The web for schools Online ‘e’ssentials for VELS

Why use the Channel? The websites within the Channel have been teacher-recommended and reviewed. All teachers and students can recommend sites for the Channel to review. There are different pages for different audiences and from these pages you get different sets of results. The majority of the websites included in the Channel come from external sources (not DE&T), but they have educational relevance.

Examples of websites from external sources (not DE&T) that the Channel links to:

Primary Page Search box presents results suitable for primary students Secondary Page Search box presents results suitable for secondary students

How the Channel works with Edulist for students The filtered Internet Sites for gambling Sites with violent content pornography ringtones time-wasting sites Beyond the green box is the world-wide web. Green box is filtered Internet view in schools. School/ISP filters block inappropriate sites but not irrelevant sites. Channel however only catalogues sites of educational relevance according to audience groups. bbc.co.uk afl.com.au myspace piczo

The Channel & Edulist in state & CEO schools The Channel contains approximately 200,000 resources and link to millions of webpages. The Channel presents these resources in a catalogue and also lists them on Edulist (a list of URL addresses for schools’ Internet Service Providers). Schools can restrict students to the Edulist in different ways.

Schools choose level of Channel access All students can access WWW, but have Channel as default search page Some classes search within the Channel only and some classes search beyond the Channel Students use Channel when they have no money left in their personal Internet account All students search within the Channel for safety and /or cost saving reasons

Comments about the Channel from a CEO school newsletter February 2006

Regardless of student use of Channel, all teachers can use Teacher Page Quick guided links to teacher-recommended web resources for teachers from all sectors wanting to implement VELS ICT

Find info on emerging technologies

Find info about blogging … and/or opportunities to join global teacher and global student blogs

Find info on podcasts

Find info on webquests

Find info on Wikis including Wikipedia or Simple English Wikipedia

Student contributions on Simple English Wikipedia

My simple english wikipedia entry Any one can edit my entry

Using Simple English Wikipedia for teaching

Apart from link to Global Connections, there are links on right-hand side that are useful Check out link to Ambleside Primary for example

From Ambleside Primary go to Literacy Hour link

On Ambleside’s Literacy Hour Page there are great activities like Look, Cover Write and Check Also check out Numeracy Hour Page Link on left-hand side

Apart from guided links there is the Search Box. Look for your own topics here. More peer-recommended and reviewed results!

Sample search terms learning objects maths games art resources design and technology science teaching teaching english

Search results for learning objects. Notice the green box listing – we do this for results that are highly recommended and relevant.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for

Example: no search results for wolfmother Scroll over to Site Suggestion and click

On site suggestion page ask for sites you need

When reviewing sites for Channel inclusion the team consider: Educational relevance vs time-wasting Cost to schools Safety implications Please feel free to contact us – we also provide pd to individual school groups.