Great photographs

Lizzie is posting some fantastic work onto the AdEd Flickr site these days. If you haven't taken a look recently, you should. Click on the link in the sidebar - it's that easy.

Thanks for sharing Lizzie - and please tell your learners how much I am enjoying their work. They are creating some wonderful art!

Log on, Reflect and Progress

Tutor training at the Star College this evening

Initial assessment

Summative assessmentSatisfying progress captured in two photographs, don't you think?

Talking of photographic evidence, Hilary was thrilled to print out the photo she'd just taken with her new camera on Gill's Pogo!

Everybody wants one now...

She took a photograph of the QIA exercise about intial assessment, saving the bother of writing all those sentences down and keeping a photographic record of the activity.

A pity the internet connection went down just as we were about to blog and Reflect....but we made up with it by eating more sandwiches.

Observation team training

Somehow me, a newby, has been asked/told to blog about the training yesterday. very useful and helped me focus on what I need to be looking for...and at, when observing sessions. I've joined the LLN team just this week having worked in work-based training for the last 17 years as a tutor and manager. There's loads to learn - strange being on the other side of the fence - but everyone is very welcoming and friendly. Excellent trainer..Sean from Halifax or somewhere up there!! I'm a very southern girl - Cornish by birth. He was very good at making us think and explain why we came to the conclusion we did..must be some good teaching techniques there...

Furrowed brows

Mimeo training this afternoon.

Quite a few furrowed brows, more than quite a few leads and plugs and bits and pieces. But as always with the advice and encouragement of a great tutor, the impossible seems to be achievable and by the end of the session, we were generally converted to this clever bit of kit. Thanks Ali, for tackling the challenge of teaching us with such good humour and thanks to Jane for setting it all up.

Now we wait to see what happens as a result. Who will use it first? Who will blog about it first? Watch this space!

Success!

woops

obviously done something wrong - not patient enough I think - will try again tomorrow to upload video
sara

my 'birds of paradise'

thought I would share with you one of my 'birds of paradise' - learners joined me last Saturday to make their own moving puppets. I love the movement they make.

Evidence?

Evidence from the beginning of the session

Evidence from about half way through

Evidence remaining at the end of the session.

To satisfy RARPA requirements, the photographs are date and time stamped and even though the quality isn't so good in photographic terms, hopefully the images are clear enough to provide an adequate level of evidence.

Evidence of what, though?

- That it was a useful and well-run session?

- That the participants did not have a fulfilling breakfast before arriving?

- That biscuits are more popular than "superfoods"?

Actually, photographs on their own don't prove a great deal and I think I need to add a bit more information and some further comments to satisfy the RARPA bird.

Of course, he's only a figure of my imagination (and a few too many biscuits perhaps), but don't you think he's quite cute?

And not scary at all.

Brockworth - what a focussed group - doing so well!

You can see from the total focus and concentration of the group in the picture (forms duly signed!!) they are enjoying learning about I.T at Brockworth, spending time collaborating and showing their peers skills they have learnt whilst at the class. The class has morphed into the learners doing small projects that are most relevant to their everyday lives, which is ensuring that they remain interested. We have made fliers and business cards as well as written letters and emails, surfed the web for holidays, registered for a new email account and joined facebook!

We even managed to find a way of putting us all (small group that night) in the picture using the new digital camera!! The camera is now in "the field" - with a student taking photos of things she wishes to include in the newsletter or movie they are producing! Sorry Jane CD - made more sense to give it to student to collect pictures of what they do during the week.

I have not managed the video side of the camera yet, I have tried a few times but it doesn't seem to work for me (not actually very good with "equipment" I need to be shown rather than given, left to sort it out, and take it to class!! anyone else in the same boat?)

We have though made a rough movie on Movie Maker, again using photos rather than video with text boards and music. We are experimenting in using sound recordings as well and are now trying to put the speeches over the music.

I am trying to record sound bites from the students on how they found the course, what they felt like at the beginning etc. Both learners and tutor are enjoying trying the different things out. (Might be good to hold some Saturday workshops for tutors (obviously paid!!) to show us how to "do things" on the PC and using the new bits of equipment new to tutors as I along with most other tutors will be spending a lot of their OWN time playing with the new bits and pieces on offer before going to class.

Also thank you to Andrea at the Library for putting John Moore Museum curator in touch with us - we had brilliant presentation on Gypsies and Travellers of old with a DVD and items from a memory box. We all enjoyed the evening and it was followed through with a visit by the Gypsy/Traveller children to the museum for their own personal tour. Must email curator and see if he will sign the 'model' form! then I can put it on the blog.

Also including as an indulgence as I know you are all interested in a picture of "the wedding of the year" - Note French and English wedding cakes, and candyfloss machine, which I presume is a "French thing!!"