Archive for the 'Projects' Category

Prince’s Trust Team Video Project

Published on 25 October 2010 in Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Over the past few weeks a Prince’s Trust Team, run through Bottle and Netherton Community Fire Station, have been using Flip Cameras to show what they have been doing. They have been capturing all aspects of their programme so far and have really got to grips with the small yet quality cameras.

The aim of the project is to produce one or more short films at the end of the 12 week programme to inform others about what Merseyside Side Fire and Rescue Service can offer. Next week one of the members of the team will spend his work experience placement with the Emerging Technology Officer at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, editing and producing a short film. The short film he will be helping to produce will show the Team’s Community Project, an important part of the programme in which the Team work together on a project for and in the Community, in this case refurbishing a room within a Community Centre. This does not only involve manual work such as painting and maintained but a lot of work before hand selecting a project and fundraising. All the different aspects of the project will be shown on the film.

Once the film is finished it will be shown at the Teams final presentation night to show family, friends and professionals their achievements, as well as this it will also provide a useful and insightful promotional tool for the programme run from various locations within the Fire Service.  

Photo Sharing on Flickr

Published on 20 July 2010 in Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service run several projects that engage and educate young people and provide an early intervention into anti-social behaviour. For example ‘LiveSafe’ is a programme aimed at educating primary school children in fire safety awareness and water safety. Not only do the LiveSafe team go into Primary schools during term time but they also run ‘treat days’ in non-term time as a reward for young people.

During event such as these our staff take photographs to remember the day and to promote their hard work. Very often the school, parents / carers and children also want these photographs to remember the day and to show others. In the past, staff have had to make a CD with all the photographs to send out to each school, proving costly and very time consuming, especially when some events involve a large number of schools. In order to overcome this, teams have started to use the photo sharing website; Flickr. Flickr allows our staff to create a group for the event and upload all the photos from the day, this folder can then be password protected. The schools, parents and young people can then log on to Flickr and enter the password given by our staff to download any of the photographs that they want – cost free! As long as every young person’s parent / carer has signed the consent form stating that images taken could be used on the internet.

This solution to a costly problem provides schools, parents, carers and young people a chance to obtain photographs of the day and share them with whoever they want.

Old Swan EARLY Update

Published on 14 July 2010 in Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The Old Swan EARLY Team have now reached Week 10 of the 12 week Programme. The development each individual has made is astounding, and it is is excellent to see how they have each matured from the first day of the course.

This week the team are on individual work placements. Having spent the last ten weeks getting to know each other and forming a strong team, they are now out alone in a workplace.

The idea of doing this at the start of the course would have been inconceivable for many of the young people, however they have now all started their work experience and had excellent feedback so far.

The footage that I have collected is now mounting up ready to be cut and edited into a film to show at the presentation night in week twelve. I am being helped by a team member to sort through the footage we have, putting it into chronological order and deleting any unusable clips. The next step is to start editing and get ready for the big night!

The Samsung Q1’s… so far!

Published on 22 January 2010 in Emerging Technology, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

We have now had the Samsung Q1 Ultra Device for a couple of days and had time to get to grips with them. Several pros and cons have arisen in this time.

Pros

My first impressions are that they are great for activities such as video diaries or capturing a discussion.

The option of either using the front or back camera is extremely useful, especially in combination with the preview screen which allows you to see exactly what it is you are filming. The microphone is sufficient to pick up a conversation.

The size of the device is respectable; whilst still portable the screen is big enough to see what you are doing which out having to squint.

The option of using either the mouse function or the Stylus Pen is also effective as it allows the user to select either option dependant on what they are doing; different functions lend themselves better to the different options.

Cons

When filming, any fast movement makes the footage distorted and blurred. Although the lens focuses quite quickly on a subject, it is much more effective for slow moving or still action.

Upon first use and without a helping hand the devices are not the easiest devices to operate, however once you get used to the functions it is quite straight forward. The mass of buttons of fascia can appear quite confusing and until you learn what each one does it is luck if you can right click or change the screen brightness! So much so, I have created my own ‘Quick Guide’ to hand out to those using the devices!

For anything more than short filming the device is very slow and hard to operate. I would not use it for word processing or web browsing. I found it is best to pull the footage off the device and then edit it using the PC or a laptop.

When our Prince’s Trust Team took the device out to a team building day, the device froze and crashed several times, we suspect this may be due to the cold weather.

I am still yet to connect the device to internet so have not had chance to test the speed of uploading footage straight to a blog or internet site; something which I will be interested in doing.

Conclusion

First impressions are good, despite a couple of drawbacks, the device appear to be perfect for creating video diaries and capturing indoor group activities. Depending on the ease of uploading footage to the web, these may be ideal for what we want to achieve with the Prince’s Trust students.

The next couple of weeks will really test the devices as we start to get more footage and create PodCasts.

Project Plan

Published on 14 December 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media, Topics and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

Video Diary / Podcast

Programme – Huyton Prince’s Trust

Team – Richie Evered, Jade Cotter

 Giving students the facility to create video diaries / enhanced podcasts:

  • Track progress throughout the 12 week course
  • Provide evidence of activity for log book
  • Creating an online ‘e-portfolio’
  • Ability to evidence work placement activity
  • For use in the final presentation evening
  • Reflective log

Continue reading ‘Project Plan’

Google Doc’s

Published on 7 December 2009 in Information Management, Links, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments
As I have wrote about it an earlier blog, I have investigated setting up an email account for each Prince’s Trust student as part of the program. This is so they can use the e-mail account for applying for jobs , training or education as the accounts that some of the students are using now may not be suitable for professional use. I looked at Google Mail and decided it was the most suitable due to the ease of setting up an account and also so that the students can continue using the account after the course has finished.
Building upon this I have looked into the other applications that Google offers. One in particular is ‘Google Doc’s’. This offers users various software to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations free of charge as well as an online storage space.

 

untitled

I want to start looking into utilising these applications so that when the young people need to ammend or send their CV’s to someone, the CV is easily accessible and editing it is simple, espeically from access points other than home, such as libraries.

What are ‘Emerging Technologies’?

Published on 25 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

With regards to MSF&R Youth Engagement I consider the use of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, podcasts and social networking to be ‘emerging technologies’.

Although these ideas have now been around for the last couple of years and have been embraced by some, it is only recently that these technologies have been recognised as potential tools for educators and implemented into the educational system. Therefore I strongly believe that despite these technologies being well established in our lives, the inclusion of them in education is still emerging.

Don’t Assume… Ask!

Published on 23 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

I have created a questionnaire to assess young people’s computer skills and internet safety knowledge.

The purpose of this is to compare the results of a group who are just finishing a Princes Trust Course to those of a group next year that would have been exposed to emerging technologies throughout the course. Another purpose of the survey was to confirm which social networking sites are most popular and how the students access the internet and e-mail.

 The questionnaire was given out to nine Princes Trust students aged 17-23. I hope that when I compare these results to the next group, a clear difference will be visible in internet skills and capabilities using technologies.

One of the questions was ‘Which Social Networking Sites Do You Use?’, if students used more than one they were able list them.

 graph 1

The findings shown below clearly show that Facebook is the most popular site and that more people do not use any at all than use MySpace, Bebo or Twitter.

 I also asked how the young people access the internet. Over half of the students had a PC at home and a third had their own laptops. The use of the internet and Facebook is increasing on mobile phones and some of the students used their game consoles for the internet.

 graph 2

 Other interesting results included; over 75% of the students used hotmail for their email and 33% of the students didn’t have access to the internet at home.

This backs up our idea to set each student up with a professional e-mail address not only as some hotmail addresses can be unsuitable but also so that those without the internet are not excluded from applying for training, information and employment online. With many companies using e-recruitment and e-mail as contact it is important that are students have the right skills and knowledge to do this.

My results also showed that many of the students lacked computer skills that a lot of young people would take for granted and are essential when applying for training or employment. By incorporating computer skills into the programme the students would leave with invaluable experience and knowledge that will help them progress to the next stage of their lives.

Improving Students Computer Skills

Published on 18 November 2009 in E-Safety, Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

An issue that was discussed with Princes Trust staff, Richie and Jade, was when the young people are required to produce a CV and to search and apply for training and employment online. The staff struggled to do this in the time they had due to computing facilities and the lack of experience the young people have had using computers. We discussed the idea of assessing the students existing skills at the start of the course and helping them to improve to a standard level; having the ability to use the Microsoft Office, Internet and E-mail. This would not only help with the production of a CV but also equip the young people with essential skills they need to go to further education, training or employment.  

Google Mail

Furthermore we discussed the type of email addresses that the students have and use on their CV’s and application forms. In the past staff have found these e-mail addresses to be highly unsuitable for potential employers, it was therefore agreed that a useful exercise during the course would be to help the students to set up a personal e-mail address for professional distribution, for example Google Mail, with which they can then use to apply for training and employment. They can also continue to use this once the course has finished. This would not only help the young people in the future but would educate them on the importance of how they present themselves physically and virtually. This would also tie into e-safety, for example; how accessible their Facebook content is to the public.   

Using Facebook in Youth Engagement

Published on 18 November 2009 in Emerging Technology, Facebook, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, Projects, Social Media and Youth Engagement. 0 Comments

My current thought processes are around Facebook being a resource which should be embraced and used within our Youth Engagement Programmes. It is inevitable that a great deal of debate will arise about allowing the use of Facebook in the workplace, however by using Facebook to engage with the young people from each programme we are able to form stronger relationships with the community and tackle issues via a medium that the young people of today are accustomed to.  

I am proposing that a Facebook ‘Public Profile’ should be created to represent Merseyside Fire and Rescue Youth Engagement. This is not the same as a private personal profile which is gives an individual’s details to the extent that they choose. A ‘Public Profile’ is similar to a home page on a website. It states who the page is about; an organisation, a food product, a rock band, and any further information that they wish to display; contact details, aims and achievements, their service.   Wikipedia explains a Public Profile as;   

Individuals or companies can create “Public Profiles” (Formerly known as “Pages”) which allows users to “become a fan” of the individual, product, service, or concept. Public Profiles look and behave much like a user’s personal private profile, with some significant differences. Public Profiles are integrated with Facebook’s advertising system, allowing Public Profile owners to easily advertise to Facebook’s users. Owners can send updates to their fans, which shows up on their home page. They also have access to insights and analytics of their fan base   

By having a public profile rather than a standard Facebook individual profile, it allows the creators, moderators and staff to remain private if they want. Those who become a ‘fan’ of the page or follow it will only be able to see the names of those who contribute to the page; they will not have access to their profiles.  

This public profile will act the central hub for Youth Engagement. Anybody can view this page, it will give information on the various programmes that MFRS run and how to get more information, apply and who to contact.  For past and current students, we shall create Facebook groups. A group will be created for each programme that is run i.e. Prince’s Trust, EARLY, Beacon. Within these groups subsections can be made for each team i.e. Huyton, Old Swan and Derby Road. The groups will be private and only those invited to join will have access. By having specific groups for each programme young people can become a member of the group and have access to the photos / videos that are taken throughout the course. Important information, reminders and issues can be mailed out to all of the group members. Furthermore, discussion can be created within the group. Past students can continue using the group so that communication can be continued for further guidance, track progress and create accurate statistics. It would also create the opportunity for carers / parents to see young person’s progress and activities they have completed and the option to contact staff.