Star Lesson selected by East Sussex County Council - 31st March 2008
School technology specialist, Star Lesson™ (http://www.starlesson.com ), is to be offered by East Sussex County Council as a tool to give teachers complete control over recording, archiving and sharing footage of their best lessons for future training and teaching. Chosen from thousands of exhibitors at Europe's largest educational ICT exhibition - the Bett Show 2008 - Star Lesson has the demonstrable potential to be used at schools across the county.
Unlike existing systems, where cameras observe teachers whether they like it or not, Star Lesson uses a palm sized portable device, known as a dibba™, which is operated by the teacher alone, allowing them to choose whether and when the system records. The teacher can then privately view, manage and improve their skills without the need for expensive and intrusive third party observation; only when they are happy with the lesson outcome do they share footage with their peers and pupils.
Over time, the school can build up a centralised and networked video bank of hundreds of its most successful lessons, providing a valuable resource for trainee teachers as well as pupils who are sick or absent. The system runs on special propriety software that stops unauthorised uploading of the lessons to sites such as YouTube.
"Schools no longer have to invest time and money in the disruptive and unnatural process of having a second teacher standing at the back of the class with a handheld video camera," says Hamish Chalmers, Star Lesson's MD. "They say you never forget your best teacher and, in theory, Star Lesson means today's best teachers can still be around in 200 years."
Notes for editors
About Star Lesson
Star Lesson was officially launched at the Bett Show in January 2008. It is the first UK based company to manufacture a patented product designed specifically to enable teachers to record and archive footage of their own teaching. Star Lesson directly addresses the following key classroom requirements: classroom management, online learning, distance learning, school inclusion, teacher CPD, personal lesson observation, and teacher training.
