In education there are myriad opportunities to harness technology to help children and older students with their learning. ICT, Audio Visual and broadcast technologies are increasingly used across the curriculum, allowing students to absorb technical skills from a very young age that will be relevant as they grow up, and they also bring a visual element to their work. From creating presentations to providing behind-the-scenes services for school productions, plus of course media-specific courses, these are all educational opportunities – so it makes sense to provide students with the kind of equipment that they will encounter in the real world.
Fineline has over 20 years of experience in the media industry. We have built excellent relationships with the key manufacturers of cameras, audio equipment, lighting equipment, screens and projectors, post-production equipment and AV kit, including Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Ikegami, Yamaha, Sennheiser, Shure and Avid. These links allow us to create finance packages that offer you the best possible deal, suit your budget and protect your purchase – you'll know exactly what you're buying and what the terms are, so there are no nasty surprises. We also adhere to the FLA Educational Guidelines [link], we understand that purchasing for schools can be challenging, so we aim to make our side of the transaction as easy and straightforward as possible.
Examples
-
Providing a Springboard
Fineline Media has made a donation of Apple and DELL computer equipment to the Springboard Islington Trust.
"The Trust does important work with a wide range of people who, for various reasons, have not had the opportunities the rest of us may have enjoyed, and we are really pleased to be supporting its work," comments Gareth Wilding.
Originally set up in 1977, the Trust is a registered charity and in the past thirty years has become one of the largest community based learning organisations in north London catering for the skills needs of over 1000 young people and adults each year. Its Youthreach project, meanwhile, caters for the learning and development needs of young people who become disengaged from mainstream education in years 10 and 11.
It operates from four main training centres in the boroughs of Islington and Haringey and is an accredited provider of vocational training in the areas of construction, childcare, sport and recreation, and media. As well as a wide range of foundation programmes and key skills courses, it also offers learners the opportunity to participate in an extensive range of personal development in areas as diverse as football, sport and fitness, music, art, dance drama, and multimedia.
Trust director Dennis Dillon said "I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fineline for making all this possible - it is very much appreciated and needless to say this will be put to good use in providing media training to unemployed young people and adults."
-
Recording Young Voices
Young Voices is one of those things that, unless you stumble across it via your kids or friends with kids, will be completely off your radar. Essentially it's an organisation that involves children in music by staging what are effectively the largest school concerts in the world. Schools rehearse separately, then come together to perform massive regional concerts of massed choirs in front of an audience of doting – and usually extremely impressed – parents. The concerts also involve some big name stars, and the last four years have seen the inclusion of Katherine Jenkins, Lee Ryan, Joss Stone, Lemar, Beverley Knight, Heather Small, Des'ree, Pop Stars The Rivals winner Keith Semple from One True Voice, and X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke.
Nick Pudsey of Pembrokeshire Video Productions has been involved in filming the eight-strong yearly programme of concerts since 2004. "The DVDs are bought by parents and, as they are a memento of the evening, obviously HD was the way forward," he says.
A long-time and loyal Panasonic user, Nick decided to invest in a HPX-500 P2 camera from DS Video in Cardiff, financed by Fineline.
"Nothing was too much trouble for Fineline," he comments. "We found that they could relate not only to us, but to what we were doing and the equipment we were buying as well."
The equipment has performed well too, which it needs to do when so many children are singing their hearts out in front of its lens.
"I'm probably still slightly getting to grips with tapeless," Nick confesses, "but it definitely has its advantages. We don't have to rely on tape, we don't suffer dropouts, and with no moving parts the wear and tear on the camera will be much less. Also, the quality of the camera and the pictures we're getting out of it are very good and, so far, everything has performed first-class."
-
Fineline funds AV and ICT Project at the National College for School Leadership (NCSL)
NCSL demonstrates model behaviour for technology integration in education.
Fineline has provided substantial funding to enable NCSL to lease new audio visual and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment. NCSL's newly opened Learning and Conference Centre now boasts such equipment as interactive whiteboards, DVDs, plasma screens, digital projectors, VCRs and audio equipment.
The College has also installed its own internal ICT infrastructure and "Learning Gateway," a personalised web-based service for school leaders which includes popular online communities.
Based in Nottingham in its new state-ofthe-art Learning and Conference Centre, the College has dedicated residential and conference facilities where courses, workshops and seminars are held for the development of leaders in education.
Founded in October 2000, NCSL provides career-long learning and development opportunities, as well as professional and practical support for existing and aspiring school leaders in England. Its goal is to ensure that school leaders have the skills, recognition, capacity and ambition to transform the school education system in England into the best in the world.
Phil Woodhead, Project Coordinator for NCSL, commented: "Dealing with Fineline is very easy. They know what we need. They always come up with the goods, and they always offer helpful and useful information. We have one single point of contact at the Fineline office, which makes it easy and efficient to work with them."
Pete Anstey, Director of Organisation and Development at NCSL added: "The leasing agreement we have in place with Fineline is well matched to our needs. Through the delivery of the programmes to our clients, and the internal ICT infrastructure we have in place at the College, we are a working example of how technology should be integrated into education."
Gareth Wilding, Director, Fineline Media Finance said: "The flexible approach to audio visual finance offered by Fineline is helping NCSL keep right up to date with the latest information and communication technologies and so become a beacon of best practice for integration of technology in education."
