Today I am trying to deliver some training to ICT trainee teachers in Norfolk, Suffolk, London and Liverpool. Hopefully we will be able to use flashmeeting to have a discussion about the key elements of an ICT lesson.
A few weeks ago I gave a training day for ICT GTs from Norfolk and Suffolk. After the training the group were invited to post a comment to my blog to give their evaluation. They also identified 5 key points from the training that they would try to implement into their teaching. To view their comments, click here.
We are going to try to use Flashmeeting to enable the trainees to report back on how their teaching practice is going and whether they have managed to implement any of the key elements. We will hopefully also be joined by some other ICT teachers in London and Liverpool.
I would like the participants to give some feedback on the experience by posting a comment below.
Consider some of following issues:
- How easy was it to get the equipment to work and to connect?
- How good was the sound and picture quality?
- Is this idea of enabling teachers to share their experiences a worthwhile project?
- How could we make the next conference better?
Comment by Mike Summers
6 October 26, 2006, 12:18 pm o'clock |
I thought the whole thing was generally very good.
It was really easy to set up and worked- what more do you want?
As for the session itself I thought that the “self help” approach was very useful and I think the “coaching” approach empowered the people taking part- as they came up with the answers which were relevant to them.
Its very easy as a teacher to give golden nuggets of information to students and dress them up as perfect solutions, when in practice these solutions may not work in a class where the relationships between teacher and students, that allow the golden nugget to work have not yet been formed.
It also allowed our students to see that the problems that they were encountering where shared and this proved to be a big confidence boost as when you are a student the first question that normally arises is “Is it me?”
Comment by Howard
5 October 24, 2006, 11:19 am o'clock |
Thanks for the flattering pix of me eating a sandwich!
Video conf was very interesting and informative. Had a number of good ideas like instead of turning monitors off (bad 4 them) get the girls to put the mouse and keybd by the side of the screens. I need to see if Smartboards can have a countdown timer. Nice visual reminder to the girls how much time they have left on a task.
Had a few technical issues with VC though. Had some bad lag on a few people’s conversations and some people cut out b4 they had finished talking. Odd. Also got booted out by the server twice. But the principal is very good. Practice makes perfect and with an agenda next time and maybe an order of who’s going to speak for a couple of the important items so that there is guaranteed input from everyone. Those that contributed really had some very useful ‘on the job’ ideas and have given me things to try out and report back 4 the next conf. Do we have a date yet.
Are the comments we all wrote on the ‘chat’ at the time available for dl to refresh memories on points made?
cya
Howard (Notre Dame - Southwark)
Comment by Alex Savage
4 October 19, 2006, 11:01 am o'clock |
I really like the idea of using the blog to introduce the theme of the conference. It would also be great to get the group’s initial ideas on the issue as this would help us all to focus our minds before we start. We could do this by posting comments on the article.
Our next training day for Norfolk/Suffolk GTs is on the 23rd Nov and the theme is delivering KS3. It would be great if we could do a video conference in early Dec on one aspect of the strategy. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Comment by Jo Minns
3 October 19, 2006, 10:46 am o'clock |
The flashmeeting was an interesting way for teachers and trainee teachers to communicate, with slight improvements it could easily become a very useful way to communicate and share ideas.
1. Setting up was very simple, perhaps helped by Alex’s easy to follow emails.
2. The quality of both sound and quality was acceptable with only a very slight delay. Most people I could hear clearly and it was simple enough to adjust the sound if I had difficulties hearing anyone.
3. Sharing experiences/ideas is definitely worthwhile - personally, I find it helpful discussing issues with colleagues and trying to work out methods of prevention. Sharing with people in a similar position to me also helps me understand that it is not just me and I am not alone.
4. To improve the conference I think it needs to have a specific focus/topic.
Hope this is of some use Alex. Thanks
Comment by Kirsty Brown
2 October 17, 2006, 4:50 pm o'clock |
The equitment was really easy to connect, as Alex had it all ready for me.
The picture and sound quality was superb. I found there was absolutely no time delay.
It was very useful to hear others ideas and to be reassured that we are all experiancing very similar problems.
I like the idea of an agenda.
Thanks for this experience Alex.
Comment by Derek
1 October 17, 2006, 4:38 pm o'clock |
How easy was it to get the equipment to work and to connect?
IT Techs fitted to school PC without any problem. Also installed it at home.
How good was the sound and picture quality?
Fine - ALEX kept shouting. Jez came and went.
Is this idea of enabling teachers to share their experiences a worthwhile project?
Yes, back to your exercise on focus. We can talk and type and pass on ideas to each other. Screen recording is 1 of the ideas I would like to investigate.
How could we make the next conference better?
As was said in the conference. Post topic for discussion on the blog before we start. Still like the idea of anything to say at the end though.
These are my quick reactions. I may add some more considered ones later.