Before I trained to be a teacher, there was a huge shortage of qualified teachers in Ireland; so much so that when I finished my science degree in 2001, just in time for the dot com bubble to burst, I was able to get a teaching position in a school in Tallaght in Dublin. By […]
Remember Opus Illuminatus? Read More »
We have been using Skype in our school for video conferences between classes in our own school and classes in partner classes in two Comenius projects that we have engaged in with other European schools. In the early days we found that the technology wasn’t at all as reliable as it is today, connections often failed,
Skype in the Classroom Read More »
This is the question schools typically ask when they are considering investing in tablet devices for their schools. However, all too often this is not the right question to start with. A recent report (PDF) commissioned by the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS) and compiled by H2 Learning recommends that schools consider why
So what tablet should I buy? Read More »
Create beautiful tutorials with the tap of your finger. The ShowMe application is a dynamic presentation and creation application available on both iPad and Android tablets. ShowMe provides an iPad app and a web-based interface for accessing the ShowMe database as well as your own presentations. It is a free download from Android and App
ShowMe – A Dynamic Teaching Tool Read More »
Over the last number of years we have been working at improving different aspects of literacy in our school. In the area of writing, we have used First Steps Writing, in reading we have adopted First Steps Reading and have purchased subscriptions to Reading Eggspress for pupils in fourth to sixth class. To assist us
Vocabulary Spelling City Read More »
According to Wikipedia the term Web 2.0 was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999 and it was popularised by Tim O’Reilly at a conference in 2004. Teachers use Web 2.0 tools to engage pupils, to share their work with their peers and to present pupil work to a global audience. To a certain extent, Web
Exploring some cool Web 2.0 tools Read More »
Recently the OECD published their OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) results. A key product of the PIACC was the Survey of Adult Skills and it was designed to provide insights into the availability of some of the key skills in society and how they are used at work and at
Learning doesn’t stop when school finishes Read More »
Socrative (http://www.socrative.com) is a real-time response system that allows students to respond to questions seconds after they are posted by the teacher and will display the results for the teacher with the same rapidity. There are a number of points which make this an attractive piece of technology for education. Firstly, there is no need
Learning to code can be quite intimidating, especially for children, but visual tools can keep them engaged and learning. It’s for this reason that MIT Media Lab created and released Scratch back in 2006. It doesn’t require any lines of code to be written, and can be used by children as young as 8.
I love technology. It is constantly evolving and offering all of us new opportunities for learning and teaching. I admit that it’s sometimes very difficult to switch off my tech lust button but where possible I try to take a more pragmatic approach, my limited purchasing power dictating. Gadgets, despite their often seductive beauty, are
