Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Share my lesson

Social lesson sharing has grown over the last few years. There are a range of sites that encourage teaches to share successful lesson ideas and materials with their peers. The website Share My Lesson is one of those websites.  It allows teachers to upload their lessons and share them for free. This will be a great asset for teachers that live in a rural community and do not have the opportunity to interact with others teaching the same subject fit instance. Curriki is another great concept. Curriki is for teachers, professional educators, students, lifelong learners, and parents. The majority of the resources on the Curriki site fall under a Creative Commons license, so is open educational resourceEducational materials are provided by the Curriki community and are peer-reviewed for quality and adherence to standards, so although any one can contribute there are guidelines and standards. The Hwb is another great sharing website. Lots of the initial content was from NGFL Cymru, but the Hwb promises more. Essentially the  Hwb and Hwb+, aim to enable all learners and teachers to access online resources anywhere, at any time, from any device. It will also provide tools to help teachers and learners create and share their own resources, and to support collaboration. You should also check out and contribute to the collection of teaching resources shared by Smart and Promethean. Although they are mostly for the IWBS there are some excellent teaching and learning activities that can be adapted to suit your needs. Remember Twitter is also a great sharing tool too, ask for advice, retweat and share good finds. and not to forget the power of Video with Youtube, TeacherTube and Ted Talks.

Where are we going

Howard Gardner was one of the first to state that everyone learns differently. He even created the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which included specific ways people learned: Visual-Spatial, Kinaesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Linguistic, Naturalistic, Existential and Logical -Mathematical. So far this year we have seen a lot of emphasis on individual learning, learner centred teaching.  So what part can technology play in this pedagogy? Haven't good teachers always placed their learners at the centre of their being? With the start of the new academic year we may ask ourselves, "What will be the new trends in technology be this year?" As a teacher, it's part of the job description to keep up with the latest in educational innovations. This is a simple necessity in order to keep our learners interested and motivated. But with technology changing at such a rapid rate are we fighting a losing battle?   We recently had a visit from Simon Pridham, ex-head teacher of Casllwgchwr Primary school. He came to UWTSD to share his experiences of learning with mobile technology, in particular the iPad, with our trainees.  He discussed the amazing results that his former school has had by providing a device for each of his junior pupils. The pupils take ownership of the device and responsibility for looking after it and for using it safely and effectively. So although it is not about the technology, quite clearly the technology has played a big part in both social development as well as the academic.
He talked about his new book "Freaked out" and some of the iPad apps that he has found to be the most useful and engaging.  

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Transcript of PCETSocialMedia



As the Todays Meet Page will close I decided to use the transcript facility so that the content is preserved.
What do you think of social media in education?
A double ended sword. + helpful to gain access to everyone if need to be for online discussions or help
It can be a fantastic tool to engage learners who struggle with the more traditional methods of delivery.
It can be a great tool for keeping in touch with students outside schools and feeding them information not covered in the lesson.
A engaging tool + a distraction
- Slander and moaning can impact people's learning greatly, and in turn affect their employability.
I think it can be very helpful for helping to communicate with students. But with the ease of access, you have to be careful what you post.
I think it can be an efficient tool for students to interact regarding upcoming lessons, assignments etc.
I think social media can be great for keeping in contact, but it can be used in a negative way.
It can be excellent if used correctly. I think it can be used to enhance the overall learning experience.
sounds good,
Social media can be a great tool within education, for students to talk and discuss topics or homework etc
it all depends on your point of view, it can be a crutch, or it can be a very useful resource (spelling probably wrong!)
it is a good tool to be used, the younger generations use all social media to communicate.
It can also be a bad idea as social media is seen as a more informal way of communication so professionalism may be compromised...
Good idea but with reservations
In this modern world technolodgy is always going to move forward, and so using it in teaching we must move forward with the times.
Fantastic tool, when used in the right context.
It has great potential
Not everyone finds social media easy to use and this must be taken into consideration in the learning environment
sounding better all the time
Another learning opportunity for them though
IT'S THE FUTURE
can be an amazing tool if used correctly. It is a fast form of communication
great form of communication with minnie
It can be very useful if you master it
I agree with Mickey

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Live Binders

Mickie Mueller is an educational technology facilitator in a Public School in New England and she is also a Google trainer, so I shall be looking at her Google training material for some new and innovative ideas. Sh is an avid supporter of Technology for learning her passion runs through all her work that I have found on line. I found this useful collection of Technology Tools on Live Binders that she has written. There are some great ideas and practical applications of the online tools. There are also lots of other really useful folders that are worth investigation written by other authors too, but as usual be discerning with the material that you select for use in your learning and teaching.

Free Technology Tools for Teachers