Blendspace is a tool which our teacher described as being 'Google's gift to teachers'.
It allows you to curate lessons using digital and other content in an extremely smooth and streamlined way.
It invites the user to make a 'New Lesson' thereby suggesting teachers alone are the target audience for this tool.
You build your content in blocks and really there are no restrictions on the content you may add, for example you are not limited to YouTube videos alone, you can add clips from anywhere on the web. You can add any of your own resources, provided they are accessible from cloud storage on the web. So if you want to add one of your own PowerPoints that would work if it were in Box. Any other resources, such as a Prezi or a quiz would be linked in straight from the cloud.
I tried two Blendspace lessons with my IGCSE Biology students, allowing them to work through the content at their own speed. We were in an ICT room and so I asked them to log on and find Blendspace / Gallery / The nervous System by xxxxxxx (me!). They had to view content, interact with it and complete a standard paper worksheet. After the first lesson they had to look at The reflex arc and do the same. Both of these lessons were completed during a college one hour lesson: efficient.
Using Blendspace was very simple, they did not require a URL nor did they need to join Blendspace, all was easily visible. I realised that actually, they enjoyed finding their lesson in the Gallery and noticing it had been made for them. Once again I had to offer IT support to many of the students who simply were not as intuitive on the web as I would have expected. Many could not understand the tabbed browsing and the need to return to the start page. Also they could not maximise the screen or notice the forward arrows to advance between the blocks. Fortunately for them I am happy to support them and now see the aquisition of IT skills as part of their learning.
My next target is to deliver a class lesson using Blendspace.
Friday, 31 January 2014
Push technology (Week 8 part 2)
Reversing those arrows, that's all it is.
The old model for using the Internet is this: log on, go to favourite sites, look for interesting new content, waste lots of time.
The arrows are going out from me the user to those sites.
The new model for using the Internet is this: log on, go to Twitter or an RSS feed of choice, look at the interesting content waiting there for me to view, waste lots of time.
The arrows are now coming back to me the user from those sites.
If as a teacher I now design content for my students I can push it to them using an RSS feed (there is one available on the VLE) or on Twitter. The latter has become the BOSS and is the one most people are using now. Probably because the ability to tweet and use the hashtag makes it interactive and incredibly powerful. Also you can follow all sorts of interesting people and football clubs. At the time of writing this blog I am still adjusting to this idea and have yet to see how I could make it work in my teaching life. However, I certainly will be encouraging my students to get Twitter accounts and to start following interesting and relevant things.
I now realise many of the apps on my iPhone use push technology and that I need to turn this function on. Also need to start thinking about push technology and its relevance to teaching.
Here's a random image I made using Photofunia, it features one of my daughters and one of my nieces
And another I made using Redkid:
The old model for using the Internet is this: log on, go to favourite sites, look for interesting new content, waste lots of time.
The arrows are going out from me the user to those sites.
The new model for using the Internet is this: log on, go to Twitter or an RSS feed of choice, look at the interesting content waiting there for me to view, waste lots of time.
The arrows are now coming back to me the user from those sites.
If as a teacher I now design content for my students I can push it to them using an RSS feed (there is one available on the VLE) or on Twitter. The latter has become the BOSS and is the one most people are using now. Probably because the ability to tweet and use the hashtag makes it interactive and incredibly powerful. Also you can follow all sorts of interesting people and football clubs. At the time of writing this blog I am still adjusting to this idea and have yet to see how I could make it work in my teaching life. However, I certainly will be encouraging my students to get Twitter accounts and to start following interesting and relevant things.
I now realise many of the apps on my iPhone use push technology and that I need to turn this function on. Also need to start thinking about push technology and its relevance to teaching.
Here's a random image I made using Photofunia, it features one of my daughters and one of my nieces
And another I made using Redkid:
Friday, 24 January 2014
Quiz night (Week 7)
The very words 'Quiz night' makes me think of all the truly dire fundraisers I have been to in draughty community halls. Sitting at a table drinking cheap plonk, eating salty snacks, waiting for the fish supper to arrive and answering questions. Later realising that some people are really good at this and that I will never ever be able to answer anything in the sports section. Somehow I always triumph in the raffle and in the ladies I once overheard someone refer to me as a 'lucky cow' which really made my night.
The Internet offers us some slick software for creating a quiz and once again, if I was to build up my stock of such quizzes I could create some genuine learning opportunities for students. The questions can be tricky and designed to really make you think. The quiz I am about to link was one I started in December and have just finished now (January), it was my quiz and I had to think about the answers! Called 'Meiosis' and made using ProProfs.
Quizlet appears to be the BOSS of all quiz sites, you make a set of flashcards (as many as you like) and then these feed into 6 different quizzes all of which are TOTALLY AWESOME. One of these is a spelling quiz in which a voice reads out the key words and the quizzer types it. I made a set of flashcards called 'Protein synthesis and the genetic code', take a look and see what you think.
Quizzes surely come under the umbrella of gamefication (a word that must have been invented by G W Bush)? Obviously you could use online quizzes in an IT room, but also I think in a classroom with an interactive whiteboard. In this context I would see them as a starter or plenary and not a main lesson activity. If you were really keen you could make quizzes to use as a 'flipped learning' or revision activity, but that would take dedication to the cause. There is the option of finding quizzes made by other people, but I tend to find I don't trust a thing unless I have made it myself, especially when you are dealing with facts that have to be spot on.
The Internet offers us some slick software for creating a quiz and once again, if I was to build up my stock of such quizzes I could create some genuine learning opportunities for students. The questions can be tricky and designed to really make you think. The quiz I am about to link was one I started in December and have just finished now (January), it was my quiz and I had to think about the answers! Called 'Meiosis' and made using ProProfs.
Quizlet appears to be the BOSS of all quiz sites, you make a set of flashcards (as many as you like) and then these feed into 6 different quizzes all of which are TOTALLY AWESOME. One of these is a spelling quiz in which a voice reads out the key words and the quizzer types it. I made a set of flashcards called 'Protein synthesis and the genetic code', take a look and see what you think.
Quizzes surely come under the umbrella of gamefication (a word that must have been invented by G W Bush)? Obviously you could use online quizzes in an IT room, but also I think in a classroom with an interactive whiteboard. In this context I would see them as a starter or plenary and not a main lesson activity. If you were really keen you could make quizzes to use as a 'flipped learning' or revision activity, but that would take dedication to the cause. There is the option of finding quizzes made by other people, but I tend to find I don't trust a thing unless I have made it myself, especially when you are dealing with facts that have to be spot on.
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Nucleic acids quest (Week 4 / part 2)
I'm living my dream! A lovely, big box has appeared in my blog, I am so happy. I did this using the embed code, not the URL.
On the same theme, here is a song about DNA
TubeChop - that overlong YouTube video I didn't want to use can be edited to size, like this one called 'what makes a marine biologist scream? Some kind of crazy cephelapod'.
Monday, 20 January 2014
Stories are sequences and we need to be digital (Week 6)
I made this story and I rather like it. I used Storyboard That and it is about 
Create a Copy | View Larger ">apoptosis
This took quite some time, but I did look at other resources suggested to us, feeling Storyboard That would work best for me and biology.
Create a Copy | View Larger ">apoptosis
This took quite some time, but I did look at other resources suggested to us, feeling Storyboard That would work best for me and biology.
Social media (Week 5)
Some of the group started to investigate social media in week 4, however this week was the 'get go' for me.
Like many people I am something of a Facebook addict, but cannot really see how it fits in with education. What it does present to my mind is many safeguarding issues, so I am always thoughtful about that.
I had not really considered Pinterest to be a form of social media, I thought it was just for females to plan their weddings on using secret boards (sorry). Having looked at it critically I now start to understand its potential and have got an account. The number of teachers with incredible ideas that they make freely available via Pinterest is remarkable. I made a board with one pin and was then thrilled to discover further suggestions arriving on my phone that linked to this one pin. I now see why is is a form of social media. I also realise that one of my daughters gave me a very good explanation about Pinterest months ago, which I did not heed at the time. Take a peek at a pin on our teachers board.
I have created a Pinterest board called Cellular respiration and populated it with a range of things on this topic. Many of the animations I wanted to pin were unpinnable, which led to me becoming a little frustrated with it. I also did not find it as easy to use as I had first imagined. I think Pinterest will probably be one for me to use to organise my things, I cannot envision asking students to visit any of my boards, but I keep an open mind.
I have also joined Delicious and got the app for my phone too. What this does is store links and allow you to identify key words associated with each one. There are different ways to search for links on Delicious, but using key words becomes a good way to find links you may have forgotten about. This surely will be good for me because I have been storing links for years now on titled Word documents (control + click!), in a folder called 'Source files' (not sure why I called it that). I have one file at home and another at work. With cloud storage and Delicious I will be able to access my links anywhere. Now I need to build my collection. The only aspect that will diminish the usefulness of Delicious is my love of PowerPoints with hyperlinks ......
This is now the 8 February 2014 and I am now updating my thoughts on Delicious. On my iPhone I was chuffed to discover that like Pinterest, it suggests links for me, but then was less chuffed to discover the app is not optimised for iPhone 4s and does not work well. Logging on with my PC has also been problematical and so for now I have abandoned Delicious.
Reflection is a very important thing to do, most people are convinced of that I think. We need to take time to ponder and evaluate every aspect of our lives. At my college we are trying to foster this habit in students by asking them to write in a 'Learning Journal'. Now this is a beautiful idea and one I fully subscribe to. A physical, handleable article: the journal itself, can make a strong impression on a young person and become something of value. They simply pick it up and open it, faster than any device. Yet there is a downside. Such things are bulky, can be lost, are not that secure and cost money. Through doing this course I have come to the opinion that we should ask young people to blog. This is something free and flexible which the young person can make truly theirs, displaying their own unique identity through their blog posts. Along the way developing valuable IT skills, due to the inbuilt features of blogs.
So which blog to use? Kidblog is clearly great because it makes the users part of a Kidblog community and gives teachers complete control over their students blogs and user accounts. Would this be the best option for students in a 16+ college? My experience of young people is that they decide in nanoseconds whether they like a thing or not and my feeling is Kidblog would be a not. Too much interference from adults is possible and even the name sounds too young. I currently feel Blogger would be the best site to use, because as part of the 'Google family' of apps it offers students amazing design based on Googles superior algorithms. With one Google account you have it all. I would be massively in favour of promoting blogging and am going to start with my tutees.
The real revelation for me was our teachers explanation of how to use Twitter as a feed of bespoke information ready for me, the user to consume. This was brilliant, I got an account and have started to use Twitter. I am not sure why I decided to follow NASA, there are only so many pictures of planets I can take.
So I need to think about how Twitter can be used as a teaching and learning tool. I found this wonderful linear list which I am going to link, so I can keep it forever. Twitter allows communication between teacher and student / student and student / other combinations, including parents and carers. It allows the teacher to create a feed of information they want the student to engage with, to pose questions and disseminate course-related information. Students can search on Twitter to discover knowledge for themselves, they can follow relevant people and post tweets to summarise their learning. We all need to learn to use the hashtag. This is such a lot for me to understand and internalise.
I am going to start here: trial use of Twitter with one group (probably my tutor group), create a feed specific to this group, ask them to follow this feed, start to post things I want them to read, disseminate information of all sorts and finally, ask them to post a tweet of what they have learnt after some lessons. This feels very daunting, but I think it needs to be done.
The main barrier for me is always the same: remembering to do the new. Life seems so busy and actually setting aside time to master a new technology, such as Twitter, is a challenge. This is the same for the students, I know some do use Twitter, but I am not sure how many? I think if I am going to do it I have to do 80% of the work and make it very easy for them to engage with it. So the barriers are: time constraints and unfamiliarity - this applies to us all.
Like many people I am something of a Facebook addict, but cannot really see how it fits in with education. What it does present to my mind is many safeguarding issues, so I am always thoughtful about that.
I had not really considered Pinterest to be a form of social media, I thought it was just for females to plan their weddings on using secret boards (sorry). Having looked at it critically I now start to understand its potential and have got an account. The number of teachers with incredible ideas that they make freely available via Pinterest is remarkable. I made a board with one pin and was then thrilled to discover further suggestions arriving on my phone that linked to this one pin. I now see why is is a form of social media. I also realise that one of my daughters gave me a very good explanation about Pinterest months ago, which I did not heed at the time. Take a peek at a pin on our teachers board.
I have created a Pinterest board called Cellular respiration and populated it with a range of things on this topic. Many of the animations I wanted to pin were unpinnable, which led to me becoming a little frustrated with it. I also did not find it as easy to use as I had first imagined. I think Pinterest will probably be one for me to use to organise my things, I cannot envision asking students to visit any of my boards, but I keep an open mind.
I have also joined Delicious and got the app for my phone too. What this does is store links and allow you to identify key words associated with each one. There are different ways to search for links on Delicious, but using key words becomes a good way to find links you may have forgotten about. This surely will be good for me because I have been storing links for years now on titled Word documents (control + click!), in a folder called 'Source files' (not sure why I called it that). I have one file at home and another at work. With cloud storage and Delicious I will be able to access my links anywhere. Now I need to build my collection. The only aspect that will diminish the usefulness of Delicious is my love of PowerPoints with hyperlinks ......
This is now the 8 February 2014 and I am now updating my thoughts on Delicious. On my iPhone I was chuffed to discover that like Pinterest, it suggests links for me, but then was less chuffed to discover the app is not optimised for iPhone 4s and does not work well. Logging on with my PC has also been problematical and so for now I have abandoned Delicious.
Reflection is a very important thing to do, most people are convinced of that I think. We need to take time to ponder and evaluate every aspect of our lives. At my college we are trying to foster this habit in students by asking them to write in a 'Learning Journal'. Now this is a beautiful idea and one I fully subscribe to. A physical, handleable article: the journal itself, can make a strong impression on a young person and become something of value. They simply pick it up and open it, faster than any device. Yet there is a downside. Such things are bulky, can be lost, are not that secure and cost money. Through doing this course I have come to the opinion that we should ask young people to blog. This is something free and flexible which the young person can make truly theirs, displaying their own unique identity through their blog posts. Along the way developing valuable IT skills, due to the inbuilt features of blogs.
So which blog to use? Kidblog is clearly great because it makes the users part of a Kidblog community and gives teachers complete control over their students blogs and user accounts. Would this be the best option for students in a 16+ college? My experience of young people is that they decide in nanoseconds whether they like a thing or not and my feeling is Kidblog would be a not. Too much interference from adults is possible and even the name sounds too young. I currently feel Blogger would be the best site to use, because as part of the 'Google family' of apps it offers students amazing design based on Googles superior algorithms. With one Google account you have it all. I would be massively in favour of promoting blogging and am going to start with my tutees.
The real revelation for me was our teachers explanation of how to use Twitter as a feed of bespoke information ready for me, the user to consume. This was brilliant, I got an account and have started to use Twitter. I am not sure why I decided to follow NASA, there are only so many pictures of planets I can take.
So I need to think about how Twitter can be used as a teaching and learning tool. I found this wonderful linear list which I am going to link, so I can keep it forever. Twitter allows communication between teacher and student / student and student / other combinations, including parents and carers. It allows the teacher to create a feed of information they want the student to engage with, to pose questions and disseminate course-related information. Students can search on Twitter to discover knowledge for themselves, they can follow relevant people and post tweets to summarise their learning. We all need to learn to use the hashtag. This is such a lot for me to understand and internalise.
I am going to start here: trial use of Twitter with one group (probably my tutor group), create a feed specific to this group, ask them to follow this feed, start to post things I want them to read, disseminate information of all sorts and finally, ask them to post a tweet of what they have learnt after some lessons. This feels very daunting, but I think it needs to be done.
The main barrier for me is always the same: remembering to do the new. Life seems so busy and actually setting aside time to master a new technology, such as Twitter, is a challenge. This is the same for the students, I know some do use Twitter, but I am not sure how many? I think if I am going to do it I have to do 80% of the work and make it very easy for them to engage with it. So the barriers are: time constraints and unfamiliarity - this applies to us all.
Web 2.0 Treasure Hunt (Week 4)
There were a number of ideas behind our 'Treasure Hunt' week. One was to let us experience a quest, this I would define as a journey with a clear start and end point, with learning along the way. (Our teachers Prezi did work well for this and was nicely done). To show we had visited all the stops in turn we created a 'code word' which, when checked by our teacher, enabled him to very quickly establish that we had indeed done the work.
Another experience available from the 'Treasure Hunt' was to allow us to engage with 'distance learning'and even 'flipped learning'. This was only available to people who completed the 'Treasure Hunt' before the lesson and proudly presented their code to our teacher either in person or via some electronic means. We got our learning 'in the bag' before the lesson even began, that felt surprisingly good. It also enabled us to miss the lesson if we wished and have a 'catch-up' week.
I got the code right and have the certificate to prove it! Go me.
I should mention that the Treasure Hunt was all about Web 2.0, very enlightening it was too.
I have made a quest of my own about DNA. It's full title is 'Nucleic acids quest - for A2', although I can easily alter this title for the BTEC students. I particularly love the links hidden behind pictures and the fact they have to guess where the link is on many of the slides. I gave the Box link to my A2 Biology students and encouraged them to look at it, but, they did not. One said they tried to download it and failed, this I find hard to believe. I created a Linoit board for them to give me feedback on, to this day it is still empty. Once again students prove to be resistant to technology. Maybe I should have conveyed it via a series of SnapChat screen shots? I also created a Box link for the BTEC students to enable them to get an Excel document of class data from an experiment, like the A2 students they did not 'go for it'. The college position would be for me to use the VLE, which I should start to do again, however, the temptation of Box is it leads precisely to where they need to go.
I also made a Padlet resource for the IGCSE Biology students about the human transport system, for them to use when we have our lesson in the ICT room. Unfortunately I forgot the constraints of Padlet and so when they all logged on it started to freeze. It seemed OK at first, then sort of 'ground to a halt', I should have made one pad / eight students. Since then I have gone back onto Padlet and cannot find it. Note to self: try Padlet again. Another good resource is Pirate Pad, I must remember to use that in an ICT room lesson sometime soon.
So, my conclusion is: this has been a valuable week and I have now created a resource that I will use, have a little more confidence in ICT and have learnt much.
Another experience available from the 'Treasure Hunt' was to allow us to engage with 'distance learning'and even 'flipped learning'. This was only available to people who completed the 'Treasure Hunt' before the lesson and proudly presented their code to our teacher either in person or via some electronic means. We got our learning 'in the bag' before the lesson even began, that felt surprisingly good. It also enabled us to miss the lesson if we wished and have a 'catch-up' week.
I got the code right and have the certificate to prove it! Go me.
I should mention that the Treasure Hunt was all about Web 2.0, very enlightening it was too.
I have made a quest of my own about DNA. It's full title is 'Nucleic acids quest - for A2', although I can easily alter this title for the BTEC students. I particularly love the links hidden behind pictures and the fact they have to guess where the link is on many of the slides. I gave the Box link to my A2 Biology students and encouraged them to look at it, but, they did not. One said they tried to download it and failed, this I find hard to believe. I created a Linoit board for them to give me feedback on, to this day it is still empty. Once again students prove to be resistant to technology. Maybe I should have conveyed it via a series of SnapChat screen shots? I also created a Box link for the BTEC students to enable them to get an Excel document of class data from an experiment, like the A2 students they did not 'go for it'. The college position would be for me to use the VLE, which I should start to do again, however, the temptation of Box is it leads precisely to where they need to go.
I also made a Padlet resource for the IGCSE Biology students about the human transport system, for them to use when we have our lesson in the ICT room. Unfortunately I forgot the constraints of Padlet and so when they all logged on it started to freeze. It seemed OK at first, then sort of 'ground to a halt', I should have made one pad / eight students. Since then I have gone back onto Padlet and cannot find it. Note to self: try Padlet again. Another good resource is Pirate Pad, I must remember to use that in an ICT room lesson sometime soon.
So, my conclusion is: this has been a valuable week and I have now created a resource that I will use, have a little more confidence in ICT and have learnt much.
Familiar ground: presentation tools, but wait .. in the cloud? (Week 3)
I am the founder member of the PowerPoint fan club and love it to bits because it is so useful to me.
Every lesson I teach is anchored in PowerPoint. I use it as the place that holds my Learning Intentions, hyperlinks and flash animations (stolen from Boardworks), as well as 'ordinary' slides of text, graphs, images and data. Even the appearance of my individual PowerPoint based lessons acts as a sort of scheme of work. For sure I am 'one up' from those eijits that just chug through 20 slides of text. In particular the technique my colleague and I have developed of making storyboard worksheets using screen shots of flash animations is an important part of how we teach biology. I therefore would need quite some persuasion that other presentation tools could be part of my teaching life.
Looking on the e-Teaching Portal for Week 3 I discover a leaflet teaching me about Week 3 created in Smore, nice. I will use this one day. The items highlighted to us look fabulous, let me try a Prezi. I decided to make one for IGCSE Biology about 'Plasma, tissue fluid and lymph'
The students quite liked it, but I found a number of issues which put me off. Firstly I could not work out how to print slides off. Secondly I could only embed YouTube clips, I found it impossible to embed any animations. I tried to take screen shots from it, but they were too blurry. There is a slide sorter, but not much else in the way of features. I feel PowerPoint offers far more. In all, unless these problems can be resolved Prezi won't be the one for me.
I then decided to try Animoto. I made this one first 'The sample and not the stock' This one second 'Modelling the nerve impulse' I like this a great deal - but - unless I was happy to use just 7 images I cannot see much use for it. Maybe a starter activity of stimulation material? I think it could be more useful for students, for example, they could photograph stages of an experiment and then create a short Animoto record of what they did. Update on Animoto: our teacher pointed out to me that if I upgraded to free teacher status I would get more slides, I have done this and now must remember to use it!
So far I have not been brave enough to try any of the tools that involve my mug appearing in view, such as Screencast-O-Matic. I have signed up for Glogster and look forward to using that one, but could not quite 'suss' it out enough late on Sunday when I was trying to create my first Glog
Every lesson I teach is anchored in PowerPoint. I use it as the place that holds my Learning Intentions, hyperlinks and flash animations (stolen from Boardworks), as well as 'ordinary' slides of text, graphs, images and data. Even the appearance of my individual PowerPoint based lessons acts as a sort of scheme of work. For sure I am 'one up' from those eijits that just chug through 20 slides of text. In particular the technique my colleague and I have developed of making storyboard worksheets using screen shots of flash animations is an important part of how we teach biology. I therefore would need quite some persuasion that other presentation tools could be part of my teaching life.
Looking on the e-Teaching Portal for Week 3 I discover a leaflet teaching me about Week 3 created in Smore, nice. I will use this one day. The items highlighted to us look fabulous, let me try a Prezi. I decided to make one for IGCSE Biology about 'Plasma, tissue fluid and lymph'
The students quite liked it, but I found a number of issues which put me off. Firstly I could not work out how to print slides off. Secondly I could only embed YouTube clips, I found it impossible to embed any animations. I tried to take screen shots from it, but they were too blurry. There is a slide sorter, but not much else in the way of features. I feel PowerPoint offers far more. In all, unless these problems can be resolved Prezi won't be the one for me.
I then decided to try Animoto. I made this one first 'The sample and not the stock' This one second 'Modelling the nerve impulse' I like this a great deal - but - unless I was happy to use just 7 images I cannot see much use for it. Maybe a starter activity of stimulation material? I think it could be more useful for students, for example, they could photograph stages of an experiment and then create a short Animoto record of what they did. Update on Animoto: our teacher pointed out to me that if I upgraded to free teacher status I would get more slides, I have done this and now must remember to use it!
So far I have not been brave enough to try any of the tools that involve my mug appearing in view, such as Screencast-O-Matic. I have signed up for Glogster and look forward to using that one, but could not quite 'suss' it out enough late on Sunday when I was trying to create my first Glog
Friday, 17 January 2014
The letter of the law (Week 2)
Blissfully unaware of all the pedagogy I was meant to have thought about after week 1 and before week 2, all I could think about was the webquest.
This is because I had done it and was looking forward to my word of praise.
The webquest was great and well designed (using Google Forms), it took us through legal considerations associated with using the Internet, along with issues we should be thinking about, such as cyberbullying and inclusion of all learners. Here is our teachers summary page on these important topics.
The pedagogy I had overlooked was the concept of flipped learning and blended learning. By doing the webquest I had experienced in a small way these two similar notions. Blended learning places you inside a building with teachers and technology, whereas flipped learning is when you use the Internet to do work in advance so you can better get on with new work in the lesson. Also allowing the teacher to better match their help and support to their learners. (Oh, I should aknowledge that I stole those two links from our teachers blog site). I personally love the idea of flipped learning, but feel I am a long way away from actually going for it. I think the best way would be to follow the advice in the article I linked and certainly go just one lesson at a time.
The rest of week 2 was devoted to using tools from Classtools.net and learning how to hide links in strange places, such as behind pictures and building familiarity with the use of embed codes.
Here is a link to a worksheet about population, I made it using TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/p59h5hu
I also made a QR code for the same worksheet
This is because I had done it and was looking forward to my word of praise.
The webquest was great and well designed (using Google Forms), it took us through legal considerations associated with using the Internet, along with issues we should be thinking about, such as cyberbullying and inclusion of all learners. Here is our teachers summary page on these important topics.
The pedagogy I had overlooked was the concept of flipped learning and blended learning. By doing the webquest I had experienced in a small way these two similar notions. Blended learning places you inside a building with teachers and technology, whereas flipped learning is when you use the Internet to do work in advance so you can better get on with new work in the lesson. Also allowing the teacher to better match their help and support to their learners. (Oh, I should aknowledge that I stole those two links from our teachers blog site). I personally love the idea of flipped learning, but feel I am a long way away from actually going for it. I think the best way would be to follow the advice in the article I linked and certainly go just one lesson at a time.
The rest of week 2 was devoted to using tools from Classtools.net and learning how to hide links in strange places, such as behind pictures and building familiarity with the use of embed codes.
Here is a link to a worksheet about population, I made it using TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/p59h5hu
I also made a QR code for the same worksheet
Using Linoit in the lesson gave me a genuine shock (Week 1.5)
The idea behind a Linoit board pinged something with me because I felt I could use it quickly to create something attractive and worthwhile for the students. I decided to make a board about 'Lipids' for the BTEC Year 1 lesson the following week. I wanted the students to be able to interact with me and so I allowed them to post stickies too.
They loved the whole idea and eagerly logged on, I got the headphones sorted (most of them had headphones), then hovered around eager to see how it would all go .......
They started to follow the links and most of them were instantly engaged.
However, there is a gender divide in this group because some of the males are immature. When they realised they could post stickies they started to put up 'bare foolishness' (as some would say around here). Some of it was harmless (even though hopelessly sexist), for example pretending to be a young male seeking an attractive blond. Some of it was not, pretending to be someone else and putting up telephone numbers and insults.
I was genuinely shocked and went around the room asking them to remove the stickies (I did not seem to be able to do so, although I realise now I can). They found it highly entertaining and were so gripped they did not seem to be listening to me. Although they did after a minute or two ...... Eventually they twigged that they had given ME a glimpse into their world and then were woeful.
I observed certain things from this. Firstly, they viewed the virtual world as somehow different to the real world. They did not seem to remember I could see all this. They seemed to think mildly bullying someone was OK. They viewed the things available on screen as some sort of playground for them to frolick in. They did not think the same rules applied. I could see how cyberbullying could come about.
Everyone wanted it to end well and I then started to get some lovely feedback, which remains on the board today.
Since then I have used a board to help the BTEC Year 2 students with a P5 task they always find difficult. This has worked brilliantly and now I am marking the task I am finding the work is far better than it has ever been in previous years. I also made a board about 'Animal nutrition' for the IGCSE Biology students, which they engaged with.
I see Linoit as a really useful tool in my kit and know it is one I will use in future, probably more with BTEC students than with the exam-based courses.
P.S After this experience I was grateful to talk things through with our highly supportive tutor, who obviously encouraged to 'learn from it and move on'.
They loved the whole idea and eagerly logged on, I got the headphones sorted (most of them had headphones), then hovered around eager to see how it would all go .......
They started to follow the links and most of them were instantly engaged.
However, there is a gender divide in this group because some of the males are immature. When they realised they could post stickies they started to put up 'bare foolishness' (as some would say around here). Some of it was harmless (even though hopelessly sexist), for example pretending to be a young male seeking an attractive blond. Some of it was not, pretending to be someone else and putting up telephone numbers and insults.
I was genuinely shocked and went around the room asking them to remove the stickies (I did not seem to be able to do so, although I realise now I can). They found it highly entertaining and were so gripped they did not seem to be listening to me. Although they did after a minute or two ...... Eventually they twigged that they had given ME a glimpse into their world and then were woeful.
I observed certain things from this. Firstly, they viewed the virtual world as somehow different to the real world. They did not seem to remember I could see all this. They seemed to think mildly bullying someone was OK. They viewed the things available on screen as some sort of playground for them to frolick in. They did not think the same rules applied. I could see how cyberbullying could come about.
Everyone wanted it to end well and I then started to get some lovely feedback, which remains on the board today.
Since then I have used a board to help the BTEC Year 2 students with a P5 task they always find difficult. This has worked brilliantly and now I am marking the task I am finding the work is far better than it has ever been in previous years. I also made a board about 'Animal nutrition' for the IGCSE Biology students, which they engaged with.
I see Linoit as a really useful tool in my kit and know it is one I will use in future, probably more with BTEC students than with the exam-based courses.
P.S After this experience I was grateful to talk things through with our highly supportive tutor, who obviously encouraged to 'learn from it and move on'.
Tuesday, 7 January 2014
Experiencing multimedia via Funky Vibes (Week 8)
Do you like my YouTube playlist 'Funky Vibes' Apparently it's not too bad, apart from the Mariah Carey.
AM and I made a quick video clip to test out the series of steps: make, upload to YouTube, embed in blog.
Here it is:
I must say, this is proving to be really useful.
I have instinctively resisted using any form of media that features 'me'. Yes, as a teacher I do not shrink away from the spotlight, but this is not like a lesson. In a lesson it is always organic and slightly unpredictable, there is interaction between teacher and student and things develop. With a 'here's one I made earlier' multimedia resource you are saying 'look at me' and 'listen to me' in a different sort of way. So here it is, an Audioboo recording (called a 'boo') called 'Young nurse in London', it could be sharper, but it's a start.
Multimedia is now a rather dated word I feel, a sentiment embedded (lol) in this definition: multimedia
I think the best use for recording stylee multimedia is to hand it over to the students. I envision asking students to make phone recordings of themselves which they upload to YouTube, easily possible with a Google account. I also see a use for Audioboo, they can record explanations of concepts to show me they are learning, this could be done singly or in pairs as an interview. All forms of recording can then be linked to a blog, the VLE, even a PowerPoint slide :) This is something I am going to do and is truly active.
One of my colleagues on our course last week made a quest lesson based on QR codes. Using the QR Stuff site and the plain text option she made questions and locations. The students set off to the first QR code which they scanned to get the first question and the next location. They hurtled round the college finding and scanning codes until they reached the end point. Here they had to record a video which they uploaded to YouTube. I felt amazed and rather envious. It wasn't just about the speed of completion, it was also about creating good answers, because once on their phones the questions were there. This took quite some organisation, but I believe was so worth it. One of the underlying messages must be that neat use of technology is such an enabler.
AM and I made a quick video clip to test out the series of steps: make, upload to YouTube, embed in blog.
Here it is:
I must say, this is proving to be really useful.
I have instinctively resisted using any form of media that features 'me'. Yes, as a teacher I do not shrink away from the spotlight, but this is not like a lesson. In a lesson it is always organic and slightly unpredictable, there is interaction between teacher and student and things develop. With a 'here's one I made earlier' multimedia resource you are saying 'look at me' and 'listen to me' in a different sort of way. So here it is, an Audioboo recording (called a 'boo') called 'Young nurse in London', it could be sharper, but it's a start.
Multimedia is now a rather dated word I feel, a sentiment embedded (lol) in this definition: multimedia
I think the best use for recording stylee multimedia is to hand it over to the students. I envision asking students to make phone recordings of themselves which they upload to YouTube, easily possible with a Google account. I also see a use for Audioboo, they can record explanations of concepts to show me they are learning, this could be done singly or in pairs as an interview. All forms of recording can then be linked to a blog, the VLE, even a PowerPoint slide :) This is something I am going to do and is truly active.
One of my colleagues on our course last week made a quest lesson based on QR codes. Using the QR Stuff site and the plain text option she made questions and locations. The students set off to the first QR code which they scanned to get the first question and the next location. They hurtled round the college finding and scanning codes until they reached the end point. Here they had to record a video which they uploaded to YouTube. I felt amazed and rather envious. It wasn't just about the speed of completion, it was also about creating good answers, because once on their phones the questions were there. This took quite some organisation, but I believe was so worth it. One of the underlying messages must be that neat use of technology is such an enabler.
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