| GIGAJAM.COM | GIGAJAM FOR SCHOOLS | NEWS | March 2005 |
Students at the South Manchester City Learning Centre studying the Essential Bass Skills Course. Still from the BETT Awards winner's showcase video, 2005 |
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Bett Awards 2005 Winner Gigajam Accredited Mentor CentresNorth EastSunderlandSouthmoor CLC Stockton on TeesTeesside CLC North Tyneside CLCMarden CLC North WestSalfordMoorside CLC ManchesterSouth Manchester CLC BlackburnWitton Park CLC MidlandsStoke On TrentThe Haywood CLC South WestBristolBristol CLC3 London and South EastWandsworth CLC Gigajam Approved Tutor Network continues growthWe continue to welcome UK based professional standard musicians to our network. Earn £100 reward if you recommend a Tutor to join Gigajam. Audio Songbooks
Gigajam Audio Songbooks for Part 1 contains 5 pieces of music, specifically written to enable students to practise the skills they have learned through their study of Part 1. TV Shows on CD-ROM
The perfect accompaniment to your Lesson notes. Two CDROMs packed with 12 TV Shows. An Intro Show, 10 Lessons and a final Band Show. Gigajam User ViewsDon’t just take our word for it! “streets ahead of all the other videos and ‘teach yourself’ books” “the Gigajam experience is truly revolutionary” “like having your own teacher in the room with you” “points the way to others in the e-learning market” What The Press Say“Cutting-edge drum tuition at the touch of a button” “you get an awful lot for your money” “a tool to push you forward at a steady pace it (Gigajam) is genuinely absorbing” “ICT instrument tuition is music to LEA’s ears” |
City Learning Centre UpdateFollowing the EiC CLC National Managers Conference in January, Gigajam has been growing in its adoption throughout the UK. Gigajam now has 13 Mentor Centres. CLC Managers are of course, looking to demonstrate how ICT can be embedded within the National Curriculum and subject specialisms. But there is also a desire to develop the Gigajam resource as a genuine community tool bringing local Music Services, Specialist Schools and their feeder Primaries together, as well as the wider community. Gigajam can be used in a variety of ways and this newsletter is meant to show how Gigajam is being implemented during the first phase of use. Salford CLCDr Kevin Palmer, Director of CLC's in Salford, is using Gigajam as part of a Rock School project which takes place between 4pm and 6pm every Tuesday. There are 12 students varying in age from 11 to 16 years. Kevin and his team get the students to work through their Gigajam lessons. The students then practise and develop their instrumental skills using the lesson notes, supportive videos, Xtractor 'play along' files and of course the Gigajam Analyser. This enables the students to capture their performances so that they can be immediately reviewed by the learner to decide whether to go back and have another go, or to move on. At the end of each session Kevin takes time out to allow the students to play together using the skills learned, together with some tips from Kevin and his team. What's next in Salford?Dr Palmer has bought Gigajam's Broadband Streaming offering, providing the first five lessons for all within the Salford WAN. He is also rolling Gigajam out to local Secondary Schools and plans more Summer School activities. Contact: Dr Kevin Palmer South Manchester CLC
John Denney and Paul Ford are using Gigajam in two different sessions. Firstly, they make the CLC available for ¾ of an hour at lunchtimes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday working with their partner school Parrswood. The students range from Year 7 to Year 11. The students from Parrswood School are enjoying it so much that they are often in the CLC trying to snatch a quick practice session. On Wednesday nights the CLC runs two one hour sessions with the assistance of the Manchester Music Services. Three peripatetic teachers come to the CLC and run Gigajam on a rock school project called X-Band. The sessions they run are hugely successful in their own right and John will tell you of how impressed he is with the application of the students to studying. Paul Ford will pay tribute to their improvement and motivation. On top of the sessions John and Paul have an impressive relationship with Manchester Music Services. John's desire to join up all agencies in providing more inclusive access to music is being demonstrated in the 6 pilot schools that are taking delivery of Gigajam and developing their own centres under the guidance of John and Paul at CLC and the dedicated Music Services team run by Alan Jones and Sue Berry. Alan and Sue have made peripatetic teachers available to support the schools and where the schools are set up and running, teachers like Dave Thom, Music Service Specialist, are beginning to make a difference. What's next in Manchester?John is looking at whole class tuition and integrating Music Technology with Gigajam so that students learn the tools to play music with Gigajam and then use those skills to program, compose and record using Technology. There is also a project to deliver a BTEC course at the centre with Gigajam providing the bulk of the instrumental tuition. Manchester, like Salford are planning to roll out the Gigajam Broadband Offering on their Broadband network MEWAN and every school student in Manchester will have at least 5 lessons available to them at School and at Home by September 2005. ContactJohn Denney Paul Ford Tel 0161 448 0381 Wandsworth CLC
Gary Hipple, Simon Elledge and their team are responsible for Gigajam being awarded the London Grid for Learning deal to provide the Broadband offering to all 1,086,000 students in London. This followed the highly successful Gifted and Talented Scheme run at Wandsworth CLC just under a year ago (Easter 2004). Wandsworth CLC run two sessions a week on Wednesday and Thursday after school and provide two half hour sessions to 16 pupils. Simon Elledge has trained Michael Dunble from their partner school Southfields and he moderates these sessions on his own. We understand he often over runs and can be heard jamming with the kids well after time! What's next in Wandsworth CLC?After a successful year in Wandsworth, Gary and his team are looking at providing whole class tuition on a Borough wide basis as well as continuing to run the after school Rock clubs. A migration to Adult education is being considered opening the centre to paying Adults. This will be a revenue supportive scheme which will provide contemporary music education in an accessible and affordable way to support the community's lifelong learning aims. ContactGary Hipple CLC Manager Simon Elledge Tel 020 8875 1699 Getting going with GigajamIf you are keen to learn more about how to implement and manage Gigajam in your City Learning Centre or across your Virtual Learning Environment, providing access to all your students at school and at home, then please contact us so we can provide you with detailed advice, guidance and support. Chris Blomeley John Hillier Brian Greene Adrian Carey |
