Tech Consultant

That's me. For just one afternoon I was hired as a consultant by Year 4. They had been producing their own digital guides for their upcoming Art Gallery. The idea is that visitors to their gallery are given an iPad, and they use it to guide them around the gallery, providing them with detailed information about the exhibits. The children have made these in Keynote, complete with photos, videos and audio, all hyperlinked from a contents page. 

The reason they hired me as a consultant, was because many had ideas of what they wanted to achieve, but didn't know how to get Keynote to do it. If this was the case, they made an appointment to see me, by signing up on a sheet, and had to wait for their assigned time. The process was slick and smooth and they all got their problems solved.

During the rest of the time, they were preparing for their exhibition, or having other appointments with their class teachers about other issues.

I thought this was a great model for giving them the responsibility to be more active in seeking support as needed.

Animoto movie

Just knocked up a quick Animoto of our Yr7 trip to Langkawi. You can make short videos like this for free, but anything over 30 seconds has to be payed for. However, teachers can get free school accounts, so if you want to have a go, ask your teacher.

Recording a VoiceOver

There are a number of ways to record a VoiceOver into an iMovie. Recently I've seen students record directly into their iPad, using app like Quickvoice, the emailing the file to themselves to drop into their movie. I've also seen students taking MacBooks into a quiet room and recording directly into iMovie (or even using QuickTime or GarageBand). Today, Year 5 were putting a short commentary into a movie and did it directly into the iMac. They found that if you speak quietly, up close to the mic (which is directly above the camera) you can get a good quality recording, even in a room full of busy students.

Want to the best way though? Do it at home on the iPad, sitting on your bed with a blanket over your head. Great sound quality, but you do gat a bit hot!

Year 1 on iMacs

When Year 1 use technology it is usually through the use of iPads, as well as other mobile devices. Today, one of the Year 1 classes used the iMacs for the first time. They were really excited about their progression to the 'big" computers. I remember when I was teaching in the UK (a long time ago) it was normal to teach kids of this age how to use a mouse. Then gradually we realised that children were starting school already having developed those skills at home. PC use had become so widespread that they were quite familiar with clicking & dragging. However, there now appears to have been a reversal of this trend. Many children of this age no longer have access to a mouse at home. A quick survey this morning revealed that many of the children have access to a laptop, and virtually all have regular use of an iPad. So now the primary device for interacting with a computer is their fingers. As a result, this morning's lesson was more about holding, moving and clicking the mouse.

Incidentally, the photo shows a lovely example of peer support. Four children from another Year 1 class (who had already had a couple of lessons using the iMacs), came along as 'experts', and were busy helping their friends to log on and access the application etc.

iPad for Research & Presentations

Year 3 have been studying significant children's authors, and today they were looking for information about them. A simple sheet guided their research and the groups carefully searched the Internet for a whole variety of facts.

This information was then used to create a series of slides, in Keynote, to support their feedback to the rest of the class in a mini presentation. I was very impressed with how efficiently they used their iPads. Research skills are very difficult to develop, especially from the wealth of information that's available on the Internet, so small controlled experiences like this are perfect for building this ability.

Digital Citizenship in the Library

Our students use an online library system called Destiny Quest. As well as looking up books and writing reviews, it also includes a messaging feature. The kids can look up other users and send them a friend-request. Once accepted, that are able to communicate with each other - in theory sharing views on books or making recommendations to their friends. Of course, they could message each other about virtually anything.

Our librarian, Miss Mandy, has used this as the perfect opportunity to introduce the children to the importance of being sensible and politer hen communicating with technology. Within this 'safe' online environment, they can practice using social media in a protected space, which is managed and monitored by the library staff. Hopefully, this will lead to a culture of safe and responsible online use as they grow older.

QR Codes in Yr4 Maths

Pick a code, stick it in your book & scan it. This reveals a problem that needs to be solved. When it's been solved, pick another. A lovely little introduction to scanning QR codes for these 8 yr olds.

Creating the codes is easy. Our code generator of choice is goqr.me, and our favourite scanner app is simply called Scan.