Friday, September 23, 2005

Minutes of meeting held on Friday, 23rd September 2005

David started the meeting by asking Fionna Balfour of Call Centre in Edinburgh to speak about some of the work that they do and services that they provide eg resource lending, advice, training. David spoke of Call Centre’s ‘Personal Communciation Passports’ being widely used at Hillside.

Colleagues expressed interest in: finding a way of ‘pooling’ resources (in the absence of national assistance), Supported Units, and in ensuring standards (in the absence of widespread external moderation). Mention was made of the upcoming Access meeting being held in Murrayfield in October; the Fife Access 1 meeting on 11th October; changes in the Core Skill requirements for the Scottish Group Award at Access 2, and the elimination of the need to show coherent groups of units for the Group Awards.

David drew everyone’s attention to the previous weblog entry detailing some useful resources that he discovered at SETT 2005. On the ICT-in–the-classroom front, he recommended colleagues looking at BBC Webwise and Skillswise, online eLearning materials for delivering PC Passport/IC3, and the recently launched Google Earth (very, very close up map of Earth). Discussion quickly moved on to the general concern of the group regarding SQA/Executive attitudes towards provision for the pupils that we are working with. Key concerns of all of us were:

The frequency of External Moderation
The need for more Development Meetings (eg every second Access Network)
Concern for ensuring consistency of standards of assessment, and the dissemination of standards and advice on conducting valid assessments
A feeling of being “adrift”; that we are having to “make up” much as we “go along”
That the simplification of NABs led to Performance Criteria being too vague

David stated that we have good contacts within SQA and that these concerns will be voiced, and answers requested, with a reply being communicated via the weblog and YahooGroup.

David introduced colleagues to the Access Network YahooGroup. The aim of this tool is to allow communication between termly meetings. As part of the developing strategy to share resources, electronic formats of work can be uploaded to the Group page. There are already 2 members, with invitations being sent out, via email, after the meeting.

After breaking for coffee, the following took place:

Science colleagues discussed the possibility of having a Science moderation meeting in the new year
David showed Google Earth and Gridclub
Discussion took place as to how to establish/obtain a national database of units being delivered by each (small) school
Thoughts were aired regarding involving politicians with an educational brief in supporting the resolution of our current concerns re: Access provision
WordTalk was examined in relation to classroom uses.

The next meeting will take place in January.

Dave Walker - Science Teacher at Hillside, attending his first Access Network


Image003.jpg, originally uploaded by dafc1885.

"it was great meeting other teachers of access. We shared concerns over ensuring standards nationally. I also discussed setting up a science meeting - teachers in small schools seem isolated."

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

SETT 2005

Busy, busy, busy. SETT 2005 has been impressive so far. There are many presentations and stalls which will be of interest to colleagues delivering Access units and clusters.

eTwinning - British Council initiative which encourages collaboration between teachers/pupils across the EU and beyond

Active Maths - Interactive Maths activities which could be used whole class, or as an individual/paired activity to support the delivery of Access Maths

Planet Science - Excellent interactive resources which appear to be free

Maths in Action S31 and S41 - New textbooks (and support CD ROM) for Foundation Standard grade AND Access 3 cluster (AT LAST!!)

Access English - Initially produced for English market, though salesperson swears that it matches Access 3 English

Media Stage - "Fully immersive 3D production studio". This ICT resource covers all the creative bases. Expensive, but extensive, this is worth at least a 'wee' look

Core Skills - Core Skills and DATs: Digital Achievement Tasks. This development, by part-time Moray House lecturer Richard Hendry, uses online resources to assist students to attain each Core Skill unit (at Access 3 and Intermediate 1); with a variety of contexts to choose from

EuroTalk - Interactive (MFL) language learning

PC Passport - The first dedicated textbook is launched (albeit at Intermediate level)!

Right, time for a panini and moca!

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Agenda for Access Network - 23/9/05

Agenda

- Working Lunch
(Introductions, completion of delegate list)

- Discussion of recent developments
- Look at resources
- Launch of Yahoo email Group
- Moderation of centre produced materials/pupils’ work
- Look at SCRAN and Gridclub websites
- AOB.