The week after

The conference is over. Enjoyable as it was whilst it was happening it is good to have it completed so that we can start planning for next year.

 There are a number of things to consider for next time:

• when in the year is the best time – there are many conferences at this time of year so this creates difficulties for schools to send people along
• does the additional networking time make up for the extra cost to delegates of a two day conference
• how do we get more representatives from other subjects to better reflect the bredth of ICT that occurs in a school

We also need to consider what issues need to be addressed in the next conference (and along the way before that). A few that came up in discussion with delegates were:

• Internet safety – is block, bar and ban the appropriate response to the internet
• Sustainability – as the costs of simply maintaining a school netwrok soar towards the £150,000 pa level, how do we create opportunities for developing ICT use further
• How can ICT teachers keep up to date with the rapidly changing options with regard to software

Comments on all or any of the above welcome.

Mike Cameron

Day One

At last the conference begins!

Today we have a keynote from our major sponsor, EDS. We will hear about their apprentice porgramme, both from the managers and from the apprentices themselves.

Our other sponsor, School Trends, will be showing some of their latest web technology later in the day.

Through the day, there will be interactive sessions with many of the subject associations who will be looking at how their subjects are using ICT in the classroom.

Please let us know about the sessions as you go through the day using the comment facility on this blog.

You can also access the online feedback form at www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk/ictevaluation This form cannot be saved so fill it in at the end.

Music and ICT session 2

Working Creatively with loop based sequencers.

 

It is common for students when working with sequencer software such as Acid, EJay or Garageband to use samples that have been created by other people.  The purpose of this session is to show that students can easily create a collection their own samples. This in turn gives them a stronger sense of ownership of the final product and encourages a more creative approach to using technology. The flexibility of this project makes it relevant to a wide range of work from KS2 to GCSE. Delegates will use an mp3 recorder to record original samples played on musical instrumetns and other sound sources. These recordings will be transferred to computers using a USB lead. Delegates will then import these samples into Audacity for further editing. These recordings will be saved as mp3s and imported into a samplebank which will be available to all delegates. Each delegate will import a selection of these recordings into a  loopbased sampler where they will be combined to create a piece of music. the final result will be saved as an mp3 file. This activity could be used in individual or group based work

Music and ICT session 1

Across the Great Divide ~ using ICT in music lessons to engage the disaffected.   

David Ashworth shows how teachers can use ICT to make authentic connections between the music young people enjoy out of school and the musics we are trying to engage them with in the curriculum.  We go on to consider how appropriate use of ‘social’ software can have a transforming effect on how music teachers can radically restructure teaching and learning.

Subject Associations

I am delighted that many of the Subject Associations will be attending the conference to present on the first day. This is due in no small part to the help of Richard Hammond at Becta who started the organisational ball rolling on this.

Last year the workshops by Subject associations were very well recieved, providing delegates with an excellent start to the conference.

Over the coming days we hope to have articles written by the Subject Association presenters to let you know what to expect from them, and also to give you the opportunity to feed into their presentations.

2007 ICT Conference Blog

The 2007 SSAT ICT Conference will this year be held at Horwood House, Nr Milton Keynes on 7/8th June. For booking details please click here.

The conference will focus on the challenges faced by schools in delivering a quality entitlement at Key Stage 4. 

Speakers will address leadership, pedagogical and practical issues to help delegate schools ensure that they can provide the best possible ICT at KS4, whether through the delivery of ICT qualifications or by the provision of a properly planned and monitored provision across the curriculum.

Sessions will range from advice on mapping and monitoring the curriculum to manipulating the moving image in Moviemaker. In addition we will be looking at a number of innovative uses of ICT in other curriculum areas as well as providing further information about the new IT Diploma.

There will be an exhibition area on day one where you will be able to see technology for the classroom.

This blog has been created to allow you to interact with the conference team and to help shape the conference before it starts. There will be opportunities to interact with some of the key note speaker before the conference as well as to discuss aspects of their presentations afterwards.