EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTRE REPORT: MAY 2011 BY ANGELA RICKARD

Maynooth Educational Technology Showcase (aka METS11)

14th April Maynooth Educational Technology Showcase (aka METS11) was devised by the Education Resource Centre as an end of year technology conference encourage and enthuse student teachers in the use of multi-media for teaching and learning. The event was generously supported by Vice-President for Innovation, the Centre for Teaching and Learning in NUI Maynooth, the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) and Typetec Ireland/Apple Education and the Computer Education Society of Ireland (CESI). It was open to student teachers from NUIM and the other colleges of the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) and second level teachers in and around County Kildare. More detail: www.mets11.info

Would you be so kind as to answer a few short questions about the event: http://url.ie/bipi

Playback rooms

Playback 1 & 2 have been recently equipped with a large flat screen monitor connected to PC and laptop console.

Wireless access

Because demand for wireless among our students (preparing and sharing multimedia files) is greater than that of most others on campus the Computer Centre will replace the wireless infrastructure at minimal cost to the department.

New Books in ERC – total news books ordered – Andreas’ report

Other resources for teaching

During the year we acquired a good quality visualiser (Genee 8100). Otherwise known as ‘document cameras’ visualisers range in cost (and functionality) from very cheap to more costly versions that have high magnification suitable almost as digital microscopes. They are very useful for showing work directly and projecting to a screen and can also record video of any sequence of actions in the line of vision of the camera. Catalogued with other resources in the Centre this visualiser as well as other (cheaper!) ones we aim to purchase during the summer will be available for loan from next semester. A mobile tablet is also available for use with the visualiser.

The Resource Centre was also able to acquire a small set of iPod Touch devices for use with PGDE students taking the ICT module. Students have used these for a variety of purposes and have repaid the loan by evaluating apps, making interesting resources (e.g. an anti-bullying movie) and presenting uses of the iPod Touch in the context of the METS 11 event.

Bookfund Update

Just over half the Main Library Allocation for Education has been spent to date: the outstanding balance is: €3,186.16. The full list of library orders received is available at http://url.ie/bips while titles still on order can be accessed here: http://url.ie/bipt The Resource Centre is happy to facilitate the ordering of books and the library has requested that 2010/11 orders be placed before the end of June 2011

Resources on loan

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Staff are requested to return any digital voice recorders, cameras, laptops or any other resources to Rod or to the Centre as soon as possible.

Software on Ed Dept computers

Rod is currently compiling the list of software required by staff on all the computers in the department –please let him know what new software you may require. The current list can be accessed http://url.ie/bipr

The Dell laptops will be ‘re-imaged’ and a reminder concerning Deep Freeze will be included on all these machines. Please ensure that you save to a memory stick all documents, files before switching off the laptop.

Dissolving Boundaries Programme: ‘Crossing the Frontier’ (26th May 2011)

The Dissolving Boundaries team held a joint celebration of this year’s school projects. Joint presentations by pupils from a selection of schools were made via video-conferencing with University of Ulster, Coleraine. Schools have been working together in cross-border partnerships throughout the school year using digital technology so that young people can study different aspects of the curriculum and get to know each other. Pupils in primary, special and secondary schools joined together to celebrate their work throughout the year, by linking up for video-conferences with their partner school across the border, sharing work in their 'virtual classroom' and inviting parents and others in the community for a school assembly to mark the occasion. Find out more about the event and about Dissolving Boundaries generally on our recently re-vamped website: www.dissolvingboundaries.org

Dissolving Boundaries team is also delighted to welcome Joann Dempsey BScEd student joining us to work on the programme over the summer.

VITALL – Videoing in Teaching and Learning Languages

The VITALL project is currently creating a set of video cases to portray language teaching ideas seen in practice. They are being shot in second level schools throughout the country and feature methodologies for teaching a range of languages. The videos will be hosted, from Autumn 2011, on a dedicated website (www.vitall.ie) and used on pre-service and in-

service teacher education programmes in Ireland. The site will be launched in the Autumn at an event in the Department of Education and Skills. The initial research questions emerging from this practical work were presented at ESAI conference and the NDLR, who have provided the funding for this project along with 12 others, have a publication in press. To view a sample video: go to: http://vimeo.com/23473935 then copy and paste in the password you see in red here: v1t20!!

Asia-Europe Classroom Network: project (GoCyberGreen) and International Conference

The Resource Centre coordinates one project (out of the thirty or so projects) in this network. This year, following a teacher conference held in New Delhi, India (12th to 16th November 2010), the project attracted interest from a good number of teachers. In total around 10 teachers from countries in Asia and Europe have registered students and participated in some or all of the project activities. More details here: AEC-NET. Of the Irish schools initially interested in the project St. Joseph's College, in Lucan has stayed the course joining with teachers and pupils from Thailand, Korea, Portugal, Poland, India, Lithuania, Estonia and Mongolia. The project activities take place behind a password protected site called elgg hosted on an NUIM server: http://gocybergreen.nuim.ie. See recent statistics based on the activity on the site: http://url.ie/biq2

The 10th Annual International AEC-NET Conference will take place this year in Ireland. Hosted by the Louth Vocational Education Committee the event will take place from 7th to 12th November in the Crowne Plaza, Dundalk. The Minister for Education Mr. and Skills, Ruairi Quinn TD, has agreed to officially open the conference.

‘Score: Sharing Creative, Original Resources in Education’

The Resource Centre was successful in a bid for local NDLR funding for innovative projects. The project entitled ‘Score: Sharing Creative, Original Resources in Education’ led to the development of blogs and wiki pages created by the PGDE students. Take up on the actual blogging was slow but the message about developing and sharing creative resources was definitely taken up as more PGDE students undertook to submit resources to the Education Resource Centre database than ever before. See: http://www.resources-maynooth.ie/index.php?module=resources