Most teachers in Ireland have been there! We all know the scenario! A typical miserable, wet winter’s Friday afternoon and the pupils haven’t been to the yard at lunch time. The classroom is gloomy, the pupils are restless and the going home bell is still a good two hours away! An ideal opportunity to take the […]
Virtually Anywhere Read More »
The need for joined up thinking in relation to the use of digital technology in our education system In late October the High Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education published their latest report to the European Commission on New modes of learning and teaching in higher education. This is the second report from
Joining the Dots…Digital Technology in our Education System Read More »
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
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 »
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 »
CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) has a mission to help North American education leaders understand the power of educational technology to improve teaching and learning in first and second level schools in the United States and Canada. CoSN sent a delegation to visit Portugal last October (18 to 26 October 2013) to learn at first
CoSN – Reinventing Learning in Portugal: An Ecosystem Approach Read More »
I recently came across a free online course from HP! It’s a 5 module / 5 hour course with some interesting content. Ok! Up front! It’s definitely aimed at the American education sector as it constantly refers to the new US Common Core State Standards (CCSS), especially in module 2; however as I mentioned in
Teaching with Technology Read More »
As Spring comes to an end and the Easter holidays are upon us I have just finished teaching my sixth class pupils the SPHE strand Looking After My Body. The content objectives as taken from the excellent NCCA Planning Tool were: The child should be enabled to identify and discuss the physical and
SPHE – 5th & 6th Class – Knowing About My Body Read More »
