tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68016079191826440872013-03-12T03:27:41.586+01:00Free Technology for Schools A collaborative blog to help teachers, school leaders and administrators make the most of free technologyJonny noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-84669684832012790752013-03-11T20:57:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:19:12.778+01:00Dealing with disaster: The usefulness of free technologyIt was around 2.45pm on Friday 11th March 2011 that I was working through a rather difficult A-level Physics problem with my class. Mid-sentence, the building started shaking like it never had before, first from side to side then up and down. As we huddled under the desks, I began to wonder if the gas pipelines under the desk would rupture just before the shaking stopped. <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PiAgtjPXJOA/UT42PIOEqII/AAAAAAAADOQ/xhBi9ZB_V1g/s1600/clock+stopped+by+earthquake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PiAgtjPXJOA/UT42PIOEqII/AAAAAAAADOQ/xhBi9ZB_V1g/s1600/clock+stopped+by+earthquake.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The clock in my old office. It stopped when the earthquake hit.</td></tr></tbody></table>We soon realised this wasn't like the other tremors we had experienced and evacuated the building. In the evacuation area, we watched videos on the TV of tsunami devastation hitting northern Japan. Two days later, the explosions at Fukushima meant we had to evaluate re-opening the school on the following Monday. We decided to close for a week and ended up staying closed for three whole weeks. <br />A few years before, we had set up plans for running the curriculum during school closure, at that time because of the threat of swine flu. Although swine flu never closed the school, the plans we had in place for using Google apps allowed us to react quickly and minimise disruption to learning.<br />On the first day of closure, teachers prepared lessons to be completed through the school's Google apps based learning environment. Students completed work, asked questions through Google Talk and collaborated with each other. Many people had left Japan and were accessing the curriculum and creating lessons from Japan, Korea, Australia, England, France and Singapore and for students with external exams on the horizon, this was essential to ensure they did not fall behind. Of course there were issues. Many students didn't access the work at all and some teachers were not as creative as others, but in a time of crisis it provided stability and a sense of community for the students and their families.<br />You never know what kind of crisis can end up causing a school closure and it is essential to be able to still provide a curriculum for students to keep a sense of normality. If your school is waiting until they can afford an expensive VLE solution, it is maybe time to shake senior management into action and let them know about the free alternatives available.<br />It would be wrong to write this without taking a moment to think of the people who died on that day, and the others who were left behind to deal with the devastation. Even two years on, for many life is not back to normal. My thoughts are continually with all those people and I hope the time when life returns back to normal is soon on the horizon. Ganbatte!Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-36993579005292172992013-03-11T20:35:00.000+01:002013-03-11T22:23:28.380+01:00Using Google Apps as a Free LMS<i>Here is the first ever collaborative post on Free Technology for Schools by John from New Zealand. He is trying to build a Google apps Learning community on Google+.</i><br /><i><br /></i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">A group of 217 educators have formed a community on Google+ around the idea of crowd sourcing our own learning materials for Using Google Apps as a Free Learning Management System. If you have knowledge in this area, or would like to gain knowledge in this area, please come join the group:</span><br style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110147344160609001644">https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110147344160609001644</a></span><br style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><br style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Learning units may take the form of Google form checklists with SlideSpeech tutorials, which look (and sound) like this:</span><br style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;" /><span style="font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://goo.gl/zuFfz">http://goo.gl/zuFfz</a></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;">John, PhD Student, AUT University, Auckland, New Zealand</span><br /><br /><br />Jonny noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-45836471837178473382013-03-10T21:33:00.002+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.393+01:00Free Technology for Schools is now collaborativeFree technology for Schools is now going to be a collaborative blog. To help with this, I have made it easier for people to submit posts, although you can still submit by email if you wish. To easily submit a post just visit the "<a href="/p/guest-blog.html" target="_blank">submit a post</a>" pageJonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-598521922116954102013-03-09T11:02:00.003+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.400+01:00The educational potential of Google GlassI've been spending a little bit of time this week thinking about how Google Glass would tie in with Google apps and the potential for learning. I have to admit, I haven't got very far but here is a wonderful example of how guys might use them. Enjoy!<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8UjcqCx1Bvg" width="480"></iframe>Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-17230026935482447252013-03-06T21:40:00.000+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.376+01:00Eliademy: A simple free Virtual Learning Environment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TguA_0Br9Fw/UTegUx3qnXI/AAAAAAAADN0/PJ9vYFVYiBY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-06+at+20.49.33.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TguA_0Br9Fw/UTegUx3qnXI/AAAAAAAADN0/PJ9vYFVYiBY/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-06+at+20.49.33.png" height="189" width="320" /></a></div>Yesterday, I discovered a new website called <a href="http://www.eliademy.com/" target="_blank">Eliademy</a> and it is one of the simplest tools I have ever seen for creating a Virtual Learning Environment and not only that, it is free, has no adverts and "will always be free". After an afternoon giving a session on using Frog ( my school's new VLE), I was impressed at how simple it was to start creating learning materials on Eliademy. It does not have the range of functionality as Frog, it doesn't come close, but it is an amazing tool if you want to create an online course quickly and simply.<br />Eliademy have 3 bold claims on their website: smart and friendly interface, fast and easy to use and that it increases productivity.When you visit the Eliademy website, it is certainly smart, to the point and very welcoming. The designers have considered what most creators of educational software forget; teachers are busy people and if they have to spend time learning how to use software tools rather than actually planning and creating resources, most will not bother. Clicking on Sign-up gives the option of either signing in using Facebook (a huge time saver!) or completing 4 fields.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hLp-tnQuBQw/UTegiwPjapI/AAAAAAAADN8/gMffyTlZP8U/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-06+at+20.59.42.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hLp-tnQuBQw/UTegiwPjapI/AAAAAAAADN8/gMffyTlZP8U/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-06+at+20.59.42.png" height="210" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Eliademy claim that you will own your own classroom in 3 steps and it really is that simple, you just sign in, create a course and then add resources. It's simplistic layout is so free of distractions that it really does encourage you to increase productivity.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Creating a new topic within a course is done with one click and you can add pictures, files, Youtube, Vimeo and Slideshare. This is relatively good although it would be nice to see a bit more integration with things like Google Apps. Within each course there is the course content, tasks (again set with about 3 clicks)and a discussion forum. Adding participants is done easily by email or by sharing a link on Facebook or Twitter. A great final piece of functionality is the ability to access notes in Evernote and it would be great to se even further integration between the two products along with some other useful 3rd parties.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is a tool I would absolutely love to see take off in lots of schools. Given that I write a blog called Free Tech for Schools, when I see technology like this that provides the functionality and professional interface of an expensive product for completely free, I begin to salivate. It really makes me think that the best thing you can do to be a truly progressive and creative technologically enabled school is to cut your technology budget down to zero! When you are not committed to expensive paid for products, you have much more freedom to pick and choose between the very best free tools. For now, I recognise this tool to any school who wants a simple and effective solution that will allow them to compete with any school that has invested in an expensive learning platform. I might even say you would be more successful as it is so simple to implement, it could be populated with resources in no time.</div><br />Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-2168832630545959212013-03-03T13:36:00.002+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.381+01:00The number 1 app for every teacherI discovered this blog post through Doug Woods' Edtech daily Paperli newspaper. Sounds like a great app. I would like to write about it myself but for now, why reinvent the wheel. Here it is<br /><br /><a href="http://dedwards.me/2013/03/01/explain-everything-really-is-all-things/">http://dedwards.me/2013/03/01/explain-everything-really-is-all-things/</a><br /><br />Check out Daniel Edwards blog in general. Lots of useful stuff and very well written.Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-49131603220504092912013-03-02T12:04:00.003+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.396+01:00Using Twitter and Paperli to give students a weekly learning summary<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4or3vLU2gfo/UTHamve7IPI/AAAAAAAADNk/BKpJxQISlKM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-02+at+11.46.34.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4or3vLU2gfo/UTHamve7IPI/AAAAAAAADNk/BKpJxQISlKM/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-02+at+11.46.34.png" height="165" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot of the Edutech Review</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />A little while ago, I wrote about how using Twitter and <a href="http://www.paper.li/" target="_blank">Paperli</a>, you can develop a visually appealing way of collating professional learning from other educators you follow on Twitter. Today I would like to show how this can be used to give students a weekly summary of learning that has taken place in school. To do this I need to first explain what the school would need to do to set this up.<br />At the beginning of the school year, each teacher in the school would need to create a Twitter account and a blog, wiki or website. Each student in the school would then also create a Twitter account and be guided through the process of creating a newspaper on Paperli using the Twitter feeds from all of their teachers as sources. Each week the teacher either creates blog posts or even just finds useful relevant websites and posts a link to them on Twitter. The students will then have a newspaper which shows all the learning that has taken place that week.<br />This could become an exceptionally powerful tool. For teachers who don't feel they have time to create new content, they can always just post a link to a useful website, or even tweet this week's homework and it will show up in the paper. Other more technically minded teachers could end up generating lots of useful content to share with students.<br />If a school did this it would be an excellent starting point but imagine the potential for learning if students are also encouraged to keep their own learning blogs. Students would be able to see what their friends have been learning and creating and there is no reason why a student in year 11 cannot follow students in the years above to see where their current learning will lead to. Now that is what I call a powerful learning community. So what are you waiting for. Get Papertweeting!Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-64380525954639768992013-02-26T21:57:00.000+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.403+01:00Adopting a bring your own device policyFor cash strapped schools, a bring your own device (BYOD) policy if implemented correctly can greatly improve ICT provision and coverage with a minimal budget outlay. In some ways, it is a better preparation for the real world that students will inhabit. Although some swanky cafes suggest otherwise, we do not inhabit a world where everyone has a shiny new ipad. It is a good idea for schools to provide a mixed ecosystem that is more like what students will experience outside of school. Learning to share information across a range of devices is a necessary skill.<br />There are many issues with implementing a BYOD policy such as security and web filtering. In a discussion in my own school a colleague asked if adopting such a policy would be opening a pandora's box. My response was that students live in a world with pandora's box already open and school is the only place they come to where it is shut. I took his point however. The box probably does have to be shut.<br />I stumbled across this excellent video on Youtube. It is a little long but covers a lot of ground on how to effectively and securely implement BYOD.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ebt2KRxRtJQ" width="420"></iframe>Jonny noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-17527646242090134222013-02-25T22:46:00.004+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.379+01:00Using the Google Drive app on the ipad to create student portfoliosI'm a little bit busy this week to write a full post so I have decided to do a repost instead. It would have been difficult for me to write anyway after dropping my ipad a month ago damaging it beyond repair and facilitating a wholesale switch to android so <a href="http://ipadapps4school.com/2012/12/16/how-to-use-the-google-drive-ipad-app-to-create-student-portfolios/#.USJlrx8y89c.blogger" target="_blank">here</a> is an excellent post from Richard Byrne at ipad apps 4 schools.Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-35604419355839101902013-02-24T14:39:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.386+01:00Would you like to guest blog? <p dir="ltr">In mid-January I started the blog freetechforschools.com to try and keep track of and share with the global teaching community all the amazing free products available for schools to use. I have had an amazing response so far and have really enjoyed making contact with teachers across the world who share my passion for free technology. <br>I would love to see this blog grow into a fantastic resource that teachers consult to help make better use of free technology but I have to admit that it is only growing as quickly as I can write, currently about 1 article per week. I would love to see other teachers using this to share their expertise. If you would like to be a one-off or regular contributor, send me an email at jonny@freetechforschools.com. I will accept articles which are an exposé on a free product, or articles on innovative uses of technology either in the classroom or for professional development. </p><p dir="ltr">Hoping to hear from you and to start to build a collaborative network which is useful to all educators.</p><p dir="ltr">Jonny</p>Jonny noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-54654201929063515992013-02-22T21:58:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.398+01:00Remember everything: Using Evernote in education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn1.iconfinder.com/data/icons/metro-ui-dock-icon-set--icons-by-dakirby/512/Evernote.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn1.iconfinder.com/data/icons/metro-ui-dock-icon-set--icons-by-dakirby/512/Evernote.png" height="320" width="320" /></a></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Evernote is one of those apps that once you use it you wonder how you ever lived without it. I first discovered it in Argentina about 18 months ago on a holiday learning Spanish. On the holiday I had an iPhone and iPad with me and I found it was a simple way to keep track of my notes from my lessons (taken on my iPad) and anything of interest that I wanted to learn when I was out on the town (on my iphone) looking for my next rib eye steak and Malbec fix.<br />My initial use of this app was quite basic, focusing on simple note taking. Now I use it for everything such as taking pictures of books I want to read so I can download on my Kindle later, remembering things as they pop into my head, keeping a record of websites I want to view and of course planning my next blog post.<br />Of course as educators, you want to know how you can use it in school. Well this is how I use it. This may sound a little bit low tech but for keeping track of things in work, I actually use a paper note pad. Why? It fits in my pocket and is quick to boot up, just open and click the on button on your pen. At the end of each day I then take a photo of each page and upload to Evernote so it syncs to all my devices (now android) and my Mac at home. I also use it to photograph and sync documents in meetings.</div><div dir="ltr">I am currently trying it out with students. One of my students who is undertaking a research project is keeping a record of all his research using Evernote, so I can check the range of sources he has consulted and if I think he is following the wrong path, put him on the right one before our next meeting.</div><div dir="ltr">The great thing with Evernote is the range of apps that also work with it like Skitch for quick sketches. It also works well with Google Chrome if you download the web-clipper extension for keeping track of research. Evernote is one of the best productivity apps around and I am sure I am only scratching the surface on its potential uses in education. If you are using it creatively, please add a comment below. I would love to hear your ideas.</div>Jonny noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-23884229704016875882013-02-19T15:09:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.384+01:00When I wish upon a wall: A guide to using PadletThis week I would like to review an excellent tool called <a href="http://www.padlet.com/" target="_blank">padlet</a> (formerly known as Wallwisher). It is a great and easy to use tool for collecting ideas either from students in a lesson or from staff in meetings. The beauty of this tool is that you don't even need to log in. You just click "Create a wall" and you are ready to go. Once you are finished, you can then email the link to the wall to the contributors. It is also possible to log in although I never do as I like to use it quickly.<br />It is fantastic for peer review and in a classroom where students each have access to a device, be that a set of laptops or even their smart phones and they can all contribute and then instantly see each others comments if it is projected on to a white board.<br />Here is an example of how I used it.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RQYELl4r9zk/USOG8Vof8pI/AAAAAAAACW8/U77Lt84ajtw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-19+at+14.55.53.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RQYELl4r9zk/USOG8Vof8pI/AAAAAAAACW8/U77Lt84ajtw/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-02-19+at+14.55.53.png" height="295" width="640" /></a></div><br />The students have given feedback through padlet allowing them to share their experience of the learning activity.<br />Give it a go. It's really easy. Just navigate to www.padlet.com<br /><br /><br />Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-64823505447489086562013-02-16T10:10:00.000+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.405+01:00Training on the train: 3 useful tools for professional developmentProfessional development for teachers should be an ongoing continuous activity and many teachers take a proactive approach, however there are some teachers who think of professional development is 'one of those courses you go on'. I don't know about you but generally I find sitting in a room sticking post-it notes on a big sheet of A3 about as useful as an inflatable dart board. Don't get me wrong, I have been on some very useful courses and often the best thing about the course is the questions it makes me ask, but I generally find that I learn more by researching something that I need to do, as and when I need to do it. The problem with the latter approach of course is that you sometimes don't get exposed to new ideas or approaches. Time is of course another factor with professional development. How do you find the time to keep up to date with the latest developments in education? Here I would like to explain my personal approach. I hope you find it useful.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Walton_with_Leicester_-_Peterborough_East_train_geograph-2791492-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Walton_with_Leicester_-_Peterborough_East_train_geograph-2791492-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg" height="186" width="320" /></a></div><br />My approach uses 3 free tools which I encourage every educator I know to use; Twitter, Paperli and Pocket. I use Twitter as the backbone of my professional learning network (and occasionally Linked In). Up until 3 months ago, I was a Twitter denier. I had never tweeted (or is that I had never twat!) and I couldn't see the point in messages of only 140 characters. It seemed like it had concentrated on the most annoying part of Facebook; the status update. What I found though was that with Twitter, it is much easier to only receive information related to certain interests, in my case, I use one account to keep abreast of topics on leadership, educational technology and developments within the British education system. Twitter is great for receiving information but it's as visually attractive as Ricky Gervais in a mankini and I find myself clicking backwards and forwards to get back to my home page. I needed something more visually appealing. Another educator I follow on Twitter, Doug Woods, was using a new product called <a href="http://paper.li/">Paperli</a>, which displays posts that people share on Twitter as an online newspaper, gives a much more visually appealing way to digest the information shared on Twitter. Every day I get Doug's <a href="http://paper.li/deerwood/edtech?utm_source=subscription&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=paper_sub">Edtech Daily</a> straight to my inbox. I now aggregate all posts from my Twitter professional learning network into my own weekly paper called the <a href="http://paper.li/Jonnyfreetech/1358887100?utm_source=subscription&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=paper_sub">Edutech Review</a>. This lets me view lots of relevant articles from fellow teachers on a weekly basis, often giving me excellent new ideas for blog posts.<br />As I mentioned at the beginning, time is an issue when engaging in professional learning and I try to fit mine into my daily train journeys (10 minutes to and from work). Sometimes I am half way through reading an article on my phone when the train arrives at the station. At this point I save it to <a href="http://getpocket.com/a/">Pocket</a>. This useful tool lets me access it later from my phone, tablet or computer and even read it offline.<br />If you are a teacher, consider how a potential employer will view your job application. I often look at CVs where people have listed 10 courses they have attended and then they mention nothing about it in their accompanying letter. All this shows me is that they work at a school with a healthy CPD budget and that they have sat in a room for a total of 10 days. I find a potential employee much more appealing when they talk about HOW they have developed professionally and what steps they take to constantly take to improve themselves as a teacher or leader. Putting yourself in a situation where you actively seek out information and act on it will make you more likely to get that next job so get on Twitter, engage with other teachers and make professional development a daily activity.<br /><br /><br /><br />Jonny noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-71328962789030028132013-02-06T21:00:00.002+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.407+01:00Tech for Africa<div dir="ltr"><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Flh3.ggpht.com%2F-e7wEM_yRyCg%2FURApZcBZNkI%2FAAAAAAAACSs%2Fqa_3oK6lcEM%2Fs640%2FComputers%252525204%25252520africa%25252520orphans%25252520tanzania-%25252520just%25252520giving.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-e7wEM_yRyCg/URApZcBZNkI/AAAAAAAACSs/qa_3oK6lcEM/s640/Computers%2525204%252520africa%252520orphans%252520tanzania-%252520just%252520giving.JPG" /></a>53. That is how many used plastic bags I guessed it would take to make a village football, a simple toy made by stuffing used carrier bags inside a net. There was a lot at stake with this guess. There was a competition to win a Kindle Fire HD. Free tech for me! I didn't win, but I did have a wonderful conversation with the people who work for Computers 4 Africa.<br />Wondering around the Bett conference at the Excel Conference Centre (also home to a very big arms fair) is like Charlie's visit to the chocolate factory; full of surprises and technological temptations, oh, and free sweets too. I was there with a buy nothing, how can we do the same as that with a free product mentality. My focus was firmly on providing value for my school. In the chocolate factory, looking for value can make you forget your values. Meeting the people at the Computers 4 Africa stand made me step back and think. As long as we are living in a world where we take technology for granted, whilst children in the developing world don't have access to the same wonderful enabling tools, then the gulf of inequality will only get wider.<br />What Computer 4 Africa do is quite simple, they take computers which schools and businesses no longer need and supply them to schools in Africa that otherwise could not afford them. It is run as a social enterprise with a 'hand up not a hand out' model. Beneficiaries pay a contribution towards the preparation and shipping of the computers but at the best price available in their locality. They also donate 10% of the computers to the poorest causes. <br />If you have computers which are going to landfill, think twice. minimize waste by sending it to Computers 4 Africa knowing that you are giving some children the chance to access the same opportunities and information that we have. Equality of access will promote equality of opportunity. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-e7wEM_yRyCg/URApZcBZNkI/AAAAAAAACSs/qa_3oK6lcEM/s1600/Computers%2525204%252520africa%252520orphans%252520tanzania-%252520just%252520giving.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>note: I have no link whatsoever to Computers 4 Africa but I like what they do. If you are interested in what they do, check out their website. </i><i>http</i><i>://</i><i>www.computers4africa.org.uk</i><i>/</i><i>index.php</i> </div>Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-3591650925056187392013-01-28T22:41:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.389+01:00Free LE vs VLESchools can no longer get away with being a run down building with a boiler room that Geordie Laforge can barely keep running, with teachers forming an orderly queue for the banda machine before rushing to their classroom to start slowing winding a transparent sheet with lesson notes to be projected on to a screen. In the modern school, learning must be interactive and a high quality modern educational institution can now facilitate learning anywhere like in a restaurant, in a sushi bar and even in the back of your mama's car. The must have accessory for the new digitally enabled school is the virtual learning environment (VLE). There are free solutions (save staffing costs) like Moodle but many of these VLEs or learning platforms cost thousands of pounds, dollars or euros and I don't want to think how many zeros to add for the South African Rand. Google apps for Education is, however, an excellent free alternative.<br />When I first worked in Japan, our school email solution only allowed us to check our email in school. I soon realised that I could set up my gmail account to receive forwarded emails and send replies from my work address, and whilst researching this, I discovered Google apps. I decided to create an account and started to use it with some of my Science students. I was surprised by how quickly they took to and enjoyed using it. This gave me such a buzz that I went home that Friday and created a front end webpage that made it more appealing and would give it a more professional sheen. I went in the following Monday and presented it to my boss. He liked the look of it and decided to let me give it go. At the start of the following school year, all staff in the senior school started using it as their default mail and calendar program and were using it in class to create collaborative documents and share work with students through Google Sites. One year later, it was adopted by the junior school too and it is still used today.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.nola.com/star-trek_impact/2009/04/medium_trek-dream-team-geordi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blog.nola.com/star-trek_impact/2009/04/medium_trek-dream-team-geordi.jpg" /></a></div><br />There is no doubt that Google apps has excellent features for educators such as the ability to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations and collaborate in real time, as well as posting curriculum materials online. Given that it is free, you may ask why do schools pay thousands for a VLE? There are advantages to a VLE. It gives a well organised platform for learning and removes information overload. It is easier to direct students to the information you want them to absorb. It allows you to set up forums and set and mark assessments and students and staff can access documents from home. All useful tools but there is not enough capability in current platforms that I have seen for real time collaboration, unless it integrates with Google apps or Office 365. The biggest issue with the VLE is that schools are still looking at the old school model with Geordie in the boiler room and trying to replicate it. It is almost as if schools are trying to take that old run down dysfunctional building with so many barriers to a truly rich learning experience and create a digital equivalent. The VLE shouts out loud, "I am the gatekeeper to knowledge and you can only access it if I give you the keys". Work is organised into classrooms with digital versions of worksheets neatly filed into the relevant lesson so students can kill another tree printing it out at home. Even with all this wonderful technology, in a world where typing a simple question in a search engine each day provides better and better answers, we are still obsessed with organising learning in a way which hasn't really changed since we were at school ourselves.<br />Back then to Google. When I launched our Google based Free LE, I too was obsessed with copying this structure. I even did a presentation at at Tokyo Edutech meeting called 'The $10 VLE' (the $10 was for the domain registration by the way, I could have done it for free but wanted a nice domain name). When I first started training staff on how to use it, I showed them how to create those lovely organised topic by topic structures using sites, but then something interesting happened. Students were using the documents to collaborate and I learned from them that this was the best way to share the information. Rather than worrying about what it looked like I went for the Millenium Falcon approach (got it where it counts). Everything was disorganised yet searchable and for each teacher and student, extremely customisable. Of course, with a little time, you could create a Free LE with Google apps that looks and acts like a VLE by using widgets and third party products but why bother when you can get better learning outcomes using a system that is based on organised chaos that resembles the real world more accurately.<br />VLEs will be here for a while to come, they are certainly useful and will be used and if you have one make the most out of it and use it. If you are a school thinking of investing thousands of pounds/dollars/euros, I would think twice. You can get a great product for free that will do more and staff and students already have a basic understanding of how to use it. The choice is yours. Now time to go dig out some warm clothes. I hear Geordie has the flu so the boiler won't be working tomorrow.Jonny noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-1287035900145019322013-01-21T23:00:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.373+01:00Unleashing the power of the cloudSix years ago after being given my first USB drive by my school, I marvelled at a device the size of a key that could store 256Mb of data, fit in my pocket and allow me to transfer my data from computer to computer, that was until I transferred all my data to my washing machine, never to be accessed again. Several pen drives later and I have at least learned to back up my data, but the sense of marvel has now gone, replaced by a constant irritation at having multiple copies, or having to remember to transfer individual files across before I leave work. Thankfully the torrential rain of cloud computing has dampened enthusiasm for such a clunky and lets face it, outdated solution to the problem of working in several locations. So what is the potential within education for cloud computing and given that there are so many free solutions, how can schools use it to improve their provision and at the same time save costs?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.undertheradarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Top-5-Best-Free-Cloud-Storage-Services-That-You-Need-And-Are-Useful.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.undertheradarblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Top-5-Best-Free-Cloud-Storage-Services-That-You-Need-And-Are-Useful.png" height="168" width="320" /></a></div><br />Well, lets look at some of the main services available and what each offers. First up is Dropbox. I'm no tech historian but it was the first cloud solution I heard of, however not the first one I adopted. Dropbox offers 2Gb of free storage (expandable up to 16Gb if you invite enough people and complete a few other simple learning tasks). Dropbox can be installed on most devices allowing you to seamlessly sync files from computer to phone to ipad etc, so you can work on a document in work, get on the train and access it on a mobile device and then resume work on it at home. Dropbox also allows you to easily upload mobile photos to be accessed anywhere. Files can be shared with anyone with an email address, as can folders.<br />Sugarsync is the first service I adopted and I chose it because at the time it offered 5Gb of free storage (expandable up to 32Gb) if you invite enough people. In many ways it is similar to Dropbox, however my favourite feature is how easy it is to share any folder on your computer and choose which devices you share that specific folder with. It is extremely simple to use for backing up mobile photos (this was great for me when I switched from apple to android.<br />Google Drive and Microsoft Skydrive are distinctly different to Sugarsync and Dropbox in that they are designed for working in the cloud. They both come with decent free storage (5Gb for Google and 7Gb for Skydrive). Google is great if you are in a school that uses Google Apps for Education. With appropriate mailing lists set up, it is extremely simple for teachers to share documents with relevant classes. Google Drive has come a long way since the early days of Google Docs and the features get better and better, especially the conditional formatting and scripts now available in spreadsheets. One slightly annoying feature with Google is that documents created in the cloud stay in that format when you go to access it from your Google Drive so that it always opens in a web browser. Skydrive has a certain charm, especially for those who need the comfort of working in that familiar Microsoft Office environment. With Office 365 for Education it is certainly shaping up to challenge Google apps, however, some might argue that the 500Mb storage they offer to students isn't really adequate by todays standards.<br />So which is best and which do I use. The answer is that I use them all. I use Dropbox for work, Sugarsync for play, and SkyDrive and Google Drive for a mixture of both. Why use one and then have to pay a subscription for storage when adding them together you get at least 19Gb for free. The key thing is that I use them all in different ways. I tend to use Google Docs when I want to do something that requires collaboration, for example getting students to work on presentations simultaneously I like SkyDrive when I want to work on Office documents at home on my Mac and avoid the annoying formatting issues with Open Office or Pages, Dropbox is where I save all essential work that I need to be able to access anywhere and Sugarsync takes care of backing up all my personal data and mobile photos. With the latter, I can always use a 3rd party app to make edits if required.<br />Schools need to consider the sheer power of of cloud computing. Being able to access documents anywhere can only be an advantage and protects against losing data and the collaborative tools which allow students to work together and review each other's work empower them like never before. In my view the school network, that hideous cluttered ever growing mess, and the server it rests on should be consigned to the dustbin (albeit cautiously after reading the small print in each cloud storage company's data policy). Consider this example. A new school is set up where a rather young and slightly reckless Deputy Head is charged with the task of setting up the school's ICT procurement plan. He decides to go for a a 1:1 Chromebook, Netbook or Nexus 7 policy (Sorry Apple, this is Free Tech for Schools and if we can't go free we go cheap) and puts in a purchase order. The head then asks him about what server they are going to get. Oops, he thinks. I totally forgot to budget for that. Realising his job is on the line he thinks on his feet and blurts out "server? How archaic!" The Head adopts a puzzled look. "Go on" he says. "We don't need one. We are going to use Sugarsync" he replies. "They give each person 5Gb of free storage". "5Gb. That's your plan? That will never be enough." The soon to be unemployed deputy thinks quickly and says "We have 20 teacher right and 100 kids in the our year 7 group. Each teacher invites 5 students earning an extra 2.5Gb of storage, then the next year, each student invites the next year group, again earning more free storage. Not only that, we can share a folder with the students to collect homework and have another folder shared with each student to give feedback. We can also share folders in a way with staff so that they only see the documents they need to, removing the clutter of the network." The Head smiles before the next question. "So what Learning platform have you budgeted for?" Oh s#$t!, the deputy thinks. "Emmmm.....Google apps?" To be continued.....Jonny noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-85438109600329873452013-01-16T17:57:00.002+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.414+01:00The crystal ball<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bloguin.com/crystalballrun/images/stories/crystalball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.bloguin.com/crystalballrun/images/stories/crystalball.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>Can you remember what technology was available as a teacher 5 years ago? If you had to develop a 5 year ICT investment plan, would you have made a wise investment? Should schools make a 5 year ICT development plan or is it a waste of time given the high likelihood of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory">black swan</a> induced paradigm shift? I would love to hear your thoughts.Jonny noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6801607919182644087.post-75175154323447043842013-01-15T21:30:00.001+01:002013-03-11T22:16:54.410+01:00Where should schools spend their money?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/mooncaz/mooncaz0802/mooncaz080200038/2563277-currency-dollars-pounds-sterling-and-euros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/mooncaz/mooncaz0802/mooncaz080200038/2563277-currency-dollars-pounds-sterling-and-euros.jpg" height="213" title="" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the current economic climate this question has been more pertinent than ever when it comes to a school's investment in ICT and technology. If you work for a state school, the demands on government money are greater than ever and when budgets are tight, technology investment falls quite far down the list. For private institutions which rely on pupil numbers for funding, drops in student numbers have led to similar financial pressures. Therefore the question of what technology to invest in has become an essential one which haunts every budget holder.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />When I first started teaching 10 years ago, the picture was very different. Schools had money to burn on technology and burn it they did. Money was spent on highly specialised software packages which were often rarely used and schools were trying to get the highest spec computers that money could buy. There was little idea of software as a service although there were some excellent examples such as explorelearning.com where by simply deleting your cookies you could use it again and again for free.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fast forward to 2013 and it is a different story. Budgets are tight and the need for expensive specialised software is dwindling (although there are some things still worth investing in). </span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />The days of needing high spec computers and even a school server are now in question. The vast majority of computer use in schools is for accessing content and simple document creation. Even much of the highly specialised software that sat unused on school computers can now be accessed (or not accessed!) online for a fraction of the cost. This is excellent news for schools. The now dwindling budget can certainly go much further. Simple much cheaper devices like chromebooks, netbooks and tablets allow access to most of the technology students need for a fraction of the cost. Even the school server is no longer necessary. With Google Drive, Dropbox and Sugarsync, you can share documents with exactly the people who need them, and they can access them from any device, anywhere. A superior service to the old-school server solution and with most of these companies offering a lot of free storage for free, a cost effective one too.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />What about software? I have already mentioned web-based solutions that provide specialised software. You can access a virtual science lab, record music and create art for free or at a much lower cost. What about the basics. Do we need Microsoft office with free software like Open Office and collaborative options like Google Drive and Skydrive. I would choose collaborative web-based options any day of the week.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With all this money now saved, does that mean we should get that learning platform we always wanted? Not so fast. Look carefully at what it does and you will see that it can be achieved with products already out there that are free to use such as Google Apps for Education. Students can work on collaborative documents, communicate, submit work, view and get reminders of homework deadlines and much more. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Schools need not despair about limited budgets for technology. With the right planning and implementation, it is possible to match pretty much everything that schools with bigger budgets can do. There is one huge elephant in the room here of course. How do you provide effective in house support for all these free services? I think I will save that for another post.</span>Jonny noreply@blogger.com0