I came across the fantastic free suite of tools called Creaza . Don't know how I could have missed Creaza at BETT , but I did. It comprises four fantastic tools: Mindomo which is a mindmapping tool; See this video demo clip about Cartoonist the cartoon drawing tool; Movie Editor has ready-made video and sound clips and uses movie editing conventions. With Audio Editor can splice together your own version of a newscast, a radio commercial, or a radio interlude, play it back later. Fantastic free tools from this Norwegian company which could be integrated into your learning platform. Truly amazing!

The National Education Network has a wealth of free resources to support the curriculum. Click here to select the subject and key stage you are interested in. If you are a subject coordinator looking for ICT-based resources, why not click here for an updated list via RSS...or you may want to look at the PDF below.

NEN_Brochure.pdf (1.14 mb)

We found an interesting resource where teachers who make their own resources can share and earn “credits” towards other shared resources. Users can browse and search for relevant resources by subject, topic, age group and ability level.  

Voting in the SWGfL RockIT competition started on Wednesday 28th January and finishes on Friday 30th at 6:00pm 

Check out the videos and links to the finalists below and vote for your favourite by following the instructions. We have added links to MySpace and YouTube resources which may be blocked in school - the links should work outside of school though!

The latest News and Information can be found on the RockIT website - www.swgfl.org.uk/rockit2008

From Filton High School, South Gloucestershire - Destructive Mind

Destructive Mind have been together for 2 years and their song is called Black Heart. The band comprise Rob on Bass and Vocals, Tom on Guitar and Chris on Drums.

Click here to watch the video

Destructive Mind have a MySpace account - visit:

www.myspace.com/destructivemindnemesis

To Vote for Destructive Mind text VOTE DESTRUCTIVE to 07624 808422

From Kingsfield School, South Gloucestershire - Boiling Point

Boiling Point have recently started writing their own material and comprise Bill on Drums, Carlo on Bass, Dave on Guitar and Ellie on Vocals.

Click Here to watch the video

Boiling Point have MySpace, Bebo, YouTube and their own website which can be found on the links below:

www.myspace.com/boilingpointonline
 
http://www.bebo.com/boiling-point-online
 
www.boilingpoint.co.nr
 
http://www.youtube.com/BoilingPointBand

To Vote for Boiling Point text VOTE BOILING to 07624 808422

From Thomas Hardye School in Dorset - Epic Journey

Epic Journey are a Dorchester Based melodic rock band who formed in May 2007. They have performed at school and at events including concerts and fairs and the Dorchester festival. Last year the band won the Thomas Hardye School Battle of the Bands and supported the Fab Beatles and Rollin' Clones at Lulworth Castle. Epic Journey released their first EP in July 2008 which is available from their MySpace, Napster and I-Tunes.

Click the YouTube link below to watch the video:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GTzE7cthB0c

Epic Journey have a MySpace account and more music on YouTube:

http://uk.youtube.com/user/EpicJourneyMusic

http://www.myspace.com/epicjourneyuk

To Vote for Epic Journey text VOTE EPIC to 07624 808422

Have you seen the new SWGfL text service? Ja.net txt is an ideal solution for instant messaging, where conventional communication channels aren’t practical or possible, and offers the potential to make learning more engaging and interactive. Using an intuitive web-based interface, you can send and receive text messages any time, anywhere. The service is scalable, meaning that it’s just as easy to contact an individual as it is a large group of people. Enhanced services also offer the ability to receive incoming messages, schedule message sending, set automated responses to incoming messages, run polls and votes, run subscription information services and integrate text messaging into other applications. Find out more about this on the SWGfL ja.net txt page, including who to contact.

Have you often wished you had access to a video-based site like YouTube where you could quickly, easily, safely upload educational films that your children have created? It may be your class have created an animation; it may be a short film with a digi-blue camera. Have you seen Films for Learning? You don't need a lot of expertise to upload. In fact, here is a video tutorial on how to upload. There is a growing library of educational films (its all moderated) and the interface is very high quality. Find out more.

Are you using Audacity, Garageband, Podium..Photostory, and finding yourself limited for suitable music files? Are you sure that what you use is okay from a legal point of view? Have a look at Soundzabound. I had a talk to them on the TAG Learning stand at BETT. They are well established in the US and have a huge wealth of MP3s specifically collected for education use. Copyright is a real issue with sound file use in school. Fair Use has limitations in use and states the you are liable, should there be a claim. Soundzabound Royalty Free Music supersedes Fair Use in that they fully license the music with unlimited rights for education and sign off that you are protected.  Soundzabound could be very useful.

Really useful sources of historical data at Histpop with census data - complete population data for England between 1801 and 1937. Down at a local level you can find very useful data..here for my local area.

Our early testing of Flashmeeting in SWGfL proved very exciting. We have a very useable, simple online video communication tool now available for schools to try. The system enables a group of users to meet online using simple webcams and microphones, in much the way that Skype presents, but with added educational functionality. Although this won't enable a connection with the more expensive video conferencing equipment such as Polycom, it is a way that schools can try out basic VC and put it to real educational purposes. Flashmeeting was developed by the Open University who use it for distance learning. E2BN and Kent have been using it in schools for a while now. So, if you are in a SWGfL school and want to give it a try, check out our Flashmeeting support pages. Using your LA contact, ask to be a meeting booker. Agree to our terms of use, and you can then book flashmeetings for your school. Simply email the meeting confirmation email, with its web link, to others you want to meet online - an expert, another class, a school overseas. Exciting educational possibilities.