Steps in teaching and learning

Testing Save to Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:45:00 +0000

This is only an image ;-)

Save to Drive is a new script from the Google Developer team which adds a save to Google Drive functionality to your site. I've been trying to find a way to add this to this site so that it's added into every blog post as standard. Well, I'm not having much luck. The only way I've been able to do it is to write a new post, change to HTML view then add the script into the post. Once posted the Save to Drive button appears in the post.

If you know how to add the following script into a Blogger blog could you please post a link to the how to or even add the steps in the comments.

<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js"></script>
<div class="g-savetodrive"
 data-filename="My Statement.pdf"
 data-sitename="My Company Name"
 data-src="/path/to/myfile.pdf">
</div>

Google Glass in the classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Google Glass (Image from Google Glass site)

Google Glass appears in some eyes to be yet another 'shiny device' that schools and education consultants/sellers will jump on and proclaim as the next great device for education. I haven't seen Google Glass apart from the media presented online but I think the naysayers will get this one wrong.

Education is littered with revolutionary and/or evolutionary technological devices:

The BBC Micro
PCs of varying age and quality
Macs
Visualisers
Interactive White Boards
Netbooks
Laptops
BeeBots
Smart Pens
Recorders
Tape Players
Video recorders
DVD players
Blu Ray players
Audio systems
Music Keyboards
Game Consoles
GPS devices
iPad, iPod devices
Android devices

The list could go on and on. Many of the devices have fans, many do not. There are those who see no educational benefit in having them whilst others will defend their use and offer research and evidence to back their views.

Google Glass is a complete unknown. It hasn't even gotten into the public domain yet never mind schools. So how can we even consider it as a device that may or may not offer educational benefits? Will, there is no harm in speculating and that isn't too difficult considering Google Glass won't be a revolution but an evolution in terms of how we interact with technology.

If you have a look at the promotional video and read through the Google Glass 'What it does' site you will immediately recognise many features as an everyday standard in most modern devices. It can record video and take pictures, it captures audio, it can share that with others, it can give you directions, allows you to search online, you can speak to it, send messages and be given translations. Basically it's got many of the features of any mobile smart phone but you wear it on your head as it's a pair of glasses albeit ones with an amazing bit of technology attached.

So how does it fit into a classroom considering one device costs $1500?

Google Glass costs $1500 now, although I'm guessing it won't cost that when it becomes a worldwide saleable product. I will stick my neck out and say that I can't see it becoming a whole class use device, that is, I could never envisage a class of children wearing Google Glass whilst in class. For now I see this as a device for educators which could be used to capture evidence of learning unobtrusively.

Will Google Glass become another expensive technological device consigned to cupboards? We'll have to wait and see.

A decade of iTunes in a timeline

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:49:00 +0000

Image from 9to5Mac

There are plenty of great timelines and timeline creation tools available on the internet. Schools use them, kids love them and we all learn from them. History is given a fantastic visual platform to work its magic. So when I saw this timeline from iTunes today I immediately added to my Springpad and have shared it with a few teachers already.

iTunes changed the face of music, there's no argument there whether you like the app or not. Apple have created a fantastic timeline of the iTunes platfrom from its official launch back in 2003 up to the present day. It includes notable dates in each year and, of course, links to the top 10 selling songs of every year since its launch.

The information provided is easy to use in a classroom and would give children a great starting point to create timelines that are not just based on wars, kings and queens.

Check out the timeline by visiting this link which will open in iTunes itself.

Google + integrates with Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:36:00 +0000

Earlier today Blogger brought a much anticipated feature to its blogging platform with the integration of Google+ with the comments section of every blogger site.

It's simply stunning. However. There is only one slight issue regarding this integration. Comments are only allowed from those that either have a Google+ profile or Google+ page. Whilst this may prove unpopular with some readers who will no doubt refrain from commenting due to having neither it should also mean less spam.

Find out more on the Blogger Buzz page.

Angry Birds in the classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:44:00 +0000

I have used Angry Birds with my class on a few occasions and have always found it to be an excellent resource for lesson ideas, teaching and learning. We have used it in class as a basis to design our own levels based on the game, construct these with card and tubes, test and play them.

The enthusiasm and engagement in these activities have always been intense, so intense that the classes never wanted to go to break, nor lunch, nor use the ICT suite!

With careful structure and thought in planning you too will realise how powerful games for learning can be in the classroom.

Ideas for use in your classroom.

English

Speaking and listening skills are developed as children discuss the design of their lives

Explanations (describe how the level was designed)

Instructions (how to play/solve their level)

Story writing

Viewpoints (what is it like from the Pigs point of view)

Planning/researching a game

Designing the level

Selecting material

Constructing the game level

Testing the game

Improving from feedback

Design/Technology

There are options for further learning using the game in Geography (design and draw a map of the Angry Birds world), Science (forces, gravity, habitats), PE (design and create an Angry Birds obstacle course), Social Ed (living together, different viewpoints)

Learning by doodling

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Okay, I may be setting myself up here for a few educational 'traditionalists' to embark on a tirade of proving that doodling is not an effective learning tool but I'll just take that chance and say, it is.

Why?

Well, thousands of years of human history have shown us that doodling has helped us in our learning as it has helped us to make sense of the world around us. From Cave drawings in France to Leonardo DaVinci's sketches doodling and those little doodles you do during a meeting, doodling is universal and will continue to make an impact for years to come. Which is why I have found the recent Doodle Learning Apps from iOS development team NineTwentyEight to be an intriguing mix of learning and doodling. And before we go on, I was involved in the development of the apps as an Educational Consultant.

Doodle Learning has released three iOS iPad only apps - Doodle Learning Maths, Doodle Learning English and Doodle Learning Times Tables. The apps are aimed at 7-11 year old children but they do contain easier levels which can be used by younger children too. The apps premise is to mix doodling with learning, creating a fun learning environment that children respond to effectively. I used the 3 apps with my class over the last couple of weeks and the response has been fantastic. Children loved using the apps and they found each helped them in improving specific Maths and English skills.

Breaking down the apps.

The Times Tables app has been a revelation when it comes to helping children consolidate their understanding of times tables. There are plenty of repetition based games and songs to use but this adds doodling to the mix. A firm favourite with every child in my class.

Each table is available to play and the game involves matching the correct table with its corresponding answer. Add a timer lit by a rabbit that appears every so often during your doodling and you have an idea of the game.

Doodle Learning Maths concentrates on helping the player improve addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and big numbers. The rabbit once again appears during the doodling to remind you to play one of the 350+ mini games and I found children didn't mind the rabbit's appearance and actually wanted to play the maths game without waiting for it to pop up.

Doodle Learning English does push the learner quite a bit and younger children may find some of the games tricky. The games are based around a command of English grammar and involve plurals, punctuation, comparatives, antonyms, rhyming, spellings (muddles), homophones and synonyms. I found the games really helped children in my class who had been struggling with these grammar points.

So what did my class think about the apps?

I love the times tables game because it starts off easy and gets harder as you beat each level. I can also choose the times table I need to learn and get better at.

The English games are hard but that's because I need to get better at grammar. I think if I play the games every day I'll get better. Can I use it for homework?

I like the Maths Big Numbers game the best because the questions are hard and I like hard questions.

More on Doodling and Learning

I have never had an issue with doodling in my class and with the release of these apps I can now actively encourage it. For those of you wanting a little more evidence on whether doodling does help improve learning then I recommend watching this great TED talk by Sunni Brown author of GameStorming : A playbook for rule-breakers, innovators and Changemakers.

A Twitter hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 10:44:00 +0000

There be light image by taylorschlades

I've been an avid Twitter user for 6 years. I found this out yesterday when some tweetbot messaging service tweeted me about it. So I've decided to acknowledge this 'milestone' by not using Twitter for the next 6 months.

It's also got me thinking about why we shouldn't use Twitter. It's an incredibly useful platform, don't get me wrong but there comes a time when you just need a break. Here's why.

1. It can take over your life - think about it, when you wake in the morning and reach for your Smartphone do you check Twitter first? Do you do the same last thing at night before going to bed? It's happened to me on occasion and if you take it to the extreme, some people need their daily tweet fix to see them through the day.

2. You use Twitter to check up on the news not a news site - yep, it happens, it happens regularly. Which is why media outlets have a huge presence on Twitter so they too can pick up on the news as it happens wherever it happens, instantly. News sites? So last century.

3. It's 140 characters, decent conversations can't be had with so few characters.

4. Blogs are slowly losing out - I've found that plenty of users I follow have blogs. They will tweet a link to a latest blog post, their Twitter followers will check it out and reply. But not on the blog, they reply on Twitter. Every reply on Twitter is eventually lost in the timeline unless it's been hashtagged, but then that shortens the conversation even further.

5. You will eventually get to that stage on Twitter where you think if you don't check often you will miss out on something and that is sad.

I'll spend my Twitter time focusing on reading and replying to blog posts, I'll relish in what bloggers have to say, dissect it over time and not worry that something has passed me by.

Note - I will make every attempt to ensure 3rd party apps don't post on my unknown behalf, if they do, ignore them.

How would you design a school?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 23:35:00 +0000

Image by Jade

Picture this - you have the power to design a school, what would it look like? Would it have classrooms? What would they look like?

Some of these questions were asked by Graham Brown-Martin at the TEDxEastEnd Event in London, October 2012. They are as relevant today as they were in October 2012 and they will continue to have relevance for as long as there are schools.

Here is the presentation he gave at the event.

Enjoy.

Think.

How would I design a school?

I would remove timetables.
I would remove the insistence on detailed planning.
I would remove walls and have an open plan, free flowing learning environment.
I would have teachers able to teach and not be restricted by management to follow checklists.
I would ensure children are involved in their learning and learning revolves around them, not what's best for the school.
I would involve parents and community further.
I would share everything we discovered so others can benefit.
I would have no timetables, no planning, no scrutinies.
I would foster professionalism and trust and push every teacher to teach according to the strengths.
Teachers would be teachers not robots delivering stale curriculums.

These are a few thoughts and more are no doubt in my mind. Contest them as you see fit.

The best teaching job advert ever?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:47:00 +0000

I'm currently seeking new employment and I've been scouring teaching posts advertised on various websites and school sites for a possible school to apply for. Some ads are brief whilst others go on and on with a number of 'must read' attachments whilst many have very similar wording throughout.

That is until I saw the following ad from a school in Nottingham and I thought, this has to be the best teaching job advert ever.

I love this ad and if I lived in Nottingham then I would jump at the opportunity. So school management teams, leadership teams and governors, take a good look and learn. This is how you write a recruitment advert.

Safer Social Media in school

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:13:00 +0000

On Valentine's day I attended the Inside Government 'Safer Social Media in schools' forum in London as a presenter. These are the slides I used as part of my presentation which is entitled 'Don't miss out on a world of wonder ; Safe, effective social networking for schools'.

Safer social media in schools from Kevin McLaughlin

Using Google Drive to host video

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 14:53:00 +0000

Google Drive continues to get better and better and one of the additions that I recently found incredibly useful was the ability to upload video which can then be embedded in other web pages. If you're the type of school that doesn't want to use YouTube, Vimeo or other video hosting platforms then this could be the almost perfect tool. The only downside is that the video requires Flash to play so all those iOS devices will not play it.

If you require a more secure viewing of the video you can change the Share setting to 'Anyone with the link' or 'Private' which can be set so only those invited by email can view.

Note: If you use Blogger as a blogging platform you do not need to embed the video using this method as Blogger uploads and embeds any video directly into a blog post.

What is a troll?

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 23:03:00 +0000

I occasionally get asked 'What is a troll?' and 'How do you deal with them?' so...

Troll ~

Noun

A mythical, cave-dwelling being depicted in folklore as either a giant or a dwarf, typically having a very ugly appearance.
The action of trolling for fish.

Verb

Fish by trailing a baited line along behind a boat: "we trolled for mackerel".

Urban DictionaryOne who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument.

I'm sure every blogger will come across the troll at some point. On social media platforms such as Twitter they are even more prevalent yet hide behind their self justifying anonymity. Sometimes we take the bait they throw at us and other times we try to ignore their petulant whining.

Teachers will meet trolls not only online but in the staffroom too. Some call them bullies others call them names that will remain unmentionable on this blog. I've met a few and exchanged posts and tweets with more, all are the same breed: attention seeking trouble makers. At first, dealing with the troll only leads to more trolling.

Recognising a troll is quite easy

They are usually anonymous and pride themselves in their anonymity
They have bios that laughably explain why you are the fool for thinking they are a troll
They start arguments for no reason
They blame everyone for everything except themselves
They see you as the reason why everything is going wrong

A few steps to take when you encounter a troll

Never take the bait
Never try to reason with the troll
Don't engage in their mediocre nonsense
Block them
Ignore them
Report them as spam
Don't fall into the trap that they are trying to demonstrate a valid viewpoint

It's troll blocking season, clean your timelines, flush your followers and enjoy a troll-free festive holiday :-)

An Angry Birds Animation

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 19:06:00 +0000

Polly used the brilliant 'I can animate' app on the iPad to create this fantastic animation about the Angry Birds. She then used iMovie to add a soundtrack.

She had never used 'I can animate' before.

YouTube Analytics as a Maths resource

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:14:00 +0000

YouTube analytics

YouTube provides a fantastic analytics section for every video you upload and the information it provides could be a great resource for Maths and calculations such as:

Reading Graphs - line graphs and pie charts are used
Percentages
Estimations
Time
Problem solving

Depending on the information you are looking at you can download it as a CSV file providing opportunities for spreadsheet investigations.

Have you used YouTube analytics in your teaching?

My Top Tech of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:56:00 +0000

Even though there are a few days remaining, 2012 has been a fantastic year for technology in teaching and learning. And what better way to celebrate it than to give you my top tech of 2012. This list, which has no particular order, demonstrates the technology I have found to be the most effective for raising standards in teaching and learning.

Airserver is an over the air receiver for Macs and PC's giving you a similar experience you would get with an Apple TV but for a fraction of the price. It has been indispensable in my classroom and will remain to be so.

Edmodo has been a firm favourite for the past 2 years and continues to impress me and my class. It fits perfectly into the 'Virtual Learning Environment' category yet costs nothing. Why schools pay for VLE's is beyond me when Edmodo is so much better.

The iPad is simply the best tablet device bar none. No other tablet offers as many apps for educational use nor gives users the power to create content as easily. iMovie and GarageBand are two outstanding examples of content creation apps that make iOS devices stand out.

Code Academy is genius. Anyone can learn to code through easy to follow, step by step lessons that will have you coding in no time. I intend to make use of this more throughout 2013 with my class.

X-Ray Goggles, provided free by Mozilla, lets you see how web pages are put together and lets you tinker with the underlying code. So easy and instantly effective. Great fun and a perfect tool for teaching.

Chrome Web Apps

Chrome web apps have really lit up my class this year. Math, English, Geography, Music, History, Art, Science: every subject is catered for and the apps are perfect for teaching and learning.

Google + has become an essential part of my daily excursion into what's happening across the world of education and technology, hangouts have been improved and are fast becoming a perfect communication tool for groups across the world.

Raspberry Pi is a 'cheap, accessible, programmable computer' that has made my class go 'WOW!' It's a stunning device that has so much promise. 2013 will be the year it makes inroads into many more schools.

Skitch is the perfect screen capture annotation tool that has now become integrated with Evernote. I have been using it since it came out as a beta tool and it has always been my first choice for capturing images.

My last is not technology in the hardware sense but without him I would miss so many great ideas, tips and suggestions for using technology in the classroom. My last top tech for 2012 belongs to Tim Rylands and his fantastic contribution to teachers and learners everywhere on his blog. It is a wealth of magic and a perfect starting point for any teacher looking for that extra something for their classroom.

I'll look forward to hearing about your own top tech list for 2012.

Why international schools outperform those in England

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:28:00 +0000

I taught in an international school in Gran Canaria, Spain for 8 years. Almost very child was Spanish and they received a curriculum based on the National Curriculum in England. Apart from their daily Spanish class, they learned everything in English. We had no teaching assistants but we did have one SEN teacher who did the most brilliant job. At times the going was difficult but every child tried their best, teachers worked their hardest and when the SAT's in English and Maths were taken we never doubted that the results would be similar to if not better than those from England's primaries. And every year the children proved themselves by doing just that.

How could that be?

It's quite simple really. There isn't a magic bullet, no secret teaching method nor learning style is used. What that school and many other international schools do is to leave out all the nonsense from government and trust their teachers to do the job they know best. Teachers are left to teach, to use the curriculum in the way they see fit, to change and adapt to the learners in their class. The trust between teacher, child, SMT and parents keeps the school at its best. Teachers don't have to face mountains of paperwork, the goal posts never change half way through the year, there are no 'Ofsted' style inspections but there are inspections that promote teaching and learning, there are no ridiculous SMT demands nor league tables (schools work together), work scrutinies are used to pick out great ideas not to find negative issues, there's no mad fixation on formal assessment, no APP nor AfL as created by government but definitely a system in place that works for the children in the school, there's no marking in green and pink only marking and it doesn't involve detailed responses nor next steps. The list could go on but I'm sure you get the point.

Schools in England need to leave out the nonsense that doesn't benefit the learners, then we'll see our education system start to improve.

The 21st Century teaching and learning myths

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 20:34:00 +0000

If you happen to follow the latest Education news you will have no doubt heard of the terms '21st Century Learner', '21st Century Classroom' and '21st Century Teacher'. And if you delve a little deeper to discover just what these terms mean then you may or may not come to the same conclusion as I have, they are myths.

Throughout history, we humans have used education as a means to better ourselves, to inform ourselves about the world around us, to gain knowledge and understanding, to make sense of it all, and we have used the tools and ideas around at those times to help us achieve those aims. From a rock to a piece of flint, an animal skin to the Book of Kells, fire to the atomic bomb, tools have driven our desire to learn more and more. Without the tools I wouldn't be writing this on my iPad, nor would I be able to use the Internet to publish it. You wouldn't be able to read it as it would probably be still in my head nor would you care as you wouldn't have known about any of it in the first instance. So tools are an essential aspect of any education but that doesn't make the tools of today any better than the tools that went before them.

The general theme that runs around 21st Century this and that is that those of us not open to its virtues have already failed its 21st Century Learners. Teachers not embracing the use of the latest technological tools are described as technophobes or rejectionists. Even those that do try, cautiously, to include these new technologies in their everyday teaching are seen as slow adopters. Then there are the learners themselves who have been described as *'digital natives' who are stuck in 19th Century classrooms surrounded by the inept technophobes and their ageing technology.

'How can they possibly learn!'

Well, they do. We are resilient beings and just like our ancestors we want to make sense of the world around us, to discover, to push ourselves, to use this knowledge to make connections and ask more questions. The tools we have today connect us to more knowledge and resources than ever before but having access to these tools doesn't make us 21st Century Learners or Teachers.

Learners will continue to learn whether they have their fingers on a digitally connected universe of information or not. What we should really be discussing is the provision of a curriculum fit for a new century. Only after that has been established may we even begin to start realising the possibility of 21st Century learning and teaching.

*Don't get me started on 'digital natives', what a pile of nonsense that one is.

Moving from Wordpress.org to Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 21:49:00 +0000

image courtesy of nancyr478

I have moved my blog which I have hosted using Wordpress.org to its new home, here on Blogger. Why? What on earth possessed you? What have you done to my feeds!!! Well, the reasons for the move are quite straightforward.

Why I moved from Wordpress.Org

Wordpress.org is a stunning platform that encapsulates all the best there is for a serious or even novice blogger, but for me it was just too much. Too many choices, too many options to break something
Too many plugins that could prove fatal to a blog - install one and see a blog simply disappear which happened to me on more than one occasion
It tempts you to tinker under the hood - this is perfect if you want to learn CSS, HTML, how to make widgets do exactly what you want but it can also prove to be a downfall of the platform for some like myself
Mobile blogging support is quite pants, for want of a more appropriate word
Security was becoming a very big concern
I no longer see the point of paying to host my blog and I've gone beyond the 'you don't own your content' argument

Why I moved to Blogger

It's a very simple blogging solution
You can't break it as much as you can a Wordpress.Org blog
Mobile blogging support has a decent app (but could be better i.e. ability to take any content and post it like Posterous can)
Security is not really an issue
Up time is 99.99%
Perfectly integrated into the Google+ social platform which I find very useful

So welcome to my new home. Please update your feeds if you feel you have to and be aware that many of my previous blog's posts are no longer available at this time. At some time in the near future I will write a post detailing the steps I took to move from Wordpress to Blogger. It has been quite eventful.

The iPod Touch as a story teller

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:11:00 +0000

Creating film in a classroom might fill some educators with nervous anticipation and in some cases fear and blind panic. But it does not need to be like that. All you need is the imagination that a class of children can provide and access to an app on one device - iMovie on the iPod Touch 4th Gen.

I have recently started the study of film as part of a class topic in Literacy. Film is part of our lives and its effects are found throughout most stories children write. Using film as the inspiration for Literacy work therefore makes a lot of sense as it captivates even the youngest of ages and provides them a platform to unleash their own cinematic ideas onto paper. Well, in my case through the digital medium of the iPod Touch and the iMovie app. I have used iMovie on the iPod Touch before but this is the first occasion that I have decided to outline how I have used it and how my class have benefited from it.

Films have magical opening sequences that can enthrall the viewer, wetting their appetite of what's to come. The opening sentences of a book are written in a similar manner. Get the reader/viewer hooked from the start. We used various short animated films and favourite films to look at and discuss the opening sequences. We found out why these worked, how they grabbed our attentions and why they made us want to continue watching. We also compared these to our favourite books and the opening lines from those using the very same questions. The results were very similar if not, in most cases, the same. We compared the use of setting, time, characters and story. We found how books require more effort to create what a film captures in seconds but also how more powerful a well crafted sentence can be compared to a similar shot of film.

The advantages of using an iPod Touch device over any other similarly sized video capture tool are well explored with two standing out. It's very easy to use and it has the iMovie app. In an hour long session, I had introduced the iMovie app to my class, how it functioned, how to capture video and still images, how to move captured scenes around, how to add an opening title and add sound effects if required. This lasted all of 10 minutes and with the class itching to go I explained that the session was not an attempt to perfect a Hollywood movie but to tell a very short story in three scenes.

I have used Movie Maker in the past (horrible), I have used Flip Cameras (good but very limiting) and I have even attempted digital cameras along with school bought movie editing software (never ever go there). The iPod Touch along with iMovie makes creating film an instantly gratifying, extremely user friendly and highly rewarding experience. The results are amazing, the reactions from the class will be even more so. I have used iMovie along with my iPhone for quite some time and knew just how brilliant an educational tool the partnership can make. The iPod Touch is a device every school should be looking at just because no other device at the same price matches it for the benefits it can bring to teaching and learning.

Digital Literacies – A new framework for ICT

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:21:00 +0000

ICT – Information Communication Technology has been the title of the curriculum approach to the teaching and learning of technology in schools in England for the best part of this millennia. It has outstayed its welcome therefore in January of this year, Michael Gove announced that the ICT program of study was no longer necessary and schools could teach ICT as they saw fit. Finally, we were given the ‘nod’ to continue doing as we had been doing which was to ignore the old ICT curriculum only fit for the 1990′s and concentrate on approaching ICT in ways that reflected the constant change revolving around technology. Amen.

However. The acronym ICT also needs to be dumped in my opinion. We need to be rid of it. It conjures images of suites of computers where children are taken to learn how to use email, create a spreadsheet, make a roamer roam, paint a picture using Microsoft Paint, knock together a PowerPoint or worse type up their latest story from their story writing book because a teacher said it would look better in Word.

I’m proposing that we use ‘Digital Literacies’. Not as a replacement subject but as a wider approach that is intertwined with everything taught and learned in school. I have mentioned before how I have been following the work on digital literacies by Doug Belshaw and Futurelab and I have based my entire Framework on their amazing work. Thank you so much.

The framework is not yet finished, I have to add in examples on learning for each element so that other teachers have an idea of what to do. The exemplar planning sheet will be used with each year group to set out their use of Digital Literacies in various subject areas or themes of work. Apart from that I would welcome any suggestions and feedback on the framework. Please use it if you find it useful.

24/7 webcam Science with IPEVO

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:51:00 +0000

I recently received an IPEVO Point to View USB web camera and I have been very impressed with its ease of use, sturdiness and image quality. We have been using the webcam quite a bit in class for instant displaying of student work through the projector onto the board and demonstrating activities to the class particularly art based work. The image quality is sharp, clear and colour is excellent. It also shoots in low light conditions which is a bonus and with an autofocusing lens it made sense to use this webcam for our 24/7 Science lab experiment.

As part of our Science work we are looking at habitats and we were fortunate enough to be given 35 'Painted Lady' butterfly eggs which we have been looking after for the last few weeks. The caterpillars that emerged were no more than 0.4 mm long and every day the children would observe the caterpillars and record any significant changes in their size. We used the iPevo webcam at this point as a test leading up to the main event - from chrysalis to butterfly. We had hoped that the metamorphosis would have taken place during school time but nature decreed that the first butterfly would emerge early on Saturday morning. That's where technology has saved the day.

Technology used
IPEVO P2V USB webcam
5 years old laptop running Windows XP
Internet connection
Ustream live webcam streaming service

I had considered setting up Video Lan VLC player to capture the webcam output, punch it through the school proxy and stream the video feed that way. But why go through that much hassle when Ustream does it all for you and very easily with no need to look at school proxy settings. The free service displays an ad at the beginning of the stream and then after every 15 minutes during the stream but it doesn't matter when the provided feed is excellent and the webcam is pointing at butterflies. The stream is live on my class blog page as well as on the Ustream site.

The IPEVO webcam is a great bit of technology and if you are looking for a new webcam to go with your class setup then I'd look no further. It comes with a robust multi-jointed stand and the webcam itself can be detached and held in your hand too. Further details can be found on the product website. I mentioned that I used a 5 year old laptop and it's just to show that setting up a 24/7 live stream from a webcam is possible even with old kit.

So what's stopping you? You can have a live stream coming from your own school very quickly and easily. It could be a live feed of the chicken eggs in the coup in the garden, or the birds nest camera feed, the class goldfish in a tank or even just a webcam pointing into the school garden to watch for wildlife at the weekend.

Kinect Calculations

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:19:00 +0000

A quick post for Sunday. Last week I started using the Kinect system with my XBox in class. I've only got Kinect Adventures but that it has more than enough options for use in many areas of the curriculum.

I used the Reflex Bridge activity to generate the numbers required for our mental calculation work in class. The game can be played by two players which involves lots of jumping, ducking and swerving to avoid oncoming obstacles whilst trying to collect pins. The total for each player is displayed at the end of the game which lasts approximately 3 minutes.

The two 3 digit numbers provide a wealth of mental calculation possibilities.

Add both 3 digit numbers together
Subtract one 3 digit from the other 3 digit
Use the first number's 3 digits to make the highest/lowest number you can
Use all the digits to make the highest/lowest number you can
Find the total of all the digits
Create 5 calculations involving the digits of the first set of digits
Add all the digits, if you get a double digit answer add these digits together again, what's the single digit answer?
Round the totals up to the nearest 10/100
Add both totals together and round to the nearest 10/100
Multiply the digits of the first total/second total

The list can go as far as your imagination or the objectives for the year take you.

What ways do you use Kinect Adventures in your class?

We do make a difference

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Over the last week the teaching profession, which I am proud to be part of, has once again come under attack from the Education Secretary Michael Gove and the Chief of Ofsted Sir Michael Wilshaw. The attacks have been so vile that I wanted to vent my anger and frustration here on my blog. But last night, every word they uttered, every letter printed by the media paled into insignificance when my teaching assistant called me and told me to buy the Leicester Mercury Newspaper and turn to the letters page.

I did and this is what I found.

The letter was written by Maddy who is 9 years old. I saw her with her Dad this morning and thanked her for her very kind words. Her Dad explained to me that Maddy had written it on her own without even telling him or her mum, and that she had even sent the letter herself. I was speechless and I still am at what she had to say.

Her letter made me realise, once again, that what we do as teachers does make a difference and the rhetoric spoken by politicians and their Education Inspectorate amounts to nothing.

Thank you Maddy. Your letter has made a difference.

Digital Literacy in the primary classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:30:00 +0000

Image courtesy of Doug Belshaw

I've been following the work on Digital Literacy by Doug Belshaw for just over 2 years and I'm still getting my head round what it means to be digitally literate. Two years ago Doug published a post which really grabbed my interest in which he outlined his 8 elements of Digital Literacy as part of his thesis. I am reproducing these below (all rights belong to Doug).

Cultural [Cu]
Cognitive [Cg]
Constructive [Cn]
Communication [Co]
Confidence [Cf]
Creative [Cr]
Critical [Ct]
Civic [Ci]

Now, I wouldn't be the teacher I am if I wasn't on the lookout for a resource that could be used in my classroom. And when I read these I thought, I need to use these somehow! Well, I put them at the back of my mind and there they remained. Until today. The Easter break is coming to an end and I have been completing my Personal Journey's for each of the pupils in my class. The 8 elements came back to my mind as I was writing these and the following is my interpretation of how they might be used for teaching and learning in a primary classroom.

So what is Digital Literacy?

Futurelab, an organisation 'committed to developing creative and innovative approaches to education, teaching and learning', gives the following definition in its publication Digital Literacy across the curriculum,

To be digitally literate is to have access to a broad range of practices and cultural resources that you are able to apply to digital tools. It is the ability to make and share meaning in different modes and formats; to create, collaborate and communicate effectively and to understand how and when digital technologies can best be used to support these processes.

This definition has been the one that I have focused on and the publication gives some examples of where digital literacy can be found and how it can be utilised across the school curriculum. I is not enough to think that digital literacy is only to be looked at during technology lessons or whilst using a computer. The challenge is how we as teachers can foster digital literacy in all areas of the school curriculum. Children today are born into a digital world, they are surrounded by more and more digital technology as they grow up and making sense of this is something we cannot take for granted. Many children do show they are confident users of different types of technology but it is our responsibility to ensure children are not only confident users but can also make informed decisions about the use of such digital technologies to help them in their learning.

So how do these 8 elements fit into a primary classroom?

Let's not use the word fit here. Instead, ask this question. How can we ensure that our learners are digitally literate? The elements then become a stable foundation for any planning to start from. I have taken each of the elements and looked at it as a starting point for planning learning and teaching in my class leading to the following possible strategies.

Cultural - Look at your class, your school. What cultural make up does it have? Where do we come from? Where have we been? What is it like to live somewhere else? We can help children understand their role in the wider community and how they will have an effect on it. What they say becomes incredibly important when you begin to use digital tools to publish their content online for the world to see. Look at how this can be misunderstood by others. Digital links can be put in place to inform and question others in a different culture which can be used to help us develop a better understanding of using social media to discover the world around us.

Cognitive - Don't envisage this as how your learners will use digital tools but how they will use their own cognitive tools to do so. Children begin school asking questions, exploring, trying things out. By the time they leave primary school many of them have lost the ability to explore, ask questions and find things out. Somewhere in the depths of National Curriculum agendas this natural curiosity seems to be less called upon due to the teaching styles used by many teachers - they know what the class needs to know and the children will learn accordingly. Fostering digital literacy cognitively is in my opinion one of the most difficult to manage if you are the type of teacher who prefers to teach from the front. A change in perceptions is required, put the learning first and allow the class to develop their natural curiosity once more. Go with what the learners suggest, follow up their questions even if it isn't in your panning. Cognitive digital literacy will not be possible without this freedom in the classroom although it may well happen elsewhere. They must also make informed choices that will keep them safe online and recognise the dangers and know how to react when faced with such concerns..

Constructive - Using social media to connect with other cultures is one thing, developing links and strengthening those bonds by fostering projects and interaction is the next step. David Mitchell has been championing the use of blogging as a constructive digital tool that develops communication and builds community across the world. His QuadBlogging project connects 4 schools from various countries together through their online blog so that pupils can connect with other classes to discuss blog posts and work together on projects.

Communication - It used to be so straightforward 30 years ago, communication with others involved face to face meetings, writing a letter or making a telephone call. In today's digital world children have a multitude of ways to communicate that are more or less digital variations of those tools 30 years previously. Now a smart phone can handle the following - face to face video calls, phone calls, text messaging, emails, instant messaging, blog posting, photo blogging, video blogging, video uploading, music creation, podcasting and more. Learners today need to know which tools are the best to communicate the message they want to say, they need to make deliberate and informed choices that recognise what these digital communication tools can do and how best to utilise them. This choice doesn't come easily and requires teachers to approach the possibilities offered by using them themselves. Communication today requires mixing all types of media if called upon to do so.

Confidence - It will only be through the use of these digital technologies and learning how to use them effectively will learners become more confident in their own choice of tools to solve the problems they will face now and tomorrow. You want a class of learners that will know which tools will get the job done effectively and which tools will only hold them back, do they choose PowerPoint or not for example? Will the whole recorded conversation suffice or does it need to be edited before being uploaded as a podcast? "It's okay Mr M, I know how to do it. Just click that link, then upload the file. Easy"

Creative - The creative possibilities that digital tools offer learners are mind boggling. Never before has a learner been presented with so much choice to draw a picture - from pencil and paper to digital pens and paper on a tablet device. The digital tools are there and learners are already using them to create content and upload it to sites such as Flickr, YouTube and self hosted blogs. However the creative potential is being held back by teachers who are either not prepared to use these tools in their class due to other ill conceived curriculum pressures or they just don't know how. The choices continue to grow daily and many schools are quickly becoming places were digital content are not going to be places were it is created.

Critical -How do you know if the online text is real or not? How do we know it is written by the author claiming it to be so? We need to develop critical awareness and thinking. For example, many children will look for information online by using Google and then using the first result that appears. This has to be contested and challenged. Children cannot go on accepting the first result they receive from a search. Develop in them their curiosity to go further, to check against other resources and searches and to question and discuss their findings with each other. Search functions can reveal more than just a sentence of words so the digital vocabulary of searching must be learned and practiced if learners are to be more successful in what they are linked to online.

Civic - Further along a learners life they will come to a point where these digital literacy skills will not only help them solve problems and communicate with others across the world but provide opportunities of employment in a constantly evolving digital world. As it has been pointed out, Digital Literacy must be developed across every part of the curriculum and not just ICT and our learners must be given the freedom to do so in schools today. If they can already do so when they are outside of school because they take it upon themselves as part of the digital culture in which they are part of then why are they waiting to do so inside? We are denying them these opportunities if our curriculum and teaching of it doesn't adapt to their digital needs.

These are initial ideas built using the information provided by Doug on his blog and from the Futurelab publication. I have yet to put any of this into the classroom but I recognise that a lot of this is already in place in my class although not referred to as digital literacy.

That is going to change and during the next few weeks as I introduce the terms to my class I will post their thoughts here along with any adaptations they wish to make.

Personalising Learning does more than get results

noreply@blogger.com (Kevin McLaughlin) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

At the start of January of this year I embarked on a different approach to teaching and learning in my classroom, I personalised the learning of each and every learner in my class focusing on their learning not my teaching. I had read, researched and discussed this approach but I was still unsure whether it would be as effective as I hoped it would be in raising the level of attainment in my class. It not only did so but it surpassed any aspirations I had and it has made me even more determined to pursue this approach through the remainder of this academic year.

Personalising Learning is not something you can pick up and start in your own class tomorrow. You need to take into account most if not all of the following.

It takes a lot of thought and effort
It takes time to build up a clear picture of every learner in your class and where they are in their own learning
It takes courage to stand back as a teacher and let the learning happen of its own accord
It requires a vision and belief that it will work
It needs careful planning but still allow for change at a moments notice
It needs the voice of the learner to be listened to to steer the direction of the learning
It needs you to rethink your classroom layout
It needs you to rethink your approach to teaching and learning

In the last 8 weeks I have witnessed learners blossoming, growing, developing skills that would have otherwise been kept contained due to an over adherence to the 3-step teaching model (Introduction, Main Activity, Plenary). I have also been amazed at how much learners can steer their own learning towards surpassing goals that a national curriculum demands. Last week I gathered together my teacher assessments and was blown over by the level of improvement in both English and Maths. Learners in my class have taken to the use of personalised learning so effectively that they have demanded that I continue the approach during the final term of the school year.

There is room for improvement of course. I want to develop peer assessment into this approach so that learners have the opportunity to steer each others learning journeys. I would love to see another teacher follow the approach with their own class even if it was only for one week so that we could learn from each other and perhaps use available technologies to connect our learners to peer assess their learning journeys. I want to give over even more opportunities to my learners to develop their own learning by marrying national curriculum learning objectives with their own 20 time projects.

It's never been a better time to be a teacher/learner.