I’d rather go canoeing !

Today is launch day for Aberdeen Quest – an online presence for Aberdeen’s art collections. The new site was officially launched by Jane Franchie

“Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums (AAGM) is a collection of four buildings: the Art Gallery, Aberdeen Maritime Museum, the Tolbooth and Provost Skene’s House. Aberdeen Quest explores these venues and provides a window into the artworks and objects that make up the City collection”

P7 pupils from Gilcomstoun School were the first users of the site and were invited to take part in “Pushing the Big Red Button” by special guest Tracey Beaker from HMT. We took along an interactive whiteboard to let visitors have a “Hands on” experience of the activities on offer.

The IWB proved a hit with many adults using one for the first time.

Its all old hat for the kids of course.

Aberdeen Quest has a strong educational theme and already contains some interactive content. We will be following up today’s launch with assistance and advice for curricular use of the site.

Friday 18th May

Today I attended the CPD event at Aberdeen Conference Centre organised by Aberdeen City Council. This was my first real experience of a Curriculum for Excellence and I was keen to get some context for all the reading I had been doing. Dan McGinty’s keynote outlining his 4 contexts for learning got me thinking about how ICT can support the collaborative aspects of the new curriculum. There will be new opportunities for embedding ICT in whole school projects and in themes which cut across the curriculum such as literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing.

The mid morning workshop by Guy Merchant where he discussed the motivational aspects of new technologies such as blogs, wikis and photosharing was of particular interest. I mention motiviation because, when challenged, he was unable to point to any hard evidence of increased attainment but rather the the enthusiasm for learning which is generated. This seems to fit well with HMIEs intentions to focus on broader aspects of learning.