Our
updates seem to be getting later and later! There is a reason for
this...We've decided to change the system we use for distributing newsletters and the programming connected with this has been delayed. With a little luck, it'll be online for October.
We've been busy at the virtual coal face developing the new A Level schemes of work for AQA, OCR and WJEC and finishing off our supporting material for Quiz Shows and Sport on TV - two GCSE exam topics for AQA and WJEC.
AQA GCSE Media Studies Controlled Test
on Quiz Shows
For
the fourth year running,
Collins will
be hosting INSET with
Peter Wall, Chair of Examiners and
author of Media Studies for GCSE, on this year's Controlled Test
topic -
Quiz Shows.
Delegates at previous Collins Controlled Test Inset days have found
them a great opportunity to build confidence, share ideas and
identify the keys to successful teaching of this topic, and, most
importantly, guarantee that their candidates have the skills and
information they need to be successful.
When
and where?
Collins
will
be running
two days in Hammersmith, London on
the
14th October and
13th November 2008.
Cost?
The
cost for each delegate is £200 for the day - lunch and
refreshments are included.
Agenda?
Collins
GCSE Media Controlled Test - Quiz Shows INSET
- The Controlled Test: Ethos and guiding students
- Assessment Objectives - their significance to the CT
- Linking the Key concepts: Media Language, Representation, Audience and Institutions
- History and development
- Production skills: The essentials
- Resources
If you are interested in attending, simply give Charlie Evans a call on the direct line number below, or send him an email.
It is important to try and book early to avoid disappointment as places are limited to 10 on each day.
Charlie Evans
Publishing Manager
Collins Education
0208 307 4990
[e] charlie.evans@harpercollins.co.uk
A new section on Music Video has been added and Nick Lacey has produced a case study for us on Contemporary Hollywood. With the help of Shirley Bierman, we've made significant progress with the OCR Nationals support on the site for Level 3 and Level 2 will be developed from this point onwards.
Some
of you may have spotted a new thumbnail on our homepage entitled
'comic
strip'.
The gentleman with the exaggerated purple-striped proboscis
is
Hunt Emerson -
a leading underground comic artist or cartoonist.Hunt has very kindly agreed to pander to a whim of mine. For some time I've wanted to add something to the site which was fun and not necessarily underpinned by an educational assessment objective.
We're currently working on a little comic strip for the site(s) with our own set of mischievous students and idiosyncratic teachers. The plan is that the online strips will cover the adventures of a class of students as they go from one class to the next. The first class will be a Media lesson, it's timetabled for November.
We hope to introduce the students to English later on but have deferred this as our English teacher has very little to work with at present given the skeletal state of Englishedu - his online resource pool. The strips will, hopefully, appear monthly.
Hunt Emerson's site is well worth a look:
Four
new
interactive quizzes have
been added to the
Interactive and
Quiz areas
on the site covering some aspects of
Advertising,
Magazines,
Quiz Shows and
Radio.
If you would like to see a quiz of yours added to the site or would
appreciate a quiz being created for a subject you're currently
working with, let us know. Our contact details are at the end of
this update.
We are still searching for some subject leaders to advise us on
the
BTEC qualifications.
For the time being, this area of the site will be on hold. We have
also decided to shelve the development of
Film Studies as
we haven't yet found a suitable team of authors who can work on
this area. Likewise, the
CD and DVD Design and Analysis areas
are still up for grabs if anyone fancies having a go at them.
The final thing we've been working on is the
Client Panel.
For those of you who haven't visited this area on the site, it's a
place where you can check on your account details, pay for
subscriptions and renewals and get an invoice so that you can pay
for your sub through the school or college.
It's being given an overhaul at the moment. In the next week, we
hope to be launching the new version. It will allow you to edit
your account details, change usernames and passwords and purchase
upgrades. The upgrade feature will mean that you can add additional
teachers and students to your account at any point during the
year.
This is also the area of the site you need to become familiar with
if you have Class Set(s) of student logins.
To create a Class Set you
need to log in and click on 'Manage
your class set(s)'.
You then need to enter a label for the group and chose a username
and password prefix.
Our system will then add 01-30 to the end of the prefix to create
the students' usernames and passwords. You might like to use the
name of your school e.g. timbukto or timbuktomedia. Keeping
usernames and passwords in lowercase letters will reduce login
problems. In this situation, your students' logins would look like
this:
[username]
timbuktomedia01
[password]
timbuktomedia01
If you get stuck don't worry just get in touch and we'll help you.
Alternatively, view the screencast in the
FAQ section.
In time, we will be revamping the
PayPal payment portal to
allow you to pay directly with a credit or debit card or even over
the phone. This should make life a little easier. Cheques and BACS
transfers will also be acceptable.
It may prove useful to
add a web address to your school or department website
for
Mediaedu.co.uk as this will encourage students to use it and make
it easier to find in class.
http://www.mediaedu.co.uk
For those of you who also teach
English,
our new site
Englishedu will
begin to take shape from Monday, 29th September. We're trying to
put a team of inspirational English teachers together to help shape
a site which offers something new and will help the subject
evolve.
If you know anyone who might be interested in doing some writing
for us, please get in touch.
Kind
regards,
Richard Gent - Edusites Ltd
[e] richardgent@mac.com
Updates for September 2008