Over the last few months we've shifted
focus from exams and revision to the new academic
year.We've also brought out a new subscription model which costs £30. This is quite a hike on our previous charges but the addition of 30 student logins to each teacher account should encourage students to make use of the site for coursework prep and revision.
We've been developing the Interactive area on the site which also doubles up as the Quiz bank.
We tested a few Interactive Quizzes in some centres and the students really enjoyed them. They provide immediate feedback and have supporting images to make the process a bit more engaging. We now have at least one quiz for each Key Concept and are beginning to produce others for the topic areas. As ever, if you would like to use a quiz in your teaching that we haven't covered, let us know and we'll do our best to write one for you.
We've also been developing a new area on Video Games with the help of Rod Munday, a doctoral student at Aberystwyth University working closely on this area with Daniel Chandler. We're hoping that Rod will also produce a comprehensive section on The Internet, it's historical timeline and key conventions.
We've completed a section on Animation which will be useful for WJEC GCSE staff and students in the coming year. This was written by Stephen Cavalier, a practising animator and part-time lecturer.
News in Print and Electronic Media will soon be completed by Jeremy Orlebar, a senior examiner for AQA A Level Media Studies and author of The Television Handbook.
Jeremy is also going to be working closely with Tina Dixon and Caroline Bagshaw on the new AQA A Level Scheme of Work for AS Media Studies. This work is expected to be done during August.
We are still looking for examiners and experienced teachers to write schemes for the new OCR and WJEC A Levels.
Jeremy Orlebar and I are working on Quiz Shows to ensure that the AQA Controlled Test in GCSE Media Studies will be well resourced. We are developing a downloadable guide containing interactive elements.
There's a good chance that we will get together with Pete Wall and Collins Education again to produce a series of Podcasts to help support staff preparing students for the AQA GCSE Controlled Test on Quiz Shows.
Stephen Rhodes has agreed to help develop the BTEC course provision on Mediaedu which will bolster the site's coverage of the vocational courses.
Nick Lacey will be writing a Case Study on Skins which will add to his existing ones on Heroes and Life on Mars. These are particularly useful for showing A Level students how to analyse a media text using the Key Concepts.
David Smailes and Sue Crawte will be continuing to develop Key Tutorials on production skills such as creating moving image texts and designing websites using Dreamweaver.
We've been liaising with INSET providers to find out who's doing what, where and when. We will be rebuilding our INSET page to reflect the new training on offer across the country. If you spot something that others might benefit from, please let us know and we'll include it.
We are hoping to revitalise our online Competitions this year and get the Progress Award awarded. This is something we are doing to acknowledge the accomplishments of students across the ability range. There are lots of competitions on offer every year, so if you spot something we haven't included, please get in touch so that everyone has a chance to enter if they wish.
Kind regards,
Richard Gent - Edusites Ltd
[e] richardgent@mac.com
Updates for July 2008