Introduction

Our advice concerns the practical issues of using and maintaining the use of the Roamer throughout the school.

Encouraging Roamer's Use

Everyone needs to start by understanding how this can help them in their classroom. To do this they need to try a lesson. Use the activity library to find a suitable trial activity. Be aware that each activity has a teacher technical competence grading. Like knitting pattern guides we have beginner, experienced and expert. This helps you match the kind of activities done in the classrooms with the training and expertise of the teachers running the activities. In addition, our User Group and the GO Magazine will provide you plenty of exemplars and case studies that will inspire the use of the product. Please be patient: it will take time to put all this in place.

Technicalities

Roamer is a completely different technology to its predecessor Classic Roamer. It may seem familiar, but over the next couple of years you will see innovative ideas become possible as we roll out the design. Mobile phones incorporate sophisticated technology: as a user, you don't give this a second thought. Some people use it as a phone and nothing else. Others use all its ever-increasing capabilities. This is a good analogy for Roamer. Everyone will need to know the simple basics: ► Download a Behaviour into a Keypad Module ► Attach the keypad module to the Roamer Base Platform ► Charge the batteries We suggest you outline a personal development programme with each colleague and then customise our free online training course to suit your needs.

Keypad Modules

You can still program Roamer, but this is not necessarily the most common way of using it. You can have Keypad Modules with all sorts of different Behaviours. Nevertheless, it is worth getting Standard Roamers and then the Standard Roamer Behaviour CD. This will allow you to set up any Roamer with any of these Behaviours. The other thing you might want to consider is buying some spare Keypad Modules and loading them with the most frequently Behaviours. This is a matter of convenience. It allows you to convert rapidly from one Roamer character to another.

Purchasing Policy

Effective use of this technology will mean people will eventually use it, if not everyday, certainly regularly. There are always budget constraints, but because the system is modular, you can plan to introduce it in phases to match the growth of its adoption. If you use Roamer extensively then you probably should evolve towards each class having its own set up organised to suit its needs. This might be impossible in some situations. Then you should think about shared resources or a combination of the two. Things like the Standard Behaviour CD provides you with a different Roamer for all age groups, without needing to purchase another one. You will find RoamerWorld essential for managing and organising Roamer Behaviours and for accessing and downloading activities.

Head Teacher