The Geographical Association
Minutes of the 110th meeting of the GA ICT SIG: Saturday 14th May 2016, 10 30 - 15.00
Location: The Betjeman Arms, St Pancras station, London
1. Welcome and introductions: Warm welcome to new member Leah Sharp. We introduced ourselves around the table. Leah is a Y3 classroom teacher, specialising in ICT and geography. Twitter @leah_moo
Congratulations to Jo Debens – who has been honoured with an RGS OS award for Excellence in Geography Education at the Secondary Level.
Congratulations to Andy Knill – who has secured a new job at Swanage School, Dorset, from September.
2. Present: Peter Fox (Chair), Kate Russell, Sophie Wilson, Leah Sharp, David Morgan.
3. Apologies: Andy Knill, David Rogers, Jo Meredith, Jonathan Lloyd, Jo Debens.
Adrian Manning – resigned due to family commitments, will become a corresponding member.
Graham Trick – resigned due to work and other commitments.
David Rogers – resigned due to work and other commitments.
Thanks were expressed to all three for their contributions to the group.
4. Minutes of the last meeting January 30th 2016
Outstanding work to be completed please ….
Andy – building a professional network article
Kate – teaching about place with a focus on South America
Sophie – to write her conference workshop up
5. Matters arising and Actions:
Action points from the last meeting were checked and confirmed that members have taken the actions they agreed from our last and previous meetings – mostly covered elsewhere during the meeting.
6. Corresponding members: Apologies to Bob Lang for not reflecting his views at our last meeting! Thanks to Bob for continuing active correspondence, including for today and detailed comments on EG work plan for ICT SIG which Peter will take into account before submitting the work plan.
7. Reviews of membership - two potential new members have shown an interest in joining the group; welcome to Leah to her first meeting today; Jonathan Lloyd could not make today but will be invited for the Autumn meeting.
Review attendance and tenure of members.
Sophie is going to ESRI conference and manning a GA stand and will try to recruit more members then; Andy to put request for new members on Twitter.
Change membership list on Website.
8. Feedback and tasks from the EG Steering Committee held 24th April 2016 and action points
To decide on key actions for next year (see item 17) in line with GA priorities if known at this time.
Peter reported on key aspects of current GA priorities, changes to EG structure, new president is to be Mary Biddulph, from September.
GA membership survey and Primary survey. Any progress during Conference 2016?
Year of Fieldwork September 2015 – 2016. Further suggestions based on Conference input; examples of Virtual fieldwork and modelling physical and human processes. Helping schools with their Fieldwork assessment tasks.
GA Annual Priorities 20016 -2020 draft:
Support Curriculum Change and assessment; Improve website; Promote membership benefits and models; Use CPD to enhance professional knowledge; Demonstrate the value of fieldwork.
9. The GA Web Site: the website is being revamped; old items will be archived but still available.
Concern that our web reviews are difficult to find and the delay in getting them published. Peter will write an article about the website reviews for GA magazine.
Kate to ask Ruth if the GA website development board will meet again?
10. Primary Focus: What can we do to help our Primary Colleagues?
We discussed the ways in which ICT SIG could offer support to primary schools. Leah would like generic suggestions which can be used to support teaching about the local area, which can be quite a wide area.
Some points about primary geography:-
· Geography is not always prominent in primary schools, especially where emphasis is on English and maths or teachers’ preference for history.
· Age range discrepancies, difference in expectations between Y1 and Y6
· Bridging the gap – transition Y6 to Y7, expectations and liaison; assumptions by secondary teachers and primary (Y7 start again!)
· Fieldwork and lack of opportunities and equipment
· Sometimes lack of geography specific teaching – and no use of ICT and geography
· Leah has done a lot of work geography and ICT – mystery SKYPE, geo caching, Google Earth and Google maps; using laptops or tablets in the field; Twitter work and rivers with local schools; Digimap.
· Quality mark – any evidence of use of ICT in submissions and case studies?
· ICT should not drive the geography curriculum; the geography learning must take priority. Use the most appropriate tool(s).
Ask Andy to ask via Twitter what primary colleagues have been doing with ICT.
Ask Gemma / Steve and primary committee what they want us to do? Could someone come to one of our meetings or one of us to their meeting?
Kate to write an article on teaching about place – South America.
11. Publication of items in GA News and Journals following Conference Sessions.
Sophie will write “Using mobile devices to support the new geography curriculum” for Teaching Geography.
12. Conference 2016 Manchester Conference Centre – Presidential Theme: Making Geographical Connections
ICT SIG was involved in four sessions this year, plus TeachMeet.
· Connecting primary and secondary classrooms, David Rogers. This included the work Leah did with secondary schools.
· Widening horizons through the Muir Award Andy Knill.
· Using mobile devices to support the new geography curriculum, Sophie Wilson. This was very well received; the room was full, with people standing too – 100 people attending? Showbie account (3-month trial) was made available to those attending, with resources available on there – 30% take up so far. OUP Kerboodle gave Sophie free access to their resources for the session – thank you to Sam at OUP.
· Creative Ideas for the teaching of the geography of the UK, Jo Debens.
· On Friday evening David, Jo, Andy and Bob presented in the TeachMeet.
Other matters raised by members about the conference:-
We are sorry that the stand did not happen this year, this was due to circumstances beyond our control.
We liked the new venue, it was very suitable for the conference, the facilities were good and the atmosphere was good. But it was a long way from most accommodation and the amenities of Manchester.
Early suggestions for the next conference, University of Surrey, Guildford, 20th – 22nd April 2017. Theme: Inclusive geographies.
Sophie - Practical ideas for putting PLACE digitally at the heart of the new Geography Curriculum. The aim is to present a variety of ideas and electronic resources to support of the new KS3, GCSE and A Level Geography curriculum to ensure progression in Geography lessons and inspire pupils to enjoy thinking like a Geographer.
Bob –How to plan lessons using GIS; This workshop will enable delegates to have an awareness of how to plan lessons using GIS. It will cover issues such as how to get data for your lesson as well as solving some of the pitfalls when using GIS. The concepts covered will be transferrable to any of the proper GIS packages such as ESRI’s ArcGIS Online and QGIS.
Andy - "Learning together: expanding our geographies" - teachers and pupils using the web and mobile apps - the idea is to share the learning journey I go on with my new pupils in Dorset as we explore their geographies.
Leah – How to SCORE in primary geography: 20 simple and effective ICT ideas to embed geography across the curriculum.
Dave – will be doing something for / with FSC.
All to submit their proposals to Lucy by 1st July. To be discussed at the next meeting.
Sophie would like to offer a reception at the conference (in conjunction with St Mary’s University) and will liaise with Lucy.
13. Curriculum and examination proposals: Implications for ICT and its use.
GIS is important at A2 – students will be disadvantaged if they don’t have the skills to use it. Students also need to know the mathematical techniques and statistics which complements GIS.
We wondered if the emphasis on programming in new ICT curriculum has impeded schools’ use of the “communication” side of ICT? For example, pupils seem to have less skills in using Excel than they used to. We expressed concern that some of the life skills of using basic ICT tools are being squeezed out of the curriculum.
14. Use of GA Quality Mark and access to it and report back
Kate to resend link and passwords to all. There appears to be little ICT specific mentions on quality mark submissions. Could QM submissions be available to all GA members?
PGQM
http://pgqm.geography.org.uk/default.asp
User pgqm
PW ictsig
SGQM
http://sgqm.geography.org.uk/default.asp
User sgqm
PW ictsig
Revisit this item at the next meeting.
15. G.I.S. and the GA what we are doing and what we probably need to do to co-ordinate our efforts – progress and comment.
We have done quite a lot on this in different ways – conference sessions, answering specific queries from teachers, attending conferences run by others (e.g. ESRI). This is a big area to cover.
Bob is attending ESRI UK annual conference next week, helping Jason Sawle with some workshops.
16. The development of Twitter, Blog, NING – Andy: Consolidation of GA Twitter Accounts?
Twitter 1756 followers and 22.2 k tweets.
Bob offered to show how he has used twitter to enable him to keep up to date with the subject (Core competent in teaching standards) – as an article?
17. Work plan for the next year - to update and add to/delete
- Offer and lead a number of conference sessions. - done or doing
- Provide briefing papers on GIS and develop materials for the use of ICT in the delivery of the new National Curriculum and its assessment as appropriate. Pass on good practice from others. Some of this has been passed onto Andy Knill and already appears on blog and Bob has done a lot BUT does need looking at from a shared view - some done
- Consider the use of the NING – does anyone use it? – are there too many paths for communication and some duplication – are members and others confused where to find materials and help?
- Use Quality Mark as examples of good use of ICT in geography - encourage the GA to make good examples available to others. Bob is quite happy to offer examples although currently his school is no longer a GA SGQM CoE. - awaiting development
- Look at examples of work schemes for the delivery of the new National Curriculum and assessment and work out how ICT might best be employed. Provide conference sessions, briefing papers and reviews. - awaiting new syllabuses
- Demonstrate the use of Social Media in Geography and monitor and assist and support the development of the GA Web Site for different users. - ongoing
- Where possible communicate electronically and develop the use of social media to save money and share ideas - experiment with the use of Twitter and other platforms. Bob says it has been a good way so far of informing geographers of links much quicker HOWEVER not everyone follows twitter or will be bothered to even look. – ongoing.
- To act as a critical friend to GA strategic development, through Education Group. – ongoing.
We discussed these and Bob sent comprehensive comments; Peter will review the plan in light of our discussions and Bob’s contributions and submit it.
18. Bring and Brag:
Two or three teaching ideas or resources that might be of use to others - they should all be available for open access on the GA web site. Please ensure that all items brought and bragged are reviewed for the GA Web Site
Bob
Trade and Health Burden visualisations (see additional Word file sent accompanying these minutes.)
Andy
Dorset Explorer: Fieldwork or case studies from Dorset: free GIS site – http://explorer.geowessex.com/
A range of base maps - I have used to teach coastal landforms on Jurassic coast.
Sophie
Breathing Earth – a visualisation available on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2yLSLmnsY4
ESRI story boards – Biomass; Mapping Human systems; urbanised planet;
http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2015/atlas-for-a-changing-planet/
Placecheck about local planning developments www.placecheck.info Neighbourhood planning and has wider implications for planning and community involvement – useful Placecheck walkabout checklists! Hopefully it will be developed so you can check for results from others.
David
Using Minecraft to model flooding and how it can be managed. This is work in progress at FSC. https://minecraft.net/en/
Virtual landscapes to complement real fieldwork, can be used before and after fieldwork, 3D Carding Mill Valley using Google Cardboard as the headset.
Fieldscapes VR using 360 degree photos stitched together.
Peter
US Geological survey: The Earth as Art, a gallery of photos of all kinds of landscapes https://eros.usgs.gov/imagegallery
Range of websites connected to oceans – Oceanwatch, the encyclopedia of the earth and seas www.eoearth.org.
Leah
Unsplash Instant Chrome extension for photos
Biblio –
360 videos Screencarstomatic https://screencast-o-matic.com/home - can capture video on screen
Kate - GCSE AQA A Geography Flash Card Revision
This resource will be useful for students in their revision throughout and at the end of their Geography GCSE AQA A course. It is based on what successful students have described as one of the most effective revision techniques they have used. http://www.classroom-resources.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Geography_GCSE_AQA_A_Flash_Card_Revision_Pack_____NEW__3245.html
19. Officers for 2016-2017
It was proposed and seconded that Peter be the Chair for 2016-2017 and Kate be the secretary.
20. Any other business and items for our next meeting
Dates, Time and Place of next meetings for 2016:
Dates for 2016 19th November 2016 at Betjeman Arms,
Dates for 2017 11th February 2017 and 13th May 2017 at Betjeman Arms
Action Points
Action / By whomWrite Building a professional network article
How to teach about place using ICT with focus on South America