Explore and Exchange with Wikis @ Glastry College
I used a wiki with a Year 8 class to consolidate learning on e-safety. The class was split into 5 groups and given an area of e-safety to research, for example, chat rooms, texting and email.  I created a LearningNI course containing helpful links, a wiki and a discussion area.  Pupils could see the work done by the other groups but were not allowed to contribute.  The discussion was set up so that pupils must ask the rest of their group if they can make a change to the wiki first.  This was to avoid changes being made and overwriting others in the group and hence the wiki should get better, and not just “change”. As this task covers the Explore and Exchange requirements at Key Stage 3, I intend to submit it for approval by CCEA.

Alasdair Bailey, ICT HOD, Glastry College.

“We loved doing the Internet safety because we were able to work on it at home and had our own group chat room so we could discuss our plans out of school.  We could also see the other groups’ pages and what they discussed.  We wrote about what we knew first and got more ideas from thinkyouknow.com.  When we finished, we were very pleased and we all looked at finished WIKIs and said what we liked and what we could improve.” Year 8 pupil, Glastry College

Bringing the Normans to Life @ Bangor Academy
I created a LearningNI course to display History craft projects but it has grown into an area where learners can share their opinions on the topic and on each others’ work. I have embedded Voki speaking avatars (www.voki.com) which the pupils love and they are fabulous for focusing pupils on spelling and grammar; pupils don’t like their avatars not to sound as they should! I found that having the information/videos etc in the course room gave the children more ownership and control.  They used it much more this way than ifI had directed them to a website to specifically watch a clip.  The opportunity to upload homeworks has been useful as well as some pupils enjoy completing homeworks on the computer.

Paula Huntley, History Teacher, Bangor Academy

Differentiation via Screen Capture Tutorials @ St Patrick’s College, Maghera
The GCSE Construction course incorporates a Computer Aided Design module in which pupils are required to develop various construction details. I created a number of media files using a piece of free software called Windows Media Encoder which allowed me to record step by step movements on screen. These media files acted as tutorials for the pupils who were then able to access them both within school and at home.  The tutorials assisted all pupils in the development of the required skills for completing the CAD element of the course. The files then further acted as a support mechanism for the pupils who found some concepts difficult. Uploading these tutorials to a LearningNI course has proven to be very beneficial in the delivery of my lessons and has allowed me to provide more focused support to individual students. This has lead to a very successful outcome for this class.

Maureen McWilliams, Technology Teacher St Patrick’s College, Maghera.

GCSE Geography Course @ Bloomfield Collegiate
We have made available case study overviews, practice questions, course notes, the CCEA specification and revision materials to students in a LearningNI course. This has provided consistency and sharing of resources amongst the department and is great for supporting students that are absent. Due to Controlled Assessment teachers are under increasing time pressures and this is where LearningNI has saved the day! Making digital versions of the data and course materials available to learners has been invaluable as class time can now be used more productively.
Anne Spence and Emma Whitford (HOD) Geography Department, Bloomfield Collegiate

Developing Professionally @ Sperrin Integrated College
Striving for excellence in learning and teaching is at the heart of Sperrin Integrated College. LearningNI provides the perfect platform for developing pupils who are independent and fully engaged in their learning. The development of LearningNI as a virtual learning environment has been a major focus in the School Development Plan with significant time dedicated to LNI in our staff development programme during, INSET days and directed time. Currently, around a third of our staff have obtained the LearningNI User Award with teachers setting LearningNI Awards as PRSD / BT and EPD targets. This shared focus has enhanced teaching in the college and encouraged a culture of sharing good practice. We intend to continue developing our LearningNI usage with the introduction of more interactive media rich resources and availing of Web 2.0 technology to engage learners more fully and assist with developing 'blended learning' opportunities for pupils in our Area Learning Partnership collaborative classes
Nigel Small, Biology Teacher and LearningNI Expert Award Holder, Sperrin Integrated College, Magherafelt

For further information or support regarding embedding new technologies in teaching and learning contact Esther Woodhouse, C2k Curricular Services, on 028 90 279000 or by email at esther.woodhouse@c2kni.org.uk.