Making ICT Accessible to Teachers Ophelia Vanderpuye ICT Subject Leader – Oakington Manor Primary School I am an ICT co-ordinator working in Oakington Manor School, a large primary school in Brent, currently for two days a week at school and 3 days a week as one of the Brent Primary ICT Teacher Advisors for the Brent School Improvement Service. I have been coordinating ICT for the past 15 years but have over 20 years experience in ICT and its uses across the curriculum.

Aim To share some ideas on how to make ICT accessible to teachers, particularly reluctant ones, based on the approach we have taken at Oakington.

Oakington Manor Largest 3 form entry primary school in London Borough of Brent 720 pupils including a private and state nursery ICT receives 100% support from the Headteacher One of 20 schools in London on the Specialist Schools Register As I said in my introduction, Oakington Manor is currently the largest primary school in Brent and this includes a Private and state nursery. ICT cannot move forward without 100% support from the headteacher. I will outline some of her strategies throughout this presentation We are also one of the first 20 schools in London to go on the Specialist Schools Trust for ICT

Key Factors to Accessibility Laptops for Teachers scheme – including school’s own investment in additional laptops USB pen drives Ensuring that the network works all the time – having someone to give the network tender loving care to make sure equipment works. Inset training onsite on the school’s own network, range of software and equipment Keeping the technology simple until staff are ready to move on. Planned introduction of equipment such as IWB’s Access to Webmail from home In a recent survey conducted in our school on what they felt was the contributing factors to moving on in ICT, teachers said that the laptop for teacher’s scheme was number one. It gave them an opportunity to practise at home with the same software found in school Two years ago our headteacher in discussion with the ICT subject leader (myself) decided that USB pendrives were the safest and easiest way of transporting and sharing information. So we found a company that did us a deal on 128meg pendrives and gave one to every member of staff including LSA’s, office staff and site manager. We employed a full time technician who is very proactive in ensuring that the network runs smoothly. Problems are dealt with quickly and sometimes minutes before a lesson. A programme of inset is prioritised each September initially for half a term. Then again as part of the Hands on Support programmes teachers are released by year groups for half a day to concentrate on training in the use of Interactive Whiteboards and other curriculum areas as our current curriculum planning dictates. The introduction of IWB’s was a planned event where we initially piloted their use in three classes before we bought boards for the whole school. This gave us time to explore the benefits for staff and pupils. It then didn’t need the ICT coordinator to say ‘this is a really good resources’ the teachers themselves sold their use to others

Whole School Involvement Planning and created resources are stored on our ‘Shared Work’ area on our network Use school website for teachers to showcase the work they are doing in all subjects Staff have opportunities to use ICT equipment for assemblies and PE Since the network is always working, teachers skills has improved and as a result they are creating and sharing resources they have created themselves. We use the school website as a way of getting everyone’s involvement.

Fun Introduce the fun elements of ICT first and fun to use equipment such as microscopes and digital cameras Software should be easily accessible and easy to learn not just for pupils but for staff Developing a good library of software and involve teachers in the software purchase process Use teacher’s strengths to help develop their ICT skills Praise and encouragement also works for teachers Making ICT fun for teachers is also paramount – Simple, easy to use/learn programmes make staff more willing to use them. We also reflect this in our scheme of work by starting off with the easiest QCA units to tackle first before moving on to more complex units – eg unit 6A: Multimedia presentations in KS2 or Unit 2B Creating Pictures in KS1 Teachers are involved in evaluating software for its usability before we make a purchase.

Contact opheliav@oakmanor.brent.sch.uk http://oakington-manor.brent.lgfl.net Thank you for giving me this time to share some of the ways we use to encourage teachers in the use of ICT Visit our website or come and visit our school. I would be happy to show you around. OR you can email me if you would like to do some collaborative work with our school including video conferencing