Connected Blog

A child starts planning the storyboard, while another begins cutting some archived film. Two other classmates seek out some images on the net. Each student in this group, like all those students who attend Islay High School, are using their own Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC), which they bring to and from school to provide a continuous portable base for their work.

But this is not just a story about cool gadgetry – this is a school which has changed itself entirely in the past five years.

I was taking in all of this on Friday, the same day the school won Learning and Teaching Scotland’s Ambition Awards at the Scottish Education Awards. I was joined by John Johnston, primary school teacher and blogger from Glasgow’s Sandaig Primary School, whose account shows how visits like these can lead to new practices in schools many miles away. Krysia and Doug Semple also joined us along with John’s Head Teacher; blog posts to follow, I hope…

But what grabbed us all was the scope of change. First, everyone in the school community (that’s students, teachers and parents, too) is part of a grand peer-assessment ring, with the UMPC acting as a show-and-tell hub for the work and discussions that took place at school that day. Using OneNote, students can capture text notes, audio and video from their classes, with teachers as accomplices in the recording of their explanations and discussions. All too often, the thought of having a teacher recorded on the fly by a student would have the teacher confiscating the device doing the recording. Here, it is celebrated, with OneNote allocating each segmentof audio to each relevant paragraph.

Students can be heard sharing secret numerical codes – their machine’s unique IP Address – so that such documents can be shared and edited collaboratively in real time. This is how students brainstormed and created storyboards collaboratively, keeping all their progress for future analysis in their review of their work thus far.

Andy Wallis, the English teacher running this excited film-making adventure, brings the class to a brief pause, to encourage them to video their own discussions for the next few minutes. It’s a real eye-opener for those who have been hogging discussions, providing a spotlight moment for those who’ve been a little quieter until now. As they say, the camera doesn’t lie. Another piece of evidence for for the formative assessment pile.

It’s not just pedagogy that has changed to make learning work here; the timetable has seen the beginnings of change. Wednesday and Friday afternoons are curious times for the uninitiated: students who, when I was at school, even had separate social areas are now collaborating on projects. It’s not uncommon to have a 14 year old S3 student working alongside a 17 or 18 year old sixth former who’s seeking to work through a brand new subject area. Here, the class you are in is decided by your level of attainment, not your age. Twice a week these afternoons offer an opportunity to expand horizons through extended project work.

As John says, it’s the overriding desire to learn which can be felt from every member of the school community that is quite overpowering – you wonder why you’ve not felt it in every school you’ve ever visited. It’s the responsibility that has been transferred to students – when they misuse their UMPCs they are subject to the ‘normal’ rules of engagement you’d find in any school. The technology has changed all the things it should do, and left some elements of school life, rightly, untouched.

This is a school where the introduction of a new piece of technology has helped introduce changes across the rest of the system. Or where the system’s changes led to the necessary introduction of the technology. You see, that’s the other thing. When change is so integrated into everyday life, it’s hard to remember what happened first.

See the rest of the photos from this trip on Flickr.

Update: Doug “DigitalMaverick” Semple has just added his extensive thoughts, too.

Tim Geddes from Glaitness primary school in Kirkwall has highlighted the most recent TV Glaitness video podcast from his school.

The Primary 7 pupils at the school aim to produce one every month. They work together as a team employing a huge range of skills – News Investigators, Script Editors, Presenters, Cameramen, Interviewers, Sound Editors, Film Editors and Web Publishers – and although the outcome is mainly for parents, they learn a great deal and have great fun in producing it.

Tim hopes you enjoy watching it and would welcome feedback.

David Robertson, presenter of the BBC’s Reporting Scotland, talks about about the importance of engaging young minds with journalism and media in the classroom.

See more about this podcast or listen to other shows on Connected Live’s podcast page. Or, you can listen by clicking the play button below.

The second day of the Scottish Learning Festival is over and I’ve had another great day.

I started at the Islay High: School of Ambition talk which Andrew Brown blogged: Ambition – island style.. An inspiring presentation the school sounds as if it is a great environment for learning.

Next I spent some time on the show floor, not so much looking at the products, but chatting to various folk. First I had coffee with David and talked TeachMeet07, mobiles and GPS. Then I met Marlyn and Morag and talked iPod recorders, online games and swapped links. These sort of chats really make coming to the Scottish Learning Festival worthwhile.

Next I had a Glow person on the Glow stand take me through the portal, I am still thinking about where Glow stands with what I already do online. Another person watching with me suggested that Glow will do away with the need for school websites!
I was also interested to see a YouTube video in the portal example. I wonder how many LAs this would get past?

After lunch I watched Pete Liddle talk about Neverwinter Nights at the LTS stand. Pete had video of his pupils and the game making is a good fit with aCfE.
Pete is one of the coders behind ScotEduBlogs.
Among the pile of interesting stuff Pete mentioned was that the children asked him to stop giving them new stuff as they practised and learned at their own rate, class experts appeared and helped others, the project seems to have become children led.

I sprinted up to and arrived at Sharon Tonner’s Mobile Phones – Constructive Not Destructive a little late. she and her pupils taking the audience through a series of mobile exercises with her pupils providing technical support. I hope Sharon will put notes on all the exercises on her TecnoTeach blog.

I followed this with more time on the floor checking some handheld technology and falling for the iPod touch. By the end of the day Mark Pentleton at the Apple stand showed me the new iMovie 08 which, counter to some stuff I’ve read, looks like it would be very useful in the primary classroom, better for the simple stuff, and I find the simple stuff is what I do in the classroom.

So by the end of the day, I’d missed all the keynotes but learned a Festival’s worth of information. A great day, thanks to everyone who talked to me.