This is a really boring post so don’t read it!

E-Technologies – Curriculum developments with QCDA

Actually it isn’t that boring! zzzzzzzzzzzz

So I headed off to the train station before 6am to begin my 9 hour return journey to attend a meeting with the QCDA, as I tucked into my home made Sausage sarnie with HP sauce (ketchup is a no no) I pondered would it be worth it? Time would tell… All I knew was that I had been invited due to a project we had done with futurelab where our school had been a case study for using technology in innovative new ways within the new curriculum.

Actually I do have to say I was on a winner even though I was going to be on a train for nearly 10 hours I was going to get to spend time with more of the futurelab bunnies and more importantly finally get to meet @dawnhallybone face to face!

When we arrived we were told the main objectives of the day which was to understand role of curriculum networks, share practice how we use technology in innovative ways in the curriculum. QCDA’s main vision is that they are trying to develop a world class curriculum that will inspire and challenge learners for the future.

We started looking at curriculum networks – they have been going for the last couple of years as part of a development process with the QCDA and its curriculum development.  It consists of around 80 or so secondary schools as well as primary and special schools.

As a result of this development our school now has free access to http://www.mycurriculum.com/  What does this actually mean? Well it is a site to share good practice and network for teachers. It is in the beta stage and is not open to all but keep a look at for it going live soon.

We also heard about the home access scheme being piloted in Oldham, North West where families were given grants for computers and free internet access based on free school meals – They have found that there has been huge benefits to learners, increased parental engagement, number of parents using technology themselves has also increased.

As a follow on to this we discussed what the challenges for schools are? Do schools know how many of your pupils have home access? Do schools know how your pupils are using technology outside of school? How can the curriculum be developed to maximise the benefits of home access? How can the curriculum prepare the pupils to fully participate to the digital world?

Ben a senior researcher from Futurelab then did a presentation. He discussed some background research to the future – What are the social & technological trends in next ten years plus? (this is research carried out by futurelab for DCSF called Beyond Current Horizons):

He summarised the following; there will be Denser, deeper & a more diverse information landscape, normalisation of machines, changing adult-child relationships, weakening of institutional boundaries and the decline of ‘knowledge economy’ etc. It was all really interesting and thought provoking.

We will now see over the next few weeks what will develop out of the network created and what good practice will be shared. The highlight of the way home was seeing Jenny a guest researcher from America @jsgroff sitting on the train highlighting her new large folder about QCDA curriculums what a nerd!