The group that is NEL or North East London ICT recently met to pool some ideas and resources together on the thorny issue of assessment. Both Terry Freedman and I gave a presentation on the day and his is embedded here for your viewing pleasure.
Terry gave a very interesting and pertinent series of points on the issues around assessing ICT Capability and what should be included in a toolkit for assessment.
Blogger Labels: Assessment,North East London ICT,Terry FreedmanAs a Year 4 Teacher, I kept a tatty paper folder full of newspaper clippings. They were well trusted scraps that I deemed appropriate to use to teach news media.When these became old and torn I’d ring the local newspaper and ask for 30 copies of the latest edition.Though I later moved onto scanning these pages in to my PC, I always hoped for an easier way.
And now for a Redbridge/Newham or Barking Teacher there is an easier way…
The Ilford Recorder have now digitised their news and past issues can be searched in order to find some relevant content. You can of course zoom in and out of these pages and use your IWB software to annotate or highlight. I gave this a go the other night on the back room SMART Board and I think the results speak for themselves.
Blogger Labels: Newspapers,Ilford Recorder,SMART
Its been a long time since I was excited about Music Software. Back in the day (well 2003) I used to create dance music with my Year3s, using Dance Ejay. I am sure these tracks sound very dated now!
If I was working with a class on the old QCA ICT and Music unit now, what would I use? For kids reared on the Wii and PS2, some of our Primary software doesn’t really excite or look very credible anymore when pitted against Singster or Guitar Hero.
Well I probably would use some off the shelf games, though DJ Hero excites me more than Guitar Hero!
But I would also look at Microsoft Songsmith a free tool that oozes creative application designed by their research wing. With Songsmith children can compose their own tunes and mix in automated backing tracks.
There is great scope here to work on the Reviewing and Modifying strand of Primary ICT, as your first attempt will always need some further editing and polishing until you can finally publish your masterpiece.
And talking of publishing, you can save your work as a WMA for further play in Audacity or choose the option to export to Windows Movie Maker, prompting you to produce your own Music Video.
I have made a very naff video to illustrate my first go with this below:
I am not the first to blog about SongSmith,
read Lord Ollie of Bray’s blog for another take on the app
and also look at the UK Innovative Teachers Network blog.
You can also read my post on another free Microsoft tool Autocollage here.
Can we always say we know what our children can do in ICT? Probably not reliably and certainly not quickly. Assessment of Primary ICT has always been a headache and due to the lack of compulsory reporting or an ICT SAT test, levelling and reporting are often patchy and haphazard. At worst this amounts to nothing more than posting or pasting levels on a tracker spreadsheet, or ticking skills boxes.
There must be another way…
In the holidays I was lucky enough to have a look at the Beta for 2Assess, the new product from 2Simple. This suite of activities allows the teacher to set children tasks such as draw me a square using Logo, plot a graph for a given purpose, or create an effective spreadsheet formula for a menu or a party. Children then receive a score based on how they did, taking into account issues such as how efficient their sequence of instructions were and the time taken.
What struck me is that these activities are set in a very real context,so children work on a real database and real spreadsheets. And because they use ICT not a written test the activities are seen by children as being like games, they don’t feel like they are being assessed.
I knew one well-intentioned teacher who used to set the children a series of typed up questions following an ICT topic, they’d need to wait a while for the teacher to mark these and then she’d use a crude mark scheme to give a grade. With 2Assess, pupils and teachers would not have to wait or spend time marking they could instantly see how well the class had grasped an ICT skill and if this is coupled this with AB Tutor, Ranger, Net Opps,or some other screen sharing software, then one can bring all of the work up on screen and immediately have a discussion around what the class now know and what they need to know next.
Other tasks include responding to a series of emails,here children have to give the correct response in order to demonstrate an awareness of Esafety. The product boasts over 100 activities and they are not dependent on you having all of the 2Simple titles as the tasks measure generic skills that could be applied in a range of apps, regardless of supplier.
As a teacher I can award certificates for children based on their progress and I can see at a a glance how well my children tackled the task set. But I need to stress that at no point are children awarded a level. I think this is very positive and I can see the intention of the team that developed the software was to see 2Assess as part of the assessment process, but not the whole answer, teachers need to be fully involved in the process and not see 2Assess as the one stop shop for their ICT assessment. That said there is a lot here to assist teachers in assessing, and I keep coming across new features. Look for example at the feedback in the image below:
Above you can see one of the feedback features which allows you to generate a print out like the one above. allowing you to follow up the judgements with your own comments and those from the children. I think I’d keep a file of these to assist me in using APP or to just inform my planning week to week.
A further thought on levelling is to say that at a time when we are experiencing curriculum review, it would be unhelpful to number crunch the results into a crude level, as this could change in the coming months anyway.
To me the application would be a very valuable part of a Primary ICT toolkit, but it would sit next to my APP document or level descriptors and would operate alongside teacher questioning and pupil interviews, in order for me to build up a full picture and level.
For example, if we look at AF1 Planning, developing and evaluating:
Across a range of contexts pupils:
· Plan how they will use ICT to solve a problem
· Comment on success of their solution
· Refine and develop information using ICT tools and techniques to make changes
· Describe how they use ICT at school and how it is used outside school
Though 2Assess will help with analysing skills here, it should be clear that there is an implication that children need the opportunity to talk about their work and how they might have initially planned and then improved it.
I am quite excited about using 2Assess at the beginning or conclusion of a lesson as a sort of electronic formative assessment. With it, I can find out whether my children can for example remember how to query a Database, it goes without saying that good teachers will then use the evidence from the assessments to address misconceptions and plug the gaps in children's knowledge and ICT skills set, rather than ploughing through the next lesson.
I think we now have a very useful and exciting tool to assist us in Primary ICT assessment.
__________________________________________________________
Here is what 2 Simple say about 2 Assess
Do you find it challenging, demanding or time-consuming to keep track of your pupils’ ICT skills?
Ofsted has highlighted in the recent ‘Importance of ICT’ report that ICT assessment is commonly weak and requires improvement. We’ve created something to help you.
2Assess presents a time-saving and consistent way to help you assess ICT skills across your school. It is a formative assessment tool with 100 real activities to support discrete and cross-curricular ICT. All tasks are delivered within highly visual, contextual based scenarios and pupils are guided by short video instructions facilitating independent use.
Instant feedback on activities helps teachers and pupils identify strengths and areas for development. View summaries of class results and exported spreadsheets, while pupils celebrate their achievements with certificates.
· Provides base line testing results for whole class and individual tracking.
· Supports the requirements of Element 4 of the Self Review Framework, by promoting regular assessment, the use of ICT to track progress and opportunities for self-assessment.
· Enables teachers to identify where children may need further support or more challenges and differentiate planning accordingly.
To watch a short overview video, please visit www.2simple.com/2assess/video not live yet
Site licence -
Primary Schools: £249
Secondary Schools: £299
Primary School introductory site licence price- £199 if purchased before 15th October 2009.
Available on 30 day approval.
How does your school cover the primary ICT curriculum: discretely, embedded in other subjects or a mixture?
Miles Berry has posted this poll online via Twitter - Take part and then watch as the results update below.
What a great use of Twitter
Just following Derek Roberton’s tweets this morning on a WII project in nurseries in North Lanarkshire. How exciting!!
Looking forward to following our own Redbridge gaming network involving Wiis over the coming year.
Follow his thoughts from the morning here
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23nlbigwii
Blogger Labels: Redbridge,Wiis,nurseries
Promethean Planet have kindly brought together a range of flipcharts, web links and a resource pack for the new term.
The resource packs are often very underused by teachers but they can save a lot of time in lesson preparation as they provide relevant
images, videos and flash applications that can be added to Promethean flipcharts. If you are a promethean school then it would be very worthwhile asking your technical support to download all of the resource packs for you and your teachers.
Click here to visit the Planet Back to School Resources
Do you want to quickly and easily create a classroom display that will allow your class to showcase their creativity, individuality and all in a very familiar context?
In the midst of my Autumn term course planning, I am once again looking to my learning network to give me some advice that I can pass on to those who are new at leading Primary ICT.
In my own experience I was a PE Coordinator (hahah), and later Humanities Coordinator before taking on the role of ICT in my last school. I can honestly say it was (and is still) the best job you can do, second only to teaching 30 eager children each day. It is a subject that never sits still, (unlike the ICT National curriculum).
It is also one where you are constantly learning and pass on your knowledge to others. Though of course you could just turn into this geeky, aloof, leave me alone… go and ask the technician when they come in on Thursday type, but those coordinators don’t exist do they?
Anyway for an up and coming course for new Subject Leaders I have approached two local patriarchs of ICT to give their top tips. I hope you find them useful.
If you have any other advice for those new to the role – do comment in the usual way.I suppose I need to rise to the challenge and record a video myself, but that’ll have to wait a few weeks.
Blogger Labels: Subject Leaders,Advice,Leaders,Coordinator,tips
I have come across this tool before, but its recently been updated. Shape Collage is a small app that once downloaded allows you to merge a set of images into a heart, circle or rectangle.
Well that is what I remember it did anyway, it has developed a bit since then. Now you can also customise the collage shape that the pictures merge into, this could be anything from a tree to an imported school logo or map of the borough. Also you are now able to pull in pictures from urls, though not Facebook.
In the examples below I have created 4 different collages, the final one I hope you recognise as a tree.
In the classroom this could be used as a way to display images from a residential or field trip or as a way of presenting images from across the school year. I think I would also use Flickr creative commons images or/ and my own pictures to create a collage of images to illustrate or inspire a poem. Of course this could be replicated with real images and pritt stick in Art and then compared with the on-screen version.
I have been chatting to @mbarrow about this tool that we have both come across that works brilliantly on the whiteboard. Tone Matrix is described as :
Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map, which makes it more cute.
via http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix
Here is a video of Leo using it some time ago to give you and idea of what it does. I think this would be a welcome addition to the Foundation or SEN classroom.
Here is a handy reference sheet to give out to your teachers to remind them of the benefits of using the visualiser. The Visualiser Forum have produced a list of 12 ways that a Visualiser can be used or as the forum put it 'create a revolution in your school'.
Download it from below, or here if the box.net app is broken
And visit their blog for more info
I have put together a Spreadsheet that outline the cost of the 3 most popular Control packages, including a site license and enough hardware for children to work in small groups. I also took some feedback via Twitter, which you'll see next to each option/application.
In all my discussion both on and offline about the new/proposed Primary Curriculum, support and Training has come up as an issue.
I came across the following press release from the OU recently, which is very encouraging, though I'd like to know the finer details of access to these facilities it is certainly a step in the right direction;
New initiative will enhance professional skills of ICT and non-ICT teachers and help to transform ICT-related learning.
A nationwide programme to help teachers bring technology more effectively into the classroom is launched today by The Open University and e-skills UK.
Funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), the £5.6million programme will help education professionals, from primary through to secondary and college level, build their information and communications technology (ICT) skills, stay up to date with the latest developments and meet the needs of an increasingly technology-savvy generation of young people.
The new programme will help teachers of all subjects make effective use of ICT as an inspirational and effective learning tool, and boost the technology skills of their students.
There will be a special focus on building the professional competence of technology teachers providing them, amongst other things, with first hand experience of the ways in which IT is used in business and to drive innovation.
The programme brings together the world leading, virtual learning environment of The Open University with e-skills UK’s extensive employer reach and innovative education and IT skills programmes.
Karen Price, CEO e-skills UK said: “We live in a technology-enabled world. To prepare young people for successful futures we need to transform the way in which technology is taught and used in education. This places new demands on the skills and knowledge required of teachers. The UK already has many excellent technology teachers as well as teachers who are inspirational in their use of ICT in lessons. We believe that this programme will raise the overall standard to that of the very best, enhancing and enriching education for young people and their teachers.”
Professor Brenda Gourley, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, said: “From Facebook and Wi-Fi, to iPods and YouTube, today’s school pupils are some of the most technologically savvy people in society. The Open University has been driving the use of innovative technology in education since it began 40 years ago and we are looking forward to helping teachers become even better at harnessing the potential of technology in their own classrooms.”
The programme combines state-of-the-art distance learning that can be tailored to individual needs, with face-to-face learning at local venues or hosted by employers. It will be supported by a dynamic online community.
The aims and objectives of the programme reflect the recommendations of the recent Rose and OFSTED reports to create a world-class learning environment in the UK by transforming the approach to ICT in education.
About e-skills UKe-skills UK is the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology. We work on behalf of employers to ensure the UK has the technology skills it needs to succeed in the global economy. www.e-skills.com
About The Open UniversityThe Open University (OU) is the United Kingdom's largest university and the world leader in distance education. More than two million people have studied with the OU since it began in 1969. The OU has more than 200,000 students in over 40 countries studying for a variety of degrees and vocational qualifications ranging from short courses to PhDs.
Independent authorities have consistently ranked the OU in the top five UK universities for teaching quality and virtually all of the University’s research areas have received ratings of national or international excellence. OU students are more impressed with the quality of their courses and the support received than those at any other UK university, based on the findings of the National Student Survey. The OU has been at the top of the rankings every year since the survey began in 2005.
The Open University's style of teaching is called 'supported open learning'. ‘Open learning’ means that students learn in their own time by reading course material, working on course activities, writing assignments and perhaps working with other students. ‘Supported’ means support from a tutor and the student services staff at Regional Centres, as well as from centralised areas such as the Library or Open University Students Association. Some courses include a residential or day school, held at various times and locations.
E-learning – making intelligent use of media such as computer conferencing, email, CD-Roms, DVDs, the internet and of course, television and radio programmes – has always formed a major part of the OU’s courses and student support services, and the OU is regarded as Britain’s major e-learning institution.
I was recently working with some Y4 children on conventional 'All About Me' Powerpoint presentations. We discovered that many of them were hindered by poor command of the keyboard and many of you will know my thoughts on this, but on this occasions I decided to pool ideas form my Twitter network. Here below is the response to the question:
Why should my Year 4 Class learn to type?
I've begun putting together a list of items that an ICT Coordinator, particularly one that is new to the role might consider worthy of spending that dwindling budget on.
So far the response from my Twitter network has been good, though as of 3pm on Tuesday I have around 10 items and could do with more. If you feel you could contribute to this list then email me and I'll send you an invite. Please bear the following in mind:
I am looking mostly for software that is tried and tested by you - not just product promotion
We have yet to include any decent Open source materials in the list - no Audacity as yet
Our list is a bit focused on Key Stage 1 and Foundation, what about Key Stage 2
If you want to contribute, we'll need your name, the product description and the best current price.
Thanks to Simon Haughton, John Sutton and Tricia Neal for their contributions so far
Last year I played about with the then Alpha version of LGFLs Video Central. It was frustrating because it just didn't seem to stream reliably. However now all the glitches appear to be fixed and it looks like it works.
Video Central is the LGFL answer to video hosting. It allows a maximum upload of 1024mb and works in a similar fashion to the podcast site,uploads are quick and the embed code is easy to locate and yes users need to dig out that Atomwide account to make it work.
So why not just use Youtube - of course Youtube is fine, but there are issues- many users are not clear how to tweak settings so that when you embed your video on a blog it avoids linking to so called 'related videos'. Also some parents have a negative perception of Youtube as it reaches a wider audience and though it contains educational content that content shares a server with some very undesirable clips. I still think Youtube is an excellent tool for educators and pupils, though users need to exercise caution when they use it.
Teachertube is an option but as the streaming is so slow it can take an age for a video to appear.
Here is a video that Simon Haughton made for me on Sketchup, lets see how it stands up to being embedded in Blogger.
I tested this yesterday and was puzzled that at first there was a no-show. I shouldn't have worried,I had forgotton that I was on the borough admin network, which blocks pretty much most things.When I got home it showed fine on my machine and after a call for help from my Twitter colleagues it seemed to show fine in New Zealand, London and Scotland. It should also work fine on Redbridge schools curriculum network too.
As there was no sound on this original video, I have now uploaded a second more tuneful clip of Leo using the IWB.
I think teachers now have a safe and easy means of sharing all those great clips on their blogs and MLE. I look forward to seeing these appear on Redbridge websites in the coming months.
