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The question is  … is there an analogy with ICT anywhere?

Youtube Link

A longish film of Sir Ken Robinson.  I guess most of you know Sir Ken and where he stands, personally I think he is spot on.  Please watch the whole thing, if not then just 2 minutes near the end – just skip forward to 35 minutes 10 seconds in.

He mentions a language teacher who explains that “Some aspects of French are just boring” ..

it makes me think ….

Sir Ken Robinson Video

Another bit I like is at 37 Minutes when he talks about ….”If we just standardise everything it’ll hum along nicely” the problem is that schools have humans in them and they are all non standard so sometimes it’ll work and sometimes it won’t.

I’ll start off by saying I’ve not tried this yet but …

If you are upgrading to Windows 7 and want to install all your favourite apps it can take ages.

Go to this website, say what you want and let it get on with it – WOW.  It also acts as a great reminder of some top applications that are out there for free

Website

So easy – just does 1 thing but does it so well.  Compare the size of really small things

(drag the slider under the picture)

Website

Want some posters for the ICT rooms?

This website has some images that contain internet factoids that are interesting and would create nice posters.

eg. If you printed the internet …. it would take 57,000 years to read at 24 hours per day

Link

You might want to checkout other links like “13 useful things to print out” – I liked it anyway

I don’t know if you’ve come across Aviary yet but they have a range of web based applications that are just great.

I realise that there are a lot of web2 apps out there now but I find Aviary to be really quick and intuitive – and best of all stable.

The new addition is a music sequencer – a really simple and effective ‘Garage Band’ equivalent.  Like all web2 apps it takes a little wile to load first time but  but restarting the app once you’ve downloaded it is quick and easy.

I loved it.

Aviary

So you draw on screen a doodle of what you want say… a car on a street, label it and click GO … the software goes off and searches the web for suitable images then does a composite and comes back with a fully rendered photo.

This is so good it must be a haox …. mustn’t it?

PhotoSketch summary

A really interesting interview with Cathy Moore.  A few extracts to sum it up  ….

• We’re not designing content , we’re designing activities then getting the content to support this.
• Think about the behaviour and not the knowledge otherwise e-learning can become an information dump.
• Put students in a compelling situation then provide information as needed.
• Often e-learning is like traditional presentation but even more painful
• Exposing pupils to information does not change their understanding or behaviour.
• Pupils go through the course and we’re done – it doesn’t work like that in the real world.
• It’s hard to measure and control.

Overall 6 minutes long and well worth a listen.

Link to interview

(oh and I like the application as well – anyone know what it is?)

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has released its annual research into the opinions and trends of ‘ICT in UK State Schools’ (available from their website).

In summary:

• Average ICT Budget (Primary) down 2.2% to £13,380 (excluding software)
• Average Secondary budget down 1% to £62,970 (excluding software)
• Average pupil/computer ratio – primary – 6.9:1 (from 7,4 in 2005)
• Average pupil/computer ratio – primary – 4.2:1 (from 5.5 in 2005)

School budgets are expected to be £556 million in 2010-11

BESA Website