Hitachi-Cambridge are a company that sell all sorts of electronic equipment, including Interactive Whiteboards. I believe their Interactive Whiteboards are the best quality out there and although they are a bit more expensive than the others, they have functions and service that no other board out there can match. I’m usually quite critical of the native software that comes with any interactive whiteboard (except those that come with Promethean or Easiteach) and the Hitachi board was no exception. So, when I was send 2 DVDs full of primary resources developed by Hitachi for the primary school, (which I assume come with the board), I was very interested indeed.
Archive for June, 2009
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IWBFAQ: Would anyone like to share their experiences of their IWB before I buy one?
June 23rd, 2009 
Simon A fair question was raised on the Education Posts Forum a few days ago. This person wants to buy an interactive whiteboard. She has read all the reviews on Anseo.net but wanted to hear from other teachers about their experiences about using their IWB in their school. She continued to ask if they would recommend their IWB over another. (more…)
Is the WSE report on the Muslim school a little bit racist?
June 23rd, 2009 Simon There’s been a lot of furore in the media regarding the latest WSE report published this week, based on the North Dublin Muslim NS in Cabra. The report is damning to say the least. Apparently, the school is not accounting for monies spent and certain subjects are not being taught. In fact, if this were a school on the UK, OFSTED would have closed it down.
But, having worked in some schools and knowing friends and colleagues who have also gone through WSE evaluations, there are many many schools that have failed to teach the full curriculum effectively, or worse, failed to produce child protection policies, without a whimper from the press.
It is common practice that schools prepare for WSEs and hold a “pantomime” for the inspectors. Teachers who haven’t written a scrap of planning notes buy the Folen’s teacher planning book to fill in and suddenly everyone teaches drama for half an hour per week. The inspectors come and watch the performance and those who weren’t good actors get a few recommendations from a box ticking powerless Department pen pusher.
However, this time, these inspectors decided to do their job properly. Coincidently, it happened to be in a minority religion school. John Walsh, a leading writer on school evaluations, even mentioned that this report was much more heavy handed than one would usually expect.
Now I have never worked on this particular school and I am aware that almost every year the school looks for a new staff. I’m sure there are huge problems in the school and I’m sure the school haven’t been properly supported by the DES. However, if this school had a more “mainstream” patron, would there have been such a furore? Sin an ceist Anseo.
Review: Alphalingo.ie
June 20th, 2009 Simon 
I was asked to review the web site http://www.alphalingo.ie, which is an online eLearning course in German. It is aimed at children from 5th class upwards (as part of the foreign languages programme in Kildare Education Centre) and also for second level students. As Anseo.net is aimed at primary level, this review will focus on primary school level.
Taking our name in vain
June 16th, 2009 Simon Reading the latest INTO magazine, Intouch, I was surprised to see that both the INTO and the College of Progressive Education have decided to use the title “Anseo” in two of their respective areas. Firstly, the INTO LGB Teachers’ Group have decided to call their conference, “Anseo”, which is focusing on issues of inclusion in the staff room. This conference costs €40.
Corrections from June IWB Review
June 13th, 2009 Simon My June review sparked a few emails from some companies and some of the information I put on the review was inaccurate. Rather than waiting for the next review, (which won’t be until late summer), I’ll use this post as a kind of appendix. If you’ve noticed something wrong with the review, let me know and I’ll pop it on this post. I will also add it as a comment on the original post.
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How often should you listen to reading with Infants?
June 10th, 2009 Kat 
How often should we listen to reading? According to Kat, it’s not quantity that counts, but quality. Listening to reading has to be done in an effective way if it is to be meaningful. (more…)
Press Release from Flúirse
June 7th, 2009 fluirse Irish Education Company leads the way by inviting teachers to co-design their own training!
2nd June 2009 – An Irish Education company is delivering a welcome positive message for teachers this Summer. Despite a challenging year which saw teacher / student ratios continue to increase, combined with the imposition of an effective salary reduction for teachers with the Government pension levy, Flúirse Education Solutions announced an innovative new approach to teacher’s annual summer training programmes…they’ve invited teachers to assist in designing their own courses! (more…)
Review: Easi Listener
June 5th, 2009 Simon The Easi Listener is not just any old CD Player and radio. It’s got a few little surprises. The little surprises come in the form of 6 ports for ear phones. That way up to 6 children can listen to the same piece of audio at the same time. To be honest, I’m struggling to think why one would need this in a classroom but it wouldn’t have been invented otherwise if there was no need. So, I did a bit of research and found out why 6 children would ever need to listen to a piece of audio without the rest of the class hearing it. (more…)
The end of the Blog
June 3rd, 2009 000 The NCTE are still rolling out their free web space but because they have two different hosting packages, everybody is confused including themselves. I’ve received a couple of emails since I gave my talk on Blogging at the CESI conference asking me about the Scoilnet hosting. I usually just refer them on to the NCTE helpdesk. However, I got a worrying email from someone who has been trying to get a blog up and running but has hit a wall because the people on the NCTE helpdesk don’t know what she’s talking about.
