Education on the Internet
Number 120: 12th May, 2004
Introduction
Introduction
Education on the Internet is published by Spartacus Educational every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews of websites and articles on using ICT in the classroom. Members of the mailing list are invited to submit information for inclusion in future newsletters. In this way we hope to create a community of people involved in using the Internet in education. Currently there are 50,690 subscribers to the newsletter.
All reviews are added to our web directory. There are sections on Internet Services, Online Seminars, Primary Education, English, Mathematics, Science, Modern Languages, History, Geography, Design & Technology, Business Studies, Special Needs, Media Studies, ICT, Sociology, Music, Politics, Economics, Photography, Art & Design, Theatre Studies, Physical Education and Religious Studies.
John Simkin
Online Seminars
Active Learning in the Classroom: Active Learning activities are highly important teaching tools that are often discarded by teachers because of the level of ‘risk’ involved in them. In this seminar Dan Moorhouse argues that the use of active teaching and learning techniques actually minimizes the ‘risk’ by providing a greater variety of learning options to students. "Through a range of carefully constructed questions and tasks students think critically, develop their empathy with the people involved in the ‘real’ events and, in my experience at least, form a much better understanding of how a range of complex factors can combine to cause further events." If you have views on this subject, register with the History Forum and join the debate.
News and Articles
Government Websites: Stephen Twigg told MPs last week that the government is spending more than £9 million a year on education websites. The Department for Education and Skills spent £5.3 million on eight websites. Others costing a lot of money includes Curriculum Online (2.4m), British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (£1.3m), National Grid for Learning (£1.1m), National College for School Leadership (£673,000), Teacher Training Agency (£517,000) and Qualifications & Curriculum Agency (£380,000). A DfES spokesman defended this level of spending by arguing that: "the departmental website is one of the largest and most heavily used in Government."
Collaborative Learning: The partner schools involved are Anderson and Brae High School (Shetland), Graf Freidrich Schule (Diepholz, Germany), Nara Women's University Secondary School (Nara, Japan) and Langa and Wittebombe High Schools (Cape Town, South Africa). The project also aims to build on the increasingly trans-national nature of education systems and curriculum development through exploring collaborative learning and teaching. Initially this will focus on German Higher/Advanced Higher, History Advanced Higher and Maths Advanced Higher. Groups of 16 and 17 year-old students from partner schools in each country meet annually to socialise and discuss topical issues. The students stay with families of pupils at the school and attend some classes. The first Global Classroom convention was held in Shetland and will be there again this June.
Ofsted: A summary of an unpublished Ofsted report was leaked to the Times Educational Supplement last week. Questionnaires returned by more than 2,000 Ofsted staff suggests that one in five claims to have been bullied or harassed at work in the past 15 months. Two out of three staff said they felt unable to speak freely at work or share ideas about changing the way work was done. Less than a quarter (24 per cent) said they thought the management style was one that encouraged staff to do their best. Almost two-thirds said objectives changed so frequently that they could not get work done.
History
The Emancipation of Women: 1750-1920: A comprehensive encyclopedia of how British women got the vote. Each entry contains a narrative, illustrations and primary sources. The text within each entry is hypertexted to other relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to research individual people and events in great detail. The sources are also hypertexted so the student is able to find out about the writer, artist, newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the material. So far there are sections on: omen in the 19th Century (Schooling, Marriage, Industrial Work, Careers & Professions, University Education, Birth Control), Pressure Groups, Strategy and Tactics and Parliamentary Reform Acts.
Documents Online: This government website allows you online access to The National Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and genealogical sources. Searching the index is free but it costs £3.50 to download a digital image of a document. This latest addition to the site allows you to see colour images of the original wills of selected famous people, including William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Sir Francis Drake, Lord Byron, Samuel Pepys, Isambard Brunel, Robert Devereux, Horatio Nelson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, Anthony Van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, William Cobbett and Christopher Wren.
Mathematics
Abiator's Active Classroom: This website has been produced by a teacher from New Zealand that allows pupils to try a variety of interactive maths actives. A number of options are available including contracts, problem solving, quizzes, multiple choice and mathematical crosswords. There is also a "Problem of the Day". Answers are available but only as part of a set or zipped file which are available for purchase.
Aunty Math: The mission of the DuPage Children's Museum is to stimulate curiosity, creativity, thinking and problem solving among young children. Children's familiar experiences are expanded through self-directed, interactive exhibits and programs focusing on the integration of the arts and sciences. Its Aunty Math website is for infants and juniors and provides fortnightly challenges.
Politics
Explore Saudi Arabia: This website, produced by the British Museum, enables students to learn about the people, places, wildlife, customs and culture of Saudia Arabia. Information is organized under headings such as Saudi Factfile, Today in Saudi, Learn About Arabia and Desert Adventure. Controversial issues like Saudi Arabia's appalling human rights record is not covered. This is not surprising when one considers that the website is being sponsored by Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal.
Saudi Arabia: In May 2003 the UN Committee against Torture examined Saudi Arabia's implementation of the UN Convention against Torture and urged Saudi Arabia to bring legislation and practice into line with the letter and spirit of the Convention. Amnesty has "called on Saudi Arabia to re-examine the imposition of judicial corporal punishments, provide redress for victims of torture and ill-treatment, and ensure punishment of the perpetrators. However, allegations of torture continued to be reported and no measure of redress was known to have been applied. Judicial corporal punishments, including bodily mutilation, were routinely imposed and carried out."
Media Studies
Private Eye: This amazing websites contains more than 1,100 Private Eye front covers. Each cover is indexed by date and subject. The collection starts with the first issue on 25th October, 1961 (price 6d.) to the present day. The website is run by someone calling himself "Idi" and he is appealing for help to track down the 117 covers he is missing. Idi is obviously breaking copyright law with this website and it is hoped that Private Eye will appreciate the great service that these enthusiasts are providing.
The Onion: Every week, three million readers turn to the world's most popular humour publication for a much-needed dose of Onion satire and entertainment coverage. In a history spanning 15 years, six popular books, and 10 Webby Awards, The Onion has attracted legions of loyal fans drawn to its scathingly funny commentary on world events, human behavior, and journalistic convention. It is now available in a "new, non-free form". In other words it now has a premium service offering extra content and no ads.
Internet Services
Digital Publishing: You've sweated for a long time over your book, it should be easy for you to see it published. Now, using the latest in digital print on demand book production and distribution technologies, there's a genuine alternative to traditional or subsidy publishing. Do it yourself publishing. On this website PABD provides a series of tools to help you create, publish and sell your book. The tools are provided free of charge and include your own personal on-line book store, a wide selection of professionally designed covers for you to choose from and the ability to set your own selling price, making royalties a thing of the past.
Browser Hijacking: There is a despicable trend that is becoming more and more common where the browser settings of web surfers are being forcibly hijacked by malicious web sites and software which modifies your default start and search pages. The purpose of this is force you to visit a web site of the hijacker's choice so that they can artificially inflate their web site's traffic for higher advertising revenues. Once hijacked, there is no simple answer because several different techniques are used. However, this website provides comprehensive advice on how to completely remove most hijackers.
Book Section
Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy: Texas journalist Jim Marrs pulls together a wealth of facts and new evidence to reveal the glaring defects in official versions of what happened that fateful day in November 1963 when President Kennedy was shot. Backed up by rare photos and evidence from a dramatic video-sequence, Crossfire is the startling and comprehensive account of America's most infamous crime. Disturbing by its very thoroughness, this book poses and answers new questions on an event that too many people in high places have been trying to lay to rest. (Jim Marrs, Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0 88184 648 1)
