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

Useful teaching links on facebook - I guess this counts as ICT!!!

Hello again

Well, I've not been well for a week now so have missed a couple of ICT lectures and sessions but am catching up. From what I've seen and heard I've missed out on using Super Duper Music Looper, although having looked at the software online during the week it looks like a really effective tool to use in the classroom, but more on that soon.

I'm spending this weekend working on podcasts and animations, but before I go to do those I thought I would post a couple of useful teaching related links I have found around the web (yes, the first two are facebook!!). All are worth a look.

NUT Student Members group - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=5645659677

Primary Teachers Resources and Support group - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2367182833

NUT Student Teachers homepage - http://www.students.teachers.org.uk/home

Lou xx

ICT and Music in the Primary Classroom

Hello again!

I don't know about everyone else, but I really enjoyed yesterday's ICT lecture about the links with music in the primary classroom; hardly surprising as I'm a music specialist and loved hearing the Jackson 5 (definitely need more motown classics in lectures lol!!)

However, when it comes to the use of ICT in creating music I did feel apprehensive before the lecture. While there is no doubt that ICT can be a valuable tool in the creative process, I personally find programs such as Logic more of a hindrence when I'm composing and I prefer the more traditional approach of playing an actual instrument or singing. I wasn't familiar with the various software available to schools for creating music and felt apprehensive about whether they would be a distraction from the musical side of the process, however what we saw yesterday was pleasantly surprising.

The software displayed in the presentation seems easy to use and would be useful in encouraging children to recognise the role of music technology in the subject area. I'm looking forward to our session on Friday when we actually get to use it, and will report back further then!

In the meantime, I found a couple of useful music website links which non-specialists may find useful - Sing Up has MP3 files (there's an ICT link right there!!) of a wide collection of songs which could be used in the classroom instead of playing the piano or a CD.

There is also a web link to a page from Edge Hill University which details a module on their teacher training programme which looks at music in the primary classroom and how ICT can be incorporated to make it a more enriching experience for the children.

Enjoy!!!

http://www.singup.org/
http://www.musicmanifesto.co.uk/

http://www.music-ite.org.uk/resources/primary-ite/using-ict-primary-music-education