VITAL work coming to an end...

After 18 months working to manage the Geography portal for VITAL: the Open University's CPD service for teachers, I have another week left in that particular employment.
I am very grateful for the opportunity that this has given me to have a little financial security at a time when my job was made redundant, and also to support teachers by creating a range of resources, and also running a series of teachshares: virtual meetings. I am grateful also to all those who 'attended' these meetings, but also who joined me on the night as guest speakers, including David Riley of Triptico fame, Jamie Buchanan Dunlop, Richard Allaway and Paul Cornish...

This interview of Peter Twining by Bob Harrison also makes interesting reading about the impact of VITAL, and the legacy of the scheme. VITAL includes a range of strands, and it's worth finding out about them, and how they might be able to help you. I was also added to a list of IPD Partnership consultants for the East of England.

Later next week, my work for VITAL will finish, and the portals will then be transferred to JISC advance, who will take on the work of the portals. A reminder that these are free of charge, and all you need to do is register to access the resources.

VITAL CPD Teachshare on Apps

I shall be hosting another VITAL CPD Teachshare on Thursday this week....

Spread a little 'appiness is the name of the session, which starts at 7pm. It will look at the use of apps in the classroom and beyond. A lot of teachers are making use of these apps in teaching, and also on fieldwork. There are hundreds of thousands of apps, and the chance to get some free software which performs a particular task well is one that a lot of teachers are taking.

There's also the chance to connect with learners using AirPlay mirroring - indeed many teachers are using an iPad instead of an IWB... The cost is a lot less of course and the result is something more adaptable... and you can play Angry Birds on it...

Remember that I have also mentioned previously my experiences at the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning event at Preston Montford Field Centre.

Don't forget that there are hundreds of resources, tips, videos and blogs over on my VITAL Geography portal. Thousands of teachers are already enjoying the benefits of subscription to the portals. Head over there now to find all the details you need on how to subscribe to the portals now (and continuing into 2013)

Image: John Sayers

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.

Join me at 7pm tonight...

...for the last TEACHSHARE of this academic year...
On the VITAL Geography PORTAL....

Geography Debrief

View more presentations from GeoBlogs.

End of year debrief...

Don't forget to join me at 7pm tomorrow night for a VITAL CPD Teachshare to look back on the academic year, and ahead to the next one....

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 Teachshare with Richard Allaway

I'm grateful to Richard Allaway, creator of Geography all the Way for joining my VITAL CPD Teachshare last night.

Vital Teachshare 29th May

View more presentations from GeoBlogs.

There were two main websites referred to:

Richard's site: Geography all the Way
The blog post that Richard referred to while we were talking.

Thanks to Richard, you can get a free 48 hour trial of the site (from the morning of the 29th of May onwards) by entering the username: vital and the password: vital when prompted. Enough for you to see what good value the site is.

Finally, click this link to watch a repeat of the session, which lasted about 40 minutes.


I shall let you know when the next Teachshares are being held...

VITAL CPD Portal

Just added the 101st TOP TIP to the VITAL Geography Portal that I manage.

Individual subscriptions are just £10 for the year...

Details about the Portal are here.

Details of the latest SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS for schools are here...

I also added the letters 'H' and 'I' to the Word of the Week column.

If you were choosing geographical terms to represent the letters 'J', 'K' and 'L' what would you choose - each word needs an image that you have taken to represent it too....


Quite a few ideas in the book started out life on the OU VITAL CPD portal... It's a good place to communicate ideas....


Watch out for an online Teachshare which will feature the book coming soon...

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...

Word of the Week

Word of the Week is just one of the features of the VITAL Geography Portal which I manage.
You can check it out and subscribe for just £10....

Here are the entries so far (A-G), some of which will shortly be archived...
The locations are the locations of images of each feature which appear on the portal page.

Gryke - the name for the gap between the blocks (clints) on a limestone pavement
Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales
Fen - a tract of low-lying, marshy land, often drained by humans. Especially refers to the region around the Wash in Eastern England, with areas of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire

The Cambridgeshire Fens
Erg - In the Sahara, that part of the desert whose surface is covered in sand (as opposed to the Hammada or rocky uplands, which have been swept clear of sand by the wind
Erg Chebbi, Morocco
Dirt  cone - a conical accumulation of detritus on a glacier surface - may be up to 2m in height and is often ice cored
^{Solheimajokull Glacier, Iceland - the black ash is from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption}
Crepuscular rays: Rays of sunlight which shine through breaks in heavy cloud, also sometimes called Jacob's ladder and often seen at dawn or dusk

^{Lincolnshire Fens}

Beach cusp: an accumulation of shingle on a beach which leads to regular scallop shaped indentations at the front of the beach.

^{Runswick Bay, East Yorkshire}

Arete: from the French - a sharp mountain ridge, often formed by the erosion of two adjoining corrie glaciers. A peak with three aretes radiating from its summit is called a pyramidal peak or horn (the Matterhorn is one of the best examples)

^{Coir' a' Ghrunnda, Isle of Skye.}

^{What would you have as your geographical  WORDS OF THE WEEK for the remaining letters of the alphabet ?}

^{A chance for you to get your favourite geography phrase in there - if you have a picture that I could use then so much the better :)}

Also, watch out for some new Teachshares coming soon for discussing some of the key themes of geography education as we enter the Summer term...

VITAL Triptico Teachshare

Don't forget that 7pm on Thursday the 19th is the date of my VITAL Teachshare with David Riley: the creator of Triptico. A teachshare is an online session. Log in and you will be able to see and hear (and contribute to) the session.
Follow the link above to join in on the day...

If you are going to join us David suggests that you have downloaded the TRIPTICO tool in advance, and perhaps had a quick look at what it has to offer. You will find that it downloads along with Adobe Air...

SOLO Taxonomy

Thanks to John Sayers for volunteering to join me to present a VITAL CPD Teachshare on the 9th of February at 7pm.
It's on the use of: SOLO, which stands for Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes.
It really asks students to place their understanding of work on a scale of 1-5, depending on their ability to make sense of connections. It's a useful technique for discussing progression.

So, although I'll be talking SOLO, I won't be on my own....

A reminder that you can still subscribe to the VITAL CPD GEOGRAPHY portal for a very low price - if you go to the pub tonight and buy a pint and a packet of pork scratchings it'll probably cost you more than a subscription would.... although admittedly they'll taste better....

VITAL Geography Teachshares

Check over at Living Geography for the details on my Teachshares for this term and listen to the replay.

Sign up for the Geography portal.

Join me on the 13th for one on revision, and follow my new Twitter feed @VitalGeography

VItal Teachshare: Google Earth Placemarks

My next VITAL Teachshare will be on Wednesday the 16th of November (that's tomorrow if you're reading this today) at 7pm.
It's on ways of customising Google Earth Placemarks...

Click THIS LINK just before 7 to join me. You'll need to allow the download of the plug-in to handle the Elluminate session, which will then allow you to see and hear me, and to take part.

Don't forget to check the KEYHOLE BULLETIN BOARD to get the full range of layers and files shared by  Google Earth users. Use the SEARCH function to unearth the goodness....

This will be my little contribution to WORLD GIS DAY, which is taking place tomorrow, as part of GEOGRAPHY AWARENESS WEEK.

What are you doing for World GIS Day ? 
Why not add a touch of GIS to your teaching tomorrow...

Teachshare 3: Writing on the Map

The VITAL Teachshares are part of the VITAL Geography Portal which I am managing for the next few months.
The third of my Teachshare sessions is going to take place at 7pm on Tuesday the 8th of November.
Follow this link to access the room. You can sign in a few minutes before the session starts as there are a few bits of software that needs to be prepared before you can get access to the Elluminate session.
Also check the link to the PORTAL and sign up for a free 30 day trial, or pay five quid to access up to 3 subject-specific portals.

The session will look at ideas for literacy in Geography, and be a warm-up gig for Friday, when I will be doing a longer session at Earlston High School in the Scottish Borders for teachers from the region.

Writing the Earth is an area with great potential - there are plenty of cool tools to use....

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 !