Dan Moorhouse

For multi-user sites who need to have a number of people accessing, writing and uploading there's always Macromedia Contribute2. You can easily set permission levels for full, limited or no write permissions to differnet sections of a site. Its based on dreamweaver in many ways, obviously, being a macromedia product, bthough users really don't need to have any particularly high levels of knowledge of html - indeed, all they need to know is how to type in a box and hit submit, the rest is done for the user. For the more technological stuff a user CAN override that simplistic approach and insert whatever coding etc. they would use in Dreamweaver etc.

Doesn't cost much either, a friend of mine uses it as part of his ICT business and he reckons his expenses when setting up a contribute2 based site are only in the region of £150 for licences etc. Probably cheaper than getting Dreamweaver on the PC's of all the contributors...

I think my feeling were made perfectly clear in the PM I sent you last week Andy.

JFK is interesting but I really cannot see how it fits in with the original purpose of the forum. How does academic research that is not on the History curriculum in the vast majority of schools fit into a 'education' forum aimed at teachers?

If certain things are to be researched and debated on the forum in this type of depth, why not have focus weeks, where you analyse one aspect of the research? That way the rest of the forum doesn't get clogged up with a hundred and one posts about one area of interest - and you can then see recent posts in whichever format you fancy without it being an issue.

I also agree that assessment needs to be reconsidered. The proposed new 'hybrid' GCSE for history to be piloted in 2005-07 will offer the opportunity to develop activity-based assessment. It will be interesting to see how this works.

My understanding is that on the short course the 'national' study will have an element of external examination whilst the local and international elements of the course will be teacher assessed. A lot of emphasis seems to have been placed on the ease of use for teachers, or it was at the HA conference. I doubt very much whether it will actually be any easier for teachers, the teacher assessments will still have to be approved, moderated, externally moderated and so on... if anything that means more paperwork rather than less: however, if it makes the method of assessment more appropriate for pupils on the course then the paperwork is an unfortunate price that will be worth paying.

NB: Does anyone know if the hybrid has been taken on by any of the exam boards yet?

I would not want to force everyone to take history t 14-16 but i do think history needs to make itself more attractive to students at the age range by being more relevant and attractive to them.

I'd suggest that History teachers are quite capable of making the subject more relevant to the students, however you can only work within the confines of a fairly narrow set of curricular options. Assessment methods are archaic, why can't we assess in the same way that we do at KS3? I'm becoming increasngly frustrated by the lack of opportunity to develop activities that are interesting AND formally assessable at KS4 - can do this at KS3 without anyone saying there's a problem. Assessment for learning at KS3, Assessment of learning at KS4 and KS5. Daft, especially when some other subjects are allowed to work in a more 'modern' manner.

If you want more than two replies, feel free to send me a copy as well.

Is the conference about history at 14-19 or 5-14? I work with QCA and others and have heard nothing about the conference. I do know they have asked the Historical Association to do some work on history at 14-19. Is the conference organised by the HA?

The conference was organised by the HA as part of their consultation with people before responding to the Tomlinson committee's proposals. The QCA were represented at the meeting by Jane Weake.

I'm teaching the JFK assassination in a few months time and will try to build use of the forum into the (as yet unwritten) Scheme of work.

My extra curricular groups may wish to join in discussions related to the Home Front.

To be honest I think that there are that many people on here who know invision forums inside out that you'd be able to find the answer to any problems without having to pay. The free (unregistered) version of the full invision board is exactly the same as the registered board - just has a lesser level of support.

I'd agree with Andy there. Invision allow you to download the forum software and install it on any site. They DO respond to queries and will help fix problems that occur - but in their own time. Once a board is registered on the other hand, the work is done for you as soon as they can get to it. Its probably best to run with a free version of software that can later be registered in the first instance. Find your feet with that and if the forum takes off, register it. That ensures that you don't spend money in the first instance on something that isn't going to work and when you've got success - and therefore more membership / admin problems, you have the support there as and when you need it.

I use a variety of InvisionFree forums within school that are relatively straight forward to manage from an admin point of view. The registered version of Invision Board though is MUCH more user friendly and the level of support appears to be extremely good: certainly no delays of note on the forums I'm an administrator on.

OK. I've reserved www.studenteducationforum.ipbhost.com and I'll set it up over the Easter holidays. It will cost $10 per month so we will need to think of how we are going to fund it.

Andy, couldn't you just install a forum onto your existing webspace for free? The demo version of the Invision Board is free, can be installed onto your existing site and performs all of the required functions: as would invisionfree software with the only drawback being the URL. An SQL database would perhaps cost a tenner a year, if it wasn't already included in your package. Set up is easy - even I can do it! far cheaper as an option and the domain name wouldn't need to have the .ipbhost. in it, making it easier to remember.

Registering an Invision Board forum costs $69 per annum, or you can pay a one time fee of £199 to have technical support for evermore...

I'm certainly interested in this and will see what level of interest I get from my students.

The QCA are currently reviewing the curriculum for History and other subjects. I have been asked to attend a consultation conference that is discussing the future history curriculum. The details suggest that the conference will look at the relationship between depth studies and chronology, ways of avoiding a Nazi heavy curriculum, links with the Citizenship curriculum. The emphasis is on 14-19 provision.

I'd be interested to hear the views of people from other subject areas on this, how do you see History fitting into the curriculum as the 14-19 curriculum develops?

A range of suggestions made by History Teachers' can be found on this thread of the history teachers' Discussion Forum.

I don't think for a second that banning the wearing of religious symbols or items of dress is the answer. I would be extremely offended if I was forbidden to wear a crucifix for example. The answer as far as I'm concerned is to promote integration through teaching about the different ethnic groups and cultures that make up our society. Legislation such as that in France simply sweeps major issues under the carpet. That strikes me as being a quite dangerous thing to do. It may stir up resentment amongst the groups who have been refused the right to display their faith publicly, leading to a radicalisation of views: from any number of ethnic or religious groups, including elements of the the indigenous population.

There are fairly major issues surrounding the integration of different ethnic groups into society in parts of the United Kingdom, its certainly a major issue in Bradford, the city I live and work in. The following is from a government review into integration in the city:

Bradford District is a great place with fabulous people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures.

However all is not well.

At a time when relationships between communities should be improving, we are increasingly becoming divided. There are signs that we are fragmenting along racial, cultural and faith lines. Rather than an environment where people are respectful and show tolerance for difference, attitudes are hardening and intolerance is growing.

This seems to be remarkably similar to the situation described by French politicians. I'd rather see a proactive, positive approach to tackling the problem than a reactionary and repressive approach such as that being pursued in some places.

An excellent resource. Very user friendly, well presented and appealing for students. The lesson plans are very good, clear example of how to incorporate ICT into the history curriculum at primary level.

I'll be passing this link on to our feeder schools.

There's an interesting collection of resources relating to Allied psychological warfare available on this site.

I've got some WW1 recruitment and Propaganda posters tucked away here. At some stage I'll have to remove them or hide them from the public access part of my site though (copyright). This gallery contains some cartoons that are propaganda.

A range of Propaganda leaflets from the Second World War can be found on this site.

The US National Security Archive does contain some documents relating to Propaganda in the Cold War.

This site looks at American Anti-Communist Propaganda during the Cold War.

There are also a few sites that cover more recent conflicts and Propaganda. For example:

From: http://www.btinternet.com/~rrnotes/psywars...eaf/gulfapp.htm

I've just received this e-mail from the organisers of Spring Europe Day. Thought other participants ought to be aware:

Dear all,

I take the liberty to contact you personally because of a very worrying

situation apparently affecting UK schools, teachers and head teachers taking

part in European projects, especially Spring Day in Europe.

We have received and heard of some emails from UK anti-European political

parties trying to intimidate participants, even sometimes threatening them.

We are asking you to send us any email of this kind or tell us about any

contacts you may have had with such parties.

This information will privately be forwarded to the DfES, your ministry of

education, also very concerned about this unacceptable situation.

We also thank you very much for taking part in Spring Day, an initiatve of

democratic debate on the future of Europe. We try to provide you with a nice

platform to allow freedom of pedagogical expression all over Europe.

Kindest regards

There are certainly many people in the UK who are quite opposed to the entry of additional migrants. It has become a major political issue here. The area of concern seems to be around the legitimacy of the claims for asylum. Increasing numbers of people appear to be angered by the arrival of 'economic migrants'. The argument put forward is that many people are attempting to seek entry to the UK simply because of the Welfare provision. The Conservative party (currently the leading opposition party in the UK) have made this one of their leading areas of policy. This BBC article outlines the views of the Conservative Party leader, Micheal Howard. The main thrust of his policy seems to centre around comments such as:

"That will ensure [genuine refugees] can still travel to Britain, but that those who are merely economic migrants do not place an intolerable burden on the state"

Other political parties have also commented on the asylum issues:

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Mark Oaten:

"While everyone would agree with Michael Howard's statements on the BNP, it is disappointing that he went on to pander to the right on issues of asylum and immigration. After criticising the BNP for simplifying the complex issue of asylum, he fell into the same trap himself.

"Last year the Tories suggested buying a deserted 'asylum island' where we could send all the refugees coming to Britain. Michael Howard’s latest fantasy fairy-tale policy is to rid the UK of all asylum seekers and make everyone apply from abroad. Does Mr Howard think that someone fleeing persecution and possibly death will have the time to sit down and fill in an application form? And if they do go to a British reception centre in a different country, where will they stay while their application is processed?

"Finally, how much will all this cost the UK? Again, it seems that Mr Howard has been reading his little book of Grimm's Fairy Tales for inspiration. Grim ideas, grim policies, grim prospects for Britain if the Tories ever get into power.

Official policy regarding Asylum seekers and Immigration was changed as recently as November 2003. This can be read online at The United Kingdom Parliament website.

They weren't just hated in Scotland Liza. I trust that the student band has attempted to cover it in much the same way that Sid Vicious paid homage to the great and the good when doing My Way.

The most amusing 'rock' cover I've seen done by a student band was 'Barbie Girl'. Inserting a Zeppelinesque flavour to it made it almost bearable.

Vito, these links may provide ou with some ideas. They are all to seminars on the history Teachers' Discussion Forum. many of the posts have been made by people whose names you will be familiar with from this forum:

Encouraging history teachers to use ICT - has a range of ideas about good practice.

History in a laptop classroom shows how ICT has been integrated into the curriculum of Richard Jones Nerzic's school and discusses the ways in which this can be developed.

Online Simulations in History - in this Seminar John Simkin leads a discussion about the use of Online Simulations in History.

Future seminars include using forum's for collaborative learning. The student section of this forum has some examples of how this can be achieved, further examples can be seen on http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/historyhelp, though you may have to register as a teacher in order to see these discussions.

Elsewhere on this forum there are a number of threads which may develop into excellent sources of ideas for innovative and interesting use of new technologies in History teaching. Dan Lyndon has just started a thread on Webquests which will hopefully end up having a large collection of links to user friendly resources. Other threads include this one on Internet Radio stationswhich would be an interesting method of incorporating use of ICT into lessons.

I don't see anything there that suggests how running these different levels would be funded. Surely this will result in a system not dissimilar to Grammar Schools / Technical Schools / Secondary Moderns?

For example: The school I work in has maybe 20% of students who fit into the 'Intermediate' band. My subject, history, is optional. So, I get a % of that 20% wanting to do the course - the rest, I'm assuming would be doing a different kind of course at Foundation level. History is suddenly not viable at GCSE, nor is Geography, French or any of the other non compulsory subjects. The most able students therefore have a simple choice: accept whatever's left or go elsewhere. I doubt many will stay for second best: therefore we become selective by courses offered. A Technical School with a more modern name.

In discussions in school it has already been noted that, "collaboration between partner schools will be neccessary for some subject areas at Key Stage 4." In many areas this could be the final nail in the coffin of 'traditional' subjects.

Does the A*-C League table tell us anything at all about the quality of teaching / learning or the amount of progress made? Didn't think so.

Value Added is a much more useful gauge of how well a school or department has performed. If schools or teachers are to be judged on their rate of success then it has to be linked to the raw materials (students) that they are working with.

NB: Don't assume that schools in socially deprived areas will naturally have a higher rate of truancy.

I've got 3 boys who have stated quite formally and seriously that their intended career path is Islamic Jihad. Worryingly they appear to have a prepared answer for most questions and challenges that we have thrown at them.

My message will be that the most important thing to "remember" is the recurring nature of genocide in modern society - Hitler, pol Pot, Rwanda, East Timor, Yugoslavia etc. etc. etc. and that the most important things to understand are the root causes - prejudice, racism, discrimination, violence. Things that can be within us all at our worst.

Agreed.

How do you teach social harmony to people who already have prejudices engrained in them? I ask as I have a number of boys in my year group who are expressing extremist views about a number of religious and political issues. Any ideas?

(Feel free to split this into a different thread Andy, I realise this could take things off topic a little).

Belligerent ghouls

Run Manchester schools

Spineless swines

Cemented minds

The Headmaster Ritual, The Smiths.

In answer to Marco's question about legislation, this is taken from a Law firms website:

Internet Libel

The same rules apply for the internet as most other areas of the press. If the words published on-line are defamatory, the author and publisher can be sued. They can then use the defence of justification, fair comment, privilege.

What is different though is the recognition that ISPs do not fall into the traditional categories of author or publisher. They can defend a claim for libel if:

·        It was not the author, editor or publisher;

·        If reasonable care was taken;

·        The ISP had no reason to believe that it caused the publication of the defamatory statement.

An ISP may fall foul of the law if it knows about the defamatory statements but does not react fast enough to remove them.

The World Wide Web = Actions World Wide

Your defamatory statement can appear on any internet terminal around the world. Therefore litigation can be brought in each country.

http://www.media-solicitors.co.uk/internet-libel.htm

(Don't worry Andy, there wasn't a copyright notice on the page I've lifted it from... )