The first resource we have made available is a digital ‘Number line’ for use in Key stages 1 and 2.

To use this resource click on ‘Launch online tool’ below.  You can then use the tool as it is or tailor it by clicking on the ‘options’ button.

We will be adding useful teachers notes and other free tools so watch this space. If you would like notification of when this additional free stuff becomes available please subscribe to our RSS feed or our email newsletter (using the form on the right).

We are always striving to improve on what we do so please do give us your feedback and suggestions in the comments box below and share your thoughts with others who may also be using the tool.

Happy number lining!

Launch online tool

Following on from the success of Scientific Enquiry, How Science Works also provided virtual experiment – but this time for KS3. The three disks are for Biology, Physics and Chemistry with 33 interactive experiments in total which are clearly marked for years 7, 8 or 9.

It has been designed to cover all the strands of the new Science Framework, allowing pupils to do some interactive experiments which are often not possible to do in the classroom.

Giving a real-life context for each experiment, pupils in many cases have to select the equipment they need to use. They can use Vivid’s built in table & graphing tool to record data that they collect while doing the investigation.

This is followed up by a section asking pupils to analyse their findings, draw conclusion and suggesting follow-up work.

Finally a self assessment screen allows pupils to look at the assessment criteria for the activity and indicate whether they think they have met the criteria.

A separate teacher area allows all the investigation to be sorted and selected by Framework objective and assessment focus.

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epicentre-mobile-learning-and-classrooms-of-the-future.pdf

To help us in our growth at an exciting time of expansion we are looking for an experienced salesperson to drive our sales. Candidates must be very familiar with the world of educational publishing and primary and secondary education, have extensive experience of consultative selling and be passionate about digital media for education.

We are taking a very flexible approach to this appointment and are interested in exploring different terms including coming in at director level in return for investment in the company, working on commission only, or on a part salary, part commission basis.

This is a rare opportunity to get involved at a senior level within an established expanding digital media company who are in perfect position to continue to capitalise on the exciting opportunities offered by digital media for education in the 21st century.

Please apply with résumé or letter detailing experience, skills and expectations in the first instance to:

sales@vividinteractive.co.uk

Or for more details call:

• Financial Director Gill Strawford on 01225 864468
• Managing Director Mick Landmann on 01273 688700

Vivid Interactive is committed to operating ethically, with minimal ecological footprint, and to providing equal opportunities.

Contact Vivid Interactive

PDF version

Developing Literacy is a new series of engaging interactive activities for use as lesson starters on an interactive whiteboard.

This four disk series, aimed at KS2 pupils, is organised into the three literacy strands: word structure & spelling, sentence structure and punctuation & understanding & creating text. Each strand provides eight activities, each with an associated key framework objective.

The series feature an appealing style and a companion superhero character “Dynamite Dan” to give instructions and feedback. Audio is available for all instructions and in many other activities where appropriate.

Each activity has associated Teacher’s notes and worksheet. Worksheets can be used on-screen using Vivid’s integrated whiteboard tools for zooming and annotating, or simply printed out as required.

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Mick’s musings

The Government’s £48bn Building Schools for the Future program aims to help local authorities update and improve school buildings, or rebuild secondary schools if necessary.

Crucial to this programme is the need to integrate digital technology into school infrastructure.

It is controversial because it involves private companies providing funding, directly or through the private finance initiative.

The private finance initiative, developed to encourage private companies to put money into public sector projects, involves the state paying the company for providing services, often at high rates of interest.

The company has to meet targets and the quality of their work is regularly assessed – but there has been opposition to private involvement in education, not least because companies are not accountable to voters, as public sector organisations are.

As well as getting the funding right, the schools should be tailored to suit all the different groups who will use the buildings.

Although building new schools with the means to encourage personalised learning is a good thing, a one-size fits all scenario is not desirable.

We need to be braver, says Dr Stephen Heppell in a report into school design and learning for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment’s (CABE) Building Futures programme.

Pupils should be involved in school design, and schools should be community resources where older people can go and learn, too. They should be used by families and other groups of people at different times, which is at the heart of the extended schools programme.

The schools need to cope with not just today’s technology, but tomorrow’s as well. So the buildings need to be adaptable, and capable of opening up the world to teachers and pupils through the internet, specialised school portals and m-learning devices.

Delivering energy efficiency and environmentally sympathetic designs is also increasingly important.

So although the programme to upgrade and rebuild schools is a good start, it needs to be carefully focused, flexible and properly funded with independent control of standards at its heart to be really effective and take education forward.

An e-portfolio is a digital collection of pupils’ education documents, but it has the potential to do much more.

Before technology got sophisticated, pupils stored their work in notebooks or folders, which were vulnerable to loss and damage and filled up.

An e-portfolio can hold background material in the form of notes, cuttings or links to web pages, photos, graphics, video and audio.

While organising it, the pupil can think about their interests, progress and motivation, and plan what they want to do next, what to study and what qualifications that might lead to.

This can teach a host of other skills, including research, presentation, organisation, editing and collecting. It goes without saying it will improve ICT skills.

And creating an e-portfolio can link in to personalisation and pupil voice, because the young person can use it to get a clear picture of what they want to learn, and where and how they want to learn it, as they build up experience.

Because the space is unlimited, they can adapt the portfolio as they progress through the school, and eventually it can be used to store cvs, college course material and job applications.

It needs to be portable so that it can move on with the pupil, and adapt easily to slightly different systems.

E-portfolios will vary depending on the aims and ideas of the institution that hosts them, but they usually need to have the following features:

• Files for documents and images and audio and video footage

• Education records in set format from the institution

• Cv tools, and showcase to provide evidence of learning

• Tools for planning the pupil’s next move

• Catalogue of courses available at the school/college.

Accessibility needs to be built in from the beginning. Software to allow pupils to use their e-portfolios easily, such as colour coded symbols, or a keyboard with larger keys for those with sight problems, or a joystick for those with physical disabilities, need to be incorporated.

Creating them beyond educational establishments is the next challenge. In Wales, they are hoping to provide every Welsh citizen with an e-portfolio. https://www.careerswales.com/progressfile/

In Nottingham, the local authority hosts an e-portfolio, which schools and colleges recognise and which links into Lifelong learning, the national project which tracks people’s education and training throughout their lives.