New VITAL portals

Work has been going on over the summer to provide a new 'look' for the VITAL Subject-specific portals, ready for the new academic year.
They have now been launched, and a whole new tranche of content will be added to the VITAL Geography portal over the next few weeks. There is a new interface, twitter feeds, app recommendations, and more multimedia content..

Don't forget that I manage the Geography portal, so you can find the same sort of useful guidance that you get here on LivingGeography, but specially selected for its CPD value.

A reminder that special subscription rates are in place for schools subscribing to a range of portals for staff use.

Geography Debrief on the VITAL Geography Portal

Repeat posting as the date approaches...

A VITAL Teachshare is scheduled to take place on Tuesday the 17th of July.
It's called a GEOGRAPHY DEBRIEF.


Come along and take a look back at the year that has just been. I will be sharing some of the work that I've been doing since September, when I started the current freelance portfolio stage of my geographical career.
It's a chance to share success stories and highlights, and perhaps look ahead to the New academic year, and share plans for the summer.

Remember that you can subscribe to the OU Vital Geography Portal and other subject portals for a low price and get access to a range of materials and opportunities.

Click the link to get more information about the event, and to join it on the day...

VITAL Portal Offers....

As regular readers will know, I have been managing the OU's VITAL CPD portal since October 2011, and am due to carry on through until 2013.
You can access an individual portal for just £10, which gives access to all the content, and associated support.

A SPECIAL OFFER is now available, aimed at schools rather than individuals / departments.

The more portals that are subscribed to, the bigger the saving...

At a time when CPD budgets are under pressure, this is a good way of keeping up to date in a wide range of curriculum subjects...

Your school can save a lot of money with bulk subscriptions. Why not pass details of this to your SLT or person in charge of staff development...

I'm excited to be starting a new part-time post working for the Open University's VITAL CPD programme next week. A series of subject specific portals have started to open, and next week sees the launch of the Geography Portal, which I shall be managing.

As part of the launch, I shall be leading a Teachshare next Wednesday at 7pm (there will be 2 of these each month, sometimes more)

The subject will be FREE GIS FOR THE GEOGRAPHY CLASSROOM and I will show 3 websites which can be used to carry out GIS type work in the geography department.

This will be held via the Elluminate service. The link to join the event is HERE.
It's a little like a FLASH meeting or ADOBE connect, for those who are familiar with those.

The cost of accessing up to 3 of the subject-specific portals between now and the end of March 2012 is just five pounds, which has to be a bargain considering the geography-specific support that the portal will offer....

I shall be doing the following each month:
- holding at least 2 Teachshare meetings
- posting Top Tips for Geography teachers, which will include resources and other tip-offs
- a moderated Geography forum, where you can join in discussions on pedagogy and curriculum topics
- producing 4 x 10 minute video guides to a particular website or technique that would be useful in the geography classroom
- keeping up to date with the geography news

There will also be other Geography features added over time...

Hope to see you there next week !