There are lots of exciting ways for teachers to use ICT to enhance learning. Have a look at some examples of work. Our KS3 schemes of work have eLearning activities added to each lesson.

• Year 7 SOW overview
• Year 8 SOW overview
• Year 9 SOW overview - coming soon

Click on the following to find out more:

1. Animoto
2. Audacity
3. Adding narration
4. Youtube
5. Clip Bank

Animoto

My students are currently creating their own Animoto videos. Last year I paid around £30 for a subscription to Animoto. They now have a free schools version that allows all teachers and students to use Animoto. You can mix pictures and videos with a sound track of your choice. Simply upload them all and Animoto will create the mix

Audacity

Audacity is a free piece of software that allows you to create and edit sound files. Students can create podcasts, mixing their own recordings with music and sound effects.

Narration

Have you found out how easy it is to add narration to a PowerPoint presentation or MovieMaker file? Simply click Slide Show->Record Narration in PowerPoint or Tools->Narrate Timeline in MovieMaker. Students can communicate so much more in a shorter time. The combination of brief text and images with detailed explanation works really well to create an effective presentation.

Top tip! Find a Youtube video (e.g. of a Rite of Passage) and remove the audio (easily done using MovieMaker - Clip->Audio->Mute). Then ask students to narrate it, adding headings and text to show what's happening.

Youtube

It's easy to download and keep a video from Youtube. Install the free version of Realplayer, and hover over any Youtube video and a Download with Realplayer link will magically appear:

The latest version of Realplayer will convert files too - you need to convert Youtube videos to wmv for use in MovieMaker. Converting to MP3 is a way of getting an audio file from a video clip.

Clipbank

The BBC's excellent clip library contains thousands of searchable video clips, although these cannot be downloaded and used by students.