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Positively Powerful Impact

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I read an article this week about tracking behaviour in school.

I think that tracking pupil behaviour is a good thing. Attitudes towards learning have a massive impact upon how much learning actually takes place. Different schools have different approaches and that’s fine, you don’t have to do it digitally however as Tom Bennett says in the article “recording children’s behaviour digitally is useful” and he’s right too. He also correctly goes on to talk about the devil being in the detail in terms of keeping these types of systems up to date with data so that the information held in there is useful. This isn’t rocket science and it applies to many things that happen in schools; you record all of your test scores, not just some; you should know about all of your students, not just some.

The piece, to me, however just seemed to be a bit of a pop at an app that I know can have a big impact with schools if they approach its use in the right way. The app which I’m talking about of course is ClassDojo. Now – straight up, I put my hand up – I am a ClassDojo ambassador. What does this mean? Well, basically, it means, that I champion the use of this app (alongside many of the other apps that I have vast experience of using in the classroom – no I don’t get paid). It can have a really big impact on positive engagement in the classroom. I don’t refer to it personally as a ‘behaviour app’ either, but a ‘positive engagement’ tool. Best practice use sees it being used to recognise positive behaviour in the classroom, not positive AND negative aspect. 

One point made in the article talks about publicly displaying results in the classroom. Some teachers might think that good in terms of competition in the class however I am minded to agree with Andy Christopher Miller who in the article says, “One of the consequences of the public display of results is that you end up shaming kids if they’re not doing as well. That has knock-on effects in terms of their self-esteem, as well as their motivation and behaviour.” For me, this is a no-brainer, and you don’t have to show the current results of the whole class to the children. Another commentator in the article agrees and says that she doesn’t do this with her class. Another great practice that I have seen is where teachers add themselves to the class and children reward their teachers for mutually agreed positive targets for the classroom too. A culture where learning, openness and celebration of positive effort should be celebrated, not berated. If Hattie’s research tells us anything it’s that teacher collaboration and positive relationships have a big impact on learning and progress. Surely this helps?

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Often schools will tot up ‘dojo points’ and reward children with badges, wristbands or stars for positive behaviour shown in the classroom.

Privacy is mentioned in the article and in its tagline too. Privacy is a massive concern for all of us. One of the trickiest things schools face is compliance and ensuring that data protection is taken seriously in a school and that all requirements are met is something that many schools are unaware of.

In the article Andy Phippen, professor of social responsibility in IT at Plymouth University is quoted as saying a number of things however it is not made clear whether he is talking specifically about ClassDojo although this is the app the article is talking about.

He is quoted as saying, “many teachers and parents have not considered whether children’s data will be kept private. “It’s something we’re sleepwalking into,” said Phippen.”

“With the roll-out of the academies programme and private sector investors, you do start to ask questions: if you have someone who’s got access [to online data] who might have third-party interest, where’s the policy that protects the kids’ data from that?”

Putting the fact that it is not clear what technology Phippen is talking about to one side;  I don’t think (and I acknowledge I’m not an expert) there is much more that ClassDojo could do to be more compliant. They are certified as an approved company under the US-EU and US-Swiss Safe Harbor frameworks. They are COPPA and FERPA compliant too. They have detailed information about their privacy practices on their privacy centre page which can be found here: https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/privacycenter/. They’ve even won awards in recognition of their transparent privacy and data practices. Additionally, they have some great guides to demonstrate the lengths they go to to meet privacy requirements:

It seems much more likely to me that Phippen is referring to the concern (one of which I share) about compliance and regulations for schools in relation to data protection and privacy of student data.

Given the many features of ClassDojo to develop positive engagement in the classroom; from sharing pictures of great work using such features as ClassStory, to opening up communication channels between parents and home or the fact that as a class you can choose what positive behaviours children can be rewarded for; it’s a really great tool to promote good learning in the classroom.

So, why am I an ambassador? It’s not for the money as I don’t get paid. I have got a t-shirt though, I have to say. I’m an ambassador for ClassDojo because I know the impact it can have on learning and like I have for many years, I want to share what it can do. Just as I am an ambassador for Book Creator and why I advise countless other technology companies and their products such as Explain Everything and Kahoot. It’s not for money, although I am sure I could charge a pretty penny, but because I believe in them and I’ve seen first-hand the positively powerful impact they can have on our young people.

You can find the original article I quote from here.

The post Positively Powerful Impact appeared first on ICTEvangelist.


Social images create social engagement

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It’s not any secret that I like a good graphic. There are a number of apps that can help you create great graphics, just from your iPhone or iPad and I’ve talked about a number of them in the past such as Typorama and Wordswag. Don’t get me wrong, you can create some great images still with both of these, but something else has been grabbing my attention and making me reach for my iPhone.

Research shows that images in social media have about 70% more engagement than those without, so why wouldn’t you want to make something good?

I tweeted the image below, made using Typorama….

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…within 5 hours of tweeting the image, check out the stats:

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Most people won’t use social media for this purpose and I don’t really, although I do find it interesting. Many do though and I’m a firm believer in the thinking that if you’re going to do something, you should at least try to do it well. As my first ever HoD will tell you, I’m no graphic designer, but I have taught myself and pushed myself through some great learning opportunities to develop my knowledge of what actually works. Why wouldn’t you want what you do to look good?

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Anyone who’s anyone in the world of graphics knows however that Adobe really do rule the roost when it comes to all things graphics. Their big brother programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator etc all have little brother versions for mobile. If you take a look at the App Store, you’ll find Adobe probably have more apps on there than Apple themselves.

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One that I’ve used a fair amount in recent months is the free App from Adobe called Adobe Post. It utilises Adobe’s great eye for a great looking modern image into a simple to use interface with creative commons image searching and great layout options. One thing that stopped me coming back for more was the fact that it only allowed you to create square (1 x 1) images. In their latest update however, they’ve included layouts for most key social media types; namely: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook Ads, Blog posts, Facebook covers, Twitter headers, LinkedIn banners, YouTube thumbnails and more.

Here are some visualisations / banners etc I’ve made recently:

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I hope you’ll agree with me when I say they look pretty good. I will admit to having some skill in making them, but for the most part it’s actually the software that makes it easy. With its intuitive interface, great colour selections for the text that are based upon the colours that are already on the source image – the results are great.

So, the next time you’re looking to make a banner for your blog post or to send a message via social media, why not have a look at Adobe Post? I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the results!

Enjoy!

The post Social images create social engagement appeared first on ICTEvangelist.

Office Lens app for great note snapping in class

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In a series of great little apps for the classroom, please enter Microsoft’s Office Lens app (Android / iOS) which is free.

Simply put, rather than taking a normal photograph of a document or whiteboard using your mobile device, open Office Lens and it will capture the document / board by using edge detection software and take a brilliant image from the photo. For photos taken at an angle, the software will flatten out the image to make it more legible too.

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Scan whiteboards

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Scan documents

Simply swipe across to choose the document / image type, take the photo and let Office Lens do the rest of the work for you.

The results are pretty nifty!

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Image captured with Office Lens

Is this an app for learning? Probably not in the truest sense, but does it help note recording and keeping records of key elements of lessons or worksheets or other learning points from the classroom? Yes, absolutely.

There are a variety of decent output options too:

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So there you have it.

A great little app for the classroom.

The post Office Lens app for great note snapping in class appeared first on ICTEvangelist.

VR Lessons on iPad

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One of my favourite apps for learning is ThingLink. I’ve blogged about it a number of times. With an iPad and Android app plus the ability to use it in browser too, it meets one of my requirements for a great app for learning:

  1. It’s super simple to use
  2. It works across the age ranges
  3. Learning outcomes generated are massively scalable with a low effort, high impact ratio.

This post isn’t about the ThingLink app though!

In the March episode of #AppShareLive (visit here to see his presentation), John Hart demonstrated the beta of ThingLink incorporating VR. Lo and behold a few weeks later and ThingLink have launched ‘VR Lessons’ on the app store. Compatible with iPad and iPhone you can use the screen to experience the different learning opportunities or you can pop your phone into a Google Cardboard. It’s a bit annoying to work with the app in Cardboard as you need to be able to tap the screen to learn about the different elements and that means taking the iPhone out.

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They describe the app as being “a collection of stunning interactive 360 image and video journeys on a variety of topics including science, language, and arts. Take your children to places they could only dream of exploring. This app gives wings to their imagination!” but with the app costing £3.99 and only 5 experiences available currently you might be left wondering if the app is worth the outlay when in essence there isn’t much more there than what you can get for free via airpano.com.

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I think it’s more of a ‘watch this space’ option at the moment. They say that more content will be added each month and there are going to be opportunities to access a ThingLink VR editor to create your own experiences – now this part is *really* interesting.

Watch this space!

You can download the app from the App Store here.

The post VR Lessons on iPad appeared first on ICTEvangelist.

6 apps with lots of ideas for learning in 7 minutes

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I discussed recently with someone that my blog was more about sharing technology ideas than a resource but they argued back that whilst much of what I write about it recommendations for tools that will work in the classroom, the resources and ideas that spark from the ideas shared here are really worthwhile. I guess that might be what resonates with the various readers of my blog.

Back in 2015 I did some work with RM that led to me working with teachers and student digital leaders from Elm Park Primary School in London. A few months ago, one of the teachers got in touch and asked if I could create a short video for their RTC Teachmeet event at the school and so I was happy to oblige.

Please find my video presentation with 6 or so app ideas with learning ideas attached to them below. The video lasts just under 7 minutes. I hope you find it helpful.



The post 6 apps with lots of ideas for learning in 7 minutes appeared first on ICTEvangelist.

The periodic table of iPad Apps

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I was recently inspired by Sean Junkins’ (@sjunkins) periodic table of iPad Apps. I thought it was a really useful too – being able to map Apps to activities – I thought it a really helpful too. With that in mind, I wanted to be able to use it as...

How to use WordSwag for iOS

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Literacy is a big deal. One way that many teachers promote literacy in their classroom is through the use of technology to create good looking word resources to put on the wall. One such app that allows for this is ‘WordSwag’. Normally I would be looking for the free option...

Tickle: Program Drones, Sphero, Arduino from this iPad App

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It’s been on my radar for some time now but I haven’t really had the opportunity to blog about it yet. Tickle, a free App for iPad works just like Scratch.   Essentially, you can use the Tickle App to program a variety of different connected (via Bluetooth) devices. These...

Starting a new term, why not look at @ClassDojo?

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If you know me you’ll probably know I am a big fan of ClassDojo and have been for many years now. It is a fantastic tool for home / school communication and for developing positive engagement within your classroom. I am not going to spend time in this post extolling...

Paper by 53 gets a facelift and now on iPhone

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  I’ve been a fan of Paper by 53 for years. When I first got it, you had to pay for the extra tools, so I got them. Then they added in colour mix, so I bought that too. The design was simply so beautiful and it was so intuitive...

Positively Powerful Impact

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0
I read an article this week about tracking behaviour in school. I think that tracking pupil behaviour is a good thing. Attitudes towards learning have a massive impact upon how much learning actually takes place. Different schools have different approaches and that’s fine, you don’t have to do it digitally...

Social images create social engagement

0
0
It’s not any secret that I like a good graphic. There are a number of apps that can help you create great graphics, just from your iPhone or iPad and I’ve talked about a number of them in the past such as Typorama and Wordswag. Don’t get me wrong, you can...

Office Lens app for great note snapping in class

0
0
In a series of great little apps for the classroom, please enter Microsoft’s Office Lens app (Android / iOS) which is free. Simply put, rather than taking a normal photograph of a document or whiteboard using your mobile device, open Office Lens and it will capture the document / board by...

VR Lessons on iPad

0
0
One of my favourite apps for learning is ThingLink. I’ve blogged about it a number of times. With an iPad and Android app plus the ability to use it in browser too, it meets one of my requirements for a great app for learning: It’s super simple to use It...

6 apps with lots of ideas for learning in 7 minutes

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I discussed recently with someone that my blog was more about sharing technology ideas than a resource but they argued back that whilst much of what I write about it recommendations for tools that will work in the classroom, the resources and ideas that spark from the ideas shared here...

5 interesting ways to use your iPad without wifi as a teacher

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Many apps on the iPad work without any wifi at all. We have become accustomed to being connected when working with access to a plethora of resources because an internet connection is just part of our everyday working lives now, but sometimes it isn’t available. Many of the apps that...

Break down your classroom walls with this groundbreaking app

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When I first heard about Google Expeditions I was super excited. I love using 360’s in the classroom. One minute you can be on a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi and the next minute you can be on the Great Barrier Reef swimming amongst the corals....

Making a difference to AFL with iPad

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As posted the other day when I shared my ‘Making IT work with iPad’ post, I am currently working through sharing my different presentations from #BETT2017. This post will contain my presentation that looked at different tools you can use on your iPad to support AFL in the classroom. One...

Making your life as a teacher easier… much easier

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As promised, here is another of my presentations from #BETT2017. This time I was looking at tools that you can use on your iPad or other iOS device to make your life as a teacher easier… much easier. Focusing primarily on free tools from Apple, the keynote involved me discussing and...

The AR app for the Science classroom?

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I’ve long been a fan of using augmented reality and virtual reality too. So much so I wrote a book about it (free on iBooks Store here and whilst a bit old now, it’s still quite helpful, I feel). Things have moved on a gear since that book and I’m seriously...
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