that one desires to capture is often lost in the chaos of shaky camerawork, irrelevant background clutter, and noise that dominates most casually recorded video clips.

Here is a video  tutorial that shows how easy this is to do

At the moment I am teaching my year 7 classes about the Orchestra, I have taken a clip from You Tube and selected the conductor as

the focal point, by using this tool I am able to help the pupils concentrate on the conductor by freezing the rest of the clip. I could do exactly the same if i was to talk about the brass section or even separating the 1st violins from the 2nd violins. This tool will make it easier for me to explain.

You can download Cliplets here

If you are still not sure what sort of effects Cliplets can produce then keeping checking out the Bing home page, that often uses a still picture with a moving effect.

This year’s Microsoft Partners in Learning European Forum took place last week in Lisbon , Portugal. Teachers and Educators from all over Europe attended to share, explore and understand best  practice in the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Like at  previous events, the UK took an innovative and inspiring group of educators. Four award winners from our UK forum in November:- Lindsey Purdon, from Calderglen High School, Nicki Maddams, from Hartsdown Technology College, Ray Chambers, from Lodge Park Technology College and Katie Boothman, from saltash.NET community school.

The pressure was on these guys as they were entrants in the Innovative Teacher awards that happen every year at this event. Accompanying them were school leaders from some our Innovative Schools here in the UK, these were Julie Taylor and Richard Markey from Havant Academy, Nick Jackson form Fulford High School and Ian Whittaker from Willows High School. We were also lucky enough to have two of our former award winning teachers, Gareth Ritter and Mandeep Atwal who were delivering workshops to  this international audience.

The teacher awards are a focal point of this event and our four teachers delivered excellent presentations of their projects, but the competition was very tough, with the rest of Europe ‘raising their game ‘ somewhat from previous years. But , I am very pleased to say that we, yet again, produced an award winning teacher. Katie Boothman from saltash.NET community school, was the overall winner  in the award for outstanding use of technology to support learning outside the classroom.

Katie’s project called The H.I.T. squad is underpinned by utilizing students' passions for ICT and History to fully create their own resources which can be used as a teaching resource within lessons, in addition to resources used to within partner primary schools. She saw how much students loved using new technologies and she wanted to embrace that so she created this project. The objectives were: to use ICT to increase knowledge of and enthusiasm for History; to facilitate pupil led teaching and learning within peer groups; to develop links within the broader community using ICT and to encourage students to read, write, and peer assess one another’s work through the use of new technologies.

You can see some of the H.I.T. squad in action on Katie’s blog:

http://historywithmissboothman.edublogs.org/

You can read more about the project from this newspaper article here:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Teacher-Katie-wins-prize-innovation/story-14258802-detail/story.html

Katie will now join us at the Worldwide Forum being held later this year in Athens. Congratulations Katie, and many thanks to the rest of the UK team for your outstanding efforts. It was a pleasure to showcase such outstanding, innovative and inspiring work.

PiLEF Lisbon VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

How many have heard of the organisation Apps for Good? 

Their goal is to

• Ignite a passion for technology and social enterprise in young people in the UK
• Encourage young people to use technology to tackle problems for social good
• Increase the entrepreneurial skills and confidence of young people
• Bridge the gap between young people and the business networks and knowledge that can help them
• Build a connected world of young people, business volunteers and educators, inspiring each other to solve problems and succeed through the wonders of mobile technology

You may not have associated Microsoft applications and programmes as having a role to play in this programme,  but at Shireland Collegiate Academy in Sandwell, West Midlands,in September 2011, Year 9 students began an innovative approach to learning in the ICT and Design Curriculum by adopting the Apps for Good programme.

The Apps for Good course allows students to use a unique 5 step approach, to think about solving a local problem, with the help of mobile technology. It allows students to investigate and experience the Marketing, Audience Business and Enterprise aspects of the wider world. 

Apps for Good helps teachers approach ICT and DT teaching differently, as it helps bridge the gap between young people and  business networks. Students have access to technology professionals who give advice and feedback to student ideas.

Apps for Good has helped Shireland Collegiate Academy look differently at their provision of Design and Technology and its relationship with ICT and DT,making them rethink their whole curriculum delivery model. They are looking at various pathways to shape a new model and naturally develop and extend the changes that Apps for Good has brought with it. One possible way forward that is being considered from September 2012, is to run Apps for Good alongside Microsoft .Net Gadgeteer, as they see the connections between the two technology solutions in their school.

Microsoft .Net Gadgeteer allows students to use an open-source toolkit for building small electronic devices using the .NET  Framework and Visual Studio/Visual C# Express. This allows students to learn about the Mechanics and Science behind the technology they use.

Through this innovative approach students gain an appreciation of the collegiate nature of project work and the need to reach consensus. They benefit greatly from the ability to concentrate on a single project for a period of time and to iterate improvements. And as Shireland is also a Microsoft IT Academy, Microsoft Technology Accreditation will be used on the programme and students will be able to boost their technology skills as well as career opportunities.

They are also seriously considering the new Microsoft AQA Computer science GCSE qualification as a different avenue that students can gain a useful qualification through. It builds on the work the students in Year 9 have already undertaken in Apps for Good such as learning how to design, create and develop their own mobile apps to solve real-world problems and run these on mobile devices.

Along with resources that Shireland are utilising, you may want explore the potential of all Microsoft’s development tools, which are free to students through the Dreamspark programme . It includes free programming environments, that would be ideal for students to create their own Apps

So if you are interested in offering Apps for Good, applications for school partners for 2012/3 are currently being accepted, with a deadline of 30th of April 2012.  To find out more about the course and how to become a partner, visit  http://appsforgood.org/course/apply/.

This year is the Turing centenary,  So, to commemorate this BCS has launched a BCS Education Bursary www.bcs.org/bcsbursary

The idea of the British Computer Science Education Bursary is to promote the importance of computer science as an academic discipline. Schools, further education colleges and universities in the UK can apply for funds of either £500 or £1000 that will help them deliver training or support projects that will encourage learners to benefit from computer or computing related studies.

Examples of the sort of thing they might fund: Set up an after-school club; Fund a teacher day out with an IT professional; Run an entrepreneur group for undergraduates; Book a teacher on a training event.

To apply, complete the online application form and tell the BCS about your proposed project and how you plan to measure its success.

There will be something like thirty to fifty of these, so if your interested make sure you get the application in on time. The closing date for applications is 1st June 2012.

Have you heard of TALIS?, if not, I bet you have heard of PISA, the worldwide evaluation in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries of 15-year-old students scholastic performance, performed first in 2000 and repeated every three years. It is coordinated by the OECD with a view to improving educational policies and outcomes.

So what is TALIS? another PISA?, we were lucky to have an explanation at our recent Partners in Learning European Forum in Lisbon. One of the Keynote presentations was from Senior Analyst at OECD, Kristen Weatherby. ( Yes, that is the very same Kristen that used to hang around with the Partners in Learning UK Team.)

In her presentation, Kristen was clear that the OECD believe that effective teaching and teachers are key to producing high performing students. TALIS is the Teaching and Learning International Survey and is the first international survey to focus on the learning environment and the working conditions of teachers in schools. She also made the point that this survey is not about ranking teachers and their performance. The OECD plan to use the data to :-

•Analyse data based on research questions that correspond to country priorities.

•Provide international data comparisons for countries.

•Examine implications of data for education policy.

•Look at the conditions that promote effective teaching.

During her Keynote, Kristen presented some of the types of questions that could appear in future surveys. The audience was asked for their response and the outcomes discussed.

Why not try the sample survey for yourself at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QJSPBJC – I will publish the results on this blog in a few weeks.

For me, the most surprising findings for these questions that Kristen elaborated on, were the responses to the questions ‘

For the professional development in which you participated in the last 18 months, on average, how much did you personally have to pay for? ‘   and

‘What impact did the professional development activities have on your teaching?’

The pilot survey found that most effective professional development teachers said they had experienced was that they paid for themselves. Which is very interested in a world where Twitter is often quoted by Teachers as ‘the best professional development I have ever had’

So what do you think? Is TALIS going to help Governments form and devise policy to support teachers to implement effective teaching, or like some sceptics have suggested, will it be another stick to beat the profession with. Your thoughts and comments would be most welcome.

Today marks the end of an era. For those that have followed this blog over the past few years you  will know of the active involvement and support of Dan Roberts from saltash.net community school in Cornwall for Partners in Learning. Dan aka @chickensaltash is moving on to bigger things and today is his last day at his school.

Dan has been an avid supporter of Partners in Learning and Microsoft education and has illustrated time and time again how the work we do adds value for teachers and learners.

We have shared many adventures of the past 5 years, many we have shared on this blog and others, well the least said about those the better . On behalf of myself, Microsoft UK Education team and your Partners in Learning friends and colleagues around the world. Thank you Dan, it’s been a joy and a pleasure. Keep in touch.

Please join me in wishing Dan all the best in his future endeavours, either leave a comment on this blog or tweet him @chickensaltash with the hash tag #msftpil