Day 28 - Updating and iTunes U

iTunes U is a fantastic way in which to create courses and differentiate the curriculum for pupils. As our school is small with job shares and part time staff, you may think that it is not worth investing time in this method of delivering the curriculm. But, it is an ideal way to ensure that the teachers are catering for all the learners. 

• iTunes U is a powerful, collaborative teaching tool which allows students to personalise their learning.

• Students can access it on multi devices

• Work can be seen at the convenience of student or teacher. 

• General or personalised discussions with tutors or between students. 

• Link multi media assignments  with ebooks, podcasts, time specified videos, text, note taking ability, grading if desired…

 
I could go on so what's the drawback?  The whole school needs to be on board and commit to this method of delivery for it to truly succeed.

Why I have chosen to introduce iTunes U.

As a catalyst for change it enables the preparation of inspirational resources whilst enabling an institution to reach learners at their own level. Providing achievable differentiation with graded tasks being handed in is possible to achieve a holistic approach to work flow

So far,  the computing courses are the only ones available to the children but as a advocate of digital fluency, it's important to my role to model good practice in the classroom & for others to see its influence and effectiveness. The reason why it may not be taken up quickly in schools' is the initial overwhelming amount of text on the page. Any future updates to iTunes U I feel, would benefit from a little more of an image friendly interface. Perhaps icons depicting the inevitable imperative verbs of watch, read, write so that younger users are encouraged to navigate posts easily. 

I have one cautionary warning, if your school has a set of managed iPads under the newest Apple iD free version, then enrolling onto a course means that you have to create a generic Apple iD for your learners to access to course. 

So how well have the courses been received in class today? 

Year 5&6 - the pupils were excited (and slightly impressed) that they could view their whole years course at one go. For all you teachers that have just fainted at the thought of that... the course  doesn't have to be populated by all your resources at the beginning. With a skeleton of the LO's written in as posts, I like to work a half term in advance, which also allows me time to source rich content for my learners. As they develop, so does my choice of resources which is the flexibility that I require to be an effective teacher. It also allows those who are keen to look ahead and perhaps dabble in areas that take their interest...remembering that I have the ability not to release tasks until I am ready ensures that I have control on pace and exposure to the learning materials. 

Year 3&4 - the pupils reacted with their usual acceptance in seeing the course. They did need additional guidance through locating posts but allowing the time to learn new procedures and discover new ways of working is essential to moving on in our mindset and not, in my mind, wasted time. The pupils are used to Showbie, so the fact that they could download their resources quickly was not new. However, the fact that they could chose the level of demand of their task was. This is the area that will reap the highest benefits, as the pupils develop their self confidence and begin to push the boundaries of what they expect of themselves, this will be the true measure of progress and self evaluation. Learning with no limits is achievable. 

Year 1&2 - the course has been built specifically to allow the youngest students to participate but I'll have to update you on the success if this as it is not as yet been trialled. 

What Have I used in the classroom today? 

1. iTunes U - introduced the computing aspects of the curriculum (see above) 

2. Explain Everything - to illustrate how to make a net of a 3D shape with voice overs and video excerpts for additional tutorials. 

3. Notes - to support writing a recount text to reinforce algorithms with inexperienced pupils with no prior knowledge of the under pinning skills now required by the computing curriculum. 

4. Book Creator - to gather together the self assessments of the children's Shang Dynasty games, referencing how to improve and the sticking points encountered by the pupils. 

5. Flashcards - to make a collaborative class set of cards based on 2D and 3D shapes. 

Flashcards [⁛] by NKO Ventures, LLC

https://appsto.re/gb/MbmJC.i

6. Beebot - first steps into programming to reinforce algorithms 

Day 27 - Focused Fun - individual, creative and owned.

Some days as a teacher, you really feel like you have done a good job. Today was one of those days.

My class of 33 year 3's and 4's were up for a challenge. Having planned the day meticulously, aware that the teaching assistant was out on a course, so the jammed packed morning was looking ominous. However, the students rose to the challenge and I had the most enjoyable time in the classroom alongside them. 

So reflecting on the day - what was it that made the difference?  I believe it was the iPad. Every child has access to a device as today they were asked to take control of their learning. 

What did I use in the classroom today?  

www.bbc.co.uk/Newsround , I decided to start the day by showing on the class large screen, the live updates of the children's topical news programme Newsround. With the shocking events in Paris over the weekend, it was positive to face the tragedy and answer questions raised. Sensibly, advice for those affected by the story was responsibly spoken of.  This episode also mentioned the hugely popular Minecraft game and the 'ghosting' which can take place when an unknown player decides to be unkind and inappropriate when playing online. The best known Minecrafter spoke about how to deal with this type of cyber bullying, which was timely and important. This class is hooked by Minecraft and it's important to send a message to the students that I as their teacher recognise that. 

1) Showbie - to set up the resources and scaffold the different levels of expectations for the learners in each year group. 

2) Book Creator - to store and expand onh e understanding of what email is and how to use it safely and responsibly.  The star is to protect identity. 

3) Webster's Bedtime - By Hannah Whaley  having read the previous books in this wonderful series, this book backs up that devices have a time and place, they too need to be recharged and chat resulting from sharing this book can open discussions about when it's time to switch off from technology ! 

It was also the inspiration for the second part of our lesson today, which was the question 'what would a device say about sending emails...if they could talk?'  What advice would they give - a lesson in personification. 

4) Yak-it Kids - this fun animation app really appealed to this age group. They were transfixed by the example and eager to see how they could make their own version. The incredible part of this process was that the class found a renewed enthusiasm for writing with their pens in their English book (and joined up too!)  , as part of the deal today was that a scripted speech needed to be prepared before the app could be opened...I've never seen the students write in such a focused way! 

Th drawback for some of the students with this app was that their scripted speech lasted longer than 15secs (a limit in this the free version of the app) so they worked on creating their animation in Adobe Voice  and produced some excellent examples of extended animation, full of character, completely individual and expressed their understanding in their own words. This part was transformational in this classroom , 

SAMR is a model designed to help educators infuse technology into teaching and learning. Popularised by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model supports and enables teachers to design, develop, and infuse digital learning experiences that utilize technology.9 Nov 2013

Day 26 - Pack it in!

Today I really packed in the tech...  Mobile technology can free students mind and help them to express themselves in a more creative way. However the skills of learning how to improve your skills as a learner, made teaching. This is where many schools fall down and classes become confused. A lesson with an iPad available to use is different to an iPad lesson. My belief is that the driving force of any lesson is the learning objective. Any resource that is used to support the students in achieving the lesson objective should be used when appropriate. This does not change when you include an iPad into the equation. The iPad is the tool in which learning is furthered - it's not an end in itself.

With a class brimming with 33 individual needs to be met the teachers ability to give timely support is a skill that is not always achieved. However, with iPad and a little time management and patience this can transform a classroom into one that is pupil centred and led. The latter is achievable and the benefits are clear once the initial teething problems are overcome. 

Skills the children require and acquire:

- to be able to follow instructions 

- self check their work and moderate for quality. 

- be open to suggestions from others

- flexible, responsible and motivated

- creative and good at overcoming difficulties (resilient) 

- open to new ideas and willing to take risks and try something new (flexible & creative) entrepreneurial 

- work to deadlines

So far none of these  skills would be disputed by a teacher as being beneficial. They also are skills that aren't necessarily stated in any learning objectives of primary school children let alone secondary school children. However having a mobile device in the classroom allows the teacher to specifically teach and promote these skills appropriately for the age group they are teaching. The 2015 Nesta report recently underlined the need for the country to invest time to train a workforce with transferable digital skills, I would argue that these are the most valuable learning objectives and the ones that will make a difference to our students a they mature and inevitably join the workforce. So how is this achieved? 

What I have used in the classroom today?

In order to give the children autonomy with their work they have to be given an overview of the tasks in hand. The best way to achieve this is with a file sharing such as Foldr  or Showbie. It can also be achieved by using iTunes U. If iTunes U courses are used in the school this is the optimal way of teaching the skills that digital citizens will need. 

1) iTunes U course. 

Each of the year groups computing curriculum is delivered as an iTunes U course. It allows me to develop resources, differentiate for each individual and collectively, collect and grade work and give individual feedback. It also gives the opportunity for my students work to be peer assessed and for them to further their understanding through the discussions option. It also allows me to change the course easily and update my resources. 

2) Yak-it Kids animation app which gives an additional way to quickly ascertain the level of individual learning. I used this as a exit ticket challenge. The short 15 second recording limits words so the student had to script a speech that succinctly explained email etiquette. 

3) Hopscotch - today we finished our Shang Dynasty games - each pair published their game the Hopscotch website which means they have the opportunity to hold their skills up beside their peers and to receive the critical feedback to help them further their learning into future projects. 

4) Explain Everything : the students revisited their own series of animations which depicted multiplication methods and chose their preferred method to complete their work this week. It showed just how vital it is that in maths students are able to articulate their learning and this enables them to truly understand the concepts.

5) The zoom function that can be found in accessibility. A few students like to have their work made cleared due to failing eyesight. 

But many like to have the work that is modelled on their iPad to have clarity. By activating the zoom function in settings/general/ accessibility/ zoom the three finger tip tap can make all the difference to following instructions. 

Day 25 - Creative Connections

The joy of mobile technology is how every student can put their own spin on a creative task. They surprise themselves with how much fun it is and how effective and professional the results can be. This is especially true for the students that struggle with writing or expressing their ideas on paper. 

What did I use in the classroom today? 

1. Maths - Year 5&6, investigating methods of multiplication. Having last week looked at Explain Everything for the first time, this weeks investigation based on www.nrich.maths.org  was the catalyst for the lesson.  Taking one sum 23x21 and seeing how many different ways this could be multiplied. The methods ranged from the usual column multiplication to the mindblowingly whacky lines method. 

The students task was to make a series of slides showing the calculation in each method and then trying out their own multiplication sums using their preferred method. 

Asked why this way of investigating would help one girl said " I know if I get stuck on a different sum, I could replay the video and it will help me get started again. " Exactly!  The magic nature of the lines method always raises a gasp...

The animated nature of the slides showing how to deconstruct each stage is transformational in learning. It allows the student to take control of how they learn , even down to what they say and how they say it...powerful stuff! 

2) English Grammar - Year 5&6 Book Creator

Having to explain onomatopoeia is one of life's great mysteries. It's easy when the word is accompanied by the sound because it makes sense. So today year five and six made examples of phrases using onomatopoeic words but added that own sound this also gives as a starting point a useful support in their hot writing task later in the week when they will need to compose their own poetry.

3). Using Adobe Voice with Year3&4. Setting up email. 

Adobe voice is to Resik app easy to use intuitive and quick. All the attributes you need for a successful digital classroom based activity. Today in the class we managed to set up everybody with an email and a password. In year three this was no mean feat! Part of the computering curriculum asks that the students have experience of email its usage and for me for their safety online education, it's misuse. I first read to the class Websters email which is a fantastic way to open the topic of conversation on communication and its limitations. Collaboration in classroom is championed but we also need to be mindful that children also need to know when best not to use and share their information.

It was important for my lesson to make sure that the children understood that and email address was a way of tagging you as a person and it is that way that many companies use to track your movements on the Internet. Adobe voice requires each child to have an account. Therefore each child has to have an email account attached to their profile. In itself this is acceptable. However I would ask that companies like Adobe voice realise the power of their app within the classroom and to make it more accessible to the whole school. By the end of the lesson every child had signed up to Adobe voice using that email and they're protected password, they had looked at the tutorial and started to make their own version of a short animation explaining the virtues of email.

 

Day 24 - Shine!

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If differentiation is the ultimate aim for every teacher then it follows that it's also important to allow opportunities for every child to feel successful. I believe including mobile technology in your classroom allows you to achieve this. Today there was another example of how the iPad gave a student a voice. It is now them to express themselves in the classroom in a way that may not have been possible previously. In a class of 32, sometimes individuals can be lost. Today four students shone brightly. We were using Hopscotch and the idea the task was to code a game with a partner based on the Shang Dynasty. This is a topic in key stage two which has not had very much time to excite teachers and their ability to match it to the curriculum is quite weak. Many teachers wish they could still study World War II. So they have a wealth of resources to draw upon. In out classroom, we made our own!

We celebrated the fact that the children were able to work with a partner and the tutorial (as well as peer guidance ) to make a game for this specific topic. The use of the text and then the emoji keyboard allowed them to use appropriate symbols in their game. The latest iOS update gave some invaluable additional material for them. 

What as a teacher I was particularly pleased with was the two children that produce this game were not those that easily are the best at maths, grammar, handwriting, science or in fact any core subject. But with computing they were able to code their game with ease and aplomb. The smiles on their faces as they shared their work by publishing it onto the hopscotch site for all their peers to play was priceless. Almost as shiny as their Headmaster award sticker! 

The added bonus to publishing this particular game on to the Hopscotch website was that it spurred on the rest of the class and motivated them to also want to feel as they like the designer of a game. It increase motivation to finish the task but also to complete it to the best of this skill and to make it as accurate and the code as complicated as they could manage. In a busy day, fraught with noise and incidences, the 45 minutes that the students were coding with their partner on their iPads was focused, quiet, concentrated bliss! 

Day 23 - As easy as breathing?

Any measure of success for embedding technology into a curriculum is whether the technology is invisible. Do the learners feel they have a capacity to utilise technology when it's the best tool for the job, as a normal accepted every day occurrence - this is a goal that is worth pursuing. 

It seems however that most technology needs to be overtly encouraged. Perhaps the is a need to make a fuss in order to validate the cost, the time spent introducing the new method of learning or the simple fact that the devices are available. So, as teachers we feel a compulsion to 'shout' about it every time the device is turned on. That certainly doesn't happen with times tables practice, an essential life skill yes, but one that is repeated everyday without any special attention or recognition. Perhaps using an iPad in school is still not mainstream enough not to be singled out and highlighted. A little like a student receiving Ritalin for ADHD! 

A five star project will take into consideration the following:

1) Accepted aims that are embraced by the staff, pupils and wider stakeholders.  

2) Access to training and advice to support ideas which continually encourage on-going CPD 

3) Appropriate use of apps, ones that encourage free thinking and creativity and do not stifle or restrict the students ability to make decisions about the information presented to them. 

4) Attitude of the students and staff, whether as part of a 1:2:1 or shared set model, can students choose when to use the devices? Is it when it's the best tool for the job or only as a 'special occasion' 'one off' when directed by the teacher? 

5) Availability of band width - does the wifi and other parts of the infrastructure support the activity in the classrooms. Air printing, up dated devices working in optimal conditions to make picking up the device as natural and easy as breathing...

The final A star would be awarded when the students and staff have the ability to celebrate and share their work, through blogs, a website or in house, on presentation screens that stream an ever changing  series of examples of good classroom practice. This cherry on the cake can be provided by Trilby TV, a simple but effective presentation module that is compatible with Apple TV and allows the students to upload their work in real time to a presentation area or screen. Just sit back and watch the self esteem rise! 

What I have used in the classroom today? 

1) BBC. CBeebies Nina and the Neurons - Go Digital Year 1 computing. 

2) BBC Bitesize Dance mat Typing for improving touch typing skills to make typing efficient and fast! 

3) iTunes U bespoke course to deliver the links for the computing curriculum to Year 1&2. 

4) Puppet Pals - to animate stud nets own versions of Roald Dahls Revolting Ryhmes. 

5) Adobe Voice - to record the treasure hunt for computing devices around us. 

6) Book Creator - to record the research facts on toilets to inform about the African charity. 

7) Book Creator - for the ongoing digital profile to capture evidence of progress. 

The iPad can provide many opportunities to include rich resources into teaching and learning, as long as the wifi is robust enough for the job... 

Day 22 - Counting Chickens

  

Sometimes it's the simple things that you take for granted. Take online safety for instance. The year 1's and 2's are like sponges for information. They have a curiosity which makes them hang on every word of a story. Clicking Chicken by Jeanne Willis made them laugh audibly but also voice their disapproval at the fluffy yellow fellow's antics. They understood the principles of strangers online in 20 pages of simple text and illustration. 

I too, had taken the simplicity of Showbie for granted. It rates as one of my favourite apps to make classroom organisation simple, that is until today. Having been a trial blazer for the new non Apple ID MDM, we were feeling rightly chuffed with ourselves for being able to say we had put our faith in the technology. For the most part our courage was well founded. However, today after updating the iPads the only app not to respond was Showbie. It crashed in every case. Teasing us into thinking it would work but fading away at every attempt. This caused some major difficulties. Mainly, it highlighted just how simple Showbie makes sharing, navigating to websites and effortlessly delivering differentiated tasks to individuals. I had begun to take it for granted. Perhaps it's time to evaluate Seesaw? 

If the filesharing app doesn't work, the alternative of typing in website addresses and navigating a complex work flow plainly stilits learning. Mis spelt words, a dot instead of a dash, can seriously frustrate both pupil and teacher...notwithstanding the waste of time in the lesson gathering the correct resources. ( At this point,  I am trying to forget the planning time put in to adding all the resources on to Showbie in the first place)  Secondly, how is it all marked? Notwithstanding the aide of the grading and voice annotation of the bespoke formative and individualised comments that make the difference to progress. I almost gave myself a hernia lifting the 33 exercises books into the back of the car!  

I know the future is with mobile technology, and I am prepared to swallow a bitter pill of progress if the lessons are learnt and the feedback is received by both app developers and MDM proponents. Sometimes you have to push the boundaries to improve. As the Headteacher said - it can be comforting staying in the safe 'known' world of what you have always done because at least you know what your problems will be...but for our school, we are embracing that the steps we are taking into the future will ultimately help the children to become better equipped learners and digital citizens.