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Every week I will post a weekly newsletter. Please post any comments about the newsletter in this thread.

Newsletter 1

Introduction

The Educational Forum was launched on the 15th December. We were aware that this was in many ways the worst possible time to start a new online venture. It came right at the end of term and teachers were about to start their Christmas holidays (many under strict instructions from their partners not to spend any holiday time on their computers). However, we were very keen to have the forum up and running before the 8th January when we were due to have a meeting about the project.

Membership

Since the 15th December we have obtained 192 members. So far 95 members have made postings (a total of 614 at the time of writing). This is far higher percentage than most forums and suggests a high-level of activity. Members come from all over the world and so far we have been able to establish sections in French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish and Greek. Any volunteers to establish sections in other languages. If so email me (details below).

Biographies

If you have not done so yet, I would be very grateful if you could add your biography on the forum:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

To do this click “ADD REPLY” (bottom of the page). A box will come up where you can post your message. When you have done that scroll down and click “Add Reply”.

Websites

Please add details of any websites you may be involved in developing. Please post these details in the appropriate Resource section. If you are a member of the Association of Teacher Websites or the European Virtual School, please add those details in the appropriate section.

My Controls

To add your URL to the signature you need to go to the My Controls section (see button top, right of the screen).

To add your photograph you will need to have one on your computer.

Once you enter My Controls section look on the left-hand side of the screen.

Click ‘Edit Avatar Settings’ (under Personal Profile).

Go to the bottom of the page where it says ‘Upload a new image from your computer’. Click ‘Browse’.

(A box will appear at the top that will show what is on your computer. You now have to find your photograph (best to leave it on your Desktop – if not, find the folder where you have stored it).

Click the image and then click ‘Open’.

Now click ‘Update Avatar’. You picture will now appear every time you make a posting.

If you have any trouble adding your signature or photograph, send me your forum password and I will do it for you.

Debates

At the moment, the following debates are very interesting. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

ICT in different countries

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=42

Teaching the Holocaust

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=96

Nationalism and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44

Science Coursework

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=117

Gifted Pupils’ Scheme

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=77

Teachers and Politics

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=66

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Newsletter 2

Membership

Good progress has been made over the last week. We now have 218 members. So far 112 members have made postings (a total of 886 at the time of writing). We have also been able to increase the number of different languages that people can use on the forum: French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Greek and Italian. Any volunteers to establish sections in other languages? If so email me (details below).

Reading the biographies section it seems we have members from Britain (53), France (8), Spain (5), Netherlands (4), Sweden (4) Australia (3), Canada (3), USA (2), Belgium (1), Germany (1) and Greece (1). If you have not done so, please post your biography on the forum. This enables us to find out where our members are coming from.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

Signatures

If you have a website I highly recommend you add the URL to your signature. Go to My Controls (top, right of the screen). On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). Make sure you include the full URL (it does not work if you leave out http://). Your URL will then appear every time you post and will help your ranking in second-generation search-engines like Google.

International Student Debate

It is planned to start our International Student Debate at the beginning of February. Please post details if you want your school to take part in this venture.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=116

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

What makes a good teacher?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=205

Higher Education Reforms

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=123

Natural Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=156

Maths and Teaching Assistants

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=220

Bullying in Schools

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=174

In bed with Microsoft

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=90

Nationalism and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44

Science Coursework

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=117

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Newsletter 3

Membership

We now have 270 members. So far 129 members have made postings (a total of 1,122 at the time of writing). We have also been able to increase the number of different languages that people can use on the forum: French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Greek and Italian. Any volunteers to establish sections in other languages? If so email me (details below).

Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (58), France (9), Spain (5), Sweden (5), Netherlands (4), Australia (3), Canada (3), USA (2), Brazil (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Belarus (1), South Korea (1), Finland (1), Sudan (1), Greece (1) and Austria (1). This is only 99 people out of 270. If you have not done so, please post your biography on the forum. This enables us to find out where our members are coming from.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

Search-Engine Ranking

Last week I wrote about the advantages of adding your URL to your signature (see above for details). Although we have only been in existence for a few weeks our Education Forum is already performing well in search-engines. If you type in “International Education Forum” in Google our website comes out 4th out of 3,340,000 websites. As Google also calculates the value of each link, this means that a link from the Forum website will improve your ranking at Goggle. If you provide a link to the Education Forum website (you also get points for the number of external links), you will help our Forum go even higher in the ranking.

International Cross-Curricular Projects

It would be good if members can get together to produce some international, cross-curricular materials. One possibility involves our Oral History Project.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=88

The main objective of this project is to encourage school students to carry out interviews with people who experienced the Second World War. This could be expanded to cover other issues such as the Cold War and the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Using the forum it is possible to create a substantial resource for the study of the 20th Century. It will also be possible to search the database of contributions. Initially the material will be in English but in time we hope to have interviews in different languages. Later we can discuss ways we can use this material in the classroom.

Avatar/Photographs

If you want to add your photograph to your postings:

Select My Controls (top, right of the screen).

On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Avatar Settings’ (under Personal Profile).

Go to the bottom of the page where it says ‘Upload a new image from your computer’. Click ‘Browse’.

(A box will appear at the top that will show what is on your computer. You now have to find your photograph (best to leave it on your Desktop – if not, find the folder where you have stored it).

Click the image and then click ‘Open’.

Now click ‘Update Avatar’. You picture should now appear on the screen. It will now appear every time you make a posting.

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Blended Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=246

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

Origins of Hot Potatoes

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=213

Women as Composers

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=146

National Literacy Strategy

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=79

Black History

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=216

A Corrupt Democracy

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=244

National Methods of Assessment

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=193

Teacher Training

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=251

What makes a good teacher?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=205

Nationalism and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44

Science Coursework

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=117

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Newsletter 4

Membership

We now have 290 members. So far 162 members have made postings (a total of 1,431 at the time of writing).

Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (61), France (11), Spain (6), USA (6), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Australia (3), Greece (3), Italy (2), Finland (2), China (1), Brazil (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Belarus (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1) and Austria (1). This is only 118 people out of 270. If you have not done so, please post your biography on the forum. This enables us to find out where our members are coming from.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

Quoting Posts

Displayed above each post in a topic, there is a 'Quote' button. Pressing this button will allow you to reply to a topic, and have the text from a particular reply quoted in your own reply. When you choose to do this, an extra text field will appear below the main text input box to allow you to edit the content of the post being quoted.

Finding Material

We are aware that the amount of information on the Education Forum has grown considerably over the last couple of weeks. This has made finding material more difficult. We currently include details of all sections on the home page. This means that it is a very long page. However, if we transfer some of these sections to a second layer, it will result in those sections being visited far less in the future.

Today’s Active Topics

Near the bottom of the home page you will find Today’s Active Topics (next to the Moderating Team). If you click this you will get details of the latest postings. This is what I do every time I visit the forum. This is the best approach if you are a regular visitor. If not, you will probably just go to the sections that interest you.

Search

At the top of the home page (in small text0 is the search facility. The search feature is designed to allow you to quickly find topics and posts that contain the keywords you enter.

There are two types of search form available, simple search and advanced search. You may switch between the two using the 'More Options' and 'Simple Mode' buttons.

Search: Simple Mode

All you need to do here is enter in a keyword into the search box, and select a forum(s) to search in. (to select multiple forums, hold down the control key on a PC, or the Shift/Apple key on a Mac) choose a sorting order and search.

Search: Advanced Mode

The advanced search screen, will give you a much greater range of options to choose from to refine your search. In addition to searching by keyword, you are able to search by a members username or a combination of both. You can also choose to refine your search by selecting a date range, and there are a number of sorting options available. There are also two ways of displaying the search results, can either show the post text in full or just show a link to the topic, can choose this using the radio buttons available.

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

What is the Purpose of Education?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=299

Bullying

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=174

Pastoral Care in Different Countries

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=235

Do Politicians Still Resign?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=283

The Middle East

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=293

Dealing with Terrorism

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=125

Blended Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=246

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

Teacher Training

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=251

What makes a good teacher?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=205

Science Coursework

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=117

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Newsletter 5

Membership

We now have 376 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (65), France (11), Spain (7), USA (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Australia (4), Greece (3), Italy (3), Finland (2), China (1), Brazil (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1) and Austria (1).

If you have not done so, please post your biography on the forum. This enables us to find out where our members are coming from.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

Attack on Education Forum

You might have had difficulty getting onto the website on Thursday. Apparently an individual was using software to bring our website down. This resulted in this person using 98% of our current bandwidth usage (approx 9GB so far this month) and was causing excessive loads on our server. Andy Walker was able to track this down to a secondary school. This information has been supplied to the head teacher concerned and hopefully he will find the person who has taken a dislike to our forum.

Email Notification

The Education Forum can notify you when a new reply is added to a topic. Many users find this useful to keep up to date on topics without the need to view the board to check for new messages. The best way to do this is to click the ‘Track This Topic’ link at the top of the topic that you wish to track. Another possibility is from the E-Mail settings section of your User CP (My Controls) check the 'Enable Email Notification by default?' option, this will automatically subscribe you to any topic that you make a reply to.

Cookie Usuage

Using cookies is optional, but strongly recommended. Cookies are used to track topics, showing you which topics have new replies since your last visit and to automatically log you in when you return. You can clear the cookies at any time by clicking on the link found at the bottom of the main board page (the first page you see when returning to the board).

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

What is the Value of Homework?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=330

Government E-Learning Strategy

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=115

New Methods of Assessment

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=193

Secondary Cover Supervisors

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=346

Biased Reporting on the Hutton Report

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=341

BBC in Crisis

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=315

Best First Line in Popular Music?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=325

Holocaust: A Different Perspective

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=311

Nationalism and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44

Do Politicians Still Resign?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=283

Blended Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=246

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

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Newsletter 6

Board Guidelines

It has come to our attention that some members are not keeping to the Education Forum’s Board Guidelines. It should be noted that the forum has been created to foster friendly discussion between professional teachers and educators across the world.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?act=boardrules

We do not encourage anonymity on the forum. It is a membership requirement that members let us know who they are by adding their name and educational organization to their signature and by posting a brief biography at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=189

We therefore ask all those members who have not yet done so, to add both your biography and your name to the signature. To do this:

Select My Controls (top, right of the screen).

On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). In the box provided add your name. You may wish to add your country and your educational organization (plus the URL of website).

Pressure Groups

Over the last few weeks the Education Forum has suffered from members of particular pressure groups posting inflammatory comments. They have been warned about their behaviour and told to post their biographies and to add their names to their signature. This they have failed to do and so we have revoked their membership. To counter attempts by pressure groups to use the forum for political propaganda, we will continue to enforce Board Guidelines (see above).

Membership

We now have 398 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (9), Spain (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Australia (5), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Calendar

The Education Forum has it’s own calendar feature, which can be accessed via the calendar link at the top of the board.

You are able to add your own personal events to the calendar - and these are only viewable by yourself. To add a new event, use the 'Add New Event' button to be taken to the event posting screen. There are three types of events that you can now add:

A single day/one off event can be added using the first option, by just selecting the date for it to appear on.

Ranged Event - is an event that spans across multiple days, to do this in addition to selecting the start date as above, will need to add the end date for the event. There are also options available to highlight the message on the calendar, useful if there is more than one ranged event being displayed at any one time.

Recurring Event - is a one day event, that you can set to appear at set intervals on the calendar, either weekly, monthly or yearly.

Please fell free to add details of any educational events, television programmes, etc. that you feel members will be interested in.

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Schools and Obesity

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=384

The Ritalin Effect

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=316

Bombing of Dresden

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=357

Autistc Spectrum Disorder,

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=227

John Kerry v George Bush: Experience of War and Political Decision Making

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=88

Alabama's Educational Crisis

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=393

What is the Value of Homework?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=330

Secondary Cover Supervisors

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=346

Best First Line in Popular Music?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=325

Blended Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=246

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

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  • 2 weeks later...

Newsletter 7

Kent and Medway SCITT/GTP Online Project

Andy Walker, John Simkin and Janet Winder (Coordinator of Kent and Medway

SCITT) will be developing an online project for the training and mentoring of

school based teacher trainees. The Project will be hosted on the Education Forum.

The aims of the project are as follows:

1. Online tutoring, teaching and mentoring of trainees

2. Establishing a support forum for school based trainees using the expertise

of existing Forum members.

3. Encouraging trainees to network nationally/internationally with other

trainees and more experienced colleagues.

Andy Walker will be meeting with the Kent and Medway Consortium and the

students on 4/3/04 to finalise details, preregister students and launch the

project.

Personal Messenger

This will allow you to send a message to another member. If you have names in your contact list, you can choose a name from it - or you may choose to enter a name in the relevant form field. This will be automatically filled in if you clicked a 'PM' button on the board (from the member list or a post). If allowed, you may also be able to enter in multiple names in the box provided, will need to add one username per line.

If the administrator allows, you may use BB Code and HTML in your private message. If you choose to check the 'Add a copy of this message to you sent items folder' box, a copy of the message will be saved for you for later reference. If you tick the 'Track this message?' box, then the details of the message will be available in your 'Message Tracker' where you will be able to see if/when it has been read.

Cookies

Using cookies is optional, but strongly recommended. Cookies are used to track topics, showing you which topics have new replies since your last visit and to automatically log you in when you return.

If your computer is unable to use the cookie system to browse the board correctly, then the board will automatically add in a session ID to each link to track you around the board.

You can clear the cookies at any time by clicking on the link found at the bottom of the main board page (the first page you see when returning to the board). If this does not work for you, you may need to remove the cookies manually.

Membership

We now have 420 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (67), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (4), Greece (3), Italy (4), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newsletters can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Value Added

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=402

14-19 Reform

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=412

Schools and Obesity

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=384

Humourous Look at Retirement

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=310

The Ritalin Effect

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=316

Nationalism and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=44

Bombing of Dresden

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=357

Autistc Spectrum Disorder,

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=227

John Kerry v George Bush: Experience of War and Political Decision Making

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=88

What is the Value of Homework?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=330

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

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  • 2 weeks later...

Newsletter 8

Student Debates

The International Student Debate is now going strong. Please send details to Richard Jones-Nerzic if you want your school to take part in this venture.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...owtopic=116&hl=

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=116

Biographies and Signatures

Only a third of members have so far added their biographies. We do not encourage anonymity on the forum. It is a membership requirement that members let us know who they are by adding their name and educational organization to their signature and by posting a brief biography at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=403

We therefore ask all those members who have not yet done so, to add both your biography and your name to the signature. To do this:

Select My Controls (top, right of the screen).

On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). In the box provided add your name. You may wish to add your country and your educational organization (plus the URL of website).

Membership

We now have 457 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (68), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (7), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (5), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

My Assistant

This feature is sometimes referred to as a 'Browser Buddy'.

At the top it tells you how many posts have been made since you last visited the board.. Also underneath this the number of posts with replies that have been made in topics that the individual has also posted in.

Click on the 'View' link on either of the two sentences to see the posts.

The next section is five links to useful features:

* The link to the moderating team is basically a quick link to see all those that either administrate or moderate certain forums on the message board.

* The link to 'Today's Active Topics' shows you all the topics that have been created in the last 24 hours on the board.

* Today's Top 10 Posters link shows you exactly as the name suggests. It shows you the amount of posts by the members and also their total percentage of the total posts made that day.

* The overall Top 10 Posters link shows you the top 10 posters for the whole time that the board has been installed.

* My last 10 posts links to the latest topics that you have made on the board.

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Relevance of the Science Curriculum

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=423

The World’s Greatest Citizen

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=474

Migration in the UK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=458

Positive Thinking

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=200

John Kerry v George Bush

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=390

Humanity and Politics

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=372

National Literacy Strategy

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=79

Alcohol and Taxation

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=477

Holocaust: A Different Perspective

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=311

Nationalism and the School Curriculum

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=421

Ralph Nader

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=476

Spring Day in Europe

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=24

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Newsletter 9

Kennedy Assassination

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=126

I have created a new section on the assassination of JFK. I hope this could become an important site for the investigation into the Kennedy assassination. I am in email contact with some of the leading researchers into the subject (and some witnesses). I have invited them to become involved in debating these issues.

Membership

We now have 505 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (71), France (11), USA (10), Spain (8), Australia (8), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (5), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Posting

There are three different posting screens available. The new topic button, visible in forums and in topics allows you to add a new topic to that particular forum. The new poll button (is the admin has enabled it) will also be viewable in topics and forums allowing you to create a new poll in the forum. When viewing a topic, there will be an add reply button, allowing you to add a new reply onto that particular topic.

Posting new topics and replying

When making a post, you will most likely have the option to use IBF code when posting. This will allow you to add various types of formatting to your messages. For more information on this, click the 'BB Code Help' link under the emoticon box to launch the help window.

On the left of the text entry box, there is the clickable emoticons box - you can click on these to add them to the content of your message (these are sometimes known as 'smilies').

There are three options available when making a post or a reply. 'Enable emoticons?' if this is unchecked, then any text that would normally be converted into an emoticon will not be. 'Enable signature?' allows you to choose whether or not you would like your signature to appear on that individual post. 'Enable email notification of replies?' ticking this box will mean that you will receive e-mail updates to the topic, see the 'Email Notification of new messages' help topic for more information on this.

You also have the option to choose a post icon for the topic/post when creating one. This icon will appear next to the topic name on the topic listing in that forum, or will appear next to the date/time of the message if making a reply to a topic.

If the admin has enabled it, you will also see a file attachments option, this will allow you to attach a file to be uploaded when making a post. Click the browse button to select a file from your computer to be uploaded. If you upload an image file, it may be shown in the content of the post, all other file types will be linked to.

Poll Options

If you have chosen to post a new poll, there will be an extra two option boxes at the top of the help screen. The first input box will allow you to enter the question that you are asking in the poll. The text field underneath is where you will input the choices for the poll. Simply enter a different option on each line. The maximum number of choices is set by the board admin, and this figure is displayed on the left.

Quoting Posts

Displayed above each post in a topic, there is a 'Quote' button. Pressing this button will allow you to reply to a topic, and have the text from a particular reply quoted in your own reply. When you choose to do this, an extra text field will appear below the main text input box to allow you to edit the content of the post being quoted.

Editing Posts

Above any posts that you have made, you may see an 'Edit' button. Pressing this will allow you to edit the post that you had previously made.

When editing you may see an option to 'Add the 'Edit by' line in this post?'. If you tick this then it will show up in the posts that it has been edited and the time at which it was edited. If this option does not appear, then the edit by line will always be added to the post.

If you are unable to see the edit button displayed on each post that you have made, then the administrator may have prevented you from editing posts, or the time limit for editing may have expired.

Member List

The member list, accessed via the 'Members' link at the top of each page, is basically a listing of all of the members that have registered on the board.

If you are looking to search for a particular member by all/part of their username, then in the drop down box at the bottom of the page, change the selection from 'Search All Available' to 'Name Begins With' or 'Name Contains' and input all/part of their name in the text input field and press the 'Go!' button.

Also, at the bottom of the member list page, there are a number of sorting options available to alter the way in which the list is displayed.

If a member has chosen to add a photo to their profile information, then a camera icon will appear next to their name, and you may click this to view the photo.

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Academic Freedom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=509

Madrid Bombing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=504

English Dialects

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=425

Blair Doctrine

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=490

Desk-Top Video Conferencing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=491

Languages and Literature

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...owtopic=483&hl=

Positive Thinking

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=200

Relevance of the Science Curriculum

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=423

The World’s Greatest Citizen

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=474

Religious Education

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...owtopic=414&hl=

Migration in the UK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=458

Positive Thinking

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=200

John Kerry v George Bush

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=390

Humanity and Politics

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=372

National Literacy Strategy

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=79

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Newsletter 10

Kennedy Assassination Project

As a result of the work I have been doing on the JFK assassination I have been invited to join a private forum of academics researching the case. I have been pleased with the level of generosity that these people have shown in sharing their knowledge about this complex subject. I am thinking of asking a small number of them to appear live on the International Education Forum where they would answer questions from teachers and students about the JFK assassination. Sort of Question Time type programme. Would any members and their students like to get involved in this? Maybe members could ask the questions for their students (solve the problem of student registration). Please post your comments at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=572

Spring Europe Debates

Richard Jones-Nerzic of the International School of Toulouse is celebrating Spring Europe by creating a series of debates for junior students (11-14). Subjects include: European Union, European School Curriculum, Nationality, Languages, European Military Force and Widening of the European Union, If you want your students to contribute to these discussions please email Richard Jones-Nerzic.

Biographies and Signatures

Can I ask again for people to add their biographies. We do not encourage anonymity on the forum. It is a membership requirement that members let us know who they are by adding their name and educational organization to their signature and by posting a brief biography at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=403

We therefore ask all those members who have not yet done so, to add both your biography and your name to the signature. To do this:

Select My Controls (top, right of the screen).

On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). In the box provided add your name. You may wish to add your country and your educational organization (plus the URL of website).

Membership

We now have 577 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (73), France (11), USA (12), Spain (8), Australia (9), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (5), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (2), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Belgium (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Implementing ICT in a secondary classroom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=555

Desk-Top Video Conferencing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=491

Equality and Religious Freedom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=568

Lyndon Johnson and the Assassination of JFK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=565

Global Warming

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=496

Do We Live in a Democracy?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=243

JFK and the Presidential Elections

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=569

Madrid Bombing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=504

Post WWII European History

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=536

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Newsletter 11

Second World War Project

Some members of the forum are trying to set up and question and discussion area on the Second World War. Please let us know if you have any elderly relatives who would be willing to answer student questions on this subject. I have four elderly relatives who have agreed to take part (one soldier who fought in Middle East, two women who endured the Blitz and a child who was evacuated). We are especially keen to get people from a wide variety of different countries to take part. For example, it would then be possible to have people from several different countries answering questions on subjects such as air raid shelters and food rationing. I am sure students would find the activity very stimulating.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=622

Women and the Forum

On 9th April Jay Walker commented on the forum: “At a quick count it seems there are about twice as many men registered on this site as women. And in real terms, far more regular male posters. Is this because men are more IT-centric or because the discussions do not interest women? The Kennedy pages are interesting but almost entirely male posters. What do women want to discuss? I'd be interested to know.” There has been a good response to this posting. However, it would be good to hear from as many people as possible about this important topic.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=605

Cross-Curricular Project

Last year some members of the Virtual School began working together on a cross-curricular project on aviation. We used the forum to invite others to join us. The team now includes people from various areas of the curriculum (Design & Technology, History, Science, Geography, Modern Languages, Special Needs). We also have teachers from the UK, France, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands involved in the project. In March we had a meeting in Toulouse that involved a tour of the Airbus factory to see the production of the A380. This has been a great success and would still like to hear from other people who would like to get involved in the project. I thought it might be a good idea to see it we could create a new cross-curricular project via the forum. Any ideas?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=19

Biographies and Signatures

Can I ask again for people to add their biographies. We do not encourage anonymity on the forum. It is a membership requirement that members let us know who they are by adding their name and educational organization to their signature and by posting a brief biography at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=530

We therefore ask all those members who have not yet done so, to add both your biography and your name to the signature. To do this:

Select My Controls (top, right of the screen).

On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). In the box provided add your name. You may wish to add your country and your educational organization (plus the URL of website).

Membership

We now have 577 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (76), USA (16), France (13), Australia (10), Spain (8), Sweden (5), Netherlands (5), Canada (5), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (2), Brazil (2), Belgium (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Women and Computers

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=605

New Ways of Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=622

Education for Development

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=630

Chemistry is Dead

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=585

Obesity in Schools

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=628

JFK Assassination and the Deaths of Witnesses

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=603

Political Cinema

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=633

Elections in Iraq

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=596

Bush and the Road Map

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=626

Robert Kennedy and the Death of JFK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=512

Birth of Rock and Roll

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=632

Madrid Bombing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=504

Post WWII European History

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=536

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Newsletter 12

Specialist Sections

The creation of the JFK Assassination Forum has been a great success (see stats below). One of the reasons it has been so popular is that it is linked to my website on the topic. I am now considering creating forum on other popular sections of my website (Black History and the First World War). Would other members like to create specialist forums? For example, it would be a good idea to have a forum on environmental issues. Please let me know if you are interested in running forums like this.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=126

Authors

One interesting development on the JFK Assassination Forum is the opportunity to discuss the work of different authors. For example, over the last few days Larry Hancock has been discussing his new book, Someone Would Have Talked, with fellow members. Over the next few weeks other authors will be discussing their work in this section of the forum. Do any members know of other authors who would be willing to discuss their work on the forum? Maybe we could also discuss articles written by educationalists who have published their work on the web? Please let me have your ideas on this.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=693

Topic Views Stats (January – May)

JFK Assassination Debate (6302), Political Debates (5460), Debates in Education (4350), Senior Students (3250), E-Learning (2083), History Curriculum Issues (1378), Forum Information (1349), Junior Students (847), Sección en español (826), Politics: Curriculum Issues (770), Special Educational Needs (659), History Resources (623), Pastoral Care (519), Ceská a Slovenská cást fóra (448), History Help (423), Science Curriculum Issues (417), English (415), etc.

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Value of the Public Education System

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=610

Schools as Exam Factories

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=714

Inequality

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=695

Staff Bullying

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=282

Study Leave

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=716

Traditional v Progressive Education

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=700

Value of First Class Degrees

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=717

Torture in Iraq?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=697

EU Enlargement

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=672

Women and ICT

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=605

New Ways of Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=622

Someone Would Have Talked

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=693

Who Killed JFK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=583

Lee Harvey Oswald

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=659

Best Book on the Kennedy Assassination

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=715

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Newsletter 13

Oral History

Members of the European Virtual School are currently involved in using the forum to create databases of primary sources. I hope all members of the forum will consider contributing to these projects.

Cold War Oral Project

The plan is to start threads where people can provide first-hand accounts on important Cold War events. This will include people’s accounts of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the building and pulling down of the Berlin Wall, the reunification of Germany, the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, etc. It is hoped that people will post their recollections from all over the world. This is something that students could get involved in by interviewing parents or grandparents about these events. This material could then be used as a teaching resource. For example, I plan to create some teaching activities based on the material that is produced.

Could you always add your name, age, etc. at the time the event took place. If possible, add a picture of yourself at this date. If it is an interview use the name, age, photograph, etc. of the person being interviewed.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=810

Olympic Games Project

I have started a section on the forum where people can post memories of past Olympic Games. I am hoping to persuade former Olympic competitors to take part in this experiment. Later, another section will be formed where people can post impressions of the 2004 Olympic Games. Would any of your students be interested in this project? It would be a good experience for any student who wants to become a sports reporter.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=143

Environmental Issues

I have been asked to create a forum for those interested in Environmental Issues. It is hoped to persuade writers to discuss their books and articles in this section. There is currently a debate on Global Warming taking place. Over the next few weeks other subjects will be added.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=137

Membership

We now have 688 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (79), USA (26), France (14), Australia (12), Spain (9), Netherlands (6), Sweden (5), Canada (5), Belgium (4), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (3), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1), India (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Are Holidays Really Necessary?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=793

Corporal Punishment and Torture

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=836

What Should We Study in History

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=822

Personalised Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=833

Government Websites

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=740

Schools and Obesity

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=384

Internet Radio

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=133

Science Coursework

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=117

Why Should We Study the Assassination of JFK

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=823

Someone Would Have Talked?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=693

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Newsletter 14

User Names

We have had recent problems of members refusing to identify themselves on the forum. We have decided to be more active in reinforcing our board guidelines. As a member said on a discussion of this issue on the forum: “The policy of most newspapers that maintain a readers' letters section is not to publish letters unless the sender's name and address is supplied.” After all, this forum is very much like an interactive newspaper and therefore believe we are justified on insisting on this policy.

If you have registered with a nickname or single name, you are required to add your real name (and organization if appropriate) to your signature.

To add your real name to your “Signature” select “My Controls” (top, right of the screen). On the left-hand side click ‘Edit Signature’ (under Personal Profile). You can then add your relevant details.

If you have a website I recommend you to add the URL to your signature. This will then appear every time you post and will help your ranking in second-generation search-engines like Google.

We would also be grateful if you could post your biography at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=530

To do this click “ADD REPLY” (bottom of the page). A box will come up where you can post your message. When you have done that scroll down and click “Add Reply”.

Cross Curricular Teaching Ideas

I have created a new section on the forum. The idea of this new section is for educators to share ideas on teaching strategies that could be used in a wide variety of different curriculum areas. It has the potential to become a useful resource for teachers. It would be really good if every teacher posted at least one strategy that they have used successfully. I am afraid we are not in a position to pay you for these ideas. However, nor will we charge teachers for using them.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1023

Cross Curricular Software Resources

Another new section. It is hoped that members will discuss good software resources. There is currently a discussion about Interactive Whiteboards.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=146

Cooperative Learning

The Macclesfield Performing Arts Network is a group of schools in the Macclesfield area that have made a commitment to educate their staff and pupils in the use of co-operative learning techniques. We have decided to help this project by adding a Cooperative Learning section to the forum. This will give teachers the opportunity to discuss the philosophy of cooperative learning and to post details of the activities and strategies they have developed.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=144

Membership

We now have 792 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (87), USA (34), France (14), Australia (14), Spain (9), Netherlands (6), Canada (6), Sweden (5), Belgium (4), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (3), Brazil (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Romania (1), Sudan (1), Ireland (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1), India (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

Teachers as Role Models

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1000

Teacher Stress

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=968

9/11 Conspiracies

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=992

Euro 2004

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=933

Who Killed JFK: Poll and Discussion

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1037

Problem Solving Approach to Changing Behaviour

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=966

School Uniform and the EU

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1024

Feminism, Sex and Hard-Drinking

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=908

Death of the Left: The Prediction of Ronald Reagan

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=913

Where are the Women?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=605

Torture in Iraq

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=867

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Newsletter 15

Education Forum: First Six Months

When we established this forum in January 2004 we had certain objectives. This included providing a place where people from all over the world could post information, ask and answer questions, and to take part in debates about education. The forum also hoped to help teachers to find partners for subject specific and cross-curricular curriculum projects. Most of all, we hoped that the forum would provide a world community of teachers.

We have had mixed success in our objectives. Although we now have sections in German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Czech and Greek, the involvement of foreign language speaking teachers is still fairly small. However, we have not given up on this ideal and will do what we can do to improve this situation.

We have been pleased with the number of people who have joined the forum (774) and the overall number of postings (7,187). However, we have been unable to maintain the early high percentage of members who posted messages. As a result, we are still too dependent on a fairly small number of posters (Only 30 members have made more than 50 postings).

Some sections have been much more busy than others. For example, History, ICT, English, Politics and Science, have all done well. That is understandable as these were the subjects that the group of teachers who set up the forum taught. For obvious reasons E-Learning and Debates in Education have also been popular.

The main success has been the JFK Assassination section. In just a few months it has become a major source of information for international researchers. It is a place where they can communicate details of the latest material being released by the FBI and CIA. It is also been a place where the world’s experts on the subject have been willing to discuss their latest books and articles with their readers. It is hoped that other sections of the site will learn from this example of how you can use the forum to communicate information to other educators.

One of the most successful aspects of the forum has been our ability to attract non-teachers as participants. I now believe that one of our objectives was wrong. We should have used the term educators rather than teachers. I know some of these educators were at first reluctant to join. I hope you have not regretted it and we have made you feel welcome. You have definitely made an important contribution to the forum’s success.

The main disappointment has been the decision by Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) to withdraw funding. To quote its website:

“We are the Government's key partner in the development and delivery of its Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and e-learning strategy for schools and the learning and skills sector. As a UK agency, we support all four UK education departments in their strategic ICT developments, facilitating knowledge transfer among them in order to encourage innovation and improvement, and bring coherence and synergy to UK-wide developments.”

Although it has many millions to spend, it decided that the few hundred pounds it cost them was too much. Officially “forums for teachers are not our priority this year”. In reality, they did not like the idea of teachers commenting on government educational policy. Not only did they stop funding the project, they insisted all logos and links were removed from the forum.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who have made the venture a success. Remember, this is very much a cooperative project. By starting threads and by posting your comments, you are shaping the direction the project takes. Please encourage friends and colleagues to join. Let them also help influence the future of education.

Ask an Expert

The government pays Becta to provide an “Ask an Expert” section on its website. Every month it employs three subject specialists to answer questions from teachers. I recently was paid to do this for history teachers. However, very few people bothered to ask me questions. This is hardly surprising as a recent survey of teachers revealed that very few knew of the existence of Becta’s website. Those who did go to it rarely returned. It is of course another example of how this government wastes taxpayers money.

Another disadvantage of this “Ask an Expert” idea is that it only lasts for a month. For the rest of the year teachers are not able to have their questions answered. Therefore I would like to suggest that we take over responsibility for this service. I cannot offer you any money for your help in this. But if we got three per subject area we could make it work. Please post your comments at the thread below if you are willing to answer questions about ICT and your particular subject.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1170

Ask an Expert: Students

The administrators of the forum also hope to create a series of Ask an Expert sections for students. We think this could be particularly useful for coursework assignments. The first one to be created is for students studying American history between 1960-66. A group of historians, authors and researchers have already agreed to answer student questions. So far fourteen have signed up for this experiment. This includes educators from United States, England, Australia, Canada and Belgium.

The idea is that students ask questions via their teacher. However, if you have a sensible student who could make use of this service, please encourage them to join and ask their question directly. Over the next few weeks I hope to establish similar sections on Black History, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Please feel free to send me your ideas for other sections.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1169

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1174

SHP Conference

I recently attended an excellent SHP Conference in Leeds. Most of the speakers at the conference agreed to post details of their lectures/seminars/workshops on the Forum. If this experiment is a success we will repeat it with other conferences. Please let me know if you are involved with a conference that would like to communicate information to a wider audience.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=128

Education on the Internet

Education on the Internet is a free weekly email newsletter for anyone interested in using the internet in schools, colleges or for private study. The journal includes online news, reviews of websites and articles on ICT. Currently Education on the Internet has 52,000 subscribers. If you are interested in me publicizing a website or conference in the newsletter please send me a description (150/200 words) by email.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/internet.htm

Membership

We now have 792 members. Reading the biographies section it seems we now have members from Britain (98), USA (40), France (14), Australia (14), Spain (9), Netherlands (6), Canada (6), Sweden (5), Belgium (4), Italy (4), Greece (3), Finland (3), Brazil (2), Ireland (2), China (1), Denmark (1), Germany (1), Poland (1), Serbia (1), Belarus (1), Israel (1), South Korea (1), Romania (1), Sudan (1), Philippines (1), Austria (1), India (1) and Hong Kong (1).

Newsletters

Past copies of newspapers can be found at:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=163

Debates

At the moment, the following issues provide opportunities for good debate. I would welcome your contributions to these and other debates taking place on the forum.

School Uniform

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=736

Review of Special Needs

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1156

Butler Report

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1159

Success and Happiness

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1018

Government’s Five Year Education Plan

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1127

Home Tutors

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1151

Teaching the British Empire

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1149

CIA: Incompetent or Politically Motivated?

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1135

Military Industrial Complex: 2004

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1160

Fahrenheit 911

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=889

Using Film to Explore Historical Interpretations

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=1115

ICT and Education

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=42

John Simkin

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