Gmail, Google Docs(Drive) and Google Sites Video Help for Students

There are now several Video help pages, and more to be added, for Gmail and the suite of apps we use in school. The children from year 2 (soon to be year 3) will have their portfolios for sharing and displaying work they have done via ICT.

All Video help is available here:

Gmail first time log in (only really apporopriate for our school although you could use it if you downloand and edit yourselves).

Google Docs, soon to be Google Drive.

Google Sites- online portfolios for children with personal pages too.

There will be a series for Google calendar as we will be arranging home work and other events the children need to subsribe to in Year 5 and 6. 

New Downloads: Images, vocabulary posters and Assessment tools for ICT.

Very quickly,

Hop on over to the downloads section and grab a copy of the full poster pack and assessment tools that we use in school. These are: a full set of Vocabulary posters for ICT and an assessment pack that allows teachers to create full sets of assessment sheets for all aspects of ICT in primary.

The files are on the large side so you might want to use a download manager of some description.

Future Lab and their Vision Magazine

Futurelab (opens in new window)Over the past 2 years or so Futurelab.org.uk has grown into a phenomenal place to find out about latest trends, topics, resources and upcoming applications for leaning in ICT. From nursery to Higher Ed. they cater for all walks of ICT in and around school. 

One of the best aspects that I like is some of the smallest touches and evidence that they are educators themselves is the use of a Glossary. They understand that teachers generally don't have time to know the finer points of IT. So, when confronted with new words and acronyms it not only puts people on edge it can turn potentially great users of ICT away from using great resources. This is how Futurelab excels: it doesn't patronise yet inspires with great ideas.

Below is their magazine which includes an interview with Tim Rylands a leader in game based learning; someting I'm quite passionate about at the moment.

Turn to the last page and you'll find a directory of upcoming seminars and conferences in and around Europe.

A direct donwload can be gotten from here: VISION MAGAZINE

Vision 10 from FutureLab UK

FOBISSEA Ed Tech Conference @ Taipei European School

This weekend saw the 3rd FOBISSEA ICT conference for Primary ICT leaders being held at TES, Taipei. The city was a great surprise to me and held vast appeal for a techie and for somebody who loves Asia but would require the polite orderly-ness of mainland Europe. 

The Conference was again a relaxed affair with conversation flowing from one topic to the next. Below are a few snippets from the site we all contributed to and some of the links from last year's conference too. Lots of links and resources for teachers and pupils alike.

Flat Classrooms: What are they?

The Flat Classroom Project is a global Hands-on working together project for middle and senior high school students. It was founded by Vicki Davis (Westwood Schools, USA) and Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar) in 2006.

The Project uses Web 2.0 tools to make communication and interaction between students and teachers from all participating classrooms easier. The topics studied and discussed are real-world scenarios based on 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman.

Below from Julie's site is a slide show detailing the Flat Classroom. The Flat Classroom Project will take you there.

 

 Links, Resources and Goodies

The great thing about these conferences is the wealth of resources that come bundles with them. This year didn't dissappoint. Below are the list of web resources and applications that will undoubtedly go into this year's requisition.

Applications: A review of lots of sites and progrms for learning - www.educationalfreeware.com 48 Free Microsoft Apps www.techradar.com  Education City - online learning platform in modules for the Primary age range. Busy Things - http://www.busythings.co.uk/ Aggregators Make Use Of http://www.makeuseof.com/ Games TutPup  http://www.tutpup.com/ Moshi Monsters http://www.moshimonsters.com/ Fantastic Contraption - http://fantasticcontraption.com/ Similar to Armadillo Run (try embedding to avoid adverts) Armadillo Run - http://www.armadillorun.com/ Simulations Maths Mathletics http://www.mathletics.co.uk/ Maths moves you: www.mathmovesu.com/  - a game like situation for maths   2diyarchive www.2diyarchive.co.uk/ excellent resources for 2DIY Birchfield http://www.birchfield.co.uk/ - VLE content pack apparantly compatable with the majority of SCORN based VLE's. Timelines Capzles - http://www.capzles.com/ Dipity - www.dipity.com -timelines, goes back to about 100AD, dates, maps (great for explorers/adventures), children can comment, use flip books, youtube videos, give kids the same login so that they can do collaborative work from home Presentation Vuvox  www.vuvox.com/ more ambitious than animoto, timelines, storyboard, glossary, hotspot Prezi - http://prezi.com/ replaces powerpoint, timelines Edu Glogster http://edu.glogster.com/ -Interactive posters, kids in the class can comment on friend's poster (you need a good internet connection) An example of using Edu.glogster - not a particularly good one!  http://bertjacha.edu.glogster.com/school-council/ SSUU - http://issuu.com/ make it in word and upload, magazines, newspapers, scan as pdf and make a book, or make a flipbook and embed Video and sound Editors (online first) Creaza - http://www.creaza.com/ -all in one package for movie making (integrates with Fronter) Jamendo http://www.jamendo.com/en/ - Need an account, but also an alternative to Garage Band Myna http://aviary.com/tools/myna - Online version of Garage Band Collaboration: Voice Thread: www.voicethread.com - very good voice and image collaboration site. Primary Pad - http://primarypad.com/ realtime collaborative writing Pirate Pad - http://piratepad.net/ Etherpad - http://etherpad.com/ realtime collaborative writing Wall Wisher - http://www.wallwisher.com/ online post it note, great for homework. Mind42 - http://www.mind42.com/ Free online mind mapping Shelfari - http://www.shelfari.com/ online book club for librarians EAL/ ESL - Languages BYKI - http://www.byki.com/ creates online flash cards (great for MFL teachers) Frengly - http://www.frengly.com/ Online translation Tools for Primary School - www.primaryschooltools.com - This is my colleague's collection of links from BISV Cool Tools For School - http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/ Free Tools http://web2educationuk.wetpaint.com/ - reviewed by the author NCH Software - www.nch.com.au Sound conversion software  Animation: Monkey Jam - http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam/ Kahootz - http://www.kahootz.com/kz/ 3D Modelling CB Model Pro- http://www.cbmodelpro.com/ Scibble Maps - http://scribblemaps.com/ Crazy Talk - http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/ Dino Mixer - http://www.dinomixer.com/ itouch app, great for KS1 Imaging - Web based Word it Out http://worditout.com/ Similar to wordle Tagul http://tagul.com/ Similar to wordle Image Chef http://www.imagechef.com/ Posterazor http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/ -Makes huge posters Big Huge Labs http://bighugelabs.com/  Picasa - http://picasa.google.co.uk/ Print huge pictures Clevr - http://www.clevr.com/Will make panoramic pictures