The 'hotseat' guest for December is Sarah Peacock who works at one of Sheffield's City Learning Centres. I met Sarah as part of the successful Visual Learning Course which I attended earlier this year which Naace, MirandaNet based at the Institute of Education and Bath Spa University won the TDA bid to run as a CPD programme.

Sarah will be live in the 'hotseat' on Monday 15th December between 4-5pm. Please post questions before, during and after the live sessions.

Paul Williamson has spent a great deal of time empowering teachers in different subjects to use their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) effectively. The successes have become increasingly apparent with every area of the school moving forward rapidly.

Broadgreen are one of the few high schools across the country that run a baccalaureate programme. The programme is highly successful one for their students and are Becta's ICT Excellence Awards 2008 - joint runner-up award winners for the Best whole school in the North West category.

Last term the Council for Subject Associations (CfSA) which was set up in September 2007 and funded for three years (before it has to become a self-financing organisation) produced the first of a series of Primary Subject folders that went into all schools across England for free. Other organisations can purchase a copy for £7.50. I was asked to write the ICT leaflet for the first issue on the theme of 'Every Child Mattters'.

The second Primary Subject's theme is the Gifted and Talented strand of the National Curriculum and was sent into schools in the last week of September 2008. Although I gave a sneak preview of the text in the Summer edition of Primary Focus, I have included the PDF that will be distributed along with leaflets from the other 16 subject associations to all schools in England during the third week in September 2008. The third edition of Primary Subjects will be distributed to schools in January 2009 and it has been confirmed that the theme will be Globalisation.

Your comments (posted underneath the article) on what you think of the leaflet would be very helpful feedback!

Crossley Heath have used their Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in so many ways to improve teaching, the delivery of the curriculum as well as the enjoyment of learning taking place. The following description highlights the way the schools secure email system is being used to help students make dramatic improvements in the quantity and quality of assignments set.

Naace have been successful in securing a TDA bid won by Steven Coombes based at Bath Spa University and being delivered as a 'Visual Learning Course' by Christina Preston and John Cuthell at MirandaNet (based at The Institute of Education, London).

In 1988, while teaching a professional development course for teachers concerning the use of telecommunications in education, I had an experience that changed me irrevocably. I had just finished describing the expectations for the final project, when a student raised her hand and asked if she could produce a video instead of writing a paper. The question caught me totally off guard. As I paused, mouth agape, I could feel old thinking and new paradigms chafing against each other like psychic tectonic plates. Watching a video was easy enough - but evaluating it as a school assignment? In the end, I told her that I would be happy to accept a video. In reality I was troubled by the fact that my print-based education had not prepared me for that moment or for the many moments like it that were sure to come.

Geoff Dellow gave a really detailed response to my request for him to describe how he downloaded his video clip onto his website . . . however, I wanted to know more . . .

The 'Let's Play - 2008 Project' focuses on using the Oracle Education Foundation's www.think.com to provide a range of online opportunities for children to build their own websites. The project has been led by Educational Consultant and Advanced Skills Teacher, Paul Vale, as an extension to 'The 101+ Club Project' which ran in 2006-2007.

Imagine a world where schoolchildren are contacting pupils in schools around the world through a totally safe, virtual environment, chatting about differences, sharing pictures, and posting opinions about stories they've read and written. Their teachers are making sure skills in literacy, numeracy, ICT and communication are being improved. The children are sharing ideas about how to live more healthy lifestyles. This Article illustrates how some of this is possible through the 101+ Club Project, supported by by the Oracle Education Foundation.