Google SketchUp at Greenfield Primary (2)

In May this year, I posted about a project I was lucky enough to be involved in with the Year 6 class at Greenfield Primary School, here in Walsall, using Google Sketch Up to recreate Tutankhamen's tomb. For a number of reasons, it has taken a long time to put this follow-up post together, with the results that the children were able to produce.  The video below was shown recently at the Walsall ICT Conference and as a result there has been a number of interested schools who have come forward with projects of their own including Tudor Houses and Cars that they'd like me to get involved with.

Is software in the cloud the future for education?

In education, we have become very aware of the benefits of 'the cloud' through the use of VLEs, Learning Platforms, Google Apps for Education and other such services.  Files and content are often saved online in order to be easily accessible and to allow greater collaboration and sharing.  My colleague Lucy (@lj101) attended a course over the summer organised by NAACE where she was introduced to Point2Educate (at the time called Stream2Schools) which seems an interesting extension of 'the cloud', in that instead of hosting files and content, it hosts software, both free (open source) and commerical (rental) that schools can access both at school and at home.  This got me thinking...is this the future for schools in regard to how they manage their networks and software?

Is it time to jump ship from iOS?

I've been wrestling with this for a couple of weeks so thought I'd throw it out there.  I, like many others I suspect, waited with baited breath for the recent iPhone 5 announcement.  As a current iPhone 4 user whose contract had ended, I am looking to upgrade and although tempted by some of the Android offerings out there, wanted to see what Apple would come up with before I made any decision.  My reaction to the new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 can best be described by the sound 'meh!' (sp?).  Which got me thinking, have I fallen out of love with Apple?  Do I expect too much?  What's the best next step for me personally?

Interactive Whiteboards or Interactive Projectors?

A question was raised this week that has played on my mind and I'd be interested in your opinions. I was supporting an ICT-Team meeting where the school were discussing (amongst other things) their budget and what they might purchase to enhance ICT in their school, when the subject of Interactive Whiteboards came up. It seems the team were not entirely happy with the boards installed throughout the school and favoured a move towards another IWB supplier. A teacher from another school who was attending the same drop-in session then asked this question - had they considered the use of Interactive Projectors as an alternative to Interactive Whiteboards?

Google SketchUp at Greenfield Primary

I have had the pleasure over the last two weeks, of attending a couple of lessons at Greenfield Primary in Walsall, based on Google SketchUp.  It has been a pleasure for a number of reasons.  Firstly, I've been able to take a back seat and play a supporting role to the class teacher Mr Darcy, who has planned and led both the sessions.  Secondly, because my interest in Google SketchUp had been raised at the Google Teacher Academy, where we were given a presentation by Matt Lovegrove (@mattlovegrove) and (although sadly I missed it) a further session by James Abela (@eslweb).  Finally, because the Year 6 class have taken to it so quickly and are genuinely enthused by the project, even preferring it to their previous Scratch project.

Using a Nintendo Wii controller with Lego Mindstorms

A while ago, while organising a Lego Mindstorms control day at a school, the class teacher emailed me and asked "have you seen the YouTube video of someone controlling the Mindstorms robot with a Wii controller?"  Now, I have to be honest and say this was like a red rag to a bull as I'm a bit of a Lego freak anyway, which makes the opportunity to work with schools with the Lego Mindstorms and Lego WeDo kits one of the most enjoyable parts of my role.  I even (confession time) had Lego for Christmas this year (see below pic) which combined with Star Wars pretty much confirms my geek status.

GTAUK reflections

Where to start?...Wow, seems an appropriate place!  What an unbelievable couple of days I was lucky enough to spend in London last week at the Google Teacher Academy, learning so much my brain is still processing much of the information - sure I'll get a decent nights sleep at some point!  I also got to meet some amazing and inspiring educators, some of whom I was aware and had followed from afar (I won't embarrass them by naming names!) and some new names who I will definitely be following from now on.  So now the dust has settled, what did I take from the GTA?

Google Apps vs. Commercial LP - a pre-GTA view

This time next week I will be in the middle of my day at the Google Teacher Academy.  Before I go, I thought I'd put down what I currently see as the key differences between using Google Apps and commercial Learning Platforms.  This is probably setting myself up for a fall, as I am sure that many of my preconceptions will be proven to be misconceptions by the end of my time at the GTA and actually, I hope that is the case.  This may come across as a pro-commercial blog post but I am pro-anything that can support schools and enhance learning and teaching for pupils - I simply have more experience with commercial Learning Platforms.

Kodu - is the controller a good idea?

In my previous post, I talked about a control day that took place last week where we introduced Kodu and Scratch to a number of schools.  The feedback about Scratch was universally positive and without exception, every teacher took away ideas as to how they could use Scratch and were keen to get started.  When it came to Kodu however, the feedback was much more mixed.

Kodu and Scratch in Primary schools

My colleague (@lj101) and I are in the process of putting together a control day for our teachers specifically looking at the use of Kodu and Scratch to teach aspects of control. In case you don't know these pieces of software they are both free (the magic word in today's climate!!) and can be used to create/program computer games (amongst other things).

Google Teacher Academy

I am absolutely thrilled (and surprised!!) to have been accepted on to the Google Teacher Academy in April. It is a fantastic opportunity for me to meet like-minded individuals and share ideas and collaborate with other ICT advocates from throughout the UK and beyond.

Introducing myself

I'm new to this so please bear with me. I guess the best place to start is to introduce myself properly. My name is Marc Richardson and I'm currently a Teaching and Learning Advisor - ICT, working for Walsall Children's Services-Serco. My colleague Lucy Jayes (@lj101) and I support around 80 Primary, Nursery and Special schools in the Walsall borough with any/all use of ICT in the curriculum, as well as with the use of It's Learning, the Walsall preferred Learning Platform.