ICT in the future - Twitter & Wikipedia?

While browsing education news on the Internet today I came across an article on the New Media Age website which states that Sir Jim Rose has recently completed a report on the use of modern media in the primary schools and will shortly be making recommendations to the government that programs such as 'Twitter' and 'Wikipedia' should be taught to children.

While I agree with Sir Rose that children need to be exposed to the ever developing world of ICT and be given opportunities to work with new innovations such as blogging and podcasting, as the article points out Twitter is not the safest platform out there. It does not have a function for reporting concerns or offensive posts and the company that run the site themselves ask for users to declare that they are over the age of 13 when signing up. With the sad yet real threat of cyber-bullying and internet grooming, where does this fit in with our duty of care as teachers?

Here is a link for the article, it will be interesting to say what Sir Rose actually recommends and what the response from the government, education experts and the public is.

http://www.nma.co.uk/Articles/41996/Primary+school+children+to+be+taught+to+use+Twitter.html

xxx

Animation again!

As part of our presentation, we have chosen to include animation as an ICT / Art based activity and this prompted me to have a look on Teachers TV and see what information there might be on schools that have done this previously.

One project I found was based in Bristol and featured two schools in the video, with KS2 children (although KS1 are mentioned) creating 2d animations. Watching the video and the enthusiasm both the children and the teachers have throughout the project showed me how, with enough time and resources, the children can have a fun and worthwhile learning experience.

Here is the link for the video, if you click on the resources link there are lots of other websites with some useful animation information, and even a 10 week overview which may well end up in my Art MTPs when I qualify!!!

http://www.teachers.tv/video/2743

Lou xx

Slightly out of sequence, but podcasting!!!

Well this week we finally got round to completing our podcast from a few weeks ago using Podium software. I was a bit nervous about this one, but reflecting back on it I think that was more to do with having to hear my own voice back and making a fool of myself rather than the actual ICT process.

I found that Podium was actually easy to use once I had got used to it and added a couple of chapters, and the hardware needed (microphone, laptop) was minimal. I think this would work well with both KS1 and KS2 in the school, developing their confidence in using ICT from an early stage and it would also be effective as a tool for developing their speaking and listening skills.

I have found this case study online, of a primary school in Chester who have introduced podcasting with great success. They explain how it actually requires little in the way of adult contributions and the children can take ownership for the majority of the process. It has also proved to be a very inclusive tool in their school, all year groups are involved and have a say in the content and even took the equipment out to interview keepers at Chester Zoo!! Well worth a look I think.

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/casestudies/casestudy.cfm?id=611

That's all for now - off to work on ICT presentation!!!

xxx

FLOWOL Task

Well, our last ICT session on a Friday afternoon was definitely challenging for my post birthday brain, thankfully Rachel brought in sweets which helped :)

Initially, I found the concept of FLOWOL pretty confusing and just planned on copying Rachel's example from the board, however looking at it further (and seeking help!) showed me that its actually not that bad once you get used to it, I think it would definitely be an upper KS2 activity though. This is what I came up with:

Although the range of mimics available for us to use in the session was limited, I have found an online source of other, more interesting and fun mimics which could be useful in the classroom to make this activity more engaging:

http://www.commotionstore.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=89_766_414

What did everyone else think??

xx

ICT to support SEN

This week in our SEN lectures we have been looking at how ICT can be used to help those with special needs in the primary classroom.

On past teaching practices I have seen teachers use Somerset Total Communication to produce graphic representations of words which are placed above the sentence. As well as helping them decipher meaning, this also supports those with both hearing and visual impairments develop their communication skills.

I have also used the digital transmitters and receivers when working in a class with profoundly deaf children before I started the BEd course, and was pleasantly surprised at how effectively this helped support the child without drawing attention to their differences, and how the rest of the children would also wear the transmitter piece when talking to the whole class during presentations etc. The teacher had clearly made this use of ICT part of the daily classroom and there was a very inclusive feel to her class as a result.

For researching the task I have looked at various websites, but found this one very useful with lots of pratical suggestions for supporting those with hearing impairments:

http://www.devon.gov.uk/sats-usingicthearing.pdf

BECTA have also produced a code of practice for support SEN:

http://www.bucksict.org.uk/ICT%20Coordinators%20Handbook/SENCodeOfPractice.pdf

And for those of you who are going, there is a seminar on using ICT to support dyslexic learners in the classroom at the Education Show in Birmingham later on this month:

http://www.education-show.com/page.cfm/action=Seminars/SeminarID=7

Geography and ICT

This week's lecture saw us looking at the use of GPS and other geography linked technologies in the modern primary classroom. As bizarre as it sounds, until now I have always thought of GPS and geography as two seperate entities. Geography lessons in my mind were learning about rivers and lakes and the difference between urban and rural landscapes, GPS is something I shout and swear at in my car when it has sent me the long way round and confused me enough to get me completely lost!

From the lecture however I quickly saw how ICT is basically essential now in teaching geography effectively. The world is changing at a rapid pace, and for children to gain the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of other countries and environments teachers need to make use of the wide range of resources available - taking 30 children to look at Table Mountain would be a nightmare!

I have always loved Google Earth and am really excited that it has now expanded to look at Oceans, stars and planets and even historical changes. Below are 2 links to tutorial videos I found that might be useful if you're thinking of using these newer Google Earth features.

http://www.google.com/sky/ http://earth.google.com/tour.html

Another topic in the lecture was geocaching, which was completely new to me! It seems to me to be a sort of cross between Barnaby Bear (you get to see lots of different places) and Treasure Hunt with Anneka Rice (small object hidden in the middle of nowhere). I'm sure this could prove interesting to the children in a class; they could choose a class 'mascot' and take time deciding where to leave him in their local area, then keep up to date on it's progress through the geocaching website. What I am unsure of is would this be an effective use of the already overloaded and precious teaching time available? Would be really interesting to hear what you all think!!

Here is a link to the geocaching website, specifically the page showing the targets closest to University.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=50.3798972&lng=-4.1222271&dist=25

As a final note, our session this week revolved around creating an interactive map which needed to contain hyperlinks, audio, video and photos. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and if I figure out how to add it to the blog then I'll put it up for you!

Lou xx

Animation now complete!!

Well, a couple of weeks behind everyone else but our group's animation is now finally finished and I think we are all pretty pleased with the results (although we realise it isn't the next Wallace & Grommit!).

Looking back on the process, it was actually a lot easier than I originally thought it would be to create the animation using Digital Blue and can definitely see the benefit of it in the classroom. I think that the amount of adult support needed would vary depending on the age of the children and asking children to create a 1 minute stop go animation might not be effective for Key Stage 1 classes, but with the right approach I think creating animation would definitely be a fun use of ICT!

Anyway - here is our animation, hope you enjoy it!!

xxxx