Skoolz Out!

Archive for IWBs

IWB Resource Update : 7th Sept – 14th Sept 2009

Posted by: Adam Brice | 14 September, 2009 | 1 Comment |

In my role supporting teachers develop confidence and good pedagogy in their teaching with ICT, I aim to provide you with a weekly update of some of the gems I have found on the internet for my staff. Rather than post a page with links to a thousand items which you then have to spend time sifting through, I have created a resource of library which I have individually checked and deemed worthy of making the list. As teachers, we just don’t have the time, but by sharing, we can all help each other out.

So check back regularly for more updates, and please share any worthwhile activities you find with me for these posts.

By clicking on a link you will be taken to a preview of the activity. If you like the look of it, click on the picture of the page to be sent to the site.

under: Digital Resource Management, IWBs

‘Digital Storytelling’ – a ‘how to’ for the everyday teacher.

Posted by: Adam Brice | 17 May, 2009 | No Comment |

It is finally here. The Action Stations Series through the Curriculum Corporation releases a practical guide for teachers on ‘Digital Storytelling.’ There is no denying the importance of making our students critically literate, and in doing so, more digitally responsible. But creating lessons that cover these issues in an engaging way is not always clear for the teacher. We attend lots of Professional Learning and Development sessions in our careers, often walking away inspired and motivated, but with the same old nagging questions seem to surface;

How do I set it up in my classroom?
What do I need to get started?
How do I go about it?

If you are this teacher, then this book is for you! This is a program a colleague and I have been working on for several years now in the everyday classroom. And even if you don’t want to produce your own ‘Short Film Festival’ as outlined in the book, the book is setup in such a way so that the teacher can run with whichever lesson they choose.

We are also attempting to provide ongoing support in the creation of a forum at the link below, or sinmply click on the ‘Badge’ in the right hand side-bar of this blog;

http://digistorytelling-actionstations.ning.com/

This forum will allow teacher to share their learnings, understandings and challenges as they implement the program. Both Richard and myself, the authors of the book, will contribute to these discussions and help you along the way. Unique, but we feel this type of program is a must for every school.

If you are interested in some sample pages and/or ordering a copy of the book, click on the book front cover below for the link.

under: Digital Storytelling, E-Learning Co-ordination, Inquiry Based Learning, IWBs, Uncategorized
Tags: Digital Storytelling, Visual Literacy

Tags, Categories & Favourites – Becoming Efficient 21s Century Educators

Posted by: Adam Brice | 16 April, 2009 | No Comment |

The recent holiday break has reminded me of a number of things – how organised I am at work and with all things digital, yet my working space at home, personal calendars, and resources are completely disorganised – much to the frustration of my wife and friends who tolerate this. The recent ‘family clean up’ of these spaces (which continues) reminded me of a number of things I have been trying to do in my new role as a technology facilitator at a primary school.

This year, I have the unique role where I am supporting teachers in the classroom to develop effective technology skills throughout the entire curriculum. These may be individual ‘tutorials’, small group or team teaching projects.

No matter which class or year level I am in, it is obvious that all teachers need to be organised. We thrive on it. Some of us will spend hours developing one lesson, while others will know where a specific pen will be at any stage in their classroom.

So why are teachers so disorganised when it comes digital resources? What impact does this have for our students?

This became one of the most important aspects to my role this year – organisation of resources. If teachers are having trouble finding or sharng their work, then it simply won’t happen. As we are focusing heavily on incorporating Interactive Whiteboards as a tool into our teaching, it has become vital that teachers need to have a common location where they can search for resources and save their own creations.

In doing this we are promoting a number of things – 21st Century technology skills, accessing more interactive and visual resources into our lessons, and promoting collaboration between the staff.

Although my role is technology, there is still plenty to learn about – as there always is. As I have been researching and reading more about the variety of tools available, I have realised that simply loading the resources into folders on a server is not adequate.

The variety of open source software available to create searchable libraries is substantial. These libraries can create visuals of your resources, allow teachers to easily search them and house them all in the one place. One of the most important skills it will promote to the teachers, and skills they should be sharing with their students is uploading resources, and ‘tagging,’ ‘categorising’ and adding ‘favourites’ for future use.

These features are key components of all types of Web 2.0 software such as blogs, flickr, YouTube, etc, and even in the last few updates of the Apple iLife software. In an age where we are bombarded with information and resources, we need to teach our students how to manage them efficiently, as well as be productive contributors.

Some of the software I have found so far that seems to cater for these needs include; Razuna, ccHost, and Huddle.

If you have any experience or knowledge in this area, I would love to hear from you.

under: Digital Resource Management, E-Learning Co-ordination, IWBs, Open Source Software, Visual Literacy
Tags: Apple, categories, Digital Resource Management, Interactive Whiteboards, Open source, organisation, tags

Inquiry Based Learning – Digital Storytelling

Posted by: Adam Brice | 9 April, 2009 | No Comment |

After the overwhelming success of the ‘Skoolz Out’ project outlined in the previous post, the plan was to see if we could run with another Inquiry Based Learning program (IBL) which would incorporate an even more expansive set of skills. From our previous experience, we learned a number of vital lessons in running an IBL classroom and discovered the importance of;

a functional working space – open/shared classrooms with access to smaller working spaces. The key was visibility for the teacher at all times.
planning – a thorough understanding of the knowledge and skills associated with the topic is vital for the teacher. It was also vital to present a variety of skills and methods for the students, before training them in an area of expertise that they would ultimately share with one another.
producing a quality product – If we allow our students to produce garbage, they will! We all enjoy a shortcut, and the IBL classroom is no different. While it will promote creativity, engagement and powerful learning opportunities, there still needs to be clear goals and targets for the students to achieve. It is OK to say ‘That is not good enough’ as long as we are able to promote ways of improving the product.
informal and formal sharing of expertise – planned lessons, inquiry and reflection.
having the appropriate tools available at all times – this is where the technology proved so important. Students have regular access to the technology, when they need it. A big challenge for all schools.

So, an area that would interest the students and extend the progress we had made was to develop ‘Movie Magic.’ This is a year long program that incorporates a range of critical literacies through analysing elements of film, genre, and providing practical experience through specialist training sessions. The program culminates in the ultimate experience – a short film festival screened at the local cinema. With over 120 Year 5/6 students creating over 25 short films and animations on an annual basis, the now trendy ‘digital storytelling’ project has been created on a mass scale.

But at the core of this project are the points I raised earlier. The desire to provide a quality product has resulted in half a year’s study in the construction of digital stories and its elements. Students are required to script, storyboard and present their plans before any film is made. Once again, – Quality – its OK to say ‘No!’ When students realise you are working with them to help develop their ideas, they will respond, especially when the final outcome has to be good enough to be screened at the local cinema.

Throughout the process, it is vital to reflect upon progress with the students. How are we going? What is not working? What is? How could we do it better? These discussions are at the very core of what an IBL project should be about, for the festival is only the product. The highs, lows, and how individuals and groups have dealt with them is the real strength behind these real life projects for students.

A practical book on how to get this type of program running in your school, with lessons and step by step guides will be available in May 2009 – so make sure you subscribe to this feed for all of the latest. This product has been co-authored with my colleague Richard Lambert.

under: Digital Storytelling, Inquiry Based Learning, IWBs, Visual Literacy
Tags: Digital Storytelling, Inquiry Based Learning

Looking forward to ’09

Posted by: Adam Brice | 1 February, 2009 | No Comment |

It has been a while since my last post, but there will be plenty to write about this year in my new role as E-learning Co-ordinator at our school. My role will incorporate a wide variety of tasks, but the most interesting will be working with teachers in their classroom in the development of units utilising new technology. I plan to record on a weekly basis what works well, what dosen’t and resources that have proved useful.

In the overview of my role, I played a portion of Sir Ken Robinson‘s lecture discussing the importance of allowing and encouraging our students to be creative. An entertaining and thought provoking presentation and one that recommend all educators see.

Our staff were very positive towards the challenges they will be faced with this year and were jumping out of their skins to have a play with our new interactive whiteboard software, ActivPrimary. We have installed 3 new boards in our school and have chosen to go with Promethean. They have a great track record, plenty of additional hardware to extend students, great support and plenty of resources available to teachers. I will also be discussing how we are utilising these resources effectively in the evryday classroom as the year goes on.

Very keen to get my hands on a copy of the new iLife09 package from Apple. It seems that many of the concerns raised by people over iMovie08 may have been rectified with this version. Keep an eye out for more tutorials as the year goes on.

under: E-Learning Co-ordination, IWBs, Professional Learning
Tags: Apple, IWBs, Uncategorized