NI School Libraries of the Future Project Phase 2

School Libraries of the Future Project NI

Phase 2 of the Project

Phase Two May1995 - April 1996 funded by British Library Research and Development Department, the Department of Education and the five Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland and the National Council for Educational Technology

CONTENTS

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For further information about these pages, contact E Tinneny E-Mail tinneny@rmplc.co.uk

Introduction

During Phase 2, the schools in Northern Ireland were given ISDN access to the Internet by the service provider, Research Machines plc. The original machines supplied in phase 1 have had an extra hard disk supplied and a second computer is to be provided to each school during phase 2.

One major aspect of phase 2, is that schools have been asked to identify a focus group working on a particular area of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. This focus group will be monitored by external researchers from the National Foundation for Educational Research

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Aims of Phase 2

In phase 2 the aim is to test and gather evidence and to develop frameworks, models and materials to support teachers, librarians and support services in relation to :-

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Phase 2 Equipment

During Phase 2, a second 540MB internal hard disk, ISDN lines and faster external modems (28.8k) have been supplied to all project schools. A second computer has been purchased from Research Machines with the following specification:-

RM PC-590 TP SA1.0 32 Mb MPC2 comprising:-

Reuters
Reuters Business Briefing has been very well received by all the schools particularly since new software has been produced allowing access to pictures as well as text.

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Project Evaluation

Dr Susan Rodrigues, from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), has been appointed to act as external evaluator to the project by NCET. She is conducting an in-depth investigation of teaching and learning gains. The focus groups are being evaluated through a series of case studies. As well as classroom and group observation, interviews with teachers and librarians will be carried out.

In addition to visits by the external researcher, there will be on-going visits by Laura Plummer, Eibhlin Tinneny and NCET personnel who will monitor progress and gather additional evidence

In Phase 2, a more focussed approach to diary-keeping has been requested. All schools will be submitting a monthly report under key headings.

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Support and Training

A project training day was arranged for all Northern Ireland schools on 13/09/95.

This included a presentation on Flexible Learning by Eileen Donnelly and a demonstration of RM Internet for Learning by Tim Clark of Research Machines.


Technical support is now provided for the five project schools by Mrs Eibhlin Tinneny who has been seconded to the project on a part-time basis.

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Details about the Project Schools' Focus Groups

School: Armstrong Primary School

Year: Year 4
Age: 7 to 8 years of age
Ability Level: Average to good
Number of Pupils: 8
Subject Area: Living Things, Minibeasts and Dinosaurs

School: St Peter's Primary School

Year: Year 6
Age: 9 to 10 years of age
Ability Level: All 2 years behind chronological age of reading
Number of Pupils: 5
Subject Area: Science or Geography

School: St Cecilia's High School

Year: Year 8
Age: 11 to 12 years of age
Ability Level: Top Secondary
Number of Pupils: Whole Class
Subject Area: English, Library

School: Coleraine Girls' Secondary School

Year: Year 8
Age: 11 to 12 years of age
Ability Level: Middle Ability
Number of Pupils: 22
Subject Area: English and Art

School: Friends' School Lisburn

Year: Year 9
Age: 12 to 13 years of age
Ability Level: High Ability
Number of Pupils: Full Class
Subject Area: Geography

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