The world has ended as we know it!

[laserblazer]

I took a Y7 ICT class last lesson. They are designing leaflets and there is a big LEA problem with internet access. They were stuffed. I got books from the library, suggested they draw some pictures that we could scan in, that they got on with stuff they could do. Are we to become a society that just cannot function without the internet? Luckily, my computer is on an unfiltered port and isn't as badly affected.

[garethEds]

I took a Y7 ICT class last lesson. They are designing leaflets and there is a big LEA problem with internet access. They were stuffed. I got books from the library, suggested they draw some pictures that we could scan in, that they got on with stuff they could do. Are we to become a society that just cannot function without the internet? Luckily, my computer is on an unfiltered port and isn't as badly affected.

 

Funny this as I went to the Headteacher with exactly the same point the other week. As part of a Key Skills Level 2 ICT course our Year 9 have to research information on dangerous animals - source 1 can be IT related, but source 2 has to be non-ICT related. I get them to visit the school library.

 

I found it totally unbelievable when a few pupils came back saying they couldn't find any books on . Never mind the vast stock of books we have in there. I went in and found a book straight away.

 

I told the head that this is one of the main key skills they need to look at.

 

Saying that, I type so much I've forgotten how to hold a pen ;-)

 

GJE

[Arcath]

they should start ordering librarys starting Q,W,E and ending B,N,M

[localzuk]

Its amazing isn't it? I often hear "I'll have to do something else then!" from teachers who find the internet is down for their research lesson.

[lew_bob]

What amazes me is the lack of not ICT back up plans in case things do go wrong. I mean some teachers just completly fall apart. I'm sure many of them like me use to use pen and paper more that screen and keyboard yet they have no idea!

 

I think common practice should be the plan lessons with the knowledge things could go wrong and at least have thought about what to do if tht powerpoint wonts play or the net goes down.

[rad]

i just attended a class where Youtube wouldnt work with the file they chose but worked for any other. The students did no work that lesson because of it!

[maniac]

We had no internet for an hour or so this afternoon, you would have thought the world had come to an end! Also showed how few staff read their e-mail, the minute we realised the problem e-mail to all staff explaining the problem, what was being done and that we would send out another e-mail when we knew more information or the problem had been fixed. I think we had at least 10 students queueing up at the door all asking the same question

 

Also why do teachers not believe you when you say there's nothing you can actually do about it, and they'll have to wait for the problem to be fixed by our LEA. "But there must be some you can ring?" er yes, and I've done that already. "can't you ring them again?" and it went on from there.

 

Mike.

[jdoyle]

 

Saying that, I type so much I've forgotten how to hold a pen ;-)

 

 

with you on that one. My writing is just slow and appalling now.

 

 

 

We try to tells teachers not to rely on internet based content.

 

We block YouTube full stop - if there's a decent video on there that's useful we try to go back to the source and see if we can get a better quality version to load onto our eStream tool.

[Arcath]

i find the difference in how IT is used aazing, one school i work in a BT man broke the internet so they had to go a day without it and they had loads of problems getting what they needed, another school all the problems that get reported feature the line "i turned it on for the first time in a couple of weeks and...."

[LeMarchand]

there is a big LEA problem with internet access

 

You're not in the same LEA as me, are you? (The one with insufficient WebSense licenses).

 

Its amazing isn't it? I often hear "I'll have to do something else then!" from teachers who find the internet is down for their research lesson.

 

Yep!

 

We try to tells teachers not to rely on internet based content.

 

It never sinks in, though. We used to have a content cache that could, well, cache web pages in case of net outages; it never got used so I repurposed it.

[TechMonkey]

Well we have had a students internet access restricted & he and a teacher came to me to say this would impact a major piece of coursework as he had to... this is good... read a Sherlock Holmes story! I had to stop from sniggering & they both seemed confused when I suggested looking in the library for one.

[CraigM]

I've seen this at my current school once or twice now. Since the entire school has Smartboards, most teachers prepare everything in it now. Normally it's not an issue, but when we've had issues with some blown data projectors, the teachers were lost big time.

 

There should always be back up plans I think, since while we strive to provide good uptime, sometimes things do go wrong.

[Arcath]

blown data projectors, the teachers were lost big time.

 

yeah teachers allways say "how did we work before projectors etc..." everytime they have to go any period of time without it.

 

I think its down the to resources avaliable on the pcs and the convienience. why take the class down the to the library and spend a while searching the shelves when they can use the IT rooms and type it into google instead?