News

• Paul Foster, Microsoft’s Platform Evangelist
• Steve Jones , SSAT
• Jan Stapleton, The Faraday Institution

• Third:             Diabetes by the Challney High School for Boys
• Second:        Fireworks by the Coseley School
• First:              Muscle Fibres by the Woodroffe School

• Third:             Green Power Racing by the Philip  Morant School           
• Second:         Ideas of the Future  by the Thomas Hardye School
• First:               Zero Wheel Drive by the Thomas Hardye School

• First:               Suspension Bridges by the Thomas Hardye School    

• Second          Easy Quadratics by the Thomas Hardye School
• First:               More Pythagoras by the Hawthorn High School, Wales

• Third:              Learning To Learn by the Challney High School for Boys
• Second:         You win some… by the Crofton School
• First:               Electricity from Wind by the John Kelly Girls Technology College

Entries for the 'Capture It' competition have now been closed and selections based on number of views, number of votes and content have helped us to arrive at a shortlist to forward to our judges. There were approximately 60 entries, some of which have had to be excluded from the judging process as their length was excessive or they contained material that infringed copyright we have not been able to publish them on the FFL website.

Our independent panel of judges have received the shortlist and we will announce the winners at the SSAT Science Conference in Birmingham on the 1st of July. 

Our Judges will be looking for ‘outstanding work from contributors in many areas that could include cinematography, direction, innovation, creativity and originality. They will be looking to see whether the film content is well structured and holds the viewer’s interest; whether it uses techniques and features such as use of language or animation in a relevant way; whether the film is technically proficient and well edited, makes good use of styles and conventions; and is age/audience appropriate.’

Have you got a film just waiting to be uploaded? Would you like a funky new memory stick and want to be the envy of your colleagues and friends? We will send to you absolutely free a 1 Gigabyte memory stick just for uploading your own educational film. This is a limited offer and applies to the first fifty (50) films uploaded...

To qualify you need to submit your film and then e-mail your name, address and uploaded film title to info@filmsforlearning.org to stake your claim. Only one stick per person subject to the first fifty uploads...

There are four weeks left to get your films uploaded for the ‘Capture it' Competition.

We challenge you to capture the 'Big Ideas' in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
This film makers competition for schools was launched by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, FFL and ester Microsoft.

You can win school and individual prizes by creating and uploading your own film that addresses one of the Big Ideas in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Your film should be no more than 3 minutes in duration with a minimum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. You can upload your film as a wmv, mov or mp4 file with a file size no larger than 150 Mb.

Here is a list for inspiration. Feel free to choose one of these or generate your own big idea.

Cells, Energy, Forces, Interdependence, Water, Climate change, Sustainability, Electricity, Light, Stem cells, Cloning, Genetically Modified Foods, Nanotechnology, Genetics, Sustainable transport Systems, Time travel, Global Warming, Rising Sea Levels, Cern Particle Generator, Robotics, Bio Diversity, Other Intelligent Life, Planets, Buildings/Mega Structures.

Capture It! is a film competition for schools affiliated with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). The deadline for entries is June 13th, 2008 and winners will be announced at the SSAT's Annual Science Conference on July 1st, 2008. Prizes including web cams, digital video recorders and copies of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate are on offer to both schools and students. Please read more about the Competition and it's Terms & Conditions.

You can also view the Competition's promotional film here

On Tuesday 6^th May Mark Richardson represented FFL at Microsoft's UK Innovation Day. It was attended by policymakers  and politicians from all parties, researchers and public servants, business- from media to trade to manufacturing. 

The aim of UK Innovation Day was to bring all these people together to showcase innovation and identify future action for the UK to remain a world wide innovation leader. It is Microsoft's belief that technology is the key enabler of innovation

Speakers included, Baroness Morgan, Dr Andrew Herbert , James Crabtree, Prof Stephen Heppell, Alex MacGillivray of Accountability and Mark Taylor from Microsoft. Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and Jean-Philippe Coutois President of Microsoft International.

To find out more about the day click HERE

Why not Celebrate Science and Engineering Week by making a film and uploading it to the FFL Theatre so the world can see your work or your schools work... you could enter it for our own ‘Capture it'  film competition!

If you are struggling for ideas look no further than the B.A.'s own website  (British Association for the Advancement of Science)

and use some of the ‘Big Questions' as your inspiration. The BA will get their team of top scientists to answer ‘Big Science' questions for you, this could lead to the production of a great film featuring Big Answers!

An animation about the ethics of animal testing.

We challenge you to capture the 'Big Ideas' in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM).
This new film makers competition for schools was launched by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, FFL and Microsoft in Manchester at the SSAT Technology Conference.

You can win school and individual prizes by creating and uploading your own film that addresses one of the Big Ideas in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). Your film should be no more than 3 minutes in duration with a minimum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. You can upload your film as a wmv, mov or mp4 file with a file size no larger than 150 Mb.

Here is a list for inspiration. Feel free to choose one of these or generate your own big idea.

Cells, Energy, Forces, Interdependence, Water, Climate change, Sustainability, Electricity, Light, Stem cells, Cloning, Genetically Modified Foods, Nanotechnology, Genetics, Sustainable transport Systems, Time travel, Global Warming, Rising Sea Levels, Cern Particle Generator, Robotics, Bio Diversity, Other Intelligent Life, Planets, Buildings/Mega Structures.

Capture It! is a film competition for schools affiliated with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). The deadline for entries is June 13th, 2008 and winners will be announced at the SSAT's Annual Science Conference on July 1st, 2008. Prizes including web cams, digital video recorders and copies of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate are on offer to both schools and students. Please read more about the Competition and it's Terms & Conditions.

 You can also view the Competition's promotional film here

Last week Microsoft with Films for Learning sponsored the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Technology Conference at Manchester University. Mark Richardson and Peter Roe from Films for Learning were joined by Paul Foster and Ginger Hernandez from Microsoft.  We met over 100 teachers from Technology Colleges from across the country, they all gave Films for Learning a big thumbs up!

Delegates at the Technology Conference were able to see a rolling demonstration of the films on the site and have the opportunity for a guided introduction. FFL also launched their first national film competition in collaboration with the SSAT and Microsoft. Details of the ‘Capture It' competition can be found in the ‘Capture it news story', or you can watch the ‘Capture it film' or go straight to the ‘Capture it' page and deliver your first competition entry.

At the end of the first day of the conference we held a draw for Sony digital video cameras which Microsoft donated. The Camera was won by Claire Wood who teaches Food Technology at Swanwick Hall, School Derbyshire.

We will be eagerly waiting to see Swanwick School's first film uploaded on the FFL site! (No pressure there then!!!)

The first half term of the New Year has just ended... Short and intense! A busy time for everyone in education and particularly for Films for Learning. When I started this blog I had high hopes of being able to conribute my thoughts on a daily basis but that just dosen't happen because of the needs of alll the different things that need doing. In these forums alone you have to keep a check on the posts for moderation purposes, respond to enquiries or questions and give advice to those who need it. Add in films approval, moderation and uploading of our archives from the old site plus all the promotion activities on behalf of FfL and holding down your normal job and you have a recipe for long hours and working weekends!

I guess that I should feel more tired than usual but its a given fact that some activities give you energy. FfL certainly does that, its inspiring, energising and fun. When I look back at the last six weeks I can take a pride in everything that Mark and I have undertaken. There is an incredible feeling of satisfaction and achievment at seeing the Theatre and Community in its current form with a film count heading in the direction of my predicted target.

Target? What's that all about then? Well when we were at the BETT show in January I talked to many people in education, both educators and technologists and at that time the site had been live for 24-48 hours and we had uploaded just 12 films. I predicted on a number of occasions that we could be approaching 200 films by March and 2000 films by the time of the BETT show in 2009. I still think we will make that 200 number by the end of March and hopefully with some of the promotion activities that we are undertaking we could make that 2000 by January 2009.

Okay, I have to admit that I am a 'glass half full' kind of person but I am going to say it right here... We will achieve 2,009 films by BETT 2009! Thats how much I believe in this project and what we are doing. The model of films for learning works, we know that. Also out there there are numerous educators and film makers making films in isolation. What we have here is a worldwide platform for their work. It's free, it's moderated and it's 'safe'. What we need to do is reach those film makers and educators and show them just how easy this is.

If you follow the model for a staff film making workshop as posted by Mark Richardson you can see it is easy to make a film 'in camera' without major editing. Lets go another step... Video Cameras in Telephones... I have one, a Nokia N95 which offers a full 24 frames a second and a resolution of 640 x  480. Surely it is possible to harness this technology to make an 'in camera' film... Let's all have a go. I am going to be making and posting one before 7 days have elapsed from the date on this blog post. In fact for the first 3 people that post a Film for Learning shot exclusively on a mobile phone we will buy you a 4Gb Memory Card for your device. The conditions are... 1.) It has to educate... 2.) Errmmm, I am the Judge... 3.) There is no 3!

So go on, surprise me... Show us what you can do!

Footnote: Here are two films made, edited and uploaded in less than one hour using a Nokia N95 and Windows Moviemaker on Windows Vista. Both films were made within 24 hours of this blog post. No decent video camera on your mobi?  Film 1 - How to set up a video camera.  Film 2 - Using a Tripod.

The Films for Learning website is set to go global with the backing of IT giant Microsoft. Design and technology teacher Mark Richardson and Media Development Manager Peter Roe have been working on the project for two-and-a-half years as part of their schools' Leading Edge development program.

The project and website encourages students and teachers to create their own educational films and share them with others across the world. Mr Roe said: "Its purpose is to promote film and the use of film in education. If students make a film about a subject it is generally going to appeal to the sensibilities of their peers and so engage with them."

Films for Learning has been running workshops with other schools and received initial funding from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and Arts (Nesta). As well as support and sponsorship from the DCFS (formerly the DfES) and the Innovation Unit.

Mr Roe also said "Our vision has been that students can make a film and show it to students in Australia or Africa and vice-versa. The project has the potential to be huge and when I met with Microsoft they recognised the potential and have come up with approximately £80,000-worth of development, money and time towards a new website."

Mr Roe and Mr Richardson both spent two days each at the BETT educational show in London promoting the project from the Microsoft stand. "It's not just about our school, this has developed into a major national project and the interactivity introduced into the site means it's a safe environment and a monitored community where teachers will be able to access learning resources and where students can access revision resources."

Commenting on the relationship with Microsoft, Mr Roe said "Its truly a win-win-win situation, we get the technical help and support we need to establish a world class educational resource, Microsoft get the opportunity to showcase some of their newest products to a worldwide audience and finally students get the benefit of this partnership in the form of an excellent educational resource." 

"Conservatively by the end of March we should have at least 200 films on line and by the end of the year we expect it to be 2,000. The true numbers of films is expected to be a lot more, one school alone in Northumberland has developed 200 short films on aspects of science which they will share with the world."

On Friday 4th January 2008 our new FFL site (this site) went 'live'. If you are reading this and have the opportunity to be visiting BETT 2008 this week do come and see us at Microsoft's stand and find out more about how to make films and get involved in FFL. Paul Foster (Microsoft's UK Platform Evangelist) will be there to answer any questions on all four days, Peter Roe (FFL) will be attending on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th and Mark Richardson (FFL) on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th January. Paul will be also there representing the First Lego League.

We will also be giving a short presentation about FFL at the Innovation Unit/Edict stand on:

Wednesday at 12.30pm

Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12.00am

We hope to meet up with you there!

Jonathan Sanderson of Sci-cast,  Wendy Sadler of  Science made Simple,  Ciaran Mahon of Dream Ireland and Louise Webb of UK Ecsite joined Mark Richardson and Peter Roe of Films for Learning to deliver a week of film making workshops to 10 different schools.