TED-Ed Website...wow looks good

I just looked over a youtube video describing the new TED Ed website and it sounds absolutely fantastic, and free!

To help you have an idea what its like I will start with a similar (ish) site that has been around a long time. Have you tried Brainpop? Brainpop is a website designed for young students to learn various themes through video animation followed by revision questions. The site is well designed, easy to use and the animations are incisive and entertaining. I highly recommend it, but its very expensive.

TED Ed, on first look, seems very similar, but much, much more. The 'more' comes in the form of being personally customizable. You have videos, and accompanying questions and tasks, but you also have a "Flip this Lesson section". This allows you to add your own titles, learning objectives, introductions, tasks and questions. Not only this, it allows you to add whatever video you want to focus on, regardless of whether or not it is on TED. I am sure that the guys who made the site can explain it better:

I am definitely going to try this out as soon as I can. I will post my results. I can do this because when you create your own "Flipped Lesson" you get your own URL for that specific lesson.

However, that's not all!!!

It seems there is a section to record the responses of the students who look at your TED Ed lesson. I'm not sure if this means that they have to sign in or not, lets find out.

Why Kids Should be Taught Code

The Tectonic Plates of ICT are Shifting...or they should be anyway

An interesting article has appeared in the Guardian stating that a complete rethink is needed regarding the ICT curriculum, beginning with Primary School.

You know what? I couldnt agree more. I stopped following all National Curriculums a few years ago, teh level was so low and mostly irrelevant. The speed at which technology changes and the speed at which our children develop in this area means the curriculum needs to evolve or die. At the moment, it is in need of some serious resuscitation!

I could and should go into a lot more detail on this topic, and I probably will. But to puty it into its simplest form, the article says we need to concentrate more on programming skills. There are a multitude of online applications that allow us to manipulate, create, play. We accept these and take them for granted. But who is creating them? Why aren't we focusing on teaching our students how they can be the creators, the pioneers the inventors?

Check it out, its an interesting read.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/mar/31/why-kids-should-be-taught-code

Random Name Selector

"I need a volunteer"

"ME, ME, ME, ME, ME"

"You never pick me"

"Its so unfair"

"She always goes"

"You always pick girls"

etc, etc.

This is certainly the case in Primary School. As for senior I am sure it is the opposite =)

There is a way to make the volunteer selection fair and fun. I use an online fruit machine which stores all the kids names. The kids love it and sit with excitement and anticipation when I start the names spinning.

Try it for yourself: http://classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine/

Keeping the Kids Desktops Tidy

I have to admit I am a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to keeping my desktop tidy and organised, but I do do "binge" clean ups every now and again. Anyway, I recently told my students that I would give them two marks per year for how organised and tidy their desktops were (they have to have some incentive). To make this particularly dull lesson more interesting I gave them access to a number of folder images which they could use to replace their standard folder images with. The kids absolutely loved it. The more customized and personal the kids feel their computers are, the more you have them interested in coming to ICT.

If you want to use the folder, here is the link: http://5thand6th.weebly.com/ict-blog.html

Moodle update

It's Saturday and the football is on again. This really helps me to feel like I'm working 'whilst' at the same time working. Thank you cable TV.

So...an update on how my Moolde site is going. Like the other two times I made one, it hasnt been an overnight storming success.

First I tried to get the kids to enrol themselves as users to save me time. I wont be doing that again.

Second I thought I'd be clever and use a hot potato quiz to get the kids to do a pre-test at the start of our new unit. This test would then be repeated at the end of the unti as a post-test to show progression. However, something dawned on me. What would happen if the kids fluked a good score in the pre-test, and then got a worse score in the post-test? Would this mean the whole unit was a waste of time? I will have to think more about this one. Perhaps if I used non-multichoice quizes, then the students couldn't possibly fluke the answers.

Thirdly, I did actually find one good use. For allowing students who were absent to download the activity work sheets themselves or view the Powerpoint of learning objectives and lesson instructions on their own computers.

Digital Divide Ideas

I often get random emails in my work inbox that I never get the chance to look at. This morning I decided to do a bit of a cull and took a look at a BBC World Service email which had a section on the digital divide in the world.

The kids I teach are very privaleged and have lots of new Macs. They probably also have at least one computer in the house. So, I wander if they would be interested in seeing what it slike on the other side of the digital divide. I'm going to find out if this BBC World Service video stirs any thoughts in the 6th graders minds. Its about a small village in India where a lone computer is installed in a whole in a wall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldclass/17366581

Time to Logout Song

"How many times do I have to ask?? I want to go for lunch as well you know!"

Sometimes the kids just won't do as you ask....really, its true. For example, I used to struggle when asking the kids to log out at the end of a lesson. I purposely ask them 5 minutes before the end so that we have time to do a plenary and unless I give them a clear signal they won't listen. My signal is this song http://dl.dropbox.com/u/70073621/Music/Time%20to%20Log%20Out.mp3

It lasts 40 seconds and the kids respond 'almost' immediately.

Try it if you like. Or if you have some other ideas I'd love to hear them.

Moodle with Free Hosting!

I don't care if I'm cheap.....

Well, I was prepared to pay for a company to host my Moodle site, but the prices for what I wanted were way too high, around $200 - $600 per year. I'm only doing this to gain a little experience of e-learning and I only teach 2 year groups. I actually used a hosting company in Chile last year, which was only around $2 per month. Now this is value for money, but they were so useless I ended up abandoning the whole project after 3 months and losing all my work!

Anyway.....by stroke of good fortune I found this company www.mdl2.com. They have made this whole process sooooo eeeeeaaasssssy. Believe me, they have been a real saviour. No setting up needed, no need to download xamp or any thriod party software. Just register and start adding your own material and users.

So far, so good. However, I only started this yesterday, so i will see what potential problems lie in store as time goes on.

Anyway, here is my site so far http://ictlessons.mdl2.com/.
The guest account is activated with:
User name: guest
Password: guest

Which E-Learning Platform?

"If at first you don't succeed, try and try again"

Or as it was originally written:

Palmer (1782-1861) wrote in his 'Teacher's Manual': 'Tis a lesson you should heed, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'

I have tried two different e-learning platforms over the years, my first was actually designed for blind computer users. However, I never did finish what I started. Actually, I am sure there is a quote for that as well.

All i want, is to find a platform that is easy to use, free and has a big database of users. The more users, the more additional software and support will be created. I have looked at many different reviews and reports. This is just one of them http://www.campussource.de/aktuelles/docs/icalt2005.pdf

I have come to the conclusion that even though I don't reaaallly want to use Moodle (as it always turns me off aesthetically), I am going to go for it again.

Which Blogging Tool?

My main aim today was not to start blogging, but to start an e-learning platform. My hopes are to create something good anough for my students to follow with less teacher "hands on" input, and to improve consistency and to have reusable material for next time I teach the same subject.

My hopes are eventually to be able to make my own animation based educational games and activities that I can add to an e-learning platform, but thats a different story.

Anyway....as making this blog was not my main aim, I wanted something good but easy to use. I found this link http://blog-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ which I thought would be helpful.
I am sure it would be if either (a), I was far smarter or (b), I had a lot more free time on my hands. It said that Word Press was the best tool, and also that it was the easiest to use. Am I missing something? I had to download it and configure it with servers. So I have resorted to the trustworthy blogger. And why not?

Online Presence

I'm going to start by saying that Harry Redknapp looks like a sick puppy. I'm trying to do some habitual Sunday work from home and Chelsea vs Tottenham is playing on the TV in the background. The 5th goal has just gone past Harry's side and he looks glum. Well, I'll tell you what makes me glum, having to work every weekend! As an ICT Teacher we have to stay so much on top of the game it is a never ending task.

Anyway, I have decided that it is my duty as an ICT Teacher to start recording and sharing my findings online. I feel that an "online presence" is essential in this day and age.