Futurelab: Newsletter 81, July 2011


 

Projects and Futurelab news

                               

Digital Literacy

This resource is designed to support primary and secondary teachers to integrate the development of students’ digital literacy into everyday learning.

The activities cover the following areas:

  • Developing practitioners’ understanding of digital literacy and its relevance to their own contexts.
  • Planning activities that can be integrated into everyday teaching to support students to develop both subject knowledge and digital literacy.
  • Practical ideas for the classroom, including explorations of free web-based tools and activities.

The materials, developed with primary and secondary school teachers as part of Futurelab’s digital participation project, can be downloaded from our website.

 

 


Digital Participation – research reports

As part of the second year of Futurelab’s Digital Participation Project, a group of young people from Clevedon School were supported to develop research skills and to undertake independent research which they felt would contribute to growing knowledge in the digital literacy research field.

There is increasing interest in how young people can develop the critical practices of digital literacy that enable the creation, sharing and understanding of meaning and that support participation in social, cultural, civic, economic and political life in an increasingly digital age.

Most of the research in this area is undertaken and reported by adults. Arguably, it is young people themselves who can best understand their experiences of digital participation. These understandings are important in considering the sorts of support young people might want and need in order to develop the knowledge and understanding that is necessary to be critical, creative and discerning users of digital technologies.

The aim of the Young People’s Research Group was to undertake research that they felt would inform others of the sorts of issues young people might need support with in order to develop their digital literacy.

Ten students from Clevedon School attended a series of participatory workshops in which they discussed the nature of research, learnt about different research methods and worked with Futurelab researchers to:

  • Develop their own research questions into young people’s digital practices
  • Undertake their own original, independent research projects
  • Analyse the results of their research
  • Publish their findings in the format of their choice

Read the full findings of the research here

 


Education Eye brings you a wide range of exciting, relevant and useful innovations updated daily from the best of the web. Here are some recent Futurelab favourites:

 

 Google Plus: Is this the social tool schools have been waiting for?

Does Everyone Need to Understand Technology? You be the judge

Why ARE We Having This Conversation?

 

 
In the news
Education Secretary Michael Gove was wrong to introduce his flagship English Baccalaureate this year, an influential group of MPs say today.

BBC: Schools are effectively being bribed into using officially approved phonics-based reading materials by the government, an MPs’ report suggests. 

The Independent: Chalk Talk – Paperless exams, why we won’t be holding our breath
 
BBC: New professional standards for teachers in England say they must show tolerance and respect for the rights of others and not undermine “fundamental British values”.

The Guardian: The world’s top 100 universities ranked for the social science disciplines

DfE

New focus on the highest quality qualifications and more information to be published in transparent school league tables. 

All teachers will be expected to meet new standards of competence and conduct from September 2012, following an independent review of the skills that teachers should possess.

The Secretary of State for Education has today set out how the Government will ensure that education funding is better targeted in the future. A copy of the statement is available to download.


Ofsted

Ofsted to trial spot checks on schools with behaviour problems 

Children at risk of exclusion helped by nurture groups

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