Following the successful Pilot Scheme of May 2009, many prep schools used the Online Examination Entry system for submission of the MFL CE Speaking Tests in May 2010.
An offline version of the software was provided for use during the examination period. It enabled files to be recorded onto the computer's hard disc in the event of an interruption to the school's internet connection. This provided a safety net for those schools with unreliable web connections.
New and noteworthy:
Tasks can be shared between teachers. For example, you can set work for your students and ask your teaching assistant to monitor students and mark their work. The results will appear in your markbook. Click the 'Advanced' tab when setting work to unveil this option.
Improved library and my resources. The interface has been streamlined, making it much easier to search for teaching resources and browse by category. We have recently also added many new French listening resources.
From winter 2009 to spring 2010, Schoolshape Examination Entry was used to record 1,120 mock exams at 41 different schools in the UK. In total, 117 hours and 12 minutes of audio was successfully recorded, including French, German and Spanish exams.
New and noteworthy
Fill-the-gaps exercises. You can now quickly and easily create automatically marked CLOZE exercises from any text.
Picture labelling exercises. You can now upload a picture and ask your students to label it. Answers are automatically marked.
Markbook export. You can export your markbook data as a CSV file for use in Excel or another spreadsheet program.
Whilst Britain's schools were paralysed during the early January snows, users of Schoolshape could continue learning. Students that could reach the school grounds logged in from home to participate in class work.
Particularly to be congratulated are Solefield school, whose students completed more than 200 pieces of work between 4th and 10th January, including 'French Code Breaking - places in town', 'French Snowy Activities' and 'Lettre a Pere Noel'.
From 10-17 March 2010, induction meetings will be held on the subject of 'Common Entrance MFL Speaking Tests: replacement of cassette recording by online system' at Cargilfield School, Malvern College, Ewell Castle, Ronan's School and York St John University.
After three months of hard work, version 1.0 of the Schoolshape Language Lab has been released! The Schoolshape team is working continuously on improvements and new features to help with the language learning process.
No Usernames: Teachers and students no longer have a username. Everyone now has to log in using their own names. A drop-down guesses the name after 4 characters have been typed in. Identical names within a school are differentiated on the drop-down.
From 9-13 November 2009, five induction meetings were held on the subject of 'Common Entrance MFL Speaking Tests: replacement of cassette recording by online system'
The hosts were Lockers Park School, Pangbourne College, St Mary's School, Downe House and St Paul's School. The agenda included a short demonstration of Schoolshape Examination Entry, followed by a practical ICT session. These meetings were attended by language teachers from 40 prep schools.
A pilot group of 8 prep schools took part in the Schoolshape trial scheme. Its aim was to update and streamline the recording of the MFL Speaking Tests by replacing cassette tapes with a custom-made, online system. The junior schools were: Brighton Prep, Caldicott, Homefield, Chafyn Grove, Cheam, Eaton Square, Locker's Park and St.Philip's.
| Aug 2 | Cayman Prep and High School |
| Jun 7 | St Mary's Hall, Stonyhurst |
| Jun 7 | Eaton Square |
| May 27 | Aysgarth |
| May 20 | St Piran's |
| May 17 | American Cooperative School of Tunis |
| May 15 | Holmewood House Kent |
| May 15 | The Elms |
| May 13 | The Pilgrims' School |
| May 11 | St Mary's Prep School Melrose |
