Curriculum software at its best can be a great help to teachers, providing a relevant, interactive experience for students of all aptitudes. Unfortunately, there are also those who have suffered software that is out of date and out of touch with the modern school and the pressures it faces.
Education Today asked some of the experts in the field of software supply about the challenges of producing relevant content and what schools should look for when choosing curriculum software.
"When looking for curriculum software check for ease of use," say John and Ann Crick of Crick Software, both former teachers. "Look out for the potential for providing modifications to suit varied and particular needs and make sure it has curriculum relevance and adaptability to teaching and learning styles."
Kathryn Marchant from Education City advises, "Look out for software that clearly engages the pupils but which is also easy to use for the teachers."
Perhaps it is no great surprise that many of those involved in the field of curriculum software used to be teachers. Martin Clemoes of Eye2Eye worked in school ICT for ten years before setting up his company. He advises "When choosing classroom resources, schools should look for versatile references that can enrich a wide variety of lessons, and grow with teacher expertise, rather than limited 'lesson in a box' products. The latter do have instant appeal for the time-starved teacher, but are limited to few lessons, narrow rages of age and ability and go instantly out of date with curriculum or school changes.
When overall benefit is balanced against purchase cost, versatile resources offer far better value."
SIX OF THE BEST:
2 Simple
What does it do?
2Simple create simple, yet powerful, creative, educational software for Primary Schools.
Who is it for?
The software is developed to help Primary teachers to teach and Primary children to lean and explore the Primary Curriculum.
How often is it updated?
As our software is predominantly tools based (rather than content) we rarely need to update our software. If a later version of our software is released, schools can receive free upgrades to latest versions of the programs they are licenced for.
How relevant is it to the curriculum?
Our software has been designed specifically to meet the requirements of the current curriculum. Please visit http://www.2simpleshop.com/learning/qca.asp to see curriculum links. We also include video tutorials which guide children and teachers through the software within a pedagogical context.
EducationCity.com
What does it do?
EducationCity.com is an award-winning teaching, learning and assessment resource for children. Its bright, colourful, animated activities bring learning to life to help children master the essentials inMaths, Literacy and Science, and make their all-important first experience of foreign languages a positive one.
Who is it for?
It is aimed at 3- 12 year olds in mainstream education and SEN pupils of all ages.
How often is it updated?
New activities are added to EducationCity.com every week and value-added modules, such as Topic Tools and Tests are added periodically, typically once a year.
How relevant is it to the curriculum?
EducationCity.com is very relevant to the curriculum. It is ideal for targeting learning objectives in the classroom and there are different versions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In England, EducationCity.com is designed to support the new Primary Frameworks and QCA Schemes of Work. Rosetta Stone® Classroom Version 3
What does it do?
Rosetta Stone® Classroom Version 3 is a powerful learning tool that incorporates seamlessly into a teacher's overall language learning curriculum.
Features such as speech analysis tools, grammar and spelling components, and predefined course templates adeptly complement classroom teaching expertise.
Rosetta Stone Classroom provides the support teachers need with Rosetta Stone Manager, a built in management tool that delivers real-time reporting capabilities, details on student progress, and userfriendly administrative functionalities.
Who is it for?
Rosetta Stone® Classroom Version 3 is suitable for primary, secondary, higher education and adult continuing education classrooms. The software is used to support both English as a an Additional Language (EAL) studies and Modern Foreign Language (MFL) studies.
How often is it updated?
Rosetta Stone is dedicated to constant innovation, and in the last two years has upgraded 25 of its languages from Version 2 to Version 3, launched a new language and now has Levels 4 and 5 in English and Spanish, in addition to Levels 1-3.
How relevant is it to the curriculum?
The program has been mapped against GCSE and A Level Curriculums - further details available on request.
The RSPCA
What does it do?
The RSPCA's education website (www.rspca.org.uk/ education) offers free online tried and tested curriculum-linked resources written by teachers. It also has lesson resources linked to the curriculum in Wales.
Also available from the website is a free interactive resource (www.rspca-education.org.uk) for KS1 and 2 Animals and us'. The resource was also shortlisted for a BETT Award in 2009 in the Primary Digital Content category.
RSPCA Education and interactive whiteboard manufacturer Promethean have also produced three citizenship activities that teach primary children about the importance of caring for their pets.
Who is it for?
Website: teachers (EYFS, primary, secondary) Animals and us interactive resource: KS1 and KS2 pupils and teachers Promethean flipcharts: KS1 and KS2 pupils and teachers
How often is it updated?
The news section of the education website is updated at least once a week, and new or updated lesson resources are added to the website every six months.
How relevant is it to the curriculum?
All lesson resources are linked to the English curriculum and some are linked to the Welsh curriculum (there is a dedicated section in each resource).
Curriculum maps will be available soon, which will provide a summary of these links. The interactive resource is also linked to the English and Welsh national curricula.
Crick Software
What does it do?
The software falls into two categories. Firstly, a selection of tools (such as Clicker and WriteOnline), that can be used in all areas of the curriculum andfocus especially on developing literacy skills. Secondly, a range of specific curriculum content titles which are used with Clicker. Crick also offer curriculum resources for all its software tools on the LearningGrids World website, these are free to users of the software and updated every two weeks.
Who is it for?
The software is aimed at pupils across the age range from foundation stage, through primary and right up to secondary. Crick offers an enormous range of preferences which means that pupils with a physical need, for example a disability that means they are unable to use a pointing device or have low-vision, can use the software. Equally thosewith an educational need, including those affected by dyslexia, those for whom English is not a first language, and those who struggle with reading are offered differentiation.
How often is it updated?
Some titles have lengthy development cycles while our shortest development, for the LearningGrids World free content, is delivered every two weeks.
How relevant is it to the curriculum?
The software is developed with close reference to the curriculum, both in terms of content and teaching and learning styles. The content-free tools are good for those schools wanting to create resources aligned to the curriculum, but with particular reference to their own needs.
Equally, because Crick publish content every two weeks they can be very responsive to curriculum changes, and issues and needs.
Eye2Eye
What it does:
Eye2eye Britain maps out the whole of Britain in about 1,500 detailed 360 degree panoramas and 10,500 photos, all captioned and indexed by topic, timeline (heritage sites for history), place name and caption search, as well as map location. The unique panoramas offer instant virtual field trips on the whiteboard to major sites anywhere in Britain. This resource serves 2 main roles in class: (i) a fascinating whiteboard teaching resource engaging pupil interest in many topics (KS1-4); and (ii) a resource for pupils to use, exploring and copying images into their own creative projects, easily, safely and legally licensed (KS2-4).
Who it is for?
Eye2eye Britain is used by about 3,000 UK schools - Primary, Middle, Secondary and Special. It is used with and by a huge range of ages and abilities - everyone from special needs pupils with modest targets to gifted and talented secondary students, everyone benefiting at their own level.
How often is it updated?
About twice yearly, the major update targeted for the January BETT show each year.
How relevant to the curriculum?
Designed for Geography and History teaching, Eye2eye Britain also has cross-curricular uses for English literature, Citizenship, Leisure & Tourism, Art and ICT.
