SOCRATIVE

One of the best websites/apps for use in the classroom is Socrative. Without a doubt.

http://www.socrative.com/

WHAT IS IT?
A free application or website that students access as a response (or 'clicker')  system. Teachers can create quizzes pre-class and have students use laptops or the app on a mobile device to respond to multiple-choice or short answer questions. This can gauge up to 50 people's responses in one sitting/class/event etc. and presents info in a downloadable pdf report or editable excel file.

HOW I USE IT
There are many features/functions, yet they're all remarkable simple and presented on an uncluttered display.

http://m.socrative.com/lecturer/#mainScreen

• Run a pre-made quiz/test for students to complete during class as pre-test or post-test, with:
• Questions set at individual student pace -vs- Question set at teacher pace (e.g. next question after discussion, to stop students 'going ahead' if needed);
• Random answer choices (to avoid sharing "question one is option 'B' " comments etc.);
• Immediate feedback on/off (I LOVE this feature, for me this is the power of the system - students get instant feedback as to whether they are right or wrong - and no marking for me! Brilliant!);
• Question explanations on/off upon student answer selection.
• Use the 'Exit Ticket' quiz to run after each class to quickly gauge student understanding after (or during) a class. Questions are predefined as:
• How well did you understand the material? (multi-choice);
• What did you learn today? (short answer/free response);
• Please solve the problem on the board (short answer/free response).

• 'Space Race' runs a quiz but assigns students to teams and tracks progress of the group via Space Ships moving forward on correct answers;

http://m.socrative.com/lecturer/#spaceRace

• Automatically generated reports that are sent instantly to your inbox. No marking - correct answers are highlighted green, wrong in red (as shown below);

• Sharing a quizes - use as template or run as is from another teacher's test.

MORE TO LEARN
As with any new ICT system/website/app, I am debating how it does a job for me. Currently, creating a test doesn't take me any longer to create but it saves me marking. This works for any multi-choice question, not short answer obviously. Would I use it for formal tests that end-of-course marks are dependent on, perhaps not, but it certainly does a job. Sharing these quizzes across our school is also exciting on a department level. This is certainly a must-have for the digital classroom!

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM - ICT CAPABILITY

I have recently got my teeth into the General Capabilities of the Australia Curriculum. In many different formats, it is implied that ICT Capability is the number 3 of the 7 general capabilities that permeate throughout all learning areas. It states, "ICT capability supports and enhances student learning across all areas of the curriculum." It's nice to see this acknowledged and spelt out in this new document!

Other notable comments made in the Background of the Capability, include:

• "ICT capability is based on sets of relevant knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions."
• "ICT capability is based on the assumption that technologies are digital tools that enable the student to solve problems and carry out tasks."
• "...students come to perceive ICT systems as useful tools rather than feeling that they themselves are the tools of the machine (Maas, 1983). The later often occurs when users have little information about how ICT systems operate and simply follow set, standard procedures, determined for them by the system."
• "ICT capability needs to consider the types of tasks that provide authentic contexts for learning."

Broadly, the capability is organised into five elements:

• Applying social and ethical protocols and practices when using ICT;
• Intellectual property; Digital information security; benefits and consequences; changes.
• Investigating with ICT;
• Define/plan information searches; locate/access data; select/evaluate data.
• Creating with ICT;
• Generate ideas, plans, processes and solutions to challenges/tasks (by clarifying, generating products or solutions).
• Communicating with ICT;
• Share, exchange and collaborate to enhance learning; understand and apply social protocols; apply techniques or strategies to ensure safety.
• Managing and operating ICT;
• Applying technical knowledge; Using digital technologies efficiently (hardware/software); transferability of knowledge/skills, manage and maintain information.

This is essentially the basis for ICT that we all know and love (...to hate in some cases!). I especially like the comments relating to not letting the hardware or software determine what you do with it. In fact, the winner of any educational software/website/app is that it does not dictate what you do or how you use it! Applying social and ethical protocol and practices is an are where I believe our focus will be. Investigating, creating and communicating are evident in learning tasks for students, and managing/operating ICT still appear to be the root of negativity with using ICT. Having students become good, responsible digital citizens must be our focus as more and more communication and life tasks move digital. If kids cannot act responsibly online for their own and others' safety, as well as data safety, ICT stops 'doing a job for us' and starts to 'get in the way'.

Source: General Capabilities in the Australian Curriculum, January 2012, © ACARA, 2012.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/

STUDENT DIGITAL MEDIA GROUP

At a recent ADE retreat we were given time to work on something. That's right... 'something'. Given a rare moment to work on something that has been sitting at the back of my mind but never having the hour or two to sink my teeth in to get it done has always been a regret, and a frustration.

My 'something' was the creation of a Student Digital Media Group (SDMG). I have already held a meeting to gauge interest and with the help of colleagues refined where this group may venture to. I was amazed to see 21 interested Year 7/8 students who lapped up the possibilities and offered some amazing suggestions arising from the passion in using digital media.

The goals of the group are:

• Provide a pathway for highly proficient technology users amongst student an opportunity to develop their skills and harness their knowledge for self-improvement, self-esteem and to assist the school;
• Provide an opportunity for students create and engage in non-academic activities;
• Develop skills of students with a passion for digital technology;
• Provide the student body with help from their peers during break time, via a student help desk;
• Provide an avenue for students to assist teachers as needed during class time.

Opportunities for group members:

• Contribute resources for students and staff in academic areas (eg Hyperlinked Keynote quizzes for study);
• Create regular podcast episodes highlighting school activities (eg interviews of recent incursions);
• Help students and staff on the student help desk (eg answer the "How do I print this document?" and "How do I use iMovie?" questions);
• Creating photo reflections after significant events, possible inclusion at assemblies (eg photo montage after a sport carnival to display to the school community);
• Service learning hours can be accrued for students;
• Autonomous task/projects completed during break times (eg build a website, create a school widget);
• A one/two day retreat with projects, guest speakers and visits to businesses who utilise new and innovative technologies (eg visit the ABC and see how cameras, greens screen, auto prompts are used);
• Participate in informal school-based and formal state, national and global competitions (eg short film festivals);
• Contribute to parent PD sessions as roaming problem solvers.

I am excited about what these guys can come up with, particularly due to one student creating a stop animation movie to show me and outlining how it could be used in a regular school video podcast. More to come!




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

iCAL: CLASS CALENDAR SUBSCRIPTIONS

Communicating information to students becomes easier when using calendar synchronisation software. The corporate world has been doing this for years, but calendaring has strangely been quiet in classrooms. Even in schools, staff may be used to getting a printed A4 yearly calendar and then an updated A4 term calendar at the beginning of each term with individuals liquid papering, crossing out, drawing arrows and rewriting events as updates occur.

iCal makes calendaring within a class or school a piece of cake (if you use Apple devices). I love how my calendar is available on my MacBook, iPad and iPhone, but most of all I love how I can communicate with my class via our own calendar. No matter what time of the day it is I can update events and communicate what is required to be brought, or completed before an upcoming event. Students can check this each night from home to see what is happening the next day. It needs to be said that many software solutions are available including the online webpage version - Google Calendar, as well as Microsoft solutions such as Outlook, which links emails too. Check out the images below for more info on this valuable tool for teachers.

Image 1: iCal Calendar Example

Image 2: iCal Sidebar Features

Image 3: iCal Subscription Options

5 APPS I USE WEEKLY

GOODREADER ($5.49)

I see it as a 'Finder' equivalent for my iPad. I can organise pdf documents downloaded from the net, from my email or from my linked Dropbox account. The ability to create folders and add, delete etc files into these folders easily make it an excellent resource, particularly for those looking to move towards a paperless classroom. Recently I annotated my class marks from their reports using the highlight button and instantly shows how students are going - great for visual learners. I'm eager to try other features over this next term.




EVERNOTE (Free)
Links to so well between the Evernote website and the MacApp. Sometimes I need my iPad, sometimes I need my MacBook, it syncs seamlessly between both. Organising notebooks and notes within these is great for teachers - each student has their own notebook full of formal results, and informal notes. Along with the ability to tag notes, any info on students can be easily archived and located. This works the same for committee and meeting notes. It even suggests the name of a new note you create based on appointments in your calendar! A must have for iPad. A must have for teachers.



NUMBERS ($10.49)

Some people are not sold on this App, but I love it. It does work slightly differently to how the Mac version works, but that's its advantage. I use the 'tick boxes' on the forms section for a quick checklist in class. This works for attendance and record keeping. It still uses SUM, MAX, MIN, AVERAGE features of it's Mac brother, but generally if I want those features, I will use my Mac. Brilliant for 'on-the-run' mobile uses (eg Excursions).

SHOWME (Free)
I'm only juts getting into this one, but have hardly put it down. ShowMe essentially is a whiteboard that records all screen markings as well as voice. We set this up with students talking through how they complete Maths sums - and learned a little about their thinking, where their understanding trails off and their misconceptions. It's difficult to get this feedback from traditional pen and paper methods. Parents can be shown these movies to see exactly what they are doing in class. The movies can be uploaded to the web and then downloaded - having this synced more easily (Evernote style) would be a great advantage to future updates, but still works a treat.


SPORTING APPS
OK, another 5 to the list, but in my coaching roles I enjoy using the features that these apps offer to help develop skills of players.

iScore Basketball ($10.49)
Brilliant for keeping stats during a basketball game. We used this with our A team for each game last season. The stat reports and scoring charts provide invaluable feedback to coaches and players. Well worth the expensive price tag.








nxCricket HD ($14.99)
Another outstanding scoring/stats app. Scoring charts, manhattan graphs, score worms, ball-by-ball tracking features all allow individual palyers to disect their game, see their batting and bowling strengths as well as the coach to see how the team is playing on the whole. Again, well worth the money. Non-HD version available for a cheaper price.







Cricket Coach Plus HD ($2.99)

We used this extensively for its record function. It can show player their action and superimpose it against a video modelling good skill execution. Lines can be drawn on paused video to outline weaknesses in a batting, bowling and throwing action. The ability to email to players is also a great feature. A must have for the new-age cricket coach!







Footy Coach Plus HD ($2.99)
By the same developers of Cricket Coach Plus HD, and very similar features. With the help of older players and parents, we will be taking a bank of videos of each player's skill and working through it with them at the time and also to disect afterwards to aid skill development. Interesting to see the videos side by side from Week One to the end of the season!

FILENAME CONVENTIONS

Any teacher collecting digital files from students (or staff pooling/sharing files) will have endured the lack of order when 30 files come together with 30 different filenames! The disorder and inability to know what, who or when the file was created or created by is a frustration easily fixed.

Teaching about filename organisation is the new age equivalent of having your desk tray organised (usually by book size and crayon/pencil case size!). Below are some pointers to keep those pesky files is order. A simple conventions checklist to teach students (and staff!) to help their organisation and your sanity when you get to dropbox, wikis, shared server folders etc.

• Filename examples:
• T2W1-MyTermGoals-nanhea17.pages
• T2W2-LetterToMrNankivell-21HN.pdf
• Folder examples:
• T2W1-MyTermGoals
• A-English
• B-Mathematics

• Don't use spaces. Although computer searches are pretty good, some don't like spaces or it doesn't read them as well, if you're organised anyway you probably won't use it!
• Don't use underscores (the _ symbol). It is difficult to see quickly with hyperlinked filenames.
• Put the date at the front (a code that works for me - T1 = Term 1, W5 = Week 5). If you need to use dates, use year-month-date as it will sort all 2011 together, then all 2012 together underneath.
• Use letters or numbers to order folders that you don't want sorted by alphabetical order (see e.g.).
• Use the students name/code/logon at the end so it is ordered by class list (see e.g.).
• Use hyphen to denote parts of the filename (see e.g.).
• Train the students to use the EXACT filename you want, if it's not correct, don't accept it.
• When having students download a scafold or digital sheet, use the correct file title with a hyphen at the end for students to 'Save As...' only having to add their name/code/logon.
• Use colours on folder to aid visual clarity (available in Finder on the Mac).

EXAMPLES

Image A: No guidance for students = filenames all over the place. Who belongs to which file? What is it? When was it done?

Image B: An essay about Australia completed sometime in Term 1. Students are given a code based on their position on the class list (surname alphabetical). E.g. 04FD is Fred Dennis. He uses this code for all his files.

Image C: An iMovie TV Report complete in Term 2, Week 5. Students use their school computer logon to denote their file. E.g. the last file was created by Robert Zander. In this case the 15 stands their graduating year, obviously meaning these students are currently in Year 9 (in 2012).

PS Installing DropBox and then signing up to http://dropitto.me allows students to visit your site and 'drop' files through that site straight that are downloaded straight into your dropbox folder. Easy!

P.A.G.E.S. for 'N2ICT' (New To ICT) Teachers

Integrating technology into the any teachers classroom can be frustrating, time consuming and unrewarding. Teachers who have technology 'lumped' on them or who are expected to use it well immediately rightly put walls up and find reasons for not utilising the myriad of opportunities that lie patiently waiting for enthusiastic educators to realise their power in enhancing the curriculum.

For me, small steps are needed for me to introduce something into my classroom and my teaching. It must do a job. If it doesnt - I don't use it. The novelty wears off when learning objectives are not met and students lose motivation. Here are 5 things that teachers, of any experience level, to try who are new to integrating ICT in their classroom. Let's call these of our colleagues 'New to ICT', or N2ICT teachers. Feedback most welcome.

PLAY
How do young kids learn things that are not part of our curriculum in schools? By PLAYing. Hence, early childhood teachers factor in structured play where kids can try things, muck up and the world doesn't collapse. When presented with an iPad for the first time, it is reasonable to assume that a person could 'break' it by pressing 'the wrong button'. But that's exactly how to learn! Press 'the wrong button' and you'll know not to press it next time! N2ICT teachers should be encouraged to try and 'break it' (the software, not the hardware) so they can see what could work for them in their teaching. Play, play, play.

ACCESS
There are many resources available for N2ICT teachers to ACCESS. Let's start with the room next door. "What are you doing with ICT?" does not need to be timetabled in, nor does it need to whip up a verbal frenzy amongst staff. These 'here's one idea' moments are generally all anyone can handle in passing conversation. These brief discussions over time can elicit a great variety of resources from a variety of ICT areas. As stated above, if it does a job for you - use it and you win. If it doesn't - do not use it! There's no right or wrong.

GOOGLE
I haven't mastered this, but can fumble my way around to find a relevant image, graph, kids' website etc. to enhance my lessons. There is so much more that GOOGLE searches could be used for or to refine searching, however it does a job for me. N2ICT teachers entering their learning area or specific concept to teach with keywords such as 'school', 'for kids' or 'education' will open a world where students can explore ideas outside of the classroom. Imagine teaching without websites or the web? We used to. This small step will open doors.

EMBRACE
ICT can easily get a bad name. 'The network's down' or 'it cost too much' are common counters for ICT's effectiveness, but let's get real - the network isn't always down and for ever expensive piece of software there's an online equivalent waiting to be used. Resources are also sitting in every teachers classroom. The students. Setting up an 'expert session' where students can teach other students can help teach the ICT skills needed to quickly and effeciently negotiate software. Teachers do not need to be ICT experts. Having students 'go-to' people for websites (Edmodo, Google Images, Evernote) can relieve the teacher of the burden of feeling a need to be the expert. it's empowering and certainly communicates to the class your expertise lies with the teaching and helping them learn content. You'd also have to be hiding under a rock to not hear about free PDs that are available. I was read 7 PDs flyers in one week last term... They're out there if N2ICT teachers want to EMBRACE ICT.

S.A.M.R.
I love this model. It says to me that it's OK to use a laptop for word processing, but it's not OK to keep doing it lesson after lesson, year after year. N2ICT teachers can substitute something that they currently do (eg Substitute pen and paper for Microsoft Word, Apple's Pages MacApp, or Notes on the iPad). The next steps are to AUGMENT, MODIFY and REDEFINE so that the end

The following image was posted on Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's brilliant blog 'Langwitches': http://langwitches.org/blog/category/technology/ and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. It gives a definition and examples of each stage for N2ICT teachers to work with. I still refer to it regularly to see how I can improve my teaching to 'Redefine' for students who don't live in a society that I lived ina t their age, so don't want to be educated the same way I was at their age.

5 WEBSITES I USE WEEKLY

Ok, the title's misleading. I may not use each of these every week, but currently they are sites I just can't keep away from. Check them out...

OBSURVEY
I'll start with one I do use weekly - obsurvey.com is a very simple tool to prepare surveys and quizzes. I use them to receive feedback from the week with my Year 7 tutor/home group. I see them for 20mins at the start of each day, which isn't always long enough to find out how they are going and if things are bothering them. Sometime I forget to prepare it on Friday morning, and I can easily prep it in a few minutes. The reports can be downloaded to pdf and you can see individual responses to questions. You can even create a new survey based on previous surveys. I find it a great way to get a more reliable and honest (sometimes too honest!) feedback.

SOCRATIVE
I'm new to this one. I came to Socrative as an app recommended by an A.D.E. It is so simple yet useful it can't be ignored. I've seen or heard of similar websites and tried to have programs with student 'clickers' sold to me at conferences, but this is amazing simple and free. It can be driven from iPad apps (student app and teacher app) or on laptops/desktops at m.socrative.com which is equally as effective. Teachers can pick from True/False, Short Answer, Multiple Choice or (my favourite) pre-made Quizzes - this comes with an 'Email report' feature, as well as providing students with instant feedback on their responses. Certainly one to check out for a 1:1 classroom.

BIT.LY
Perhaps I just like the title, but I use this often. Not just handy for a twitter post when characters are at a premium, bit.ly shortens web addresses that just get lost in emails or are hard to explain. See the image below for an example. Copy any web address into the box at bit.ly and it will shorten it to 6 alpha numeric characters (e.g. http://bit.ly/wOzoqz - a shameless plug for my previous blog post!). This makes it much easier to handle, and much easier to read as a link. Get on it!

EDMODO

I have not use this much since being out of the class (as you can see from the screenshot!) but I'm getting back into it next term as I can see it doing a job for me (as with all ICTs, it's pointless and irrelevant unless it's doing a job for you). Edmodo is a way to communicate with students in your class. You can prep and administer tests with them (shown below), run surveys/quizzes/gauge feedback, split into small groups for students who may regularly miss information etc. It's set up similar to social media sites, with ability to chat, post and interact. The online 'turn-in' of assignments and the teacher's ability to mark/grade digitally through this site is an impressive feature too. More later in the year with another post.

SYMBALOO
I have discussed Symbaloo in a previous post, but it has to gain mention here. I recently set the homepage of my Safari web browser to our school intranet as I was using it so much, but when I caught my self moving my mous to where the symbaloo tiles were on the screen to access websites and then they didn't appear, I realised I needed my old friend back. I will be investigating the 'sharing' of 'tabs' next term and look forward to sharing some positive results in future posts.

SYMBALOO

I've used bookmarks on IE, Safari and Firefox, but have also grieved the loss of every bookmark when my computer crashed or needed re-imaging. I looked at Delicious, but it didn't work for me. Symbaloo, however, is a perfect fit for me.

It's visual, organise-able, share-able, and search-able. As you can see there are tabs to keep your bookmarks organised into Categories. From a teaching point of view, these can be organised into Junior or Secondary, learning areas, students or staff, or anything that helps keep your bookmarks alive. Being web-based there's no worries about your computer dying and loosing these.

Above is an example of the Sharing feature of Symbaloo.com. A recycling project with bookmarks shared with students. Instead of long text hyperlinks, email with eight links, or those "What was that site with the recycling thing on it?" from your students. It's much more appealing to see the links with an icon. You can even search for bookmarks that others have created. I am currently investigating creating common tabs/pages for various learning areas across our Junior School with teachers being able to add, students able to read.

Check it out at: http://www.symbaloo.com/

WAFL 2012 iCal Subscription

For all those wanting an iCal subscription to the 2012 WAFL season... here it is! Please make a comment with any feedback, errors etc. or just to let me know you've downloaded it!

WAFL 2012 iCal SUBSCRIPTION

( webcal://p04-calendarws.icloud.com/ca/subscribe/1/UkSMg325AjA1kCfx1U9yGO8M6Pv5Y6_b8VtQGqa0vD6Mq0tdBnXle5dA_4rqjpB3qqDfQptCAZsEoqC7ghTmbJBigo92ImLeKWZ7_3VXEhQ )

WAFL

2012 Fixtures from the WAFL