New thinking for a new academic year?

Many schools will be returning in the next week or so with the exciting prospect of using upgraded or completely new technologies to support learning and teaching.  Some of this will involve mobile technology which in many cases will be iPads or other tablet technology. 

Will this change teaching and learning in the school?  It should!!

If you always do what you've always done without the new technology available to you, you have missed a trick.  Just putting a set of iPads in front of a class of children will not raise standards... neither will reporting to the head teacher that the children are 'very excited' by the new resources.

By providing such resources you are putting much more learning power in the hands of the children and relinquishing some of the power that comes with knowledge.  The balance shifts... or it should. 

Obviously there are basic skills which need to be developed by young children (or non-numerate or non-literate teens and adults for that matter) otherwise how are they going to access all of the resources available to them? 

The blog post here may make interesting reading, with parallels being drawn between Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 with 'Education 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.  Very thought provoking.

Exciting opportunities for schools from Skype

Exploring Oceans: dive into a sea of knowledge with Skype this November

Skype in the classroom has partnered with Fabien Cousteau's Mission 31 to bring sea turtles, sharks and ships into your classroom via Skype. They've revealed the first batch of free Skype lessons with special marine experts on their site, with more to come very soon.

 

Click here to book your ocean-themed lesson for November.
 
You might also like to explore Mystery Skype lessons.  The idea is that 2 classrooms are linked by Skype without the children knowing where the other class is.  They work together to unravel clues that the other class provides which will eventually lead them to discover where in the world the other class is.

Children given the chance to learn to write computer code

I caught this short video on BBC Breakfast TV earlier this week (I was at the gym at the time!!).  It is well worth watching if you are in the process of trying to get your head round the new Computing curriculum. It might be worth showing to colleagues as an introduction to a training session.

ESCape - e-safety play for KS2

Commissioned by Dudley Safeguarding Board, this play from the Saltmine Trust is an enchanting fairytale that teaches the principles of e-Safety.

Sarah lives on the edge of a magical forest, allowed in on her own for the first time she is taught the rules for how to stay safe. There are wolves in the forest and when Sarah meets a stranger all is not as it seems. Will she remember the rules? Or will she leave the path and go her own way?

Are you interested in getting to know more? Watch the video below:

ESCape Promo from Saltmine Trust on Vimeo.

NAACE and CAS support for the Computing curriculum

The wiki published at http://naacecasjointguidance.wikispaces.com/home should be compulsory reading for all teachers embarking on the new Computing curriculum with their pupils!

The explanations of the terminology, examples of learning activities and expansion of the programme of study for each KS are truly invaluable

Change of subject name from ICT to Computing

From the NAACE newsletter 14 June 2013:

Having carefully considered the responses to consultation on the reform of the national curriculum , as well as a range of other relevant factors, the Government has decided to proceed to make the Order to replace ICT with Computing under section 84 and 85 of the Education Act 2002.

ICT as a subject name carries strong negative connotations of a dated and unchallenging curriculum that does not serve the needs and ambitions of pupils. Changing the subject name of ICT to Computing will not only improve the status of the subject but also more accurately reflect the breadth of content included in the new draft programmes of study. Under the legislation which governs the national curriculum, the Secretary of State is required to consult on a draft of the Order necessary to effect these changes. This consultation opened on 3 May and closed on 3 June 2013. It can be accessed at https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/


Subject to the outcome of this consultation, the final Order will be laid before Parliament and will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. It will therefore need to be debated in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Government is currently considering the responses to the broader national curriculum consultation, including comments on the draft Computing programmes of study.

Later in the summer, the Government will publish revised drafts of the programmes of study and consult on the draft Orders necessary to bring them into force. It is intended that, subject to Parliamentary approval, the new national curriculum will be made available to schools in autumn this year for first teaching from September 2014.

NAACE are working with a range of stakeholders, including publishers, education suppliers, teaching schools, subject associations, unions and professional associations, to make sure that high quality support for Computing becomes available for schools.

The Teaching Agency is working with Initial Teacher Training providers to influence training from 2013/2014 onwards. In addition, the Government has recently announced a £2m programme to train 400 master computer teachers over the next two years.

Please click here to access the full report.

Common Core & Ed Tech: A Summer List of Creative Tools

Common Core & Ed Tech: A Summer List of Creative Tools: For teachers, summer allows time to reflect on what went well during the school year, and where change can take place.  Some useful tools here to consider...