Educational Software

We started off today's ICT class looking at Inspiration, the latest version 8. We had previously used Inspiration Data as a graphing tool and I had been a big fan. This software seems equally user friendly. There are plenty of templates to use in a wide variety of lessons. We looked at the outline for a persuasive essay.

Two key tools are diagrams and mind maps. We had a play around with diagrams. They are like brain storms and a way of arranging ideas. There are plenty of ways to personalise your diagrams: colour, shape, pictures, line effects. 'Notes' can be added to individual items where more information is desired. These can be hidden or shown as required. The sub-headings can also be hidden which lends the Inspiration Diagram for use as a presentation tool. When each item is discussed it can be opened. Intriguing - I really felt powerpoint had the monopoly on presentations. I can see Inspiration as being a useful tool for me in teaching and planning, and also for the pupils to use for their own learning, particularly for allowing personal choice. It would particularly apply to visual learners. It always for careful structure and organisation in planning. Files can be saved as inspiration documents (.isf) or can be exported as a multitude of other types of file for word processing, powerpoints, graphics, web based. Sadly I don't believe my diagram is up to scratch to post on this blog!

We next moved onto looking at Textease Studio: a word processing tool but designed for school children - particularly suited for KS1 and early KS2. You can start typing anywhere on the blank page - not just the top left corner! A very cool tool is that it will read back to you what you have typed! - just click on the lips A-Z button at the top. You can also record your own sound if you had a microphone. Sadly I can't find a way to upload it onto the blog :-( A shame as I think my posts would be more interesting if there were more pictures in them. You can create branching trees that would be useful for classification. I have seen a pretty dry classification lesson in Year 6 - this would have made it more interesting, I believe. There are other features such as spreadsheets and flow charts, but they aren't as sophisticated as Excel or Inspiration.

My Use of ICT - Part 4: Everything else

I wanted to have a go at completing this set of blogs on My Use of ICT (part 1, 2, 3). hmmm, wonder if there is an easy way to link previous posts into this one. I am sure I have seen it done on other blogs. EDIT - I did not find an easy way to hyperlink to the posts. I published this post and then went back to copy the page for each of the others and linked them in turn, does not seem a very efficient way of doing it. Monty has said we don't need to write any more blogs till we are at our school placement in January, but I hope he doesn't mind that I am continuing - I have been enjoying keeping track of my ICT use.

Again I think this is a post that will be edited plenty as I think of more things to include. Although I do know otherwise, my first thought when thinking of ICT is still COMPUTERS, and it takes a while to think beyond that - hence the delay of this post. I have referred back to Monty's initial lecture for this.

I will start is MOBILE PHONES. Now, this post would have been very different if written in September. I had a phone that was capable of making calls and texts, but had no camera, Internet, music capabilities... But since then, I have very generously been given an iPhone 3G. I was quite in awe for a while never having been as technologically advanced as this and it took me quite a few weeks to begin to use it effectively. But now I must say, I love it and it's hard to think back to not having it. Some features that i really like (these aren't necessarily specific to the iPhone, but are new to me):

• being able to easily refer back to previous text conversations.
• being able to check my emails while out and about - though I have not been able to link my University email to it...
• having an ipod! never had one before but still think it's great to just have to carry my phone round with me and to have a crazy amount of music to listen to - and podcasts too! recently I had been using a diskman or walkman to listen to music or the radio on long journeys or if walking somewhere. That is something i would like to have on the iPhone - an ability to listen to the radio.
  
• keeping my photos on it, to be able to show people.
• being able to look up train times - i have just got an app that allows me to look at departure screens. I seem to do a fair bit of train travel so that will be useful. not generally got the hang of apps - any recommendations appreciated!
• i used the maps/GPS facility on my first trip into Southampton to find the bank. And on my first trip to the Isle of Wight, it was very useful in finding my school and exploring the island - when there was someone in the passenger seat to read it! As you can probably tell, I don't have a SatNav. I have seen them used and borrowed one on an occasion, but I guess it seems too expensive when I generally consider myself a good map reader/general follow my nose person and I print off the aarouteplanner directions if necessary.
• And I like the two finger zoom!
  

So, that covers the phone and ipod aspect of my ICT use. I think the rest will be pretty limited.

• I've never had a Nintendo, wii, game boy - any of those sorts of things. I have never massively craved them though i have played on friends' ones. But i don't think I've ever played enough to become good at them. I wonder how out of touch this will put me with my school children. Not enough out of touch to make me want to buy one though! i will just make the most of opportunities when i visit friends!
• TV - don't have one at uni. And as mentioned before, I don't make much use of iplayer and the like. At home we do have digital video recorder/personal video recorder - i don't understand what the technical term is, but it records to the hard disk, not onto individual DVDs or anything, and it has freeview. I love it and think it's invaluable - one of the best bits of technology and I'd recommend to everyone.
• programmable robots - not come across yet!
• digital radio. my mum won one in a raffle which she let me have. it did sound better than the analogue one i was using that i tended to have to put on its side to be able to listen to half-decently. But now the volume function seems to have gone and it only comes out pretty loud, so i have been listening to radio online instead.
  

Well, that's all i can think of for now - do suggest anything else I could mention.

CD Rom and DVD Software

The subject of today's ICT lesson was history and looking at the ways to use various forms of ICT. While working through the powerpoint presentation there was mention of Microsoft's Ancient Lands CD Rom. This is something I had at home when I was at Primary School and I do seem to remember enjoying using it. There were three sections on it: Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt - Ancient Greece was my favourite!! Each had pages on different aspects of life in that era. I suppose it was essentially like an encyclopedia but there were some sound effect buttons as well which were an exciting aspect.

I am pleased, yet surprised that these 'old' resources are still being recommended for use in schools today. I think that our copy of Ancient Lands is still in the study at home. I will have to have a look over Christmas. We also had Art Gallery, Dangerous Animals, a music one, and a few science related ones but I never really used those much (athough it didn't seem to stop me doing a chemistry degree!). What a feast of resources I may find at home! I'll have to look at them and have a play with them to decide how they might be used in today's classrooms. Stay tuned...

We also looked at some databases today. Pinpoint and viewpoint are both apparently common in schools, but neither are particularly user friendly. Monty recommends using InspireData instead. We used this for creating graphs in science and I found it excellent and very easy to use. Having used Excel and Origin for my science project last year which took a long time to learn, it was like a breath of fresh air to be able to use Inspire Data. The one-click ability to switch between graph types or data input, and the visual transformation between these was ideal.

The wealth of information that can be gathered from graveyards was highlighted today. I have been intrigued by graveyards for quite some time, loving the feast of info that can be found there. I was delighted to stumble across the Old Southampton Graveyard when walking through the common after starting uni here.

Logo Spider

This morning's ICT lesson was an introduction to the programming software, Logo. This is the spider in a web that Will, Lucy and I were very proud to create! Logo is an ideal constructivist learning tool as it provides the opportunity for trial and error. I'm intrigued as to which age this program will best suit, seeing as our group spend a long time on some of the tasks! I imagine it would be most suitable for KS2 children. Apparently it's free to download, but I haven't found where to do that yet. There is a detailed wikipedia page though!

Today's lesson did remind me of one aspect of teaching and learning that I want to reflect on. I do not do well under time pressure when 'competing' against other people. When told to create a square, or a triangle etc, I would immediately go into panic mode and my mind would just be thinking 'you've got to work it out, do it now', without thinking through the ways in which to achieve the task. I had confidence in my ability to be able to draw the triangle given the calm time work through it. But knowing that others would be working it out quicker, froze my brain. I guess I am just a competitive person. A logical conclusion I feel would be when setting tasks, to give a list of them to be worked through gradually at the learner's own pace, moving onto the next one when they were ready. But what about the theory of breaking down the tasks and not over-facing the learner at the start. A long list of activities can put anyone off even attempting in the first place. And what about the time issue element. You don't want children dawdling and not getting on with the task if they know there is no time limit. Surely there still has to be an incentive to get the job done?

One other thing we looked at in this lesson: EPS - Electronic Portfolio System. Another place that work can be saved. Also useful to have one more backup, especially at assignment time!