Try Weboggle with your pupils. You could either have it on the whiteboard and they could shout out words or each of them could log on and try their best.
It’s a good one this and gets those brain cells fired up before you start the lesson. I know that some of you have a couple of days left at this point.
Below are the latest changes to the minimum specification for running the onscreen test issued this week. I am not aware of any schools that will not meet these, but I would look very carefully at the server spec.
Dear KS3 ICT test school,
Following the 2006 pilot of the KS3 ICT tests, a small number of changes have been made to the minimum specification required to run the KS3 ICT test software. Please find details below. If you have any questions about the information provided please do not hesitate to contact the technical support team via Support Online accessed from www.naa.org.uk/ks3ictpilot <http://www.ks3ictpilot.com/> or by telephone: 0870 870 1025 and option 2.
Screen Resolution: The minimum workstation specification strongly recommends a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 for the best pupil experience. Please note that from 2008 the KS3 ICT software will not support 800 x 600 screen resolutions.
Windows 98 Workstations: Windows 98 workstations will not be supported during the 2007 pilot. Microsoft has retired public and technical support so this is no longer a suitable platform for running the KS3 ICT test.
Windows XP Service Pack 1: Workstations running Windows XP Service Pack 1 will not be supported during the 2007 pilot. On 10 October 2006 Microsoft stopped providing any incident support options or security updates for this retired service pack. Therefore it is no longer a suitable platform for running the KS3 ICT test.
The upgrade to Windows SP Service Pack 2 is freely available from the Microsoft website to all licensed users of Windows XP. Please talk to your usual network support provider for instructions on how to upgrade your network to this service pack.
Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and earlier: Servers and workstations running Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and earlier will not be supported during the 2007 pilot. Provision of technical support and security updates for Windows 2000 versions prior to Service Pack 4 ended on 30 June 2005. Therefore it is no longer a suitable platform for running the KS3 ICT test.
The upgrade to Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 is freely available from the Microsoft website to all licensed users of Windows 2000. Please talk to your usual network support provider for instructions on how to upgrade your network to this service pack.
64-bit Windows: Windows Server 2003 x64 edition will not be supported. On 64-bit server hardware, you can choose to run either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003. 32-bit Windows is intended for general purpose use and compatibility with existing 32-bit applications. 64-bit Windows is a version of Windows Server 2003 that has specifically been recompiled such that it will only run on 64-bit hardware and uses full 64-bit addressing. The KS3 ICT APS server software is a 32-bit application and, as such, has not been verified as compatible with 64-bit Windows server. Please contact your usual network support provider for advice on running the 32-bit version of Windows Server 2003.
We are actively verifying compatibility with 64-bit versions of Windows 2003 server, with a view to providing further information on this after January 2007.
Windows Vista: Windows Vista workstations will not be supported. The KS3 ICT test software for 2007 is not compatible with Windows Vista and must not be run on Windows Vista workstations.
Internet Explorer 5.5: Internet Explorer 5.5 will not be supported. Provision of technical support and security updates for Internet Explorer 5.5 on the Windows 2000 platform ended on 31t December 2003. Therefore it is no longer a suitable platform for running the KS3 ICT test.
The upgrade to Internet Explorer 6 is freely available from the Microsoft website to all licensed users of Windows 2000.
Netscape 7.2 and Earlier: Netscape 7.2 and earlier will not be supported. The latest version of the browser (version 
is available only for the Windows XP platform. Earlier versions are no longer supported and no further security updates will be issued. Therefore it is no longer a suitable platform for workstations running the KS3 ICT test. In place of Netscape, Mozilla Firefox 1.5+ will now be supported on all workstation and server platforms.
Internet Explorer 7: Internet Explorer 7 will be supported. Please note that Microsoft distributed several different pre-release, beta, and release candidate versions of Internet Explorer 7. These pre-release versions all have compatibility and security issues which have been fixed in the final release version of Internet Explorer 7. Consequently, the KS3 ICT test must not be run on workstations that still have pre-release, beta, or release candidate version of Internet Explorer 7 installed.
If you require any further information or assistance then please do not hesitate to contact us.
With regards,
KS3 ICT Tests Customer Services Team
Tel. 0870 8701025
Fax. 01235 854391
ks3tests@rm.com
www.naa.org.uk/ks3ictpilot
I found this video help site for several applications including Flowol2. The video help files are quite useful, especially for walking pupils through some of the more tricky concepts like variables.
Does anyone know of any other sites such as this that we could share?
The Secondary Strategy has produced some extra “Preparation for testing 2007″ materials for ICT departments to use in the Spring Term. There are 6 lessons worth of materials for Y9 that each build up the skills needed to work with the test interface as well as giving students tasks to do that mimic the way in which the test works. There are also lesson plans, MS PowerPoint slides and worksheets.
There are also 5 lessons that can be used in the same way with Y8 pupils. I think that the idea is to use these with Y8 pupils later in the year to prepare them early for the 2008 test. The tasks are less demanding, but equally well designed.
All Subject Leaders for ICT have been invited to the training at Noel Baker, Thursday 14th December at 1.30 p.m. so you should be able to get the files from them as they will be distributed during the afternoon.
A well presented look at the ways in which Web 2.0 is being developed.
http://www.wsjb.com/RPC/V1/Home.html
How are we in education going to be making the most of what for a lot of our pupils is everyday technology? Are we forever going to be playing catch up with these technological innovations or are we going to be inspired by them and be creative in their use in the 21st century classroom?
I have been having a discussion with several schools in recent weeks about where pupils ought to be when they arrive in KS3 and where they actually are. The aim of this post is to ask you for your thoughts and suggestions that I can take away and work together with other LA colleagues on cross phase planning in ICT and looking at transition (or transfer in DfES terminology) from Y6 to Y7.
Two of the most common issues are always
1) Pupil skills using secondary software (usually MS Office, but not always)
2) Inconsistent experience with ICT at KS2
What in your experience have been the greatest barriers to moving pupils on in Y7 this term? Would it be beneficial to your department if we could resurrect transition as an issue to explore within my support with your schools?
I look forward to your comments.
Some basic tutorials for the brilliant Photostory 3. I find that most pupils need no help at all with this, but here are some links just in case.
http://www.windowsphotostory.com/
http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PhotoStory3/
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=363891&seqNum=3&rl=1
The links below provide some guidance on conditional formatting. Some are ok to use with pupils, but some are a little involved.
http://www.digitalsurvivors.com/archives/000351.php
http://j-walk.com/ss/excel/usertips/tip006.htm
http://www.contextures.com/xlCondFormat02.html
http://www.functionx.com/excel/Lesson07.htm
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,105312-page,1/article.html
RM/QCA materials part 3 shows how to navigate around the word processing, spreadsheet, database and presenation applications for the onscreen test.
RM/QCA materials part 2 show how to use email, web browser and file manager.
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