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Hi Clairemarie,
Welcome to the course. The issue you’ve experienced when posting affects participants who use Word to write their assignments and then copy and paste these into the forum and find that additional extraneous formatting is brought across. To avoid this, right click in the post window and choose ‘Paste as Plain Text’. Alternatively, you can first paste the content into Notepad (Or similar) and then copy it from here to the topic window.
Hi Jacqui,
Game-based learning and specifically Minecraft has huge potential in the classroom, providing open opportunities and possibilities to learn curricular content in new ways. It’a also great for building communication and collaboration and other important 21st century skills.
We have been running a blended EPV day course (Face-to-face and online) in association with Microsoft Education for a number of years now that examines the possibilities of the Education Edition. In fact there’s one scheduled for August 15th & 16th in Dream Space in MS HQ with the remainder online if you live within commutable distance. More info is available at Minecraft for Education August 15th & 16th – Teachnet.ie
Hi Celine,
Welcome to the course. As previously mooted on this forum, whilst PowerPoint is an extremely powerful presentation tool it can be overkill when recording simple digital stories. Content is always king, and pupils can focus on this when using Sway rather than be distracted by the bells and whistles of PowerPoint. The adage of ‘Horses for courses’ applies, start with what learning outcomes you want to achieve and then select the digital tool best suited…
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the course. Sway is a great app for digital stories and project work and could be used for digital portfolios as you’ve suggested. However, I would suggest using OneNote (Covered in Module 3) with the Class Notebook Add-in instead for this purpose. This provides a workspace for every student, content libraries, and a collaboration space for lessons and activities. It also integrates seamlessly with Teams. For more information on OneNote and Class Notebook see onenoteforteachers.com.
Hi Alana,
I think students with SEN were disproportionately affected by the recent lock downs and indeed had a more negative experience of emergency remote teaching in the main, anecdotally, more so than mainstream pupils. This I think was the case due to a combination of factors, probably most obvious, their greater need for the in-person support but also as you referenced the lack of/ absence of routine and whilst your school made every effort to address this where possibly digitally, the remote learning experience will always pale in comparison with the in-class, scaffolded learning environment SEN teachers create for their learners.
Hi Suzanne,
As already mooted many times on this forum, I’m very much a OneNote convert, primarily because of its remarkable versatility, it has so many uses in the classroom. You’ve mentioned differentiation and the inbuilt colour coding to improve organisational skills. In fact, OneNote offers so much for SEN teaching and not just the tools Immersive Reader provides. OneNote is ideal for student portfolios offering multi-modal recording options like audio, video and inking (For pen enabled tablet devices) giving pupils who struggle with text input options when it comes to recording their work allowing them to focus on the content.
Hi John,
I agree, OneNote is a great tool for digital notebooks and ePortfolios. In fact, I would liken OneNote to a Swiss Army Knife in digital terms. It is so flexible and adaptable and it can be put to work on a whole host of different learning tasks and works across all devices and platforms. Planning organisation, research, annotation (inking), collaboration and sharing, the list goes on…
On Immersive reader, I think it’s a game changer in assistive technology for inclusion and accessibility, it is so easy to use and integrates across the 365 suite.
Hi Kathryn,
I agree the recent lock downs and the resulting, unprecedented bouts of emergency remote teaching (ERT) meant that teachers were given no choice but to embrace digital learning and I think the experience was mixed to say the least. In your case a positive one in the main but for others (Particularly those less comfortable with the tools) it was more negative and some I think just want to return to pre-covid times and more traditional methodologies. However, the reality is digital learning is here to stay and we all need to get onboard with it, take the positives from ERT and build on them…
Hi Brendan,
Thanks for sharing this excellent lesson idea, one I had not heard of previously but one I’ll certainly be exploring more. Not only are your pupils collaborating with classmates they’re being exposed to different school cultures and communicating with peers all over the globe. Already on this forum, there has been much discussion about what real collaboration means and indeed a lot of what we categorise as collaboration isn’t really. However, here with the assignment of specific roles, you are distributing the responsibilities ensuring pupils work closely together and collaborate in the true sense.
Hi Kathryn,
Welcome to the course. I too am a big fan of the Sway app and see it as a powerful yet simple to use tool for digital storytelling, picture or photo stories as you reference but also great for illustrated narratives. Often teachers (particularly at the senior end of the school) think that when they’ve access to the full 365 suite, PowerPoint should be the tool of choice but particularly with storytelling, I believe, less is more and the simplicity of Sway lets students focus on their content instead of getting distracted by the advanced functionality/bells and whistles of PowerPoint.
Hi Greg,
Thanks for sharing this practical example of how Google forms can be used for simple formative assessment tasks, in this case Antonyms but could be applied across the curriculum. When used in conjunction with Classroom, you have the ideal platform for all formative assessment. Technology of course is supposed to make our working lives easier, albeit at times you could argue the opposite is true! However, when it comes to formative assessment, it’s hard to deny that the use of technology makes the task less onerous as the tools available in suites like Workspace and 365 make capturing and recording data much more efficient and less labour intensive than traditional paper-based methods.
Hi Bernie,
Welcome to the course. I agree, at first when you browse the resources available it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of content available. However, as with any educational portal it about filtering through and finding what works for you and engaging with the Google tools, one at a time and at your own pace. Slides and the All About a Topic lesson you’ve identified are good choices for you and your students to start with, to familiarise with the Workspace interface and build confidence. The great thing about creating simple slideshows like these, it that very quickly students will be creating visually powerful that they can then share/present to their peers. The perfect tool for project work across the curriculum as mooted…
Hi Clodagh,
You mentioned in your module 2 post about how Teams is the centre of all staff communication and collaboration and that it had also been trialled with a number of classes with the view to roll it out further this September. Whilst, beyond the scope of this module, it’s important to highlight for a senior school like your own that Teams and OneNote integrate seamlessly through OneNote Class Notebook and by utilising both together, you’ll get a powerful learning management system and eportfolio tool in one. For more on integrating the two see Use OneNote Class Notebook in Teams …
Hi Emma,
Collaboration is certainly a buzz word and currently very much in vogue in education. However, as you’ve alluded to, it’s very often a check box that’s ticked without due consideration of what exactly collaboration is. I agree, one of the key questions is ascertaining are the all collaborators equally active and in reality this can’t be achieved without explicitly teaching the students other 21st century skills like problem solving, self-regulation etc. Maria Garvey at TCD has done extensive work around collaboration and cooperative learning and what strategies teachers can use to ensure real and equal collaboration is taking place. For more on Maria’s work in this area see cooperation.ie
Hi Linda,
From what you’ve outlined your school is very progressive in embedding digital learning into teaching, learning and assessment across the school. You already have a DLT that continually monitors this and the supports for staff are commendable. That kind of mentoring is mission critical to progress and from experience it has significantly more impact than courses hosted in local education centres as it’s more relevant CPD. The use of Croke Park hours for this is ideal and would suggest that one hour monthly be set aside for digital learning so teachers can share best-practice or, if possible, invite a guest speaker. It’s about bringing all staff along and building confidence. In many schools, unfortunately, other curricular areas are prioritised ahead of digital learning but in your school, from what you’ve referenced, it is certainly getting the priority it requires.
