[senit] auditing staff skills in Clicker, WWS, Powerpoint

That's a useful distinction , particularly for Clicker

A few years ago Imogen Wedgwood (then Howarth) wrote some excellent
effective symbol guidelines' while she was working for Widgit. They begin
with the words NEVER JUST TYPE! take you though the process of writing a
couple of sentences then go through all the things you should do to make
your writing accessible to people with learning difficulties - F12, F11,
turning off qualifiers, increasing the space between symbol lines, replacing
pronouns with nouns, keeping one idea per sentence, starting sentences on a
new line...   I use it on  my training as a group activity and it really
helps people appreciate the importance of making their document accessible
as well as teaching them the skills to do it.  If you contact me off list I
could send you a copy - I'm sure Imogen won't mind.

Best wishes

Sally
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "david fettes" <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk>
To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 10:46 PM
Subject: Re: [senit] auditing staff skills in Clicker, WWS, Powerpoint

> That's a useful distinction , particularly for Clicker
> and Powerpoint- that all staff should be able to open
> ready prepared files suitable for their learners and
> operate them - and a smaller number of staff should
> have the skills (and time!) to make them. That is a
> very realistic viewpoint considering the baseline
> range of ICT skills staff can have. For instance I
> have just looked through the clicker intro training
> booklet and most of it I would classify as well into
> intermediate level- ie far too hard for beginner staff
> to get to grips with. That is beginner staff wrt ICT
> skills not beginners just to that programme. However
> with WWS the staff typically are asked to produce a
> print out of some relevant symbols. So they have to be
> makers not file users. The skill of simply typing out
> the symbols is (apparently) pretty simple compared to
> making a powerpoint slide or clicker grid. However
> this belief tends to lead to poorly symbolled
> materials- ie the training needs to include the symbol
> translation aspects - F12/F11/wordlists/language
> levels/student assessment levels and here it starts to
> get to a higher level again- this time knowledge of
> language & conceptual development rather than just ICT
> skills.
> David
> --- Sally Paveley <sallyp at advisory-unit.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> A few thoughts... I think it would depend on what
>> you wanted them to be able
>> to do - and what they were likely to use most -
>> after the training, 'use it
>> or lose it'! Word is a good starting point if it
>> will then be used for admin
>> etc., a working knowledge of WWS is helpful where
>> resources with symbols are
>> produced on a regular basis and if you have already
>> got PowerPoint resources
>> then it is important for people to know how to run
>> them (making your own can
>> come later).  Similarly if you use Clicker
>> frequently then a working
>> knowledge of Clicker is essential.  There is a
>> difference between knowing
>> how to set up (open files) and run a program so that
>> your students can make
>> the most of it and creating resources (files) for
>> the students to use.
>> Everybody should be able to do the former but not
>> everybody will have the
>> skills, time, creativity or even the need to do the
>> latter.  Many schools
>> have a small number of 'resource makers', finding
>> ways to encourage them to
>> share their work with others through shared drives
>> etc can be very useful.
>>
>> Sally
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "david fettes" <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk>
>> To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:21 PM
>> Subject: Re: [senit] auditing staff skills in
>> Clicker, WWS, Powerpoint
>>
>>
>> > hello, with regard to the earlier thread about
>> > auditing staff ICT skills and organising training
>> in
>> > these three programs... The clicker training
>> booklets
>> > helpfully divide training into intro and advanced.
>> > These are usually offered by trainers as day
>> courses
>> > so I suppose about 5 hours each. Considering the
>> intro
>> > level - I am wondering whether the group of staff
>> who
>> > are beginners in ICT- eg need help to open WWS (or
>> > word),type, save, and print would benefit from
>> Clicker
>> > training, and if they would , how many hours they
>> > would need to spend on it. Ie I assume that the
>> intro
>> > day course in clicker assumes a certain level of
>> basic
>> > ICT skills and a certain rate of learning. If
>> > considering a beginner group such as this would
>> you
>> > train them first in basic use of WWS, then basic
>> > powerpoint before attempting basic clicker?
>> > david
>> >
>> >
>> > --- david fettes <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>> >
>> >> the advanced level skills would not be taught to
>> >> people who had not used clciker for the earlier
>> >> level
>> >> skills. As you say it is a waste trying to teach
>> the
>> >> former in that case as the staff will forget/not
>> >> understand and not use them.
>> >> david
>> >> --- sally millar <sally.millar at ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > I would agree wholeheartedly with Richard.
>> >> > Often, school staff only want to learn and use
>> >> this
>> >> > kind of software if they can see the point of
>> it
>> >> for
>> >> > THEIR pupil(s). This leads to the challenging
>> >> > training situation of trying to get across (in
>> one
>> >> > afternoon!) what you call 'advanced level'
>> skills
>> >> > in, say PowerPoint, to people who've barely
>> used
>> >> any
>> >> > software ever before, let alone manipulated
>> >> > graphics, symbols, sounds and animation.......
>> >> and
>> >> > to come out with useable and personalized
>> >> materials
>> >> > at the end!
>> >> >
>> >> > I've found that the single most useful thing
>> you
>> >> can
>> >> > do before you start training on any software is
>> to
>> >> > go over how to make new folders and how to
>> rename
>> >> > and move around files and folders.
>> >> > Good Luck!
>> >> > Sally
>> >> > ******
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > >A  slightly different way of looking at
>> training
>> >> is
>> >> > to consider what you're staff need to use a
>> >> program
>> >> > in your particular circumstances.
>> >> > >What they want to achieve from its use, and
>> how
>> >> > best to enable them to do so.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >It does get you out of a rather mechanistic
>> list
>> >> of
>> >> > procedures or skills which really only relate
>> to
>> >> the
>> >> > internal operation of the program itself.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >It is difficult to list a hierarchy of skills
>> >> > unless you know the purpose for which it's
>> being
>> >> > used,
>> >> > >for example in my setting it is  important to
>> be
>> >> > able to add sounds and pictures to symbolic
>> >> > documents so these would be in the starting
>> skills
>> >> > list.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >So with PowerPoint I have been more successful
>> in
>> >> > training for a purpose (talking books/
>> >> > animation/music) rather than going through a
>> task
>> >> > analysis type checklist. I also find it rather
>> >> more
>> >> > exciting.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >There are also some common procedures that
>> need
>> >> to
>> >> > be familiar with operating the computer
>> (loading,
>> >> > saving, filling and finding things on your hard
>> >> disc
>> >> > and so on) that are operational and not program
>> >> > specific, yet are essential for working with
>> >> > computers.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >Widgit and Crick have both produced useful
>> >> training
>> >> > guides on their software that you could use.
>> >> > >
>> >> > >Richard Walter
>> >> > >Meldreth Manor School
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > -- 
>> >> >
>> >> > Sally Millar FRCSLT, M.Ed,
>> >> > Senior Research Fellow / Joint Coordinator
>> >> > CALL Centre
>> >> > University of Edinburgh           Direct Line
>> +44
>> >> > 131 651 6077
>> >> > Paterson's Land Office +44 131 651 6236
>> >> > Holyrood Road                Fax +44 131 651
>> 6234
>> >> > Edinburgh EH8 8AQ
>> >> > Scotland, UK
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Web: http://www.callcentrescotland.org.uk/
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
> ___________________________________________________________
>> >>
>> >> Now you can scan emails quickly with a reading
>> pane.
>>
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