Introduction	The Project Microsite	New Literacy Framework	Visit to Crabble Mill	Resources
ICT and Writing	Pupil Work (Word)	Evidence of Impact	Credits	Teachers impact

How can the use of web based applications improve children’s story writing?

The children who took part in the Crabble Mill Creative Writing project had the opportunity to use videoconferencing, blogging, Podcasting and “on-line” publishing to plan, revise and publish their written stories. Free to Kent school FlashMeeting and Making the News information about each application can be found on either the “Kent National Grid for Learning” or “South-East Grid for Learning” web-sites. Training on using the applications with either the whole class or groups of children was provided by HOS Consultants and Leading ICT Teachers assigned to support the project.

Flashmeeting	Blogs
E-books and Podcasting	Making the News

FlashMeeting – Using videoconferencing to plan a story

Pupils from twenty of the project schools used videoconferencing to ask question and gather information about what living conditions were like for children in Victorian Times. The questions pupils asked Ian Coulson (ASK History Advisor) about the Croft boys who worked at Crabble Mill included:

• How many hours a week did they work?
• What age did they start working?
• Why did the boys not go to school?
• Was it safe for children to work in a Mill or factory?

Why use FlashMeeting in the primary classroom?

• FlashMeeting is a safe and secure videoconferencing application
• It requires no specialist equipment except a webcam and desktop microphone
• The playback facility enables children to watch an interview and broadcast.

Children can replay the whole interview or select just parts. Viewing a video
after the event enables children to take notes and use answers to questions to
inform their writing? See the examples below.

Blogging – Receiving Critical Feedback from others?

Blogging is a way of and sharing thoughts and ideas with others online. The Crabble Mill blog enabled the children to share their written work with Stewart Ross the project author who frequently commented in the blog on how the children might consider ways to improve their stories.

Blogging can be used in schools to enable children to work with pupils from other classes and schools. Often a questioned asked by one child will benefit another. Creating a class blog to support an activity or project is an excellent way for teachers to gather evidence to show how a child or children’s understanding of a concept has improved over a period of time.

The examples below show how answers from Stewart Ross to questions posted on the blog were developed and used by the children to refine and improve their stories.

E-books and Podcasting – Reviewing your own and others written work

Ten of the schools in the Crabble Mill Writing project used Audacity to enable the children to create an MP3 audio storybook. These books were then published on “Making the News” together with their finished stories.

Children can use Audacity or Podium to read and record their stories. Frequently children use a sound recorder to record a chapter to playback. These episodes appear on the screen as a set of tracks positioned underneath each other.

Creating an audio recording of a story assists children to:

• Add punctuation to convey meaning
• Avoid repetition and keeps the readers interest
• Correctly sequence events and ideas

Audio files published on “Making the News” can be accessed and stored on itunes using the RSS feed positioned at the bottom of the page. Storing files in this way ensures that children receive any updates if the file is added to or changed at a late date.

This enables children to publish stories as episodes and receive feedback from their peers on what they might improve before writing and publishing the next chapter.

“Making the News” – Publishing and sharing our work with others

Over eighty children published their finished stories about “What happened to the young boys who died in the Mill” on “Making the News.”

“Making the News” is an excellent online publishing tool that enables children to upload and publish written reports, video, multimedia and audio. Schools and Clusters can apply to the South-East Grid for Learning to have their own school or project website.

To upload and publish children children should load their school web page and click on Guest Entry.
Text can then be typed in the Story Body box and photographs or video added by clicking on the browse button. Children’s finished work can only be published once a teacher has viewed the article and clicked the publish button.

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