Tag: Interesting Ways

15 Interesting Ways to use Google Maps to Support Learning

Interesting Ways, MappingPublished onUpdated on4 Comments on 15 Interesting Ways to use Google Maps to Support Learning

As many of you will know I am a bit of a map nerd and have always enjoyed peering down at the Earth through a map or using tools like Google Earth and Maps. In the past I have explored ways to use the strong visual resource to inspire writing and all sorts of other learning.

It is good to dust off this Interesting Ways resource, which is still emerging – it would be lovely to have you help extend the resource with more ideas about using Google Maps to support learning.

To add an idea use the little cog icon on the presentation above and click “Open Editor” – jump to the last slide and follow the instructions.

It would be great to see this resource developed further and is a great opportunity for you and your colleagues to share some of the creative ways you use Google Maps.

65 Interesting Ideas for Class Blog Posts to Support Learning

Blogging, Interesting WaysPublished onUpdated on5 Comments on 65 Interesting Ideas for Class Blog Posts to Support Learning

I have always enjoyed supporting classroom blogging and encouraging teacher networks to share and visit each other’s work. Blogging was the social media platform that completely changed the way I learned professionally.

The single most important decision I made in my career was to begin writing a blog, and actually my class blog started at the same time.

I hope these ideas inspire you to continue your blogging work with your classes and perhaps begin writing and sharing on your own space.

Please help with the resource above by considering what new ideas you could add – instructions on the last slide on how to add to it.

51 Interesting Ways to use QR Codes to Support Learning

Interesting WaysPublished on4 Comments on 51 Interesting Ways to use QR Codes to Support Learning

In the Nursery class in my last school we used some QR codes to help the littlest of internet explorers navigate to their favourite websites. It seemed such an easy concept at the time and something that developed some great independence in those young learners.

Funnily enough using QR codes to navigate to specific sites proved useful for the older children too. Working in a Year 5 and 6 class I used QR codes to help the class quickly move between different web content, we gained so much more time back from sessions this way. We could focus on what we were doing with the content, not the process of getting there.

Hopefully this Interesting Ways resource for QR (Quick Response) Codes will spark some ways you can use them to support learning. As with all the resources please share with your colleagues and consider adding your own ideas to continue to develop them.

80 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms to Support Learning

Interesting WaysPublished onUpdated on6 Comments on 80 Interesting Ways to Use Google Forms to Support Learning

I am pleased to relaunch this popular resource form the Interesting Ways series after a little bit of TLC.

If you are new to the idea behind the Interesting Ways series, they are open Google Presentations which teachers add their ideas to – one idea, one slide, one image. They have been running for years now and have proven massively helpful to teachers across the world as crowdsourced idea banks to share with colleagues.

I have checked through this one on Google Forms and updated the first and last slides – I hope you find the ideas useful and of course please feel free to follow the link below to add your own ideas (jump to the last slide for info on what to do) after all that is what they are here for!

Add your ideas by editing the document.

Thanks to everyone for helping to support these resources – I will continue to work through them all in the coming weeks and update and tend to them accordingly.

The “Interesting Ways” Series: A Milestone in Sharing

Crowdsourcing, Interesting WaysPublished on3 Comments on The “Interesting Ways” Series: A Milestone in Sharing

On Saturday I joined the TEDx community of presenters and gave a talk about knowledge sharing at TEDxNottingham, so it is fitting that the Interesting Ways has passed a milestone of sorts – a milestone in sharing.

Thanks to some great recent contributions the iPad resource passed 100 shared ideas!

To you this may mean very little, as we see a great many lists of this sort “100 Ways to Eat Fruit…”, “100 Different Keyboard Shortcuts…”, “100 Reasons Not to Use Compiled Lists”. But the key characteristic of these is that they have almost certainly been built quickly, sometimes by a few people, but more likely by an individual compiler.

142455033 49ce50a89bYou only have to look at a copy of Wired or other such magazine to see how much we are transfixed with the presentation of numbered sets of information or advice.

The Interesting Ways series is different. Firstly the list always starts at zero and although I have a hunch people will chip in and share, it is not guaranteed. Secondly they are built with classroom practice in mind, the ideas are shared by mostly practicing teachers. Thirdly the resources have many, many editors – you only have to scan through the Twitter names left as signatures on each slide to see that. And finally they are built over time – there is no rush to get a perfect multiple of 10 before they are published, they evolve at different speeds, sometimes quickly, sometimes more slowly as the community learns.

I think the final point refers to the lovely imperfections of them – which is in direct contrast to the sterile multiple-of-10-perfection posts which drive traffic. These are evolving all of the time – the first resource for the IWB has been a publicly editable document for 5 years!

They’re a bit scrappy and some have had things moved around and deleted but that is to be expected for resources that are in the open and publicly editable for so long. I am always grateful to hear from so many of you who have noticed something is amiss, spotted any problems and either fixed it up or let me know – people care for these resources.

It would be interesting to know how you see it all, but I think there are a few reasons why they have proven popular/useful – (1) They are always changing (2) You can easily present them to staff and embed them in a webpage (3) One slide, one idea, one image seems to work (4) They are easy to contribute to, they have a low barrier to entry (5) they are owned by the community that have built them (6) We learn about our community through the ideas we share.

I always thought the idea might catch on, this milestone, of sorts, just reminds me of how far we have come and I am so pleased to help everyone build such great pots of ideas.

I genuinely think we can do more though and hope that we can all continue to share more of our ideas and expertise. 

—

Image: ‘Sharing‘