ICT in my Classroom

A little while back the EdTechRoundup team had the wonderful opportunity of interviewing the Google Applications Edu Team in the UK. We asked our networks, via the blog, wiki and Twitter, to contribute their questions.

Over at the EdTechRoundup blog the serialised answers are being published, as the title suggests, one per day. Please take some time to head on over and read the three responses so far and if you had submitted a question perhaps yours will be up next.

We would particularly appreciate any comments left there that continue the debate, as I know the Google team are watching!

This afternoon we embarked upon the most challenging technology related work we have done to date in Year 5. The children are 4th graders, 9 or 10 years old.
Recently we all went to Perlethorpe Activity Centre to support our work on rivers – we measured the velocity and profile of the River Meden, as well as enjoying a lovely sunny walk around the grounds of Thoresby Hall. As we walked round I snapped away some pictures and this afternoon we had the opportunity to geotag them in Google Earth(GE).

The children have used GE many times already this year, so I decided to take advantage of this knowledge as opposed to using Google Maps or Quikmaps as I have done in the past. The geotagging work ties nicely into their ongoing map skills development and is a good conclusion to the visit.

This video clip is one of the children completing the process of embedding an image from Flickr into a GE placemark, using the correct written code. (<img src=”">)It certainly was a challenge for the children but once they had written the code a number of times, and often corrected their mistakes, they were flying.

Here is what you have seen Kyle do in a step by step guide.

1. Find an image stored somewhere online, study it carefully and try to pick up on any clues as to where it is. Remember when you geotag an image it should really be located where the photographer was standing when it was taken, not the subject of the image.
2. Copy the location or url of the image – in Firefox you can just right click and “Copy Image Location”. IE take the URL from “Properties”
3. Now navigate back to your new placemark in GE. Make sure you are looking at the properties window – you will add the code in the “description” part.
4. If you just paste the address it will not display the image because you have not told the map to retrieve anything, it will just return a link. You need to add in a little code.
5. All you need to do is ensure the image URL is encoded with the highlighted parts in the example below.
6. <img src=”alovelypicture.online.234.jpg“>
7. Now click OK. If you click on the placemark it should open up with the image inside.
8. When embedding video or other media – just look for the “Blog This” option, and paste the generated code straight into the placemark balloon. Google video can be added pretty easily in this way.

The visual / spatial skills needed to correctly place an image on a map is an interesting one to explore. The children were looking very closely at what clues the image revealed as to the exact whereabouts of it.

I told the children that they would have had a successful afternoon if they could embed just one image in a placemark at the correct location. But, just as they often do, the children ran with it and tagged many pictures correctly on the map. A challenging but ultimately successful afternoon of GE mapping work.

(I will add a link to some example KMZ work as well as a Google Map of our work from today when I can.)

The lessons that I have enjoyed the most this year have been when we have adapted to the children’s enthusiasm for certain activities. Before our half term break we had one of those sessions.

In our literacy lessons we have been learning about the punctuation pyramid since September. It is a simple graphic that shows the various punctuation marks and their corresponding National Curriculum (UK) level for writing. Learning what is included in the pyramid and using it as a tool to assess their own writing is something that we consider to be very valuable. We have 3D pyramids on the children’s tables and a large copy of the punctuation pyramid on the wall as a display.

We recently purchased some software that had a pyramid builder game included and the morning session I am referring to saw both Year 5 classes working on practicing to build the pyramid from scratch.

I soon mentioned to my colleague, across the corridor, about a little competition to see who could build the pyramid the quickest. We were soon having a inter classroom battle to build the pyramid the fastest. Everyone engaged and working really hard. And this is where we began to sense their enthusiasm for the the activity. We decided to adapt the session to harness this fervent engagement with the task. After some time working with the pyramid builder and ensuring each child had had plenty of practice independently we announced a tournament.

We shuffled tables around to form a long row and brought all of the laptops together in my classroom. We had two rows of 8 laptops facing each other. The arena was ready! And the pyramid gladiators soon picked up the invitation to be involved. The task was simple: build a complete pyramid as quick as they could without any omissions or errors. Once they thought it was complete they needed to stand up. The simple knockout tournament began.

The children responded so well to the change of furniture and the change of style of session. We sometimes shy away from some light hearted competition in primary for fear of labelling people “winners” and “losers” but conducted in the right spirit it engages and motivates.

After 3 rounds we had a final battle with two laptops facing each other in the centre of the arena. Needless to say we had lots of fun and the children enjoyed every minute.

If you want to have a go at a Punctuation Pyramid competition with your class then you can try this Befuddlr puzzle for the image above, once it is complete it will display a time in seconds. Let me know how you get on and perhaps we can have an inter school leaderboard!

I hope that some of you have enjoyed reading the 33 Interesting Ways (and tips) to use your Interactive Whiteboard. The Google presentation continues to grow as people contribute, the last three tips are titled:

• #31 – Snap it! (using the SMART capture tool)
• #32 – Check by order (self checking method using the layering of SMART Nbk objects)
• #33 – Befuddle It (using Befuddle to create a picture puzzle from your Nbk pages)

Well there is a new kid on the block looking for help!

I have begun a new Google presentation (currently) titled: “Four Eighteen interesting ways (and tips) to use Google Earth in the classroom.” It follows the same model as the IWB presentation, in that it is an open resource that needs your contributions in order to grow. Please feel free to share with your colleagues if you find it useful, spread the word or even embed in your blog.

Contribute one idea or contribute ten! I have made a start – the process is easy.

1. Go to the presentation and take a look at was has been contributed. If you would like to be added as a collaborator send me an email (thomasgeorgebarrett [at] googlemail [dot] com – or use the contact tab at the top of this page – or even send me a direct message via Twitter I am tombarrett) I will invite you in as a collaborator.
2. Add your one slide, one idea and one image.
3. Change the presentation title slide and file name to match the number of ideas.

It will have a humble beginning as before, but I know with your help it will soon grow into something that offers a uniquely authored resource, sharing good Google Earth practice from around the world.

Derrall Garrison has tagged me on a new meme, called “Passion Quilt” which originated from Miguel Guhlin. So what image could encapsulate what I am passionate about and what I want my students to learn?

There could only be one.

Caption for this image: Sharing and becoming a global citizen

There are so many valuable tools currently available to teachers that allow us to easily share what is going on in our classrooms with other teachers, students and schools. I am passionate about using technology to support this open ethos within my classroom – not only between classes and children in my own school but beyond that too.

I firmly believe that as students collaborate with others they begin to see beyond their own location and culture. It offers them a glimpse, an insight into another child’s perspective on the world, that can only be a good thing.

I am going to tag five more people:

• Ewan Macintosh
• Alex Ragone
• John Pederson
• Alec Couros
• Julie Lindsay

3 Simple Meme Rules:

• Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about…and give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Image: ‘Sharing‘ www.flickr.com/photos/33128961@N00/142455033

I use Google Docs just about every day, as much of what I need on a regular basis is there and I often flit between computers. I was pleased to discover (or at least what I assumed to be a discovery!) the Forms tool as part of the sharing feature in a Google Spreadsheet. For a fleeting moment I thought I had made a first ascent, seen a new island, found a new species, stumbled upon a hidden civilisation! But, alas, my RSS feeds told me otherwise (of course what was I thinking?!) so I got down off of the table and began to think about ways to use it in the classroom.

We are soon to be delving into some data handling work from the new Primary Framework for Maths. One of the aspects is to plan, carry out and present a data handling investigation. There is a possible link with the Google Forms tool.

Creating an online form is not particularly ground breaking for data handling, so why the excitement? Google Docs is such a straight forward set of applications, there are very few bells and whistles (yet). The apps are being developed all of the time and personally I appreciate the simplicity it currently has, the slow approach to new features and the gradual emergence of those features. I feel like I know the app very well and I am not overwhelmed by a cacophony of whistling and ringing.

The Forms tool inherits that straightforward template – making it ideal for children to use. Compared to many other online survey tools Google Forms is raw and almost rudimentary in it’s functionality. But I like that. Short learning curve for all. Just the sort of tool we need for the classroom.

Here is a couple of screenshots showing how to create a form and what happens with the data. Click on any of them to get a closer look.

One of the most important aspects of using G Forms in the classroom is that the data remains dynamic once it is collected. It is not a static graph, automatically created – the data is as raw as the tool. It is conveniently added to your spreadsheet ready for you to manipulate and analyse accordingly. As a teacher this is ideal – for there is much to learn about what you should and could do with data in it’s raw state.

As I mentioned before, after I stopped congratulating myself for finding this tool I began exploring ways it could enhance what is going on in the classroom. I began a Google Form of my own, as a simple example and asked people on my Twitter network to take a look. One of the questions I added was about what classroom uses they could envisage for such a tool. I have summarised some of the responses I received below. (Thankyou to all of you who have contributed your thoughts)

• How about using Forms to get students to rank the factors that they think make a good piece of work, e.g. in English or using it for short multiple choice (objective) assessment? The automated entry into a spreadsheet would make marking easier!
• I’m thinking that it would be a non-patronising way of collecting traffic light information from pupils.
• Site technology survey
• I use informal surveys and such all the time… might be a simpler way to do it than my current method….
• This will be invaluable for any research project, the data goes with you.
• Surveys
• Sports lists
• Staff responses
• Multiple Choice answers – test, revision, quiz
• I set one up today to poll the staff about professional development needs. I can see amazing possibilities with students.Imagine you could check for prior knowledge and have everyone’s “starting point” be pushed to a spreadsheet. What a great way to use data to shape instruction.
• I need to survey a whole year group. I was going to try and use Kaleidos, but I still can’t access it from my laptop. Love the idea of using this instead!
• Evaluation of their work.
• My “class” is actually made up of teachers. This will be a great “feedback” tool!
• Feedback on learning
• Beginning/end of term surveys, data collection for grad school, immediate feedback when I finally have a laptop in each child’s hand…
• You could use it at the beginning of the year to get a snapshot of their profiles (likes, dislikes, multiple intelligence questions, other views … so that you have a group profile and individual profiles to start lesson planning. Note: of course for schools that have computer facilities.

The release of this tool is timely for me due to the nature of our maths work we will be doing very soon. But the tool does have to be the most appropriate for the data investigation. I will introduce this as a way for children to collect data but I will also expect children to choose it carefully. Is it the best data collection tool for the investigation?

This sort of awareness of whether a tech tool is the most appropriate is central to what I am doing in my classroom.

I am looking forward to including this tool as part of our data handling work over the next few weeks. Hand in hand with making the most of Google forms is an understanding of the use of Google Spreadsheets too, so that will need to be thought about. It is appealing to know it is all in one place.

One of the ways I have been tracking the responses to my demo survey is to add the Google Forms gadget to my iGoogle page.

It is a simple no fuss way (if you use iGoogle) to keep tabs on what is happening – you can even create a form from the direct link.

Here are some of my offerings to the melting pot of ideas for the uses of the Google Forms tool in the classroom.

• Book review database of your library area – invite the children to complete a standard form for a book they have read. Questions could be on genre, a rating etc.
• Peer or self review of writing success criteria for a completed piece of work.
• Creating databases is something that many UK primary teachers are doing in ICT- this would be a great data entry method. It could work for all sorts of topic areas – Egyptians settlements, world rivers, habitats, minibeasts, musical instruments, rocks and minerals…
• School/parent questionnaires or even feedback on reports.
• Question by question analysis on test papers. We have just completed some progress tests and the most time consuming aspects is always (if you choose to do it) the analysis of questions. A form could be created with each question from the paper as a separate question. The children could have time to go through their own paper recording their correct/incorrect/omitted responses.
• Website reviews – similar to the book reviews above- could be linked to the class del.icio.us links.
• As yet there is no way to embed the form in another site – but with Google presentations going down that path I am sure it will not be long before you can drop a Google Form into your website or class blog.

The release of this tool does offer an interesting twist to how Google Apps can be organised in the classroom. I have been working with my children on pooling data in a spreadsheet for some time in various ways – using a single user login, everyone editing the same spreadsheet. This is clearly a very open approach and requires multiple logins on multiple machines. Or it requires you to share the s’sheet with many recipients via email.

However if you were to use the Forms tool to collect data instead of using the spreadsheet itself then you would retain the pooling of data to one place but restrict access to the data once it has been submitted. Children could view the responses but not alter, delete or overwrite anyone else’s.

Google spreadsheets refreshes approx every 30 seconds so many machines doing so does chew the bandwidth – especially if working on wireless machines. Now with numerical and text data that is not massive but I can vouch for it slowing down access to other websites that are usually rock solid. A Google Form for data entry would not create such a problem. There is no such live updating and the only time data would be moving about is when the “Submit” is hit. It would also produce the scenario that allows a teacher to login to the Google account for the spreadsheet that is pooling the results on a main PC with projector and the other machines just following a link. This would dramatically reduce the setup time as there is no need to login everyone through a Google account, in turn cutting the chances of having problems logging in.

I hope you get an opportunity to use the tool – please let me know how you get on and how you have used it to support learning in your classroom. Perhaps leave a comment with your thoughts or better still complete this form.

I am pleased to announce the second of our EdTechRoundup podcasts is available for you to listen to. In this episode yours truly is at the helm alongside John Johnston. It was a great fun making the show and I was delighted to be working with John as he was instrumental in getting this blog off the ground in the early days.

In the ICT Buffet we explain about a range of current projects we are involved in with our classes. We discuss Voices of The World, Tumblr and the ManyVoices Twitter writing project.

John and I spend some time exploring the ways that we are using Google tools in our classroom and I explain how we have collaborated on a Google spreadsheet together. John explains how he is using digital still cameras to create small videos as a way to create a record of learning in science investigations.

View the shownotes on del.icio.us

I hope that you can find the time to listen – all of your feedback, thoughts and comments are always much appreciated.

Following my last post I thought I would explain the process I take to get from a resource created in SMART Notebook to a Befuddlr puzzle. A series of screenshot would have taken longer to do so I have created a short screencast. In this tutorial I am using my IWB software, however you could do this with any photo from a camera or an image generated by other IWB software. Just ensure the image is online somewhere and not too big!

I was hoping to create a Jing screencast as I am big fan of the screen capture tool but the video output is horrible! It works with real time swf coding so you are stuck with the size you get – which for me did not fit in the browser when played back. So I went back to SMART Recorder and uploaded to Teachertube.

I hope that you find the tutorial useful – why not let me know of the examples you create and how you use Befuddlr.

• Flickr Uploader tool (As mentioned in the tutorial: giving you the command “Send to Flickr” on a right click of an image – very useful)