That was my reaction when I saw RMLightbox’s RMEasimaths. Its like RM Maths online. But with oh so much more…

In my work as an ICT AST I get frequent briefs based around using ICT to support Maths. There are several things I recommend, one being the proven RM Maths. Yes it’s old but it personalises and supports learning and has a track record of impacting on attainment. I always felt it was limiting though. Not the program itself but the fact that it was PC based. That means that you are relying on class computers to offer frequent use and it makes classroom organisation a little trickier to roll it out across a school if you want the majority of children to benefit from its use.

Fast forward a decade and welcome RM Easimaths to the scene. The first thing that made my eyes open wide when I came across this premium product was that it was based online. Shouldn’t make that much difference should it? Wrong. It makes ALL the difference. Online means you are not restricted by classroom PCs. Our school has invested in 6 tablets for each class and Flash based tablet compatibility is on its way to RM Easimaths meaning that each class will have the ability to use 10 machines (teacher laptop, 3 class PCs and 6 tablets) at a time when using the program. So as a class teacher I just need to organise my day so that there are 3 x 15 minutes sessions where RM Easimaths is the focus and everyone in my class will have frequent access. Obviously not everyone has the luxury of having 6 tablet machines within their grasp but many schools have netbooks and a growing number do have access to tablets and there is no reason that if Maths is a school improvement target that they cannot be deployed within each classroom rather than in a trolley for one class to use at a time.

The other HUGE impact of making RM Easimaths online is home access. If you are lucky enough, as we are, to sit in a catchment area with decent home access (again, any Flash enabled device will do) then you can offer home access to your pupils. We plan to roll out RM Easimaths as homework for Maths across school from September. There are 3 reasons:

1. It personalises learning. What’s better quality homework that will actually impact on Maths attainment, a worksheet that the whole class get (or differentiated 3 ways if you are lucky) or a personalised learning experience that gives feedback and adapts and changes right there and then.
2. Teachers don’t need to spend a minute setting it. And you are going to know that what your children are accessing is appropriate for them at whatever stage of learning they are at. You can’t really ask for much more than that.
3. The ability to look at reports and problems that the program flags up for each child. We plan to expect teachers to check weekly on progress and then use the information the package gives to follow up misconceptions and learning barriers in class with individual, groups and the whole class where necessary. For us this supports the move we are making to further tailor learning so that all children are given accurately differentiated work with clear next steps that will help them make good, ney, outstanding progress.

Outside being online it is clear the package has had a complete re-write front end and back. The characters and engagement are fantastic with my particular favourite being this rather sinister monkey…

Where the program is similar to the original RM Maths is that if you answer a question incorrectly the package will support and adjust so that in your next logins you are presented with the same type of skill. Continuing incorrectly makes the package regress the child to an earlier skills and likewise answering consistently correctly moves the skill level higher.

Below are examples of the types of questions that are given.

The final cog in the wheel is the ability to interrogate the data the RM Easimaths stores in the form of reports. One excellent feature here is the ability to create groups from any children within the system, so you could have classes but you could also have KS1 and KS2 girls, more able year 2s, free school meals etc. Even though the reporting is still in its infancy, you can currently get to problems that children have flagged up and therefore lead follow up sessions in class with those children based on their performance on RM Easimaths, now that is proper linked up technology married together with quality first teaching that will really make an impact.

Whilst it is early days for the package and for our use, it is clear that RM Easimaths has a huge potential to support children’s development in Maths. I plan to publish new posts in the Autumn term both in terms of the impact in my classroom and implementation across school. Personally, I can’t wait to start using it on the Blackberry Playbooks we have, as it should be a marriage made in heaven!

In short, the introduction of 6 handheld devices for every class from Y1 to Y6 (72 in total) with the goal of primarily impacting on standards in Literacy and Maths. The plan is to extend this to Foundation stage when possible.

You may have read a detailed previous post on the plan to introduce the Samsung Galaxy Tab into school (which turned into netbooks in the interim simply due to cost). Unfortunately, they remain cost prohibitive. However, one device that had previously been overlooked by both consumers and educators slashed its prices to the point where they have become comparable with an average netbook. That device? The Blackberry Playbook. “What?!” I hear you cry. You heard correctly. Why? Here goes:

Whilst I would love a 10 inch screen, the 7 inch playbook has a great resolution and is fit for purpose (1:1 use and as a tool for group work). It is also extremely portable, pretty robust (we are still maximising this with screen protectors and cases).

Primary purpose: to give learners frequent access to websites that form our custom learning platform (Digital Wings). Part of the vision for use is it actually doesn’t matter what the device is, as long as you can access the same materials whether it be a tablet, laptop, PC or home computer etc. So bye bye IPad as an option with its glittering apps and distinct lack of Flash support. Hello to sites such as @zondle, @busythings, @educationcity, @sumdog, @bugclub, Oxford Owl, ICT Games and TES Iboard.

Furthermore, at the risk of erupting the wrath of a thousand fanboys, often IPad apps can take precedent over learning objectives and become activity led. I would go as far as saying that whilst the world goes crazy over apps (don’t get me wrong, my IPhone is full of them), the apps model is an updated ‘install CD rom model’, with licenses and lots of time installing things. I would argue the true revolution is in web apps, which don’t require installing or license costs (unless purchasing a subscription service). Certainly there are exceptions where apps enhance learning brilliantly and IPads are clearly making an impact in some schools, such as at @xannov’s school in Nottinghamshire but for the context we find ourselves at our school, one that I am sure is familiar in many, we need to drive standards up in Maths and Literacy. And when I say standards I mean SAT results at KS2. My thoughts on SATS as a measure of learning and the use of the results by Ofsted is a whole other ball game (or post, if you will) but I am pragmatic enough to know that without consistently good to outstanding SATS results and with raising standards in Literacy and Maths the main target of the School Improvement Plan, you need to ensure 95% of the use of technology is focused on impacting directly on Literacy and Maths. The other 5% less directly but still impacting.

Sure there are a few setup issues on the Playbook (currently having issues updating to 2.0 which has an Android emulator so certain apps will run on the playbook such as the Kindle app. I know I know I’ve just been banging on about how apps are not the be all and end all. Just wait for the next paragraph…)

So I’ve talked about the primary purpose of the devices, accessing www.wldps.com/digitalwings, but you can do that from any Internet based device right? (well, except all the Flash based stuff on an IPad, of course) Firstly, touchscreens are more intuitive for children. Fact. Secondly, the added value you get from a tablet is a camera, video, etc bundled in. Thirdly, apps can do a very useful job. For example, even on the limited Blackberry App World you can still find a remote control app so a teacher or child can control a desktop machine and therefore an interactive whiteboard display from anywhere. You can still get blogging apps so if you are a school that blogs, children can access and create from the device. You can still get online storage apps such as Dropbox or Box.net so you can easily serve up files to all Playbooks (by the by, you can access all Playbook user files wirelessly from your computer). You can access neiche technologies that have learning potential such as a QR code reader (see this post on using QR codes with targets). All the type of apps mentioned have learning, classroom organisation or pedagogical change at their heart. Fourthly (you remember we are still counting, right?) that 5% of less direct impact on Literacy and Maths. For example, you’re a child in a Maths lesson on column addition. You don’t understand the success criteria as you have forgotten some of the steps. So you ask your partner. They don’t know either. Your teacher is working with another group and although you know they will come over soon(ish) you need help now. So you and your partner grab the Playbook that is on your table, click on an icon that takes you straight to a Vimeo video showing the steps to carry out column addition. You pause, rewind and watch a couple of times before you and your partner have another go and work out where the steps you missed were. You get the success criteria and make progress. Good progress. Possibly even outstanding progress!

The above example shows just one way a bank of handheld devices could change learning across a school. You could do the same with netbooks, but tablets are just that bit quicker to come out of standby, that bit quicker to access the content you want and that bit more child friendly to use which in my mind adds up to better learning. You could take things further, getting children to record videos of themselves and their partner going through the success criteria and a couple of examples. This would check learning as well as create a growing resource (obviously as a teacher you would check the quality of the steps given) to share with other learners. Pretty good assessment for learning. And that is just one idea (video tutorials). One tablet function (video). One website (Vimeo).

Now there may come a time in the future where Flash isn’t used on tablets (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15648899) which might throw a spanner in the works until all websites adopted html5 (or 6 by then probably). But whilst planning for the future is essential, you can’t live your strategic planning by a never ending list of ‘what ifs’. The tablets might not last more than 3 years but this is a 3 year plan! If there is no measurable impact at the end of that time, it won’t continue. If there is a significant impact (which I firmly believe there will be), a next generation (IPad 6 anyone?) tablet might be the perfect all round learning device in a technology that will have matured considerably. Hopefully the impact in 3 years will be so significant (alongside other measures being taken) that the focus can shift from 95%/5% to 80/20 or beyond in which case some of those lovely IPad apps might be more appealing (whilst still focused on learning and not the activity) and Flash might not be so critical.

So in conclusion, I am extremely excited by the opportunities widespread handheld devices will provide for the children in our school and although it is a long journey to really transform learning, I can’t wait to get started and will of course be sharing the difficulties and successes as we travel onwards!

Beyond questions Zondle has a unique Phonics Builder which allows you to create content to support basic skills in reading and writing and that is at the core of my use within our school. Below is a streamline way of getting Zondle making an impact in your classroom.

Getting your pupil data in

Send you the details of those you want set up to use Zondle to doug.lapsley@zondle.com using their specific teacher and children spreadsheets (At some point this will all be possible to do online from within the system). You can do this manually but they have excellent customer support and are very quick at setting everything up. Consider how you want to use Zondle in your classroom and across your school when sending off the details. I originally set up our school with 1 ‘group’ for each year group but am now extend this to have different ‘groups’ set up for each ability group in class. That way I can personalise the experience more and target specific content (topics) at specific groups of children. Don’t worry too much though as once the data is in the system you can change everything around later on as you can see from the school manager screen shot below. It’s all drag and drop with the handy feature on the list of learners on the right of being able to start to type in a childs name and the list will dynamically filter, only showing the child you are after which makes adding to groups pretty quick.

Setting up content for children to use Zondle

If you have made content you will see it on the left as soon as you log in. The other ways to find content (as you can use other peoples) is to click on ‘my friends’ in the green drop down list (top right) or to use the search box to search everyone’s public content. As I have created a huge amount of content to support Letters and Sounds using the phonics builder (if I do say so myself) the plan for my school is for all teachers to ‘friend’ me in the system and then they will have easy access to all the content I have made. The great thing is so can you. With anyone’s content, mine or otherwise.

Once you have found the content you want to add, simply roll over the green ‘+’ icon and click ‘class ready allocations’ and tick the group associated with you as a teacher to be able to have access to that content. Job done.

Removing content previously set for children

I have started to use Zondle on a daily basis in the classroom and so need to regularly change the content I am making available for children. To do this roll over the green drop down list (top right) and choose ‘my class’ then ‘learner progress’ and choose yourself from the drop down list of teachers in your school. A list of the content currently set for groups in your class will now be displayed on the left. To remove the set content, roll over the content (topic) green ‘+’ and press ‘class ready allocations’ and untick.

Getting the children using Zondle Junior

A major development of Zondle that I have been proud to be a part of is the ‘Junior’ element. This gives Primary children a more tailored environment to their needs. Zondle Junior removes all the Facebook, Youtube links of the standard version and generally makes everything nice and ‘Primary’. It allows children to use their username and password at home in a safe environment to carry on with content you have set for them. More than this though, If you login to Zondle Junior in the classroom with your teacher account, or choose Zondle Junior from the green drop down (top right) you will be presented with a list of groups that you are associated with which the children can just click to access their account. In other words there is no need for them to type in their username and password so their time actually learning on the system is maximised. It also means you don’t have to worry when children need support logging in as they just click there Zondle avatar after choosing their group.  To give maximum flexibility I would recommend hunting out a great function buried in your teacher options in the standard Zondle version. To get there, roll over the green drop down (top left) and choose ‘my profile’ then on the left click ‘my preferences’. Ticking the bottom option means that when you log in to Junior with your teacher account it will stay logged in. It also pretty much gets round the ‘time out’ issue as well. This means that if you load up the next day and visit Junior your children can hop straight on without you logging in. If you use Zondle then have lunch and a PE lesson before coming back to using Zondle, you are still logged in and the children can jump straight on. Your account is still protected as if you are logged into Junior and click back the the standard version, you are asked to log in again (stopping the children from accessing any other data). Below are screenshots when you log in to Junior with your teacher account and when you click a group:

If you would like to gain access to the content packs (topics!) I have created using the Zondle phonics builder (covering everything from phase 2 to 5) to support early writing and phonetic awareness, search for me (primarypete) in Zondle and add me as a friend.

So what are you waiting for? Get it set up and used in your classroom today!

This day seems to have been a long time coming. I’ve always wanted handheld devices in our classrooms but since the IPhone with its slick touch screen interface and fairly easy use of the internet there are more plausable reasons than ‘well it would be cool’ and ‘it’s how children learn these days’. Having a tactile and intuitive piece of hardware that brings the power of the internet and beyond (ie apps) to the classroom is a leap forward. Those saying what’s wrong with netbooks I would say they are cost effective at getting 1 to 1 devices into the classroom but I don’t believe them to be particularly tactile or intuitive and would go as far as labelling them a touch clumsy and frustrating (certainly for younger children). Although one word of caution is some Flash content is a bit touch and go with any tablet (generally drag and drop functions which make the tablet screen scroll rather than the flash content. I expect this will be generally ironed out in new content as tablets become more commonplace).

But you need more than a fantastic piece of hardware to impact on learning. I’m leaving the notion of enthusiasm to use the devices out of the equation here. I know the children will be engaged in their learning but long term any technology should be so integrated and familiar that there should only be a minimal ‘buzz’ in its use.

You need a clear strategic plan for how the impact will take place. Beyond ‘we can get some cool apps like Garage Band and they can make their own music’. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with Garage Band, IPads or schools using the app based approach as long as their plan stems from requiring the devices used to support cross curricular/creative/high engagement learning.

For my school setting the strategic  plan is slightly different. It’s true it would be great to use tablets for creative uses but the priority is to impact on basic skills, which I wrote about back in March here. I want our 2 form entry school to have a year group set of 6 devices which they can share between the 2 classes. Tablets in KS1 and either tablets or netbooks in KS2. The tablets would be used 1 to 1 but more often 2 children to 1 device. I have always taken the approach that sharing, collaborating and supporting each other’s learning is not only cheaper but also creates more effective learning than having a suite of computers 1 to 1. The devices would be used primarily for free based internet resources such as Zondle and ICT Games as well as specifically chosen subscription services such as Busy Things. This means that a tablet that runs Flash is essential (bye bye IPad). Which brings me neatly onto another reason I am taking the internet over apps approach. Apart from the fact they generally cost money, getting apps used well throughout a school will be more problematic than getting consistent use of quality internet sites. Teachers are not all familiar with apps, may require training etc whereas every teacher is familiar with using websites and therefore the fact that they are on a touch screen device as opposed to a laptop or desktop should create the minimum amount of barriers for teachers to use the devices to impact on learning. And don’t get me started on syncing.

I see the implementation of use as being short, frequent bursts of use where, for example, children go on for 5 to 10 minutes each day to develop, refine and consolidate either phonic, reading and mental math skills. Children need to over learn these basic skills and this approach would allow them to achieve success on a daily basis. So every day, in phonics and literacy sessions, children would come and practice phonics and other reading skills for 5 to 10 minutes. In maths lessons they would be used with a specific group of children for the session. In other lessons either phonics, reading or mental maths skills will be the focus for 5 to 10 minutes.

So what device will deliver all the above? In my mind it has to be an Android device. Whilst apps are currently not important, I would like to keep future options open and I think devices like the HP and Blackberry tablets are pretty much non starters for apps. The Android marketplace will mature. Now, there will always be something better just around the corner but right now (August 2011) the current crop are:

Motorola Zoom (way to expensive, heavy and fairly clunky)

Acer Iconia Tab (a cheaper Zoom)

Asus eeePad Transformer (not stylish or light but cost effective and with the option of a keyboard dock that acts as a second battery, a real option)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (light, fairly cost effective, keyboard option and Honeycomb 3.1 but no second battery)

So it’s a straight shoot out between the Asus eeePad Transformer and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. A big factor in deciding was using the information the children I taught last year gave me (5 and 6 year olds) about the RM Slate and Motorola Zoom which I was fortunate enough to test with them for a couple of days. Their review? They loved the idea of the devices but both were far too heavy and the RM Slate was simply unusable. They had no such problem with the Zoom’s Honeycomb operating system. I assumed they would rather have a smaller device that they could hold in their hands but they were very clear that they wanted a large tablet that they could use with a stand but also have the option of having in their hands.

Where does that leave us? Basically, is the Galaxy tab worth £40 per device more? I think so. It’s got newer technology (it was based on competing with the iPad 2), looks better, is significantly lighter, thinner (easier for small hands to hold) and also has Honeycomb 3.1 which has the advantage of proxy settings being built in so that when you connect to a school network you have the option of adding proxy details. Any downsides? I’m not sure about it’s robustness so would need a decent case for each and has an IPad style non-standard connection (which we will not really need anyway) … and that’s about it. Other small things that help are the loudness of the speakers (on each side rather than the back or bottom or somewhere less than ideal for Primary children) and the headphone jack is on the top so it’s unlikely to be damaged. And the crispness of the display is rather lovely.

So I will be purchasing 12 Galaxy Tabs for our school after the summer holidays, 6 each for year 1 and 2. Our second mobile laptop suite will be disbanded so year 3 and 6 will be set up with 6 each and then if all goes well, next year devices will be purchased for the missing year groups.

So what do you think? Is now the right time to purchase a tablet over a netbook? Does the Galaxy tab do it for you? If you are after something smaller the 8.9 inch version is just around the corner. Do you have any concerns with the strategic approach being taken? I’d love to hear what people think.

Finally, below are some screen shots of the Galaxy tab running various things (click for bigger images). The children in our school when loading the internet will be taken to ‘Digital Wings’ (our custom built learning platform which is basically a set of links on speedtile).

Zondle (most games work with the tablet – a couple that use drag and drop or a spacebar don’t)

Busy Things (a few things don’t work work – dragging and dropping mainly but lots does as well)

Click here to watch a video of Zondle being used on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Now I admit to being behind the game in terms of using blogging in school but it just hasn’t fitted with our school improvement plan and so even now we are taking things baby step by baby step. However I have done quite a bit of research into which platform would produce the response required to make blogging a success and impact on learning. In short, Posterous allows anyone with an email address to submit a post, which can then be moderated. This gives huge flexibility for children to post to a class blog and makes things incredibly easy for teachers to start posting. In other words if you can send an email you can and are blogging.

What’s the purpose? Well for us the primary reason to start blogging is to improve levels of communication between home and school. Previously this has been carried out through our old learning platform, text messages, posters on doors and letters. I want us to move to a place where letters still go out but are also uploaded onto our school website, text messages are sent as reminders for things and prompting parents to look at work on our school’s class blogs which would become a one stop shop for everything related to that class. That would be it. No more posters. No miscommunication. Everything in 1 place for busy parents to find. I know that once our staff begin to use the class blogs as a method of informing parents about events etc that it is only a small jump to them using it to share examples of learning. For want of a better phrase, a window into the classroom. The premise for impact on learning being that parental engagement will increase and therefore an increased dialogue will be created between parent and child related to their learning and subsequently the support of learning. Down the line I would love to regularly get individual children blogging by sending emails to their class blog, creating a real audience and purpose for their work, particularly writing. All this can be done using the simple elegance of the Posterous platform without having to spend hours training or administrating. Yes it’s true that because all the class blogs are registered under the same account that I have to moderate all posts but as things take off I can very easily set it so that teachers posts do not need to be moderated and/or I can set up teachers as moderators of their own class blog, whilst I can still oversee everything. There are other free and cost effective solutions out there but purely for ease of use and functionality, Posterous takes some beating.

Not convinced? Ok – here goes… Not only can you blog via email but you can get your Posterous blog to automatically post (Autopost if you will) to other sites you tell it to, eg the schools main blog or a school twitter account. So I have set up our PTA with a blog that noone ever sees but they can use by sending an email to an address and then it will automatically be autoposted to our school website. To be honest, I would consider ditching the WordPress school blog/website in favour of a slightly more limiting look of a Posterous blog if it wasnt for the fact that it has already been introduced!

Still unsure? Right – how about creating a good practice Posterous blog that any of your school’s teachers can contribute to by just sending an email. Or a Digital Leaders website where children could share their expertise in helping around school with various tasks or a child run school council blog all contributed to by the simplicity of an email?

Still not convinced? Ok. I have nothing left! Maybe you could add other uses as comments below?

If you would like to read more about the Kidsmeet structure or find out how to set up your own, visit the wiki here or website here.

Onto the event!

My parallel class teacher and I took four Year 1 children to meet up with a dozen other schools participating, not forgetting a school in Birmingham who were going to use Skype to connect virtually. We hadn’t practiced our presentation much before the day so there was a lot of hard work during the morning by the children, with a little direction from me, to get them ready to present to over 100 other children and teachers. The car journey was an excitable affair, as was our arrival but luckily @joga5 who had driven over 300 miles to compare the event had thought of every eventuality and brought along a superb selection of picture books to read. We arrived early in case any help was needed with setting up but the school’s Head teacher, @smichael920 and the aforementioned @tomsale and @mister_jim had everything well under control. The event itself kicked off with a presentation by children from Hawes Side and what stuck out to me was the impeccable behaviour of all the children in the audience, showing respect and a great attitude when listening to every presentations. I think this was due to the diverse range and style of presentations, the marvellous comparing by @joga5 and the intrigue for the children not knowing what was coming next.

In the first half school after school came and went giving good accounts of themselves with presentations ranging from Powerpoints written, created and read out by the children to singing and drama games to the virtual presentation from @oliverquinlan‘s class in Birmingham. Indeed after that virtual presentation it was our turn. We had decided to keep things geeky and simply go through how to use Aviary Education to edit images and create music, which we had used for our Cinderella and Pirate themes as well as for our school’s art exhibition. As the children were only Year 1 it was too much to ask them to do all this and explain how we used the package in our themes so we stuck to the geeky side of things. This allowed each of them chance to take control of the computer projecting to the room whilst the others explained the process using the provided microphone (a must have). After they had finished their presentation and received a very warm round of applause they strode off to receive goody bag items such as a t-shirt each from the ever awesome Zondle. The children were buzzing after this and when asked later about their favourite part they unanimously said ‘doing our presentation’, an experience which at 5 and 6 years old will stand them in good stead in further years. You can read and see more about our presentation on our class blog, here.

During the break there was a great selection of food an xbox stand to play on and a brief opportunity for teachers as well as children to chat before the second half began. a special mention has to go out to @chrismayoh’s class who had come all the way from Bradford to take part. Around about the same point, time had unfortunately progressed and so in true Teachmeet style the last few presentations were carried out with a smaller audience, which was a shame as they were 3 of the best. Luckily all the participating schools will be uploading their presentations and then having them available for viewing on the Kidsmeet website.

After closing comments including from two Australian Head teachers it was time to depart and return home. The next day I spoke to all the parents of the children involved and it was clear the impact the event had had on their child and the ability to give out the website containing pictures and a replay of the streamed event furthered the opportunity for parents to share in the children’s fantastic efforts.

So, in conclusion was the event a success? Yes. Definitely.
Will it need tweaking? Yes. Definitely.
Will it live long in the memory of everyone involved? Yes. Definitely.

A couple of stand out moments for me were Claremont’s braveness at getting up and singing individually in front of everyone (or year 1′s favourite of the first half), Chris Mayoh’s class’ ability when demonstrating Kodu and the last 3 presentations which were Tom Sale and @enomilies Mereside children talking about their digital pencil cases, @cjs76′s Flakefleet children who demonstrated pivot stick figures for animation and last but certainly not least, James Maloney’s (mister_jim) Staining children who had created a fantastic mixture of live interaction coupled with a clearly child driven video recording involving Brainpop’s Moby.

I was glad I could play a small part in organising the event, but huge credit in particular should go to @mister_jim as well as @tomsale and @smichael920 who were fantastic organisers and hosts.

A conversation that goes on at 8pm every Thursday related to a variety of UK educational issues. Find out more here and here and here.

Why participate in #ukedchat

To connect with other educators throughout the UK and beyond. To reflect on your own teaching and children’s learning. To share your views. To have your views challenged in a professional environment.

How to participate in #ukedchat

#ukedchat is a twitter hashtag. To participate you need to follow the hash tag in a search. You can do this in a variety of ways, for example on http://twitterfall.com or on the twitter website. By following all the tweets that occur with the hashtag #ukedchat you are reading all the conversations that are occurring concurrently. To join in and have your say you need to post a tweet and include the #ukedchat hashtag. If you want to reply to someone you need to also reply to them.

Example #ukedchat tweets

To get high SATS results you can be bored out of tiny mind and get there. To become a learner 4 life you most definitely can not. #ukedchat

@colport there is enough time to reflect. Just as with everything else it depends where you as a T put your time. #ukedchat

What to do after #ukedchat

Sometimes that is it until the following week. However nothing is stopping you or others continuing to use the #ukedchat hashtag and furthering a conversation beyond the fixed time. Sometimes other ideas come out of #ukedchat and filter off in their own direction. You really can get whatever you want out of it.

However, we have not been using ICT to regularly impact on basic skills beyond the occasional use of www.ictgames.com etc. There is good use of matching an objective to class computer use but the 3 computers in each class often lie dormant (including mine). The cold hard fact is that in general, we as teachers still believe that if are doing whole class sessions, then children are ‘missing out’ when they doing something else and would need our support coming back to independent learning without teacher input. We set up activities to support independent learning on class computers (not forgetting the interactive whiteboard) when we find something appropriate and more effective than what is possible without computers, so when we don’t, computers are not used. The extent we look for those little specks of gold dust will depend on individual teachers and the structures (their ‘go to’ sites) that they have been built in to their planning process over time.

In my opinion, this needs to change if we are to make a significant impact on basic skills. I’m talking phonics and spelling in Literacy, number facts and basic understanding of number in Maths. With the right software will the children really ‘miss out’ by using a class computer for 10 minutes each? Can their table partners not go through the modelling process with them? (Helping them check their own understanding at the same time) If this is the case you could set up class computers all day to focus on basic skills with the occasional switching to a well chosen objective focused learning activity. Personally, I’d have the focus being on Literacy as standard practice and switch it to Maths during a Maths lesson before switching back to Literacy for other lessons. Really all I am saying is just as with a teaching assistant, do we use them to support a learning objective with a specific group during a specific lesson or do we get them to support specific skills whatever the lesson, aka intervention groups etc. I’d love to hear from schools who already do something like this and whether it makes an impact, i don’t think what I am proposing is new or innovative, it just makes sense if a focus needs to be on basic skills.

Which brings me to the second part of this post. Hardware. With the finical constraints schools are now facing, as an ICT Leader I have a responsibility to ensure that every penny counts. We currently have no fixed ICT suite, instead we have 2 laptop suites with RM Mobile 1′s. These are used extremely well but inevitably, with PE, swimming or other lessons where laptops would not make a difference to learning, they are not used at full capacity. One of these trolley’s have laptops that are 4 years old and starting to creak. Which leaves me with 3 choices to put forward to our Head Teacher. Firstly, replace like for like as they die. This will ensure continuity of ICT Skills but be very expensive. Secondly, downgrade over time to 1 laptop suite. This will still allow ICT Skills to be taught (it would mean KS2 have laptops for half a day a week rather than a full day) but inevitably some of the cross curricular uses that were mentioned at the start of the post would suffer. It would also keep costs down. Thirdly, disband the older trolley, put 6 laptops in 2 year groups (2 classes in each) and as they die, replace with netbooks or as the hardware matures, tablets. This would be cost effective in terms of turnover of hardware at that stage but could end up being as expensive as 2 full laptop suites if it was then rolled out across all year groups to have 6 machines each. These machines could then be split between classes or each class could have the full 6 for particular lessons or days. It would also enable the basic skills provision outlined above to occur on more computers and therefore have a higher impact on learning. Either that or the 6 mobile devices would not be used along with the 3 class computers not proving good value for money! Of course, it is my job as an ICT Leader to ensure that does not occur and the use of the mobile devices sparks use class computers into life. It’s pretty clear which of the 3 I favour. I love the flexibility of mini mobile suites and am sure ICT skills would still be taught well with the one ‘high performing’ set of laptops in the mobile suite. I’m imagining a future with good value tablets, probably Android or Chrome OS based (Flash support all the way for me – sorry IPad lovers) and therefore primarily used for internet based free and well chosen cost effective sites such as Zondle and Sumdog as well as classics such as www.ictgames.com. I’d love to add something like The Bug Club which would turn the tablets into an engaging, structured independent reading device.Of course use of these devices would not be limited to basic skills support but to make a fast and large impact, this has to be the primary concern.

So what do you think? Have your school been supporting basic skills like this for years already? Do you think there are any significant reasons not to follow this path? All comments and views welcome!

Image Courtesy of robynlou8

The reason to do this? I want staff to be able to easily find software and Internet apps that they can use to support learning of ICT curriculum skills. I don’t want staff to be stuck with the same tools they have used for years when there are more engaging and progressive learning tools on offer. I also want details of progression to be within the Evernote notebook, supporting teachers understanding of the capabilities of learners.

So instead of the Google Doc that has previous had our ICT Curriculum, now there is a shared Evernote notebook. When a teacher wants to view their year group’s skills they click ‘Skills’ and then press ‘ctrl’ (which just as with Windows, allows other tags to be selected at the same time) and their year group.

To select skills for a particular area of ICT, press ‘ctrl’ and then click the area of ICT required in addition to the year group and ‘Skills’.

The real power comes if you uncheck ‘Skills’ which will show all skills and associated programs for that year group or uncheck ‘Skills’ and click ‘Applications’ (whilst holding ‘ctrl’) which will just show the application options for that year group, within the ICT curriculum area selected.

Over time I am planning to add additional supplementary information regarding possible learning outcomes, ideas, progression within each skill and each tool (tagged as applications), planning outlines and possibly the use of ICT in other subjects (particularly Literacy). I believe that if our staff get used to using this system it will provide all the necessary support and details required in the use of ICT in our school.

As part of the evidence gathering process for the AST assessment day it is requested that I show:

• Evidence of successful training, advice and support of colleagues beyond my school
• Evidence of continuing professional development and its impact on teaching and learning

I am always looking to develop my own practice and have always tried to share ideas and resources and support people through my experiences at classroom teacher and ICT Leader level. I am hoping that if you agree, you will be willing to send me a message on twitter outlining either of the above blue statements. If so, please:

• Send the message to @primarypete_
• Include the hashtag #peteictast in the message
• If you are not on twitter and would like to help, please leave a comment on this blog post

Thanks again for everyone’s continued support.