7 replies to this topic

[Rachel Jones]

Hello.

We have recently had our inspection and one of the points that they picked up was that we didn't use ICT as well as we could do. Consequently, we're trying to come up with ways to incorporate different things into our teaching. We've found several good sites (glogster, wallwisher, animoto, wordle, ngrams and a few others) and are trying to work out how to turn them from being a site where one person can post to something where the pupils can all add to it and it's a collaborative effort.

This week, we're trying to work out linoit.com. Apparently you can use it as a whole class thing and then when it's done, you can save it as a QR code so that pupils can stick the QR code into their books and have reference to it at all times.

It all sounds really cool, but if we can't figure it out, it's all a bit pointless.

Help? Suggestions? Other sites? (please bear in mind we're quite new to this!)

Thanks,
Rachel.

[Anne Piper]

Titanpad is really good for collaborative learning and is pretty easy to set up. i have also used prezi instread of powerpoint as you can do group work on that too.

[DaveStacey]

Linoit is great for setting up as a homework task as a topic wall. Set up a wall, with a focus question, and share the link with the student. If you've got a VLE, post it on that. Anything they can click on rather than type out is a plus.
Use the wall as a starter for the next lesson. You can also drag and drop the notes around into various categories, orders etc.

It doesn't work very well as an in-class tool - too many simultaneous edits. I still use old school proper sticky notes for that!

My advice would be to have a look at how ICT can work to address a particular need rather than just go through a list of tools. The key is to find things that are quick, easy to use, and allow to build on what you already do.

A few suggestions

A class blog to post homework, links etc on (there's loads of good education blogging sites out there who'll give you a blog for free)

You can then build that to show off and share student work. Maybe get a free account with Flickr and use a digital camera to snap copies of work and share with students.

This works well with things like card sorts. If students do group card sorts I'll take a picture of their finished arrangement, upload them all and their homework is to print off the one from their group, stick in into their books and add either a conclusion or an explanation.

Another good collaborative tool is primarypad - allows groups to work together on a shared document which they can then print out or save as a text file.



I'm sure others will have more ideas! Good luck!

[Seb Phillips]

I'd second that comment!

Be a bit careful with throwing loads of new software ideas at the students - my impression is that OFSTED are more interested in seeing ICT integrated into a lesson, simple stuff used well, rather than the lesson focusing on dramatic new technologies. So - getting the students to interact creatively with PowerPoint is better than trying something new they can't work yet. Or using Word to comment fully on student essays and give outstanding feedback, that sort of thing.

The problem with these established technologies is that they just become routine (death by PowerPoint). The problem with the new stuff is that it takes time to integrate and if you ARE inspected, it's obvious that the students are unfamiliar with it.

Something else to try - have a word with your ICT department and see what technology the students are using at the moment. It could be something you could integrate into your lessons - that woul;d give them more practice, and you wouldn't have to 'teach' them the technology.

[Rachel Jones]

Thanks for the comments people. I appreciate what you're saying about perhaps we need to be a bit more focussed rather than just jump on every ICT based thing we can find. However, we are having quite a lot of fun with it all at the moment so I think it is going well. We keep finding other stuff, and I've just head that one of us should aim to become an "apple teacher"(?) so if Nick is reading this, I'm about to PM you!

Agree with you about Linoit though. Great for preps, but didn't really work as a whole class activity as it didn't seem to be able to cope with lots of input at the same time.

Shall keep you all informed as to how it's going and if I find anything really good, shall post here.

Thanks once again.
Rachel.

[DaveStacey]

Something else to try - have a word with your ICT department and see what technology the students are using at the moment.

In fact, I'd also ask the students. Had a very interesting chat with my yr 13s the other day about the various way they use their phones for revision (completely unprompted by us). They may throw up some gems.

One more while I think of it - Fakebook is a great example of where technology can enhance something that you may well already have been doing on paper.

[Dan Moorhouse]

Google Education page has been updated recently and has a handful of ideas that might be worth looking at. http://www.google.com/edu/index.html

[Tony Fox]

http://www.history.o...e_4121_126.html

Using ICT in the Teaching of History
Dr. Haydn stressed that one of the roles of ICT in the history classroom is to develop pupils' information literacy - to make them more discerning about what they read and what they watch. This includes challenging the popular pupil perception that the internet is the fount of all truth and wisdom.