SWGfL Regional ICT Conference 2009 – Torquay
I certainly had my horizons expanded today at the SWGfL ICT conference. I particularly enjoyed hearing pupils talking about their use of ICT both at home and at school. Even the 15yr olds were surprised to hear the creative ways that the 10 yr olds had of getting around school filters! What became apparant was the way in which they were able to take content and hardware and use it in ways which it was not designed for. They all mentioned gaming as part of their home ICT use and PowerPoint as part of their school ICT use.
As well as presenting, I also took the opportunity to attend some of the other talks and joined in collecting great resources that were shared.
Oscar Stringer showed how easy it was to animate with hue cameras (I am now the proud owner of a pink one) and I Can Animate. There are some great animation resources on his site and on the SWGfL.
Another fantastic resource is EuroCreator, a moderated platform for teachers and pupils to share media. This site will provide embed codes to share video and will therefore prevent those problems of not being able to access other well-known video hosting sites.
I was challenged by the use of ICT to engage parents in their children’s learning and started to clarify my thoughts about why we should be working online. I would love parents to have access to children’s ongoing work not just the presentation of completed outcomes.
I enjoyed seeing the ways in which Somerset have developed the use of visualisers in schools and some of the outcomes that they are seeing as a result. The Visualiser Forum is a rich resource of ideas for using visualisers.
Thank youfor the opportunity to present and attend.
Read Tim Rylands’ post about the SWGfL ICT Conference in Bristol.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 am
Loved the great little vids. I look forward to seeing your I Can Animate demo, Joy! I managed to master Creaza’s Cartoonist and my weekend project is their Movie Editor.
http://thebookchook.blogspot.com/2009/06/cartoonist-sharing-stories-with.html
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alijoy Reply:
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:13 am
Thanks Susan. We are just about to start a project with schools and animators looking at animation and poetry and creating some suggestions for what progression in animation looks like. I suspect I am going to get very much better at animating over the next year!
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July 3rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Wonderful! We live in such exciting times! I love the combination of animation and poetry. Please keep us informed.
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July 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
As an ICT Technician I found the conference inspiring and thought-provoking. Joy Simpson provided me with a great insight into what can be possible with the use of blogs in schools and Oscar Stringer reaffirmed my belief in the use of animation in schools; I have just purchased my first box of fuzzy felt off ebay and I’m eager to try it out,
Previously we have used Digiblues, the DMC3 software, simple monotone backdrops and figurines to create short stop motion films. Poems and traditional tales are definitely a simple path into storytelling through animation.
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alijoy Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hello Adam. Thanks for stopping by and joining in. I look forward to you sharing the fuzzy felt animations! I haven’t seen let alone played with fuzzy felt for so many years.
I don’t know the DMC3 software so will investigate.
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July 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Thanks for the welcome, Joy.
The DMC3 software (Digital Movie Creator 3) comes bundled with the Digiblue camera and is a good way into digital film making as well as animation. The application is easy to get to grips with and the sturdyness of the camera make it an ideal tool for a class of 30 Year 6 students to attempt an animation in limited space. We tried using 15 cameras all at one in the confines of the KS2 ICT Room and managed to get some interesting results over two lessons.
Some of the final animations are on our website along with some work done by Year 4 with Carol, our ICT co-ordinator, using Logitech Quickcams.
http://www.bowhill.devon.sch.uk/animations.htm
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alijoy Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 10:50 am
In which case I do know the software as we use digiblues. I am off to look at your animations on the school website.
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