Infectious Introductions and Virtual Assemblies

Tom Rees, Head at Little Harrowden Community Primary School, used the discussion group function of the Northants Learning Platform to hold a virtual assembly with pupils and staff. He wrote about it on the school website. It was a really interesting way get pupils to engage in class groups around the whiteboardwith assembly ideas. The transcript of the session showed real engagement with the subject.

The next step was to think about using video to broadcast an assembly or to connect with others. That’s where I came in, introducing Tom to the possibilities of using Ustream TV,  password-protected and embedded in the learning platform. The first test was between our offices in Northampton and Little Harrowden. I then visited the school today to see if we could make it work in situ – with pupils involved in the initial explorations. That is where and when the real fun started.

Once we had sorted the basics, discussed potential nightmare scenarios and enjoyed watching ourselves on three time-lagged screens, the infectious CPD began. Tom invited three Year Six pupils to stroll around the school with a laptop in hand, interviewing and commentated as they went. It was incredibly entertaining, informative and fun,  giving us the time back in the office to embed the ustream channel into the learning platform. More students were then recruited to go back into class and check whether the broadcast could be accessed from within the learning platform.

Tom then took the laptop, travelling from class to class for impromptu broadcasting. Teachers and groups of pupils from each class were sent to his office to see what was being broadcast within the platform. We heard descriptions of similes, how a child had be dividing with remainders and where an individual  poem sat on the wall. The virtual assembly has not even taken place but the enthusiasm and  ideas are already flowing from pupils and teachers about  how broadcast technology might be further developed in the school and beyond.

I left the school with the community still buzzing and learning. It was CPD – Community Professional Development. The technology had made an impression but it was the contagious approach to its introduction that has laid the foundations for its successful and sustainable integration. Carpe Diem or what!