The background
JCS offers school libraries the opportunity to provide students and teachers with 24×7 online access to over 20 online resources which have been selected to support teaching and learning across the curriculum from Key Stage 1 to A level and the International Baccalaureate. Through direct negotiation with publishers on behalf of all UK schools JCS has negotiated excellent prices and terms of use. Discounts are available to individual schools but additional savings of up to 80% are available to schools participating in buying groups.
Schools Library Services and local authorities are taking an active role in coordinating buying groups in many areas in order to achieve the highest possible discount. In addition, an increasing number of schools in informal local or regional networks are working together to secure the best possible pricing.
The day
• Why are online libraries important? Joyce Martin, JCS Director, will talk about why librarians across the UK are developing online libraries, and how they are helping to support the educational objectives of their schools.
• How can online resources support teaching and learning? The day will include demonstrations of resources from several publishers, plus an opportunity to try out the resources in the school’s well-equipped Media Centre.
• What’s involved in developing a JCS buying consortium and what can be achieved? Paul Vočka-Kelly, JCS Subscriptions Manager, will discuss the benefits of collaboration.
Booking arrangements
• There is no charge for attendance, and lunch is included sponsored by the Guardian and Observer Digital Archive.
• Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment.
• To book a place, please email your full contact details and any special dietary requirements to Sally Pelling-Deeves at info@jisccollectionsforschools.org.uk.
Deadline 1 December.
Find out more about JISC Collections for Schools at www.jcs.nen.gov.uk

Online events reduce the need to travel and can be an opportunity to feature speakers who wouldn’t otherwise be able to attend. An online event, with its potential to save resources, seemed an ideal platform for the most recent  in the JISC RSC YH Excellence in Infrastructure series. The ‘Green IT’ event was run using Elluminate online conferencing, featuring presenters from Loughborough, Scunthorpe and Leeds.

Gordon Millner (presenting from home!) and representing our sister JISC East Midlands office, opened by asking ‘Where do you Start?’ Gordon considered the organisational approach to Green IT vs. a personal, localised approach. He felt that, while both are important, personal efforts ultimately make the most difference and bring pressure on others to make changes. Organisational awareness can be high, but action can lag due to conflicting priorities.
Effective communication is important to the ‘green IT’ message at organisational and personal levels. Organisations should consider how accessible their communications are. In order to gain a captive audience, one learning provider has moved notices to corridors where students wait for lessons.

Craig Douglas from John Leggot College in Scunthorpe presented a ‘techie’ view, highlighting the ways virtualisation and remote desktop technologies can save energy by making better use of central resources and infrastructure. Craig talked about how using the network for phones, CCTV and building management could make real cost savings and improvements in efficiency.

Feedback was positive with delegates asking for more online events.

Ken Scott, our event lead, made the following comments on the online event format:

• online events take as long to plan and organise as a face to face meeting
• a different etiquette applies and delegates need to be aware of how to ask questions, for example
• have a back up plan in case of technical problems – record presentations in advance which can be screened if a presenter is unable to connect
• two members of the event team need to monitor time, questions and technical issues throughout

The event was enjoyable and informative and we hope it saved more energy than it consumed!

You can find out about future JISC RSC YH events by subscribing to our e-bulletin. Email: support@rsc-yh.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter: @JISC_RSC_YH

CIOs and IT Directors in Yorkshire and Humber with large IT departments who participate in the Digital 20/20 Yorkshire IT Leaders Group confirm the difficulty in recruiting young people with the right skills.

There is a widespread view and one that Digital 20/20 has supported that the problem is caused by the way that ICT is taught in schools – in particular the ICT curriculum and associated qualifications.

Now The Royal Society is conducting an inquiry on computing in schools and asking the following questions:

1. Is computing a discipline, in the same way that mathematics, physics, chemistry are?
2. Is programming a fundamental form of literacy for the modern age?
3. What purpose should the teaching of ICT and Computing in schools serve?
4. Is the teaching of ICT (and accompanying qualifications, such as ICT GCSE) fit for purpose for all students? What should be done to address this?
5. Is computing and ICT best ‘taught’ in classrooms or ‘learnt’ by other means? How do learners learn computing and ICT skills?
6. What motivates students to study computing? Is it what they learn in school or something else?
7. How is computing presented at school, and is there a variation between schools? Why?
8. Who is teaching computing, and what qualifications do they hold? Are teachers sufficiently supported with subject-specific CPD? Are there enough specialist teachers? Why do they leave/join the profession? What are the barriers to improving the situation?
9. Why do some universities prefer their undergraduate applicants to have studied mathematics rather than computing at A-level?
10. What are the perceptions of computing and ICT amongst learners, teachers and headteachers? How can information, advice and guidance be improved?
11. Are these issues unique to the UK?
12. What can universities do to improve the situation?
13. Is there a case for curriculum reform? Is this the barrier?
14. Is there a need for an increased recognition of ICT and computing as part of the T in STEM, through representation in STEM forums and increased funding
15. What happens if we do nothing?

The Royal Society is particularly keen to have robust evidence to include in the final report, as well as ideas and suggestions.

Digital 20/20 is intending to submit a response to this public consultation.

The webpage with details of the inquiry can be found at: http://royalsociety.org/Education-Policy/Projects/

Deadlines for submission are by 5th November.

We’re now looking at how the project can be sustained after the EU funding runs out. It is already a cheap scheme to run, with huge benefits for Local authorities, since it can lead to cheaper bureaucracy (online services are much cheaper than face-to-face). Commercial businesses are more likely to move to areas where the population is digitally literate – both for an employable workforce and a customer base that is happy to buy online. Healthcare is another service that can make huge savings when people use the internet, as illustrated here: http://bit.ly/958Ovd

The survey results are now in and you can read all about them on the Geek Girls Allowed blog. I didn’t get round to replying to the survey (for shame!) but I was glad to see that those who did take the time to respond had similar views to me. Question 6 asked “Which of the following things really interests you?” and the responses (albeit based on a small sample size) reveal what makes Girl Geeks in Sheffield tick so I thought it would be worth sharing those responses below:

What interests Sheffield Girl Geeks

This could be a good list to use for ideas if you’re thinking of organising a Girl Geek type event in your local area or even within a classroom.

There is good news for those who indicated a keen interest in craft, arduino technology and electronics because the next Geek Girls Allowed event has just been announced and they are in for a treat because it’s a whole day of working with LED technology and craft. The workshop is taking place on Saturday 23rd October in Sheffield and for £10 all the items you need to create your own ‘electronic craft masterpiece’ will be provided. For full details and to book onto the event please go to the Geek Girls Allowed ‘LED Craft Hulapalooza’ event page.

It’s also a great opportunity to use young unemployed – NEETs or near NEETs – as trainers for IT novices. The benefit for the volunteer is that they will gain experience of working with others which will help them when they apply for paid work. There are qualifications available to the volunteers and they will realise that they have skills that are highly valued by other people in the community, which should boost their self-esteem.
Find out more here: http://www.makingitpersonal.eu/

The event featured two speakers: Silvia Novak from published Faber & Faber and Rain Ashford from the BBC.  Silvia described how F&F is using social media to engage directly with its audiences, while Rain shared her passion for Lilypad Arduino. Attendees also took part in an interactive artwork by Barnsley artist Jo Pearson, which combined the ancient system of iChing with QR codes and mobile technology.

More detail on the event can be found on the Geek Girls Allowed blog: http://geekgirlsallowed.thegisthub.net/2010/09/

In association with Creative Sheffield and as part of the Sheffield Business Festival, “@BLYorks” includes presentations by games entrepreneur Ian Livingstone OBE (Sept 20 at Electric Works) and music legend Mark Jones (Sept 29 at The Showroom). You can find more details and book a place by using the events search on the Business Link website and searching for Be Inspired events in South Yorkshire. Alternatively, call Business Link on 08456 048048.

Also in September (8th-11th), Creative Sheffield is hosting the MADE Festival, which includes TEDx and a 48 hour boot-camp for entrepreneurs. It looks like September will be a busy month for digital businesses.

Some 200 trainers are expected to attend the event, which will include various session tracks, including keynotes, IT Pro, developer, Microsoft Office and information worker, BI, SQL, security, IT Academy/MOAC, soft skills and more.

For full programme details and registration, go to www.mctsummit.eu .

• Bradford
• Doncaster
• Huddersfield
• Leeds
• North East Lincolnshire (Grimsby)
• North West Sheffield (High Green)
• Rotherham
• Sheffield Central
• York

Social Media Surgeries are relatively informal events where people with some knowledge of how to use social media as a communication tool pass some of their knowledge on to people working in voluntary and community organisations, arts charities and very small businesses. The first Social Media Surgeries were started by Nick Booth of Podnosh.com in Birmingham, and Digital 20/20 has taken his model and applied it around the region.  A team of volunteers was already in place planning the first Yorkshire & Humber Social Media Surgery in Huddersfield in November 2009, when Digital 20/20 launched the first Leeds Surgery a few days later. Surgeries in York, Sheffield Central, North East Lincolnshire, North West Sheffield, Bradford and Rotherham all followed on, and the latest addition to the stable is Doncaster, launching on the 28^th July 2010.

The basic tenet of a Social Media Surgery is that volunteer advisors (who have become known as “Surgeons”) sit down over a cup of tea and a laptop with someone who wants to learn more about how to use social media to engage with their audiences, recruit more volunteers, or report on their events. It is important that “Surgeons” do not see this as an opportunity to demonstrate their technical knowledge, but that their first step is to listen to what the “Patient” is trying to achieve, work out how comfortable they are with social media, and work with them to find an appropriate tool to help them get to their goals. As the Surgeries have built their track record, word of mouth has brought new customers through the door, attendance has grown at all the Surgeries, and evidence has emerged that they are having a real impact on community capacity. Many new people and organisations have been assisted to become active on Twitter, to set up new blogs, or to manage their Facebook group effectively.  And the approach at Surgeries is that people learn something new, go away and practise it, and often return to a future event to get feedback on what they have done and assistance in moving to the next stage. Another key part of the Social Media Surgeries strategy is that those who attend are encouraged to pass on what they learn to those they work with in local communities.

All but one of the Yorkshire & Humber Social Media Surgeries to date has been held in central locations in major population centres. The North West Sheffield Surgery is an exception to this rule, the one event so far taking place at Paces Campus in High Green, and drawing people in from a range of very local organisations. In the long term, the plan is to attempt to get all the central Surgeries to spin off neighbourhood events, but this may only happen effectively when people who have come to the central Surgeries as “Patients” feel comfortable enough in their use of social media to act as “Surgeons” in their own local events. There is evidence from Birmingham, which has been doing this for longer, that this is indeed starting to happen there.

In the era of the new Government’s Big Society policy, the growth of Social Media Surgeries, in Yorkshire & the Humber and elsewhere, is doubly important. It both shows how volunteer effort can be mobilised to help with skills and capacity development in the voluntary and community sectors, and it demonstrates how the reach and profile of such organisations can be improved using social media at a time of scarce resources.