Published on:
22
September 2008
Alva Academy is launching an initiative to support homework and out-of-school-hours learning using internet video.
An open evening will be held on Tuesday 23rd September at 7pm in Alva Academy to officially
launch the project to parents, pupils and the wider community. It is an open invitation to
anyone with an interest in supporting pupils' learning.
Teachers from selected subjects are recording digital videos, recapping key points from lessons and demonstrating how to complete homework tasks. These videos are then posted on the school's website. Pupils can then access them from home and have their very own 'virtual teacher' to help them complete homework tasks.
Stuart Clyde, Depute Headteacher is leading the initiative; he believes pupils will engage
with this support mechanism as it makes use of the technology that is already popular
with them. Children learn well when they have the best practice demonstrated to them;
these videos do just that. Alva Academy hopes to further engage parents in their
children's learning as the videos can act as a refresher-course for parents too, enabling
them to help their children with homework.
Departments taking part in the initiative pilot are Music: demonstrating the perfect
playing of pieces, Maths: exemplifying the correct method of solving maths problems,
Technical: demonstrating practical elements of the course and Religious Moral and
Philosophical Studies: explaining homework tasks. Home Economics are recording mp3
podcasts of revision notes allowing pupils to revise with their mp3 players or mobile
phones.
Pupils that do not have access to the internet at home can still use these facilities from
the school's machines or the public library.The project will be evaluated at the end of
the session with a view to rolling it out to more departments.
For more details and to see a preview of these support videos visit
www.alvaacademy.clacks.sch.uk