Students sitting state exams (Courtesy of Bryan O’Brien, Irish Times) On Wednesday October 7th 2009, the Irish Times Opinion piece carried the headline, “Assembly-line model of education must change”. The article was written by Michael John Gorman who is director of the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin and raises serious issues around our current …
Sherston Software (http://www.sherston.com) announced a mega deal offer to schools in the UK where they offered full site licenced versions of over 100 of their titles in a bundle deal during the summer for £999 excluding VAT for those who ordered before 18th July 2009. The offer has been extended until 31 October and is …
The Primary School Curriculum was launched in 1999 and aims to develop the full potential of every child while recognising the uniqueness of each child. To mark the the tenth anniversary, the NCCA collected digital photos to demonstrate the curriculum in action as part of the “Get Snapping” project. It is great to see that …
Primary School Curriculum Celebrates 10th Birthday Read More »
The 2009 Eircom Junior Golden Spider Awards are up and running and looking for nominations. The new Irish Student Internet Awards will celebrate innovation in web development and design by students with a grand awards ceremony in Dublin on 18th December. There are a number of categories including best concept, best web application and best …
While reflecting on the recent pronouncements on the Smart Economy, I went back to the Building Ireland’s Smart Economy – A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal to look at the specific mention of ICT in schools. Basically, it mentions that the DES Strategy Report from last year “provides a clear direction to inform actions to …
Investing in our Smart Economy – the missing connect Read More »
We have been busy putting the finishing touches to our online summer courses for primary teachers which kick off on July 1st. A lot of effort has been put into making these courses as interactive and as interesting as possible for teachers. Thanks to the TeachNet mentors who developed the course tutorials, we are delighted …
So as the school year draws to a close what were the highs and lows for ICT in learning? I think we should all take stock of what has been a disappointing year for schools wanting to improve their integration of technology into the classroom. We are all aware of the lack of funding, policy …
Last week, Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told schoolkids to throw away their textbooks to help the state avoid bankruptcy. He referred to textbooks as being “outdated” and too expensive. California currently spends more than $400m annually on school textbooks. Instead of textbooks, the Californian Learning Resource Network will evaluate and list free and commercial online …
I recently had the pleasure of attending a talk by Labour Party leader, Mr. Eamon Gilmore TD, at the DCU Ryan Academy Mid-Summer Networking Event on the topic of ‘Fostering Entrepreneurship’. I normally don’t attend such talks but I decided to head out to City West and hear what Eamon had to say on this …
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the New York iSchool (thanks to Teachers Network for organising it). It was great to see 21st Century skills in a learning reality. This unique high school was established last Summer by the NYC Department of Education as part of their New Vision for Public Schools initiative. …
