Primary Bits and Bytes

(Posted by Dughall)

(Posted by Dughall)

I always enjoy the annual BETT show at Olympia. As well as being an opportunity to get up to date on the latest developments in educational technologies, it is also an excellent chance to meet, network and catch up with educators who have inspired me virtually or in real life.

This year, though, promises to surpass previous year’s experiences for one fundamental reason – teachers are taking over! By this, I mean that there is a far greater emphasis on ‘learning’. As Ian Usher puts it in his blog:

“During various threads on Twitter about BETT – including a mainly productive one on Tips for (new) visitors to BETT – I opined how BETT would, to my mind, benefit significantly from having an “L” in its title (and core purpose) similar to the one in SLF – the Scottish Learning Festival, which was tellingly formerly titled SETT.”

Well this year it promises to be an ‘L’ of a BETT show with 4 significant ‘fringe’ features:

Firstly  TEDx Orenda.

On Wednesday 13th Jan at 6pm there will be a FREE TEDx event with a stimulating line-up of inspirational speakers from diverse backgrounds (from a London cabbie to the man who brought us Moshi Monsters). TEDxOrenda at BETT is an individually organised TED event that epitomises the tradition of TED as a vehicle for ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’.

One thing that is guaranteed is that the speakers will be sharing stories that will be of interest and inspiration to educators from every sector.
More details of the TEDxOrenda event can be found here.
The event is FREE and tickets are available from here.

On Thursday 14th January, there will be a free AmplifiED event, again from 6pm. AmplifiED follows a Barcamp, unconference model and is essentially a participatory event that involves table discussion around topics and themes. In this case, the topics for discussion will be education-based and possibly provoked by the BETT show itself.
More details of the AmplifiED event can be found here.
The event is FREE and tickets are available from here.

Last year, the highlight of the BETT show for me was the Teachmeet that took place on the Friday evening. It was my first Teachmeet and had a profound impact on me. I blogged about it at the time.

This year, on Friday 15th at 6pm a similar Teachmeet event will take place. For those unfamiliar with the Teachmeet format, it is an event that consists of short (2min or 7 min) presentations given by practitioners. These presentations are about great ideas and what works well in the classroom.
More details of the Teachmeet event can be found here.
The event is also FREE and although there are no formal ticketing arrangements, you are encouraged to sign up to the wiki (above).

Finally, Teachmeet ‘Takeover’ will be happening throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In a nutshell:

What is TeachMeet Takeover?

• Short time slots of 30 minutes or less on vendor stands throughout the course of the show.
• Teachers taking over – no affiliation to the vendor or obligation to help sell their products.
• Education professionals talking about FREE ideas.
• Informal presentations of good, quality ideas that you don’t need to pay for.
• Vendors sign up for time on a wiki.
• Educators put their name down in a time slot to talk on the wiki.

Tom Barrett is the chief instigator of Teachmeet takeover and you can find out more on his blog.

If you are going to BETT this year, do try to add a little extra ‘Learning’ to the mix with one, some or all of the above. If not, many of these events will be available through archived video or even live streams from the events themselves.

If you aren’t able to attend in person, watch this space for a post-match report. It promises to be a BE(L)TTER!

(Posted by Dughall)
This is a very brief post to celebrate some of the wonderful (spontaneous) e-learning opportunities that appear to have sprung up over the last couple of snowy school closure days.

Obviously, these are just the ones I’ve been aware of and credit goes to those wonderful teachers who have pushed the technical envelope to bring exciting and engaging learning opportunities to young children despite schools being closed.

The teachers themselves tell the story so much better than me, so below are links to their blogs with further details.

• Firstly, Nicola Stables (a Kirklees teacher) has blogged about her activities yesterday. Click here to read more. Nicola also refers to a couple of other examples (below).
• Peter Richardson has blogged about his use of Twiddla for a ‘Snow Lesson’.
• David Mitchell tells of his inspiring session on his blog, here.

These are just three (excellent) examples. So what have you been doing whilst snowed-in?

(Posted by Dughall)

I was asked this week if I could provide a couple of hours training for the teaching staff at a primary school on the first day back after the Christmas holiday. The brief is “…something that includes teacher use of the IWB and the use of ICT to raise boys’ achievement”.

Despite having relatively little time to prepare for such a session, I readily agreed but knew that I would benefit by seeking help and advice from a wider network.

I posted a message on Twitter as follows: “‘Raising boys achievement through ICT.’ If you had to give 2 hours input to Primary teachers, what would you do/include?”

Now I am lucky in that there are a large number of excellent educational professionals and practitioners who listen to what I have to say on Twitter and are prepared to help with suggestions and advice. Here’s what came back:  

HGJohn
ComicLife – boys love comics as a way in to reading. Sitting with a teacher who has said it has a massive impact on boys, r/w

damoward
engage w tv studio, script autocue, camera n director. They luv it

I_AM_LEARNING
‘Raising boys’ achievement through ICT’ Take a look at www.iamlearning.co.uk

Ideas_Factory
include any ict that uses gadgets-boys attention focussed forever.

meths7
Use of IWB to scaffold, model, guide writing structure Use of ICT as visual and aural stimulus for writing ‘talk for writing good’

Ideas_Factory
http://bit.ly/4szBzw Interesting article in Guardian about using ICT to raise standards in boys attainment

primarypete_
good Q.Be interested in responses.Possibly loads of different sites/tools to raise ach so they will find at least 1 thing 2useafter

primarypete_
other way would be to look at skill dev. and then pick one or two ict tools for each skill

mynictle
definitely some game based learning, timez attack being one example for boys 

mynictle
great question & has got me thinking – any online maths & science works well, boys also seem to inspired by webquests for thinking

 GeoBlogs
I’d probably focus on narratives / story telling using web tools [ http://bit.ly/5Q8tCd ] & ‘remix’ some stories, with mapping

GeoBlogs
try an article in OS Mapping News by me for a little more: Issue 35: http://bit.ly/4y7SjR

GeoBlogs
my Primary Colleague Wendy North also has a useful geography blog http://bit.ly/5WpM35

theotheralig
Ought to mention 21st Century Boys – Sue Palmer, huge concerns about early exposure to too much screen (tv or comp) toxic childhood

I have had a chance to follow up a few of the links including the one posted by @ideasfactory for an article from The Guardian. This article, although a few years old now, is an interesting read and also includes the following helpful list:

The do’s and don’ts of ICT teaching

· DO use ICT to produce a graph to represent boys’ progress. It can be a powerful tool to show them where they’re at, and where they need to go.

· DO make sure there is whole school awareness of the broader issues of boys’ underachievement and how ICT can help and what role it can play.

· DO draft computer-literate admin and support staff into the ICT suite, so they can be positive role models for boys and offer them instant help. If boys are stuck with their hands up for ages waiting for assistance, they will lose focus.

· DON’T let your kit get out-of-date. Make sure you have the best hardware and software your school can afford. Boys will be turned off by equipment that is five years old.

· DON’T use computers as a carrot even though they are a great motivator.

· DO consider setting up an e-buddy scheme with another school. Boys are much more likely to pay attention to things like spelling and grammar if they know they are writing for an audience elsewhere.

· DON’T make assumptions that all boys are “like this” and all girls “like that”. Not all boys will be motivated by using ICT. There isn’t a “size fits all” solution.

· DON’T leave it too late. The earlier you introduce boys to ICT, the better. They are not nearly as self-conscious at key stage 2 as at key stage 3.

· DO look for ways of developing creativity and fun with ICT, such as producing Java applets. Boys respond best to tasks that are short and have an obvious point.

I am hugely grateful for the rapid responses I received from those above and certainly have some food for thought for when I come to properly sit down and plan the session.

(Posted by Dughall)

After the overwhelming success of  our showcase event of 2009, we are pleased to announce that we will be holding a similar event in 2010.

“…students will have the opportunity to demonstrate some of the excellent practice taking place that involves the use of ICT to support their learning…”

“…We would welcome projects from all key stages from foundation stage up to key stage 5…”

We would be pleased to see work in any of the following areas although this is not a definitive list:

• Multimedia work, sound, animation  or digital video
• ICT supporting music, art, PE or any other curriculum area
• Games making
• Innovative website development
• School radio/TV
• Podcasting, Blogs, Wikis
• Video conferencing
• Use of control technology
• Use of a learning platform
• Use of mobile technologies such as PDA, UMPC, etc
• International links

The ICT Showcase will take place on June 10th 2010.

Please click this link to download the invitation letter.