General Questions
What is Scoilnet?
What is a portal website?
Why should I use Scoilnet?
Who is the site aimed at?
How do I set Scoilnet as my default homepage?
Is it possible to submit resources that I find useful directly to Scoilnet site
Features of the site
What is Ed TV?
What is the clipboard and how do I use it?
What does the web accessible version offer above the standard version?
What is Schools Online?
What information about schools is displayed?
Teachers' Section
What can I find in the teachers' section?
How do I find curricular resources within the site?
Students' section
What is there for students at primary level?
How do I publish a story for the Story Time section?
What does Scoilnet offer to students at post primary level?
Parents' section
How does Scoilnet engage parents?
General Questions
What is Scoilnet?
Scoilnet is a portal website that aims to support Ireland’s education community by providing educational resources, curricular support, information and advice to students, teachers and parents. It is a key initiative of the Department of Education and Science.
What is a portal website?
A portal website is a central point of access to information and services specific to a topic. In the case of Scoilnet it is a portal website for primary and post primary education in Ireland.
Why should I use Scoilnet?
Portals usually are safe starting points for users new to the Internet.
Scoilnet offers an extensive range of subject and age specific resources that are evaluated by a panel of teachers to ensure relevance to the curricula in Ireland.
Scoilnet also provides free access (via the Schools Broadband Network) to two renowned online encyclopaedias, World Book Online and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Find out more about how to use Scoilnet from the following article called 10 Ways to use Scoilnet.
Who is the site aimed at?
Primarily, it is aimed at teachers, students and parents in the Irish education system. However, information and resources may have relevance to the global education community.
How do I set Scoilnet as my default homepage?
Open your browser e.g. Internet Explorer, and choose Internet Options in the Tools menu bar.
Click in the tab named General and type or copy the Scoilnet website address (http://www.scoilnet.ie/) into the text box to the right of Address.
Choose apply and ok.
Can I submit resources that I find useful directly to the Scoilnet site?
Scoilnet has a team of teachers (or Subject Matter Experts) that compile resources with relevance to specific areas of the curricula. However, if you find a resource that is especially good we would welcome your input. Use the “contact us” function to send us these links, which will then be reviewed by our Subject Matter Experts.
Features of the site
What is the clipboard and how do I use it?
The clipboard is a storage area for content of interest to the user that can be clipped from the Scoilnet site and stored in a pop up menu.
What is Schools Online?
Schools Online is an area of the site devoted to profiling Irish schools and teachers. Every fortnight during school term a School website is featured as Star site. A teacher is also profiled whereby their favourite websites are presented. In addition to this it includes information on finding partner schools, building school websites and a searchable database of Irish primary and post primary schools.
What information about schools is displayed?
The Find a School database in the Schools Online section displays the school name, school roll number, contact details and website.
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What is Ed TV?
Ed TV lists 4 weekly learning focused programmes featured on terrestrial channels. Where possible corresponding website addresses are also provided.
What does the web accessible version offer above the standard version?
This version is designed to enable each web page to download more quickly. Usually web accessible versions contain limited or no graphics and content is placed in such a way as to facilitate screen readers.
Teachers' Section
What can I find in the teachers' section?
The teachers' section is broken into First Level Teachers, Second Level Teachers and Special Needs Teachers. In addition to the sections common to the entire site, the teachers’ homepage offers the following items.
Resource Finder – allows the user to select a type of resource categorised by topics relevant to the primary, post primary curricula in Ireland.
In the news – focuses on current issues in the context of education.
What's New - this section was added in late 2009 to reflect new resources added to the Resource Finder.
In the classroom – presents a combination of resources, such as lesson plans, worksheets and relevant websites suitable for teaching the various curricular areas at primary and post primary level.
Support – links to areas of support within education such as programmes, organisations, unions etc.
In Brief - presents a range of Special Education Needs factsheets and links on topics such as Dyspraxia, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties and Autism.
How do I find curricular resources within the site?
Search : Type in a keyword in the search tool at the top right corner. The search function is located within all pages of the site and shows results from the Resource Finder, Imagebank (www.imagebank.ie), and Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Resource Finder: Use the Resource Finder if you are a primary/post primary/SEN teacher or post primary student. There are over 11,800 resources in the Resource Finder, all of which are categorised according to syllabus topics and subtopics. Resources are reviewed and rated by Irish teachers and include learning outcomes, descriptions, extension activities and where relevant, special needs notes.
Subjects Link: Try the School Subjects link if you are a primary student. This is located on the Primary Students page whereby resources are aligned to class, worksheet and library.
Teacher & Student Homepages: Visit the relevant student and teacher homepages to view highlights from the Resource Finder and other articles. These are evident in the following sections: In the classroom, What's New, Junior Cycle, Senior Cycle and Co-curricular.
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Students' sections
What is there for students at primary level?
The Primary Students Homepage is the main attraction for primary students. On it you'll find the following:
Quiz Time - Each week a quiz is created to test student general knowledge of a topic. A link to all quizzes is provided on this page.
Story Time - If students have an interesting story to tell, they can submit it to Story Time. The story will remain on the site for two weeks. All stories may be viewed by clicking on the “View All Stories button”.
Joke of the week – Each week the Scoilnet team will pick a joke for students to share with their friends.
Crosswords - List of subject-specific crosswords which are suitable for online and offline use.
Gaeilge Learning Units - Comprising quizzes, crosswords, interactive activities, display cards, flash cards and matching cards for nine themes.
Interactives - Interactive timelines, drag and drops and images to suit a selection of primary subjects and topics.
School Subjects – Resources in the form of worksheets, links to interesting websites and ideas for project work are available for 10 subject areas. An icon represents the availability of a resource type for 4 age groups.
Themepages - Each month a new thempage is presented. Usually, it reflects a season or topic relating to an area of the curriculum. Back to School, Summer, Migrating Birds, Ancient Civilisations, Fabric and Fibre, The Theatre are but a few examples.
Colouring Corner - Each week Scoilnet picks a letter of the alphabet
and presents four examples of words with pictures that begin with that
letter. Students can choose a picture to colour in by clicking on the
picture and printing it.
How do I publish a story for the Story Time section?
Stories can be submitted by clicking on the “Tell us a story button”, completing the form and typing in your story. This is located on the Primary Students Homepage. New stories are published twice/three times a week and a TopStory is published once a week.
What does Scoilnet offer to students at post primary level?
Post primary students can avail of a dedicated homepage where highlights from the Resource Finder such as quizzes and interactive activites, articles and other related links are available. On it students will find the following:
Resource Finder – enables students to find a curricular resource by selecting a subject and topic. A more advanced selection allows them to refine their selection by most recently added, Special Needs Only, and ranking.
Focus on – generally presents news items, themepages, quizzes, crosswords and article on topical issues
Junior cycle – Links to and briefly describes resources specific to the Junior Cycle curricula
Senior cycle - Links to and briefly describes resources specific to the Senior Cycle curricula
Co curricular – covers a range of topics from debating to sports to songwriting of interest to students both in and out of school
Parents' section
How does Scoilnet engage parents?
Scoilnet engages parents by presenting the following topics:
Site of the week – displays an educational site of specific relevance to parents and education.
In the News – focuses on current events topical to education and parenting.
Schooling – looks at general issues relating to schooling.
Special Needs – refers to websites with information on the various areas of special educational needs.
Focus on – explores an issue in-depth by providing links to information, articles, research and advice.