iPad Trial 2 – Starting to Evaluate

It might seem like a bit of a leap from my first post of introducing the trial to the second one being starting to evaluate, but it has been a hectic few months with so many things going on. I will still break down and share findings in future posts such as useful apps etc. but in the meantime we are meeting as a group this week and on the agenda is the initial stage of evaluation.

To try and draw together thoughts and ideas there are a number of questions we are going to discuss as a group and as we continue with the trial we need to think about potential next steps and how we could move things forward.

The questions we are going to be considering are:

EVALUATING THE iPAD TRIAL – The story so far….
(a) Teaching using the iPad

1. How has the iPad helped fulfil general admin tasks as a teacher, has it made everyday life easier?
2. How have iPads enhanced the learning experience of your students? Have they? Could they?
3. Is there anything that has held you back in getting the most out of using the iPad as a Teaching and Learning tool?
4. Is there anything that you can do with the iPad that is not possible or is more difficult to achieve without it?

(b) Potential for student use?
5. What further potential does the iPad have for transforming learning opportunities for students in the way we teach?
6. Do you feel students could make good use of iPads in your subject area? If so in what kinds of ways?
7. In what ways does the iPad have potential to support students? SEN? Gifted and Talented? A’level students etc..?

MOVING FORWARD
8. What technical issues / problems have arisen when using the iPad which need addressing?
9. Are there any particular concerns over e-safety and use of the iPads by students that need to be considered?
10. What would be the main goals of any future iPad implementation? Engagement, access to digital textbooks, access to digital environments, watching videos / listening to audio; media production (editing of photos / video), or a mixture?
11. What do would be the main challenges in increasing use of iPads / implementing use with students?
12. Will iPad use always require forward planning? Or have you found tools which you would be able to naturally integrate into lessons when needed (adding to the teachers everyday toolkit)?

… and so the next stage in the trial commences!

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.

Think piece on Revision Practises and Online Video

Further to my previous post regarding new research from O2 Learn, they have published a very interesting think piece called “Review of Revision Practises and the value of Video Lessons” which is well worth a read. Some really interesting points at a particular pertinent time in the school year as we are preparing students for the public exam.s

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!

02 Learn – The National Final – your chance to vote!

You may remember the feature I posted in Nov 2010 announcing the new O2 learn website, an innovate education initiative designed to celebrate the UK’s finest teaching and create a lasting learning resource to help young people achieve their ambitions. The website encouraged teachers to upload and share videos of their best lessons, with the aim of building Britain’s biggest classroom online and to give all young people, everywhere, from all backgrounds, access to inspiring teaching.

02 learn is now getting ready for the national final! Of all the teachers to have uploaded videos onto the website throughout the past year, judges have whittled it down to a shortlist of the best eight videos and you can now vote for your favourite on the O2 website. The public vote in conjunction with a judging panel will decide the winning teaching and school. The voting deadline is midnight on the 28th September and you have one vote! The winning teacher will receive £50,000 and their school £100,000. There alre also large monetary prizes for the second and third places.

Gav Thomspon, creater of O2 learn, said: “O2 learn celebrates the UK’s finest teachers and shares their great teaching with as many students as possible. We want to create a long-lasting, valuable learning resource for young people verywhere. The finalist videos are testament to the high quality, creative and innovative teaching that is happening in the classrooms all over the country.”

Twittertastic! – using Twitter in Education

Danny Nicholson has recently published a new blog post on his Whiteboard Blog, called “Ten Twitter Tips for Teachers“. Danny has written a short guide to Twitter for Teachers before, but as the name of his recent post suggests, here he provides 10 quick tips for people interested in getting started with twitter.

I often hear people being quite sceptical of twitter, but this is usually before they have actually tried it! I have been using twitter for about 3 years now and have found it invaluable for professional development and the reciprocal sharing of ideas and links with fellow educationalists not just from the UK but around the world. Give it a go and be amazed by the links and professional development opportunities it opens up. You can soon find people with simillar subject specific / pedagogical interests who you can follow!

Educational Use of Twitter

This blog post by Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University considers the use of Twitter a as a teaching tool – it includes an interesting “top 10 uses of twitter for education”. There are many other ideas and links to suggested ways of using Twitter in education on the EmergingEdTech website here.

A collaborative online book on Twitter for Teachers is also a growing resource for teachers keen to look at the potential of twitter.

Google Art Project

Last week Google launched their new Google Art Project. The Google team have joined forces with 17 major art museums across the globe. The project uses Google’s “Street-view” technology, enabling visitors to take a virtual walk through the galleries of museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the Tate Britain in London. The paintings of the galleries have been captured in high-resolution enabling incredible clarity in close up analysis of paintings which before required a trip around the globe to see in such detail.

This is set to be a fantastic new resource for use in the Art classroom and will be brilliant for use with IWB tools enabling students to truly interact with, explore and analyse major works of art.

The video clip below provides an introduction to the project and more detail.

StudyJams for Maths and Science

Thanks to Danny Nicholson (Whiteboard Blog) for the heads up on these excellent resources for Science and Maths (would be very useful for KS3). StudyJams is a website from Scholastic with many free resources, including teaching videos / animations and slide shows on a variety of Science and Maths topics. Each topic covered also has key vocabulary lists as well as a test yourself option and some even have fun ‘Karaoke’ sing alongs to help revise concepts! Well worth a look!

Stop Motion Animation

Here is a superb instruction video useful for students on how to make stop-motion animation! It was made by Catherine Elliott, the training manager at Sheffield South City Learning Centre. (some other great ideas from Catherine can be found in this post on Joe Dale’s MFL blog)

How to make a Stopmotion animation2

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 Could be very useful in many different curriculum areas, we have already used it successfully in geography this year for students to explore the formation of coastal landforms and some classes in science have been using it show animations of cell development. There are many other potential uses, for example in languages for students to design and narrate a short scene in their chosen language – using the mp3 microphones to create a soundtrack to go over their animation.