I support primary schools in using and developing Learning platforms. One thing that is key is that it fits with the schools needs. We have some schools who have created 'topic based' Interest groups full of web links videos and other resources for pupils to use for independent work. The Pupils then post their work from these activities for others to reveiw and comment on - peer assessment.

Some use it for e-safety and have worked with parents so there are areas with lots of web links that have been tried and tested. Pupils and parents then know that the web sites are appropriate and support learning. This has gone down very well especially with Parents who are concerned about thier children accessing in appropriate information on the web - of course it doesn't stop them going else where.

Some schools have decided to focus on parent communication - by putting calendars, newsletters etc on the site

Some have got started through collaborative projects like the Art project where an artist has worked with a number of schools and they are now sharing and collaborating through the Learning platform. This project has schools from Nursery to sixth form all working together. - It is still underway and we will see how long the collaboration continues.

These are just a few examples - we have others however it has always worked best where the school has a clear need and vision for how it can support their needs.

In my previous life BB (before Becta) I too supported schools deploying what we now lovingly call learning platforms. My approach was always the same to work from the needs of the school. As my background is in schools I had a pretty good idea that starting with reducing admin and paperwork would always be welcome. My initial meeting with the * Head and / or senior team would start by outlining some easy wins in terms of documentation sharing and access.

A very simple example is policy documentation - one place available anywhere, anytime to all staff = better document control, less paper, prepared and ready for the next unannounced Oftsed call. In everty school this worked because it was simple, already (mostly ) in electonic format, and could be achieved quickly. Some schools took this idea much further having a whole policy change / review structure built and managed by themselves including Governor read only access. Point is to start small and let each develop as they understand the benefit.

From my point of view the next phase was then much easier to see the technology as a powerful way to engage the learner. We talk about learning platforms but I like to look at the whole process of extending opportunities for learning, teaching and management with technology.

Now if anyone has a neat name for that ....

Andy

*Interesting point here that I put off meeting with one school for many months as the Head always delegated the apointment elsewhere. Eventually they approached me and I was able to say I would only attend if the Head attended. After 20 minutes he and the school were hooked!!

Quick Ideas for Primary No 1

1. Give the children a login.

2. Start a forum on a matter that interests them.

3.Give over an ICT lesson to allow them time to respond.

4.Watch it snowball.

After all it is a learning platform, and although I'm keen on staff learning the children are the digital natives and will quickly make progress given the opportunity.

I have taken the approach that Pilgram has set down for Primary and amended it for a Secondary school - I have highlighted the changes in red.

Quick Ideas for Secondary

1. Give the children a login.

2. Start a forum on a matter that interests them.

3.Give over an ICT lesson to allow them time to respond.

4.Watch it snowball.

What I am trying to emphasise is that the are the key to a successful learning platform. Walk round BETT and the vast majority of things are designed with teachers in mind NOT necessarily students.

The initial 'Quick start ideas' were those staff could see the online communication and collaboration benefits enhancing familiar methods, e.g. in their virtual StaffRoom using shared staff calendar and planning documents. These are simple hooks explained in greater detail in the attachment.

What I would class as a success was the Pupil Showcase community/interest group. This was a cross-establishment site formed in a cluster area, all pupils across 19 schools have access. Pupils were not pushed to publish work but were informed if they wanted to share they could upload it in to the cluster showcase area. One school worked on 'Stop Frame Animation filming' in groups inspired by the National Gallery Take One Picture competition and uploaded a selection of their short films. As a result of 'Alert Me' notifications another school who had previously completed a similar exercise watched the film sand gave peer review feedback - without prompting they told the original school what they enjoyed, which sections they found most interesting and gave some guidance of things to consider next time.

These were year 3 (7 - 8 year olds) children in schools over 30 minutes drive apart, which would probably cost anything from £200 for them travelling to one another's physical location. One of the lovely exchanges was a boy giving some advice to a group, how to manage the back-drop after it fell on the plasticine character. He recommended "... set up the difference back-drops in order and tie a loop of string to the top corners - then out of camera shot you can quickly lift one away to have the next scene ready".

The first school were amazed with the feedback and went on to share a film project between schools incorporating many of the comments and giving 'top tips' exchanges new ideas.

We initially got going by starting small - just an area for School Council Officers, then for all School Council members, then a class, then a year group etc.

This approach enabled us to get a handle on what worked well and what the issues were, rather than trying to do everything at once. We started with this approach in November and we now have the whole school involved with approximaly 1/3 of the school as regular, active contributors and over half visitng regularly.

We have also put student voice at the centre of everything - we're asking pupils what they want, then trying to make it happen. Things work well in one year group and then similar areas are created for other year gorups that want to try something similar.