Teachmeet Cynnal

Posted on April 5, 2012 by melanieblount

This was the first Teachmeet to bring together teachers to discuss ideas across the curriculum through the medium of Welsh. Organised in collaboration with Cynnal and hosted at Ysgol yr Hendre we were happy to see so many teachers turn up on a sunny evening and share some really fantastic ideas.

We had technical issues on the evening as the LA firewall wouldn’t  let us stream the session. We had a backup plan though and filmed as much of the event as we could on a flipcam. Apologies for the bits we may have missed!

At the end of the evening we also shared some scoop.it links that Dafydd and I have created to bring together in one place NGFL Cymru resources to cover numeracy, literacy and science. They can be accessed here:

http://www.scoop.it/t/rhifedd-a-llythrennedd
http://www.scoop.it/t/gwyddoniaeth-cynradd

All of the individual presentations can be viewed by clicking on the image below:

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Teachmeet Swansea

Posted on April 5, 2012 by melanieblount

This Teachmeet was held in collaboration with the Swansea-ICT team as part of their day of Celebration.

We started bright and early with a range of presentations from both Primary and Secondary colleagues whose short presentations covering numeracy, literacy, SEN, MAT etc gave us all ideas that we could take away, adapt and make our own. (Apologies for the quality of the sound!)

All of the individual presentations can be viewed by clicking on the image below:

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Busy for Post-16

Posted on April 2, 2012 by karenford

Over the last month I have been very busy out and about talking to staff in colleges and interacting with teachers and lecturers in various conferences.

The Teachmeet ‘Bridging the Gap’  in Llandrillo College was well attended and well received by all who were present. There was a great mix of technologies shown and some very good practice shared. This was the first Teachmeet to be held with a College and there is hope that there will be others in the future. The videos from the event can be found here http://www.livestream.com/ngflcymrugcad/folder?dirId=2dada4b9-7c22-46ee-b57e-9afb73a36384

I attended , as a presenter, a conference for secondary school teachers in partnership with North East Wales Forum for ESDGC, with support from The European Commission Office in Wales.There was an excellent turnout and the buzz in the room was great, everyone was so enthusiastic and they loved the resources that we offer from NGfL-Cymru. The feedback received was really nice and it was good to hear from so many people who already use our resources.

It has been good to see some of the resources that have been developed through a financial skills project by Colegau Cymru, we are hoping that some of these resources will become available to us on our site in the near future.  More information on the project can be found at http://www.colegaucymru.ac.uk/en-GB/rewarding_money_skills-337.aspx

The beginning of March saw the termly meeting of the Learntech Wales group. This is the network for Learning technologists/ILT Champions/E-learning Champions in the colleges in Wales. It was an interesting meeting with a presentation from Lindsey Harvey from DfES, Lindsey is the new head of ICT in the Welsh Government Department for Education and Skills. Lindsey outlined his new role and gave an update for the two task and finish groups that are reporting for the Education Minister, one on digital content and one on learning platforms. There were also updates from each of the colleges present, it is always interesting to hear what is happening in the colleges and the challenges facing them as they go through mergers.

Last week was the Education show at the National Exhibition Show in Birmingham. This was very tiring but very very enjoyable, it is always great to hear how pleased people are with the resources that we have available. There were many people who came to find us just to say ‘thank you’!

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Essential Skills Wales Conference 22nd March 2012

Posted on March 27, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

At the ESW conference yesterday there was an excellent turnout and I was very impressed as always with the willingness of the ESW network to share advice and experiences.

I hosted two workshops showing the variety of teaching and learning resources available from our site for ESW. I showed a few examples of how the use of a resource that is not designed specifically for ESW can help to integrate ESW into vocational teaching. One of my examples was the use of ‘Designing a fruit salad’ in conjunction with ‘Far away fruit salad’ . There is plenty of opportunity for introducing Communication, Application of Number and ICT and elements of ESDGC when using these two resources together  – a Good Practice example will soon be available on our site.

There was a lot of discussion around the Wider Essential Skills and a brief consultation/discussion exercise questioning if there was a need for a qualification, or if it would be more effective for these wider essential skills to be included and assessed as part of the main qualification being studied. There was a mixed response with comments about the perceived value of the qualifications by learners, teachers and HE institutions.

There was a very informative talk by Gill Sims from Estyn outlining statistics and observations on the delivery and achievement of literacy and numeracy. There will be a literacy guidance document available soon, the numeracy guidance document is already available. It was interesting to hear that the ACL community are very successful in delivering literacy and numeracy, I will certainly be looking at how their strategies, theories and practice differ to others. Other comments included the importance in correcting spelling, punctuation and grammar. Grammar appears to be the area that needs more effective assessment with subject verb agreement and sentence structure mentioned as particularly important.

This network is always very well attended and I am looking forward to continued involvement with them all.

 

 

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Mathelona Wales Challenge

Posted on March 26, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

Have you tried our new Mathelona Wales challenge yet? We’ve been getting some great feedback on this joint venture between NGfL Cymru and Paul Godding the puzzle and game inventor! We hear from Paul that even Leighton Andrews has had a go!

 

There are four levels to pit your wits against, but don’t rely on a good memory to get you through, as each time you restart a level a different set of numbers will be generated! How fast can you complete each level? Great for developing mental maths skills as well as developing thinking.

 

If you like the activities and would like something for your ipad then you can download Mathelona lite free here.

 

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RhyfeddOD website

Posted on March 26, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

 

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History Timeline Tool

Posted on March 22, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

An interactive time line that allows pupils and teachers to input their own information. The Timeline Editor is used to create a new timeline containing text and images which can then be saved and viewed in the Timeline Tool.   Download the application from:

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/eng/vtc-home/vtc-ks2-home/vtc-ks2-history/vtc-ks2-ngfl-history-timeline.htm

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BBC School Report 2012

Posted on March 21, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

NGfL Cymru would like to say congratulations to all of the schools that took part in the BBC School Report 2012. We’ve watched them all and we were really impressed with the level of professionalism. We are sure that all those involved benefitted hugely from the experience and it is evident that your literacy and ICT skills have been enhanced by this project.

You can see all of the Welsh reports on the BBC School Report Map!

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The Curious Kids Campaign

Posted on March 20, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

Because the world needs curious people…

“In every human society at all times and at all levels, the curious are at the leading edge.”

- Roger Ebert

Children are born curious. Watch a group of 5 or 6 year olds playing together and you can see this. They will explore everything, constantly asking questions of each other and the world around them. And being in that state is when they – and we – feel most alive.

The phenomenal pace of change in our complex and connected world means we have to keep learning – forever. The curious will win. They will contribute more and live richer lives than those for whom the spark of curiosity dies.

The people behind the Curious Kids Campaign believe that curiosity is the most precious thing we possess and want to see a greater emphasis on the development and recognition of the value curiosity not just in apps and games, but in schools, at home and in life. All too often, children’s natural curiosity is dimmed as they grow up, and too many kids are left uninspired, uninterested and alienated from their talents and potential.

So the Curious Kids Campaign is on a mission to encourage everyone from app and game developers through to schools and education policy makers to put curiosity at the heart of every child’s experience.

By supporting this campaign you are helping raise awareness of this important issue – the more support they get, the louder their voice becomes.

You can support the campaign and find further details of how to help your kids stay curious here.

 

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Flood Awareness Wales – Educational Resources Survey

Posted on March 15, 2012 by LlinosGriffiths

14.03.2012

Environment Agency Wales has a project called ‘Flood Awareness Wales’. Its aim is to make sure everyone living in a flood risk area is aware of the risk and knows what to do to and who can help them to help protect their family, homes and communities if they are flooded.

As part of this, Environment Agency Wales has been working with the NGfL Cymru to develop new education resources.

We would appreciate you taking some time to answer a few questions on the materials we have developed (this should only take you 10 minutes max):

Click here to take survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FloodAwarenessWales

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