Brainstorm of the places where we use computers Essay

The main uses of ICT in Coopers is to educate pupils that attend also to help teachers keep track of their daily teachings. The uses of ICT like interactive boards and projectors have played an important part in the way education is being taught in ST Edward’s. These functions allows teachers to browse the Internet in front of the class and go on educational websites. Also to use the interactive board with a interactive pen to draw straight lines easier than a whiteboard. Systems like SIMS are very useful for teachers every day routine as it allows them to do features like see students timetables, personal details like address and home telephone number also their face identity. This is useful because this can be arranged so that a whole classes pictures are printed of in alphabetical order in order for a teacher to know there class pupils quicker by face by arranging the class in alphabetical order. The public school Coopers is allocated in Romford, Essex was formed over 300 years ago. It contains around 1200 pupils with six formers and over 100 teachers, which the school had to accommodate by building a new building alongside the old one. The head teacher of Coopers is Mr Drew. The school is very multicultural as it accepts students from the local borough as well as outside the borough, which makes the school very unique in its area of Havering. Also recently Coopers was one of the 19 schools in the whole of London to been given the top grade from OFSTED inspectors. The school dress code of Coopers’s pupils is to blue blazers with a badge showing a cross and doves also charcoal grey trousers. The tie has diagonal stripes of yellow, navy and light blue. Microsoft office plays a very important role in the education system at Coopers through programs like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Some of the uses that these programs enable are: Spreadsheet > Microsoft Excel: Use are being able to mail merge, spread sheet formulas Word Processing > Microsoft Word: This programs enables you to Do Fax template documents, Invoices and basics such as Letters Presentation Software > Microsoft PowerPoint: PowerPoint presentations allow students to present class to their class on an interactive board. Database > Microsoft Access: Mainly used throughout Cooper’s school for tracking student’s behaviour and for teaching throughout the schooling industry. Also by teachers into allowing them to organise their timetables and see where they have free periods or when a class needs a supply teacher as a teacher is away from school. Desktop Publishing (DTP) > MS Publisher, Photoshop, and Corel Draw: Generally used in school to edit and draw pictures. List of Hardware: (computer Specification) How ICT is used in subjects that are taught and used in school. CDT: This subject has specialised software on the ICT program like 2D Design, which enables students to draw different shapes and letters then have specially designed into a 2D key chain using a high tech machine. MFL: the subject MFL has software installed on the schools computer system, which allows teachers to access it through the interactive boards and teach students on their speech thought the board’s speakers. Also through the interactive pen, the teachers can ask students to come to the front and moves individual words to the right sentences. Security software: an administrator through logging on a computer can access The CCTV cameras. This allows the admin to control the movement of the cameras. Most classrooms in Coopers are locked with a specialized security system with only opens by inserting a card with a special chip build into it. The door will only open if it recognises the chip. Systems on different doors can be programmed to accept the chip. This will allow the user to open a number of doors throughout the school. The school technicians would install anti – virus software’s like Northern Art: The use of digital cameras and software allows users to edit photos and images. Also it can be used to evaluate pieces of work and how to make improvements. The benefits of using ICT in Art are that students can do animations and add special effects to pictures, which cannot be done by hand. Library: The heritage used to the check if the book you want hasn’t been taken out. Also the library uses ICT to controls what is borrowed and taken out in the library also students who have books that are overdue. I also found my school is using networking in 10 computer rooms; each room has a local network. All local networks are connected together with router and Gateway. After accessing to the network manager I found that the school network is using the star network. Preferably Maths: ICT is used in maths to do accurate pie chart and bar chart diagrams. Also spreadsheets and calculations in programs like MS excel. Finance Dept: This department uses ICT to deal with problems such as calculating staff salary and tax using spreadsheets and SAGE line 50 or Payroll software. Why the organisation uses ICT? Coopers Comprehensive uses ICT as it is very effective in helping to manage and organise the work of the school. Examples; The organisation uses word processing software such as Microsoft Word to design templates which they will use every time they want to send a letter to pupil’s homes. This is effective as this system will enable the organisation to save time not writing by hand the information that would be stored as a template. E.g. school address and logo Locations where ICT is used 1. Reception a. Photocopier b. Computer c. Lights d. Fax 2. Classrooms a. Lights system b. Computer c. Fan d. Projector e. 3. Staff room a. Computers b. Lighting system 4. Science Lab a. Computers b. Interactive board 5. Interactive board a. Sound system b. Internet browser c. Interactive board d. Video e. Projector 6. Library a. Heritage i. Resource library ii. Computer iii. Database 7. Six form sweet 8. D.T a. Computers 9. Technicians office a. Laptops b. Computers 10. Art room a. Computers 11. Music room a. Keyboards b. Interactive board c. Lights d. Sound system 12. Food room a. Digital camera (for taking pictures of food) b. Computer c. Pocket computer (keeps track of his daily routines) Roles 1. Teaching a. Worksheets b. Timetables c. Teachers planners d. Room changes e. On call system 2. French a. Interactive whiteboards 3. History a. Computer b. Interactive 4. Security a. CCTV (24 hours in motion a day.) b. School alarm c. Fire alarm 5. Internet a. School website b. Revision sites for learning 6. Mr Chapmen’s Office a. Letters home b. Reachout 7. Mr Drew’s office a. Photocopier 8. Homework 9. Maths a. Calculators b. Projectors c. Interactive board 10. SEN Dept 11. S.T.E.D.S a. Calculators 12. Mr Browns Office a. Timetables 13. SIMS (schools information management system) a. NOVA b. Timetables for students and teachers c. Cover d. Administration e. Pupil profiles f. Students behaviour Now I am going to highlight more details how the organisation is using ICT to meet the specific needs. Making lessons interactive: the school uses a smart interactive white board and computer system in every classroom to make lessons interactive. When the teacher is teaching he can write down everything on the whiteboard and using the special software SMART, writing can be saved and played back whenever necessary. Teachers can use many tools to make lessons interactive for example, drawing tools, setting the background colour, selecting font, importing diagrams, showing animation and effects and so on. To make the interactive board work the following hardware and software I identified > Projector > Computer with necessary software e.g. operating system Windows XP and applications software e.g. MS Word and hardware e.g. keyboard, mouse and > Driver program comes with interactive whiteboard > USB memory to transfer and save lessons. > Digital pen or stylus – using this device teachers can use software interactively without coming to the computer > Cable connection between whiteboard and computer The objective of the organisation is to educate students interactively within a short time. Using such interactive system the teacher can teach many things to each student e.g. printing handouts of what he taught at the end of the lesson, without writing he can show it again and again if the student doesn’t understand. Students don’t need to take all notes and can take soft copy of the lessons. When a student is absent he or she can take the soft copy to catch up. registering and maintaining student database creating school brochure templates designing writing letter to parents mail merge save time don’t make mistakes Issuing and receiving books in the school library Searching for books in the library: the school uses ICT in libraries so that books can be found easily and can also to record pupils taking books out and returning them easily without making mistakes and losing books. The benefits are: > Saves time just scanning books instead of writing it down manually every time a pupil wants to take a book out. > Pupils can easily search for books on a database instead of finding it on shelves > Overdue books can be worked out by the computer whereas you may forget when the pupil was due to bring back the book.