Smart Learning

A Blogging Journey

2007-07-22T18:26:00.000+10:00

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At our Broken Bay Secondary Teacher librarian's Forum last week I did a presentation of my own blogging journey with a view to introducing those less familiar with some of the rhyme and reason for using blogs in schools and particularly school libraries.

Latest Links - Originally "Library News", this blog was started in May 2004 as a solution to getting links up or edited at short notice. It has proven its worth many times and has on occasion been up to pathfinder level, as well as being a great learning environment for me and Anne Cowper at Patrician Brothers who took it on when I left. Probably near retirement (the blog, not us) as the school now has a system wide content management solution rolling out.

Attended "WEBLOGS and School Libraries" session at NSW State Library Infocus workshop day in October 2004, presented by Dr Anne Clyde. Always ahead of the game, Anne encouraged us to explore the value of blogs for librarians.

Book Bites - Started in April 2006, the purpose of this blog was to publish book reviews. For the first year most of the reviews were mine, although we did get some student reviews. We had started a "Book Log" in 2004 where the boys could write quick recommendations or suggestions, or longer reviews, and some of these found their way onto the blog. Over the first half of 2007 we started using it to record stats for our internally run Readers' Challenge. This includes a book roll. Instead of giving the boys a list of books to read from we made a list based on their choices. Having worked off lists for three years of challenges we felt very comfortable "letting them loose" to choose their own books. The list is a vindication of this decision, I think. English Teacher Kathy Plumridge brought her Year 7 class in to play with Book Bites late in Term 1 and they started submitting reviews which continued to come throughout Term 2. Getting teachers involved is the key to student involvement, but can be difficult to introduce to an already crowded schedule.

Smart Learning - This is the blog you are reading right now, which somehow was forgotten when I put together the presentation last Thursday. It has had a varied career, starting as a vehicle for a group research project in Parramatta Diocese last year. But group members are fairly shy, and even when it was rejigged for an AGQTP project later in the year with a cross-over group I couldn't get others to post. We had a bit of discussion going and some of these people have gone on to their own projects, so hopefully it was a useful learning experience. Whilst it isn't being regularly updated I have been using it to take occasional stock since moving to my new school and Diocese in April '07.

Bibliosphere News - In May 2006 Judy O'Connell at Parramatta Catholic Education started this blog - then called BibBlog News -as a new way to keep up with local and wider library news and developments of interest. Within the month she was publishing pieces from library staff in Parramatta Diocese and soon invited us to become contributors to the blog. I started contributing in November, and several other TLs also started to write occasional pieces. Now mid 2007 sees contributors from Broken Bay and Lismore Diocese as well, as Judy seeks to widen the scope. [Judy's own blog, HeyJude, is worth keeping up with - but beware, it is turbocharged.]

Evidence - This was a play with a personal reading record and has proven to be just that bridge too far. Probably should be deleted soon. Does anyone ever delete blogs? Did give me the chance to play with a Wordpress style blog, as had only used Blogger before.

Since starting at St. Paul's in April this year I have started a book review site, Shelf Tales (can't live long without one) and also a class blog for my Year 7 English class called Seven Magic. Both are in early stages. The first is a Wordpress blog and I am liking having the option of some topic pages as well as the rolling posts which are the typical blog style. The Seven's blog is a learning experience. They are not a very tech savvy group and need some prompting, although a few are keen.

Finally, when it comes to keeping up with reading blogs - or just keeping your own in one spot - there is a need for an aggregator. I use Bloglines although there are others out there if you want to investigate. I also experimented with Pageflakes for the presentation and think this has a nice look, especially for a small to moderate collection. both of these are free and easy to get going on. Combined with Delicious, which we had a session about from Geoff McIver from St Peter's Tuggerah, you'll never be lost for ways to stay in touch with matters library and world.

What we need next for the group (I would suggest) is a proper blogging workshop to get going for those new to the concept and to share ideas for those already playing.

Coming up for air

2007-05-22T21:30:00.000+10:00

Nearly a month later and I'm coming up for air. Have been getting to know my class better and realising again - after so long away from the classroom - how precious those class minutes are. Have lost lessons to a sports carnival, art excursion, numeracy test, maths comp - to name a few. All worthy causes, but...

I have been having fun with our class management system, CastNet. A couple of expert users at school shared what they were doing with their class pages and gave me a basic intro to making a page. After a few false starts I got going with year seven. Terrific for practical things like putting up copies of handouts so there are no excuses for lost work. I also scanned in a short article to practice notetaking and some links to start research. The best thing, though, is a class gallery where I scanned pictures they did relating to our novel. It was a great way to showcase the work and to compare the different approaches taken. Some really nice work there. The best few have just gone up on our new class blog: Seven Magic.

The blog is going along slowly with my aim at present to get everyone to post a comment. These are quite mixed in quality but very much an educational thing as the boys learn the "how" bit. I'm planning some guidelines for posting as we look at what works best. They are also supposed to send me an email and these are coming slowly. The gaps between lessons work against this, but we'll keep on.

Now, I've had to do all this without the benefit of an interactive whiteboard which has been awkward for me. I do have access to a laptop, a digital projector in each room I use, a library with 15 computers and a choice of two computer rooms with different set ups. But I really miss the intimacy of the IWB. Can't think of a better word for it. You can get upfront and personal with the screen, modelling just what you want the kids to do in a very concrete and closeup way. And I can't tell you how much I wanted to have a digital pen to write over, around and highlight text when teaching notetaking. So much stronger than a cursor. I even considered getting one of those annoying cursors the kids love to attract more attention. What I did instead was use a Word doc and typed up on screen.

I need to get SmartNotebook on my computer at work, as I could use some of the write-on features, although with less fluency than on the board. [Note to self!]

The photo, since you asked, shows the correct way to do a walkathon - Manly style! (Pity my checkpoint was outside a block of flats well behind the houses in this picture.)

Cooperative Learning in the Classroom

2007-04-26T19:39:00.000+10:00

I started a new job this week and whilst it is a teacher librarian position I do have a Year 7 English class. We have four periods a week and have met twice already. I was very keen to try my newfound cooperative learning strategies in this microcosm, so how did it go?

Firstly, I assumed the room would be a problem and it truly is. Three long rows of desks facing a whiteboard. The room apparently doubles as a storeroom for another subject area, so the perimeters are clogged with piles of books and papers. There's a lecturn and various other objects inconveniently placed. The teacher whilst standing out in front of the class has a beautiful view of Sydney Harbour. Ahhh! But the kids are almost in shade. There is a digital projector and screen on one of the side walls. So not all bad.

I worked hard during the first lesson on the signal for quiet. I'm still working on this one. I am not achieving the goal to talk less (I mean teacher talking less). Had a few challenging behaviours. Didn't handle them well.

Next lesson thought I'd do a classbuilding activity and worked on Mix, Pair, Share. I had posed a mysterious question for them that is serving for this week's homework, and pairs shared their ideas for the answer. The question involves finding what links a famous person (Princess Diana) and the novel we are reading this term (Little Brother by Allan Baillie). This took longer than it should (some extra time getting the process right and dealing with a difficult customer). Had got back to sitting down and I had put the headings up to reveal everyone's ideas when...ding!...shortened period for special event later in the day. My timing was off. Being optimistic we could see this as a cliffhanger ending.

I think the major challenges I am having here are timing and furniture. Cannot discount that my class mangement skills are rusty. But am I up to moving furniture at the beginning and ending of each lesson? We'll see.

About the question....proving interesting as I have found more than I first knew that links the two.

Cooperative Learning – Kagan Workshops

2007-04-19T23:22:00.000+10:00

This workshop in Sydney on 12th April was an invigorating day spent working in practical terms on concepts and structures for implementing cooperative learning across primary and secondary classes. Laurie Kagan capably managed a large group of teachers through the day. Many school groups were there including several who have cooperative learning structures embedded in their school routines.

Several Parramatta Peelers (and Parramatta Diocese schools generally) were in attendance and certainly the Kagan philosophy fits right in alongside PEEL.

So what’s all the fuss? Lets look at the guiding concepts first:

TEAMS – There are lots of ways of forming teams but the basis of most of what we did on this day relates to heterogeneous teams of (ideally) four students. A mix of abilities, gender and ethnicity means some care is taken in getting teams right, and teams are not expected to stay the same all year. Five to six weeks is suggested as an ideal time.

WILL – Now, you can’t just tell kids to cooperate and go away. The Kagan way is based on regular classbuilding and team building activities which make the classroom a social and accepting place.

MANAGEMANT – Cooperative learning places demands on the traditional classroom and things may look chaotic at times. So good management is as essential as ever.

SKILLS – A host of social skills are needed for cooperative learning to work, and these will never go astray in or out of class. Teamwork skills include: listening carefully, waiting patiently, taking turns, reaching consensus, resolving conflicts, asking for and offering help. These skills are embedded in the structures used.

BASIC PRINCIPLES – Positive interdependence, Individual accountability, Equal participation and Simultaneous interaction join to form the backbone of the cooperative classroom. (Think PIES)

STRUCTURES – There are over a hundred structures defined in the Kagan material, but starting small is the best advice. Timed Pair Share, RallyCoach, Find My rule are just a few. You probably have your own favourites if you already foster cooperative work with kids. Structures are planned through lessons to enhance content and cluster learning. The Kagan structures are sure to offer you something new.

Probably the most enlightening idea of the day for me (and it was a day full of enlightenment) was the principle of simultaneous interaction. It is so easy to plan to speak for a few minutes and realise too late that you’ve gone on and the kids are zoning out, however relevant the content.

Learning to shorten your teaching time and crossing to kids asking each other questions, checking each others’ understandings, and remembering to praise your partner or team mates means that kids are actively engaged through the lesson, and can avoid that one kid who always answers your questions, and the twenty something who are happy to let him. This is something I know can improve my teaching.

Now, I admit that I did refer to some materials I bought at the workshop to write the above (although the handout we received on the day was an excellent and interactive one). To have a look at books, smartcards (handy summary cards) and posters take a look at Kagan Products available in Australia through Hawker Brownlow.

Applying the Geographer's Skills

2007-04-01T22:15:00.000+10:00

At Where on Earth…? You don’t have Carmen Santiago (or that annoying travel agent of hers) to help you solve these mysteries. Take a Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) image from NASA and see if you can identify the location. Each of these quizzes has clues for you and there are links to other resources, although a good atlas is a great way to start. Begin at Number 1 of the 23 as they seem to get a bit more complicated as they go on, or seek out some with specific relevance to your program. Although the time has passed for sending in your answers you can check the correct ones and read about how others have solved the task. The spectacular images are perfect for displaying with a digital projector and interactive whiteboard and lend themselves to class discussion of geographic features and application of skills.

"These puzzles are designed to inspire understanding of the physical, biological and human processes that influence our home planet and cover topics from archaeology to Zoology." From Where on Earth homepage.

Periodic Table of Visualisation

2007-01-19T00:03:00.000+11:00

If it is ever true that the medium is the message, then here is a great example. The Periodic Table of Visualization Methods is a very carefully constructed model which classifies a hundred different graphic methods. From the linked page hover to see a popup example of each. Although constructed with a very specific purpose - a cross discipline academic course in visualisation methods for management - this table is an excellent way to show good examples in context, and to extend your repertoire.

In an explanatory article about the project the authors describe it as not so much "a close adaptation of the periodic table of chemical elements. It is rather a functional, metaphoric homage to it." Read the article to see just how much thought went into classifying the material contained in this model.
"Towards A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management" (PDF) Lengler R., Eppler M. (2007). Towards A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management. IASTED Proceedings of the Conference on Graphics and Visualization in Engineering (GVE 2007), Clearwater, Florida, USA. (Page 5)

For some more fun using the Periodic Table and its elements see:
The Periodic Table of Comic Books
A flash animation of Tom Lehrer's song The Elements

Getting Geographical

2006-12-08T22:29:00.000+11:00

The latest podcast from The Virtual Staffroom is a must for all geographers. In Episode 6: A Bird's Eye View Chris Betcher interviews Luc Zwartjes from Belgium. Luc teaches geography and also technology for teachers. He uses geographical information systems (GIS) with his students and explains some of the fascinating possibilities. Interesting insights about the difference between the way kids and adults relate to technology, and hence learn.

Chris has added some relevant links as well, including a very interesting opportunity for schools to obtain two free licences to Google Earth Pro.

PEEL Summit 2006

2006-12-06T23:37:00.000+11:00

As an annual celebration of teaching and learning innovation through PEEL, the Summit is growing in strength each year. More power to Cathy Smith of Parramatta Diocese, the driving force behind this.

Six presentations over two streams saw workshops on metacognition, Web 2.0, promoting purposeful learning, slowmation, group facilitation and our own favourite ;) the interactive whiteboard. Martin, Anthony and I updated our presentation from earlier in the year to share what we are up to. All the Summit presentations are available at the PEEL Sharepoint site via Staffnet.

One of the professional development links I referred to in our presentation was The Smartboard Lessons Podcast. Canadian educators Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger present this engaging program and web site which always has lots to offer in the way of technology for learning with or without interactive whiteboards. I got a thrill to hear I was mentioned in Lesson 50 this week, as my difficulty with downloading some files had created a small flurry of email with the presenters over the last week. Joan and Ben even put Blacktown on the Google map.

Coincidentally, Ben used a continuum strategy in his latest Notebook lesson on male body image. This strategy was also demonstrated as a PEEL learning strategy at the Summit.

Comments from others who attended the PEEL Summit would be good!

Keeping In Touch with Technology

2006-12-06T22:51:00.000+11:00

On Tuesday 5^th December we had a training day with Belinda Metcalf of Intouch. It was a day where we were extended in our knowledge about Powerpoint, Photo Story and Excel for developing engaging lesson content – backed up by many examples from the Teachers Intouch Lesson Portal which we have subscribed to as well. PBB staff check My School from Staffnet for details.

We also had a good introduction to Producer, the free Powerpoint add on which none of us had used before. Bobby, of course, had had a play with it for a couple of days after downloading, and was pretty proficient by the time he got to the session. I’d be more jealous of his quick uptake if he wasn’t quite so generous with helping the rest of us.

Looking forward to having more time to explore Producer. For those unfamiliar, it lets you make a product – web based when published – which can combine video, images, slides, audio and html. Looking at an example or two is probably the best way to get it. Explorer is needed to view these.

Newsflash from Northhampton University is a bit dry, but gives a flavour of what you could do with this. It is fast, even for a newsflash, but there is a pause button.

Earthquakes is from the Microsoft site. This is a student production and much more engaging.

Interpreting Visual Texts uses far too few pictures, given its subject matter, but has excellent information and uses the crafty idea of an avatar to replace the flesh and blood narrator. This is Australian from the Association of Independent Schools.

Comments from other participants welcome!

Using SchoolKit in the Classroom

2006-11-15T23:29:00.000+11:00

Back at ACEC in Cairns there were two sessions I attended which made reference to using SchoolKit software. One of these was by Pauline Joyce from St. Dominic's School, Perth. In Teaching and Learning Principles for Technology Rich Classrooms she describes her success with the "just in time" help of CathEdNet (My Classes) and edClasses. First setting her students one session modules from edClasses Joyce then required them to peer teach what they had learned. In the process she observed how they learned, what difficulties arose and ways of overcoming these. The emphasis of this classroom experience is on good pedagogy and a willingness on the part of the teacher to take risks and continue to learn.

The second session I want to mention is Games Students Play by Joan Gordon of Xavier College in Kew, Victoria. In fact I had completely forgotten that this session had included a reference to SchoolKit, although I clearly remembered the terrific activities described. Gordon's Year 9 boys played games, studied genre (both fiction and game) and read and wrote stories. They also used their knowledge to write detailed reviews of their games. Amongst all this they used a couple of different Activebooks from edClasses related to character study and plotting.

Our other Blogs and Wikis

2006-11-14T22:32:00.000+11:00

Have you started a blog for school or know of someone else in the Diocese who has? It would be good to have a look at what others are doing and might give some the push they need to go public.

The K-12 Teacher Librarian group has just started a wiki aimed at developing resources and a discussion space for readers advising - the art (or maybe science) of assisting others in discovering their own reading preferences. We have just started at Read On.

At Patrician Brothers' Library we have had a blog going since 2004 just for putting up quick links for current assignments. It has had the odd name change but is now called Latest Links. It certainly makes life easier when teachers want to direct their classes to specific sites, and is often handy for repeat assignments in the following year. A bit of updating and off they go.

This year we started a book review blog called Book Bites. Most of the reviews here are mine, but we have had a few boys who have contributed and we would love more. It is also a good place to link to other book sites of interest to our students, especially ones which showcase young people's responses.

So come on, who else has a blog or wiki to show us?

K12Online and Real Classroom Experiences

2006-11-05T23:04:00.000+11:00

For those of us who didn't quite make it to the K12Online Conference, don't despair. There is a lot to investigate at your leisure. To start with, John Pearce (that intrepid educator from Geelong) has a step by step report of his journey into the world of Web 2.0 with his middle primary class. It's elementary kids - Working Web 2.0 with grades 3 - 4 will give you a very realistic view of the difficulties and joys of using these tools in school, including those involved with trying to spread the word outside your classroom, like training other staff. The presentation (with slides, John's narration and links to a range of useful sites) is linked directly here.

Other sites worth a look:

Edugator has good practical information on getting started with podcasting.

The New Web Listen to Chris Betcher and Michael Cridland talk about using Web 2.0 and especially podcasting with students. See the results at Michael’s Year6/7 Blog and Chris’ high school Intro to Business class at The Podbiz Project.

PHOTO: John Pearce leading a podcasting workshop at the Interactive Whiteboard Conference at St. Bernadette’s Castle Hill earlier this year.

The Virtual Staffroom

2006-10-27T20:23:00.000+10:00

There is an interesting initiative recently begun by Chris Betcher, an Australian teacher currently on exchange in Canada, that gets educators together to discuss teaching with technology. The Virtual Staffroom presents these conversations as podcasts and the three published so far are excellent. The link will take you to a blog which has all the information you need to subscribe and listen - they are registered with iTunes, but are free. I have stumbled my way through this process so might be a help if need be.

Episode 3, It Takes Leadership, is about interactive whiteboards and is one of the best things I have heard (or read) about them so far. I listened for the second time on the way home today. The only drawback of podcasts is that it is difficult to take notes while driving! Friday arvo traffic proved a help in this, if I can read the one and two word notes I scribbled on the back of my visa bill. Here goes.

IWBs are in essence just the latest in a series of teaching boards. But beyond the seldom used bells and whistles seen in demos, there is a very powerful teaching tool limited in its use only by the imagination of the teacher.
Concepts which could not previously be taught can be through using visuals and interactivity (John referring to teaching his Yr 3/4s about molecules using IWB).
For all the increased access to computers in schools over the past decades the take-up by teachers of ICT integration has been slow – even in “laptop schools”. Mal notes from his research that teachers with daily access to IWBs have almost 100% take-up.
John points to the ease of learning computer functions without the barrier that keyboards can cause.

That is your taster. The Virtual Staffroom says this much better and lots more to boot.

Episode 2: The New Web is just as good and features Michael Cridland, a beginning teacher from Queensland who has started using podcasts with his Year 7 class. In this discussion Chris Betcher also tells how he has used podcasting with older high school kids to engage them with “boring” material using a method very similar to the jigsaw strategy.

PHOTO: Anthony Attard and keen Ancient History students revising for their HSC trials at 8am on a chilly July morning this year.

Internet Safety

2006-10-17T22:51:00.000+10:00

Went to a great session at ACEC 2006 about internet safety resources developed by NetAlert, an Australian Government initiative which describes itself thus:

Practical advice on Internet safety, parental control and filters for the protection of children, students and families.

Greg Gebhart presented the paper and scared us with some horrible stories and statistics before soothing our nerves with examples of some of the resources available to educate kids at all levels as well as parents, teachers and librarians. Most impressive was a dramatised story from their youth resource DVD Wise Up To It. These are free to schools and have great potential.

I guess the next thing is to nut out how we can best present these for best effect. What do you think?

More Parra People at St. Bernadettes' Conference

2006-10-17T21:55:00.000+10:00

Thought I would throw on some more pics from the IWB Conference. We had beautiful sunshine for our lunch breaks. Any of these stars care to comment on memories of the conference?

Attending the Australian IWB Conference 2006

2006-10-14T22:52:00.000+10:00

The Enhancing Teaching and Learning with IWBs Conference was held at St Bernadette's School, Castle Hill, Sydney on Thursday 10, Friday 11 and Saturday 12 August 2006.

It is well past time for reporting on this - what a busy year it has been - but here goes.

Our "gang of 4" from Patrician Brothers presented two sessions under the banner Learning Curve. The presentations are available on the IWBNet site, although you will need to join as an interested member to access these and other presentations from the Conference. It is free and painless and well worth the trouble for the range of resources available. These versions of the presentations include only screen shots of our in-school produced material and exclude the video clips of our students.

Our first presentation was called Teacher's Perspective where we shared a variety of activities which have formed the backbone of our IWB use. Our aim was to showcase the type of activities we have used successfully with our classes in an ongoing way, as well as reflecting on how our teaching has developed. After eighteen months we still feel we have much to learn - which was what the Conference was all about.

The second session, Student Perspective, reported results of our student surveys and included video of a Year 8 focus group and a Year 9 group using the board.

Some of the standout sessions of the Conference:

Kel Hathaway - for sheer enthusiasm and a wealth of good ideas built up over several generations of technology. Check them out at Edugator: Integrating technology into the curriculum . Included is a guide to podcasting, including a how to which has links to guides on the web as well as giving a few practical tips of his own.

John Pearce is another excellent teacher and technology integrator who did a session on Podcasting. We got to take away a CD full of useful tools. Science and ICT is one of the places you'll find him on the web.

Christy Dangerfield from Christ Church Grammar School in WA gave a very interesting presentation called PD Pathway describing the school's journey towards ICT integration.

We didn't get to see presentations by teachers from the host school, St Bernadette's Castle Hill as they coincided with our own, which was bad luck. They are doing great things by all accounts.

Br Martin: “It just doesn’t seem right to use the overhead anymore”

2006-06-02T00:03:00.000+10:00

Today Martin and I were discussing possible directions for training. He has a student who is helping him learn to use Word better (kids are so helpful these days) and also mentioned that he hasn’t used PowerPoint as yet. I’m still getting to know the new SmartBoard software, but gather that there are some improvements in the facility for incorporating these applications. We also looked at a couple of Science based activities from the SmartTech site which were very useful and fairly simply designed on SmartNotebook (see Bunsen Burner Activity). Gaining the confidence to design these kind of activities would be a useful training aim.

The Smart Training Centre has some useful Quick Reference Guides to read and print as well as animated Two-Minute Tutorials on specific skills. (Just checked and there is a 2 minTut on PowerPoint – how to navigate via your IWB and how to insert drawings and notes are included).

So, now Martin is spoiled forever: “It just doesn’t seem right to use the overhead anymore”

Learning Curve

2006-06-01T21:42:00.000+10:00

Yes, the term is slipping away and there is so much I haven’t done!
What has been done is this:

We are officially presenting at the IWB conference at St Bernadette’s, and registration has been sent in as well. Here is the description of our excellent presentations –

The Learning Curve – Teacher’s perspective.A sample of how we have developed our IWB skills over 18 months with four Smartboards in a school of 900+ secondary boys. Four teachers will present examples of methods developed in science, history, geography and library, with a focus on the learning curve.

The Learning Curve – Kid’s perspective. What do kids think of IWB classes? What can they teach us about learning with IWBs? How do they rate our skills? Words, pictures and samples of student input and reaction will be featured. Four teachers will present from their experiences in science, history, geography and library classes.

We will have some time together to work on this in the coming weeks. Please start thinking aloud about what you might offer. You can post directly here or send a contribution to me to post.

Reflecting on reflection….

I have been putting together the pieces of the Reflection Journal discussed at our last meeting. Trying to make it somewhat less overwhelming. I have a ‘talent’ for wanting to include everything, which often leads to not finishing anything. I shall temper my obsessions.

Survey

A short survey is ready to go. It is aimed at taking a snapshot now to compare with later in the year.

Re-inviting you to ‘Smart Learning’

I will re-send your invitations to join the blog and therefore be able to contribute directly. One small ICT step for teachers ……. which could prove a very useful tool for teaching.

Photo by Jeff Thomson

New Library Installation

2006-05-09T20:21:00.000+10:00

I am very excited that we have our new projector mounted in the library and also have moved the IWB from its portable stand to a fixed position on the wall. Robert and Anthony worked really quickly to get this done this week. Thanks guys! This will mean that access will be greatly improved for classes who don't have a board in their room, and that I don't spend an inordinate amount of time setting up and putting away.

Photo by Jeff Thomson

Best Teaching Practice for Interactive Whiteboard Use

2006-05-09T20:11:00.000+10:00

This is the final title of our FS4 project. A little bland, perhaps, but to the point. Now that our final plan has been submitted, here is the background statement, purpose and research question which made it into the final draft:

Early last year (2005) the school invested in four interactive whiteboards, projectors and mounting, and so far four teachers have significantly benefited. We now have good day to day skills but wish to extend our knowledge and increase the number of staff (and of course students) who will benefit from IWB use. Our aim is to combine IWB use with productive teaching practices and seamlessly integrate ICT into daily lessons. We would like to be able to confidently showcase our skills and encourage a broadening of IWB use throughout the school.

Teaching with IWBs needs to be purposeful, and measured against good practice standards (e.g. in ICT integration, quality teaching principles and good learning behaviours of PEEL, Habits of Mind, expert teacher practice pdf). Reflection and sharing of learnings will be used to shape best practice.

How can the interactive whiteboard best be used to improve classroom teaching practice?

Welcome

2006-04-25T21:24:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Smart Learning!

This is the beginning of a new stage in our Interactive Whiteboard Project at Patrician Brothers College, Blacktown. In the spirit of learning by doing we will catalogue our teaching and learning highlights, ideas and issues with IWBs in this space. A particular aim will be to include student input. For more information on the project so far go to this article from our school newsletter: Interactive Whiteboard Project