Epson PictureMate - What a Hoot!

Gizmo - from The Barn Owl Centre, Hempsted

Friday 13th Feb was the last session of Owl Babies at Tuffley Primary School.

To celebrate we had a very special visitor - Gizmo!

As part of the activity we took photos using a digital camera, and were then able to use an Epson PictureMate to print off photos in class - every child then had a photo to take home!

The PictureMate was VERY easy to use, take the SD card out of the camera, put into the slot on the PictureMate, choose the photo and print! Very quick, very easy and excellent quality photos!

I have booked out the PictureMate 'till July - but more are available - so go and see Jane C-D and get yours!

Next big thing?

I'm not sure how we'd cope with the permissions etc but I wonder if this might add a little something to our classes?

In the Times yesterday:

"...websites such as YouTube and Flickr already allow you to upload videos from computers but now mobile phones and a new breed of video camera (such as the Flip Mino) are upping the ante - allowing gig-goers or flaneurs to upload direct to the web without a computer"

(I had to look flaneur up in case it was something rude!)

I think we could extend the group to include learners and tutors, don't you?

Oh my, we'll all be media stars before we know it!

eeePCs

You may remember I posted about these PC's last year. We still have 10 of them waiting patiently to be used. Today I have been inspried by the different ways that just one of these eeePCs was used in Nottinghamshire.

Read how Nottingham used their eeePC

so..... Gloucestershire tutors, your challenge is to let me know how one or more eeePCs could make a real difference to your learners. I look forward to hearing your ideas and to getting these laptops out of the cupboards, working for our learners.

Laptop and Projector Set up

Following Lizzie's post earlier in the week here is a short video showing you how to set up your laptop and projector. A more comprehensive written guide will be placed with all projectors in future. However, if you have a projector and no instructions please contact Jane.Carter-Dunn@gloucestershire.gov.uk or call 01452 425923.

Lizzie I hope this will inspire you to get your projector back in action. With this new laptop and the Epsom printer I was also able to play video - which I know has been a problem with some of the older laptops where the video plays only on the laptop and doesn't project.

Please post any successes, problems, pleas etc about laptops and projectors here as we are just delivering new projectors across the county and so other tutors may be having the same issues.

Creative and Media materials

Some tutors who came to the core training events last term might remember the "wheel" activity about initial assessment? Although it was targeted at language tutors, we used it more broadly and many tutors found it an interesting discussion starter.

I now have a box of similar resources aimed at our Creative and Media curriculum and though I love them to bits - satisfying packaging, beautiful production values and some great concepts and starting points - I don't want to keep them to myself!

Why not have a look at these materials online, see if there's anything there you'd like to use - either with your learners, for your own professional development or simply to satisfy your curiosity. If, as a result of what you see, you'd like to borrow the whole pack (A4 size, 15cm thick and weighing just over 3kg) drop me an email and we'll see what we can do!

I intend to bring the materials to our next training event in any case but don't feel you have to wait!!

Not only that, but as a result of Subject Learning coach training, there are several copies of the Developing the Expert Learner and the Learning Maths materials in the county too. They of similar size and design to the Creative and Media materials and though they look beautiful on my shelf - coordinated colours and all of that - they'd look better still on your CPD record!

Ready, Steady, Learn

More from the eCPD Launch Conference last week. This shows what progress one group made in just 10 minutes with a Flip video and voice recorder. The video is on YouTube.

Laptop and projector

I'm wondering how other tutors are getting on with using the laptop and projector in their teaching. I haven't made the time to set the two up since I was unable to get them to work at the beginning of the autumn term. I was observing a tutor a couple of weeks ago and she was unable to get the projector to work. I so felt for her, she had very well prepared resources to use and couldn't. She dealt with the situation well and improvised but we all know how frustrating and upsetting this can be.

Some people reading this blog were at the Skills for Life Quality Improvement training a couple of weeks ago. You may remember the workshop leader being unable to get the projector to work. Three people came to her rescue and the problem was solved so she could continue with her presentation.

AdEd tutors are usually on their own setting up and running their sessions, no-one to help out when things go wrong. Most tutors in schools and colleges can find a technician. It would be so helpful for myself, and others I imaghine, to have a handout which went through the stages in setting up the projector and laptop, plus how to deal with frequently encountered problems. This could be laminated and given to tutors who would like to use the equipment.

We have talked about this before Jane, I wondered if it'd be possible for this to be produced and distributed soon so that we feel more able to use the equipment for the benefits of our learners.

Recording Learners

NIACE recently held an on-line discussion on voice recording and Alastair Clark produced a short video on the subject. This features Pauline Thomas who teaches ESOL for Adult Education. You can watch the video on YouTube

To tell the story

In the presentation this morning, Jane and I wanted to tell the story of the work of the Dream Team in a simple and interesting way. Thanks to this blog, I knew about the Microsoft Photo Story program and so I quickly put together a four minute "video".

Of course, Gloucestershire tutors will recognise their part in the story...you played a starring role!

Inspiring Tutors in Adult and Community Learning

That's the title of the presentation Jane C-D and I made at the eCPD conference this morning, showing all the good things Gloucestershire AdEd tutors are doing and sharing here on the blog and elsewhere. We took along some of our Flip video cameras, Pogo printers, eePCs, Sony cameras and Panasonic voice recorders and set the participants in our workshop a ten minute challenge: what could they achieve in such a short time with these nifty bits of technology?






In no time at all, they were filming, printing and recognising what powerful tools these were for recording learning and the air of excitement in the room was wonderful to witness.



We made a list of the achievements in those ten short minutes - quite a long list, actually.

They:

used Flip video to record learning :: bluetoothed an image from phone to pogo :: found the webcam on an eepc :: made a bluetooth connection for the first time :: printed using the pogo :: fell in love (with the pogo!) :: used the voice recorder :: found the USB on the Flip :: took advantage of peer support :: uploaded video to an eepc :: took a still photo with a digital camera :: recorded evidence using a camera :: identified further applications of the equipment in their own teaching :: took a photo with a mobile phone for the first time :: recognised the importance of learner involvement :: recognised the importance of recording the process of learning as well as the outcome :: had FUN!

Thanks to all the participants in our workshops - we had a ball working with you and enjoyed sharing what's going on in Gloucestershire with a wider audience. Thank you Sally, for being such great technical support and for holding it all together for us!

We're very proud of the work our tutors are doing and thank everyone for sharing so many great ideas.

Involving learners in setting assessment criteria

I think this is a really simple, but useful idea which would help us to get learners more involved in the assessment process. The tutor displays the mindmapping software with the task to be assessed in the middle. The learners then suggest how the task should be assessed and the tutors adds these ideas to the mindmap. The mindmap can then be displayed as learners work through the task to remind them of the criteria. Jane Griffiths has suggested this would be a really useful tool to use with ALDD learners and pictures or symbols could be used in place of words. Although this example is from a cookery class it could be used in any subject area. Let us know if you give it a try.

A list of free mind mapping software is available in Wikipedia.
This is just one of many ideas for assessment for learning taking from the NIACE publication Assessment for Learning. If you would like to borrow this publication please let us know.