Espresso Education works with Local Education Authorities and Education Action Zones to bring local communities to life
15th November 2001
Your Espresso service gives schools truly unique local resources
Your Espresso is an exciting new service from Espresso Education, enabling Local Education Authorities (LAs) and Education Action Zones (EAZs) to create truly unique video-rich resources that stimulate learning amongst children and support teachers. Working in close partnership with LAs and EAZs, as well as local museums, art galleries and libraries, Your Espresso brings to life local history and community projects and is the type of locally-based resource that the Government has expressed a need for within the National Curriculum.
Each Your Espresso resource is entirely individual, but they all consist of an integrated electronic library of local resources with substantial video content and carefully researched websites. Videos last between one and two minutes and can be paused, started and rewound at any point. The broadcast quality video can be played at full-screen, making it ideal for whole-class teaching as well as individual learning.
Victorian Times at Beamish (a visit to a living museum) is an example of a module produced by Espresso for schools within the Northern Grid for Learning. The tailor-made module includes 40 minutes of full-screen, broadcast quality video as well as photographs and pictures from the museum archive, which can be copied and pasted into presentations or printed off to use away from the computer.
The module also includes web sites, already downloaded - or 'cached' - for easy access and worksheets with specific learning outcomes. There is also a Staffroom where teachers can find comprehensive support materials that offer lesson plans and guidance on how Your Espresso meets curriculum requirements.
Teachers in the Northern Grid area have found the CD-ROMs a great asset in preparing for a visit to the Beamish Museum, and for follow up activities. In short, it enhances the value of local resources and is equally valuable as a stand-alone resource for children who are unable to visit the Museum or who live in a different area of the country.
Jean Rowton, Producer, Your Espresso, explains:
Your Espresso allows LAs and EAZs to commission their own high quality learning resources, tailor-made to their own needs. These may be aimed at raising levels of literacy or numeracy or about producing local resources for citizenship. We are delighted to have already worked with EAZs and LAs in Birmingham, Bristol, Plymouth and Sunderland, as well as the Northern Grid, in the creation of exciting and relevant learning materials.
Any LA or EAZ can apply to have a Your Espresso created for their schools. It can either take the form of an add-on module for those subscribing to the 'Espresso for Primary Schools' broadband service, or can be delivered on CD-ROM for non-subscribers.
For further press information or paper versions of this release please contact:
Espresso Marketing, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, W6 9RL
Tel: +44(0)20 8237 1200
Fax: +44(0)20 8237 1201
Email: info@espresso.co.uk
