July 26th, 2009 
Simon 
Even though there’s not too many schools who have the luxury of making a decision like this, there are some schools who have kitted out all their classrooms with IWBs and are thinking about getting one for the staffroom.
But why would anyone want a potentially €3,000 piece of equipment in their staffroom? What would any staff need an IWB in their place of refuge from the classroom?
Posted in Interactive Whiteboards 
Tags: ebeam, interactive whiteboard, iwb, IWBFAQ, teamboard 
1 Comment » July 24th, 2009 admin I was randomly browsing the web and came across a web site I’d never seen before called wiiboard.ie. Apparently the author of http://www.schoolsites.ie and some other business folk have come together to promote the use of the wiimote interactive whiteboard in schools. Right now there’s very little on the web site except for a couple of Johnny Lee Chung videos.
I have a sneaky suspicion that we’re going to be seeing a business plan forming in the near future: something along the lines of- “get an Interactive Whiteboard for under €1,000.” I hope they do because a supported wiimote IWB is probably better quality than a lot of pen-based boards out there.
July 17th, 2009 admin So the inevitable cuts the public sector will be facing will target health and education most. I don’t have too many issues with some of the cost-saving plans. I agree that we have too many schools and smaller ones should amalgamate unless they are expanding every year. We don’t need a school at every crossroad as we’re not living in car-free times. So any small schools, ie those with a teaching principal should group together to form a school with an administative principal. Having said this, I don’t think we need “super sized” schools either where teachers sometimes don’t know the names of their colleagues never mind the kids!
Everything else in the cuts are wrong. I don’t mind the fact that we need to cut three-quarters of a billion euro in education but who will suffer from the cuts? By the looks of things, only a fifth of this money will come in the form of pay cuts.
The rest will affect the children we teach. Cutting 2,000 SNAs ensures that anyone with special educational needs will be at risk of falling further off the radar. In fact, the SEN child’s classmates may also be severely affected if the child’s needs are emotional or behavioural because their teacher will be spending most of the time helping him/her stay on task, on their seat or even on the premises.
Likewise, anyone who can’t speak English as a first language; this child, through no fault of their own, will demand more time of his/her teacher and hence the rest of the class suffer.
And while we’re at it, let’s increase class size again. Everybody knows that the vast majority of classrooms exceed a 30:1 pupil teacher ratio but the government still poop out skewed ratios including support staff etc and purport a 17:1 ratio. With another increase, there will certainly be a lot of classrooms with over 40 children in them. This is all well and good for the pupils who can sit, listen, take in and regurgitate information but visual, kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal or any other learning styles are further screwed.
The troubling thing for me is that we don’t need to do this to education. Restructuring the current system to save money is better than simply cutting what already exists. We need to update the way we’re paid, the way we’re rewarded for work, the way we’re in a crazy hierarchal system where some teachers are still being paid bonuses of about €9,000 p.a. for making sure classroom windows are closed at the end of a school day. We need to remove unnecessary personnel from the system as most could be automated. For example, computerising the roll books to automatically send stats to the DES removes the need for the NEWB. Having a ratio system for allocating SNAs in much the same way as a pupil teacher ratio, eg for every 50 pupils, an SNA is allocated, removes the need for the whole NCSE system. Putting all the grants we get into a single capitation grant, which could be spent as schools saw fit would also save money and rid unnecessary admin. Scrapping ineffective agencies like the teaching council would also save money.
Scrapping the PPDS who have updated their name but not updated their methodologies since they started would be great. I have trained with the former PCSP to give courses and I was still using slides made from years before. I have no idea what the designers of courses are doing now.
What else? What about the hierarchy of A and B posts? I know there’s a moratorium on this but, really what’s the point of them at all? I believe they cause negative politics in schools and all members of staff should be involved in the management and running of the school, not just a chosen few. Then there’s the mad 25 tier pay scale. Surely this can be changed and made more simple. Why should someone get paid more for teaching through Irish or on an island or in a Gaelteacht? Níl fhois agam. If you work in a school with all criteria, that’s an extra €6,500 in your pocket p.a. three thousand of which for the Gaelteacht alone. Is the cost of living much higher in Ring or Erris compared to Dublin or Cork City?
Now the above suggestions probably aren’t going to knock €796m of the public spend but at least it’s something. There isn’t a lot of fat to knock off the primary education sector. I don’t know the inner sancturies of second or third level but I’m assuming there’s at least the same amount of archaic structures going on there.
Apparantly, studies have shown that during difficult economic times that education is one sector you don’t cut. However, if one needs to save money, it might be a good idea to restructure things so money isn’t wasted at least. I realise most of the above suggestions are not going to be pallatable to us as teachers but I would rather take the above measures than deny children the best possible opportunities despite our dreadful government and dreadful economic situation.
July 15th, 2009 admin I had an interesting meeting in the digital hub yesterday. It was my first time there. I really like the layout of the place with its mix of the old Liberties Dublin exterior and cool kitch plastic über modern interior. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how technology could improve the administration of a primary school teacher and principal.
Firstly, we discussed collaboration, in particular document collaboration. I’ve been using Google Docs, one of the excellent Google Apps, to share all school plans and policies. We also upload any standardised testing results and other important documents. A cool feature I really love is the fact that several of us can be working on a document at the same time without conflicts or problems like that. The fact that Microsoft is going to be releasing a similar online version of MS Office is interesting but did Google get a huge headstart?
Other great collaborative tools in Google Apps include shared calendars. This is another tool our school use, particularly myself and my school secretary. We’re hoping that more staff will use the facility to book course days, meetings and professional development days.
My only problem with Google Apps is when a new member of staff joins the fold. He/she has to be invited to see all documents on the server individually rather than being automatically entitled to see everything. The same goes for the calendars which is a pity.
We moved on to talk about the paperwork that frustrates me as a principal. My biggest gripe is the school roll book. I find this archaic green monstrosity of a book a nightmare when trying to analyse it for statistics, NEWB returns and balancing the numbers at the end of the year. This year, I’ve computerized our roll book in that teachers will fill in absences on a spreadsheet and this will automatically be sent to the secretary. Sadly, because it’s the law, the actual roll book will then have to be filled in. Although this initially appears to take more time, when it comes to returns, all the counts have been done up thus saving time. We discussed an ideal situation where we would simply fill a register online everyday and stats would automatically go to the DES or NEWB and the roll book (and Cúntas Tinnreamh) would be at last extinct.
Finally we spoke about technology at primary level in general in learning. As Moodle is right now, I don’t see it as a nice option at primary level as there doesn’t seem to be a way to make it look child friendly. I believe aesthetics are the MOST important aspect of any software at primary level. (Look at Promethean’s IWB software’s popularity over the much better resourced Smart Notebook software). Primary teachers, especially non-techie ones, will choose a prettier interface over the generic Windows-style GUI, in my opinion.
So the challenge for this company is to create a virtual roll book for schools. I would suggest a program that visually looks as close to the actual roll book as possible, initially, (ie versions 1, 2 and maybe more before changing to a more 21st century look) in order to create the illusion that things have not completely changed. However, even the diehard traditionalists will find it difficult to complain at 12:30 on the 30th June, when they don’t have to balance their roll book figures as they will have already been done. Likewise the principal will be able to tick off one of his/her many jobs as the NEWB returns will no longer have to be done either. Isn’t technology great?
July 14th, 2009 rozz Whenever I tell anyone that I am a Principal, they look slightly in awe and fear..They always( 99%) say ” Wow, I don’t know how you do it…I could never do it..I would be scared…I couldn’t handle people…”
The job of the Principal (when advertised) is usually ignored, many principal jobs have to be re advertised. Contrast this with the teaching position that gets over 400 applications!
Why did I want to be a principal?
I always wanted to be a leader..well, maybe no, I always wanted to be a manager, the one in charge, if I am being honest with myself. This thought process was swiftly changed!
Over the last 4 years, having studied for my diploma in ed. management, devoured books on leadership and management and walking the walk of being a real principal, I have learned that I passionately want to be a leader..Not a manager, anyone can be a good manager, anyone can be organised or get things done.
The good leader is a difficult task. There is a long journey ahead!
I care about education, I care about how children learn and I care about the children that come to school at 4 and leave at 12. I love learning and I want the children in my care to leave with a passion for learning.
I think everyone has that fear, the fear of stepping up to the “battles” or the “conflicts” or the “hard times” when things don’t go right. What makes some one like me apply for the principal job and someone else not?
Courage.
I have the strength to overcome my fears because I can make a difference here. As a teacher, I could send ripples but within the hierarchical system that the educational system is placed in, it is a constant struggle.
I could not stand by and be a victim of the bad policies and decisions that our ” leaders” ( there is no way we could call them this)in Fianna Fail make as they make cut after cut in the primary classrooms.
We all can be leaders, we all can co-create the world as it is. Isn’t this a lovely thought for the members of a school and community?
We all can co-create the world as it is. Bit by bit.
What are you thoughts on this?
Would you apply and why/why not?
If you want to read and learn more about how you as a leader can make a difference in your present job( a teacher, SNA, principal), start here! Reference- The Leadership manual by Hilary Owen, Vicky Hodgson and Nicky Gazzard.
July 11th, 2009 Simon A lot has changed in the world of Interactive Whiteboards since 2008. In fact, you could say the landscape has completely changed since last year. When I gave this course for the first time, there weren’t a lot of Interactive Whiteboards to choose from in Ireland. Essentially, you could divide your options in two; you could have a permanent IWB on your wall for around €6,000 or you could have a portable solution for about €2,500. The Internet was your only hope of resources if you didn’t happen to own a Promethean or Smartboard. Smaller companies were beginning to emerge but were hampered by exclusivity deals so no-one had really heard of them. The debate was: is it really worth spending an extra €3,500 on a permanent IWB solution? (more…)
July 11th, 2009 Simon Just before I published the June Interactive Whiteboard review, I came across the Teamboard IWB. I said that as soon as I had some time to play around with it, I’d give it a review. I contacted the company who sell the board, Sight and Sound, who are based in Dublin, and they lent me their demo board for the summer course I gave. (more…)
July 4th, 2009 Simon Just when I thought I’d reviewed every Interactive Whiteboard, there ever was and along comes another one. Except, this one has been around as long as any of them. In fact, this board has a 75% market share in Northern Ireland. The board is called InterWrite and it’s being sold by a company called IMEX.
Well, the fact that very few of us in the south have heard of the InterWrite board is a sticking point for Imex. The salesman I met is very eager to make Imex as well known down south as it is up North. So what’s it all about?
Well, firstly it’s a similar product to the pen-based boards out there. The most similar board to it is Promethean’s offering. However, the Interwrite board offers a couple of extra things that the Promethean doesn’t.
Firstly, it has a multi-touch option where up to 9 people can interact with the board at the same time using its software. It also has some nice shortcut buttons on the side of the board. Another cool thing is that it can double up as a normal whiteboard, i.e. you can use dry wipe markers on it. On top of that, you can also buy a special type of whiteboard marker for the board. This allows you to write on the board without a projector and whatever you write shows up on the screen but can also be saved to a connected computer.
Another couple of features that the salesman pointed out was the five year warranty and the free training provided. Impressively, the whole package with a long throw projector comes in at just under €2,600. This compares with the Promethean reseller €2,500 offer which does not include training. I think Promethean resellers also only offer a 1 year warranty with their €2,500 offer too.
The only downside to this whiteboard is that it is pen-based only. Apparantly, they are developing a widget that will turn the board into a touch-based board but this is not available at least until 2010.
I think for its price, quality and guarantee, this is a strong contender if you like pen-based boards. I doubt they’ll have 75% market share in the south of Ireland with this board but it certainly deserves to be better known.
