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Introduction
The gap between theory and practice is a long standing issue in education (Korthagen, 2011). Traditional university-based teacher preparation programs are also faced with making an undergraduate’s learning meaningful by the use of instructional methods by which the digital savvy student wishes to learn (Keengwe & Georgina, 2013). Combining the aforementioned two concepts with a university’s intention to take teacher preparation courses/program delivery into exclusive online formats to meet student demand, presents unique challenges (Perna, 2010). Below please find one of those challenges described and one university program coordinator’s solution to that challenge.

The Challenge
A unique challenge is the verification of k-12 school-based visits for observations or teaching activities that an instructor has assigned that a university student pre-service teacher candidate must complete in order to fulfill the requirements of the course. The purpose of the field based observations/activities is to satisfy a state requirement that teacher candidates have so many clock hours in a classroom before their internship/clinical teaching practicum. Also the purpose of the field based observations/activities is to provide a bridge between the theories and strategies a pre-service teacher candidate will learn in their course work and teaching actual students in k-12 schools (Brannon & Feine, 2013). In a more traditional setting, a university will have established a partnership with the local public school system, or systems, within a short driving distance from the university. Teacher candidates will visit these local schools to perform the necessary visits during the time the course is supposed to meet in a face-to-face manner, and the university instructor/professor will also be at the school at the same prescribed time to make sure that the teacher candidates are indeed there. The k-12 school personnel also will sometimes require that the teacher candidates sign a visitor’s log book. In this scenario, if the university class is large, then there might be several different school campuses to which the teacher candidates may be assigned, leaving the university instructor/professor limited options of which schools and which teacher candidates to visit within a limited time frame. This does present the problem of some teacher candidates who may not be observed by the instructor at any one time. It also does leave an opportunity for some teacher candidates to sign the visitor’s book at the k-12 school’s front desk and immediately leave campus without ever stepping foot in the classroom (which unfortunately has happened). To assist with this problem a solution was developed for the teacher candidate to not only sign in at the front desk, but also in the teacher’s classroom. This solution works on a limited basis as classroom teachers cannot be expected to monitor a teacher candidate’s comings and goings. The classroom teacher has his/her hands quite full performing their own responsibilities. Collecting those sign in sheets can become a challenge at the end of the semester. Experience has shown that some teacher candidates did offer to collect those sign in sheets and bring them to the university unfortunately some of those sign in sheets did prove to be fraudulent.

Moving from face-to-face content delivery to online content delivery, but still maintain the k-12 campus mandated field experiences presented mind boggling challenges. In addition, the “anytime, anywhere” initiatives of e-learning in higher education certainly “throws down the gauntlet” (Bischel, 2013). At our particular university we are also faced with teacher candidates who work at jobs in order to pay for their college courses. We needed to give them the flexibility to arrange and complete the field experience observations/activities during the k-12 school day to work around job schedules. The caveat we did give them was that they needed to make the once per week visits to the k-12 campus at the same time and the same day of the week, every week, so that the teachers and the administrators of the k-12 schools knew when to expect them and could plan for those visits. There were also constant reminders to the teacher candidates that they were guests in the k-12 schools, they were to dress and behave accordingly.

Taking into consideration the previous problems with the pen and paper sign in sheets, an idea to combat the fraudulent signatures issue was to use mobile devices and QR codes. Since the majority of the current teacher candidates belonged to the Net Geners (Berk, 2010), the use of QR codes seemed most appealing. The teacher candidates were instructed to download free apps to read QR codes onto their smart phones. The instructor for the course held hands-on trainings for the teacher candidates at each of the assigned campuses to train them how to download the app and then how to scan a QR code. The instructor for the course created different QR codes for each k-12 campus front desk and each individual teacher classroom. The k-12 campus administrators and teachers were quite happy at the thought of not having to keep up with physical paper sign-in sheets. Also this shifted the burden of accountability for the teacher candidates out of their hands and into the hands of the teacher candidates and university. Again, they have enough to be concerned about in this era of high-stakes testing other than to also monitor university teacher candidates. The teacher candidates were given instructions to scan the QR code at the front desk when entering the building, go to the teacher’s classroom and scan the QR code inside the classroom door. When the observation was over, the teacher candidates were given the instructions to scan the QR code inside the classroom door, then scan the QR code at the front desk when leaving the building. Therefore, each visitation required for scans. The QR code scans were to be emailed immediately to the instructor. In the beginning of the semester this method was tried, all went extremely well and messages came into the instructor on time. Then as the semester progressed, messages of teacher candidates campus visits started showing up on weekends and k-12 school holidays. Upon investigation, not all, but several teacher candidates had figured out how to save the QR codes in their smart phones and would message them to the instructor when they remembered them without having step foot on the k-12 campus. This was discovered when the instructor changed the QR code for the sign in at the front desk of several campuses just to check and see which teacher candidates may be involved. Also as further proof, the instructor had a picture roster of the candidates and showed those photos to the k-12 administrators and teachers to see if they remembered seeing them. This method using the QR codes definitely proved to be not the answer sought.

The reader of this article may be wondering why all of this was necessary anyway, just what does an instructor do all day if all they do is teach online? Like many other places, we at the higher education level are being asked to do more with less. More committees and projects with fewer faculty; more accreditation requirements with less personnel to establish the assessment and data collection; more service to college, university, community and profession with less time available; plus, more demands to become innovative and move as many courses as possible to online delivery formats but still maintain best-practices. Also, there are more stringent requirements for accreditation accountability, therefore, we need to utilize technology smartly and effectively.

Drawing from the 2011 Horizon Report, more and more educational facilities are investing in the infrastructure to support mobile device access. Many schools are investing in mobile devices and digital resources for educational purposes (U. S. Dept. of Ed, 2014). In addition, Chromebooks are as popular among school systems as are iPads and may become even more popular (Kosner, 2014). Our university had some Chromebooks not being used by faculty, so It made sense to combine all of these elements to come up with another high-tech sign in procedure for our pre-service teacher candidates. The idea was born from the fact that many of our pre-service teachers are quite adept at taking selfies from their smartphones and posting them to social media sites. Why not take advantage of this? A university Chromebook was placed at every k-12 campus where the teacher candidates had been assigned. The teacher candidates were instructed to take a selfie from their assigned k-12 school campus using the Chromebook placed there and then upload the photo into a designated area in the university’s learning management system (LMS) every time they make the field experience visit. The photo was done using the webcam app on the Chromebook and saved into the Chromebook’s files with date and time. The photo is then uploaded into the LMS again with date and time designations provided by the LMS. It is a very simple procedure, taking less than 5 minutes of a teacher candidate’s time to take the selfie, save it to the Chromebook’s files, log into the LMS, and upload the selfie into the LMS assignment area. At the beginning of each semester, course instructor training sessions were held on each k-12 campus to help the teacher candidates learn the Chromebook sign in process. Several of these sessions were held and it was mandatory for the teacher candidates to attend one of them. It also gave the instructor and the teacher candidates a chance to meet one another face to face. However, it was recognized early on that not every teacher candidate could attend the training sessions, so complete detailed instructions were given in the course LMS.

Fortunately, the school campuses the teacher candidates were to visit have a Raptor School Security System. The visitor to the school campus surrenders his/her driver’s license to the receptionist. The receptionist inserts the driver’s license into the Raptor System. The Raptor System then compares the identity on the driver’s license to criminal offense data bases. The system also printed out a name tag with the school’s name, the visitor’s name, the date, and the time of the visit. To serve as another verification for the date and time designations, as well as school campus locations, the teacher candidates were to take the selfie and include the Raptor ID name tag somewhere in the photo they are to upload into the LMS every time they make a visit to the k-12 school. The school personnel would require the teacher candidates to surrender the name tags before they left the building at the end of their visits, so providing the name tag labels the Raptor System provided was out of the question. An added benefit to the Raptor System is that if there was a question about a teacher candidate’s campus attendance, the system did keep internal records as to who visited the campus when, and the teacher candidate could be searched for by name.

Teacher Candidate Response

The Chromebook log in procedure did guarantee that the teacher candidate visited his/her assigned campus. It did not guarantee that the teacher candidates actually went to the k-12 mentor teacher’s classroom, however, that is a challenge to be worked on next. What we did have was a dually verifiable campus visitation procedure that would continue to assist the online instructors. Overall, the teacher candidates’ responses were very positive. Using a very informal focus group to gage their perceptions of the process, they seemed to have enjoyed the whole selfie procedure and the chance to use technology in a different manner. Many of them were not very familiar with Chromebooks, had seen Chromebooks being used in k-12 school classrooms, and liked the idea of learning how to use one. It is to be noted that some of the teacher candidates struggled with the process. They were not as far along the digital native-ness spectrum as is mentioned in the 2011 Horizon Report, however, they were willing to learn, recognizing the need for themselves to become more tech savvy.

References
Berk, R. A. (2010). How do you leverage the latest technologies,

including Web 2.0 tools, in your classroom? International Journal

         of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 6(1), 1-13.
Bischel, J. (2013). The state of e-learning in higher education: An eye

         toward growth and increased access. Louisville, CO: EDUCAUSE

Center for Analysis and Research. Retrieved from   http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers1304/ERS1304.pdf
Brannon, D. & Feine, J. (2013). The effect structured participation

experiences have on pre-service teachers’ preparedness to teach

reading. Education, 134(2), 185-194.
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Haywood, K., (2011).

         The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media

Consortium.
Keengwe, J. & Georgina, D. (2013). Supporting digital natives to learn

effectively with technology tools. International journal of

         information & communication technology education, 9(1), 51-

  1. Korthagen, F. (2011). Making teacher education relevant for practice:

The pedagogy of realistic teacher education. Orbis Scholae, 5(2),

31-50.
Kosner, A. W. (2014, December 1). Google unseats Apple in U.S.

classrooms as Chromebooks beat iPads. Forbes.com Retrieved

from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2014/12/01/google      -unseats-apple-in-u-s-classrooms-as-chromebooks-beat-ipads/
Perna, L. W. (2010). Understanding the working college student.

Academe, 96(4), 30-33.
U. S. Department of Education. (2014). Use of technology in teaching

and learning. [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/oii-        news/use-technology-teaching-and-learning.
Raptor Technologies, Inc. (2014). Visitor management made simple

and secure. [Website]. Retrieved from

http://www.raptortech.com/

 

 

 

Bir süre önce İnternette Minecraft’ın Türkiye’de yasaklanması gerektiğine dair bir haber okudum. Beni bayağı düşündüren bir haber. Sonra aklıma Londra’da Wilbury ilkokulunda yıllarca hem öğretmenlik hem de teknoloji kordinatörlügü yaparken eğittiğim öğrencilerim geldi. Beni okul koridorlarında aylarca takip eden, Minecraft’da yarattıkları dünyalardan hiç durmadan bahseden ve bana günde bin kere ne zaman Minecraft’ı okulumuza getirecegimizi soran öğrencilerim. Zaten oğlumla da evde oynadığımız için bayağı bir bilgim var idi. Acaba onlara Minecraft yasaklandı desem yüzlerindeki ifade ne olurdu? Canavarlar, hep o yaramaz canavarlar yüzünden desem anlarlar mıydı sebebini, ya da bu yeterli olurmuydu onlar için.

Bugün eğitim alanındaki en büyük şikayettlerden biri öğrencilerin derslere olan ilgisizligi ve motivasyon düzeylerinin düşüklüğüdür. Ve bu sadece bir iki ülkede değil, dünyanın her yerinde eğitimcilerin karşı karşıya oldukları bir sorundur. Tabiki bunun bir çok sebebi vardır, özellikle öğrencilerin kişisel durumlarından kaynaklanan çok farklı sebepler. Ancak günümüz çocuklarının ve gençlerinin okul dışındaki hayatlarında son teknolojik gelismelerinde etkisiyle öğrenme ve düşünme biçimlerinin değiştigi artık bir çok araştırmalarla ortaya konulmuştur. Ana sorun eğitimden sorumlu devlet birimlerinin bu değişimlerin eğitimin doğasında yarattığı etkiyi algılayamayıp yeniliği sınıflarara taşıyamamasıdır. Sonuç ortada, öğrenmekden zevk almayan, ezberleyerek öğrendiklerini bir ay sonra unutan, işlemsel düşünme yeteneğinden ve hayatın her alanında faydalı olacak transfer edilebilen becerilerden yoksun bir nesil. Goldsmiths, University of London’dan Dr. Jessel ile yaptığımız son araştırmamızda, müfredat, pedagoji ve derslerde uygulama arasındaki dinamik ilişkillerden bahsettik. İlginç olan ülkelerin kültürel ve felsefi inançlarının bu dinamik bağda olan etkisi idi. Kısacası, eğitimin bilimsel gelişmelerden edinilen veriler ile değil, politikal etkenler ile şekillendirilmesi eğitimin ilerlemesini durdurur ve gerilemesine neden olur.

Gelelim Minecraft’a…

Minecraft eğitimde öğrencilere hem eğlenerek hem de yaparak sınırsız bir öğrenme dünyası sunan bir araçdır. Yalnız dikkat edelim araç diye tanımladım ve bir aracın etkili olarak kullanılması, eğitimcilerin aracın içeriğini anlayıp başarılı bir şekilde derslere entegre etmesine bağlıdır. Yani araba kaza yapınca, kazaya sebep olan araba mıdır yoksa arabayı kullanan mı? Minecraft’da canavarlar olduğu ve küçük yaştaki çocuklarda olumsuz etki yaratma olasılığı doğrudur, ancak bu Minecraft EDU’da oyun ayarlarındaki düzenleme ile kontrol edilebilir.

Minecraft’ı okul müdüremize ilk gösterdiğimde, “ah, bu çocukların hep konuştukları oyun değil mi?” dedi. Sonra bana derslerde nasıl kullanılabileceğini sordu. Örenklerle bildiğim kadarıyla açıkladım. “Bunu okula getirelim” dedi. Önce okul sistemine yükledik. Sonra çocuklara haber vermeden okuldaki her ögretmen ve öğretmen yardımcısına programı kullanmayı öğrettik. Öğretmenlerle toplantı yapıp hangi derslerde hangi konuyu öğretmeleri için kullanabileceklerine dair sohbet ettik. Ve sonunda öğrencilere Minecraft’ı derslerde kullanacaklarını söyledik. Öyle bir çığlık attılar ki müdüremiz bile odasından duyup geldi.

 Nasıl kullandık?

Ben Minecraft’ı ilk olarak 6. sınıfların(10-11 yaş) tarih dersinde kullandım. Dersimizin konusu antik uygarlıklardı. Roma, Mısır ve Yunan uygarlıklarının mimarileri hakkında öğreniyorduk. Önce çocuklara gruplarını kurmalarını ve bu uygarlıklardan birini seçmelerini söyledim ve sonrada seçtikleri antik uygarlık hakkında bilgi toplamalarını. Neredeyse iki ders araştırma ile geçti, bir ders de dizaynı kağıt üzerinde planlamakla ve son olarak 4 dersde binaları Minecraft’da yapmakla. Bu proje detayları https://wilbury-minecraft-ancient-egypt.wikispaces.com sitesinde öğrenciler tarafından paylaşılmışdır.

Aynı zamanda yeni öğretmen olan iş arkadaşım Elliott Plumb 5. sınıf (9-10 yaş) ögrencilerine Viktoryalılar hakkında öğretiyordu. Kendisine Minecraft’ı kullanmasını önerdim ve nasıl kullanıldığını gösterdim. Beraber ders planını hazırladık ve kendisi sınıfını Forty Hall adında Viktoryalılar döneminden kalma müze olarak kullanılan bir yere gotürdü. Çocuklar binanın resimlerini çekip, boyutlarını ölçtüler. Sonra okula dönüp gruplara ayrılıp projeyi kağıt üzerinde planladılar. Binayı Minecraft’da yaparken kullandıkları ölçeğin yanlış olduğunu farkedip, tekrar planlama aşsamasına döndüler. Proje detaylarını https://fortyhallminecraftproject.wikispaces.com sitesinde okuyabilirsiniz.

 Peki, öğrenciler ne öğrendi?

Aşagıdaki listeye baktığımızda, Minecraft’ın sadece teknoloji becerileri ögretmekden ibaret olmadığını, öğrencilerin STEAM kavram ve yeteneklerini geliştirmesine de olanak verdiğini söyleyebiliriz.

  • İşbirliği içinde takım olarak çalışma
  • Problem çözme
  • İletişim kurma
  • Yaratıcılık
  • Kritik düşünme
  • İleri seviyede teknoloji bilgisi
  • Tarih
  • Matematik- binaların boyutlarını ölçmek ve ebatlarını hesaplamak
  • Coğrafya- ölçek kullanmak
  • Sanat- Tasarim
  • En önemlisi zevk alarak öğrendiler ve eğlenerek, yaparak öğrenilen her şey daha ozone süre hafızamızda kalır.

İngiltere’de ICT

İngiltere’de ICT okullarda 1988 Educatıon reform Act ile 5-16 yaş arası çocuklar için zorunlu oldu. 1999 yılında müfredata ayrı bir ders olarak girdi ve araç olarak her dersde kullanılması gerektiği belirtildi. 2014 yılında ise ICT yerini Computıng dersine bırakdı ve öğretmekde olduğumuz teknoloji derslerine programcılık da eklendi.

İngiltere’de her sınıf öğretmen adayı cok güçlü bir teknoloji eğitiminden geçer ve teknolojiyi her dersde etkili olarak kullanması beklenir. Atama sistemi de olmadığından herkes kendi işini kendisi bulur. Dolayısıyla teknoloji alanında kendini yetiştirmemiş bir öğretmenin iş bulması zordur. Teknoloji koordinatörleri de yıllarca öğretmen olarak çalışmış kişiler arasından görüşme ile seçilir. Bu sınıf öğretmenliğine ilaveten bir isdir ve seçilen sınıf öğretmenine bu görevi yerine getirmesi için ekstra zaman ve para verilir. Ben 10 yıl Londra’daki ilkokullarda sınıf öğretmeni ve ICT coordinatörü olarak çalıştım ve son 1.5 yıldır Manchester Metropolitan Üniversitesinde İlkokul öğretmen adaylarına teknolojiyi bütün derslere etkili şekilde entegre etmeleri konusunda ders veriyorum. Artı STEM merkezimizde teknoloji alanında okullara yonelik eğitim seminarları düzenliyorum. Bu yıl ögretmenler için ilk Minecraft atölyemiz Temmuz ayında yer alacak. İlgi çok yüksek ve yakında Minecraft’ın eğitimde nasıl kullanılması gerektiğini örneklerle açıklayan kitabımız yayınlanacak.

Biliyorum Turkiye’de farklı bir sistem var, ancak ben bilişim öğretmenlerinin ve sınıf öğretmenlerinin bir arada çalışarak teknolojiyi anlamlı bir şekilde kullanıp eğitim ve öğretimi geliştirecekleri kanaatindeyim. Böyle hazır eğitilmiş bir iş gücü var iken, etkili şekilde kullanılmamasını bır türlü aklım almıyor.

Diyecegim o ki, teknolojinin eğitim ve öğretimin doğasında yarattığı etkiyi anlamayan, müfredatı buna göre şekillendirmeyen ve eğitimcilerine kendilerini bu alanda sürekli geliştirme imkanı vermeyen eğitim sistemleri ilerlemeyip gerileyeceklerdir. Eğitim sistemleri geride kalmiş ülkelerin ne kadar ilerleyebileceğini tahmin etmek de sanırım zor değildir. Yalnız hatırlatalım ki, eğitim reformu sınıflara akıllı tahta koymakla veya sınıftaki sıraların yerini değiştirmekle olacak bir iş değildir. Eğitimin siyasi etkenlerden arındırılıp, eğitimcilere bırakılması şartdır!

Sorumuz neydi? Minecraft yasaklansın mı, yasaklanmasın mı?

Bu soruyu soranlara tavsiyem önce bir oturup Minecraft ile oynamalarıdır. Teknolojiyi aynen çocuklar gibi kullanmak, onların geçtiği düşünme ve öğrenme sürecini anlayıp etkili dersler planlayıp öğretmemize yardım edecekdir. Çocukların zevk aldıkları her şeyi ellerinden almak yerine, bunları eğitimde amaçlı ve planlı şekilde kullanıp onların öğrenmeyi sevmelerine destek olalım. Olalım ki okula gelmek ve öğrenmek için can atsınlar, öğrendiklerinide hatırlayıp hem okulda ve hem de okul dışındaki günlük hayatlarında karşılaştıkları sorunlara çözüm üretmek için kullansınlar.

Bırakın da çocuklar zevk alarak, yaparak, oynayarak öğrensinler. Bırakın da çocuklar yanlış cevap verdiklerinde ellerine vurulan cetvelleri değil, soru sorduklarında tek ayak üstünde bekletildikleri günleri değil, bir sınavın bütün geleceklerine karar verdiği bir sistemin stresi ile değil de Minecraft’da arkadaşlarıyla tasarladıkları muhteşem dünyaları hatırlayarak öğrenip büyüsünler.

Yasemin Allsop

Senior Lecturer in Primary Computing and ICT

Manchester Metropolitan University

http://www.ioe.mmu.ac.uk/about/profile.php?surname=Allsop&name=Yasemin

www.yaseminallsop.me.uk

http://festivaloflearningwithtechnology.ictinpractice.com

This year we have decided to meet up with our local community. We wanted to have a day of tinkering with ideas together with children, parents and teachers. What we have in our mind is different from a conventional summit. We don’t want to sit and listen to others or watch another Power Point presentation. We usually have a nap half-way through anyway. We want to have fun, make things, break things, re-make them, then break them again! Basically just explore the world of learning with technology through play.

We are very privileged to be partnered with the WOW Zone for this event. Please visit the WOW zone website to find out more about their amazing activities.

Submit a Workshop

Would you like to share your ideas or complete a project with children, parents or teachers? Then this is the festival for you. We are not limiting your imagination. You can play games or make games, or maybe create a podcast show, even design a robot. Join us and unleash your creativity. Visit  http://festivaloflearningwithtechnology.ictinpractice.com  to find out more.

Remember the deadline for submission is June 30th 2015.

 

The PE Shake

This app has 100 PE warm up activities. Just shake the app and you will see a random game to complete. It is available for  IOS and Android users.

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/pe-shake/id649792625?mt=8

 

Balance It

Balance It is a Task Card Resource for PE Teachers. It provides students with visual prompts and clues that are designed to help them to develop their balance. This app allows students to progress at their own pace and take a photo as evidence which they can compare with their friends.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id630956844?mt=8&affId=2239356

 

Workout Producer

We love this app. It allows you to create your own exercise routine. You can either record yourself or your friend performing the exercises. It is really fun. You can be the star of your very own workout video. You can add music too.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/id645893612?mt=8&affId=2239356

by Yasemin Allsop

ICT Coordinator, Wilbury Primary School

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 simply means web-based tools of which many are available for free. If it is used as part of well-designed lessons following a project based learning approach, because of its motivational power, it can have a positive impact upon children’s learning. It would be useful for teachers to get familiar with these programs so that they can map how they would use these tools into their lesson plans. The clarity of what they aim to manifest by using Web 2 tools within teaching and learning, will help them to decide the strategies and pedagogy they need to adopt for their teaching. For example if the aim is to develop children’s collaborative work skills then using wikis would be appropriate, however, if the children’s literacy skills in writing fiction stories is the target, then a story creator would be a useful tool. Sometimes there are so many tools, it becomes a very difficult job to decide which one to use. My advice is always discuss the issue with your colleagues, but also involve the learners too. When the tool is more relevant to learners needs and interests as well as the lesson objectives, the learning manifested also becomes an enjoyable experience.

SO WHY USE WEB 2.0 TOOLS?

There is a growing emphasis on teaching children critical thinking skills, so that they will become successful learners. Thinking, as the main foundation of cognition can be seen as the process of making constant connections between what we know and what we understand of concepts to develop further meanings. If we are to teach children thinking skills we need to focus on developing their ‘inwards thinking’ which allows them to check what they know and make a link between what they know and the new knowledge in their minds and their ‘outwards thinking’ which allows them to apply what they know into real-life situations in a physical world.

Web 2.0 tools can be used for designing a learning content and environment, where the learners can learn at a pace, where they can use their cognitive resources. They can create / design a product or a solution which involves planning, investigating / exploring, decision making, designing / creating, communicating / sharing, collaborating and finally evaluating. However, having these skills doesn’t alone guarantee that the student will learn. Learning is extensively derived on how well students can transfer and apply these skills to different learning contexts. Using Web 2.0 in teaching and learning, gives the learners the opportunity to be the driver of their learning journey, where constant conversations with ‘self’ and ‘others’ takes place.

What we need to remember is Web 2 tools can only help learners to develop their core skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, if the lesson content and the learning space is designed and managed to accommodate the application of these skills. There is no point in expecting children to improve their collaboration skills when they are not allowed to work with others because the noise level in the classroom increases. Similarly, can we assume that they would be able to evaluate their peers work if they are not allowed to move around. What this tells us is that when using digital technologies in the classroom, how the classroom is designed and managed as a learning space, will define how learning manifests itself. Be flexible in both your approach to learning, the strategies you use in the classroom and don’t rush children. Let them have time to think and turn their ideas into a design. This is why I encourage people to use a Project Based Learning approach when teaching with technology as it allows learners have enough time to master their knowledge and skills. Finally, don’t assume that you need to know everything about technology, be ready to learn with your students. It is fun and changes the way they perceive you as a teacher in a positive way.

Tune in to learn with the learners!

Click here to download the ‘Web 2 tools by Subject’ PDF booklet.

 

 

GarageBand by Apple Inc.

GarageBand allows you to turn your iPad into a professional recording studio. You can make your own music and edit sound files on the go.

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/from-the-app-store/apps-by-apple/garageband.html

ToonTastic

Toontastic is a brilliant ipad App which enables children to create animations and cartoons in a fun way. You can select characters available in the Toontastic library or use your own drawings and voice to make it more personel.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/toontastic/id404693282?mt=8

 Story Kit

Create an elctronic story book whenever you like, wherever you want. You just need to write some text and add your drawings or photos from your album.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/storykit/id329374595?mt=8

Mathemagics

Learn and practice mental maths tricks in a fun way. Progress through different levels and learn to answer faster than you did before.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mathemagics-mental-math-tricks/id306586847?mt=8

Britanicca Kids Series

Created for children 8 and up and it is curriculum based. It is not only useful for homework but also for project based learning in the classroom.

http://www.britannica.co.uk/ebproducts/Apps.asp

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