It’s probably the site we visit most often, probably several times a day! So we all know what to expect at Google.co.uk right? Well, here are some tricks that might have passed you by…

Let’s do a search for, let’s say, dogs. We enter “dogs” into the search box, hit enter and get a list of sites. If you look at the top of the list there’s a Show Options button. Ever clicked it? Go on, be brave! The list that then unfolds contains a few hidden gems. You can narrow the search results by type (video, news etc) or time, but it’s the views that interest me.

Under Standard view you have the option to show Related Searches, show a Wonder Wheel or a Timeline. Related searches just gives us the information we usually see at the bottom of a Google search page, but the Wonder Wheel is an interesting feature. It presents connections between related searches and your search term as an interactive diagram. Click the different nodes in the diagram to see how searches can branch out.

The Timeline

is handy view if you’re researching information about a historical person or event.

You can click any section in the timeline to zoom in on that time period. Want to change the time range? Click Search other dates above the timeline to enter new start and end dates. Alternatively, click the date links below the timeline to see results that mention that particular year, month, or day.

I’ll post a few other hidden features of Google in the near future, but I’ll finish this post with a great free resource from Google itself. If you want to learn more about how searching works and become a more efficient searcher, Google has published a set of lesson plans. These are well worth everyone looking at and would form the basis of a series of lessons for KS2 pupils (but they would need adapting to suit the age and ability of children). They can be found here.

In my constant quest for finding quality tools for free, I’ve come across Aviary – a collection of image tools, all beautifully designed and easy to use. The cornerstone of the collection is Phoenix a desktop image editor, perfect for those quick photo-editing tasks like cropping, rotating and touch-ups. Because it’s web-based, it’s always to hand and it loads really quickly. It also supports layers which is fantastic if you’re combining images.

Also in the collection is Toucan, a colour editor. This allows you to explore how colours are related and look together. Great if you’re looking at colour wheels and colour theory as part of an art project.

Other tools include Peacock, an effects editor (tricky to get the hang of to begin with, but great fun once you get going); Raven, a vector editing tool (comprehensive and easy to use). Finally there’s Falcon which allows you to mark up images and make easy screen captures.

Falcon is the application I use the most. If you’re using Firefox as your browser, I strongly suggest you install the Falcon plug-in (Talon) since it give you the power of this handy tool while you’re browsing the web. It’s great for making, cropping and saving screen captures. Yes, it has replaced Cropper as my preferred method for doing this!

Finally, a very handy trick is provided by Aviary. If you’re wanting to capture part of a webpage just type Aviary.com/ in front of the web address (URL) in your browser’s address bar. Try it!

Finally, why the bird theme? Apparently, it’s creation on the fly…!

As part of the SWGfL’s Regional Film Animation Competition, we here at Bath and North East Somerset have been having a wonderful time looking at the great entries for our Local Authority heat. The judges were really impressed with the standard of some of the animation and in particular some of the storytelling skills of our young animators. Pupils used a range of techniques, software and materials to make their animations and it is clear that creativity is alive and well in our classrooms.

The Results

I hope to update this table shortly with embed versions of the actual animation, using EuroCreator as a host.

Raising Boys’ Achievement and Interest in Writing – Regional ICT Conference Presentation by Spencer Cartwright 1st July 2009

Today was asked to speak again I spoke at the Regional ICT Conference at UWE on the subject of Boys’ Writing. This was an updated version of the presentation I gave last year which  offers ICT based strategies and resources to help motivate and engage boys more in the writing process with the aim of raising attainment. Since last year, we have seen Talk for Writing entering schools and this series of tools and techniques fits in with the strategies I talked about. This blog post is effectively an updated repeat of last year’s entry.

The Regional Conference is always a wonderful event and I always come back buzzing with new ideas and inspiration. I’ll endeavour to post a full report on here in the next week or so. The aim of this post is to provide support material and quick links to resources I used in the presentation. A link to a scaled down version of the PowerPoint presentation can be found here. It is also available from the SWGfL’s Conference page, along with the other presentations.

Raising Attainment

Following the last available SATs analysis, there are several key features of writing that can be developed further in order to achieve a higher level of attainment. I suggested that these could be arranged into three broad headings -  Sentence Structure, Sentence Content and Paragraphs.

Visual Literacy

There has been a number of projects and initiatives using visual literacy as a way of bringing another dimension to working with texts in the classroom. With the presentation technology of projectors, speaker systems and interactive whiteboards, the modern classroom is a great environment to make the most of what the rich and diverse material available has to offer.

I’m suggesting that the cinematic techniques and visual shorthand that is used in film and television production, can be used to support children in the structuring of their writing. After all, children are very media aware and are immersed in this rich visual world every day. The language of visual literacy is a language that they are already familiar with and seem to pick up almost intuitively.

For example:

Resources

AVS DVD Player – free DVD software that has a capture frame tool (also see Wendy’s post on capturing screen shots from Windows Media Player)

DVD Ripper – trial version of AOA DVD ripper which allows up to 10 minutes of a DVD to be converted into a file format to use with PowerPoint or other software. Please respect copyright.

PhotoFiltre – free image editing software that has a range of tools allowing photographs to be manipulates. Also see this post.

Photo Story 3 – Microsoft’s animated sideshow software

Comic Life and Kar2ouche can all be used by children to create alternative to written texts while exploring characterisation and settings.

The BBC’s Dr Who site has a Comic Maker and also the Trailer Maker.

Anasazi - Free Stop Frame animation software. Examples of Lego stop motion animation can be seen at Brickfilms.com. However, it is a site I wouldn’t recommend young children use but there are lots of useful tips and resources on the site. Also take a look at Cleoflics from the Cumbria & Lancashire Grid.

Teachers’ TV – great programs on Boys’ Writing (1 and 2) and Story Starts (1 and 2).

See our Helpsheets page for advice on creating mulitmodal texts and extracting elements from photographs and replacing backgrounds. There are also related posts on our blog here, here and here!

Finally, a version of the PowerPoint that I used today can be viewed here. Please note, this isn’t the full multimedia animated version due to size and copyright restrictions.

I would love to receive any feedback and in particular how you used any of these ideas or resources with children. Please leave a comment below or if you prefer, please email me.

Once again, the Regional ICT Conferences are approaching and booking has gone live today.

These events are always popular and places are snapped up quickly. We therefore advise that everyone books as soon as they are able, not only to secure a place at the conference, but also to have the widest choice of seminars.

The range of seminars is impressive at both conferences. There are workshops and presentation on personalised learning, parental engagement, Web 2.0 technology, visual literacy, Merlin and so much more. All the seminars and key note speeches reflect the current (and future) trends in ICT.

Also there will be a range of exhibitors representing many companies that supply ICT equipment and software to the educational market. It is a great opporutnity to meet with companies and to see what it new in the market.

In addition to all of this, there will be a new ‘Schools in Action’ area where schools and children will be showing what they have been learning using ICT and showcasing their talents to delegates. .

So, go and book your place now! Click here.

Futurelab has just published a new report on curriculum and teaching innovation that is intended to provide guidance for educators interested in exploring the potential of personalisation to transform curriculum design and teaching practices. It is aimed primarily at educational leaders involved in curriculum and teaching innovation including head teachers, curriculum managers, classroom teachers and local authorities. It should also be relevant to teacher training agencies and departments.

‘Curriculum and teaching innovation: transforming classroom practice and personalisation’ should be used for schools to devise aims and objectives for curriculum and teaching innovations, and to inform the decision-making process during long-term curriculum planning. The handbook is not a step-by-step guide to ‘doing’ innovation in school, nor a set of classroom resources.

To view the publication online and to request a FREE copy, please visit http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/publications-reports-articles/handbooks/Handbook1246

For futher information or if you wish to obtain multiple compies, please e-mail claire.denney@futurelab.org.uk

At 13:00 on Wednesday, 15th April 2009, the SWGfL Project Team relaunched the main SWgfL site, which not only brings a brand new look and feel, but also many improved features, including a new learning resource search (search by subject, key stage, school year and order by title, recency or popularity); a vastly improved service support information (find out the current status of core SWGfL services, find out how to order, download user guides, order forms & software and read the latest knowledge base articles from the SWGfL Helpdesk team) and better promotion of SWGfL projects and events – making it easier to find information on current promotions. This is just the first step in a major redevelopment of the site, and in turn the way that the SWGfL communicate.

Avermedia Visualiser

I have been having more and more conversations with schools about visualisers, especially following a training session where we have used one. In particular there is a great deal of interest in using them as a tool to help teachers with Assessment for Learning(AFL). Teachers really like the ability to take a child’s book and share the work within it easily with the class. Visualisers allow for immediate access without the need for scanning or photographing work. Using the supplied software, teachers (or of course children) can capture the image and share this electronically or annotate it in IWB software. Some companies’ software included annotation tools making this process seamless. Please click here for my previous post.

Pricing is always a factor for schools when equipping classrooms with new kit. In my opinion, a visualiser is only going to be used if the teacher has constant access to it since this will allow for ‘on the hoof’/spontaneous use, responding to the flow of lessons and children’s needs. A shared visualiser between several classes wouldn’t really allow for this. Prices currently range from around £350 upwards depending on the resolution of the image and the features included. If you are using one and would like the chance to win another one, just send Avermedia a copy of a lesson plan illustrating the way you have used a visualiser in your classroom. Click here for details.

If you are interested in looking at visualiers and other audio visual equipment Presentation Media  and HDi (based in Avonmouth) are holding an open day where teachers and IT subject leaders can meet various company representatives to discuss their requirements. If you couldn’t get to BETT this year, this might be a good opportunity. See their Open Day flyer.

Some of you may recall the Creative Archive Licence that was launched a few years ago. The idea behind it was that some of the archives of some of our quality broadcasters would be made available for use in education and creative projects.

From the BBC’s side of things, it all went quiet about two years ago. However, I stumbled across a new service that is located in the BBC’s Schools section – Class Clips.

This is a superb collection of over 2000 educational videos that aren’t only bits of stock footage, but extracts of educational programming  that can be used in a wide range of contexts. The searching is clean and simple and watching the clips is easy. You can view them via the web page or copy and paste various URLs so that you can hyperlink directly to just the video (see Video Options at the bottom of the right hand menu).

(And for those of you that read my last post, yes, the above image was created in three clicks!)

Every now and again you come across some little useful gadget that is a pleasure to use and makes your life so much easier. It is probably a sad reflection of my life that this little gadget has caused me so much delight recently.

Cropper is a screen capture tool. It allows you to drag its resizable rectangle over your screen and with a simple double clip put a jpeg image of the area into a folder on your system (or a bmp, or png…etc!). It even shows you the size of the capture in pixels – useful when you need to get something to fit certain dimentions.

It’s a joy to use and once loaded, it sits in your system tray. Click on it to activate, double click the rectangle to capture and save the image. Screen captures in three clicks. Does life get any better than this?! Click here to get it!