Accessing digitally rich content through Broadband

Brief description of the project

David Mason and Peter Fydler began discussions on how to make these resources available to schools, using broadband as the delivery channel. Just over a year later, ten regional broadband consortia representing 35,000 schools now have a national agreement with British Pathé that gives them access to a database of 3,500 high resolution newsreel items and over 2 million still images, covering most of the 20th century.

The opportunities for bringing history to life using Pathé material are numerous. For example, because the material is digitised, the film can be stopped anywhere and the pupils asked to describe what they think happens next. This can provoke discussion and increase pupils understanding of historic events. Another option is to turn the sound down, divide the class in half and ask each half to write a script from opposing points of view.

Pupils can also extract clips of footage and incorporate them into interactive presentations on topics such as the US involvement in the Vietnam War. This allows them to use the material to give an account of events in their own words, or create personalised video essays.

David Gordon, head teacher at the remote Peak Forest Church of England Primary School in Derbyshire, six miles from a town of any size, says the Pathé resources are a way of “switching on the big world” outside of school.

He further describes, “it is a first-hand history resource”, that enables pupils to see how places looked and what people were doing and wearing back in time. The excellent search engine makes using this resource very easy, allowing users to refine their searches and pinpoint precisely what they want to look at.

The South West Grid for Learning has come to a similar arrangement with a company that has developed a mapping package called InfoMapper. Following a pilot study, InfoMapper became available to all 16 education authorities in the South West Grid in November 2003.

Through InfoMapper, schools can gain access to Ordnance Survey maps and stunning aerial photography. In addition, users have the option of uploading resources and creating as many layers as they wish, enabling pupils and teachers to look at associated resources. They can zoom in to resources at any point on the map and see, for example, a building in a city, actual aerial photographs of that building, and then tap through a resource on a layer into relevant census material for that region.

Although InfoMapper has obvious uses in the geography classroom, its applications are far more wide-ranging. “The map is just the starting point,” explains Jeff Warlow of South West Grid for Learning “InfoMapper is a cross-curricular tool, with applications in the study of science, history, architecture and even music and art.”

In science, InfoMapper can be used to upload wildlife records and study the habits and habitats of animals such as moths and birds, and identify from the map their exact habitats. For English studies, say, InfoMapper can be used to explore the places mentioned in Jane Austen’s novels. The maps can also be a starting point for investigations into the music of different countries or to plot the studios of a particular group of artists, linking to their websites.

Sarah Todd, an Advanced Skills Teacher at Stanchester Community School in Somerset, is an enthusiastic user of InfoMapper. Her school uses the package to create virtual field trips for pupils who cannot attend the actual outing and to enhance the teaching of history through the use of “then and now” photographs.

A layer showing a NASA image of aerial photographs of “World Light” is available to show the surface of the earth at night, making obvious the places where street and house lighting are concentrated. This layer has been used as a starting point for discussions about energy consumption and socio-economic factors. Sarah has also been able to teach essential map-reading skills by using InfoMapper’s ability to split the screen into half-map and half-photograph.

Outcomes of the project

The existence of fast, reliable and stable broadband connections has allowed access to both British Pathé News and InfoMapper. Although it is still early days, already, this type of digitally rich content has helped increase enjoyment, motivation and interaction amongst teachers and learners alike. As broadband is further developed, it will increasingly bring lessons to life.