Projects Update
Integrating the use of innovative technology in education
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*      October 2009     *

Welcome

We hope to see many of you at our AGM next week. It is a great opportunity to meet other Principals, ICT Coordinators, teachers and SNAs who are working with DISC and have an interest in developing ICT in their schools. This update also contains information on the following:

Workshops

CESI

Showcases

Courses

Age Action Ireland

Scratch

Paint

Multimedia

Useful Links

AGM (Register Online)

Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday 7th October at 1:30 pm in the Boardroom, DIT, 41 Mountjoy Square. This meeting is for anyone who is interested in the work of DISC and integrating the use of innovative technology in education.  It would really help us if you could register online http://www.discproject.ie/html/agm.htm if you are attending, on or before Monday 5th October. Refreshments will be available from 1:00 onwards. 

Workshops

This year we are offering ICT Student Workshops to second level schools in Photo Story 3, Google SketchUp, Scratch, Crazy Talk and Comic Life.

The DISC ICT Workshops will provide students with an opportunity to learn areas of ICT that they may be unfamiliar with or not have time to discover for themselves. The workshops will help form a solid foundation in the different ICT subject areas that will give students the confidence to explore the potential of the various programs in their own time.

Photos are of boys from St. Paul's CBS Secondary TY class who participated in the Comic Life workshop.

CESI

The second CESI Meet took place on Friday 25th September. We were kindly given the opportunity to make a short presentation on the work of DISC. There were a number of other very interesting talks during the evening and we'd like bring your attention to three of them.

Stephen Howell from Tallaght IT demonstrated the Lightscribe Smartpen. As you write with the Smartpen it will record your strokes along with audio. The notes can then be uploaded to a website for pupils to see your explanations over and over again. These resulting pencasts are very popular with the students in Tallaght IT and could well help younger pupils also. Check out examples at  http://www.dl.ket.org/physicsap/physicsapPCast/tocPencasts.html

http://www.xtranormal.com/ was shown by Enda Donlon. This is really exciting software for all age groups. You can easily make 3D movies. As they say "If you can type, you can make movies."

Ban Ryan was advocating the use of the Nintendo DS and Wii in the classroom. A number of your pupils might have a Nintendo DS that could be used in your classroom to make learning fun. She has written a DigiTeach Article for CESI which you'll find very interesting. http://www.cesi.ie/digiteach-dsandwii

Showcases

The following two events provide a great opportunity to showcase the work being done in your class. They also provide the areas to link in ICT Projects.

The Primary Science Fair will be held at the same time as the Young Scientist Exhibition in January 2010. It is a great opportunity for primary pupils to participate in one of the largest events of its kind in Europe, attracting over 37,000 people. The science projects themselves don't have to be too complicated. Details will be sent to schools at the end of the month so keep an eye out for them and apply early as only a limited number of schools can exhibit. 

When you are teaching your class about the third world why not consider doing a project to enter in the Our World Irish Aid Awards. You don't need an ICT Project to enter but incorporating one will give you an advantage. The Awards culminate in an exciting awards day in Dublin where a national panel of judges selects the most impressive entries from schools countrywide. We hope to see a school associated with DISC winning an award this year.
 

Courses

We are running four after school courses that will lead to the Digital Cre8or award. It will be a very practical ICT qualification to bring into the classroom.  The modules on offer are Digital Still Images, Moving Image Language, Storytelling with Animation and Sharing using Multimedia Presentations. The first course Digital Still Images starts on Monday 12th October. Download an application form The four modules cost 40 euro (normal cost is 100 euro) There are four places left. Application closing date has been extended to Thursday 8th October.

Do you have LEGO in your school? Then consider doing our LEGO course which is sponsored by Arup Consulting Engineers. The course will be run on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th October. Funding for substitute teachers will be available under certain conditions.

SMART technologies are hosting a two day seminar on Interactive Whiteboard Content Creation on the 12th and 13th November. A certain amount of funding will be available for substitute teachers but once again some conditions will apply. Contact us as soon as possible if you would like to attend the seminar..
 

Age Action Ireland

Boys from St. Paul's CBS Primary showcased a number of the ICT projects they do in school at the Age Action Imagine IT Conference  held in the Croke Park Conference Centre on Monday 28th September. They got the opportunity to show Photo Story 3, Comic Life, Crazy Talk and LEGO NXT. The delegates particularly liked Photo Story 3. They were also very complimentary about the enthusiastic way the boys demonstrated the hardware and software.

If your school has had an opportunity to showcase ICT Projects inside or outside the school please let us know so we can include it in future updates.

Paint

On a recent visit to St. Joseph's Secondary School, Stanhope Street we were shown this terrific sketch produced in Paint by a 5th year student. It brought home to us once again that you don't need expensive programs to produce excellent original work.

Multimedia

St. Laurence O'Toole's CBS have produced a nice video using Crazy Talk on the counties of Ireland. The school also borrowed an Easy Scope Microscope from DISC and got some really good photos for their Mini Beasts project

If you haven't had a demonstration of Crazy Talk or the Easy Scope Microscope and would like one please contact us.  Click on pictures to view videos.

Useful Links

http://drawing.gamemaker.nl/

Drawing for Childen is a free drawing program for children with many nice options. You can draw with many different pens, you can put stamps on your drawings, create all sort of text effects, and much more. The program is suitable for very young children and has a child mode especially for them. But it also provides lots of fun to older kids.

www.ilearn.ie

iLearn is an educational site for Irish schools with resources developed and localised specifically for Irish education. Teachers and students can access these resources in school and at home through a school subscription fee.