Go Compare …

We have a GTP student in school who when she saw Studywiz said how easy it was to use. She has come from a Moodle school and although she said it has some nice features it was not easy to navigate and took ages to put resources up for the children. The comment went on to look at other platforms such as uniservity which looks a bit like moodle and it was twice as many clicks of a mouse to get a homework resource up.

It is interesting that LPs these days have developed considerably but with flashy front end graphics but the core functionality and easy of use must out way the glossy cover. If it is not totally user friendly teachers will not use it. One example of a LP I came across recently was they had a nice testing feature where you could add multiple choice, multiple answers and compare words type questions but there was no facility to let the children know what questions they got right or wrong. They only got a mark! Where is the learning power behind that - pah!

LPs are all about extending, enhancing, enabling learning 24/7 in a flexible way. The hint is in the title.

Still continuing to develop our use of this and embed in best practice. We still need a generation of teachers who think learning and enable technology to assist. Not sure what others think?

Children and adults: highway, or byway

We are calling Studywiz in Southampton ‘eCity’, and held an information event last night at the school I started my teaching career in, Sholing Junior School (a very successful school, I might add). My thanks to the Head Teacher, Marc Parnell, for the use of their facilities. I was keen to keep my input to a minimum, and use the event as a showcase of the excellent progress that has already been made by Southampton schools.

I was also keen that, if possible, the schools represented would bring children along to both present, and demonstrate to adults what they could do. Well, what an effect that had. The usual quiet listening occurred, and I gazed across the room at the assembled tired teachers, hoping they wouldn’t become glazed. That didn’t happen, and the input from all the adults (including Hilary from Etech, who brought her usual gravitas and credibility to the situation) was excellent - enthusiastic, concise and clear, keeping everyone present informed and, importantly at this time of year, awake!

However, once the children were able to contribute, the room began to buzz, and the examples of what kids could do ellicited applause, and there was a great response to live chat between the children present, and those back at their own school. Subsequently, the kids then mingled with the adults, and showed them what they have done, what they love about Studywiz, and answered questions. They will always amaze me, and I’m chuffed the event went so well.

There was also proof that the practice in one school, to use children to train adults and other children, is going extremely well, as I have advised all along. If you’re reading this, and are implementing your Studywiz deployment, remember that children are the key to a smooth rollout. They were born in an age of web based technology, and are guaranteed to speed your journey.

Word of Mouth, and Implementing Studywiz

In Southampton, we are now deep into the second phase of our implementation, and the feedback from teachers attending training has been great - with them all really eager to get going with their classes, and start using Studywiz. We’re planning to hold an information event at a Southampton school, on the 1st December for those schools who are yet to show interest, where I want to involve teachers from across the city and, more importantly, children, so that we can show people how the thing works with real examples of great practice (and shock some adults, at how kids can pick up ICT skills faster than them!)

What I’ve become very aware of, especially in a unitary authority such as ours, is that word gets about. Last week, we had a small surge of schools who expressed their interest for the first time, even though they’ve not previously been in contact, or attended our launch events. It’s clear that teachers have been talking, and that the practical experiences of those who’ve been trained are being shared across Southampton. I’ve also heard that there is talk about the content that we purchased to be hosted on our deployment, and that it is creating a buzz as well.

In marketing, there is the ‘Viral’ approach to promoting a product, or an idea, and I can see how this works. In our case, we are providing something much better than a product or a brand - a set of tools that can really make an effective difference to Learning, and that is why the word has spread so quickly.

Studywiz in Southampton

Hi, I’m Daryl Misselbrook, and I am a teacher of ten years’ experience who has been seconded to the post of Senior ICT Development Officer, to implement Studywiz in Southampton. We have 27000+ school children in the City, and I’m really excited about giving them the chance to learn in a way that mirrors the best elements of social networking sites, in a safe and manageable form. We already have a commitment from a third of our schools, and I’m working hard to get the rest on board - more a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. I’ll try to let you know how well it’s going, and what hasn’t worked so well.

I am a parent, and a devout Sotonian (of Southampton, from Southampton), and I really want this to work for our city’s young people. Watch this space!

Craigmount High School, Edinburgh

James (Jamie) Whiteside is a teacher of Computing at Craigmount High School in Edinburgh, and for the last few years he has been working hard to develop and embed the use of Studywiz in his own school and across Edinburgh.

Recently, Craigmount was inspected by HMIe and after speaking to Jamie, the students, and other members of staff, the inspectors highlighted the school’s use of Studywiz as one of two areas of good practice.

I met with Jamie recently and he said that, interestly, he felt the inspectors were not entirely sold on Studywiz after speaking to him alone, it was only when they spoke to the students that they started to understand the impact it was having on learning.

Here’s a paragraph from the report:

Young people can work with published materials at a time and place which suits them and their learning style. The system encourages innovative methods of supporting young people. For example, one teacher has set up an evening chat room to offer support. The system encourages peer evaluation of published work through gallery resources. It motivates young people by allowing them to access interactive flash games and self-marking assessments. Evaluation of the activities indicate that young people feel this facility is a valuable resource.

HMIe Inspection Report for Craigmount High School.

Jamie and the school are of course still developing the use of Studywiz and he has some ideas about how they can continue to move forward at Craigmount and the other Edinburgh schools.

We’ve asked Jamie to contribute to this blog so watch out for his posts in the near future.