As schools strive to be innovative with technology but budgets are squeezed, allowing staff and students to use their own technology in the classroom is becoming more popular. Opinion however is divided, will BYOD save money and have a positive impact on learning or is it a security and safety nightmare waiting to happen?

Recognising this, NEN the Education Network is beginning a major piece of work in partnership with industry and other interested groups.  They want to hear your voice and thoughts on the use of personal devices in the classroom. Please contribute by following this link:

http://www.nen.gov.uk/news/258/boyd-what-do-you-think.html

High resolution photographs from the Royal Collection now available on NEN gallery.

The ‘Heart of the Great Alone’ exhibition featuring photography from the Scott and Shackleton expeditions is now showing at the Queens Gallery – Buckingham Palace.
LGfL is pleased to be working in partnership with the Royal Collection to bring high resolution photographs of pictures and learning resources from The Heart of the Great Alone exhibition. Ten of these iconic images have been made available via the NEN Gallery for teachers to incorporate into their teaching.

Guidance is provided on how to make the most of the high resolution quality of the resources, along with commentary’s of the major photographs from the exhibition.

To view the images visit http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/gallery14904-.html

For further information on the exhibit  www.hotga.lgfl.net

Download High resolution scans of the featured artwork from the Exhibition

The Royal Collections

LGfL, working on behalf of the National Education Network is delighted to be working partnership with the Royal Collections.

Britain’s Royal Collection is one of the most important art collections in the world. It contains paintings and drawings by many of the greatest artists of Western Art, including Leonardo da Vinci, Holbein, Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Vermeer, as well as superb examples of works of art from all over the world – furniture, ceramics, silver and gold, sculpture, books and armour. Items from the Royal Collection can be seen at royal residences across Britain and at The Queen’s Galleries in London and Edinburgh.

Royal Collection Learning is responsible for the development and delivery of learning resources and programmes for schools, families and adults visiting Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Our shared aim is to inspire groups to engage with, enjoy and learn about the Royal Collection.

Dutch Landscapes Exhibition (15 April – 9 October)

This new partnership  features high resolution scans and learning resources from the current ‘Dutch Landscapes’ exhibition showing at ‘The Queens Gallery’ at Buckingham Palace.

The exhibition brings together forty two remarkable landscapes from the ‘Golden Age’ of Dutch painting, including works by Ruisdael, Cuyp and Hobbema. The Dutch Republic, which gained independence from the Spanish-ruled Southern Netherlands in 1648, was physically expanding, with large areas being reclaimed from the sea and with it the population was growing too. Landscape paintings seem to celebrate this expansion and prosperity.

Discover

• Original drawings highlighting artists’ techniques and approach to composition.

• The changing environment and landscape of Dutch people’s lives in the seventeenth century.

• Insight into the life of European people of the period; including how they travelled, farmed and the hobbies they enjoyed.

Links:

For further information : www.dutchlandscapes.lgfl.net

Working on behalf of the National Education Network, LGfL is delighted to launch an all new art resources developed in close partnership with the Ben Uri Gallery.

There are three resource websites that are mapped to the art curriculum:

• Sense of Place
• Movement
• Relationships

Art Skills for Teachers

The fourth website features a range of art techniques in action in a school context to help inspire teachers and children to try out and achieve the creation of artwork beyond their own expectation. The resource is full of unusual and easily accessible techniques to make art a truly inclusive activity for all members of your school community.

The resources have been previously used in an off line format extensively in schools both in and outside of London – however the new online interface makes the resources easier to navigate, explore and demonstrate.

High resolution photographs

All the art works featured in the resources are from the Ben Uri Gallery and are available from the NEN Gallery as high resolution photographs. This allows teachers to be able to print and crop and images in high quality.

The resources were produced by the Learning team at the Ben Uri Gallery. The team is currently lead by Alix Smith  – who also teaches art part time at a London Primary school and is a practising visual artist.

Alix said, ‘It is Ben Uri’s mission to make ‘art for everyone’. We believe that the resource will enable teachers and pupils to access the visual arts with confidence and ease. The resource explores the Ben Uri collection of over 1000 rich and diverse works which are an inspirational starting point for a multitude of art projects , and simultaneously provides ideas and useful practical advice for the creation of pupils own art in the classroom. We are very pleased to have been given the opportunity to work with members of the NEN community on the development of this project and are thrilled that so many schools are now able to access the resource as a result of the partnership.  We are looking forward to hearing about all of the fantastic art work that is created!

Bob Usher – LGfL Content Manager said’ We are delighted to be able to offer these inspiration materials to LGfL connected schools and hope that they have a significant impact on what teachers feel they can undertake with their children; we hope the children will be inspired to produce artwork that truly releases their inner creativity’.

Links:

www.benuri.lgfl.net

http://www.benuri.org.uk/

http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/gallery-e2bn.html

The National Education Network Safeguarding Group has commissioned a study by Lancaster University to explore aspects of online safety in the context of school practices. The initial report is now available at http://www.nen.gov.uk/esafety/222/nen-internet-safety-report-draft.html

The draft will be available until the end of May 2011, after which comments will be reviewed and the final report published.

The Audio Network music service for schools has just been updated bringing twice the music, more on-line tools and a schools licence for you to use the music in the classroom and with the school community. This fantastic resouyrce now offers even more opportunities for schools when searching for high quality music.

Brought to you by the National Education Network and London Grid for Learning it is free-for-users in schools who are part of the Yorkshire & Humber Grid for Learning.

More music

• More tracks … 30,000 plus to choose from  … and more every year to keep things fresh … that 10,000 more every year!
• More types of music … everything from grime to classical; from traditional folk to electronica; from musical sound effects to national anthems of the world.

More ways to search for what you want:

• search by multiple descriptive keywords …
• search by title, composer, type of music …
• search by tempo …
• search by length of track …
• search by using the online beatcounter …

Logon now at www.audionetwork.nen.gov.uk

The snowy weather was not going to stop staff and pupils from Deanfield School in Calderdale. When their field trip was cancelled all the pupils were already dressed up ready for a World War 2 ‘Evacuation Experience’ with no where to go! Having previously done some video conferencing work with Yorkshire and Humberside Grid for Learning , the school phoned them to ask for help . The staff at YHGfL were able to call on partners from the National Education Network and arrange a video conferencing session with the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven, Cumbria. The Beacon Museum is part of the CLEO video conferencing Project and provide curriculum sessions for pupils in schools connected to the National Education Network.

To read more about this story and hear just what the teachers and pupils thought, go to the NEN news site.

NEN Video Conference News

A joint initiative from the National Education Network and Lancaster University is calling for all young people and professionals in schools to take part in a survey based around their attitudes and behavior on the internet and using mobile technology.

The survey covers various areas based on the internet, use of Social Networking sites, mobile phones and the overall experience people gain from using the internet. It will be a valuable resource for all local authorities, as the final results will give a regional indication on internet use.

The questionnaire is conducted on-line (see link below) and should take no  more than 10 minutes. Teachers may want to use it as a starter task for any activity they are conducting in a ICT room/laptops etc.

The two main audiences are: educational professionals (teachers, senior management, teaching assistants, non-teaching staff, governors) and young people. The questions are differentiated for the different age groups (5-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-14, 14-19).

The survey can be accessed at:

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/nen/

Looking for that free on-line resource from the NEN -look no further we have an electronic version available for download.

If you would like a number of Free hard copies for you staffroom ect then e-mail

contact (at) yhgfl.net with your request.

Click below to download the booklet (in pdf format)

NEN_A5 Booklet 2009

The National Education Network’s (NEN) Gallery is a collection of high quality images, sound and video files that can be used by teachers and students and is available for all educational and not for profit activities.

So whether you need images relating to animals, sound for a science class or a video file for a business studies class, the NEN Gallery is tailored for all your needs. By encouraging children to use the NEN Gallery you can avoid many of the issues of ownership and copyright that can often occur through pupils using search engines.

You will need to register through the NEN website, but once registered you will be able to upload images, sound and video files to the Gallery for use by other members of the educational community.

You can access the Gallery by going to http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/