Below you can find recent news and announcements from GovEd Communications and GovEd Technologies. Additional information or press releases are provided as links where applicable in this section.
For more information about our projects, outputs and products, please see the Projects, Video and Technology sections of this website.
For any other specific information relating to any of the announcements below, please contact us.
GovEd Communications has been asked to produce a second social care related video project for Liverpool City Council, focusing on 'Telecare'. The film will take the same approach as the Liverpool Supporting People film, mixing strong documentary story telling with sharing of good practice. Read more.
GovEd Communications is working with QMUL, BNSC, Space Adventures and astronaut Richard Garriott on a space education-focused multimedia project, website and competition. GovEd has been commissioned to produce edited video clips and a website housing digital assetts from Richard Garriott's mission to the International Space Station in October 2008. Read more.
A podium-mounted Portable Space Signpost has been shown to MPs, Peers and leaders from the UK Space Industry at the Parliamentary Space Committee Reception in the House of Commons on 16th December. The Signpost received praise as an educational and public engagement tool for a wide range of attendees at the event, including private astronaut Richard Garriott and Lembit Opik MP.
GovEd Communications is partnering with California-based Kailuna Productions to co-produce a one-hour documentary film for television, following the restoration of the world's oldest complete computer, known as the 'WITCH', at Bletchley Park. The film will combine fly-on-the-wall filming with compelling oral history and archive material, and will feature as an episode of Kailuna's 'Ultimate Restorations' series due for international broadcast in 2010/11. For more information, please contact us.
Carbon Visuals Ltd, the new joint venture between GovEd and CarbonSense, has provided a range of bespoke graphics and animations for Central Bedfordshire Council using the speacialist Carbon Quilt visualisation techniques. The images, showing carbon emissions for each area of the Council's work and the reductions required to meet 2020 targets, have been used in a Council conference and for internal and external communications. For more information, please contact us.
Futurelab have commissioned GovEd Technologies to provide a new version of the portable Space Signpost for inclusion in a major new touring exhibition of educational technologies. The exhibition will feature cutting edge designs, products and systems from Futurelab's own projects and beyond, and will tour for two years, including stands at BETT, other major shows and special regionally-hosted events. The new version sees the Space Signpost mounted in a pedastal with built-in computer.
GovEd Communications and Queen Mary's, University of London have established a unique partnership to enable third-year undergraduate computer science students to contribute to cutting-edge, 'real-world' technology projects. GovEd will provide the project ideas, mentoring, advice and the opportunity for students to see a tangible application for their final year projects within a short time-frame. Initial projects will focus on climate change and democratic engagement.
GovEd Communications has been asked by Lothian and Borders Fire Rescue Service and the Chief Fire Officers Association of Scotland to produce a major DVD project, as part of a Scotland-wide recruitment drive with a particular focus on equality and diversity issues. The project will involve filming across Scotland and will draw on GovEd's experience in bringing together high-end documentary film-making techniques with specialist public sector communications.
GovEd Communications and CarbonSense have released a demonstration web-based version of the Carbon Quilt visualisation tools. The prototype can be viewed at www.carbonquilt.org. For further information, please contact us.
GovEd Communications has been asked to produce a DVD celebrating the successes of its 'Supporting People Programme', which focuses on helping vulnerable people live more independent lives. The DVD will be launched at a special celebration event in October 2009, and will feature the stories of some of the thousands of people who have passed through the programme.
The portable Space Signpost has been featured as a key exhibit at the 2009 Science Picnic in Warsaw, run by the soon to be opened Kopernik Science Centre. A full-sized Space Signpost is also due to be installed at the Centre when it opens in 2010.
GovEd Communications' wide range of science and space education resources, services and offers will be featured on the Memory4Teachers USB sticks and website when they are launched on 17th May 2009. For further details, please see the Memory4Teachers page in our Projects section.
GovEd Technologies has launched a Live Carbon Monitoring version of LiVEPosters. The complete turnkey solution includes energy monitoring equipment which can take real-time data and display in terms of carbon emissions on the LiVPoster. See the Live Carbon Monitoring page for more details.
The Science Photo Library and GovEd Communications have formed a partnership to open up the entire SPL database of 300,000 images for use by schools through a simple subscription offer. See the SPL page in our Projects section for more details.
GovEd and Footagevault have announced a partnership to enable schools to access the entire Footagevault.com space footage archive for a nominal subscription fee. The project has been launched as part of GovEd's contribution to International Year of Astronomy and to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first Apollo Moon Landings. Further details can be found on the Footagevault page in the Projects section of this website.
GovEd Technologies was invited to demonstrate LiVEPosters and Space Signpost to teachers at the Space Exploration Educators Conference 2009 in Leicester on 6th April 2009.
GovEd has been awarded a contract by JISC to provide 15,000 images for their Digital Images for Education Project. The images will be sourced from the Francesco Troina Collection and will be made available for use in teaching and learning materials and research projects in FE and HE.
GovEd Communications is working with the Downs School, Compton and West Berkshire Council on the design of new science laboratories.
GovEd Communications is extending its work in Space Education to coincide with International Year of Astronomy. In addition to existing curriculum, technology and outreach work in this area, GovEd is developing new partnerships and resources with leading space bodies, and is working with the STFC/SSAT-funded 'Leading Space Education' schools. Read more about our range of Space Education projects and resources.
LiVEPosters, LiVELinks and Space Signpost have received an excellent response from teachers, ICT staff and industry partners at BETT 2009. The newly-launched products from GovEd Technologies have been welcomed as a distinctive and original approach to using intuitive ICT for both teaching and learning and school communications. Watch the Teachers' TV interview with GovEd's managing director Ravi Kapur.
GovEd Technologies will be featured in the Teachers TV BETT Special programmes in January 2009. The channel will be filming new products at the GovEd stand (U75), inlcuding LiVEPosters, and the programme will be shown on air, online and around the BETT show itself.
GovEd Communications has been asked by the QCA to contribute to a series of consultations on the interim findings of the Rose Review of Primary Education. Following on from GovEd's extensive work on the Open Futures skills-based learning programme for primary schools, the GovEd team will make a particular contribution to considerations relating to enquiry-based learning and Philosophy for Children.
GovEd Communications has been engaged by Peckham Academy to produce a DVD about the school. The video package will be used for recruitment and promotional purposes. It will use a strong visual and narrative approach to capture the ethos and atmosphere of the Academy and will feature some of the unique vocational and skills-based learning facilities in the school.
GovEd Communications' has collaborated with the Ideas Foundation to produce animated and live action short films in conjunction with school pupils, as part of an education project linked to space tourist Richard Garriott. The films were screened at a special event at the House of Commons on 9th December 2008, with Richard Garriott in attendance.
GovEd Technologies' product range 'DigiPosters' has been renamed as 'LiVEPosters', to better reflect their unique ability to provide live feeds of data, imagery and information into the classroom. A new range of 'LiVEScreens' and 'LiVELinks' products have also been announced. See the Technology section for more details.
The latest re-vamp of the GovEd Communications website has gone live, featuring a new layout and navigation, and a more detailed Technology section. Further new features will be rolled-out in the first quarter of 2009, including an online order form for GovEd Technologies products, RSS feeds and blogs.
GovEd has produced a ten minute film featuring interviews with innovative members of staff from Milton Keynes Childrens' Services, to be shown at the start of the Woughton Review Conference in Milton Keynes on 6th November 2008.
GovEd has produced a ten minute film to kick-start the Harris Federation Conference on 24th October 2008, featuring interviews with staff and pupils from across the Federation's seven schools. In addition, GovEd will film the conference and produce an edited summary of the day's events.
GovEd Technologies (a division of GovEd Communications) has announced its products for BETT 2009, which include LiVEPosters (formerly 'DigiPosters') and a new, portable, USB version of Space Signpost. Details of a competition to win a LiVEPoster system are also announced.
A slight name change and a full re-branding have marked the re-launch of the Open Futures (now with an 's') initiative, following extensive strategy, scale-up and communications work conducted for the Helen Hamlyn Trust by GovEd Communications. A full 3-year scale-up strategy and new business model will be submitted to the Trust by GovEd later this month.
GovEd Communications will be a sponsor of the space industry conference 'Space 08' at the Barbican Centre in London on 4th September. This marks the initiation of a new series of projects currently under development by GovEd Communications focused on Space Education and Space Science Communication.
GovEd has taken Project Faraday into an international dimension through its appointment by Aitchison College in Lahore, Pakistan, following their review of the Project Faraday outputs. GovEd will provide a range of services including stakeholder consultation, curriculum and accomodation analysis, and an ICT review and will provide a detailed feasibility report and 'educational brief' for new science facilities at this prestigious school.
The first network of the innovative 'real-time' science education product DigiPosters, developed by GovEd Technologies, has been delivered to the King's School in Peterborough.
GovEd has been commissioned by University College London to reversion the youth-oriented science drama film 'Jeffrey's Story' as a series of short episodes to run on social-networking website Bebo. The series includes newly filmed material and short 'video blogs' (or 'vlogs') from the central character.
The Helen Hamlyn Trust has announced a partnerhsip with Wakefield local authority which has seen partcipation in the Open Future project nearly double, following strategic support form GovEd Communications.
The main output from the DCSF-funded Project Faraday exemplar design process has been published. GovEd Communications led one of the three consortia asked to conduct a root and branch review of school science facilities, lead an international research exercise and produce comprehensive architectural designs for exemplar science facilities. For more information about the project and how to download the publications, click here.
GovEd Communications has launched a new division called GovEd Technologies. This new area of the business will take forward the design, development, manufacture and sales of innovative, interactive education and public communication technology products. GovEd Technologies will also conduct research and development on new products and will design and develop web-based projects.
The King's School in Peterborough, one of GovEd's partner schools on Project Faraday, has become the first Faraday school to order interactive products partly developed during the initiative. King's has ordered a network of DigiPosters and a portable Space Signpost. The school will begin its Faraday refurbishmnet building work later in 2008.
The Helen Hamlyn Trust has appointed GovEd Communications to conduct a comprehensive review of its flagship education programme 'Open Future', to develop a new financial model for the initiative, and to develop a mid- to long-term strategy for scale-up of the programme nationally. Open Future is a primary-focused initiative to provide a skills-based learning approach in schools.
GovEd Communications has been prominently featured in a new Teachers' TV programme looking at the design of school science labs. The programme, 'Innovation - Science Labs of the Future', will be broadcast on the main Teachers' TV digital channel, but can also be viewed and downloaded from the Teachers TV website at www.teachers.tv/video/24717
GovEd Communications has been asked to partcipate in the 'Public Office' collaborative event with Kent County Council. The Public Office provides a unique collaborative opportunity for policy-makers, local authority and central government officials, and other stakeholders to partcipate in identifying opportunities to improve public service provision both locally and nationally.
When Teachers' TV decided to make a film about the new approaches to science education, they came to GovEd for advice. GovEd's experience with the Project Faraday (which involves the design of spaces for science and interactive science equipment) means that the company is at the cutting edge of science education. The film, which is currently in production, will feature members of the GovEd team as well as some of the designers which GovEd worked with on Project Faraday.
Thanks to the generosity our friends at ScienceScope, GovEd Communications gained valuable insight from teachers visiting the BETT show in Olympia. ScienceScope displayed an experiemental 'DigiPoster' on their stand, allowing GovEd to discuss potential uses for the new technology with teachers. GovEd's DigiPosters involve a unique combination of live and printed media. The research at BETT was encouraging, revealing much potential for the technology and enthusiasm from teachers.
The GovEd Communications website has been re-launched, with improved access to clips from GovEd's video projects.
The core research and design phase of the DCSF-funded Project Faraday has now drawn to a close with the submission of all architectural and interactive equipment design outputs. Further review and consultation work will be conducted in the first quarter of 2008, followed by publication of the main Project Faraday book and architectural design brochures. GovEd has a number of follow-up projects already in place to take forward the ideas and designs which have emerged from Project Faraday, and some Faraday schools will begin construction work later in 2008.
GovEd Communications has been asked to participate in an international consultation with leaders in education and industry, aimed at identifying the changing skills requirements of employers. The project is funded by Edexcel.
