Some more excellent photos of the time spent in the Lost Gardens of Heligan with a group of Cornish teachers and children. These images were taken by Mary Neale of 'Photography and Design'.
Saturday 9 February 2008
Saturday 2 February 2008
Its all in the detail ...
Thanks for Lynn Hughes of WildKey for these notes:
WildKey – an interactive, image-driven branching database that enables the identification of various wildlife groups (minibeasts and garden birds were used at Heligan). The program also enables the recording of the data so that details such as who found the species and when and where it was discovered (including GPS position) can be logged. The data can be loaded to a desktop database and exported, for example, to spreadsheets or Google Earth
WildMap – a package though which teachers can create interactive maps on a desktop computer and download them to a handheld device. On arrival at the site, you appear on the handheld as a flashing circle on the map which follows you around as you explore. The maps can include interest points with photos, text, sounds, video, quizzes and survey forms. Handheld users can create their own multimedia interest points while out-and-about.
Lost Gardens of Heligan provided a map for the day and various interest points were added by the WildKey team. Participants were asked to visit the interest points and also to create their own personal interest points through the handheld interface. The data was uploaded during the afternoon and maps created which showed both the track that had been walked and the interest points viewed. The maps have been uploaded and can be accessed here.
Again geo-referenced data was exported to Google Earth and can be viewed here (link).
WildKey – an interactive, image-driven branching database that enables the identification of various wildlife groups (minibeasts and garden birds were used at Heligan). The program also enables the recording of the data so that details such as who found the species and when and where it was discovered (including GPS position) can be logged. The data can be loaded to a desktop database and exported, for example, to spreadsheets or Google Earth
WildMap – a package though which teachers can create interactive maps on a desktop computer and download them to a handheld device. On arrival at the site, you appear on the handheld as a flashing circle on the map which follows you around as you explore. The maps can include interest points with photos, text, sounds, video, quizzes and survey forms. Handheld users can create their own multimedia interest points while out-and-about.
Lost Gardens of Heligan provided a map for the day and various interest points were added by the WildKey team. Participants were asked to visit the interest points and also to create their own personal interest points through the handheld interface. The data was uploaded during the afternoon and maps created which showed both the track that had been walked and the interest points viewed. The maps have been uploaded and can be accessed here.
Again geo-referenced data was exported to Google Earth and can be viewed here (link).
Thursday 31 January 2008
Podcasting follow up
The weather cleared at Heligan and the teachers and children went out and about in the gardens making sound recordings of their findings on their hand held computers.
Then it was over to Newquay on the north Corwall coast to the 'Sands Resort' to download the data and make sense of it. This was to be the second part of a two day residential ICT inspirational session for this mix of primary and secondary teachers.
The WildKey team explained the software and data uploads and Doug Dickinson ( on behalf of Softease) explained the functionality of the Podium application which would be used for the podcasting of the sounds collected.
It was then up to the teachers to get down to the work of collating the data and making thier podcasts. It all went incredibly smoothly with the teachers being more than up to the challenge of working with software they had only just met for the first time.
By 4.30 PM I had podcast for all eight groups wrapped up and in my machine ready to publish to the server. The results of their efforts can be listened to here. If you wish to subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes (or similar) just paste this url into the subscribe section :
http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/~podiumtrial/Cornwallteac310108175120/rss.xml
Then it was over to Newquay on the north Corwall coast to the 'Sands Resort' to download the data and make sense of it. This was to be the second part of a two day residential ICT inspirational session for this mix of primary and secondary teachers.
The WildKey team explained the software and data uploads and Doug Dickinson ( on behalf of Softease) explained the functionality of the Podium application which would be used for the podcasting of the sounds collected.
It was then up to the teachers to get down to the work of collating the data and making thier podcasts. It all went incredibly smoothly with the teachers being more than up to the challenge of working with software they had only just met for the first time.
By 4.30 PM I had podcast for all eight groups wrapped up and in my machine ready to publish to the server. The results of their efforts can be listened to here. If you wish to subscribe to the podcasts in iTunes (or similar) just paste this url into the subscribe section :
http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/~podiumtrial/Cornwallteac310108175120/rss.xml
The Lost Gardens of Heligan
It rained to begin with but it soon cleared up and everyone, armed with their electronic devices, spread out into the garden searching for minbeaasts in the spots indicated on their maps. The detail of the findings was logged quickly and the ICt held up really well in the deluge.
Then it was back for a warm and a drink before out again into the wider area of the gardens with each group adding places of interest and attempting to use as many of the functions of the kit as possible ... data collection, photographs and recording sound.
Teachers were interested in the accuracy of the GPS system and the children were able coaches, having absorbed the technology like the songes we know them to be.
The Kit
The kit being used for the outdoor work are mainly 'Pidion Bluebird' hand held computers (the schools has just bought 100 of them for the Y5/Y6 children) there are 95 of them so there is a 1to1 ratio. Things move on !!
The 'hand helds' have GPS, camera, sound recording etc etc with wireless (as you would expect)
The Device Specification Is As Follows:
3.5" Crystal TFT Screen
Intel ARM AX520Mhz Processor
512MB ROM
256MB RAM
Bluetooth
IRDA
Wireless
USB Input, For Devices Such As USB Memory Stics, Keyboards etc. (Optional Adapter Needed)
GPS (Satellite Navigation)
1.3 Mega Pixel Camera With Still & Video Capture Facility
Built In Speaker & Microphone
Windows Mobile 5.0
www.rfl-it.co.uk
The beginning
This is the start of a really exciting day!
Teachers and children are arriving at Bisshop Bronescombe C of E Primary School and the kit is being sorted and charged for the visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan.
The session has been organised by Linda Prideaux, Primary ICT Adviser for Cornwall and with lots of help from Liz Dando, Silvia Travena (Secondary National Strategy Consultants). The main thrust is coming from WildKey(Steve Gayler, Lynn Hughes and Neil Bailey) and the whole event is being supported by Softease.
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