Communicating, Presenting and Evaluating - Digital Tools

Had an interesting subject specialism session today learning about the Enquiring Minds programme. What an amazing concept in preparing students for study on the Creative & Media Diploma.

You can find out more about the programme by following this link:

www.enquiringminds.org.uk

If you want to get involved in the Enquiring Minds programme, email your questions to:

enquiringminds@futurelab.org.uk

Encourage your students to:

• communicate
• present
• evaluate

I've lifted the following words and online resources directly from the Futurelab information pack - to save you time (you can thank me later).

As FutureLab explains, 'each example has a web link and suggests a potential use'. Or you could log straight onto the website page for more information and ideas by following this link:

www.enquiringminds.co.uk/try_it/digital_tools

Audacity
www.audacity.sourceforge.net

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. Use it to record live audio or to cut, copy, splice and mix sounds together.

One use for it: Students create a radio programme to present their findings or an audio advert to encourage people to come to an event.

Chew TV
www.chewtv.com

Chew TV is a broadband television channel run by young people for young people.

One use for it: Students can create their own video ffrom the results of their projects and submit to the website to share with other young people.

Create-A-Scape
www.createascape.org.uk

A free resource for schools to create their own mediascapes. A mediascape is a digital layer of sounds over a real outdoor location - which is accessed via a PDA and optional GPS.

One use for it: Existing students create a tour of the school for new starters.

Global Ideas Bank
www.globalideasbank.org

Global Ideas Bank is a website to which anyone can add their own ideas for a brighter future, which other visitors can then vote on.

One use for it: Students could come up with an invention designed to make childhood better in the future, and add it to the bank.

SlideShare
www.slideshare.net

SlideShare is an online space that enables users to upload presentations (including PowerPoint presentations, pdfs and Open Office documents) to share with others.

One use for it: If students are creating a PowerPoint presentation to share the findings of their enquiry this is a good opportunity to extend their audience and get their work up on the web.

ToonDoo
www.toondoo.com

An online tool for creating short comic strips. It's quick and easy to use, and includes different styles of backgrounds and characters. Flexible enough to create a variety of different styles of comic. Users add their own speech, thoughts and captions.

One use for it: This provides an inventive and fun way of presenting the results of students investigations.