More on Visualisers

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.

BBC Class Clips

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!)

Cropper

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!

Safer Internet Day

Tomorrow is Safer Internet Day which takes place each year in February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile phones, especially amongst children and young people across the world.

Since the first edition in 2004, participation in this event has been steadily growing, with an increase in general awareness, stronger involvement of relevant stakeholders in the field of internet safety and a high level of media interest.

In 2008 over 120 organisations in 56 countries took part in Safer Internet Day celebrations, organising local, national and pan-European events ranging from safety sessions in schools and competitions for young people to public meetings and conferences.

Schools are encouraged to do something to mark the day and many use it as a launchpad for other internet safety awareness related activities in their school.

Here are some useful links and resouces:

• Click here for resources some of which can support a school assembly.
• Safer Internet Day Event Page
• The Insafe Network
• Childnet
• SWGfL Safety Page
• Becta’s Safety Page

BETT 2009

January and the start of the New Year means that it’s time once again for BETT – the four day educational technology show held at Olympia in London. For anyone that has been will agree that is an overwhelming but dazzling spectacle of everything ICT. It is a great opportunity to see what is new on the market and to catch up with all the latest developments and trends.

Here are my three top picks from this year’s show:

Promethean: Their ActivPrimary software has been totally remodelled and revised. It is now called ActivSoftware Inspire Edition. It is a free upgrade. Users will need to register and then download the software from Promethan’s website. Apart from a new look interface, there are new tools and easier menus. The best new feature I feel is the ability to now recognise two or more pens on the board at the same time. This will allow multiple users at the board. All teachers will need to do is buy some more pens!

2Simple: Those busy people at 2Simple always have a new product to launch at BETT and this year they didn’t disappoint. 2Do It Yourself is a program that allows users to create their own interactive Flash resources – quizzes, puzzles, activities and games. It is for both pupil and teacher use and features 2Simple’s user-friendly tools and interface. Take a look at it at 2Simple’s site.

Table top interfaces: Ever since Microsoft revealed their revolutionary ‘Surface‘ technology, companies are working hard to make this the next big thing! Microsoft’s Surface is truly amazing to see and use. Not only is it so simple and intuitive to use, the applications that Microsoft are developing are useful and make superb use of this new interface. SMART have released their SMARTTable which is effectively a SMARTBoard mounted in a table. It allows multiple users at once and is a self contained unit for which users can download more content and update the table via a USB port. It’s pricey, but I can see this being a bit hit with younger children.

Finally for another overview of BETT 2009 take a look at the BBC’s report from the opening day.

Busbi Camera

To some Busby was the Post Office’s predecessor to BT’s Beattie, but here I’m talking about Busbi a new(ish) addition to the handheld video camera market.

I have to thank Louise at Swainswick for drawing my attention to this. I was raving about the Flip Camera, when she showed me this, which is less than half the price of a Flip – around £30 rather than £80. It can be purchased from Amazon as well as Argos.

From the reviews, it does seem you get what you pay for. Some say the quality is about as good as a webcam (about 320×240 for QVGA) but for a point and shoot video camera that’s easy to operate, has a good recording time and crucially will allow schools to afford several of them at once, I think it’s certainly worth looking at. Here’s a review from PC Advisor, plus there are customer reviews on the Amazon site. I would be interested to hear what people think of them. Louise is certainly pleased with hers!