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Showing posts from 2016

The Beginning of the End?

Every week I receive the ' Welsh Government pre-11 Dysg Newsletter ' via email. In Issue 156 (9th November) my eye was drawn to the 'Hwb Classes Guide' link ( https://goo.gl/6qPKQO ). Basically from within the Hwb platform - My Groups area, users can now create their own class area (much like they can in the Hwb Communities area) but can now invite pupils in and share digital resources with them such as Playlists, documents and take part in discussions. Not a full range of social learning tools as yet, but perhaps that's not a million miles away? Back in March I 'gazed into the crystal ball' and predicted the demise of the Hwb+ element of the Hwb platform. With this development are we seeing the beginning of the end for Hwb+? 

Draft Digital Competence Framework Out For Consultation

Don't know how I missed this but the draft digital competence framework is now available via the Learning Wales website . An opportunity for most schools to look at the framework in detail for the first time and to provide feedback to the Welsh Government via the online questionnaire. I really encourage you to read it and send your response back as soon as possible. You only have until July 4th to get your responses in! I'm going to have a look in detail over the weekend and will post something here soon.

Google Apps for Education Event / Chromebook Events

On the morning of Tuesday 17th May I'm hosting, along with my colleagues from C -Learning , a Google Apps for Education event at The Village Hotel, Cardiff. The event is aimed at both primary and secondary school phases and there will be presentations from two secondary schools and two primary schools. I'm going to give a short presentation on how I see Google Apps for Education fitting into the new digital competence framework, especially around 'connecting and collaborating' and 'citizenship'. There'll also be the opportunity to find out more about Chrome devices and approaches to cloud infrastructure in schools. I'd love to see both schools who are currently using Google Apps and schools who are wanting to find out more about this technology come to this. A good opportunity to 'network' with like minded schools. The booking form can be accessed here -  http://goo.gl/forms/bL0SxULhB0 I'm also hosting a Chrome device twilight session at

Update To 'Gazing Into My Crystal Ball'

An quick update on my last post 'Gazing Into My Crystal Ball' which was about concerns raised by some ICT coordinators regarding the future of the Hwb+/Hwb platform in Wales and what may or may not happen to these platforms. I've been having a look at the National Digital Learning Council's latest minutes from a meeting in October 2015. A couple of references to Hwb+ and Hwb which may clarify some points: 2.6 - CB (Chris Britten) highlighted concerns regarding the end of the three year Hwb contract in August 2018. CO (Chris Owen) stated that there is a full commitment for the platform to continue until that time. There are a range of options being considered around the ongoing management of the digital tools offered through Hwb after this date. 2.10 - CO highlighted the recent Hwb Stakeholder workshop which took place in Cardiff Bay on 23 September. ST (Sian Thomas) attended, noting that this was a good opportunity to talk about Hwb, rather than focussing solely

Gazing Into My Crystal Ball

Recently, an interesting question has been raised separately by two ICT co-ordinators. The question they both asked me was, "Will Hwb+ still be here in three years time?" Not being privy to the discussions that could be going on in Welsh Government, I was unable to give them a definitive answer. I certainly have my own opinions of the platform in question, one that is also regularly echoed by almost every ICT co-ordinator or head teacher I talk to. Let's just kindly say that this Microsoft Sharepoint based learning platform is probably not the most intuitive of systems for teachers to use. For example, digital leaders employed by the Welsh Government spent about three days training myself and colleagues on using it, and at the end of the three days I still didn't feel confident that I could insert a Youtube video into a page, or photo, without having to refer to a 140 page book. This was no reflection on the digital leaders who were delivering the training, it was in

3D Computer Modelling Apps

I've always had quite a soft spot for digital 3D computer modelling. In a previous post I talked about the work I used to do with schools in using the Bamzooki software. This Windows software allowed pupils to create 3D creatures or ‘zooks’ to their own designs and then battle them against other zooks or against a series of strength, speed or agility tests. When I was creating my new ICT scheme, I was particularly looking for a tablet app (iPad and Android) that would do a similar thing. I eventually came across Autodesk Tinkerplay which allows the user to create and pose the characters in a 3D environment, colour them, add texture to the parts and then place them in a scene. You can then take a picture of the scene which can be used as part of another project. The character you create can also be printed off on a 3D printer. I know that not many schools actually have a 3D printer but you could send the files off to be printed for you if you so wished (or ask your local friendly

First Time for Everything

There's a first time for everything. Today I bought myself my first ever Windows laptop. Obviously I've been provided with them in my role in previous jobs, but I've never had to actually buy one myself. I basically wanted a relatively cheap laptop that I could use to get to grips with Windows 10, install any Windows software that schools might be using, and possibly install Open Office or LibreOffice for productivity stuff. So I've ended up with an Acer Aspire F15, charcoal black, 8Gb of RAM and 2 TB hard drive. It should do a job. However, while trying to purchase it, I was interrogated by the shop assistant. A barrage of questions with the obvious intention of getting me to buy add ons. "What are you using it for?" "You say you are using the cloud, what are you using?" But it was the question about what antivirus software I was going to use that finally got my back up. At this point I wanted to say, "Just give me the bloody laptop", b

Breaking the Internet

http:/worldofoddballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/BROKE.jpg Yesterday I ran an inset day for staff at a primary school. The aim of the day was to introduce my cloud based ICT scheme of work. This normally involves firstly talking to staff about digital competence, as it's been written in a way that I believe will address the new digital competence areas. I then plan in an opportunity to log into the cloud platforms mentioned in the scheme and look at some of the available tools. In this particular school the focus was on Office 365 and J2E , both of which are available through the  Hwb  platform. First part of the morning ran smoothly until we all tried logging onto Hwb. Internet access ground virtually to a standstill. Pages were taking an age to load, if they loaded at all. So, here am I talking about moving much of the school's ICT curriculum to the cloud and about 28 people in an ICT suite bought the internet to a complete halt in the school. Very frustrating and

Developing Communication With Purple Mash 2Email

Spent some time today looking at a relatively new feature available in 2Simple's Purple Mash platform . 2Email is basically a safe place to teach young children how to use email. The interface comes in two 'flavours', one for the foundation phase (KS1) and the other for KS2. Each being tailored for those groups (see images below) Foundation Phase Interface KS2 Interface Teachers can set class permissions on where emails can be sent - to others across the school, to teachers, or to their pupils in their class. Teachers can also 'approve' each email that a child may want to send. Therefore lots of control over how you want your class to use it. There is also a 'Report to teacher' option if a pupil receives an email that is inappropriate. This email is then deleted from the child's email and the teacher is alerted and can view it (and the email conversation) from their email account. A very neat feature. If you don't want pupils emailing eac

Digital Competence Framework Update - Competence Headings

Since September 2015, Digital Pioneer Schools from across Wales have been involved in the development of the new Digital Competence Framework. This framework will be available to all schools in Wales from September 2016. If you've read any of my previous posts on Digital Competence you would have seen that there has been much work done in this field already by many organisations around the world. Therefore we could take an informed guess as to aspects that would be covered in any newly developed framework. I made a stab at this sometime ago, coming up with: Digital Citizenship / eSafety Communication and Collaboration Solving Problems and Thinking Critically Creativity and Innovation These are basically the 'strand' headings to my ICT scheme which many schools are now using. A colleague of mine has just pointed me in the direction of a presentation on the Welsh Government website that does show the headings that the Digital Pioneer Schools are now working to: Citiz

Google Cardboard

Just bought myself a Google Cardboard viewer. If you've never heard of Google Cardboard then basically it's a relatively cheap and simple way for a user to experience virtual reality. The viewer was purchased on Amazon for £10.99 and took me about 5 mins to assemble. The duck tape is you can see in the photos is just there to strengthen some areas. You download the Google Cardboard app to your smartphone, calibrate it to the viewer via a QR code and it's ready to use. Your smartphone is inserted into the back of the viewer, and the display is split into two images (one for each eye). The result is a stereoscopic 3D image. It reminds me a little of the ViewMaster toy I loved as a child! But Google Cardboard brings that idea up to date, allowing you to take your own 360 degree images. Move your head to the left or right, or turn around to see the whole scene. I've been taking 360 degree photos via my Android smartphone for some time, and viewed through this they become v

Google Classroom - My First Lessons

It's been interesting to see over the last couple of months the number of schools in south east Wales who have 'gone Google'. If you have read some of my previous posts you will know that I've helped to introduce Google for Education into several primary schools across the region, and during a recent conversation with a primary school it became clear that this number is beginning to swell greatly. In one local authority we counted at least 17 primary and secondary schools using Google Apps, and these were just the ones that we were aware of. I certainly believe that number is going to grow quite significantly in that local authority, and also in surrounding LAs. During these conversations one Google Apps tool kept being flagged up as "amazing" - Google Classroom . I was obviously aware of it's potential in school, and heard lots of good things, but until now had never had a chance to use it with a class. For those who don't know what it is,