Parent and pupils invited to Official Launch on 19th April 2012. Signing
of contracts was mandatory in order for iPads to be issued.
Head Teacher, Alison Noble, who has supported and invested in mobile learning for many years, issued children with their iPads once contracts had been signed.
Susan Varga from City of Edinburgh Libraries Services gave a presentation and helped pupils sign up for hundreds of free ebooks and resources.
City of Edinburgh Libraries eBooks
Angela had magnificent idea to pursue this for Launch and
went to her local library on Saturday for info. She has contact who can
attend Info Event to provide forms for parental sign up and then can
present at Official Launch. Cleo Jones might attend too? Wendy has
actually already installed Overdrive on iPads.
Went to Newington Library yesterday and got my card updated to borrow ebooks and audio books. If we get all the children to join the library they can borrow e-books and read on their ipads. The software download takes minutes. It’s called Overdrive. Junior Librarian uses the same system but we would have to fork out £2500 annually and buy the books so much too expensive but they do have a great collection of books.
E-mail below from Wendy’s friend Susan which will give you all the info. Perhaps worth mentioning as a selling point.
Angela
From: Susan Varga [Susan.Varga@edinburgh.gov.uk]
Sent: 15 March 2012 13:12
To: Angela Christie
Subject: Overdrive
Hi Angela
Lovely to talk to you this morning. I’ve got a supply of library membership forms for you – they will have to be sent home and we need parents/carers details on the form too. If it suits you I can give them to Wendy at the weekend so she’ll bring them in on Monday. When the forms are returned to the school give me a shout and I’ll come over and sort out the membership cards for you.
I’ve attached -
Current eBook & eAudiobook List – list of what we currently have for children and teens in ebook and eaudiobook formats. Please give me your feedback on stock and pointers for authors/themes/genres/age groups you’d like us to buy. Books on Overdrive are single user access – so only one person at a time can read the copy so let me know if you have a need for us to buy multiple copies of particular titles.
Overtime First Time Users – this takes you through the software you’d need to install on the iPad and other registration issues. The children do not need to visit the library to have their membership upgraded to ebook user -only adults need this. Please let me know if any teachers want me to register them – I am happy to do this and set them up as an ebook user rather than them having to go into a library. The children will also each need to create an Adobe ID – this could be built into an IT lesson though showing the children how to use Overdrive.
How to Use Overdrive – instructions of how to find and download books on Overdrive. These two documents are copies of information found on http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/library2go – Your Library is our electronic resources website. Other resources that would be fantastic to use on you ipads include -
Tell Me More / Transparent Language Online – learn over 80 languages online (includes English, handy if you have any children whose first language is not English)
Life in Great Britain – useful if you are doing citizenship lessons
Encyclopedia Britannica (Junior & Student & Classic)
Oxford Reference Online – fantastic academic reference books
Whose Town…? – amazing social studies site about Edinburgh’s history available through Glow
Scotsman Archive – every issue of the Scotsman searchable from 1817-1950
Homework Help – Our own homework help pages with links to fantastic educational websites
Who Next…? – find children’s authors you’d like to read based on who your current favourites are
All of these and more are available on Your Library and would really add to the usefulness of the ipads for the children. Let me know if you want me to take you through the site and show you some of the resources.
You may also be interested in using our Clipper DL eaudiobook service on your ipads too. This is particularly good for supporting children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. The brilliant thing about Clipper is that its multiple access so a whole class can have a book title out at the same time. Clipper will be moving platforms at the end of the month though so there’s no point in me sending you information about that at the moment. I’ll pass it on to you when it’s moved and is working okay. Information about Clipper can also be found at Clipper
Let me know if there is anything else you need in the meantime.
Thanks Susan
From: Susan Varga [mailto:Susan.Varga@edinburgh.gov.uk]
Sent: 23 February 2012 12:51
To: Cleo Jones
Cc: Alison Stoddart
Subject: Children’s eBook/eAudiobook List etc
Hi Cleo
Lovely to meet you yesterday. Please find attached a list of eBooks and eAudiobooks that we currently have available for children and teens. I’ll send you updates as we add more stock. Please feel free to give me any feedback / suggestions about the titles.
We had been talking about online support materials for children needing to learn English. You can learn English (up to university standard) from French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, simplified and Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Portuguese Brazilian on Tell Me More. You can also learn English (not so academically – more like modules of vocabulary – which would probably be better for children actually) on Transparent Language Online from Russian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Farsi, Indonesian, Tagalog, Portuguese,Urdu, Korean,Greek, Swahili, Malay, Hindi, Thai, Polish, Norwegian,Vietnamese, Czech, Romanian, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese. Both these systems can be used from anywhere – all you need is an Edinburgh City Libraries membership card number to use them.
You can also access the International Children’s Digital Library which is a growing collection of childrens books available to read over the Internet.
We have a 3 month trial of an online spelling course called Spellzone. This is for children over the age of 10 and adults – particularly good for people learning English and students with dyslexia. It’s a proper online course that you work your way through learning the rules of English spelling. Let me know whether you think it would be a good resource to provide (in libraries and from home) and could be promoted in schools – www.spellzone.com Username: edinburgh Password: Spellzone
I’ll forward the email regarding the Credo trial to you – as it gives you steps to follow.
Thanks again
Susan
Susan Varga | Service Development Leader | Online Services | Central Library | George IV Bridge | Edinburgh | EH1 1EG | Tel 0131 242 8047 | susan.varga@edinburgh.gov.uk |www.capitalcollections.org.uk | http://talesofonecity.wordpress.com/ | www.youredinburgh.info/engage | Subscribe to Library Newsletter at www.wordup.edinburgh.gov.uk
Working days: Monday-Thursday
Went to Newington Library yesterday and got my card updated to borrow ebooks and audio books. If we get all the children to join the library they can borrow e-books and read on their ipads. The software download takes minutes. It’s called Overdrive. Junior Librarian uses the same system but we would have to fork out £2500 annually and buy the books so much too expensive but they do have a great collection of books.
E-mail below from Wendy’s friend Susan which will give you all the info. Perhaps worth mentioning as a selling point.
Angela
From: Susan Varga [Susan.Varga@edinburgh.gov.uk]
Sent: 15 March 2012 13:12
To: Angela Christie
Subject: Overdrive
Hi Angela
Lovely to talk to you this morning. I’ve got a supply of library membership forms for you – they will have to be sent home and we need parents/carers details on the form too. If it suits you I can give them to Wendy at the weekend so she’ll bring them in on Monday. When the forms are returned to the school give me a shout and I’ll come over and sort out the membership cards for you.
I’ve attached -
Current eBook & eAudiobook List – list of what we currently have for children and teens in ebook and eaudiobook formats. Please give me your feedback on stock and pointers for authors/themes/genres/age groups you’d like us to buy. Books on Overdrive are single user access – so only one person at a time can read the copy so let me know if you have a need for us to buy multiple copies of particular titles.
Overtime First Time Users – this takes you through the software you’d need to install on the iPad and other registration issues. The children do not need to visit the library to have their membership upgraded to ebook user -only adults need this. Please let me know if any teachers want me to register them – I am happy to do this and set them up as an ebook user rather than them having to go into a library. The children will also each need to create an Adobe ID – this could be built into an IT lesson though showing the children how to use Overdrive.
How to Use Overdrive – instructions of how to find and download books on Overdrive. These two documents are copies of information found on http://yourlibrary.edinburgh.gov.uk/library2go – Your Library is our electronic resources website. Other resources that would be fantastic to use on you ipads include -
Tell Me More / Transparent Language Online – learn over 80 languages online (includes English, handy if you have any children whose first language is not English)
Life in Great Britain – useful if you are doing citizenship lessons
Encyclopedia Britannica (Junior & Student & Classic)
Oxford Reference Online – fantastic academic reference books
Whose Town…? – amazing social studies site about Edinburgh’s history available through Glow
Scotsman Archive – every issue of the Scotsman searchable from 1817-1950
Homework Help – Our own homework help pages with links to fantastic educational websites
Who Next…? – find children’s authors you’d like to read based on who your current favourites are
All of these and more are available on Your Library and would really add to the usefulness of the ipads for the children. Let me know if you want me to take you through the site and show you some of the resources.
You may also be interested in using our Clipper DL eaudiobook service on your ipads too. This is particularly good for supporting children with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. The brilliant thing about Clipper is that its multiple access so a whole class can have a book title out at the same time. Clipper will be moving platforms at the end of the month though so there’s no point in me sending you information about that at the moment. I’ll pass it on to you when it’s moved and is working okay. Information about Clipper can also be found at Clipper
Let me know if there is anything else you need in the meantime.
Thanks Susan
From: Susan Varga [mailto:Susan.Varga@edinburgh.gov.uk]
Sent: 23 February 2012 12:51
To: Cleo Jones
Cc: Alison Stoddart
Subject: Children’s eBook/eAudiobook List etc
Hi Cleo
Lovely to meet you yesterday. Please find attached a list of eBooks and eAudiobooks that we currently have available for children and teens. I’ll send you updates as we add more stock. Please feel free to give me any feedback / suggestions about the titles.
We had been talking about online support materials for children needing to learn English. You can learn English (up to university standard) from French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Hungarian, simplified and Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Portuguese and Portuguese Brazilian on Tell Me More. You can also learn English (not so academically – more like modules of vocabulary – which would probably be better for children actually) on Transparent Language Online from Russian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Farsi, Indonesian, Tagalog, Portuguese,Urdu, Korean,Greek, Swahili, Malay, Hindi, Thai, Polish, Norwegian,Vietnamese, Czech, Romanian, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese. Both these systems can be used from anywhere – all you need is an Edinburgh City Libraries membership card number to use them.
You can also access the International Children’s Digital Library which is a growing collection of childrens books available to read over the Internet.
We have a 3 month trial of an online spelling course called Spellzone. This is for children over the age of 10 and adults – particularly good for people learning English and students with dyslexia. It’s a proper online course that you work your way through learning the rules of English spelling. Let me know whether you think it would be a good resource to provide (in libraries and from home) and could be promoted in schools – www.spellzone.com Username: edinburgh Password: Spellzone
I’ll forward the email regarding the Credo trial to you – as it gives you steps to follow.
Thanks again
Susan
Susan Varga | Service Development Leader | Online Services | Central Library | George IV Bridge | Edinburgh | EH1 1EG | Tel 0131 242 8047 | susan.varga@edinburgh.gov.uk |www.capitalcollections.org.uk | http://talesofonecity.wordpress.com/ | www.youredinburgh.info/engage | Subscribe to Library Newsletter at www.wordup.edinburgh.gov.uk
Working days: Monday-Thursday
Sciennes Official Launch from Sciennes Primary School on Vimeo.
Follow up to Info Event for Non- Attenders at Launch
Thank you to everyone who managed to come along to our 1:1 iPad Pilot
Official Launch on Thursday 19th April. We realise that the time was
not suitable for everyone, so we have made information available on our
school website Learning>At Home>1:1 and in Glow.
Your engagement in the project is of utmost importance to us, so we invite you to arrange to come into school to sign Responsible Use Contracts and be given an iPad for home use. We aim to be responsive to parental feedback and questions and we have already received useful suggestions which can be incorporated into our project. We hope to maintain communication, through the website, blogs, a Wiki and Glow, and provide workshops and further opportunities to meet. Meanwhile, please feel welcome to email directly to lucy.gallagher@sciennes.edin.sch.uk.
A reminder that we would appreciate your support in:
- signing the responsible use contracts
- completing the baseline parent survey
- signing the Hull University paper consent form, to allow us to interview pupils for research purposes on the impact of the project
- signing up to City of Edinburgh free ebooks service or join up online
- providing an email account for your child (one which is not linked to a credit card)
- beginning a dialogue with us
Teacher Log 20.4.12 Two days after launch - Fiona
We have not used the iPads yet - they were issued to the children last night.
I got my iPad three weeks ago and I've spent a lot of time familiarising myself with it and with the apps we have put on for the children (and have very much enjoyed doing so!), and thinking about how I might use the iPads in the classroom.
In class we have spent a LOT of time discussing iPads - the children are VERY excited and have lots of questions! This morning we spent almost an hour recapping the Responsible Use Policy, recapping our Internet Safety Policy, and discussing what our classroom will 'look' like next week when they are bringing the iPads every day. We also had a (longer than I anticipated) Q & A session - the children are SO enthusiastic and so keen to get started using them.
Today, for our weekly Learning Logs, I gave the children four sentence starters to help them reflect on their feelings about the iPads. Reading through the jotters was a lovely experience - they are all so excited. I asked them to think about what would be the 'biggest challenge' of having an iPad. Comments included:
- worrying about damaging it - either self or by family member (by far the biggest concern)
- worrying about having to share it at home
- worrying about remembering to charge it
- worrying about using it too much, 'not being able to stop'
- worrying about breaking it by using an app incorrectly
I plan to scan the jotters of the six children who will be our regular 'reporters' for you. Hopefully the scans will be legible (never guaranteed when they've written in pencil!) and if so I'll email them to you. Hope that will be alright for their first report?" "The children haven't had their iPads this week.
Today, during Golden Time, I had some of the children help me make a trailer in iMovie on my iPad. Even children who would not normally be distracted from their Nintendo DS's came over to see what we were doing!"
Your engagement in the project is of utmost importance to us, so we invite you to arrange to come into school to sign Responsible Use Contracts and be given an iPad for home use. We aim to be responsive to parental feedback and questions and we have already received useful suggestions which can be incorporated into our project. We hope to maintain communication, through the website, blogs, a Wiki and Glow, and provide workshops and further opportunities to meet. Meanwhile, please feel welcome to email directly to lucy.gallagher@sciennes.edin.sch.uk.
A reminder that we would appreciate your support in:
- signing the responsible use contracts
- completing the baseline parent survey
- signing the Hull University paper consent form, to allow us to interview pupils for research purposes on the impact of the project
- signing up to City of Edinburgh free ebooks service or join up online
- providing an email account for your child (one which is not linked to a credit card)
- beginning a dialogue with us
Teacher Log 20.4.12 Two days after launch - Fiona
We have not used the iPads yet - they were issued to the children last night.
I got my iPad three weeks ago and I've spent a lot of time familiarising myself with it and with the apps we have put on for the children (and have very much enjoyed doing so!), and thinking about how I might use the iPads in the classroom.
In class we have spent a LOT of time discussing iPads - the children are VERY excited and have lots of questions! This morning we spent almost an hour recapping the Responsible Use Policy, recapping our Internet Safety Policy, and discussing what our classroom will 'look' like next week when they are bringing the iPads every day. We also had a (longer than I anticipated) Q & A session - the children are SO enthusiastic and so keen to get started using them.
Today, for our weekly Learning Logs, I gave the children four sentence starters to help them reflect on their feelings about the iPads. Reading through the jotters was a lovely experience - they are all so excited. I asked them to think about what would be the 'biggest challenge' of having an iPad. Comments included:
- worrying about damaging it - either self or by family member (by far the biggest concern)
- worrying about having to share it at home
- worrying about remembering to charge it
- worrying about using it too much, 'not being able to stop'
- worrying about breaking it by using an app incorrectly
I plan to scan the jotters of the six children who will be our regular 'reporters' for you. Hopefully the scans will be legible (never guaranteed when they've written in pencil!) and if so I'll email them to you. Hope that will be alright for their first report?" "The children haven't had their iPads this week.
Today, during Golden Time, I had some of the children help me make a trailer in iMovie on my iPad. Even children who would not normally be distracted from their Nintendo DS's came over to see what we were doing!"
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