Been super busy over the last few months which has been exciting, inspiring and tiring all in one. Worked with excellent colleagues and technical support team to update our VLE to Sharepoint 2010, refresh school ICT hardware, update and amend policies, and coordinate the development of the new school website. Only another 1 million jobs to do and then I will be finished!
On top of these responsibilities I have been developing the use of new web 2.0 tools in the classroom. I have been impressed with Stixy, Sparkol and as always Google Docs. Trying to use Google Docs as much as possible with students to collaborate on work, share their findings and share their work with me.
Big thanks to BT48.com for developing an amazing new website, which is close to being launched, on a very small timescale. Turn around has been excellent and efficient. Expertise and understanding of our need has been exceptional.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Whole School E-Learning Strategy
I have been working closely with a group of staff to develop a whole school e-learning strategy. It is very exciting to work with a professional and motivated group that are very keen on developing Teaching and Learning through the use of ICT. We have already planned to run a series of inset sessions that will no doubt help support the whole staff and engage with students and enrich their learning.
Through working with the group we are planning to roll out a sustained programme of events with a focus on 6 technologies in each year, 2 * 1hr sessions per technology. This is a change to my previous system which was based on roliing out 12 * 1hr sessions. The main benefit being that there will always be a follow up session for staff to review their learning and adapt or develop how they have implemented the technology. The commitment of these staff is second to none and it looks likethe school will be reaping the benfits in the next academic year.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed including reviewing student voice, staff voice and putting the sessions on the calander. In addition, the staff involved want to share their learning journeys with each technology through a blog.
Amazing!
Through working with the group we are planning to roll out a sustained programme of events with a focus on 6 technologies in each year, 2 * 1hr sessions per technology. This is a change to my previous system which was based on roliing out 12 * 1hr sessions. The main benefit being that there will always be a follow up session for staff to review their learning and adapt or develop how they have implemented the technology. The commitment of these staff is second to none and it looks likethe school will be reaping the benfits in the next academic year.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be completed including reviewing student voice, staff voice and putting the sessions on the calander. In addition, the staff involved want to share their learning journeys with each technology through a blog.
Amazing!
Tuesday 10 May 2011
Collaborative Tools
Running a CPD session tonight on collaborative tools. Showing some of the following Google Doc's, Primary Pad, Linoit, Blogging and Edmodo. Hopefully staff will get a lot out of the session and will continue to use ICT within their lessons and across the VLE.
Wednesday 4 May 2011
Spicynodes :
Haven't had the time to blog recently but thought that I would write about something that I am currently trying out. I have heard good things about Spicy Nodes so hope it lives up to my expectations.
Spicynodes :
Spicynodes :
Thursday 17 March 2011
Teachmeet @St John's #tmstjohns
Well, it's all done and dusted but hopefully the conversations will continue. Lots of great ideas were shared and the "buzz" of the meeting was positive. It was great to see some staff that you don't get a chance to catch up with or share ideas.
I have already had offers for presenters for the next one and now need to think about getting it planned! Today's TM was at lunch so it was a bit of a rush over 45mins and 6 presentations, ( 1 micro and 5 nano). Next time I think that if the full benfits are to be gained it will be an after school event over 2 hrs. Would the school sponsor it and some drinks???
I have already had offers for presenters for the next one and now need to think about getting it planned! Today's TM was at lunch so it was a bit of a rush over 45mins and 6 presentations, ( 1 micro and 5 nano). Next time I think that if the full benfits are to be gained it will be an after school event over 2 hrs. Would the school sponsor it and some drinks???
Wednesday 16 March 2011
Teachmeet @ St John's
Running a mini internal "Teachmeet" at school tomorrow during lunchtime. St John's have kindly supported the event and are providing lunch for all attending. Take up has been very good over 20 staff in total and 7 delivering presententations.
My presentation will be based around the following Linoits.
Using Linoit in Education
My class Linoit
I am excited by this opportunity and new format and hope to incoporate it more in staff training events in the future.
I will post more info after the event.
My presentation will be based around the following Linoits.
Using Linoit in Education
My class Linoit
I am excited by this opportunity and new format and hope to incoporate it more in staff training events in the future.
I will post more info after the event.
Thursday 10 March 2011
Better Planning
As a follow up to the badly timed Blogging session I delivered another session this week to trainee teachers. It went well and hopefully planted the seed of blogging and other elearning tools so that they can trial technologies in their own practice.
There are now a numer of bloogs up and running in school and students are fully engaging with the variety of activities that teachers are using them for!
There are now a numer of bloogs up and running in school and students are fully engaging with the variety of activities that teachers are using them for!
Monday 14 February 2011
Bad planning!
Planned an elearning workshop for today. Oops, forgot it was valentines day! Turn out was less than usual but productivity was high. English, history, law and re have now got a student blog started.
Hopefully these will really take off in school and the message will spread.
Blogging is an easy way to share ideas, resources and work. Students create rather than consume and once the blog is set up there is very little work for the teacher to do. Once it is established the students should begin to question each others posts and the whole thing should organically expand.
The possibilities are endless, it taps into devices that students have on them all of the time and it should extend learning!
Hopefully these will really take off in school and the message will spread.
Blogging is an easy way to share ideas, resources and work. Students create rather than consume and once the blog is set up there is very little work for the teacher to do. Once it is established the students should begin to question each others posts and the whole thing should organically expand.
The possibilities are endless, it taps into devices that students have on them all of the time and it should extend learning!
Sunday 30 January 2011
Linoit
Used Linoit for the first time with yr10 students and this was the response from a 5 min starter!
Very happy with it and as it is embedded on the VLE it is easy to access and refer back to continually throughout the unit of work. Next step is for the students to post their progress...
Trying to use Linoit with my classes. I have been using Wallwisher, mainly for A4L purposes, but it has been a little problematic. I hope that they resolve the problema and I can cotinue to incorporate it.
Well, Linoit looks just as interesting. There are features to add stickies, attach documents, video and images. Stickies can be tagged which is good. I am using it as a support for a multimedia product unit. If students have a problem they post and tag a red stickie, blue for possible solutions, green for definite solutions and yellow for ideas or resources to share with the whole class. It sounds simple enough so I hope that it develops further.
Very happy with it and as it is embedded on the VLE it is easy to access and refer back to continually throughout the unit of work. Next step is for the students to post their progress...
Trying to use Linoit with my classes. I have been using Wallwisher, mainly for A4L purposes, but it has been a little problematic. I hope that they resolve the problema and I can cotinue to incorporate it.
Well, Linoit looks just as interesting. There are features to add stickies, attach documents, video and images. Stickies can be tagged which is good. I am using it as a support for a multimedia product unit. If students have a problem they post and tag a red stickie, blue for possible solutions, green for definite solutions and yellow for ideas or resources to share with the whole class. It sounds simple enough so I hope that it develops further.
Tuesday 25 January 2011
Twitter for Education
Just unleashed Twitter with my students last week.
I say "unleashed" because as a teacher I am finding it to be a fantastic tool for developing ideas and exploring new tools. I have a separate twitter account that I use to follow inspiring teachers and educators around the world, such as @infernaldepart, @deputymitchell and @derekrobertson. These teachers are across all key stages and subject areas which makes it more exciting to see how they are developing teaching and learning within their own specialism. I have been using my iPad to access Twitter and I have it installed on my Blackberry. At times I can't put it down, even when the football is on.
There are so many useful discussions taking place such as #ukedchat and #ictcurric.
I am currently developing the use of Twitter with my Sixth Form ICT class. I have set an separate account and list to keep our tweets private. The whole idea is that they can share resources, links or ideas and also seek help or support when needed from their peers. I have only began to scratch the surface of how it can be used and can't wait to see how much more the students can do with it!
I say "unleashed" because as a teacher I am finding it to be a fantastic tool for developing ideas and exploring new tools. I have a separate twitter account that I use to follow inspiring teachers and educators around the world, such as @infernaldepart, @deputymitchell and @derekrobertson. These teachers are across all key stages and subject areas which makes it more exciting to see how they are developing teaching and learning within their own specialism. I have been using my iPad to access Twitter and I have it installed on my Blackberry. At times I can't put it down, even when the football is on.
There are so many useful discussions taking place such as #ukedchat and #ictcurric.
I am currently developing the use of Twitter with my Sixth Form ICT class. I have set an separate account and list to keep our tweets private. The whole idea is that they can share resources, links or ideas and also seek help or support when needed from their peers. I have only began to scratch the surface of how it can be used and can't wait to see how much more the students can do with it!
Monday 17 January 2011
QR Codes in the Classroom.....kind of!
Just tried to use a QR Code with my sixth form class for no other reason than to judge their reaction.
Surprisingly none of them new what it was! Therefore the homework was two fold, 1) figure out what I had just given them and 2) Complete the "hidden" homework.
If you have any ideas of how to use QR Codes more constructively in a lesson I would be grateful to hear from you. I can see potetntial in it but my brain has gone to sleep.....ZZZZZZZZ.
Surprisingly none of them new what it was! Therefore the homework was two fold, 1) figure out what I had just given them and 2) Complete the "hidden" homework.
If you have any ideas of how to use QR Codes more constructively in a lesson I would be grateful to hear from you. I can see potetntial in it but my brain has gone to sleep.....ZZZZZZZZ.
Thursday 13 January 2011
David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization | Video on TED.com
David McCandless: The beauty of data visualization Video on TED.com
Very interesting ideas on the use of data and data sets! 100% worth watching and implementing in the classroom.
Very interesting ideas on the use of data and data sets! 100% worth watching and implementing in the classroom.
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Learning Without Frontiers- Update 2
Should be a good day ahead...games based learning is the focus.
Some excellent ideas from from Derek Robertson-Consolarium, (blog). My next focus is definitely going to be games based learning and raising it's profile in school. I'm sure students will take no convincing of it's benefits so need to work with colleagues to convince them!
Also, I want to drive forward the "power up" of the school. Bring your mobile to school day?? Bring your hand held games device to school day? Use your social networking to connect school and students....and break down barriers....and remove myths surrounding their use in education?
So many ideas and initiatives form the LWF 11, that it's difficult to choose the best one to focus on. Need to prioritize some of these and look for the idea that will make the biggest impact. How do I measure that? My teaching? Whole school issues? Whole community issues???
Some more excellent speakers in the afternoon that helped to pose important questions. I think that one of the main topics that I will take from the whole event is about rainsing the profile of students to become content creators and not just consumers.
Some excellent ideas from from Derek Robertson-Consolarium, (blog). My next focus is definitely going to be games based learning and raising it's profile in school. I'm sure students will take no convincing of it's benefits so need to work with colleagues to convince them!
Also, I want to drive forward the "power up" of the school. Bring your mobile to school day?? Bring your hand held games device to school day? Use your social networking to connect school and students....and break down barriers....and remove myths surrounding their use in education?
So many ideas and initiatives form the LWF 11, that it's difficult to choose the best one to focus on. Need to prioritize some of these and look for the idea that will make the biggest impact. How do I measure that? My teaching? Whole school issues? Whole community issues???
Some more excellent speakers in the afternoon that helped to pose important questions. I think that one of the main topics that I will take from the whole event is about rainsing the profile of students to become content creators and not just consumers.
Monday 10 January 2011
LWF 11-update
It's been a great day so far...the highlight has definitely been Evan Roth. He has such a creative mind and it's making me jealous.
Workshop on creating an app is fun and I will use it in the future with my students. Hope to develop some useful apps too with a small group and would love to collaborate with other schools in doing so.
Just starting to really use Twitter too, why have I not used it before now? @gmcICT
My next step is to get this live in the classroom as a back channel to support learning!
Some good stuff from Tony Vincent too!
Excellent presentation from Tim Rylands. Can't wait to look into all of his work and the recommended apps.
Workshop on creating an app is fun and I will use it in the future with my students. Hope to develop some useful apps too with a small group and would love to collaborate with other schools in doing so.
Just starting to really use Twitter too, why have I not used it before now? @gmcICT
My next step is to get this live in the classroom as a back channel to support learning!
Some good stuff from Tony Vincent too!
Excellent presentation from Tim Rylands. Can't wait to look into all of his work and the recommended apps.
Wednesday 5 January 2011
Drop Box
Just started using Drop Box for the first. I had heard of it a few years ago, but like most things never got time to play around with it. I installed the app on my iPad and uploaded some of my work using my laptop. Very suprised to find out that the iPad allows you to read Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Obviously this is a good place to store files and folders and to share work with colleagues and students. I look forward to using it in the classroom!
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