OllieBray.com

Mobile phones: the future of classroom interactive voting?

I really like Interactive voting systems. I was lucky enough to get one in my classroom a number of years ago when the technology was still quite immature. There was even a write up on the project in the Times Educational Supplement (Scotland).

Over the past twelve months I’ve been using a Promethean ActiveExpression system, which I have always found to be a good solution both in the classroom and at conferences. I spoke about using ActiveExpression in the classroom at least years Scottish Learning Festival. I should add that I don’t have any real experience of other voting systems.

The problem with Interactive voting systems is that they are expensive and difficult for schools to justify in the current economic climate. One solution that I have always been interested by is the ability for students to use their own mobile phones to vote.

I was at a presentation by Microsoft a couple of weeks ago where I was learning about some of the features of Office 2010. As I understand it voting will be built into PowerPoint 2010 but not, unfortunately, from Windows Mobile devices. Again the voting capacity will rely on an additional peripheral hardware. To be honest I think this was a bit of a trick missed and I hope that the functionality will be there in future. The ultimate aim being to create a multi platform app that allows student to vote through a local wireless network or Bluetooth.

Moving on, I’ve noticed that conference based texting is becoming more and more common and I wonder how long it will be before we start to see more of this in the classroom. Systems like Audience Response System may be the start. It’s particularly interesting because although it allows people to vote by text message (cost of a message) it also allows user to vote in real time over the web (free).

Many mobile phones are now wifi enabled and some schools are moving down the route of open access zones, which will make this system a real reality for some teachers. Regardless of device phone, netbook, laptop, DSi, PSP etc… children will be able to vote in real time via the web.

What makes the Audience Response System particular appealing is that it’s free for small audiences (under 30 people) which means it would be useable with traditional class sizes.

Jaye Richards is currently doing some research on the use of Interactive voting in class using the Turning Point System. As will all of Jayes research I’m really looking forward to seeing what comes out of her project. More.

BETT 2009: Promethean (3of3): Activsound and Activremote

As well as Activesoftware Inspire Edition Promethean also launched a new version of Activsound at BETT 2009. Again I like the idea of this and know that teachers use microphones to improve their voice in lots of classrooms all over the world. It looks like this is about to catch on in the UK as well.

The new Activsound system looks pretty good. It’s a lot smaller than previous versions and again like all Promethean products its well thought out. One of the exciting possibilities of using the Activsound for me would be to use it with Activesoftware Inspire Edition to enable the teacher to capture the whole lesson (teachers voice, students voices and IWB content) as one movie that could then be podcasted or used as a revision aid. There are also obvious benefits for teacher health.

One of the versions of Activsound is portable which means it can also be transferred between classrooms. I think there is a lot of potential here – I would be keen to try and get my hands on one of these and give it a real robust classroom test. The other thing I want to try out is the new Promethean Activremote that they also launched at BETT. I didn’t get a chance to see one of these in action. But again I like the idea of such a piece of hardware. I see too many teacher tied to their interactive whiteboard teaching the class from the front of the room. The Activeremote combined with other devices like the Activslate are the first steps to help some members of staff challenge this and get them more active around the class.

Great stuff, both products well thought out and really robust for classroom use!

BETT 2009 – Promethean (2of3): Activsoftware Inspire Edition

This year at BETT 2009 Promethean launched its latest range of Active Classroom solutions. These releases included its latest interactive whiteboard software, Activsoftware Inspire Edition. Again the software is a good example of being forward thinking – it runs across all three operating systems (including Linux). Promethean obviously has the netbook and open source market in mind.

I’ve had a chance to play around with Activesoftware Inspire Edition now – although I’ve not used it yet on a whiteboard. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do this in the next week or so. The first thing I would say about Inspire is that it is incredibly intuitive. I found it took me a bit of time to get my head round earlier versions of Activesoftware. But Inspire seems to be very easy to use, with a lot more drop down boxes and features. I also like the way that you can export flipcharts straight to Promethean Planet so they can be shared with a wider audience.

Inspire edition combines all of the previous Active Software into one application. It combines Active Primary, Active Studio and Active Expression into a very user friendly interface. This is ideal for me as I use Active Expression a lot and means I will no longer have to jump between applications.

The other nice feature about Inspire Edition is that it includes facilities for a multi-touch duel pen capability. This allows two users to use the whiteboard at the same time through the ‘Activarena’ system. I think this is going to be great to use with classes and will add a whole new dimension to the use of whiteboards in the classroom for collaboration, teamwork and competition. Inspire also includes 50 ready made lessons that can be used with the Activarena system. Now all I need is some ActivArena Pens so I can get using this with a class?

Another innovative thing about Activesoftware Inspire Edition is that it’s being given away for free. Promethean are very keen to promote the idea that it’s also available for free to children, families and teachers. All you have to be is a member of Promethean Planet (free to join) and you can download a trail version of the software right away.

What else – oh yes, you don’t have to have a whiteboard to use the software and it would work particularly well on a tablet PC. You can also use the software with other makes of interactive whiteboard. Very clever marketing!

BETT 2009 – Promethean (1of3): Innovation

Promethean really is an innovative company. We have Promethean boards at MGS and also some of their other products including an Active Slate and Active Vote. I also use one of their Active Expression kits for many of my presentations and think that Active Studio is an incredibly advanced piece of software.

I’m also a big fan of Promethean Planet which is a great way for teachers to network, share resources and stay in touch (they currently have over 250, 000 members). The other good thing about Promethean is that they are not frightened to embrace new technology. For example, they have an excellent blog and also a twitter channel. You can even add Promethean to your iGoogle home page for all the latest news. In fact, it seems to me, that they will do everything possible to try and stay in touch and connect with the teaching community. They also sponsored Teachmeet at BETT 2009 – thanks guys!

As a company they also seem keen to embrace Open Source. I notice that their blog runs of a Wordpress Open Source Multi User Platform and their Active Learning courses run off a Moodle Open Source operating system.

At BETT it was nice to catch up with Promethean and see what their Activclassroom plans were for 2009. It was particularly nice to be introduced to Tony Cann, Director and Founder of Promethean – and a very inspiring guy!

Anyway, at the heart of Prometheans 2009 developments is a new piece of software called Activsoftware Inspire Edition. They also launched a new huge new 87-inch Activboard. As with previous boards it’s very accurate and allows children and teachers to lean against the board while writing. Other new products included Activsound and Activremote – I’ll tackle these products in more detail as separate posts.

Handheld Learning 2008: Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools

I took part in the Spotlight Scotland Session at the Handheld Learning 2008 Conference in London earlier in the week. I had been asked to talk about Games Based Learning in Secondary Schools and some of the great work that we have going on in Musselburgh Grammar School and East Lothian.

I have embedded the slides from my presentation (using slideshare) below. As with my normal presentations I like to use a lot of slides with not a lot of content on each!

Making Games Based Learning Work in Secondary Schools

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ltscotalnd olliebray)

The links that I referred to in my presentation are as follows:

• Wordle – Create fantastic Word Clouds to brighten up your lessons!
• Promethean Active Expression – A world class Interactive Voting System.

Some examples of web based games that can be used for home learning:

• Classic Sim City – Useful for teaching about towns, cities and settlement.
• Ordnance Survey Map Games – Good for homework.
• Fantasy Famer – Manage a farm for a year
• Stop Disasters Simulator – Can you protect the world against floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and other nasty stuff?
• Sim Sweat Shop – What is it really like working in a sweat shop in a less economically developed country?
• An idea for setting web based games for homework activities

 

Games Based Learning to help Transition between Primary to Secondary Education:

• The Musselburgh Grammar School Guitar Hero Transition Project – Background Information and Timeline
• MGS Guitar Hero Transition Project – Part Two: The Virtual Battle of the Bands
• Guitar Hero Showcase: I love it when a plan comes together!
• Musselburgh Guitar Hero Project Features in the Times Educational Supplement
• Cluster Project that plays to all talents.
• SLF 2008: Enriched Assessment for Enriched Enquiry

 

Partnership with Parents:

• Internet Safety and Responsible Use: How to set family settings on games consoles

 

The Use of the Nintendo DS:

Titles we use:

• Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?
• Big Brain Academy
• Hotel Dusk – A Graphic Novel

 

Titles we are currently evaluating:

• Maths Training
• My Word Coach

 

The Use of the Nintendo Wii

Titles we use:

• Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (currently being used in SfL)
• Endless Ocean (Context for Learning)
• Wii Sports
• Dancing Stage
• My French Coach

Titles we are currently evaluating:

• My Word Coach

ConnectEd have made a fantastic storage solution for the PSP – hopefully they will also soon have one on the market for the Nintendo DS.

 

Other Graphic Novel Links:

• Classical Comics
• Manga Shakespeare

The use of the Play Station:

We are currently using Buzz the Schools Quiz and are looking forward to evaluation Buzz the Hollywood Quiz as soon as we get a copy? I am sure that there will also be Education Version of Buzz for the PS3 coming out at some point?

Games Design

We have a site licence for Mission Maker and will be exploring the possibilities for using this game to develop literacy and International links over the next 12 months.

Other Links:

• Learning and Teaching Scotland Consolarium
• Learning and Teaching Scotland
• Ideas Network Scotland: Innovation and Development in Education
• Zig Zag Dance Mats

SLF 2008 - Language, Learners and the Power of New Technology

Below are the slides and on-line notes from my Education Briefing: Language, Learners and the Power of New Technology that I gave at the 2008 Scottish Learning Festival.

Links used in the presentation :

Language Learners And The Power Of New Technology

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: slf2008 slf08)

Generators for lesson objectives:

• Lingo to      Word – Translates ‘real English’      to ‘text speak’.

• Lots of other generators can be found at Fodey.com and on the Generator Blog.

• Two of my new favorites are the Flag Generator and the Einstein Chalkboard.

Remember these can easily be imported into PowerPoint, Promethean Flipchart and Keynote to create exciting and dynamic content.

Background and Context:

Link to a TES Connect 2005 Action Research Article on the Value of Keypad Learning is put to the test.

What do the Children think? During the presentation they expressed their feelings in video (no shown here) and as a tag wordle cloud.

The use of http://wordle.net/ to create beautiful word clouds. Again great for lesson starters and don’t forget to use it to find out the prominent words in your school development plan. Remember if the word ATTAINMENT is bigger than the word LEARNING or CHILDREN then you should re-write your plan!

Promethean Planet

Check out Promethean Planet even if you don’t use Promethean software in you school it will give you lost of lesson ideas. If you do your Promethean software in your school I would really encourage you to up-load flipcharts to the Planet and download some of the excellent resources that teachers from around the world have already posted.

In particular I would like to draw your attention to two resources:

Manga Shakespeare Flipcharts (as shown during the presentation) – I really think that Graphic Novels are an excellent way you get young people reading (particularly boys). For other great graphic novels have a look at Classic Comics.

Brainpop – great animations to use in your classroom (now with a UK site).

Links to Promethean Active Expression Flip Charts Used during the presentation (these links will only open if you have active studio installed on your computer).

To follow - sunday...

Scottish Learning Festival 2008 - Its going to be hectic!

Bookings for the Scottish Learning Festival are now on line, it takes place on the 24 and 25 September 2008 at the SECC in Glasgow. This year you can book all four key notes in advance as well as up to two seminars on each of the days. After really having the year off last year this one is shaping up to be a busy one for me. I’m presenting two educational briefings on Language, Learners and the Power of New Technologies (in association with Promethean) and seminar on Internet Safety and Responsible Use: for Pupils, Parents and Staff on the Wednesday. On the Thursday I’m running a session in the Scottish Educational Village on Breaking down the walls with Google Earth.

I’ll also be at Teachmeet on the Wednesday night – where, if I am picked to speak, will be talking (I think) about some of the work we have been doing on Games Based Learning at Musselburgh and in the Musselburgh Cluster. I hope to also be involved in the Discovery Hour, in association with Teachmeet, on the Thursday and the Consolarium Challenge on one of the days.

I have pasted details of my main seminars below for anyone who might be interested:

Title: Language, Learners and the Power of New Technologies

Venue: Forth 

Time: 12.30 and repeated at 13.30 (if I have any energy left!)

Seminar Description: Children love using interactive voting systems. They motivate and inspire young people and when used effectively, can even help teachers reduce their workload. They can be used to stimulate discussion, encourage debate, gather ideas and share opinions. Most importantly they are fun, rewarding to use and encourage the pupil’s voice.

Scotland’s learners are to aspire to be effective contributors, but how can teachers find new ways to ensure the participation and confidence of even the most reluctant communicators? New technologies are simply not worth the investment if they can’t deliver the aspirations embodied within Curriculum for Excellence. Learner response technology has evolved rapidly in recent years and through the use of Promethean’s new technology, you will see examples of practice highlighting pupils’ response with text and numbers, as well as multiple-choice answers. Developments of this kind have created a whole new learning environment.

 

Participants will be included in a hands-on session, allowing them to experience learner response technology in a real-class lesson. We will also showcase a variety of case studies linking to different outcomes within the Scottish curriculum; including literacy, numeracy, expressive arts and science. There will be a particular emphasis on the use of technology to improve formative assessment. Data can be saved allowing teachers to review past lessons at any time and uploaded to a VLE for teachers, pupils and parents to view.

We believe that good teachers use good resources and a learner response system should be in every 21st century Teachers toolbox.

Title: Internet Safety and Responsible Use: for Pupils, Parents and Staff

Venue: Carron 2

Time: 15:45

Seminar Description: In October 2007 Musselburgh Grammar School became the first school in Scotland to run an Internet Safety Evening for parents using the 'Purely for Parents' resources produced by the Child Exploitation Online Protection Agency (CEOP - www.ceop.gov.uk). The event was a great success and staff from the school have been asked to deliver the training in a number of other authorities in both the public and private sector. The school also has comprehensive programme for delivering Internet Safety and Responsible Use Training to staff and students.

This presentation will briefly talk about how the training was delivered within the Musselburgh area for parents, school staff, secondary and primary children. It will also offer advice on how you could set up your own learning community for sustainable responsible use training.

The main focus of the presentation will be showing the audience the various resources produced by CEOP so that they can get a real feel for the types of issues surrounding internet safety and responsible use. During the presentation the audience will be taken inside a number of websites including Bebo, MSN Messenger, Chatrooms, Habbo Hotel and other popular sites where young people like to hang out. These websites will be used to discuss various safety and responsible use messages. This presentation will be eye opening for teachers and educators who are unfamiliar with how some children behave on-line.

 

Title: Breaking down the walls with Google Earth

Time: 14:30–15:00

Venue: Scottish Education Village

Description: Simple ways and ideas to use Google Earth in the classroom, even if you have never used it before! This session is aimed at both primary and secondary practitioners.

Promethean Active Expression Voting System: Delivery Two

Last week I went to a trial of the Promethean Active Expression Voting System and I wrote about how impressed I was with the system. Since then I have been contacted by Promethean who have asked me to give the system a real robust test for the teaching of Geography.

The 32 piece voting system arrived today and we hope to get the software installed and things up and running for after the Easter Holidays. I will be working on the project in conjunction with the MGS Geography Department, who all have Promethean Whiteboards in their rooms.

I had a few children in my office today (for varying reasons!) who all seemed fascinated by the handsets. I really think this really could be an evolutionary product and I am looking forward to trying it out and watching it being used at the chalk face.

I will write about the trail here between now and the summer holidays.