Further to a post the other day about the borrowing of a tablet to test at school, I have been making interesting progress.
First off, I really like the windows 8 touch environment... on a tablet. I can see how it might be a distraction when using a desktop but this is a different issue.
The tablet arrived and I have been glued to it ever since. It is light, well put together and has a really good screen. I have also been impressed by the responsiveness and accuracy of the touchscreen panel.
I have written on here about my issues with tablet computers in the past. Primarily my issue lies in two areas, the lack of Flash player and the ease of integration with a Windows server network. Both of these issues have been cast aside with the use of a tablet that runs a full version of Windows 8.
I can access all the great sites that I have been recommending to other teachers, www.oxfordowl.co.uk, the BBC bitesize websites and many others. These were inaccessible in the past because I had no flash player to work with.
I have also talked to my Network managers and have come up with a shared folder on the network that can be mapped to the Asus device. This allows pupils to save the work to the server and then instantly access it from a wired, desktop PC in order to file in a safe place or for the teaching member of staff to review with the rest of the class. The best example of where this could be applied is, I guess, with Science where the teacher is looking at Mini Beasts. She can send a class out in the gardens to photo mini beasts, they can wirelessly upload their pictures to the server where the teacher can review as a class and then set work for other lessons where the pupils produce some work about these pictures and their exploration.
I am currently sold, I hope this first real love of my tablet life will continue and we will have a match for my school but I am going to continue to thoroughly test whilst looking into the cost of these items.
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Internet Safety
Today we began to enact a program of Internet Safety talks. I am a firm believer in delivering lessons myself, but that it is also beneficial for the pupils to hear from a relevant professional who may offer a different stand point.
We have made links with the charity (ISC)2 who work with Childnet to deliver the SMART rules presentations to school groups. We ran talks to the Year 3 and Year 4 girls today which were very good. It is nice to offer them a chance to quiz an outside professional as well as for that person to quiz them about their knowledge. Some eye-opening answers were given when the classes were questioned about their use if ICT at home, with regard to social networking, downloading music (all legally it has to be said) and other areas.
We are taking a step further from here and we have the same presenter delivering more detailed talks to the girls in Year 5 and 6 which will further develop their awareness of Internet safety.
In addition to this, something I have been keen to do at all the schools I have had contact with, we are offering parents talks in the evenings. The talks are with the same charity to offer families a complete knowledge of the risks that the Internet presents if not treated with the sufficient respect. The response to these should be interesting and I shall be keen to see the number of attendees on this first occasion of, what will hopefully become an annual partnership and scheme that we deliver at school.
We have made links with the charity (ISC)2 who work with Childnet to deliver the SMART rules presentations to school groups. We ran talks to the Year 3 and Year 4 girls today which were very good. It is nice to offer them a chance to quiz an outside professional as well as for that person to quiz them about their knowledge. Some eye-opening answers were given when the classes were questioned about their use if ICT at home, with regard to social networking, downloading music (all legally it has to be said) and other areas.
We are taking a step further from here and we have the same presenter delivering more detailed talks to the girls in Year 5 and 6 which will further develop their awareness of Internet safety.
In addition to this, something I have been keen to do at all the schools I have had contact with, we are offering parents talks in the evenings. The talks are with the same charity to offer families a complete knowledge of the risks that the Internet presents if not treated with the sufficient respect. The response to these should be interesting and I shall be keen to see the number of attendees on this first occasion of, what will hopefully become an annual partnership and scheme that we deliver at school.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Mobile Computing
After much emailing different people we have now made solid progress! I have been in contact with manufacturers of Android tablets and Windows themselves regarding our needs from a tablet and our concerns about the issues we might have with the world famous, fruit based brand.
I have continually struggled with the application of a non-windows based OS in our school environment. I do not intend to have a high maintenance ICT program, I enjoy the freedom and cost effective nature of using free software in our teaching and as such have been struggling with the idea of a more app based OS. I would like to avoid a tablet device that would require us to, for example buy 12 tablets @ £400 and then spend further money on each and every app, especially if we wish to avoid adverts. Initially, we would wish for a word processing facility, just in case. For the iPad, the best is Pages. £4.99 per app on 12 tablets is another £60 spent for one app, scaled up to all the iLife apps for iPad would see us spending another £200+ on apps very quickly.
This in mind, I was keen to try the Windows tablets that are appearing. Microsoft themselves do not, at present appear to be committing to placing Surface in schools as they have not fully rolled out their Surface Pro and associated infrastructure to liaise with schools. The Surface Pro, I was informed by someone at Microsoft, is the only tablet of the Surface range that will support Domain links.
I was stumped, until I saw a link to the ASUS VivoTab SMART (ME400) a Windows 8 based tablet (or Windows 8 Pro) for around £400. "Bargain," I said to myself and promptly contacted ASUS to see about trialling one. 2 Days later and a quick phone call and I am currently awaiting the arrival of our test device which we have for 2 weeks. This represents fantastic service from the guys at ASUS and I hope to see how we get on.
So... for now this is it, detailed testing will hopefully proceed. Have we found the Windows based tablet for the school market? I would love to report back.
I have continually struggled with the application of a non-windows based OS in our school environment. I do not intend to have a high maintenance ICT program, I enjoy the freedom and cost effective nature of using free software in our teaching and as such have been struggling with the idea of a more app based OS. I would like to avoid a tablet device that would require us to, for example buy 12 tablets @ £400 and then spend further money on each and every app, especially if we wish to avoid adverts. Initially, we would wish for a word processing facility, just in case. For the iPad, the best is Pages. £4.99 per app on 12 tablets is another £60 spent for one app, scaled up to all the iLife apps for iPad would see us spending another £200+ on apps very quickly.
This in mind, I was keen to try the Windows tablets that are appearing. Microsoft themselves do not, at present appear to be committing to placing Surface in schools as they have not fully rolled out their Surface Pro and associated infrastructure to liaise with schools. The Surface Pro, I was informed by someone at Microsoft, is the only tablet of the Surface range that will support Domain links.
I was stumped, until I saw a link to the ASUS VivoTab SMART (ME400) a Windows 8 based tablet (or Windows 8 Pro) for around £400. "Bargain," I said to myself and promptly contacted ASUS to see about trialling one. 2 Days later and a quick phone call and I am currently awaiting the arrival of our test device which we have for 2 weeks. This represents fantastic service from the guys at ASUS and I hope to see how we get on.
So... for now this is it, detailed testing will hopefully proceed. Have we found the Windows based tablet for the school market? I would love to report back.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Upper School Plans
I have been doing some work and have now completed my initial plans for the upper school, Years 3, 4, 5, & 6. These are included on other pages and at the moment are a draft that I am hoping to develop from now on. This is my starting point.
Once again, these have been developed by using information freely gathered from the Wokingham LEA plans that are available online and the assessment criteria from www.ictplanning.co.uk.
I am hoping to adapt these in the coming months, but it does at least mean I have something to hang my planning around.
I have uploaded the full versions of the plans, these are attached below.
YEAR 3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHld0pLcDNyVG1RdjQ/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 4 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlMU9peXhVaDNzSGM/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 5 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlQUR0VzlNbWFTUDg/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 6 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlRkRyTWt1LXVPZjA/edit?usp=sharing
Once again, these have been developed by using information freely gathered from the Wokingham LEA plans that are available online and the assessment criteria from www.ictplanning.co.uk.
I am hoping to adapt these in the coming months, but it does at least mean I have something to hang my planning around.
I have uploaded the full versions of the plans, these are attached below.
YEAR 3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHld0pLcDNyVG1RdjQ/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 4 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlMU9peXhVaDNzSGM/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 5 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlQUR0VzlNbWFTUDg/edit?usp=sharing
YEAR 6 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4s7hMWhfvHlRkRyTWt1LXVPZjA/edit?usp=sharing
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