Julian Morgan waxed enthusiastic as he told the ARLT Summer School members about the Circe project that he is involved with. CIRCE is (roughly) an acronym for Classics and IT Resource Course for Europe.

The project is being organised by an efficient Belgian team, and has some, but not lavish, funding from the EU (300,000 euros). It is important that it produces results, or, in the jargon, 'outcomes'. The first of these is a manual for teachers of Classics in Secondary Schools. Julian emphasised that this is not supposed to be printed, ever. It's going to be on the web, and links to all sorts of helpful web sites are going to be an integral part of it. Julian himself is the editor, so the manual is going to be in English initially. Until 15th September the manual is being piloted.

The second part of the CIRCE project, the second 'outcome' will be a web site, on which the manual will have its home. A Greek team are working on that.

The third 'outcome' will be five-day courses for teachers, with EU funding for a limited number of teachers, but room for others who can arrange their own funding.

Although the most interesting part of the manual sounds as if it will be the detailed, specific teaching projects, we did not have time to study those. The manual will have useful sections on Why teach Classics? Why use ITC? Why use ITC in Classics? The section on integrating ITC into Classics teaching will in fact be a reworking of Julian's own useful little printed guide. Other sections will explore the role of the teacher in the new world of computer-assisted learning, and tips on on-line learning.

Julian described the sections of case studies and examples of good practice as being like a bowl of cherries: no one would expect to plough through the lot, but would pick any that they fancied. One example that Julian put into the 'superb' category is the Eton College on-line Greek project, which is not only superb but also free. Just try the Greek vocabulary tester here: http://146.101.4.41/Greek/vog.htm  Apparently they have an AS level tester as well. Our own Wilf O'Neill has contributed a section on the partially sighted and the use of computers. He told me in private conversation about a couple of sites that will test your own web sight for suitability for the partially sighted - and he said that the RNIB's own site does not entirely pass the test!

All lesson plans in the manual follow the same template, with everything one is taught in training college to include in one's lesson plan. Julian is particularly keen on the lesson plans contributed by the French team.

There will even be a section on the use of fonts - the Italians are keen on this and are providing this section.

Appendices include technical notes, legal issues, a very interesting survey of Classics in each country of the EU, a review of software, a selection of live links to recommended web sites, and a list of CIRCE partners.

When the manual is complete and on the web, everything will be free and copyright-free, and Julian will be putting a selection of his own pictures on the site, a different selection every so often, to encourage teachers to keep visiting the site. (For top quality versions of his pictures we shall still have to buy his excellent CD roms.)  

Speaking of Julian's own productions under the title JProg, he told us that his company has won government approval for the 'curriculum online' scheme. This means that state schools can get his software with government money - and Julian suggests that independent schools will need to keep up. Not that he is trying to push sales of his materials - perish the thought! No seriously, he is doing the Classics teaching world good service by his enterprise, and schools will be wise to support him by using his fine products. (Can I have that bottle of champagne now please, Julian?)

For people like me, who didn't know about the 'curriculum online' scheme, the place to find out is apparently http://www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/WishList/WishList.htm.

Julian's next disc is going to be on Roman Spain. Remind me to tell you about my brilliant trip to Emerida sometime. Julian told us that some of his older programs didn't work very well with Windows XP, so he has rewritten them.