Head in the Cloud

I spent some time over the weekend playing around with one of my favourite pieces of software - Bamzooki. Originally created for the CBBC TV programme of the same name, the Bamzooki software allows a user to create 'Zooks'. These are digital 3D creatures that are built using a variety of blocks which can be modelled to your specification and then tested for speed, strength and agile in a variety of simulations. In my opinion an excellent tool for supporting the area of the ICT curriculum focussed on modelling and simulation. So many opportunities for a teacher to ask the "What if...?" questions, changing of variables in the model, and challenging pupils to solve problems. For instance, several years ago when I ran the "Bamzooki Challenge" across the local authority, the challenge for the pupils involved was to create a 'Zook' with certain constraints  - mustn't be heavier than this, have more parts than this, etc. The pupils then created their m...

In a couple of previous posts I looked at what was meant by the term digital literacy and what this could mean in the Welsh education context. These were written in response to a recommendation from the ICT Steering Group report , proposing a new statutory Digital Literacy Framework for schools. I attempted to define what digital literacy meant using definitions from groups such as The Royal Society, Becta, Futurelab , Jisc and Common Sense Media. It was very difficult to pin down exactly what it meant but there were certainly commonalities between all of them. This week however, Prof. Graham Donaldson published his report on the curriculum and assessment in Wales, "Successful Futures" , and in it referred not to digital literacy , but to digital competence (which is a term I'm far happier using).  I therefore feel it's important for me to try in this post to understand what is meant by this term, look at some definitions and find out if there are any differences ...

I woke up this morning to the news that there is to be a " radical national curriculum overhaul proposed for Wales ". Professor Graham Donaldson today published his report titled ' Successful Futures ', the result of almost a year long review into the curriculum and assessment in Wales. A lot of radical and exciting changes recommended, with much for educators in Wales to mull over and discuss in the coming months during a period being called, 'the great debate'. I've only really just scanned over the 124 page document, but here are some of the headlines I've picked out: - Six new areas of learning and experience from 3 to 16: Expressive Arts Health and Well Being Humanities Languages, Literacy and Communication Mathematics and Numeracy Science and Technology - The current separation of the curriculum into phases and key stages should be removed. Statutory schooling should be seen as a coherent and progressive whole, including the move ...

Last Tuesday (17th February) a House of Lords Digital Skills Committee produced their report titled "Make or Break: The UK's Digital Future". The report is a call for action to the new incoming Government in May 2015 in the following areas: The economy - millions of jobs are at risk of automation Skills - the UK population needs to learn the right skills for the future Schools - make digital literacy a third core subject Inclusion - realise the benefits of universal digital access Women - realise the economic potential of more women in digital careers I haven't been through all the 144 pages of the full report yet, but I have had a chance to go through the summary of conclusions and recommendations of the committee, and it does provide plenty of food for thought for those involved in education and for the whole of society. The thrust of the report is that digital technologies permeate all areas of our lives and that the " UK cannot afford to miss th...

Blogging is a strange thing. If you know me, then you'll know I do tend to say things as I see them. My blogs are often a reflection of how I feel about something and tend to 'ramble' somewhat as I commit these to the screen. Therefore writing these things down and publishing them to the public, does sometimes leave me feeling a little exposed. In my last blog, I mentioned how I personally felt that the BETT show, since moving to Excel had become very 'corporate' and that it didn't have the noise, hustle and bustle and dare I say the heart, that was so very much part of BETT when it was at Olympia. Was this just me, or did anyone else feel the same? Unless someone comments on a blog post I don't really know how people are reacting to what I've have written. Are they indifferent, whole heartedly agree or really upset with the things I write? Interestingly that last post did generate some feedback from people who read it. They generally seemed to agree wit...

Another year, another BETT Show begins and I'm going to be travelling up to Excel London tomorrow (Friday) to attend. I first visited as a classroom teacher and ICT coordinator in about 1999. An early morning Friday start, on a coach arranged by the local authority, full of excited teachers, happy to have escaped their school for the day. A four hour trip (if we were lucky and there were no hold ups) down the M4 to Olympia, London. Since then I think I've attended every single BETT event, first at Olympia and more recently at its new home at the Excel in London's Docklands. In about 2009 I even gave a presentation at BETT on the use of the CBBC Bamzooki software in classroom to support ICT modelling. However, I've noticed that over the last couple of years I don't get the same sense of excitement about attending. During the last couple of days I've been thinking about why I feel like this. I am actually looking forward to meeting some colleagues that I work wit...

I haven't blogged for a while but I've just seen something I thought was really neat and I thought I should share it. At one time I used to do a lot of work with schools on using film trailers. One activity we used to do with classes was using a recent trailer in iMovie, strip off the audio track and get the children to rebuild the trailer using original music they've created from Garageband, adding sound effects, and a new narration track. Some great opportunities for literacy work and the creative use of audio. I used to use Zamzar to help me download the video, however several years ago this feature was removed. However, I've just seen a very useful tweet that showed me how to download Youtube videos very easily. Basically between the www. and the youtube.com just add ss - eg. https://www. ss youtube.com/watch?v=t-C..... You then get taken to a page where you can download the video to your computer. Simples! REMEMBER - Think about copyright and don't be tempted ...