This afternoon I deliver my second CPD session with the ICT Department. Two quick observations. We followed the Headteachers presentation and a Mentor presentation, following a full days teaching and 25 minutes of essential College I was very pleased with the staffs engagement and progress on the tasks. An overview of the sessions can be found on slideshare. We created a carousel of ICT activities, half led by staff and the other half set as team activities. Sessions were 5 minutes long with 2 minutes to apply the skills to the staffs own needs and to promote consolidation. The session concluded with another Online Quiz tool that provides instant results. Considering we covered 6 Microsoft products and a total of 18 skills, were pleased with the results.
As I led the Outlook Email session, my reflections are based primarily on that task however I did correspond with my co- colleague via text and a brief conversation with an Assistant Head teacher would suggest a fairly positive.
First, we set the tasks in increasingly difficulty, however I was surprised by how few staff used folders in the email accounts and yet I would suggest that the ICT literate found this ‘simple’ a task a little patronising. Approximately 75% did not use an email signature and I don’t recall a single staff member noting that they used email rules. I did get one request from a group to show staff how set up distributions lists and as the group were fast learners and got the general ideas from the rules task, we managed all four tasks in the five minutes! In reflection, introducing ACCESS to the wholeschool in this format may have been the wrong decision, however the remaining tasks I believe had real relevance to the staffs daily duties and ‘cores.’ The quiz brought back varied results, apparently I took the test three times…. isn;t funny, alot of teachers do not like being tested. Now theres irony.