During the conference the delegates were issued with an Activ Expression handset provided by Promethean. These enabled the delegates to text in their comments and questions during the sessions and these were used in the final question and answer session. For more information  about Activ Expression and the other equipment supplied by Promethean during the conference  see the useful website area at the side of the page.

Conference questions

Should the framework come before the vision?

Definately not!  In North East Lincolnshire we have a draft ICT vision which has been written with both the BSF and Primary Capital programs in mind. The framework has been developed with the aims of the vision in mind and will continue to evolve as the vision becomes a reality. There is a copy of the vision on the home page of this blog that can be downloaded.

Is one Primary ICT Consultant enough? Match the massive investment in machinery with human resources. One per LAP.

A good point! Certainly as the Primary Capital Program and the BSF initiative rolls out we certainly will need more ICT Consultants to cope with the demand for training and support required by schools.

We need to open minds to opportunities

We certainly do! Below I have copied a section from the ICT vision which talks about this:

The wider goal of our developments in and through the Primary Captial Programme, Building Schools for the Future, and other initiatives must be to raise aspirations for our young people and through them to raise aspirations and expectations for the communities in which they live. It is ICT that can enable this to happen, by helping to transform the landscape in which our children live and learn, and by transforming the ways in which they learn, and the ways in which they are taught.

Do we need to give control of the learning pathway to the child?

No, I think the learning pathway needs to be negotiated between teacher and pupil. The great thing about ICT however, is the flexibility that it gives the user to pursue their learning and therefore learning can be ‘personalised’.

Can’t measure children’s ability or capability, only their attainment.

I would disagree with this as I think that it is possible to measure capability in ICT. I am hoping that the resources provided within the framework will mean that teachers in the authority will be more confident in their assessments of pupil capability in ICT.

How useful is this (Activ Expression) to an enquiring mind when you can only send one question without stealing another handset?

This refers to the way we set up the Activ Expression during the conference. Once a comment had been sent that user was not able to send another until another session was opened. That was my fault! Activ Expression was not really designed for multiple inputs from the same user but as a mechanism for pupils to answer single questions. However, I really wanted to explore it’s use during the conference. I have asked Promethean to think about including this type of functionality in future versions.

Are the pupil certificates adaptable in case you are teaching a different version of the unit?

The certificates are PDF documents and so can be downloaded and printed off directly from the framework. If you want to adapt them you would need to use adobe acrobat writer or I can let you have them as a Publisher file if you email me at yvonne.walker@nelincs.gov.uk

Most children now arrive with knowledge higher than the QCA plans so we really need to move away

We need to remember that this isn’t the case in all areas of ICT i.e. the control strand in the QCA scheme of work is probably still relevant. I agree that pupils skills and knowledge have advanced and the QCA has not been developed to keep up with this. Hence, I have added the new lesson plans to the framework. I am hoping that this will give schools much greater flexibility in how they teach ICT.