Portfolio article two.

 A new scheme for schools, called BYOD (Bring your own device) is being trialled throughout the UK, enabling pupils to be able to use their mobile phones in lesson time.



The BYOD scheme is trying to focus on children being able to use their phone in lessons for educational purposes and wants schools to embrace the fact that a vast majority of children are carrying around powerful handheld computers, complete with camera, speakers and a whole host of educational apps every day.

According to Ofcom, since 2011, there has been a 50% rise in 12-15 year olds owning Smartphones but can the use of these devices be directed towards being educational tools in order for them to be able to be used in the classroom?

Head teacher of Hawkley Hall High School in Wigan, Mr Roy Halford, believes the scheme will be of a negative impact rather than positive. "I wouldn't allow the scheme in my school, we have a strict no phones policy here and I think pupils need a clear message which would be lost if they were at some times of the day allowed their phone out and at other times not".

In schools that are unable to provide computers or laptops for every student the scheme would allow students to use the internet on their phone relieving the pressure for schools and making learning quicker.

Deborah Rotherham, English teacher at St Peter's Catholic High School in Orrell, which also has a no phone policy, believes there could be some good in the scheme "We have one computer per classroom usually, we don't have classrooms with banks of computers so if the kids need to research something they have to take it in turns to go to a computer whereas if they say, 'Miss can I check it on my phone' I would let them do it, in the context of this is purely for research and your not texting, ringing or taking photographs of someone".

Stringent guidelines cover safety and security in all schools which is of the utmost importance to parents, teachers and Headteachers. If mobile phones were allowed to be used by pupils on school premises there are concerns over how there use would be monitored.

Head teacher,Mr Halford said. "The technology devices that we as a school allocate to students can be monitored by the use of firewalls and filters blocking certain websites that we don't see fit for use within school. We could set up a wireless connection for the school that students could log on to but kids will always find a way around things, by means of 3g and 4g, so we would physically be unable to monitor what they would be accessing which is a huge safety risk".

Governor for Hawkley School, Mr. David Stainton, agrees with Mr Halford. " The scheme would open up the possibility for children to be able to access online pornography and social networking sites, which would just not be acceptable".

The scheme has been criticised by schools for increasing the opportunity of bullying and segregation of pupils as not every student is able to afford a smartphone.

Mr James Kuelemans former teacher of Rosebridge and now Headteacher at Our Lady's School in Manchester said "It's very difficult, as a Headteacher, I would have to take into consideration all my staff, and the issues they may have. In my school I believe there would be a liability to abuse because most students have a Blackberry, which then has the option of Blackberry Messenger,so my biggest issue is around the opportunity for bullying to take place".

Smartphones have a range of accessible resources that if used as educational tools for children in a secure, monitored way, could be a god send to schools, however the technology to do this is so far lacking.

Headteacher Mr Kuelemans said " It's hard because students have this incredibly powerful tool that's better than all of the computers in school, but I have to tell them they are not allowed to use it. I have a huge quandary in terms of the learning resources that are being lost and that really frustrates me, so if there was a way in which students could only access the school system once in the building it would be wonderful, but unfortunately as of yet the scheme wouldn't work".
Audio of questions answered by Hawkley Hall High School Student Elizabeth Ward and St Peters Student Liam Reed.

Portfolio article one.

Since the 1950's Wigan Town Centre has been the only town in the North West without a dual carriageway, directing traffic from the major motorway network, causing hours of traffic congestion for commuters. However this week a new exit road has been opened giving an answer to Wigan's traffic problems.

The new Southgate road is situated on the Saddle Junction near Asda on Eleanor Street and has this week been opened to the public almost five years after the idea was brought to Wigan Council.


View New exit road out of wigan in a larger map

The multi million pound project was given the rubber stamp by Wigan Cabinet and Council members in June 2010 with a unanimous vote in favour of the road.

Cabinet member Gerald Bretherton, 42, was in the meeting when the motion for the road was passed and was a keen to get the project underway.

"The problem was finding a way of getting traffic in and out of wigan as it has always been very difficult and slow moving. We actually did a survey in Wigan and asked businesses about what we were proposing to do, and 90% of them said that better access was needed in and out of Wigan town centre because their businesses were suffering due to people not being able to get to their shops or when they have been they can't get away".

A condition for the build of the new road was that flood prevention measures were put in place as the saddle junction is a target area for floods, and this was a big problem during the heavy rainfall in September which saw the entire junction closed off due to flooding.

Environment Portfolio holder Gearald Bretherton has assured flood prevention measures for Southgate Road will be put in place, "Flooding barriers are being put in at the moment and there will be two or three huge water tanks with 912 Cuban metres of storage capacity so any water will be directed into those tanks and then pumped into the River Douglas. There will also be small 8inch mounds down the side of the road called bunds so the water instead of running from the road onto grass verges and car parks will be directed back on to the road and into the storage tanks ".

A vast amount of businesses have joined together to support the project and contribute funding however the new ring road has had a slightly negative effect for one business.

Owner of Monks Car Sales, situated on Pottery Road, Sam Monks said " The new road that has been put in is far too fast now as it's 40mph so cars would have been unable to pull into our garage without causing a crash. When we were shown plans by the council of the new road we decided we would move our business which we have just recently done as we would have lost a lot of custom. This has obviously cost us time and money through moving locations and changing our business address on signs and advertisements however the new road has solved Wigan's traffic problems so I am happy about that."

Head of Infrastructure within Wigan Council, Mark Tilley ,41, is very happy with the public response to the road. "We've had really good feedback, with people actually contacting the council saying how good the new road is and what a good idea it was, which is nice to get as we don't usually get phone calls of praise!"

Completion of Southgate Road will be into February of 2013. Audio in response questions asked to Gerald Bretherton and response to vox pop question "how do you feel about the new road and how has it been beneficial to you"? Answered by Joanne Clisham and Janet Frodsham.

Audio Skills test

Kate McMullin asked four people the question "is it right that a working MP has gone into the jungle in 'i'm a celebrity get me out of here'?"

Video skills test

Student Chiara Coulter gives her opinion on the question "Do you think marriage is a dying out tradition?" This question was inspired by the recent news story of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh celebrating their Blue Sapphire wedding anniversary (65 years) on Novemeber 20th. However according to the Office of National Statistics it has been reported that the amount of marriages in the UK, in 2009, was only 231,490; which is the lowest recorded amount since 1895.
(source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/katie-cornish/is-marriage-a-dying-trend_b_939694.html )

Mapping Skills

View News stories in a larger map

This is a map which shows 4 different stories, found firstly in the Lancashire Evening Post Newspaper, linked to the LEP website and then linked to a related story found on different websites.

Data Skills Test

I found a set of data by using the guardian data store website and imported it into microsoft excel. The bar chart below has been made by cutting down an amount of data recorded by the office for national statistics across England and Wales for the 100 most commonly used baby boy and girl names in 2011. As you can see below I have selected to use 25 of only the girls names used in 2011 and show how they rank, which can be seen in this chart.

 

The bar charts findings show that Amelia was the most commonly used name in 2011 across England and Wales, with 5054 babies born being called by this name. The name Amelia most recently entered the top ten in 2008.

For the full data, of 100 baby girl and boy names recorded in 2011, from the office for national statistics see here

 

 

 

Image skills test.

 

 

 

1. Photograph in original format taken by iphone 4s.

 

   2. Photograph edited in adobe photoshop (100x100 pixel thumbnail in jpeg format)

 

 
3.Photgraph edited in adobe photoshop (400 pixel wide by 300 pixel high in jpeg format)



 

 

4.Photograph edited in adobe photoshop (200 pixel wide by 500 pixel high in jpeg format)