Nearpod

Whilst doing some research to support the iPad trial today I came across Nearpod - a way of creating and sharing interactive presentations (which you can create yourself). Nearpod enables the synchronised use of iPads, iPhones, ipod touches etc.. within the classroom; students ‘join’ the presentation on their individual device and the teacher can control the pace of the activity as they work through the presentation. You can include interactive content such as polls and quizzes and multimedia content such as videos and slideshows can be included as well as searching online content within the presentation itself. Student responses to polls and quizzes etc.. are all shown on the teachers iPad to assess student knowledge and understanding throughout the activity. Nearpod is a free download which in itself has a great deal of functionality, however this needs to be upgraded to a paid version for some features such as adding slideshows and browsing the web within the presentation. The free version also limits the number of presentations you can have in your library and the size whilst the paid for versions remove this restriction. Nevertheless the free version enables you to produce some great presentations with interactivity for use in the classroom.

The video below gives a brief overview of how it works and more information can be found on the Nearpod website.

I am not in a position to try this with a class as we are not a 1:1 iPad school and we are only in the midst of a small scale iPad trial with a small group of staff to look at the potential; however, I can already envisage how this could be put to use if students had access to devices which could link to the presentation and I look forward to trying this out further and keeping an eye on how it develops. I am intending to try it out with a small group of staff at our next iPad trial meeting. One of the pitfalls is that all students have to work through the presentation at the same pace as the teacher controls the change of slides / activity so it doesn’t enable personalised learning for students who prefer working at different pace or want to return to content for consolidation. Nevertheless this certainly has potential for use with certain groups of students.

Embedding a Voki avatar in SMART notebook (Notebook 11)

Having tried the widget for embedding YouTube clips I have been investigating a few more of the widgets available on SMART Exchange. It is a few years since I have used Voki – but it has potential for use in the classroom. Here is a great little widget for embedding any Voki avatar you produce directly into SMART notebook so that they can be used as an integral part of a lesson resource. It is very simple to use.

Simply download the widget here. Go to the Gallery in SMART notebook and click on the arrow next to My Content. Select add new content and browse to where you have downloaded the widget. This should then add it to your Gallery ready to use. Then simply create your Voki and grab the embed code.

Embedding YouTube Clips straight in SMART notebook

I have just been playing around with a very handy little widget for embedding YouTube clips straight into Notebook. It plays from the internet so still requires internet access but it is very handy having the video embedded straight into the page and although I have only tried a couple it seems to work very well. You can download the widget from Smart Exchange here and Danny Nicholson has given a quick and easy to follow tutorial of how to install the widget on his excellent Whiteboard Blog.

Stop Motion Animations – MonkeyJam

A colleague has asked me to help with some ideas for how to carry out stop motion animation that they wish to get their students involved in and this has made me pause to evaluate the options with regards to stop motion animation. I firstly remembered the useful video below which I blogged about back in 2010.

How to make a Stopmotion animation2

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We have used stop-motion animation in the Geography Department for a couple of years to encourage students to apply knowledge and understanding in the formation and development of coastal landforms and also in documenting the processes and features created at different plate boundaries in the study of plate tectonics. We have used plasticine for students to create and manipulate models and used flip cams to record stills which have then been stitched together in moviemaker. The results have been variable, there have been some great films produced, whilst others have been less successful. The method we have used in the past has been quite time consuming which has meant that some have been started and not finished, some have also been quite ‘stop start’ and lack the smooth look of some animations. I am therefore keen to look at how we can rationalise the process and what other software could be used. I am therefore going to have a look at MonkeyJam, a free stop-motion animation programme.

There are a number of basic tutorials available on YouTube for how to use MonkeyJam (see below) and by all accounts it seems very user friendly.

MonkeyJam seems to work well with a web cam as shown in the video, however this tutorial video from the BBC show how to use a digital camera and simply then import the images into Monkeyjam to carry out 2D animation; the beauty of the webcam however is the ability to capture straight into the Monkeyjam software.

There are some great examples of stop-motion animations on YouTube using lego figures – for example this short one on Free Running

I am looking forward to seeing what our students might be able to produce!

SMART Notebook 11 to be launched soon!

SMART notebook 11 is due to be launched this Spring and it looks like there are some exciting new developments, including the ability to add widgets and work with web pages within a notebook page (as well as much more!)

The video below outlines what we can look forward to!

Exploring QR Codes in Education

Keen to continuing researching the use of new technologies in supporting students learning, I am particularly keen to look at the technologies which they are already familiar with including smart phones. Having entered the world of the iphone a couple of years ago I have since seen a huge growth in the number of students with some kind of smart phone. Although I have been aware of QR codes for a while I have never stopped to consider their potential uses in education until stumbling across some articles whilst doing some research for my AST role.

So what are QR codes?

A QR code is a barcode like logo which can be scanned by smart phones, tablets etc. These codes can contain a variety of information which they direct the user to once scanned, including weblinks and text.

There are already a variety of interesting articles on the use of QR codes in education:

QR codes in education

Can QR codes enhance student learning?

QR Codes in the classroom

QRC101 is an excellent resource site focusing on the use of QR codes in education with a whole series of links to articles, videos and presentations. There is a huge amount of information here and I have only just started exploring it.

I also found this very interesting ‘critical’ overview of QR Codes and Education (http://itbabble.com/2011/09/03/qr-codes-and-education/) which sparks debate and questions the value of QR codes and whether they are gimmicky rather than adding to the educational value. A very interesting read and something I am keen to respond to more when I have tried it for myself.

So where do I go from here?

I am keen to start trying out QR codes in the classroom, but don’t want to ‘force’ them into all my teaching so I am going to start with just a focus on the VI form and thinking about how I can use the codes to help the students connect more with their
learning and encourage them to read around the subject more. As a starting point I
have done the following:

(i) Year 12 – are currently working on river features along the course of the river and are going to be constructing A3 sheets for the Upper, Middle and Lower course with
detailed notes and diagrams on the formation of the associated features. QR
codes already embedded on the sheets links to photographs of the features.
These will also be used for homework to encourage students to describe features
from a photograph.

(ii) Year 13 are looking at the sustainable management of rainforests and tomorrow’s lesson will focus on looking at a range of strategies that can be used. It is important that the students become more critical and start to evaluate the strategies and QR codes have been embedded in the notes sheets that will be used in the lesson to a
range of articles providing different points of view on a number of management
strategies.

I have also created an interactive display for my Year 11 form’s careers board with details of VI forms and colleges with QR codes providing direct links to prospectuses and websites from the display itself.

Other more general ideas to explore for the term ahead:-

• · Interactive Geography in the News Wall display – pictures and headlines of major geographical news stories with associated QR codes linking to online news video clips, websites and further images.
• · Interactive Revision Guides – to help ensure students have a fully integrated and interactive revision programme at GCSE. Current revision guides updated to include QR codes with links to the online resources, specific podcasts and where relevant model answers to exam questions.
• Further Extension links in presentations used in A’level lessons to encourage students to undertake further background reading.
• · Use of QR codes on information posters around school (thanks to mrjmutton for this idea)

A working list which will hopefully be updated as inspiration strikes!

There are undoubtedly a number of issues I am going to need to consider. What about students without smart phones? Am I getting over enthusiastic about something that will turn out to be just gimmicky? Or will it genuinely provide another way of encouraging students to interact and connect with their learning? I look forward to finding out!

New MFL Website – MYLO

A new website for Modern Foreign Languages from the Department for Education, called MYLO, has been launched today. It is aimed at KS3 and KS4 language learners and offers online learning opportunities for French, German, Spanish and Chinese.

The aim of the site is to engage learners in languages, raise competence and to encourage them to continue studying languages. The site is arranged as a series of challenges. It includes many games and activities and is free to anyone! Whilst individuals can register, by registering as a school you can create a group with unique access codes for your learners and it allows teachers to track the work of individuals and review progress.

Further information and updates can be found on the MYLO blog .

6 Starter Ideas using the IWB

Danny Nicholson of the Whiteboard Blog has published this short video (8 mins) from a recent Teachmeet session he did showing 6 quick ideas for starters using the IWB – some great ideas here to get you thinking and easily adapted for all curriculum areas! Well worth a watch!

Lesson Activity Toolkit Tip of the week – 1. Using the Random Group, Random Name & Spinner! (all subjects!)

Some great little tools from the SMART Lesson Activity Toolkit (2.0) to use in your lessons – suitable for all curriculum areas! To find them simply click on the gallery tab in SMART notebook, select Lesson Activity Toolkit and then in the search box type what you are looking for i.e. “Random Word Chooser”; “Random Group Chooser” or “Spinner”. Let me know if you have any problems. Please also let me knows of any particular ways these have been useful in the classroom so we can share the ideas with others.

RANDOM WORD CHOOSER

A great little tool – simply type in a set of words and click select, the tool will flick through the words and randomly select one:

Ideas for use:
I’m sure you can all think of lots of uses for this little tool, but a few ideas to get you started……. let me know of any other ways you think of and we can share them on here.

• AFL tool for identifying students during questioning – input class set names and randomly select a student for answering a question
• Key word terminology – Revision activity – input a set of key terms related to a particular area – randomly select one and ask students to define the key term.
• Maths starter – you can type in numbers (thus equations or sums) and not just words – could get computer to select 5 at random as a little starter?
• MFL – key words in the target language for a particular topic area – randomly selected and students have to give the translation.

2. RANDOM GROUP GENERATOR

A great little tool for any activity in any subject involving group work and for which you want to randomly mix students.

(i) Simply insert the names of the students in your class and select the number of groups you want to split them into

(ii) Click generate…. and hey presto…!

3. SPINNER

A simple spinning tool – you can add text or simply have colour coded segments. To edit click on the arrows on the right of the spinner and you will get the selection box below. To type a word into each segment, make sure you keep clicking on the relevant segment or it will simply save over the one you have just named.

Ideas for use:
Again I’m sure you can come up with lots of ideas for use – just drop me an email so I can add to the list!

1. Name selector (again add names and then set the spinner) – would work ok for smaller groups like VI form
2. Revision - topic areas on spinner – ‘hot-seating’ – students have to select a topic area and then answer a question from it
3. Revision – simillar to above but student selects a key term / case study using topic and then has to tell the rest of the class as much as they know about it, or describe the key term etc.
4. Again numbers can be inputed as well as text – enabling maths equation style questions.

 Examples:

Topic areas / Revision use:

Name selector:

Games for the IWB

A quick reminder as we start the new year of the value of interactive games in the classroom, particularly now all teaching rooms have access to IWB facilities. There are lots of free games aimed at particular subjects available on the web, however remember we also have access to software in school, including the Content Generator software (Penalty Shootouts etc.) to make our own games. For more details please see last years post on Using Games in the Classrom.

HOT POTATOES QUIZ SOFTWARE - Now free

You can find out more about what Hot Potatoes quiz software can be used for including examples in the using games in the classroom post. But you should be aware that the software is now freeware and therefore can easily be downloaded and used at home.

You can download instructions from the website – but if you come and see me I have 3 spare printed help guides.

Hot Potatoes have also now made their Quandary software free. This software enables you to create web based action mazes which can be used for problem-solving, diagnosis and surveys/questionnaires etc. Students are faced with a series of options – the option they then choose will lead them on a particular path for which they are then given further options. To get the idea – try out this Henry II and Thomas Becket history action maze from Andrew Field.

Here is a list of just some of the many websites offering online sources of educational games:

• Business Studies
• Interactive Games http://www.teachingbusiness.co.uk/index-12.html
• Geography
  Games4Geog http://www.games4geog.com/
• GeoBytes Games  (St  Ivo School) http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoBytes/GeoGames/geogames.htm
• GeogOnlineGames (includes both Geography and History Games) http://www.geogonline.org.uk/GeogGames.htm
• English
• English Language Games http://www.lapasserelle.com/lm/exercices/games.html#contentgeneratormatching
• ICT
• Revise Computing  http://www.revisecomputing.co.uk/
• Revise ICT http://www.reviseict.co.uk/
• ICT History (History of ICT) http://www.icthistory.co.uk/?cat=12
• Maths
• Online Maths Games http://www.crctlessons.com/math-online-games.html
• Maths Games http://freemaths.net/games
• Maths Games (Congleton High School) http://clc2.uniservity.com/GroupHomepage.asp?GroupID=56757
• MFL
• Large number of Modern Languages Games (Thorpe St Andrews School) http://www.thorpelangsdept.info/interest.htm
• Includes Quizzes and Games (Notre Dame High School, Norwich) http://www.yjc.org.uk/
• SCIENCE
• Science Review Games http://sciencereviewgames.com/srg/
• RE
• Online Games (RS Revision) http://www.rsrevision.com/contents/games.htm

Remember there are also lots of templates for creating games using the Lesson Activity Toolkit in SMART notebook - I will be posting a reminder of some of these over the next few weeks.