Save your money - just buy a Wii Interactive Whiteboard!!!

I’ve been known for my scepticism about the mass purchase and installation of interactive whiteboards - mostly because of the logistics and the associated costs but also due to the fact that much of what they do can be achieved, often to greater effect, without the need for an actual board. The boards themselves do very little and what do you know - here’s another impressive proof of the fact!!!!!! These static lumps of expensive plastic are fast becoming outmoded!!

Thanks to Lynn for posting this TED video on her blog.

CALL Scotland - the A(ccessibility) Team!!!

Some fantastic news emerged from Holyrood last/this week. Recent calls by the RNIB for a National Transcription Service kick-started research into the needs of a wider range of pupils that might benefit from adapted curricular materials. Read the debate from the chamber here.

Visually impaired pupils have, for many years, been well provided for as a result of the efforts of the RNIB and local councils adapting materials in a variety of formats: braille, enlarged print, audio, etc…. but it has been obvious for those working in support for learning departments and special needs units that many other pupils could benefit from similar rights and provisions.

One of the main issues was that certain pupils in our schools were not exempt from certain copyright rules that allowed for materials to be adapted, without the need for special permission, into a variety of useful formats.

The information gathered during recent research threw up a level of inequity that could not be maintained. There are many pupils who are considered to be print disabled who did not benefit from the copyright exclusions and the new changes to the CLA Licence reflect a more equitable and inclusive approach. Read the full report here.

Our friends and colleagues at CALL Scotland (formerly known as………The CALL Centre) carried out the research, took the issues up the line, and persuaded those within the Scottish Government to facilitate the necessary changes to bring accessible resources within the reach of all pupils with disabilities. So the announcement of the planned way ahead was a very pleasant reward for the time and effort that has gone into the Books for All campaign.

Young people with visual impairments, or other print disabilities (my emphasis), in Scotland will have access to the best educational material available from next term.

From August, they will be able to use the Scottish Books for All database powered by SCRAN, one of the largest educational online services, to access learning materials.

The database will contain a list of adapted materials which teachers can access to ensure that all pupils with additional support needs receive curriculum materials at the same time as their classmates in a format that meets their needs.

Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years, announced the move during a debate around a call by RNIB Scotland for a national transcription service for young people.

He said:

“RNIB have been very helpful in drawing this issue to our attention but we believe that with the steps we have taken there is no need for the type of national transcription service they propose. We are totally committed to ensuring that all our pupils can access the curriculum. The Books for All report has enabled us to identify gaps in provision and take positive steps to ensure that we can achieve this aim.”

While the RNIB might be disappointed at not achieving their goal of a dedicated National Transcription Service, I say well done to them for ‘blazing the trail’, showing us what is needed, and effectively laying the foundations that will help many, many pupils with reading disabilities.

There’s much work to be done. Staff will need to be trained in adapting materials and understanding the new copyright arrangements. Pupils will need to be supported in making best use of these newly available resources, and everyone will need to learn how to appropriately share the accessible format materials that will help our pupils access the curriculum on that, almost, level playing field.

Well done to the staff at CALL Scotland!!!!

Dr. Margaret Crombie Retires

Wednesday 30th April was Margaret’s last day as QIO/ASN and, previously, Manager of Support for Learners, and she has now headed off into the blissful state that is retirement. For Margaret, this is certainly an early retirement - there is more to come from this woman’s depth of knowledge of additional support needs for pupils, and of dyslexia in particular.

Margaret’s leaving was marked with a well-attended gathering at Dingwall Education Centre on Tuesday 29th April where speeches were made but, more importantly, where fond farewells and best wishes flowed freely from a broad representation of Highland’s ASN community.

I know that Margaret hosted a memorable evening at Lochardil on Wednesday evening to which she had invited many of her working colleagues - even those ‘challenging’ ladies from the Area Support for Learning Teams!!!!!! I was unable to attend but have seen the pictures and heard the tales so know enough to say that the occasion was a fitting one to mark Margaret’s stepping forwards into the bright blue yonder. I can guess how much everyone must have enjoyed themselves - judging by how much I had to straighten the photos.!!!

I wasn’t the only person unable to be at Margaret’s do on Wednesday. Margaret received a warm speech of appreciation for her work from a VIP!!!

So, even although the money’s no better in retirement at least the hours are, Margaret!! Enjoy your time and we’ll be expecting to hear from, and about, you soon.

Comics and graphic novels a “powerful vehicle for literacy and creativity”

As a Dundee lad, weaned on the Beano and Dandy, who later worked as a teacher in the school next door to the D C Thomson offices I’ve always had a fascination for stories told in pictures as well as words.

It was, therefore, with great interest (but no great surprise) that I read Emma Seith’s report in this week’s TESS on the potential use of comics and graphic novels to encourage reluctant readers.

Ever considered using Viz’s Fat Slags to spark a class debate about gender representation? What about using Jackie to teach history? Or juxtaposing Japanese manga and Shakespeare? No?

In all likelihood, neither had teachers gathered at the National Library of Scotland, in Edinburgh, until they attended a recent continuing professional development session on using comics in the classroom by Dr Mel Gibson – or Dr Mel Comics, “because there’s no point in doing a Google search for Mel Gibson”.

Nat Edwards, head of education at the library, introduces Dr Gibson as a leading scholar on comics and graphic novels. Her job, she says, is to “enthuse” the assembled teachers, but she also wants to dispel any idea that such literature is “mostly violent and full of awfulness”.

Comics are, she argues, a means of developing literacy. There is, for example, the Classical Comics range which includes Shakespeare’s Henry V and Macbeth; there’s Persepolis, an autobiographical novel by Marjane Satrapi depicting her childhood in Iran after the revolution; and The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot about a girl who has suffered sexual abuse. “It’s a book about the power of literature and art to make life worth living again,” Dr Gibson says.

She begins, however, by talking about manga, the Japanese graphic novel or comic. In schools it can be used as a means of exploring a different culture, Dr Gibson suggests, but it is also a “powerful vehicle for literacy and creativity”.

She continues: “Graphic novels are good at drawing in new and developing readers, but they also engage passionate readers, who will keep coming back wanting the next volume.”

The Secondary English Network based in West Lothian have been detailing their use of such materials on their exciting blog. These folks are fortunate to have events and exhibitions such as Local Heroes: The Art of the Graphic Novel on their doorsteps with the associated lecture opportunities that go with them and I’m very jealous!! However, thanks to them for sharing their work so generously - it’s really great to follow what they’re doing.

Remember ComicLife software is available for our schools.

“..an extraordinarily hopeful part of life and wildly exciting.”

Luminaries look to the future web

This page from BBC’s News/Technologies section is worth a read. A number of the web’s forward thinkers concisely express their thoughts on the web of the future. Everyone in education should be taking heed of such information as it sheds light on some of the decisions we have to make about how we prepare young people for their lives after school.

Post title ref. Mitchell Baker, Chairman of the Mozilla Foundation.