There are 3 main companies vying for the crown of “best tablet” for primary schools. iPads took an early lead a couple of years ago but the emergence of Android and Microsoft tablets have made the world of tablet computing in schools a much trickier place than ever before. Before tablet technology, most computers in Irish […]
10 things all tablets have in common Read More »
Over the last few weeks, teachers and pupils alike have experienced difficulties searching online for videos on Youtube and images from Google images. This wasn’t expected, as we are currently on Level 4 of the Content Filtering whereby access to Youtube is allowed. It is quite understandable, that in the case of teachers who have been accustomed to sourcing educational
Schools Broadband Network – Youtube Videos and Google Images Blocked Read More »
As the summer holidays approach and the pupils in my class head off to different parts of the world and the country on their holidays the last thing they think about is maths! So over the last week we have being training up our Maths Eyes. So when they do leave I hope they will
Padlet (www.padlet.com) is without doubt one of my favourite Web 2.0 applications and one that I make a lot of use of. Simply put, Padlet is an online noticeboard or ‘sticky notes’ facility that lets you post text, weblinks, files and multimedia resources to a dedicated online ‘wall’ (the facility was formerly called ‘Wall Wisher’). Walls can
Every day in the world of IT and indeed education a new and improved app, website or learning tool is developed which promises the earth moon and stars. Promises to improve literacy and numeracy or develop fluency in the children. For me as an educator I am happy when something manages to engage a child
Remember Google Images? Read More »
At the moment in some Primary schools and Coder Dojo clubs there is raised interest in the new version of Scratch; this version can be accessed online at scratch.mit.edu. The new version has lots of wonderful features however the one major fault with is is that it is extremely difficult to use it on an
Anyone for Hopscotch? Read More »
There are a lot of great technology tools out there for teachers that can make it easier to connect with other educators, get ideas for classroom activities, and find resources and inspiration. One of the newest and best of these online tools is Pinterest, which has quickly become a favourite amongst educators. Pinterest has really
Poor MOOCs, they’ve taken a bit of a beating over the last year with many predicting their failure. The final verdict may be some time coming in, there is a way to go until we can reasonably measure the success or failure of MOOCS to democratize education and bring high quality online learning to the
The Internet is all-pervasive in today’s world and it is increasingly becoming an essential element of all our lives. There is now a real need to educate all in society on how to use this powerful technology in meaningful ways. All too often people only use it to navigate and consume other people’s ideas and
Web Literacy Classes from Mozilla Read More »
If you walk into most primary schools, you’ll find a vast array of different types of computers. There are a variety of operating systems on show, but it’s fair to guess that a large number of primary schools are running computers and laptops with Windows XP, which Microsoft announced it was ending its support for recently. (I feel
What does the end of XP mean for schools? Read More »