January 2010
15 posts
Student Voice and the VLE: Questionnaires on...
Student voice is a big part of modern school life and senior management teams need to take more notice of what students think. Part of the way we achieve this is by using the Questionnaire functionality of our virtual learning environment (Moodle) to poll our students and get their opinions.
Two ways that we have used this recently is “The BIG ICT Survey” and “Have YOUR say on...
Improvements to Storybird [an email]
Hi, My name is Stuart and I’m an Assistant Headteacher and Head of ICT at one of the largest schools in the UK (2800 students).
Firstly … we LOVE Storybird!
It’s a great site and I’ve tweeted and blogged about how we used it in the classroom - http://www.stuartridout.com/post/347591517/writing-with-storybird The only thing that’s a little iffy for me/us is the...
Will the iPad revolutionise education?
Many of us have been waiting for the Apple iTablet, iSlate, iPad for some time. Some thought the announcement would come a year ago but were left disappointed. Fast forward a year to 27th January 2010 and Steve Jobs announces the iPad to the world. This has been overhyped almost as much as the iPhone but without the ingenuity and innovation that came on the iPhone.
In the run up to the...
Writing with Storybird
Today we had a collapsed curriculum day; we call it a hall day. This is a day where the timetable is abandoned (!) and students work in a subject all day. Today in ICT we had half of our Year 9 classes working with us (that’s about 210 students) on a project to write stories for younger children.
We were using Storybird for the stories and Moodle for the delivery. The fictional scenario...
Netbook Project: Review point 1
We have been using netbooks with two classes for over three months now. This is part of a pilot to test the effects of 1:1 computing. We investing in three sets of netbooks …
- two class sets that are assigned to students as their personal equipment. They are allowed to take the netbooks home and they are encouraged to treat it as if it were their own
- a class set that is assigned to a...
Students as bloggers
If you’ve read my post about the great BIG netbook competition at my school, you’ll know about our project where we are trialling the use of netbooks with two classes to provide one to one computing.
The Year 9 class who are participating in the trial are helping us out by blogging their experiences. Some have really taken to it and some haven’t. This is obvious as many people...
4 tags
BETT2010 and #TMBETT2010 ... a review
Exciting times are ahead if teachers carrying on their excellent practice in the way I observed over the last couple of days.
Firstly, BETT itself had a couple of highs for me. If I wasn’t out supporting someone by watching their #tmtakeover talk then I was concentrating on the “little stands”, those hidden gems that are a bargain price and can make a big difference. I was really excited by a...
Movemeon Downloads
Just a reminder that you can download Movemeon for FREE!
Download as A4 Download as A5
#movemeon - same great tips ... better value for...
When we released #movemeon as a printed book we wanted it to look the best it could, so designed it in full colour … but colour costs £12.24 (still an excellent price)
Now you can buy #movemeon with a full colour glossy cover but black and white printed inners for only £2.64.
£2.64?!? You could buy a few copies for school and share them with your nearest and dearest colleages!
Seriously...
Learn Something Every Day →
Learn Something Every Day is an outstandingly fun site. Each day they have a postcard sized fact which is often quite obscure and interesting.
Today’s is
You should definitely check it out as a nice little intro to the day that could be used in registration.
Using Storybird in the classroom
We’ve got a collapsed curriculum day coming up in January and we’re going to be using Storybird in ICT to create stories for primary school children.
The Storybird website is really easy to use and has a massive collection of images that aspiring writers can use in their books. Currently you can only view them online but they are hoping to create a section where you can have hard...
#movemeon ... a reminder!
As the new term starts here’s a little reminder that the AWESOME #movemeon book is available for download (FREE) or for purchase as hard copy (at cost price).
If you are responsible for mentoring an NQT, managing a department or in charge of whole school professional development this is the book for you!
Download #movemeon FREE Buy #movemeon
So have you downloaded it yet?
If not...
TeachMeet BETT 2010
Are you going to BETT in January? Do you want to see some examples of real teachers using AMAZING ICT in the classroom ? Then you need to come to TeachMeet on Friday 15th January!
What is a TeachMeet?
I could explain but this excellent video does a much better job than I could. It’s on YouTube so you might have trouble watching if you’re at school.
Sounds great? Want to sign-up...
#movemeon book
I’m always amazed when people do something for nothing! From sharing a useful link on twitter to a whole scheme of work on a blog, it makes everyone’s life a little easier and shares best practice.
When Doug Belshaw mooted the idea of #movemeon the twitter community was engaged immediately and hundreds of great teaching tips came flooding in.
Doug and I have worked hard to collate...
A – Z Internet Resources for Education - Box of... →
Jose Picardo has collated an awesome list of tools that can be used in education. Many of these are free (or have free versions).
Make sure you check them out as they are a fantastic way to inject some ICT in your classroom.