The blog entry in March "We're in the Money!!!" told us about a successful bid with WOA NTLCP (Whole Organisational Approach & Learning Change Programme). The project sounded exciting, I understand it is now running. Could the team leaders let us know more about the project? Thank you.

Availability of AdEd equipment

I'm wondering if there are any more kits available, or if they're all being used. In my role as a mentor I've suggested that my mentee looks at this Blogger to see how technology can be used to enhance learning and I'm hoping to discuss with him my own ideas for devising some language teaching materials. It was very useful to refer to Alexsandra's postings on this site. I hope to hear from someone from AdEd in the know soon!

Quality cameras!

I've just noticed the pixellations of the middle photo in the blog I posted a few minutes ago. Some learners brought their own cameras along and used both their own and the cyber shot. The contrast between the photos taken with the older cameras and those which were taken with the Sony Cyber shot, just shows the quality of the AdEd cameras! I hope other tutors are having success with them and enjoying them.

New laptop is great but a question here for Jane ...

I'm putting this question on Blogger as I imagine others might want to know the answer. When using Power Point, on the laptop I had before I could change the font on the tool bar. On the new laptop, I have to go to Format to change the font. Is there a straightforward way of bringing that to the tool bar? I hope that question makes sense! Thanks.
We had a creative time with power point, placing text on photos, playing around with size of photos and colour, font and size of text. We'll have a great presentation to show by the end of this course!

Community textiles group uses technology

We're doing a project on the River Severn, and this morning went down to the river and took photos.

When we got back, we were temporarily locked out so we had an early lunch and started copying the photos onto the laptop.

So once we got into the room we were ready to learn how to make a Power Point presentation.

Learners are keen to make short videos and power point presentations of trips to the river.

At the show

We've just got back from the Three Counties Show, where I was part of the team promoting the "Healthy Lifestyle" project sponsored by the Food Standards Agency. Part of that involves getting children interested in food and one of the hits of the weekend was making butter in jamjars.

All you have to do is to put about 150ml of ordinary double cream into a large, clean jamjar and shake. A bit of music helps - we used "La Cucaracha" - so you can jiggle and wiggle and get some exercise at the same time (sorry, no video of that!)

After ten minutes, voila! There's a nice pat of butter there, just ready to spread on a piece of bread, just like Kieran did with the batch he made (His Mum said we could use his photo) Or you can use the buttermilk which is left in the jar to make some great home-made scones for tea and spread your butter on those.

All good healthy stuff!

Your Videos

I have been asked to show some of your videos at the Ad-Ed Away on Tuesday 10th June and to talk about the blog. Although we are hopeful that this can be done via wireless internet access I would be really grateful if you could forward me one or two of your videos by email so that I have a back up. It will be a great opportunity to share your inspirational work with the team at Adult Education. If you have any comments on the blog those would be most welcome too. Thanks in advance! Jane

Mimio Training

Great news! We have secured the services of Ali Close for a Mimio training session on Monday 30 June 1.30 - 4.00. Ali, who works for NIACE, is a big Mimio fan. I am hopeful that Gill and Maggie will be revising their 0/10 score for the poor Mimio by the end of the session. The training will take place at Quayside House. Please can you let me know if you plan to attend. By the end of the session you will be able to a) set up the Mimio with confidence and b) state how you could use it to enhance one of your sessions. I am hoping that Ali will post an introduction to the blog in the near future.

digital photos and fabric

quite a lot to catch up on - just a brief blog to demonstrate I havn't disappeared! I am a student in one of Lizzie's textile courses. Now more confident and a little more knowledgeable, I have been experiementing with another learner, Jill, to print photo images onto fabric. Being able to work it out with Jill made a big difference. We literally ironed out a couple of problems - ensuring the fabric was very carefully ironed and cut to the freezer paper - prior to going through the printer. We have some great results and I am sure I wouldn't have tried this without being part of this project. Jill has been enjoying her digital photography for some time - but says that without the encouragement to bring these skills into her textile work she would not have thought of it. Just shows how one things leads on to another.