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Click here to listen to a podcast of this page narrated by 6th year pupil Cara MacKay |
A successful “A to Z” Campaign took place with the generous support of local business and individuals, everyone from the children who collected tins to a most generous couple who donated a cheque following their wedding dance. This enabled Dyslexia Lochaber to finance, develop and launch the project in partnership with Lochaber High School.
From initial communications in May 2007 a working group was started to identify the technologies which could be used to support children with additional needs. This led to the concept of creating audio revision material which dyslexic pupils could access to assist with their exam revision.
Dyslexic Lochaber purchased two Coomber machines and the schools Librarian, Mrs Ann-Marie Masson, purchased the award winning software Podium for podcasting.
A dedicated team of volunteer narrators from Dyslexia Lochaber and our own SFL Teacher, Mrs Catriona Drain, undertook the task of organizing and recording revision materials en masse for our Higher and Standard Grade subjects. Permissions for reproducing materials in an audio format were sought where required and a successful pilot took place in spring 2008 with some subject departments.
The schools network manager, Ms Kerry Guy, provided the technical expertise to take the project to the next stage with development of the various delivery methods, training materials, the creation and maintenance of our podcasts and new online website www.lhsblog.highland.sch.uk.
An information session was held in Dec 2008 for staff where Mrs Liz Tangney and Mrs Marion Malcolm, leading members of Dyslexia Lochaber and Lochaber High School parents, delivered an interesting and informative talk on the complex difficulties faced by pupils with the condition. Mrs Masson gave a presentation on the project, introducing staff to the concept of podcasting and its placement as a learning aid. She also showed a videocast of how the Podium software is used.
The new lhsblog website launching in Feb 2009 makes full use of the latest online technologies such as RSS feeds and podcast subscriptions, alongside the more traditional streaming or downloading of audio files, enabling pupils the freedom to choose their preferred method of access.
The audio files are also available on the school’s curriculum network so pupils have the option of listening immediately during study time, downloading to their USB pens, mp3 players or burning to CDs for listening to while on the move.
The initial development of this project was to provide support for those with additional needs but the end result is a new and innovative service improving the learning opportunities in and out of the classroom for all Lochaber High School pupils.
Thank you to all those that took part or gave their support to this project.
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