July 2007

Newsletter No.39

Software News
Last year Granada Learning (including Semerc and Black Cat) was sold by ITV and the sales and development is now handled by Sherston Publishing Group. Both Granada Learning and Sherston Software have changed their sales methods and as a result the discount we can offer schools has unfortunately had to be reduced from 12.5% to 7.5%.

We will be updating our software discount list over the summer and the revised versions will be sent out in early September.

Podcasting

There has been considerable interest in the possible educational benifits of podcasting. Although it is possible to obtain 'open-source' (i.e. free) podcasting software, Podium from Softease has established itself as a very popular choice for schools.

A demo can be found at:
www.softease.com/swfs/podium_demo/podium_demo.html

Pricing (site licences)
Less than 200 pupils £249
200 - 399 pupils £349
400-599 pupils £499

Hosting prices are additional but you should be able to use your own server to host on the school's intranet or your SWGfL webspace (or own ISP if not with SWGfL) to publish globally.

Lifeline subscribers can buy with a 15% discount.


Just 2 Easy
The latest features include automatic saving of previous versions of files (revisions). This enables the user to revert to an earlier version of a file as well as showing the development process of a piece of work. Coming soon is 'teacher mark up' which will allow a teacher to mark work online.

Planning
A wonderful aid to planning can be found at:
www.iteachers.co.uk

It provides a complete ICT scheme of work with some superb ideas to help integrate ICT within subject areas. A demo can be found on their website.

Prices:
No. of pupils Full Discounted
<91 £199 £189
91-180 £349 £332
181-360 £499 £474
361+ £649 £617

Voting Systems
There are a number of different voting systems available. The Classroom Response System is the best voting system we have seen. Unlike
others, it can be used with any software,
and with or without an interactive
whiteboard or screen. Since it has its own
data screen, questions can even be downloaded to the handsets and used outside the classroom.

We will have a demonstration set available in September so if you would like demonstrations of the 'Classroom Response System', iteachers, Just 2 Easy - or anything else then please contact us or ring 01202 657252

Partnership Matters
We are original members of 'Partnership Matters' and are delighted to offer the various resources from AlphaSmart to Blogging to Moodle. The new Partnership Matters website has just been launched - please take a look.


Holiday Reading
If you have any spare time in the summer holidays you could do worse then look at Gareth Davies's Blog - http://advisorymatters.naaceblogs.org/

Have a good holiday.

Summer Holiday Edition