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The year that was… in review

Dec 24, 2012 by     No Comments    Posted under: Everything ICT

Big Ben

Well it’s certainly been an interesting year. I’m going to reflect upon that further after I’ve had chance to put my feet up for a day or two (code for get the house ready for the arrival of family members for Christmas day). For now though, here’s a round up of the ten most popular posts over the course of the year as polled by Google Analytics.

Whilst I’m here too, can I just say thank you to everyone who checks out my blog and follows and interacts with me on Twitter. I have had an amazing year. Met some amazing people. Had some amazing experiences and there’s more to come in 2013. I’m not going to go in to an Oscar style thank-you-fest, I’d just like to say thank you. So with festive aplomb and a certain amount of cheers, here’s what resonated most over the past year. Strange really!

Enjoy!

 

10. SOLO, iPads and a win?

A post that reflected upon how iPads could be used in the classroom in conjunction with SOLO taxonomy.

9. Student workflow on iPad in your lessons

Starting to think about workflow and its importance in its relationship to learning with mobile technologies, this post examined how this could take place:

workflowtitle8. Little Book of Superb ICT to enhance C21st Teaching & Learning (vol2)

This little book, still a favourite with many colleagues and people I’ve worked with on several CPD sessions this year, is jam packed with great edtech tools to support learning. Not seen it? Grab your copy.

7. Twitter wins again for CPD and collaboration in education

A post sparked from a number of interactions between a few teachers and I on my PLN on Twitter – Twitter proving again to be a brilliant forum for CPD and support in the education community.

6. The iPad & Critical Pedagogy

Really honing my vision for mobile technology use here and my research in to this post helped me with this immensely. Later it led to a more detailed look in to SAMR / TPACK etc, but the discussion here still forms, for me, the basis for learning with mobile technology.

5. Why iPad for the English classroom in education?

A post with lots of hints and tips for how you can use mobile technology to support learning in the English classroom.

4. iPad 105 – Workflow | How to save, work with multiple apps and share

A quite detailed post which kind of explains what it’s about in the title.

3. iPad 104 – the learning

The post which goes in to some detail about what is the best pedagogy behind using technology in the classroom

2. Beginner’s Guide to SAMR

Surprising as it’s only a relatively recent post, but this presentation in to SAMR makes it to the 2nd most popular post of the year.

1. One iPad in the classroom?

With a rather provocative title, this really should have been titled, “what can a teacher do in the classroom if they have an iPad and how do they do it?”

The post goes through some of the key apps to support learning activities and how to go about presenting to the class using your iPad too; talking about the hardware and implications of presenting to a whole class.

So there you have it. Hope you’ve found some of these useful over the past year? If you have, I’d love to hear from you. If you have ideas or questions on other topics linked to ICT, learning with technology and mobile devices please get in touch. I don’t profess to have all the answers but I do enjoy finding out!

Merry Christmas one and all.

Mark Anderson Dec ’12

Great web based presentation tool rv.lio

Nov 10, 2012 by     1 Comment    Posted under: Cool sites, CPD, edtech, Everything ICT

I was alerted to this great tool the other week by the great Doug Belshaw when he made this presentation here: http://dougbelshaw.com/presentations/2012/eskills/index.html#/ - this web based presentation has a number of key benefits to it. For starters, it’s really really simple to use, particularly if you use the web based creation tool found here: http://www.rvl.io/.

Getting started

Single sign on is supported so you can use your existing Google, OpenID, Yahoo or AOL account. Once in, you simply create a new deck, give your presentation a name and you’re presented with a number of options via the toolbar.

Formatting

Looking like most text editor tools, you can simply type in to your slide and add in the media you may want with it too. Font choices, formatting, sizes, colours, alignments and more mean you can lay out your information simply and beautifully. Remember the golden rule of presentations too where less is more. When you’re ready, start a new slide with the plus symbol.

Adding new slides

One of the things I like most about the tool is that you can nest similar themes in vertical slides (down) before moving horizontally (to the right) to the next theme within your presentation. You can see this in my presentation from TeachMeet Clevedon here on SAMR and transformational use of technology to support learning: http://www.rvl.io/ictevangelist/transforming-learning-using-technology

Adding images

Interestingly too, adding images is a simple process too, either add them in by uploading the local versions of the image or simply link to where the image you want to use is hosted online.

Embedding YouTube

I’ve also worked out that you can embed YouTube videos in to your slides too. To do this, I got the embed link from YouTube. Clicked the HTML icon on the slide toolbar. Pasted in the embed code. Job done.

Finished?

When you’re done, simply tap the publish button and you can access your presentation from the generated URL. Alternatively, if you want to do as Doug as done, just choose Export, download the completed presentation folder and put it on to your online hosting space. Interestingly, this also works if you want to just run it from your local machine. Just remember, because the presentation is built using web architectures and tools such as Javascript, you will need all of the files in the presentation folder in order for it to work. For the simplest way to work it, just leave it saved in your deck on the rv.lio website and access all of your presentations in one place.

iPad/iPhone?

Thanks to @mattbritland for checking. Making a presentation on your iPad or iPhone is possible but you can’t really add images plus making links isn’t easy. Recommendation? Make your presentation using a different device, ie laptop/desktop. All that said, showing your presentation on your phone or your iPad looks seriously slick. All you have to do is swipe your finger over the slide in the direction you want to move to next and you’re away.

Map view in iOS

You can also zoom out and see your presentation in map view, which is always handy before starting your presentation to remind you where to go, but also nice at the end to remind viewers where they’ve been. To access this simply pinch with your fingers. Tap back on a slide to zoom back in.

Extras?

To move through your slides, simply use the cursor / arrow keys to navigate through your slides. Interestingly, it also works with clickers, so it’s a great way of presenting without having to stand near your machine to move through every slide.

Happy presenting!

 

Hosting the #UKEdChat 24 May 2012

May 17, 2012 by     No Comments    Posted under: Learning & Teaching

I am deeply honoured to have been asked to host #ukedchat again this coming Thursday. It’s a real opportunity to connect with hundreds of teachers and discuss topics related to teaching & learning and a great experience to boot.

 

If you’d like to help shape the discussion for next week, please vote in the poll below:

 

Flip or flop? #ukedchat April 5 2012

Apr 5, 2012 by     No Comments    Posted under: Articles, CPD, Everything ICT, Learning & Teaching

Tonight I’m hosting my first #ukedchat session on Twitter. I’m really looking forward to it. There have been changes in the ‘lead’ over the course of the past week, with Flipped Learning taking an early lead and then ‘Secret Spaces’ fighting back. The poll had 234 votes and 768 views. Cool! Here’s how it all panned out:

ukedchat poll winner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So with the ‘Flipped Learning’ topic taking the lead, I thought I’d provide some background information and reading to the topic.

Wikpedia states:

Flip teaching

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flip teaching is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of using Internet technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos that students view outside of class time. It is also known as backwards classroom, reverse instruction and reverse teaching. [1]

The traditional pattern of secondary education has been to have classroom lectures, in which the teacher explains a topic, followed by homework, in which the student does exercises. In flip teaching, the student first studies the topic by himself, typically using video lessons created by the instructor[2] or shared by another educator, such as those provided by the Khan Academy. In the classroom, the pupil then tries to apply the knowledge by solving problems and doing practical work.[3][4][5] The role of the classroom teacher is then to tutor the student when they become stuck, rather than to impart the initial lesson. This allows time inside the class to be used for additional learning-based activities,[6] including use of differentiated instruction and project-based learning.[7]

Flip teaching allows more hands-on time with the instructor guiding the students, allowing them to assist the students when they are assimilating information and creating new ideas (upper end of Bloom’s Taxonomy).[8]

With that baseline, part of the issue which is getting Steve Wheeler a bit “flipping irritated” is that the term is (as admitted by Aaron Sams) ambiguous and seems to only really include the preparation and dissemination of videos on topics ala the Khan Academy.

So what is the way forward? How do we get flipped or instructional learning in to our classrooms? Should we have flipped learning in our schools? If we do, how do we deliver it? Does it require access to technology? If so, how do we provide that? Is video the only way forward? Could we use a more analogue method (anyone heard of books? Or in a digital world, iBooks?)? What do we do about the digital divide if it is a requirement for technology to be used? Should our school day change to give students more time and chance to reflect on the ‘flipped learning’?

Flip or flop?

What do you think?

See you at 8pm tonight for some hopefully lively discussion around this topic.

 

In the meantime, here are some more sites with information on the topic of the flipped classroom.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching

http://www.wired.com/cloudline/2012/03/flipped-classrooms/

http://flipped-learning.com/

http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-transforming-learning-536.php

http://www.flippedhighschool.com/

 

and for some already lively debate, check:

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/what-flip.html

 

Last night a teacher saved my life…

Nov 13, 2011 by     2 Comments    Posted under: Learning & Teaching

Among most of my friends it is common knowledge that from the ages of about 19 to 35 I DJ’d at umpteen bars and clubs across Europe and got to play at some enviable clubs and locations.  From Ministry of Sound in London on their radio station and in their club to Ibiza, Edinburgh and beyond. It was a great experience and one that, even though I was still teaching Monday to Friday, brought me many brilliant learning experiences. It helped shape me in to the person I am now.

I’ve given it up now so I can spend more time with the family but when I was talking recently with some colleagues about my past as a DJ, we started discussing how I planned my sets before going off to a gig. I regaled at how I never really planned them, but had my bag full of vinyl (or more recently CDs for use on CDJs) with songs that I liked and might end up playing, but that I never planned my sets – I just read the crowd, listened to the previous DJs, got a feel for what music people were enjoying and explored those types of tracks. Certainly though, I knew of many DJs who would knew exactly what they were going to play, exactly when they were going to mix it in and exactly what BPM the tracks needed to be at in order to fit all the tunes in they wanted in to their sets. Certainly, if you’re one of the very talented and amazing scratch DJ’s that are out there, who have to plan their sets to the nth degree, that sort of thing is really important:

 

Reflecting after the conversations, I started relating it to my teaching – certainly, my classroom are an audience and as a teacher, whilst I plan my lessons and I have an endgame, i.e. my outcomes, I do read the audience and go with the flow. Like some of the DJs I knew, who would plan their sets religiously, aren’t there teachers who teach like this too? Surely, if teachers do that, they’re missing the point? I know it’s helpful (especially when first starting out) to have clear ideas about the language you’ll use, the questioning techniques you want to employ, so forth and so on, but as you progress in your teaching career, don’t you want to be able to stop and explore a point that might come up? To be able to change direction if required? After all, no two lessons are ever the same. I have a Year 9 ICT class on a Tuesday morning and I have a repeat of that lesson on a Friday afternoon with a different Year 9 class. Here, the timings, the audience and other variables are completely different, so I need to be mindful of all these things and adjust my ‘set’ accordingly, even though I still want the same successful outcomes. It’s just that the songs I play are different.

The same is true of other careers too – chefs for example taste as they’re going along, they drop in a pinch of salt after tasting or a grind of pepper, just to get the perfect blend in the meal they’re cooking. Teaching’s the same, you just have to test and read your audience and adjust your style to suit them so they learn the most and enjoy the best teaching you can provide.

Screen Chomp & GarageBand on the iPad – demo / tutorial

Aug 19, 2011 by     1 Comment    Posted under: iPad apps, My Screencasts

 

Short screencast made using a screenshot from GarageBand, a ScreenChomp screencast a song I made in GarageBand and iMovie. 

Tidy :)

Here’s the original version of the screencast sans music before I put it through the rinse to add the music in iMovie for quality comparison.

http://www.screenchomp.com/t/aaWDhpbKkQ

iPads and their use in education – part one

May 31, 2011 by     No Comments    Posted under: iPad

Introduction 

I am very fortunate to work in a school with a forward thinking leadership team which have me involved in an iPad project at Clevedon School where I work. Currently SLT members and some interested teachers including me have been given iPads in order to trial their use in our various roles working with students. There are also a number of devices for students to use in their lessons with class teachers. This brings about different tiers of users who will have a variety different needs and potential uses for the devices and will inform a series of blog posts on the topic. 

In this first post in a series of posts I hope to discuss issues, pass on some information about how the iPads are being used and what benefits they will hopefully bring as well as some info on some of the apps we are and will be using. 

ICTEvangelist 

This is the name I go by on Twitter. Back when I started tweeting I thought this name was appropriate as it explained my role in education well. Not only do I have responsibilities relating to teaching & learning within my subject area but it is also my role to promote and enthuse others about how brilliant a tool ICT can be; both in terms of engaging and enthusing learners, bringing about brilliant learning opportunities, but also in improving the management of classes and the tracking and monitoring of students using ICT systems. this can help to highlight trends & from the analysis of data, target groups can be found quickly and can be helped to achieve well, where previously they might not have. Add to that in addition to my subject leader role, I have responsibility for training and developing the ICT skills of staff in the school in which I work so they can do all these things. I have a challenging (albeit enjoyable) job!!

Context 

I have been a Windows user since Windows 3.11 so moving to Mac systems is not my natural leaning, however through talking with Twitterati and an excellent Personal Learning Network, I have been able to see how many people have made great use of iPod touches and iPhones in varying (albeit mostly Primary) education contexts. Certainly having been an iPhone user for some time now I have seen how their use in the classroom can be of great benefit. I have been able to recommend the use of certain iPhone apps to students, such as Dropbox and Evernote and tying them in to other iPhone apps such as StudyBlue which have proven to be very useful iPhone apps for them and for me too. Using built in cameras to take photos of good work in a lesson and then sharing them online via sites like corkboard.me for discussion across PCs has been very useful, but there has always been some inconsistency with this as not all students in all classes have had access to the technology so it has proven to be a piecemeal effort with some classes not benefitting due to lack of technology. This initiative could see the end of that, with a one to two ratio for the trial, leading to hopefully a one to one scenario. More on that later!! 

In relation to the iPads I haven’t found much evidence yet although in his excellent post here: http://www.davidterron.com/wpmu/?p=943 David Terron has written brilliantly about how he has been using his iPad in the classroom as a teacher. I urge you to read it. His advice takes on a different route to that which I had previously been thinking which was to think about organisation of apps on his master screen.

Master screen 

I currently have my master screen set up thus. 

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As you can see, this is a quite task oriented setup. Social networking is all set up in ‘Tweeting’. All of the Google apps are all in a ‘Google’ folder, all music related bits are in ‘Music’, so forth and so on. 

Interesting folders for school and in the classroom in particular are: 

‘iWork‘, ‘Productivity‘, ‘School‘ and ‘Productivity ideas‘ 

Let me go through these…. 

iWork 

This goes without saying really, it contains the 3 iWork apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote. I plan to use this folder for other related apps. I also have a Safari shortcut in there to my iWork cloud stored files for easy access. It also currently contains another very handy app ‘Prezi viewer‘ which is absolutely invaluable to view all of my Prezi presentations. 

 

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Productivity 

The apps in the Productivity folder are really really handy. 

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 Firstly, Pocket Informant HD. This calendaring and ‘Getting things done’ based app really is a life saver, particularly if you are managing a busy calendar and lots of projects. Very useful for Subject leaders, Year heads and Senior Leadership team members in a School environment.  

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OmniOutliner is another very powerful tool. Particularly useful for managing complex ideas and notes when dealing with planning for future developments or at a simple level, taking notes in the classroom. I’ve used it as a method for recording individual pen portrait notes for students in different classes to track and monitor how various students are progressing, for example.  

Calcbot does what it says on the tin really, just that it’s a really powerful full scientific calculator with some lovely little features. For example it keeps all of your previous calculations and results so you can check back. Nice.  

iAnnotate PDF is a fantastic app which allows you to write over, annotate, edit, markup any PDF file you may receive. When so many documents you receive are in PDF format it’s really useful. In an education context I used it most recently to annotate a new course specification and was then able to export both the annotated PDF to share plus export just the annotations to a separate file to use as a checklist for myself. Bonus! 

Penultimate as mentioned in David Terron’s blog post, is a really nice handwriting (or finger writing!) tool that enables you to take notes just by writing with your finger. There are some extra nice little features which make this an invaluable app and if you want to creatively just brainstorm and take notes, this is a great little tool. 

 

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Productivity ideas 

This folder is one that I plan to use primarily for just jotting down ideas and for demonstrating ideas with students – certainly by using the Bluetooth facilities on the iPad some of the apps will allow collaboration for ideas which is a great thing, eg on both  and Whiteboard. Over the two apps, Sketchpad does have some advantages over the other. Primarily, Sketchpad isn’t optimised for iPad (although Sketchpad HD is) so you do have to 2x it which isn’t ideal, but with Sketchpad the page is limitless in size which you don’t

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have with Whiteboard. Swings and roundabouts… Time will tell which the more useful tool is!

 

aNote has proven on my iPhone to be a very useful app for taking notes and making to do lists but really, having Pocket Informant HD now, I am not too sure how useful it will be. Certainly too, whilst I have SimpleMind+ as a mind mapping tool here too I can envisage a time when I will be making use of some of the more powerful mind mapping tools that are out there such as iThoughts HD (after pay day that is!)

School

The final folder I would like to go through in as a final part to this post is my school folder. I believe in my lessons I would make the most use of the following apps in one lesson so in order to keep things all in one place, I’ve put them all in here:

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Many of the apps shown here are all available and reviewed expertly by David Terron in his post such as Dropbox, Dragon Dictation, Time 2 and Evernote (although I expect to blog separately in the future about Evernote as it is so fantastic.

Classes is a nice little app which can be used to store your timetable (time bonded too) and can also be used to record home works too. More useful for students probably, but is so cheap it is a handy reckoner.

StudyBlue is a tidy little revision app which ties in with Evernote and I have already blogged about this here: http://ictevangelist.posterous.com/studyblue-superb-app-for-studying-notes-testi

That’s it for now really. It’s half term and I can’t wait to try out many of the great ideas I have for using my iPad in lessons, meetings, planning… I wonder what life will be like with the device. Would I ever go back? At this moment in time I am thinking not…

Planned future posts

•  iPads for senior managers

•  iPads for secondary students in Food technology

•  iPads in the English classroom

•  iPads in the tutor group

•  iPads in PE lessons

•  iPads in a pastoral context

•  iPads in a psychology lesson

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