Some of the folks attending tmeast at the weekend were kind (and brave!) enough to provide a little feedback on their experiences at TeachMeet East 2011:
How to . . . create a poll and deliver it to the students
(You may need to click on the download links to view the videos at their normal size)
Step 1: Create the poll using Pollmo, Flisti or Poll Code.
Step 2a: Either provide a shortcut to the poll from a shared area the students can access –
Step 2b: or use an embed code to insert the poll into a blog or website.
And here’s a comparison of different polling applications:
Research repository?
Just been enjoying a brief exchange on twitter with Jan Webb and Paul Benson about the subject of our Masters assignment/dissertations.
@psbenson @ianinsheffield I’ve been trying something along the lines of how to create a climate for innovation/ personalised learning
— Jan Webb (@janwebb21) December 30, 2010
http://twitter.com/#!/psbenson/status/20559268663009281
I’ve noticed a number of folks out there who are undertaking studies at M Level and beyond and that set me thinking. On the course I’m undertaking, sharing progress and interacting and supporting each other is part of the expectation (community of practice principles I guess). We post most of what we do online, inviting comments and suggestions from each other. Other folks seem to do that too; perhaps amongst a wider audience, sometimes blogging about it or using a wiki for example. So I was wondering if there’s any mileage in having a central ‘repository,’ for want of a better word, where folks from Twitter and other forums can post a brief introduction to their field of study, links to any material they’re posting on the web and contact details (if wanted). Maybe a Google doc, maybe a wiki?
I see potential benefits from both sides. People browsing such a resource might be after inspiration or information on an area they’re engaged with. Those posting to the ‘site’ might benefit from feedback or insights.
Just an idea, but what do you think? By all means add a comment.
Image bo j.o.h.n walker on Flickr
Handing over the reins …
A while ago a couple of our Y13s came to see me having just returned from a conference where they’d seen a student using Prezi – they loved it and wanted to know more. I did no more than providing them with a link to the site and suggested they would find the ‘Learn Prezi‘ tutorial section useful. As part of their EPQ studies, they were required to present their findings and wanted to use Prezi for that. Here’s one of the results from Katie:
Alzheimer’s and the NHS on Prezi
I only wish I’d been around to see and hear the presentation this accompanied as it’s clearly intended to reinforce points which were being made ‘live.’ However apart from the role for which it was intended, I was so impressed with the degree of proficiency Katie had achieved, largely under her own steam. We seem to invest substantial amounts of time ‘teaching’ students how to use Word, Excel, Access etc and I find myself asking … why? Is it really necessary? OK I accept that some will need a little more guidance than others, but how much time could we recapture by allowing those who can cope independently to do so and targeting our support more effectively? One other thought springs to mind – why is it that these students were simply able to go away and find out how to do something themselves, yet many colleagues wouldn’t touch a new application like this without first being ‘trained?’ Given my more … ahem … advanced years, I don’t think it’s an age thing. Is it about ‘time’ then? For the majority of teachers, there’s no imperative to make learning different/new presentation tools a priority … but why would an A Level student with a full life in an out of school be any different? Perhaps it’s just the way certain people are wired. At the risk of sounding rather Prenskyesque, maybe there are those people, young and old, who are digital explorers? Who want to know what happens if you press this button. Who want to take a peek over the next horizon. Who want to explore the way less trod. So dare we just … hand over the reins?
Assembling a learning sequence in SharePoint
In a post elsewhere, I described working with colleagues in English who were preparing Y12/13 students for a forthcoming exam. They wanted to deliver a sequence of activities through our learning platform which is a SharePoint implementation. These are the five tasks which they wanted to deliver and my suggestions for possible ways in which this could be achieved:
- An introduction in which Q1 is stated with key phrases highlighted and explained in more detail using ‘balloons’ which pop out when hovering over the phrases.
Here we used a simple html page (Content Editor web part in SharePoint) to contain the introductory text with Q1. Each key phrase had a hyperlink attached to it which simply led back to the same page, but the ‘alt text’ provided the explanations of each of the phrases. An alternative way to do this might be to turn the text into an image, then create an image map with hotspots which pop-out the explanations of the text when hovering over. - The texts to be provided online so they could be read in turn and also to be ready to hand, whatever task the students were engaged in.
Here the texts were simply scanned (it was important to capture the original look and feel, rather than use an OCR tool to convert them to text), then uploaded to a Picture Library. This can be viewed as image thumbnails which can be clicked to open the texts full size. Importantly, this picture library can be surfaced on any of the other pages for the other tasks to allow provide the students with ready access to the texts. - Provide a means for students to choose a term by which the texts could be grouped (e.g. phonology, passive voice etc). To encourage a range of choices across the class, when a student chose a particular term, this was then to be disallowed to the rest of the class.
This was tricky and I settled for a second best by using the survey tool with a single multiple choice question. The allowed responses included approx. 15 suggestions for themes around which the texts could be grouped, but in addition, a free-response option was provided in case students wanted to provide their own theme. The results were visible at all times, so students could see which themes had already been chosen – in the instructions they were advised not to choose a theme which someone had already selected. - Provide a way in which each of the texts could be classified as either a good, less good or poor fit with their chosen term. This should be an interactive, graphical tool, similar to an interactive whiteboard.
A diagram had been provided by my colleagues of how they wanted this activity to work. I chose DabbleBoard as that seemed to provide the required functionality and provides an embed code which meant I could integrate it back into a SharePoint page in our platform (again using a Content Editor web part). It also allowed students to download a copy of their finished diagram as an image in case they needed to refer back to it. Despite instructions to the contrary, one student chose to ‘Save’ the DabbleBoard, which then meant their amendments became visible to all. Having a spare, fresh copy of the DabbleBoard prepared meant I could quickly swap a URL and the new one was immediately available. - Allow the students to write a paragraph each, justifying and discussing the grouping they chose. At this point they should also be able to refer to the mark scheme for clarification of the points they needed to home in on. In addition, students should also be able to comment on the choices and justifications of their peers.
A Discussion Board seemed to satisfy the needs here, allowing the students to create a post for their submission, then comment on each other’s posts using the Reply feature. Importantly, the visibility settings meant that initially it could be arranged so that they could only see (and edit) their own post, thereby not being able to crib from what others had written. When satisfied that responses were complete, the teacher could allow all posts to become visible with no more than a couple of clicks.
Given that you’re reading this edtech related blog, I guess you could have undertaken a similar process as I did, perhaps using different tools, perhaps arriving at more elegant solutions. But here’s the thing; what about the average teacher? Could they do that? Perhaps more importantly, do they need to?
#tmsheff10 Feedback
The first TeachMeet to be held in Sheffield took place last night (11th Nov. 2010). A marvelous event; full details are of attendees are here, the follow-up resource bank is here and the archived Ustream broadcast is here.
But here are the views of four MFL PGCE students as the evening closed:
Currently out on placement, but took the time from their busy prep to come along; think they found it useful.
And here’s a few more thoughts.
You want to write poetry . . . in a spreadsheet?!!!
Been working with a colleague and her pupils on Haiku. The brief went as follows:
“I want the pupils to compose Haiku, but in a collaborative way, where in trios, each pupil will compose one line in each of three Haiku. I’ve always done this on paper, but it can be quite awkward so I thought ICT might be able to help. Oh and I’d like the pupils to be able to see what the others in other trios are doing, then comment and offer suggestions on each others work.”
We began by looking at how TitanPad might be able to help with the collaborative aspects, especially given its chat facility. On a single pad, all three pupils in a trio could be working on one line of a Haiku at the same time as their two collaborators were working on different lines in two other Haiku . . . or even in the same one! Having finished their Haiku, they could then begin to explore other groups’ work and begin to offer suggestions for improvement using the chat window.
Here we can see how that might develop with pupils about to start the third line of each Haiku.
In addition to being able to watch each of the trios as they are working live, the Timeslider feature can be used to explore the ‘history’ of how each line of Haiku was created. Perhaps provides a partial insight into some of the correcting which takes place as pupils compose their lines. How about if pupils had the chance to explain to others (the class?) what they were thinking when they made some of the changes we see occur as the Timeslider replays their composition? What if they knew they might be asked to do that at the end, so were thinking about their thinking as they typed?
Anyway that’s all by the by because before we used this with the pupils, there was an amendment to the brief:
“Would it be possible to apply a sort of grid or framework into which the pupils type? One of the things I want to get across is the principle of syllables; that’s something they really struggle with, so could we have a sort of . . . set of boxes in Haiku format – 1st and 3rd lines 5 boxes for the 5 syllables and the second line 7 boxes.”
If you’ve used EtherPad-like tools before, you’ll know that facility isn’t available, so we turned to an alternative collaborative tool – Google Docs, or more specifically Google spreadsheets. The rows clearly provide the lines for the Haiku and the cells can provide the syllable placeholders.
In addition, each trio can have a separate sheet in which to work and there’s a messaging window available so that comments and feedback can be provided between groups. So pupils work in the same way they would have in TitanPad, but now all trios are working within the same document on separate sheets.
In summary then:
If peer feedback is an important learning objective, then go with TitanPad. If the focus is on syllable structure, then Google docs.
Unless of course you think otherwise . . .
Twitter for taking notes?
Going to try something a little different today. Going to read a book. Hey, wait; that’s not the different thing! No, I’m going to take a few notes as I go – something I regularly do when reading a text to which I might wish to refer as part of my Masters studies. Here’s the ‘but’ though; whereas I would normally make those notes in Zotero, which is the application I use for recording citations/references, today I’m going to use Twitter. The book is Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World by Heidi Hayes Jacobs.
What happens when the school gates close behind you?
Had some building work done today by an excellent plasterer and his apprentice, a young lad not long out of school. Now I realise I am about to make a HUGE assumption, but given 20 years of experience teaching lads like him, I’m going to stick my neck and say he probably didn’t leave with a sheaf of paper qualifications. He did a grand job here though, was assembling a useful skill set with the support of his mentor and clearly had the wherewithall to make it his trade if he wished.
I was out in the garden fixing the bike and as we nattered over a cuppa, he commented on the potatoes growing in the veg patch. This was an opening to a completely unexpected topic (and here I risk stereotyping once more!) – Bonsai. He was clearly passionate about his hobby and had developed a wealth of knowledge which he was keen to share. He was currently striving to master ‘grafting,’ by all accounts well beyond beginner level. And what was his knowledge base for acquiring this skill? Youtube! Just wondered to what extent having access to a resource which is a. easily accessible, b. capable of vivid demonstrations of practical techniques, c. carries no ‘stigma’ of being uncool, had in fostering this rather unusual pastime, for an 18/19 year old lad.How Twitter helps your professional development
Responding to the above request, friends on Twitter kindly contributed the following replies:
Twitter gives me instant access 2 diverse group of v interestin minds blogs opinions.learn more here than anywhere else. @DoBeLou
I find links to new areas of research, refine thoughts / ideas, develop resources through sharing on here -v valuable
I also think that it keeps its users open minded which doesn’t always happen when attending the same discussions with 1/2
. . . the same people #shsmt “A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it’s not open.” – Frank Zappa!!!!! @Joga5
Helps me connect 2 others, share ideas, find new links/resources, poll questions, collab on projects, org f2f like TeachMeet @damoward
A constant source of ideas, inspiration and support. The best CPD I have ever come across. @dwsm
It’s helped me to discover a lot of tools, techniques and resources that I wouldn’t have known about. @geoffowen
Twitter is like a vast staff room full of helpful, inspiring and creative people. Open 24/7 @dughall
Twitter gives the best CPD out there and its free but make them read http://bit.ly/snetworks to avoid pitfalls @paulhaigh
Twitter keeps teachers in touch with others, with ed. developments, with new ideas, hunts out interesting resources @sccenglish
I’ve learned more from twitter than any other PD. Educators worldwide share and give and help @whatedsaid
I have 600 plus people keeping me informed about what’s going on, and with whom I can have prof discussion – when I want to @didactylos
Twitter and my pln has taught me more in last 6 months than previous 6 years of traditional prof dev @henrietteMi
Twitter has given me ideas about student voice, technology and creativity. Added twitter section to teaching magazine @nwatkin
Twitter connects me to educators around the world who are passionate about learning and growing @hadleyjf
Puts me in touch with the latest news in education, and provides ideas and conversation with colleagues real and virtual
Twitter also lets me follow events using #tags and crowd source real data for classroom tasks… living geography @geoblogs
Practically In the pICTure 