alastair.turnbull

How much ICT work do Classroom Assistants (C. A.) undertake?

I ask this question because here in my school the C.A.s do quite a lot. They create great banners, take photos, download them, manage them and print photos all on behalf of teachers and their classes. They are obviously a great asset. However, I feel that teachers are, in some way, passing the buck. Shouldn’t they themselves be learning the skills and teaching their children? Teachers will come back and say that they haven’t got time and anyway the CA is far better at doing it than them.

I would be interested to know what happens in other schools and what people think.

1. Skype
I had a meeting last week with a primary GLOW colleague in another school. We hope to introduce Skype to our classes and allow them to talk to each other. Skype is a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and allows users to use their internet connection for telephone calls and video conferencing, and it is cross platform.
www.skype.com

2. SCRAN
This is full of great resources. I used it with my class for downloading information on The Celts. There are some super power point presentations.
www.scran.ac.uk

3. Timers
How often have you thought that it would be good to have a timer on you computer screen? Here are two. I am giving them both a go.
Clockwork:
www.hogbaysoftware.com/
FlexTime:
www.red-sweater.com/flextime/

4. Comic Writing (speech bubbles)
Comic Life
Children will love this! Make photos into a comic page with speech bubbles. Great fun.
http://plasq.com/

5. Education City.
Earlier this term I took an inservice for our staff (primary) and showed them Education City. It is full of activities and resources for children. It is also geared to the Scottish 5-14 levels and you can choose the curriculum areas, including modern languages. Staff have been using it during a trial period with their classes and we have now decided to subscribe to it!
www.educationcity.com

I have just made my first video call on my Mac! It was very easy. I used Skype 2.0 for Mac
www.skype.com/download/skype/macosx/
What is good about it for Mac users is that it works well with PC users, and there is no extra cost as you are already using your internet connection (broadband needed.)
There is an article in this month’s (November) MacFormat magazine, a fuller tutorial will be in December’s issue.

This will have great potential as more and more computers and laptops have cameras built in avoiding the need to go to a local video access point.

Glow is huge. There is so much for teachers to use and get to grips with that it has to be broken down. Too much at one go will put some yeachers into shell shock mode! I think that if teachers see “Glow – the Movie” as an introduction it would raise many questions and concerns. Questions about whether their own schools will have the equipment and will they be competent to use it, and concerns about learning and time implications both for teachers and children. Having access to PCs is obviously crucial. Many school are strictly timetabled as to when they can use the computers. The timetable is very full.

When teachers have their first introduction to Glow I think that the video with teacher notes part should be shown first. There is a lot here, but it also gives plenty to think about. There is so much to Glow (net conferencing, document storage, on-line whiteboard resources, up to date news, chat rooms, instant messaging, internet groups, etc.) that it has to be broken down into manageable chunks.

I would suggest a phased approach to Glow. Let teachers feel confident at a certain level before moving on to other parts.

For the first session, perhaps it could be called a Core Session or Level; I would show the video with teacher notes part first. Followed by a hands-on session to log on to the home page. The mentor has to have the entire log on details for the group. Let teachers explore this first and fill in any details on My Glow. (The diary might not be pertinent to primary teachers. As a primary teacher myself, I am asked to have a daily diary open on my desk, so that any supply teacher who may come in can immediately see what is happening in the class and school. Supply teachers will not have access to a PC. Would they know how to access Glow anyway!)
Glow Learn (teacher resources) would be immediately popular to teachers. Teachers should be shown how to find their way to get and download resources. Teachers like to be prepared, hence the downloading bit! Nothing is more annoying or frustrating to be prepared to go on line with a class and the technology, for whatever reason, does not work. This I think would be plenty for teachers to practice with and feel happy with for a first session. A point here, which will no doubt be asked is, will the interactive material that is mentioned be available on both Smart and Promethian board formats?

Other sessions could be tailor made according to staff needs and requirements. A bespoke training programme could be developed for schools in liaison with their mentor. Mentors who have specialist areas could possibly be used.

The idea of video conferencing, for many primary teachers would be well down the line, simply because, will they have access in their schools to the equipment needed?

Moving on to Stirling and the training for Glow mentors. There has to be careful training in all the aspects of Glow, allowing plenty of time for hands on time to explore and understand the whole package. We should go through the exact same process, as we will be showing it to our teachers. For many of us, as mentors, our experience of Glow has basically been at SETT and looking at the movie. Time will have to be spent on preparing plans of exactly how to introduce Glow or will this already be done for us? I think that, in spite of the move towards a paperless environment, simple printed notes should be created especially in regards to the core level. I am very aware that teachers do like printed notes, which are easily read and bound.
Will special software e.g. QuickTime, Windows Media Player, Flash Player, etc. be needed on computers to get the full benefits of Glow? Should there be a checklist?

These are just a few of my thoughts. I am optimistic, but there are practical issues that should be looked at so that we have a smooth ride both for mentors and teachers.

An interesting problem which I would like to share with you, now nearly solved.

We have two SmartBoards. The CD which came with them said it was 9.1, in fact the Mac version of the CD was only 8.1 and if you blinked quickly during the installation you would miss it. Had to go to the web to get the latest software, a big download. I put the .dmg file on to a CD for easy transfer to other PCs.

We have an OS X server, the software has to be installed on each machine under localadmin permissions. It would not run when teachers had a go, only under localadmin. Believe it or not this saga started back in early June and I have only just cracked it, it is down to permissions, our friendly techies have said that they will sort it! Hurray, there are frustrated teachers here!

Took a hands-on session today after school: logging on to server and where to save work, Education City, Banner, Print Explosion, new digital cameras.

There have beeen a few problems as to where exactly save work on our server. I was able to show how to do this. We have started our trial of Education City. No problems logging on and staff, and myself had an exploratory session with some of the activities. It looks quite easy and straightforeward to use and I think that staff and pupils will enjoy using this online resource. Time will tell, watch this space! I also showed staff a couple of good applications: Banner, whch produces some great banners with pictures, and Print Explosion, an application whic I believe is for Mac only. Lots and lots of templates here for all sorts of creative work in desktop publishing. Time went quick, many staff stayed beyond the hour to explore different resources, especially Education City.

So far this term, I have had to request new passwords for four members of staff who have forgotten their passwords to check e-mail, internet access. Was it such a good holiday?

We have an OS X server. People have forgotten where and how to save work. Yet another afternoon session after school. This has to be done a couple of times because there are always staff who cannot make the initial session. Glow will be great; they can log on themselves to learn how to log on, if they have remembered their password. Catch 22 anyone?

“An intriduction to Desktop Publishing in AppleWorks 6 (Newsletters, Class/School Magazines, Posters”

A good day! All 14 teachers turned up…only had 13 Macs, 2 shared, but no real problem. Covered a lot: use of mini speakers for music as they arrived (good in class), lack of AppleWorks on new Macs, a quick tour of iWork and Pages, setting Preferences in AppleWorks, using Assistants and Templates and how to “doctor” them and make own, then on to the main agenda. I showed them examples of work I have made and have done in class, plus examples of children’s work. In the afternoon a few got on to the internet to try and get photos and clip art. All were printing so as to see a finished product.

The evaluation forms at the end came back favourably. I handed out my “glow mentor” business card I had made, so they could contact me for any further support or advice. Some were keen to make their own using the Assistant in AppleWorks!

Has anyone heard of problems with Mac laptop batteries? I have heard about the Sony ones on PCs and the recall with some Mac batteries a couple of years ago but nothing recently. Nothing on the Apple website, as far as I can see.

Got my new HTs new laptop talking to a USB printer, eventually. (20 minutes worth of glitches and problem solving)

Interesting case. A colleague wanted to connect a clamshell to a projector. Solved. Blue clamshell, video out, red, yellow and white sockets on the projector, and I found an old lead. Why you ask? Because the CD she wanted to show her class was for OS 9, which the new laptops do not have installed.

I have mentioned it before, but I think we have to move from AppleWorks to Office in Primary Schools as AppleWorks only runs under “Rosetta” in the new intel Macs, and is not even packaged. Meanwhile I have to go and revise for my AppleWorks course I am taking on Tuesday!

Hello! Is anybody there?

I’m Alastair Turnbull and this is my second attempt at making my first blog. I had typed up in this box everything I wanted to say, but had timed out through our network and could not publish, hence loosing the lot! If I continue with this blogging, which all being well, I will have to do it at home, or type quicker! ‘Though, I see that there is a button to save and post……….

So here goes for the second attempt………….. A wee bit about me. I have been teaching, rumour has it, for twenty eight years. Currently I have a P5 class of 28 dear, sweet children at Colgrain Primary in Helensburgh (a town about 45 minutes to the west of Glasgow). I am out of class one day a week to help with McRone cover and I take other classes for ICT. We are looking at Smart Software as a possible scheme, but I have plenty of my own ideas and materials to keep me going. I was a member of Masterclass, but have moved on to be a SSDN Mentor. Next week I am taking my first authority level course of the year for teachers, which is a day’s one, “Desktop Publishing Using AppleWorks”. I have taken it before so am not too worried. No teachers have run screaming from the room! (a good sign). I am a keen Mac user both at home and school. At school we use laptops, a wireless network and an OS X Server. Like many new initiatives there were teething problems, but the “techies” are very helpful and supportive.

Well that is about all the news for now, so will have a go at posting this, fingers crossed! I did cheat a bit as it is a long epistle for me (like the big word?), I typed it up in AppleWorks first and copied and pasted, so if there were problems, it would not get lost!

Hoping to hear from anyone,

Alastair