Mentoring online project developing creative writing skills

Ian Hoffman is the ICT Coordinator at Boroughmuir High School. Having come across Oracle’s free service, Think.com, at a Masterclass he attended, Ian was inspired to set up a pilot online learning project involving primary and secondary pupils. The aim is to develop the younger pupils’ creative writing skills. 

The project involves P7 pupils at local primary schools writing poems and uploading them onto their Think.com microsites. Their S5 mentors at Boroughmuir High access the poems, review them and write their comments on electronic post-it notes (‘stickies’), which the primary pupils can read when they log on again. 

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Teacher profile

Ian has been teaching for 24 years. He began as a teacher of physical education and then obtained a Diploma in Professional Studies (Computing) from Edinburgh University in 1989. For the last six years he has been teaching ICT and computing skills to S1-S6 pupils at Boroughmuir High School. He is currently head of computing and the ICT coordinator for the school. 

Like many teachers of computing, Ian relies on self-teaching to maintain his professional development in ICT skills. 

Having attended Masterclass ICT training for teachers, Ian was inspired by Think.com to develop the project. He is extremely enthusiastic about the pilot project and firmly believes in the positive outcomes of the project for the pupils - development of creativity, encouraging partnership and collaboration, and enhanced pupil and teacher relationships. 

Ian really enjoys liaising with the pupils during their 'Think.com' sessions. Here he gets a chance to exchange ideas with them as well as read some of their writing, which he finds very fresh, innovative and creative. 

Boroughmuir High School is located in Bruntsfield in the centre of Edinburgh. The building is housed in a three-storey listed building. The school opened its doors in September 1904 and this year celebrates its centenary. There are currently just over 1100 pupils. 

The school has approximately 200 computers connected to a high-speed local area network. All computers have broadband access to the internet. The school has five dedicated ICT suites and each classroom is equipped with at least one computer. 

An ICT coordinator (Ian Hoffman) works on a part-time basis. Some ICT training is available in-school for staff, augmented by local education authority and national continuing professional development (CPD) courses.