Thursday, May 26, 2011

'How to...'

I hope that the current move towards 1:1 technology in the classroom quickly becomes a reality for teachers across the UK and the world. I'm sure it's only a matter of time and when that day truly begins to dawn, some teachers will find themselves in a strange new world where children often know more about the technology than they do and they are faced with that 'jump' moment where they teeter on the brink of something they feel will overwhelm them and struggle to resist the temptation to say;

"iPad down children, pens and pencils out, you can play with the iPad when you are finished your work."

To try and stifle these dreaded words we are putting together a recipe book for such teachers, to help with these frightening first moments of discovery, to give them some tools they can adapt and use for some great learning and content creation. It's called 'Cooking with Apps', will be an ePub format and I've mentioned it before. As oart of the book I've put together some initial 'how to' videos for certain apps.

Here's a couple of examples:

Creating Mind-maps in iThoughtsHD

Adding images to mind-maps

Friday, May 20, 2011

Becoming an Author... The ePub Revolution

So here's a book you'll all want to buy.

'Cooking with Apps - an iPad Educators Guide' it's a fantastic, practical guide to the best apps for use in the classroom, written by the teachers who know. How do I know? Because I'm helping write it!

This book is a result of our project team at the recent ADE 2011 conference in London. We were all interested in the iPad in a 1:1 classroom environment, some of us already in that position and some moving swiftly in that direction in their schools. We wanted to help teachers who found themselves in a class where the kids all had the iPad and wondered,

"Ok, where do I start with this?"

On a side issue, it is clear to see the need for this kind of help. Just to roll out the devices is a first step only and we have seen to many examples of technology placed in the hands (and quickly cupboards) of teachers and schools who had no real idea of what to do with it and therefore found it fell way short of transformational.

Anyway, Our project group decided to share some apps, and ideas of how to use them in the classroom that would give teachers a good start, we sort of wanted to hold the door open for them until they reached the "Hold on, I've just had a great idea.." moment.

The best way to do this in a meaningful way: ePub!

In the desktop version of Pages, the Apple word processing package, we now have the option of exporting as an 'ePub'. This means our document is able to be exported as a beautifully formatted 'book' including navigation aids such as contents pages and chapter headings and, more impressively, video and audio selections.

Whilst I already knew about ePub and had already considered some of the effects it could have in school assessments and projects, I needed a project of my own to give me the impetus to get to know this new format.

It makes a huge difference to the children in our classes. One of the most important aspects of teaching language is the concept of audience. It is increasingly so as children enter a world where they will be asked to give talks and presentations in many situations and to different groups of people. ePub gives the chance for children to present their writing and video to an audience in a really fantastic way.

Now to get writing...


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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Hammers and Chisels




Animation. The clue has to be in the name, something vibrant, moving, exciting and alive.

Surely these words describe what all modern day educators believe is best for a classroom. Gone are days of rows and rote learning facts.

I asked my daughter of 11 yesterday; 'So when was Queen Victoria made Queen?' she replied; 'Im not sure..' I said; 'Hey, you should know that!'
She looked over at me as though looking at a Victorian. 'Dad, I don't need to know that stuff, ever heard of Google?.. duh"

So we animate our lessons, teaching with graphics, colour, group tasks, essential questions, problem solving and enquiry learning strategies. The kids love it!

However, we as teachers are always looking for new tools for our trade and, for us in a 1:1 iPad environment, more and more we know what the materials are at the start of a lesson, the learning goals, essential questions and targets but we don't know what kind of a house the children are going to build!

And that is how it should be.

So many outcomes are valid, meaningful as ways of demonstrating learning that the whole world of education can become an animated and stimulating experience where children are given the chance to determine the outcome task for a piece of learning;

'I'll do a MoodBoard,'
'I'm doing a cartoon'
'I think I'm going to produce a document' and so on and so on...

This brave, new, exciting world needs new rules, new boundaries and new tools. One of these tools is in animation packages. They enable children to demonstrate learning in languages, social subjects, maths, sciences and almost every other area by creating animations that show what they've learned. Since the advent of iPad we've been searching for tools that do this job properly, and easily. Along came 'Toontastic', a fantastic little app that includes vital learning of the story arc and opens a world of possibilities to younger animators.
This week I chanced upon another little gem. How I have not noticed it before during fruitless searches of the App store I have no idea. 'PhotoPuppetHD'.



A beautiful, comprehensive animation toolbox for older children, allowing creation of characters, backgrounds, talking heads and lovely track-by-track editing. I introduced it today to a class for the first time and was struck by the same feeling I had when first demonstrating GarageBand (what higher compliment could any app get!) that the sky now really was the limit!

So, another tool for the 21st century teacher's toolbox. I think this one's a sledgehammer!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

TED and the Art of Presentations

This morning we spent a great deal of time talking about presentation.

Having returned from the ADE institute in London a day or two ago I've seen some pretty good ones recently. My class, honestly, are possible one of the best in our school at presenting and many of them are clear and natural communicators. They are not, however, good enough.

Presenting is a key skill for today, and tomorrow. As university entrance requirements soar and interviews precede even the most menial jobs, our children must become confident in presenting themselves and their ideas.

Having 1:1 iPad is a crucial benefit in this task. Firstly today we watched Jamie Oliver give his award winning TED talk. While they watched, the children made notes on iThoughtsHD of every tactic and strategy he employed to drive home his message.

Then they selected an issue which they felt passionate about, from goal-line technology in football to World peace and, using Safari and Pages, researched their issue.

In the coming weeks they will refine, organise and structure their research and begin to build their slides on Keynote. Then comes the hard part.

I'm going to have them present to different audiences, ages, group sizes to test and refine their technique and build confidence. At some point I'll video these presentations and ask the parents to critique them through the blog.

Once that's done, in September, some will get a chance to present from a stand at the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow. A daunting and challenging task for twelve year old children.

All in aid of building a vital and rare skill, the ability to communicate, to present and hopefully to move an audience.

A 21st century necessity?

Definitely


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Challenge!

This is surely an overused word. The number f times I have heard people start sentences with : "Let me challenge you," or 'Today I want to challenge you," and then proceed with something decidedly not challenging or radical.

Today, however, the true meaning and scope of challenge in education is becoming clearer.

We all know that there are many 'challenges' facing the educational community; budgets, class sizes, management issues, curriculum overcrowding and technology to name but a few.

The real challenge however is, I believe, more fundamental and relates to how we, and the children we teach, learn.

Apple have developed the Challenge Based Learning programme to open to us as educators, the benefits of challenge. It is something we have been trying to implement in school over the past number of weeks and months and seeing some real progress. Allowing the children to be let loose on learning, to solve problems and answer questions and investigate solutions is the way forward.
It was so inspiring to hear the concept laid out and substantiated at Apple Distinguished Educator 2011.

Now to take the learning to school.

That's the challenge!


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