Browsing "TeachMeet Clevedon 1"
Mark introduced Scribd and The Little Book of ICT Ideas he has published using this. In addition, he talked about an alternative to wordle – www.tagxedo.com. Words can be uploaded online and moved into shapes, words are made bigger according to importance. Why not copy and paste a topic’s key words? Or the whole script from a play you are studying? These pictures can be stored online and accessed as a live interactive document. Words can be clicked on and it will be searched for within Google.
Here is an example for Romeo & Juliet:
http://www.tagxedo.com/artful/96627efbed224480
In addition, Mark mentioned ‘Under Ten Minutes’ (www.undertenminutes.com) which has various video tutorials showing how to use lots of different online tools – with footage of benefits given in terms of classroom practice.
PLUS!!
SlideRocket – a presentation tool that makes it easy to embed youtube videos, pictures, charts and twitter feeds. Check this out at www.sliderocket.com
A presentation featuring some of the features can be found here
http://app.sliderocket.com:80/app/fullplayer.aspx?id=6B491573-3967-B0FB-9F8F-4F80C9434B65
Peter talked about www.geocaching.com which can guide you to ‘tupperware’ boxes around the country within which visitor books can be found as well as ‘missions’ and messages. People can find these boxes, sign the visitor’s books and transport the travel books along the journey. He described this process as ‘IT with exercise’, a way in which to engage students and have keep fit at the same time.
QR Codes were also mentioned which can be scanned and read (using a camera phone device), taking the student to a web address of the teacher’s choice.
Mindmeister – collaborative mindmaps: allowing students to work on the same mind map at the same time!
Sally talked about how Google maps can aid classroom learning through the use of ‘My Maps’ – individualising maps with icons which have tasks linked to them, allowing to track historical events for example and giving students access to plot their own maps and contribute to a whole class project/activity. Future work includes embedding video clips into various places on the map.
Andy spoke about how we can connect the analogue and digital world together through publishing (sharing student work with a wider audience) and celebrating what has been achieved. Can we capture the analogue world through a digital format?
Scan their work and produce a digital format: Blockposters.com, Rasterbator, PosterIT
Written stories, artwork can be uploaded to sites such as: Issuu (online book) and Scribd to create class anthologies and albums.
Audacity, Posterous, Cueprompter (scripts which scroll up the screen) – All free software
Glogster – creating posters which tell a story by combining materials, written and image.
Lulu – documents can be uploaded and published into high quality artefacts such as books! (print on demand).
Tom spoke about how students can set their own learning outcomes through the teacher creating a Google Form and students responding, very quick and simple to set up – all working through real time which means students can watch updates happening right away on the class board (particularly useful for plenaries and watching who answers first!). Tom reported how he had used this with a coursework based class which allowed him to move around the room and help the students in a very individualised way, as well as tracking where students are and allowing for ease of feedback. Online forms has been used for surveys, quizzes and evaluations at Clevedon School as a result of Tom’s work.
Andy introduced Stream2School (who have donated a kindle for a prize draw at Clevedon’s TeachMeet), which schools can install with the aim of ‘renting’ the software rather than purchasing it, reducing costs dramatically and encouraging innovation. The range of software is large and can be trialled by schools. www.stream2school.com
Chris explained how Twitter can used to promote independent learning with sixth formers, in and out of lesson. The idea is that students are using their own tools for learning purposes. The teacher sets up a school only account and discussions take place on learning related topics – hash tags can be used to link to particular topics. Messages can also be communicated and picked up on in lessons. The virtual presentation can be viewed at http://j.mp/dXujn9
Paolo described how the Battleship activity can be used as a starter and during peer/self assessment. A grid with numbers and headings is shown to class, students asked to choose a number and report on the combination. If correct they ‘win’ that number. A fun activity which students enjoy to get involved with and take ownership of. Suitable for all subjects.
Donna Hay introduced a range of tools which can be used as starters or small activities within the lesson.
Visuwords – online graphical dictionary showing derivatives of keywords. A fantastic mindmap connection layout all linking to just one word.
Solvr – a way of getting students to collaboratively solve problems. A student can type in a problem, other students can access this problem (using an individual URL which is allocated to the specific problem) and add solutions to a list or comment on other solutions. (DO NOT CLICK ON THE RED CROSSES)
Zondle – Allows you to create quizzes and games, particularly useful for revision. Allows student to access a games once questions are answered correctly.
Finding stuff on Google – Advanced Search allows filtering by reading level
Wonder wheel – producing mindmaps within Google screen
Timeline – finding articles from particular dates, particularly useful for identifying trends.
Google squared labs – finding related information, shows as a grid allowing for overview and ordering.
WolframAlpha – answers questions itself (e.g. mathematical questions). Mark Anderson added that he has used this for researching food information.
Julia talked about class blogs using www.jogtheweb.com. The opportunity for students to have 24/7 access to the blog site and can add what they wish – however all content can be moderated. The website can also be used as a just for information blog – useful to record photos of learning for parents to see or instructions for homework. This site has been used with Primary and Secondary school students. Julia suggested that blogging helps to broaden the students’ audience, often encouraging them to write knowing it will be accessible by many – ‘a place to present their best work’. Catch Julia on her blog: The Head’s Office.
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