eLearning For Teachers: Di Goodman (Epoff)

Well, here we are at the start of a fresh new term and year at TIGS. As this is the second year of the Strategic Plan, several major eLearning strategies will shape the future for eLearning at TIGS in 2009.

NETWORK and MICROSOFT 2007 UPDATE

Over the summer vacation, our IT guys, Neil Cross, Andrew Greenlees and Josh Lukins worked tirelessly to update our servers and install Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office 2007 products on all computers across the school. This update will facilitate new ways in which staff can use and access files. Admin staff will receive training in 2007 products in February and teaching staff will participate in faculty workshops in the transition from Office 2003 to 2007, on the forthcoming Professional Development Day on 9th March.

A NEW WEBSITE

Soon we expect to have the first stage of our new school website up and running. The new  site promises to significantly change the way staff, students and parents and the TIGS community learn and interact with the school. It will incorporate many exciting new features such as an online newsletter; a portal to key staff and departmental blogs and later in the year, teacher home-pages where students can gain access to key class information anywhere, anytime. Features of these home pages will include access to class photo albums, student blogs or journals, discussion boards and the ability for teachers to upload podcasts. Of course it will take some time to train staff and students in the use of the website and all of its functions but it has the potential to pave the way to transform the way that students interact with the school and their teachers.

For parents, the website promises to be a goldmine of information about what is happening at school and the new exciting interface that our IT guys have designed is sure to have a big impact!

INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARDS

Thanks to the generous donation of the P&F, we have just completed the installation of the first of the new Promethean Interactive Whiteboards in the senior school. The IWB is strategically placed in the Goodhew Research Centre in the eastern computer bay, where staff from across the school can book it for lessons.

Training workshops for staff will commence in the next two weeks. Throughout 2009, we will commence rolling out interactive whiteboards across the senior school classrooms. This will continue over the next few years. Maths will be the first department to benefit from the roll-out.