Every week I have been attending St Mary's Professional Learning Groups. These are groups have an ICTPD focus and work together for 40 minutes before school one day a week. Today we had a sharing session with feedback from the different groups:
Wiki spaces – easy to use & free, www.wikispaces.com , problem was blocked at the time, survey monkey www.surveymonkey.com – design surveys. Need to try these out before hand. Use plans, b & c. Kids very positive.
Protopage – not for all, but interesting to play with. Embedding videos – again blocking problems (You Tube). Can’t upload whole documents. Photos sometimes not clear. Handy as a home page for students.
www.protopage.com
Discussion on trial of unblocking YouTube www.youtube.com Will focus first on teacher's use of YouTube and learn how to download and share video.
Powerpoint – steps of students making a product – photographs – visual instruction for students on the big screen.
Using the IWB – energy transformations – student were really engaged – manipulating objects to come up with an energy equation.
IWB – shared ideas, Created How To files on the Teacher Drive (Interwrite folder).
Digital Learning Objects – need to be clear about learning objectives. Front page of TKI, Digistore.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/digistore/
These PLGs are a great way to slowly but surely bring teachers along in their use of ICT in the classroom by making time for hands on ICTPD within a safe & supportive environment. Throughout the discussion this morning it was good to hear the connections were being made between what teachers were learning & trying out in their lessons and the benefits for students. All had to say the students were really positive, motivated, & enthusiastic about what they were doing - even when it sometimes didn't work as they expected :-)
1 comment:
Just to let you know I am following your blog, and enjoying reading about what you are up to with your cluster
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