Tell me more
You may have met E-ngagelive before. It began life as Superhighway Patrol and later became known as Net Detectives. For more information about how the resource has developed and subjects that have been have covered see past events.
E-ngagelive activities
If your class has never taken part in an engagelive activity then take the plunge and discover for yourself that it is a unique, valuable and exciting experience. You will find that your class will really enjoy using the technology that they normally associate with play and socialising. Once your children have logged into the event they can work at their own pace and they will receive individual help from the ‘control room.’
E-ngagelive activities take place on specific dates and times and you will easily find a session that fits in with your timetable. Each activity usually lasts between 60 & 90 minutes. During the session children working in a small team will take on a role of responsibility and manage an unfolding scenario which develops through a series of messages sent at roughly five minute intervals. Each message gives a little more information as the story unfolds. The messages are in a written format sometimes complimented by audio files, short movie clips or pictures.
What makes E-ngagelive so valuable is that during the activity your children can send questions or suggestions to the control room via the on-site messaging system which is staffed by relevant community professionals* for the particular activity. This means your children are working with real people from whom they gain insights into various aspects of the community and build positive attitudes. All messaging is secure and recorded.
*Community professionals and other control room staff are all ‘CRB checked’ prior to being allowed to participate in an activity.
If you think you might like to try this out then all you have to do is sign up. After you have been verified (normally takes one working day) then you can select an activity to take part in. This is how easy it is!
How to e-ngage your class!
- Firstly you must register with E-ngagelive. After verification, which normally takes one working day, you will be sent a personal username & password and one for your class. You can then log into the teachers area & pick a session from the list. This will be similar to the one published on the future events page. Sign up for whichever event(s) suit your timetable.
- Book your school ICT suite for the appropriate date/ time!
- At the appropriate time split your class into teams of 2 or 3 to a computer.
- Ask them to log into www.engagelive.net & press the action centre tab & then ask them to type in the class username & password.
- Ensure each team picks a different team name from the list available on the first page & that they read the Welcome Message when the engagelive page opens up.
- If you log on later than planned ensure your children work from the bottom of the messages box. I.e. Welcome, message 1 etc.
- Remind your class to type in a title for each message they are sending to the control room .i.e. ‘answer to Message 1’ so that the control room staff can identify what part of the scenario the team is on.
- Watch the e-ngagement begin!
E-ngagelive in the classroom
There are other ways to use the system and we leave this entirely under your control. Teachers have used many different approaches and all work satisfactorily. They include:
- Groups of two or three children seated at computers in a computer suite (as described above.)
- The whole class working at tables with one computer used for incoming and outgoing messages. This is best if the computer can be projected onto a large screen
- Groups of children working at tables with access to a small bank of computers which they use to send and receive messages
We do not recommend children taking part as individuals because they then miss out on the benefits of collaboration and discussion.
The main thing is to enjoy the experience. This is a live event and invariably captures children’s imagination and leads to a valuable and rewarding experience.