Having been alerted to this website via my Twitter PLN a few weeks ago, I have been waiting for an opportunity to use this to support teaching and learning. Having already explained in a previous post that I am not one to try something new just for the sake of it, I waited for an appropriate lesson and class to trial this collaborative website.
Titanpad.com allows groups of people (in my case students) to work on one document at the same time, recording ideas, answers, research in real time. With an extremely similar appearance to Word, a Pad is intuitively easy to use. Having set up my account and assigned myself an individual site address, I then began to play around with the site myself, investigating the best ways in which the documents could be shared; giving the unique URL to the students to copy into their browser, e-mailing it through Titanpad or even assigning the URL through Frog, our VLE, in the same way as we would any resource. Initially I decided on the first way for the time being.
For many years now I have watched, led and taught students to undertake research, sometimes individually or in groups and across the whole range of curriculum subjects, but all seemingly with very similar outcomes. Great swathes of information cut and pasted into Word with little or no understanding, flashy PowerPoints with little relevant subject content and scrappy pieces of paper with scribbled notes. Working in a Cooperative Trust school I now frequently observe excellent examples of cooperative and collaborative research; our specially adapted Sage, Scribe, Serf, Crusader model can be seen across the school, but I was looking for a way in which we could improve the quality of our research, how it is transcribed into note form and then retained for future use, e.g. coursework or timed assessment purposes.
I chose to trial Titanpad with an able Year 7 class in Humanities as part of their preparation towards meeting the author, Paul Dowswell. As they were focusing on his novel Auslander and linking this to a recently studied topic on the Holocaust, I asked the students to work in cooperative groups and to record their research on a Pad; set up in advance and the URL given out as part of the task.
All went well at first. The Year 7 students thought that this was a great way of recording their group's research. They worked out for themselves that it made sense to subtitle their work, e.g. Name of student's group which ensured that their work was kept separate from others. They loved the idea that each group/user was automatically allocated a different font colour so they could record their research quickly and easily. It was all going too well. The subject teacher was also excited and was given a brief demo on how to set up as a user etc.
Suddenly from across the LRC there was a call "Who has deleted my work?" Uh - oh. It transpired that one student had managed to delete all the class's work. Instead of wasting time trying to find the culprit, I asked the students to begin again which they did willingly, possibly because it was a new piece of web 2.0 technology for them. However a few pertinant instructions on the importance of saving their research as they went along didn't go amiss, although seeing all their work disappear before their eyes was certainly an inducement in this case. I was then alerted to the comments springing up in the Chat sidebar; an unfortunate addition from a classroom point of view perhaps, but one which could be used productively. The allocation of different font colours to each user helped me to identify those groups engaging in chat rather than research and a reminder that their chat would be forever immortalized on Miss's Titanpad account.
By the end of the lesson however each cooperative group had successfully completed their research task and I had an online Pad with an entire class's work in one place. No scrappy pieces of paper or e-mails to have to read through; it was all on one document with different font colours identifying individual users so I could see at a glance if and how the lesson's learning outcomes had been achieved. The ability to then export the Pad as a Word document, PDF etc is also useful. This ensures that a Pad, collaboratively produced by a class, can be then used for individual study purposes; this negates the actions of those students who may not have fully participated in the lesson.
In conclusion?
A piece of Web 2 technology which I will certainly use again for collaborative research and indeed I have now created a Pad for a Year 9 GCSE science research lesson on Intensive Farming and the LRC Manager is using a Pad at her next book group meeting to record questions for Paul Dowswell . The ability to delete other students' work will hopefully encourage greater online social responsibility amongst students particularly as we, as a school, move further down the Web 2.0 road. The possibilities for peer marking and editing are also intriguing.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Monday, 14 February 2011
First Thoughts on Chartering
Having had my first meeting with my chartership mentor on Friday, this is my first attempt to begin to rationalise my thoughts and plans for the next year. I am lucky to have known my mentor for a number of years now; as a senior post holder in the public library service when I got my first job as a Library Assistant, then as a School Library Advisor for the SLS when I got my current job in a secondary school and now finally as a school governor and parent of students who attend the school I work at. She has a wealth of knowledge and past experience and I am very pleased at the prospect of working with her for the next year.
I am also pleased that my school seem to be taking my Chartership seriously by agreeing to fund the costs. Not very much to pay though I hear some of you say, but in the current economic climate in which we continually hear of the closure of public libraries, SLSs and school libraries along with librarian redundancies, I am very relieved that my school still seem to hold a library (or LRC as here) and a professional librarian in high regard; the support for my CPD being evident of this.
We have decided to make the focus of my Chartership digitial literacy; a decision which seemed to come easy given the current debates about the value of libraries and librarians in a digital world. In addition my school has recently become a Microsoft Innovation School and as a result we have the amazing opportunity to really explore the use of ICT, digital media and social networking in our teaching and learning.
We have had two staff training sessions in recent weeks; the first when we began to look at different forms of media to engage and interact with students, e.g. podcasting, but it was the second training session which began to really enthuse me. It took the form of five workshops each led by staff members; Twitter and Youtube, Blogs and Wikis, Mischief Mouse, Facebook as well as an introductory insight into the Microsoft Innovation Programme and an opportunity to become part of the workspace for Partners in Learning. Having already recorded my thoughts on Google docs for the school, I won't go into too much detail here, but there were a few ideas which seemed to stand out for me. Having been using social media for some time now to enhance my CPD, being told about nings, wikis and blogs was a bit frustrating at first. However just listening to other people's experiences began to really focus my mind and allowed me to reach past this stage and to think seriously about their application (and that of others) in teaching and learning.
I had already dallied with the idea of using Twitter to regularly update students of the latest careers related opportunities; being Head of Careers for Years 7 - 13 has always given me a bit of a headache in how to present information such as Open Days, Apprenticeships, college courses etc. Putting up posters is so time consuming and does anybody really take any notice of them. I have already tried something similar and created a forum on our VLE (Frog) for staff development courses. Previously all the course information was kept in paper format in box files in the LRC and now new information is simply posted onto the forum with a link to the web address. Using an online forum to record book reviews, the school book group already loves using Animoto to present their book reviews, was next and there really should be a place where staff can share book reviews online so our students can see us reading.
Other ideas include revamping the LRC pages on the college website and exploring Livebinders and titanpad.com to effectively support whole class research tasks. As a Cooperative Trust college, it is also essential to consider everything in light of our cooperative ethos. I see an interesting year ahead of me.
I am also pleased that my school seem to be taking my Chartership seriously by agreeing to fund the costs. Not very much to pay though I hear some of you say, but in the current economic climate in which we continually hear of the closure of public libraries, SLSs and school libraries along with librarian redundancies, I am very relieved that my school still seem to hold a library (or LRC as here) and a professional librarian in high regard; the support for my CPD being evident of this.
We have decided to make the focus of my Chartership digitial literacy; a decision which seemed to come easy given the current debates about the value of libraries and librarians in a digital world. In addition my school has recently become a Microsoft Innovation School and as a result we have the amazing opportunity to really explore the use of ICT, digital media and social networking in our teaching and learning.
We have had two staff training sessions in recent weeks; the first when we began to look at different forms of media to engage and interact with students, e.g. podcasting, but it was the second training session which began to really enthuse me. It took the form of five workshops each led by staff members; Twitter and Youtube, Blogs and Wikis, Mischief Mouse, Facebook as well as an introductory insight into the Microsoft Innovation Programme and an opportunity to become part of the workspace for Partners in Learning. Having already recorded my thoughts on Google docs for the school, I won't go into too much detail here, but there were a few ideas which seemed to stand out for me. Having been using social media for some time now to enhance my CPD, being told about nings, wikis and blogs was a bit frustrating at first. However just listening to other people's experiences began to really focus my mind and allowed me to reach past this stage and to think seriously about their application (and that of others) in teaching and learning.
I had already dallied with the idea of using Twitter to regularly update students of the latest careers related opportunities; being Head of Careers for Years 7 - 13 has always given me a bit of a headache in how to present information such as Open Days, Apprenticeships, college courses etc. Putting up posters is so time consuming and does anybody really take any notice of them. I have already tried something similar and created a forum on our VLE (Frog) for staff development courses. Previously all the course information was kept in paper format in box files in the LRC and now new information is simply posted onto the forum with a link to the web address. Using an online forum to record book reviews, the school book group already loves using Animoto to present their book reviews, was next and there really should be a place where staff can share book reviews online so our students can see us reading.
Other ideas include revamping the LRC pages on the college website and exploring Livebinders and titanpad.com to effectively support whole class research tasks. As a Cooperative Trust college, it is also essential to consider everything in light of our cooperative ethos. I see an interesting year ahead of me.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
My first post
Over the last six months or so I feel that I am getting the hang of this Web 2.0 lark. Up to now I have been so overwhelmed with the many different tools that exist I have always been a bit put off.
Having to choose a particular area of focus for my Chartership has enabled me to make a serious attempt to tackle some of the latest technological developments and I began with developing my own personal learning network through Twitter and using Google Reader to track blogs etc which are most interesting and useful to me. I know of some fantastic librarians out there in schools (this is my area of professionalism), whose blogs, tweets and school library web pages have been invaluable to me. Thank you - I can only aspire to be like you. This new blog is my first step to publishing my thoughts, ideas and initiatives on the latest technological developments in Web 2.0, e-resources such as the I-Pad and Kindle and their impact on learning in schools within the context of the LRC and its integral role in supporting both teaching and learning.
Having had a meeting with my line manager last week to redefine my job description, I have been lucky enough to have been told to focus on the LRC's virtual role and explore different Web 2.0 tools and their role in teaching and learning with the aim of using this as my main Chartership focus. A meeting next week with my mentor should enable me to begin this process properly.
- Which ones to explore?
- Will they work through my school's filter system? Answer: probably not.
- Which ones to try with my students? How will use of Web 2.0 improve their learning and support content led teaching?
Having to choose a particular area of focus for my Chartership has enabled me to make a serious attempt to tackle some of the latest technological developments and I began with developing my own personal learning network through Twitter and using Google Reader to track blogs etc which are most interesting and useful to me. I know of some fantastic librarians out there in schools (this is my area of professionalism), whose blogs, tweets and school library web pages have been invaluable to me. Thank you - I can only aspire to be like you. This new blog is my first step to publishing my thoughts, ideas and initiatives on the latest technological developments in Web 2.0, e-resources such as the I-Pad and Kindle and their impact on learning in schools within the context of the LRC and its integral role in supporting both teaching and learning.
Having had a meeting with my line manager last week to redefine my job description, I have been lucky enough to have been told to focus on the LRC's virtual role and explore different Web 2.0 tools and their role in teaching and learning with the aim of using this as my main Chartership focus. A meeting next week with my mentor should enable me to begin this process properly.
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