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The Truck Annual Report 2007-2008 September 2007 to April 2008 September saw the CBDCP enter its second phase with the move to the creation of online CPD materials for teachers North and South of the border. In the South, the project is being developed alongside our partners in the Monaghan Education Centre and PCSP, the Primary School Support Project. The Regional Curriculum Support Service (RCSS) was set up in 2001 under the aegis of the Primary Curriculum Support Programme (PCSP), to help mediate the Primary School Curriculum (PSC). The RCSS is facilitated at local level by the Education Centre network, and its overarching aim is ‘to provide support to schools and teachers in every region of the country and in all aspects of the Primary School Curriculum’. Support is provided to schools through five teams of Cuiditheoirí, in the following bands: English, Maths and Learning Support The Arts Gaeilge/Tús Maith Social, Environmental and Scientific (SESE) Physical Education and Social, Personal and Health Education In addition to the above Curriculum Teams, a team of DEIS Cuiditheoirí support DEIS Urban Band 1 and Band 2 schools in numeracy and literacy. The main focus of the RCSS work is in schools, and the Cuiditheoirí provide support to individual teachers, and/or groups of teachers and/or whole-school staffs. In addition to in-school work, the Cuiditheoirí also facilitate off-site work shops and courses through the Education Centre network. Cuiditheoirí respond to the needs of schools, by providing support which is tailored to address the development requirements identified by individual schools and teachers. The work of the RCSS is also informed by on-going dialogue with the partners in education, including the Department of Education and Science (DES) and National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), as well as by the needs identified by the Cuiditheoirí in their engagement with teachers. The first quarter also saw the webcast of two events- the ministerial launch of the new Inclusion & Diversity Service, http://www.education-support.org.uk/teachers/ids/ in Dundalk with ministers from the North and South present. We also webcast the Rainey Endowed 300 th Anniversary Carol Service from the Waterfront hall to over 82 viewers across the World including Singapore Hong Kong, USA and Scandanavia. This was the largest audience for any C2K webcast to date. Our video training has been incorporated into traditional EPD training for teachers allowing us to reach approximately 200 young teachers with a range of Apple Training based on the iLife suite of programmes. Evaluation statistics for this training revealed that teachers thought the support was excellent (89%) or very good (9%) with 2% thinking it was good. In January we commenced a range of activities ranging from one off events to the filming of 10 lessons as part of the CBDCP phase 2. The third week of January saw us chosen to provide all the AV facilities for the National Final of the F1 In Schools Event in the NEC, Birmingham . The event saw 33 student teams from across the country competing in the National Finals of the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge, at the Autosport International Show held at the NEC in Birmingham .
	The third week of January saw us chosen to provide all the AV facilities for the National Final of the F1 In Schools Event in the NEC, Birmingham . The event saw 33 student teams from across the country competing in the National Finals of the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge, at the Autosport International Show held at the NEC in Birmingham. They raced for national victory and the chance to represent the UK in the World Championships, which will be held alongside an international Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2009. The students earned their place at the national finals by taking the chequered flag and winning their respective age group categories at one of the 11 regional finals. This was a prestigious event for us to be involved in with our two day programme including the webcasting of the event to the Internet. This ended up being our largest virtual event to date with thousands watching during the two days culminating in over 2000 concurrent viewers during the final.
	At the end of January The Truck the e-Government National Awards 2007.Finalists were divided into 11 categories, with The Truck appearing in e-Government excellence in Learning & Skills section. (Public sector online or electronic services which transform learning & skills outcomes). The annual e-Government National Awards has become the UK's highest level commendation for the best e-Government services - services which, through innovative online delivery or IT implementation, have positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, business and stakeholder groups. Finalists include a great diversity and spread of excellence in e-Government and public sector services right across the UK - Councils, central government departments, non-departmental public bodies and voluntary organisations are all represented in this 'best of the best'. A key theme in this year's finalists list was social inclusion, and the use of innovative technology to deliver services to help the disadvantaged. The Awards were presented at a glittering black-tie dinner on the evening of 22nd January 2008 at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
	After we returned from the awards ceremony we completed a webcast for the Ballymena and Antrim Careers Festival allowing pupils who couldn’t attend the event the opportunity to see some of the highlights of the day. February saw the filming of the PCSP lessons planned for before Christmas. A total of 10 subject areas were identified by PCSP and good practice lessons were recorded by a team of 40 pupils trained by us in Monaghan before Christmas. These 40 pupils came from 4 of the existing CBDCP schools and were selected from the 4 th Year group. They had 6 hours of intensive camerawork training since September with multicamera operation also being covered in the December visit.
February saw the filming of the PCSP lessons planned for before Christmas. A total of 10 subject areas were identified by PCSP and good practice lessons were recorded by a team of 40 pupils trained by us in Monaghan before Christmas. These 40 pupils came from 4 of the existing CBDCP schools and were selected from the 4 th Year group. They had 6 hours of intensive camerawork training since September with multicamera operation also being covered in the December visit. In the North it has been decided to record 5 programmes highlighting five new concepts from the New Curriculum. As there is no direct comparison with the southern schools 4 th year programme, we have decided to record any multicamera programmes using robotic cameras which we recently purchased. As the work in the North is conceptually based it is envisaged that much of the recording can be achieved through traditional single camera production techniques. All programmes will go into post production in April to be completed for transmission on Information TV in October 2008. Online materials will also be produced to accompany the series of programmes February also saw an extension of INTERREG money with a further £106.000 being made available to complete a small music based programme with 8 teachers from the North and the South. These teachers will be chosen from four of the existing CBDCP schools. The project will see these teachers produce online CPD materials in the areas of Music and Performance. It is hoped to employ a leading record producer, Sean Wallace, formally of Homestead Studios to oversee the project. The four schools will receive production equipment based around the Apple MacBook , allowing them to produce the material ‘in house’. A two day residential is planned for April with three one day sessions to follow, leading the the production fo material by June 2008.

We have now finalised the technical facilities required for NEELB TV, our own web based television channel. This station will be hosted by the NEELB through the deployment of a number of Helix servers offering a mixture of streaming and on demand services. We have also purchased a distribution system called DatPresenter which allows up to 300 programmes to be distributed live or on demand via the Internet. We hope that this software will form the basis of next year’s project by allowing us to more fully develop the concepts behind online CPD. We have also just confirmed the attachment of Chris McIntyre for next year, paid for by the NEELB. Chris, a former Teacher of the Year, will form part of our CPD production crew as we hope to create a number of resources for teachers online. We have begun this approach to online CPD by developing our first virtual course based around the Dissemination of Good Practice in schools. This course is underpinned by eight programmes produced by Chris McIntyre, Cedric Beattie and Ray Hayden and made possible by a grant of £50.000 from DE. The DDGP e-Learning Resources have been developed by NEELB to provide a Continuing Professional Development platform for reflective activity, thinking and discussion in relation to the selected areas of practice. *Assessment for Learning - Camphill Primary School , Ballymena* *Emotional Intelligence - St. Joseph 's Primary School, Crumlin* *Maths for All - Ballysally Primary School , Coleraine* *Performance Enhancement - St. Patrick's College, Ballymena* *Using Art and Design to Promote Independent Learning - Ballee Primary School , Ballymena* *Using Digital Video to Promote Oracy and Literacy - Portstewart Primary School* *Visual Literacy - Ballymena Primary School* *World Around Us, Story Sacks - St. John Bosco, Ballynease* The schools featured in each of the e-Learning resources all had a kernel of an idea as to how they wished to bring about improvement in their school. Through support from the Dissemination of Good Practice initiative the schools embarked on a process of action planning, implementation, evaluation and review. Central to all improvements were the intended benefits for pupils’ learning. The digital videos and narratives from each school capture the journey the school made – and indeed may continue to be on. In each case the school is sharing their experience and we are grateful for their honest self evaluations. Indeed, the intention is not to make claims of greatness, but rather to outline a process for continuous school improvement. The course can be found at the following URL: http://www.neelb.org.uk/teachers/cass/ddgp-elearning All in all it has been a very busy year for us on the Truck and this is hopefully set to continue with a new chassis being fitted in April and May allowing us to carry more equipment and re-install our much needed air con unit! A wider range of equipment including two channels of slow motion, a full PA rig, a dolly and track, a steadycam and various radio control enhancements will allow us to record and broadcast a wide range of material and event in the near future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have continued to support this venture-INTERREG and NI Screen for their continued and generous support, the NEELB, who have continued to support us in so many ways and everyone who has worked on our many projects including Cedric Beattie and Brian Adams who continue to bring a level of professionalism not usually found outside the broadcast world. Our new colleagues Ray Hayden and Chris McIntyre who have produced such a successful range of programmes recently and the two people who need special mention; Ray Gilbert and Shay Sweetnam . Ray has continually been supportive in everything we have done to date and without his support at his level within the Board we could not have reached the place we are now. Finally, the unseen hero must be Shay Sweetnam who not only drives the Truck but has, in a relatively short period of time, become our number one technician. It should also be noted that he has not missed one event since the Truck went on the road over two years ago. It has been a privilege to work with these people and I know that, with their continued support, the entity which is The Truck will go from strength to strength! Peter Simpson Manager, The Truck NEELB March 2008