I have been fortunate enough to be part of a Teachers TV programme recently aired entitled “ICT for the Non-Specialist – Blogs/Wikis”.
However the part that we were filmed about did not include anything to do with a wiki – what we did showcase was TutPup, Voicethread and Google Docs. We are in the second half of the film.
The programme synopsis is included here
The use of blogs and online collaboration in education is explored as teachers discover how and why they should make good use of them.
Head of geography at Bury Church Secondary, Sally Sumner, uses blogs as a resource in the classroom and as a revision tool, having overcome her initial doubts about her ICT skills.
MFL teacher Janet McCann finds blogging invaluable for motivating the boys in her class, and discusses why the pupils find this technology so engaging.
At Priestsic Primary School, Nottinghamshire, ICT co-ordinator Tom Barrett uses online collaboration tools for peer assessment, developing the pupil’s literacy skills.
Collaborative online educational games are also shown, providing a safe environment on the web for pupils to improve their numeracy skills.
A rare chance to see me in the wild! I hope that you find some of what I articulate about the tools useful and please ensure you take a look at the context document that I wrote to accompany the film which is available in the “Resources” link.
It is lovely to see my old class talking about how they use technology and how it helps them. Some permission issues prevented me and the film itself from saying TutPup or Voicethread – it had to be all very generalised. But those three tools that I have mentioned and that appear in the film are stalwarts of my classroom practice – just today I sent out this Tweet
“My class is suddenly alive with the buzz of 30 Y5s playing+challenging each other on http://tutpup.com so much good game talk going on 🙂 “
The other films in the series are:
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ICT for the Non-Specialist – Virtual Worlds
The use of virtual worlds in the classroom is investigated
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ICT for the Non-Specialist – Podcasting
A school uses podcasting to raise achievement levels
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ICT for the Non-Specialist – Mobile Learning
A primary school uses handheld computers to improve learning
As I drove past your school on my way to work this week (avoiding the A38) it jogged my memory to watch your programme. It was great to see your work brought to life after reading your blog/twitter posts.
What struck me was the confidence of the pupils, and the fact that they are working in such a collaborative way. What strikes me from the outreach work I do across the county (in secondary) is the difficulty pupils have in working in groups. I’d like to see more schools using web 2.0 tools to develop these important skills.
It’s a pity they lumped you with the blogging teachers, since the two halves of the programme didn’t really gel. I get the impression that the production team didn’t really have much of a handle on the content. I would have preferred to see a longer video showing your pupils at work – perhaps that could be a project for your school’s Y6 pupils is to make your own! The hardware and editing isn’t that hard these days 🙂
Keep up the good work.
Rob
Thanks for the heads up on these video clips, Tom – they’re well put together and very informative. I enjoy your blog – great practitioner perspective! Keep up the great work.