Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from 2012

Hwb Launch Today!

Today Hwb, the all Wales learning platform  was launched! We've just written a post over on our work blog highlighting how we believe Hwb and Hwb+ can support the work we do with schools. My initial thoughts on the Hwb website are that it has a very clean, clear and easy to use interface with a 'Microsoft Metro feel'. Resources are easy to find but at present it seems like only a selection of resources have moved from NGfL Cymru to Hwb. I'm sure that further appropriate resources are in the process of being moved. Discussion forums are available in the Community section which are open to Hwb+ registered users. All in all it's looking very good. Education Wales, which was launched at the same time as Hwb, is basically an area on Apple iTunesU that is hosting video and other digital content for Wales. One of the highlights for me is the access to some clips from the BBC TV programme "The Story of Wales". The only slight reservation I have at the

All Change - Six Months On

Six months since my last post, good grief where did that time go? Well it's certainly been a busy time. School improvement support has changed radically across all (most?) of Wales. In the South East where I work, all five local authorities (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen) have combined school improvement services into one regional consortium called the Education Achievement Service for SE Wales . " The EAS has been created by the five local authorities to raise education standards. By working together as part of an integrated service to support and challenge schools effectively, enhance front line services and make the most of the available resources, progress will take place quickly and effectively. " Unlike the ' culling'  of education staff that occurred in the formation of some of the other consortia across Wales, the EAS retained the staff who moved from each of the local authorities. I now work for a 21st Century Learnin

You'll Get What You've Always Got?

I’ve recently watched a couple of videos made by primary schools, demonstrating how they used iPads across their schools. I was particularly interested in seeing how the children were using them during a lesson. After watching for a little while, I noticed that many of the apps that were being used were basically digital versions of resources that the teacher would have traditionally used without the iPad or other technologies. For example, a 'whiteboard' that allowed the children to write down a sum and the answer and then to show to others; foundation phase children drawing letters on the screen; children playing matching games; drawing on the screen or reading books. This is not necessarily a criticism, just an observation. After watching, I started to reflect on how I've often seen technology being used by teachers. It reminded me of the experience of working on the 'interactive whiteboard initiative' some 10 years ago across our authority and the relatively rap

Mobile Phone and Games Console Filtering Links

Yesterday I blogged about the European internet safety report, and in particular how children might safely use mobile phones and games consoles to access the internet. So I made a trawl of the mobile phone and gaming console websites to see what each of the companies say about filtering internet access for young people and parental controls. I've listed below links to the relevant parts of their websites. A very useful task, for instance, perhaps naively I didn't realise that the various mobile phone networks have been unable to filter Blackberry handsets. Quite a potential problem considering the numbers of young people who use a Blackberry. However, the Orange website does say that by July 2012 something will be in place to filter these devices if needed. Photo from Flickr user Pauly This could be a useful list to share with parents? Mobile phones: O2 - Mobile phone and age verification   / Block or unblock 18+ content T Mobile - Content Lock Vodafone - Content

Internet Safety Report

Internet safety report - Articles - Educational Technology - ICT in Education  A quick summary by Terry Freedman of a new report entitled " European Strategy for a Better Internet for Children ". Interesting that Terry picks up on part of the report that has started to concern me. That is the issue of how children safely access the web through mobile devices and through gaming consoles. What filters or controls are available for parents on these devices? If they are there are many parents aware they're there? Definitely something for me to look more closely at.

Using ICT Appropriately

I'm currently spending some time finding articles, publications and research on how ICT 'raises standards' and it's turning into quite a fascinating activity. This has sprung very much out of one of my last blogs about embedding ICT. In it I wrote about the need for a school to remember to ‘look back’ to evaluate what has been done in a school, what was successful or not, to learn from this before moving the whole school forward. Well I’m now doing the same thing. I’m looking for some clarity, reminding myself what benefits ICT does bring to the learner, the teacher and for the school. I’ve been doing this job for 10 years and I guess what I’m trying to do is de-construct what I believe I know about ICT and rebuild it on firmer foundations. It really has been fascinating. The same benefits keep appearing and also the challenges, the main challenge being that it seems to be very difficult to prove that the use of ICT has a direct correlation to the raising of standards.

Not Surprising?

Just read an article on the BBC website entitled "Facebook: Parents 'help children break age limits' ". It's not that surprising. During esafety sessions that I've carried out with parents of primary school children, some have said they have done this very thing. What is equally concerning in the article is the issue with young people and 'sexting' - the sending of explicit images to their boyfriends or girlfriends. An urgent need to talk with young people about dangers associated with these behaviours? How do you and your school approach these issues?

LMS or Should We Say MS?

I read a very interesting blog today from Ray Fleming titled "Do You Really Need A Learning Management System?" What interested me most was the chart showing the use of different components of a Learning Management System (LMS). It's the first time I've seen some evidence of something I've believed has been happening. The chart on Ray's blog shows that components most used in a LMS are: Documents posted 60% Announcements 52.5% Grade centre 47.3% Then quite a drop off in components used such as: Discussion board 12% Assignments 4.9% Blogs 3.8% Wikis 1% Sadly it looks like the powerful e-learning tools such as wikis, blogs and discussion boards are being under utilised by teachers. I'm not particularly blaming teachers here, I'm guessing it could be more of a problem with a lack of training put in place to support them in the effective and appropriate use of these systems.  Image from Flickr (Vickel_N ) So, not really much

John Putt - Launch of Digital Classroom Report

Headteacher John Putt from Holywell High School, speaking at the launch of the Digital classroom report.

Launch of the 'Digital Classroom' Report

Should have posted this up earlier, better late than never :-) Here is the chair of the group Janet Hayward speaking at the launch of the report in the Senedd.

Embedding ICT Practice - The Forth Rail Bridge?

We currently have working with the foundation phase team a teacher who is on secondment with us until the end of the summer term. During his visits to schools he’s been quite surprised by the lack of basic ICT skills and confidence in some teachers and especially with LSAs across the foundation phase. Perhaps this has something to do with the lack of explicit ICT in the foundation phase documents or maybe it’s because Estyn rarely seem to refer to ICT in their inspection reports - I’ll leave those contentious points for another post, but maybe it's just that some schools have underestimated the part ICT can play in the foundation phase. He has very good ICT skills himself and is extremely confident in applying these skills in the foundation phase setting, demonstrating how to create videos, animation, recording audio, and the benefits in using various pieces of educational software and equipment. The schools he has worked with have really appreciated the training and advice he’

What Happens in an Internet Minute?

Very much liked this infographic. Amazing the amount of data being transferred and this will only grow. Found on this website . Showed my 17 year old son and interestingly he wasn't that amazed by it, "3000 photos a minute to Flickr...is that all??"

Find it, make it, use it, share it: Learning in Digital Wales Report

On Thursday I attended the launch of a report from the Digital Classroom Teaching Task and Finish Group at The Senedd in Cardiff. Entitled "Find it, make it, use it, share it: learning in digital Wales" the group's report set out what they think Welsh Government and many others should do to introduce, embed and promote the use of digital technologies to enhance teaching and learning. The group was set up by the Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills, as an external task and finish group to consider which digital classroom delivery aspects should be adopted to transform learning and teaching for those aged 3 - 19. Leighton Andrews, Minister for Education and Skills In particular the group was asked to consider: how high-quality, accessible digital classroom content could be developed; how National Grid for Learning (NGfL) Cymru was used, and whether there was a more effective way to deliver its aims; whether and how a cloud-based content deliv

ThinkQuest (Think.com) Video

After mentioning ThinkQuest in my last post I thought I'd post this video we made a couple of years ago about how ThinkQuest (Think.com) is being used across our authority.

Schoology

Another day spent looking at web based tools, this time it was Schoology . Schoology is according to their web site " is the ultimate way to manage lessons, engage students, share content, and connect with other educators." It's seems to me to be a combination of online elearning tools, course management in a Facebook type interface. From what I can see it's a free service for individual schools to use, but there are costs associated if we wanted to run and organise this from the local authority. I really liked the look and feel of the interface. Easy to use, clean and some very useful tools. Some of the features are probably aimed more at secondary schools but I think it could still be used very effectively by KS2 pupils too.  Why am I looking at this? Well, the online tool that we have been promoting across Newport for the last 7 years or so has been ThinkQuest.  ThinkQuest is a free, online teaching and learning environment developed by Oracle and run by t

The Search for Social Interaction Tools

Spent most of the last couple of days trying out ELGG . For those of you who have never heard of it, ELGG is an 'open source social networking engine'. We are looking at different tools that will allow various groups of users to interact. The eventual aim is to find a suitable tool that will allow the creation of communities of practice, something along the lines of our current online ICT coordinators network. This particular community has been developed in Moodle over several years, and has worked well for us. However we now feel that there are better tools out there for the social interaction that we require. We have also gone back to look at Joomla for developing our web presence, and 'plugging in' suitable interactive tools. It's interesting to note that a popular social interaction plugin for Joomla, which has everything we need, doesn't have a moderation tool which would be essential to building up an open community that we require. We've emailed th

iPads in the Classroom - Discussion

iPads in the classroom improved T4L - ICT - TES Quite an interesting discussion on the use of iPads in the classroom in the TES ICT forum. Suggestions given on apps that schools are using. Also comments along the lines of "you can add all the bells and whistles but makes very little difference unless the teaching and learning is good and to make a change you need to change the style of teaching not the equipment!"

Voki Animated Avatars

A colleague pointed this website out to me yesterday. Voki is a free website that allows you to create animated avatars for use on websites, blogs, and from what I read can be embedded into Powerpoint too. Haven't checked it out fully yet but it is aimed at teachers and students. The website announces "Create speaking avatars and use them as an effective learning tool. Motivate students to participate, improve message comprehension, introduce technology in a fun way, utilise Voki as an effective language tool.." There are lesson plans on the website and ideas on how to use Voki in the classroom. Reminds me a little of Crazy Talk which another of my colleagues loves using in the foundation phase classroom. As they say on 'Blue Peter', "here's one I made earlier"

Google Chromebooks

Still interests me...

A 'Cleaner' YouTube

I spent the last two days working with my literacy advisory colleagues and a group of primary school teachers. This working party was looking at the use of the 'moving image' in the primary school classroom, devising some ideas for teachers in using BFI DVD resources and also other film clips. There was also quite a lot of discussion about the use of YouTube around copyright, comments, adverts, and general use in the classroom. I could talk about the copyright issues all day, so we'll leave that issue to one side for a moment and concentrate on the other areas of discussion. Our authority is quite forward thinking when it comes to YouTube and therefore all schools have access to it unless individually a school wants it blocked. But I do realise that in many local authorities across Wales YouTube is blocked at the local authority level, stopping schools having access and this has become quite a discussion point in recent meetings I've had with colleagues from across Wal

Do You Get The Digital World?

Read this tweet from our Education Minister, Leighton Andrews this morning: "Question for today - do subject advisers in your LA get the digital world? Tweet at me or email me Leighton dot Andrews at Wales dot gov.uk" Now, how shall I start answering this? Should I even bother?? For balanced perspective I hope to see follow up questions from the minister over the next couple of days asking: Do teachers  get  the digital world? Do schools  get the digital world? Do parents  get  the digital world? Does Estyn get the digital world? Do politicians get the digital world?

E-Safety - Sound Advice

Spent this afternoon at a primary school presenting an e-safety talk with both teachers and then separately to parents. The content of each presentation is adapted to the needs and experiences of each group but does initially follow principle of a balanced view of the internet. Highlighting the enormous benefits ('biggest library', communication, collaboration, publishing, commerce, etc) it offers to users with the obvious concerns and problems that arise too (cyberbullying, inappropriate content, copyright, viruses, etc.)  You never seem to get a large group of parents together for sessions like this but I always enjoy talking with them and getting their views and opinions on e-safety. A fairly usual response is that " my children always know more about computers and using the internet than me! " Finishing the session with ways in which they can help and guide their children when using the web. Much of it centring around talking to their child about their use and wha

Virtual Violence II - The Real Impact of Cyberbullying Revealed

"Beatbullying today publishes  Virtual Violence II: Progress and Challenges in the Fight against Cyberbullying  - an in-depth study of the state of cyberbullying amongst children, young people and teachers in the UK. The report is commissioned by  Nominet Trust  and in association with the  NAHT . It will be unveiled in a hard-hitting Panorama documentary airing on the BBC tonight (Monday February 6th, 2012) and reveals that cyberbullying, as a weapon of choice amongst the nation's youth, is showing no signs of dissipating, with 350,222 children – or 1 in 13 – experiencing persistent and intentional cyberbullying, with just under a quarter (23%) reporting that the bullying lasted for a year or more, and two in five (40%) said that it lasted for months or weeks. These findings closely mirror Beatbullying's first Virtual Violence study published in 2009. Looking at the long-term effects of cyberbullying, Virtual Violence II reveals the detrimental impact this kind of a

BBC Click 28/1/12 - Multiplatform Storytelling

Did you see this programme? I was particularly interested in the first section of the programme which looked at multi-platform storytelling or 'trans-media' (isn't that a horrible word?) Basically it's how a book or story grows into something much bigger through the use of websites, social networks and mobile technologies.

Google Family Safety Channel - YouTube

Another resource for Safer Internet Day 2012 on 7th February. Here is Google's YouTube Family Safety Channel.  Could be a useful resource to share with parents?

ICT For Education Event - My Thoughts Part 1

Had a little time to digest what I saw and listened to at the ICT For Education event yesterday. First up, it's good to attend an event where the focus is on education and ICT in Wales. Perhaps I shouldn't say ICT, this was much more about technologies for learning and teaching than curriculum ICT - no mentions of 'programming' today. Too often I attend meetings and conferences where the focus is primarily from an English education system. And while this isn't too much of an issue, references to Ofsted, Academies, Free Schools and Michael Gove, while interesting, don't have a daily influence on my life as an ICT adviser in Wales. That's not to say we don't learn from what happens across our border, far from it , what I am saying is that Wales needs to learn from its neighbours, take what has worked well, learn from others mistakes and form this into something unique for Wales. That's why an event like this is important, it's a chance to bring t