Sunday 30 March 2014

Digital Portfolios

It is a tradition in early childhood classes to send each child home at the end of the year with a portfolio that documents the fun and learning that they experienced over the course of the school year.  These generally contain multiple photos, work samples and description of learning outcomes.

I recently attended a digital portfolio workshop with the intention of discovering a better tool to use to create digital portfolios than what I was already suggesting. We did look at a couple of tools but my preferred one is still Book Creator as it is so simple to use.

With a digital portfolio, not only can you add photos of students and photos of work samples you can also add audio recordings, video recordings, digital creations and audio or written notes from the teacher.

Books made in Book Creator can also be shared with parents in a couple of ways:
The first is as an e.pub that can be viewed on any device - this could be shared with parents using GoogleDrive or DropBox.
The second is as a printed or emailed PDF - in PDF form, digital recordings and digital creations can be shared via QR Codes.


If I was in an early childhood class I would set up a book in Book Creator for each student in my class and add content along the way. No gluing, no cutting, no bulky books.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Apps for Inquiry Based Learning

When looking at inquiry based learning it helps to think about the types of apps that could you useful at each stage. Here are some apps that we either already use at KPS or are free. For upper primary students this may be a list that they could use to make their own decisions about the most useful apps.

PDF of apps for inquiry based learning

Monday 10 March 2014

Two Eyes, Two Feet

I came across the following section of a post that I really liked under the title of:

5 Tips for Classroom Management With Mobile Devices

Two Eyes, Two Feet

Carl Hooker, an educational technology innovator on the cutting edge, coined the phrase “the two eyes, two feet app” in response to faculty and administration concerned about inappropriate use on cell phones, tablets, and/or laptops. The biggest shift for educators when technology enters the classroom is that you cannot be static or stable. The best way to ensure that students stay on task is to walk around the room, look at the work they are doing, discuss and engage with them about their progress. The more active and mobile you are in the classroom, the easier it is to ensure that your students are on working on what they should be. If you notice that children are quickly closing browsers windows when you come near or “double tapping” the home button on their iPad (a sign that they’re switching apps) then take the time to investigate what the student is doing and have a discussion with them if necessary.

Sunday 9 March 2014

Week 5 iCafe

In iCafe in week 5 we looked at some ways of using iPads to create content for students, some ways of using iPads to assess and finished up with a bit of a look at students creating book reviews.

Creating Content
Apps that are ideal for creating differentiated content that is totally personalised include TinyTap, Zondle, Explain Everything and Educreations. With Zondle the content is developed on a PC and then accessed by the students through the App. Another fantastic way to create personalised content is by creating Beat the Teacher Resources. My favourite way to do this is be creating the pages first in Keynote, taking screenshots of the full page and then adding audio in SonicPics and sending the completed slide show to the camera roll. Beat the Teachers can be used for any problems that students need to work out mentally such as sight words, times tables and mental maths. They are a terrific resource that can be shared across iPads via the camera roll.

Assessing
The fact that it is an all in one device makes the iPad the perfect tool for assessment. The camera can be used to take still shots or movies of students or their work. These can be used to map progress or provide evidence of achievement. Screenshots can also be used to monitor progress when students are working on apps or a photo of screen is needed but cannot be sent by the app. Explain Everything and Educreations can also be used to record students explaining their reasoning as they work through a problem. An excellent way to compile evidence such as photos, movies and screenshots is using a book making app such as Book Creator. Creating a book for each student in the class would be an excellent way of creating a digital portfolio on each child. Text and audio notes can be added.

Book Reviews
I love the idea of having students review the class books, create QR Codes from those reviews and place the QR Codes on the front of the books to share with others. Verbal reviews can be created using audio recordings developed through most voice memo apps. iMovie Trailers are an excellent way for students to create book trailers and give their opinion of the book at the same time.

That was pretty much week 5 iCafe in a nutshell (or should I say - in an iPad case)

Thursday 6 March 2014

More on Nearpod

After a couple of weeks using Nearpod with a paid Gold Membership I am convinced it is worth the money. Using the "homework" option for lessons in class has allowed, particularly the older students, to work at their own pace and has totally freed me up to work with those who are struggling or those who need extra support with their behaviour.

Nearpod is definitely the right option for me, as a specialist across the school, because there are no class lists or student log-ins. They simply join the session with a 5 letter code and then add their name as they join. If I had my own class I would definitely give Blendspace more of a go but, as I already said, I am very happy with Nearpod as a resource in a blended learning environment.