Podcast training day at Laverstoke Park Farm
The morning dawned, cold and dull. The selection of teachers and pupils from Testbourne Community School braved the cold, packed extra clothes, socks and wellies and went to school. They were not there for long as they were soon whisked away in the school minibuses to a magical place called Laverstoke Park Farm.
Upon arrival they were greeted by three smiling faces, the faces staring back looked unsure and a little bit confused! However once everyone had a hot drink and biscuit people began to relax. The group were based at the education centre to develop skills in podcasting using the farm as their location for the day, irrespective of subject or way of collecting the data.
Teachers and pupils were teamed up randomly by Emma from the education centre and they were given different locations from the ancient woods, to the dairy, via the chickens, pigs and walled garden.
The teachers looked horrified as they were given their task – an open brief, focus on any aspect of the area you like from animal welfare, the environment, literacy, to travel and tourism, record some video or images and then you will come back and edit them. The pupils looked slightly happier but still a little intimidated by the task!
They were dropped in the various locations, wearing tasteful hi-vis vests and were given approximately 45 minutes to collect data using their mobile phones, videos, cameras or ipods before being taken back to the education centre to de-frost their toes. Some interviewed farm workers, some thoroughly investigated the areas and others adopted a lighthearted touch to their subject area.
The data collection all went smoothly except for the one teacher who luckily was not a Geography teacher, as she got lost! She and her partner had been given chickens to look at but managed to find herself at some chickens which were not part of the farm. After a chat with the owner of said chickens the pair were able to get to the right area and collect lots of useful data on our free range organic birds.
A working lunch followed where the data collected was edited and ICT skills were shared and developed. We all headed back to school to show the rest of the staff plus a few parents the finished articles and gather some thoughts on what they had learnt. We all laughed at ‘Alan the chicken’ and stared in wonder at the photographic journal of the walled garden.
Everyone went away with new skills and ideas about how technology can enhance teaching, learning, revision and assessments. Some even asked for more training to further what they learnt. So from a nervous start where the thought of using technology made some go visibly pale to a confident, noisy group of people at the end of the day – eager to try what they had done at the farm in a different environment!
Testbourne Community School worked with Laverstoke Park Education Centre, Unified Learning and Browns Enterprise Education.
For more information please contact Emma via education@laverstokepark.co.uk
Last Modified: 17/03/2010