| Digital - teacher | Education in a technological world

Big brother

I am being watched!
As I was drving into work this morning I crawled along the ringroad, passing underneath the never ending gaze of the SPECS speeding cameras.
I've got used to these eyes peering at me along almost entire stretch of the ringroad (If you ever travel to Nottingham - beware of them!!)
However, when I turned off this morning and headed towards and over a humpbacked bridge, there was a car approaching from the other direction - lights flashing at me, and the driver frantically signalling while trying to keep control of his car.
Why, I thought, is he doing this? - does he know me? Is there something wrong with the front of my car?
No! - as I went over the bridge I found out. A mobile police camera van parked just over the brow, ready to catch any driver who dared to accelerate to get up the hill, and hadn't checked their speed on the way down.
I'm wondering if it's time to visit a shop to buy a detection system to avoid getting caught out.
I'm not the only one it seems who thinks that we have enough cameras, over in Brian's Culture Blog, he has used photoshop to redesign the look of several, while there are galleries at the Uk speed cameras Gatzo Capital of the UK website, showing the lengths some people will go to to stop them working.

Disclaimer - this is not big, it is not clever, and above all it is not legal.
It should not be done, no matter how annoying these cameras are becoming.

Ok, got that. Don't do it ;-)

More submissions

There were more Dragonsville submissions from children all around the world when I got in this morning.
I've started to notice that children are sending in submissions from several areas of the site, so that means that they must be looking around the site and visiting all the different areas.

We're also getting multiple submissions from particular schools, so it looks like classes are being taken into ICT suites and having whole class, or large group, lessons.

What to do with sp4m?

I've collated (some of) the subject lines from my deleted folder, and turned them into a poem;

Sp4m

Excuse me
I thought you might like this.
Isn’t this what you wanted?
Home is where the heart is.

{! - Incoming document
…Indoor nourish…
…100% free…
Virus in your mail }

Is this what you were looking for
So much better.
There is only one kind
Trust me.

{! - Incoming document
…Downside bottommost…
…Incredulous flimsy…
Virus in your mail }

Feel better this summer.
Great vacations.
Postcard.
Montana.

{! - Incoming document
…Exceptional familiar…
…Oscillate stepmother…
Virus in your mail}

Meet your future love
Matrimonial.
Californium newlywed
Lasts for 36 hours.

{! - Incoming document
…Encroach effect…
…s@ve

m0ney…
Virus in your mail}

Seize the moment
Make all your dreams come true.
Happy for once
Much too serious for you to ignore now.

{! - Incoming document
…Hello stranger…
…Exceptional familiar…
Virus in your mail}

Last chance
Do it for your family.
Don’t be left out
Someone is interested in you.

{! - Incoming document
…Chutney diorama…
…Tabular stepmother…
Virus in your mail}

Did you hear the news.
What are you doing?
Dearest, I need your assistance
Never!

{! - Incoming document
…Satisfy counterbalance…
…Checksummed downplay…
Virus in your mail}

Propel yourself forwards
Regain your confidence.
Come and meet us
Just a thought.

{! - Incoming document
…Elegant beverage…
…Newspapermen smalltime…
Virus in your mail}

Master your PC
Get on with life.
You should try it
So much better.

{! - Incoming document
…read it immediately }

{! - Incoming document
…read it immediately }

{! - Incoming document
…read it immediately }

Permission granted

I have had a few messages regarding the photos of the launch in the album.
We have been given permission to use the images, the school is up to date with the LEA requirements, and they dealt with the letters to parents.
I understand the importance of getting permission, and the minefield that is using images of children (I had to deal with this on a daily basis while running the school website and editing the school paper), so made sure we had it sorted beforehand.

More images

More photos have been added to the launch photo gallery.
See the bottom of the column to the right.

Submissions

I'm spending a bit of time each morning now going through the submissions that have been sent into Dragonsville, and are held on the database until I check through, amend and publish them.
There is the occasional submission that you think "I'm glad that didn't appear on the site" as it is really inappropriate, but most of the work is great and with a few capitals, and punctuation changes, it can then be added.
What is really nice to see is that in the discussion area of the site (The Cavern) children are responsing to each others discussions, and engaging in a debate. This is what we were after, so that is a positive.
Also, when I read through some of the work I come across comments that could only have been thought about if the child had looked across the whole site, and read some information elsewhere.
For example, this is a submission that was entered into The Naming Pool (where children can submit character portraits of the dragons);

Wild Fire is a very kind hearted dragon that loves all creatures large and small. She loves to help-out if she can. She could fly faster than a fighter jet and is well loved and respected for her bravery. She is around 16 years old and is very wise. Even the Elders sometimes come to her for advice.

The last sentence is the interesting one because she mentions 'the Elders' who appear within a seperate section of the site, in the history of Dragonsville.
I can only assume that this child has read the history, taken in the information and used it within this area. Again, just what we were looking for.

And then this morning, while I was looking through the main Kids on the Net inbox, I saw a submission to the Kids on the Net site for a piece of writing about a dragon, from a child who had already submitted work to Dragonsville.
This was so nice to see as it is just what we are aiming for - to get children to move across from Dragonsville and into the main Kids on the Net site.

Photos

Well, the launch went ahead, and there are photos of it, along with screen images of the site now available within the photos section of the blog (either click on the link, or else scroll down and click on the images on the right hand side). There may well be more images added over the next week or two.

At the launch the children loved the dragon racing idea, and the prize really made them want to win!
After playing dragon racing, knight skittles and Drac, the children went into the ICT suite to have some photos taken for the press while working on the site.
Following this it was assembly time, and I had to talk to the whole of the school about the project.

It seemed strange standing in front of over 100 children. It's been a long time now since I have had to stand in a hall and take an assembly.
We had a projector and screen so that the site could be shown to the children, but (as you'd expect) when you need the technology, it decides to go AWOL!
Firstly the network point was being awkward, and didn't want to give us access to the site, and then when that had been fixed the laptop batteries began to die on us. Nevermind, as the Headteacher of the school had it all sorted within a few minutes, while I filled, waffled, and asked children to read some of their work.

The best comment came at the end of the day as the children were heading home. I had brought in some of the pewter and crystal dragons I collect, and one child had the following conversation with me;

Child; "Are they real crystals?"

Me; "Yes they are"

Child; "Are you really rich?"

Me; "No, not at all!"

Child; "Bet you would be if you sold those"

Mmmmmm, a very wise child!

Dragons Alive!

We launched the site!

is now open to all.

Take a trip to Dragonsville and discover the truth about dragons.

Images from the launch will be added to the blog as soon as possible.

Why today?

So, we are about to launch the site later today, and we are checking things over and when suddenly I find that one of the Flash based activities decides to work.

Seems like it didn't want to let the viewer press buttons to move between scenes.

'How odd, it was working yesterday', I thought. So I had a word with the web developer here at trAce and he was stumped (in fact, he'd never come across this before!)........

What choice am I left with? Open Flash, edit the file and remove and replace all the buttons (replacing them with the exact same ones I might add)

Bizzare, and not the sort of thing I was wanting to have to do today.

Amazing Images

Well now you have met all of the main dragons within Dragonsville.
The images have been created especially for us by an artist based in America.
His website is full of images of friendly looking dragons, and we commisioned him to produce some especially for us.
Not only does he draw these images, but he also writes about them too - he's got a detailed story about his favourite dragon, Malathar, here. It's not completed yet, but long enough to sit with a cup of coffee and read through.

Launching tomorrow!!