DISC Update

	Projects Update Integrating the use of innovative technologies in education _________________________________________ * March 2009 *
Welcome

This month we are launching iFestival which we hope will provide us with an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of all the schools, teachers and pupils involved in DISC ICT Projects . We also have short items on:
iFestival ICT Coordinators Meeting Irish Aid Awards Digital Painting	Multimedia Summer Course LEGO Useful Links
iFestival
This year your ICT Projects could win you prizes for your school (classroom equipment from SMART Technologies), your Principal and ICT Coordinator (a free trip to BETT), yourself (restaurant or electrical vouchers) and your pupils (software, vouchers, tokens and certificates). Our annual exhibition of pupils’ ICT work from DISC schools will take place in the Central Library, Ilac Centre during the month of June. The exhibition will contain comics. 3D designs, digital pictures and photo journals as well as an interactive screen for showing multimedia projects from participating schools.	Download iFestival booklet
ICT Coordinators Meeting

Thanks to everyone who attended the ICT Coordinators Meeting on Friday 27th February. Twenty two schools were represented. We hope you found it useful and informative. Should you require minutes from the meeting, please let us know.

Our World Irish Aid Awards

We were very kindly invited to the Our World Irish Aid Awards on the 10th February in Dublin Castle. The overall purpose of the programme is to raise awareness among Irish pupils of the lives of children and their families in developing countries. By taking part, children can learn how Ireland works with these countries as partners for development.

The project can be presented in any medium (art, audio, video, text, etc.) The work can be carried out either by pairs, groups, a class or a whole school. Lesson plans are available at http://www.irishaid.gov.ie/ourworld/default.htm and staff from Irish Aid would be delighted to help you get started.

The overall winner of the Our World Irish Aid Award was
St. Patrick’s Boys National School, Lombard Street, Galway.

How do ICT Projects fit into all this? Well any of the ICT Projects we support can be used to further illustrate the lives of children and their families in developing countries. The Our World Irish Aid Awards ceremony was a great event for the children who won. We believe that any number of schools in the DISC Programme could be contenders next year.

Irish Aid are giving free workshops to 5th and 6th class primary pupils in June in their centre on O'Connell Street. Phone Barbara Wilson 8546923 for details.



Digital Painting
One of the programs mentioned at the ICT Coordinators meeting was Tux Paint http://www.tuxpaint.org/ It is a free program. It has plenty of stamps, special effects and some colouring pages. It is particularly suited to younger children. St. Laurence O'Tooles JBNS has been using the program for the last month and the children really enjoy it. They have already produced some very creative work.

Multimedia

Geraldine McCaw in St. Patrick's GNS, Ringsend has been trying a multimedia program with her 2nd class. The program is called 2Create A Story from 2 Simple Software. http://www.2simpleshop.com/ The children find the program very easy to use. They can add text, simple animation, sound effects and their own voices to the productions. If you are interested in trying this program in your school, please contact us.

Summer Course

We know it is a little early to be mentioning the summer but we are pleased to inform you that our summer course has been approved. The course is entitled "Classroom ICT Projects". Over the five days the following areas of ICT will be introduced:

PhotoStory and iMovie/Movie Maker
Clay animation and Crazy Talk
WeDo Lego
Sketchup
Creating interactive content using Task Magic

If you are planning your own school summer course the closing date for applications is 30th March.

LEGO

Six schools are preparing for the LEGO Empowering Minds Roboshow which will be held in St. Pat's Drumcondra at the end of the month. The children in St. Paul's C.B.S. Primary, George's Hill, Synge Street Primary School, St. Laurence O'Tooles BNS, St. Audoen's NS and O'Connell's Primary school are all working really hard to have their exhibits ready.

Boys from St. Laurence O'Toole's BNS
demonstrate their LEGO fan.

The girls from Georges Hill are working on
some very sophisticated LEGO NXT models.

Useful Links

www.greenit.ie
GreenIT works closely with RehabRecycle thus providing employment for people with disabilities. GreenIT is Rehab's schools supply partner for refurbished IT equipment, through Microsoft's MAR program.

http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/index.htm
eTwinning is an action that supports online-based projects between at least two schools from at least two different European countries. Schools form a project and use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to carry out their work.

Future Updates

We would welcome a brief e-mail outlining how your project is going together with the consent forms required with any photos of children you attach.

To remove your name from our mailing list, please let me know by replying to this
update. Questions and comments are welcome.

DISC project partners include:

Dublin Institute of Technology
National Centre for Technology Education
Dublin Inner City Partnership

Hewlett Packard
SMART Technologies