Microsoft Classroom – supporting teachers supporting learners

msftclassroomscreens

What is Microsoft Classroom?

In a nutshell, it’s an online environment where a teacher can assign tasks, track who’s completed tasks with ease, or provide feedback to support learners, share in seconds OneNote pages to every individual pupil’s section which can only be seen by the teacher and that individual pupil, have peer-to-peer conversations for collaborative work between learners or for teachers to provide individualised support to learners through teacher-pupil discussions. It joins up features available in Office 365 for Education – the OneNote Class Notebook, messaging, calendar, feedback, groups and email especially for classrooms. It works via a browser, or computer or mobile app for smartphone or tablet.

intromsftclassroommix

Click on this link for an interactive step-by-step guide to Microsoft Classroom, what it looks like, how it works and how a teacher might use it with their learners. This interactive guide takes you through the steps combining video, audio, screenshots as well as inviting you to click on the sections to see what happens and move to the next step to find out how Microsoft Classroom works for a teacher.

https://classroom.cloudguides.com/en-us/guides/Introducing%20Microsoft%20Classroom#

How to get set up Microsoft Classroom

Teachers and pupils in Scottish schools have access to Microsoft Classroom using their Glow login details. Just log into Glow, choose any Office 365 tile then, from any part of Office 365, just click on the 9-square waffle and choose the Classroom tile. Alternatively go to Microsoft Classroom website and use your Glow login details to log in straight from there https://classroom.microsoft.com/

The video below is to the first in a playlist created by Microsoft Education of a series of short videos showing how to get started with Microsoft Classroom and how to undertake a variety of tasks a teacher may wish to do with their class.

Microsoft has an online support section for Microsoft Classroom – Getting Started with Microsoft Classroom – click on the links which best suit what you need for step by step guides.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Getting-started-with-Microsoft-Classroom-dd5d064f-6c22-41e0-b721-9d359857d037

The Microsoft Educator Community has an introduction to Microsoft Classroom guiding users through the features, setup and management of Microsoft Classroom. Educators are encouraged to sign up on the Microsoft Educators Community as recognition is then given for completion of a course and assessment in the form of badge and certificate https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/introduction-to-microsoft-classroom

Miguel Guhlin has created a playlist of videos exploring different features of Microsoft Classroom and how different parts can be used in a classroom situation by a teacher with their class of learners. There’s videos showing the learner view, including on a tablet device, as well as examples showing how teachers might share different kinds of resources, how learners might complete tasks, and how a teacher might provide different forms of feedback.

Scott Letts has created some tutorial video guides to using Microsoft Classroom, How to set up Microsoft Classroom and Creating an assignment in Microsoft Classroom.

Mobile Device App

When setting up the app on a mobile device it will usually ask for the Office 365 for Education – that will be the full Glow email address.

How to make use of existing OneNote Class Notebooks in Microsoft Classroom

Schools which have already been using Microsoft OneNote and have existing OneNote Class Notebooks can associate Microsoft Classroom with existing Class Notebooks. To do this ensure you have the desktop version of OneNote installed on your computer, and have added the Class Notebook Add-in. Then to associate an existing Class Notebook with a Microsoft Classroom click on > Connections > Map Class Notebooks.

Is there a feature you’d like to see in Microsoft Classroom?

Microsoft Classroom has a user voice forum where users can feed back on features they’d like to see modified or added in future releases to better support the use of Microsoft Classroom by teachers and learners. Click on this link to see what others have requested and add your voice if there’s something which would make this even better for your classroom use.

https://edu.uservoice.com/forums/289447-general/category/165585-microsoft-classroom

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Making Memes and Animated Gifs for Learning

memeanimatedlearningMemes and animated gifs abound in social media. You don’t have to look too long online to see these appear, often being shared and shared by many people via their social media accounts, or prominent on webpages or blogposts to draw in the reader to find out more about a story or data.

Having learners create their own memes or animated gifs can support their learning across all areas of the curriculum. The process of demonstrating understanding of a concept involves learners in reflecting on their learning, often discussing with others to test the depth of that understanding, and then finding creative ways to present the information to others. Where learners are encouraged to make these animated gifs or memes to demonstrate their understanding of concepts they are reflecting on what the key points are, they are summarising, in effect creating a visual précis of information.

So what is an animated gif?

Animated gifs are short animations lasting just a few seconds, sometimes just a sequence of related images, sometimes a short looping segment or clip of a video, sometimes a stop-motion style of inanimate objects brought to life to convey a message.

horsingaroundmemeAnd what is an image meme?

Image Memes generally may consist of a single photograph with text along the top and foot of the image, sometimes black top and bottom borders where bold white text is superimposed. The text is often in capitalised Impact font.

The text is usually very short and the text along the top can often be the draw to bring in the viewer, and then the text along the foot can spin the idea to make the reader reflect on the issue, often with humorous effect.

Where learners might make memes  and animated gifs

Animated gifs and memes present messages in a visual, attention-grabbing way, to make those who view them stop and think. The most thought-provoking memes and animated gifs distil what can be a complex concept into the main idea which can be understood in just a few seconds.

problem-shared-is-problem-halvedA Mental Health and Wellbeing project, AyeMind, (which inspired this blogpost after a presentation by Dr Trevor Lakey, Health Improvement and Inequalities manager with NHSGGC) developed by the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde along with partner organisations, has a fantastic website to be a part of providing positive mental health support for children and young people.

Part of this was about digital inclusion, and using the tools, platforms and means of communications familiar to children and young people to engage and share. Part of this project was enabling talking about mental health issues in a positive, supportive environment and giving the children and young people a voice and opportunity to make better use of the Internet, social media and mobile technologies. The memes and animated gifs on the AyeMind project website were created by children and young people as part of the project.

How to create an animated gif

There are a number of free online tools which let users create an animated gif. When using in an educational setting it would be prudent to check for suitability of advertising or galleries of user-created content which is rarely moderated.

Aye_Mind_ChooseaQuestionIdeally find a tool which just offers the tool for creation of the animated gif. Each tool which creates an animated gif may provide different options such as the limit on the number of images which can be uploaded, the option to control the speed or frame-rate of the animation, the size of the output animated gif image, and sometimes further options. Some simply provide the option for users to specify the location of an already uploaded video online, and the starting and finishing point for the clip animated gif to be created.

The Young Scot website AyeMind project page provides an excellent outline of an activity for involving children and young people in deciding on the message they wish to convey and then shows step-by-step how to use either an online tool or a mobile app to create an animated gif. There are also plenty of example of memes and animated gifs created by children and young people on the Young Scot website AyeMind project page and an outline guide providing the steps to running a session with children, young people or adults on coming up with the ideas and then moving to making the memes or animated gifs.

Online tools or mobile apps for creating an animated gif:

ABCyaABC.ya animator – aimed at being suitable for young children since it only permits drawn images or selection of pictures from an inbuilt galley of images.

GifMaker.me – animated gif creator with several options from which to choose in controlling how the animated gif will be presented, and provides the option to add music or even combine several animated gifs. As with any creation tool it provides the opportunity to explore sources of images and content found elsewhere, to use only where permission is granted and attribution given as required. http://gifcreator.me/ is the version of this gif creator which does not require Adobe Flash so works on most devices.

MakeAGif – provides the option to make a gif from an uploaded existing video or from an online source on YouTube, from which the specific segment can be selected. Be aware of the gallery of examples which would not all be appropriate for an educational setting.

EZGif – provides the option for animated gifs from multiple images (up to 400) or from video. There is advertising on the site but no gallery of user-created content.

Mobile device apps – many apps are available for smartphone or tablet to create animated gifs. Leslie Walker put together “Mobile GIF Guide: Make Animated GIFs on Your Phone” which lists several apps for mobile phones or tablet devices, along with descriptions of the features of each. Justin Pot gathered together “Making an animated gif is easier than you think with these  which lists online tools as well as mobile device apps, including descriptions and guidance as to how to make use of each. Elise Moreau collated a list of free animated gif creators for mobile devices at “9 Free GIF Maker Apps for iPhone and Android” describing each and providing helpful hints as to how each can be used.

Creating an animated gif from a part of a video on YouTube can be done in several ways. One of the easiest ways is to insert the letters gif immediately prior to the “youtube.com” portion of a weblink to the selected YouTube video. This will take you to an interface where you make selections based on the clip you wish to use. This link explains and illustrates this. http://www.shakeuplearning.com/blog/easily-turn-a-youtube-clip-into-an-animated-gif-image/

Online tools or mobile device apps for creating an image meme

Any image-creation tool (or a presentation tool like PowerPoint) on computer, mobile or tablet device can usually be used for creating an image meme – wherever an image can be placed with the facility to overlay text either along the top and bottom of the image, or within a border of black along the top and bottom of the image for white text to be superimposed on these black panels. There are online tools but as with any free online tool a having unmoderated galleries of user-created content has to be a factor an educator looks at in assessing the suitability of a tool in an educational context, however the following may provide the teacher with ideas, guides as well as inspire an adaptation of an existing meme to suit the learning need. Meme creation online tools include imgFlip Meme generator, MemeMaker.Net, MemeGenerator.net, and ImageChef Meme Maker (be aware that all of these have galleries of user-generated content which would not generally be suitable in an educational context but selected memes may be shared by a teacher for showing examples).

Mobile device apps specifically for creating image memes have been collated on the AppCrawlr site “Best iOS apps for meme generator” and “Best Android apps for meme generator.” Mobile device users may well find they already have one of these apps as several have multiple purposes such as for editing images.

Sharing Animated Gifs and Memes Online

Static images will upload to social media accounts and websites, and can be embedded in word-processed documents as for any image. However animated gifs will not work in every application. If sharing in PowerPoint they must be inserted as an image and will only display as an animation when in slideshow view. Different social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have their own requirements for sharing animated images – click on this link for advice on sharing on social media platforms. http://blogs.techsmith.com/tips-how-tos/how-to-post-animated-gifs-on-social-media/ 

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Feedback and more with Forms

FormsGathering feedback, taking quizzes to reinforce learning, undertaking surveys of views, signing up or registering for an activity – just some of the ways forms can be used by schools. And now there is the option to use Microsoft Forms – available as a free online tool which uses a Microsoft Office 365 account (available to all Glow users) to set up the form either by going to https://forms.office.com or, if already logged into Office 365, via the Forms tile in the office 365 navigation tiles waffle.  Office Forms can be created by either learners or educators.

Forms work nicely on any smartphones, tablets or PCs. Setting up requires the creator to be logged in to Office 365 but those completing the created form can be completed by anyone without requiring any kind of logging in (if that setting is chosen by the form creator), or they can be anonymous (if that is the setting the creator of the form wishes to use), or if they wish to restrict responses to their class and to ensure their identity they can use the login details of office 365 users too (if that’s how the creator of the form wishes the form to be completed). So the form creator gets the choice to suit the purpose and audience of their form.

Feedback is immediate, real-time, to the form creator and the results can be displayed in different ways to suit the need of the form creator.

For Sway users you can embed a form created with office Forms live in a Sway presentation information can be shared about a topic being studied and a quiz included alongside the content.

Creating your form

  1. Office365waffleEither go to https://forms.office.com and log in with your Office 365 account (for Scottish schools that will be your Glow account) or, if already logged into Office 365, choose the Forms tile in the office 365 navigation tiles waffle.
  2. Click on + New to start creating your new form (you can click on the title of any previously created form in order to edit that, and if you wish to base a new form on an existing form you can click on the … ellipsis to the right of the form title and choose copy – then you can edit the copy to create a new version.
  3. addformJust click on “Untitled form” to edit the name of your form, and click on “Enter a description” to add explanatory text as you may wish to include to explain the purpose of the form and perhaps mentioning the intended audience. Then click “+ Add question“
  4. questiontypesChoose the type of question.There are five types of answer formats:
    • multiple choice questions (where you can choose to accept only one answer or multiple responses)
    • free-text (and you can choose either short or long text)
    • ratings (you can choose number or star rating)
    • quiz-questions (where you can provide immediate feedback to anyone filling in the form as to whether the respondent gave the correct answer or not (click on the tick icon to indicate which answer would be the correct answer – and just click on the speech-bubble icon to add comments to any response choice, which may give encouraging comments or suggestions for what to do next in response to the answer given, or any kind of feedback you wish to display when a particular choice is chosen)
    • date-input
  5. You can choose whether there can be multiple responses or only one answer accepted, you can require that specific questions have to be answered before a user can complete the form, and by clicking on the  …ellipsis you can choose whether a subtitle (which could provide explanatory text for each question) is displayed, and whether you wish to shuffle the order of questions so that each time someone sees the form the questions are displayed in a random order.
  6. Add as many further questions as you wish. You can re-order the questions by clicking on the upward or downward facing arrows above each question, and you can copy an existing question (and edit that copy), or delete an existing question.
  7. You can add a branching question option so that, depending on the response to one question, anyone responding can be directed to different questions to reflect that choice.

Previewing your form

mobilepreviewformTo see what the form will look like for people about to fill it in you can click on “preview” at the top navigation bar. You can see how the questions will be laid out on a computer, and you can also choose to see how it will look on a mobile device.

Sharing your form

Once the form is complete click on “Send form” – this will open a side panel with various choices. It will provide a link to share with those you wish to respond to the form. It will create a QR code for quick scanning by users using a mobile device, and it will provide html embed code if you wish to embed the form within a website page or blogpost. This screen also gives you the option to choose who will be able to fill out the form – you can choose only people within your organisation (for Scottish schools using Glow that would be Glow users only), and within that you can choose whether or not to record the names of those responding in the results, or you can choose to make the form available to anyone with the link (where no sign-in will be required for people responding to the form).

If you click on “See all settings” at the foot of this side panel you will get further choices:

Looking at the results of your form

Responsesscreen

When you wish to look at the responses to a form you have shared then simply open the form and click on the responses tab along the top of the screen. You will get an overview of the number of respondents, the average time taken to complete by respondents, and whether the form is still active or expired 9if you’d set it to have a deadline). There is also the option to download to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (which comes complete with auto-filter drop-downs to easily sort the information generated to suit your needs).

Example forms

FormLearningHow did you get on with your learning this week? – this form is a mock form just to show how a form might be used for a teacher to get feedback from learners in their class to better support them. This example is based on the form created by Fiona Johnson, headteacher at Kilmartin Primary School in Argyll and Bute, but this link is purely an example so anyone can try it. Similarly here is another mock form (also based on the form created by Fiona Johnson as headteacher at Kilmartin Primary School in Argyll and Bute) – “How did you get on with your learning today?” – feel free to give it a try.

Tracking SALsAM

Tracking Significant Aspects of Learning – Athole McLauchlan used Microsoft Forms with pupils at Bearsden Primary School as a way of recognising and reporting on wider achievements of learners. Click here to see a copy of the form used (this is a mock copy for readers of this blog to try out the responses and does not affect the real form used with pupils). This covered pupil voice, sporting achievements, learning for sustainability, healthy choices, STEM, reading and writing for pleasure, creativity and personal interest, and skills for life and work. One question included a “bucket list” – looking at pupil aspirations (with reference to 50 things to do before age 11). Forms can be used to generate a report on school-wide data, as well as to look at the responses on a form by any individual (a form can be anonymised or it can require login and a name to be provided depending on the purpose).

Teacher Nick Tait has shared the following video showing how he has used Microsoft Forms with a class of high school learners at Grangemouth High School. This video shows how the forms are constructed and shows the view of the responses by the teacher as creator of the forms.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/screencast/Main/Details/9a0e76c2-5aa7-4c45-9e5a-c352c2389f89.html

So what have people said about Office Forms?

StevenPayneFormsSteven Payne, an educator in Western Australia, shared the results of a mock use Microsoft Forms – showing the results, and the way in which they can be displayed, which the creator of the form can see once respondents have completed the survey.

Jim Federico commented in a tweet that Microsoft Forms being built into Office 365 for Education means no add-ins are required, and includes question types which auto-grade.

TestingWithOfficeFormsKurt Söser, an educator in Austria, has provided a step-by-step guide to his experience setting up a quiz with Microsoft Forms and using it with his learners.

VicentGadeaFormsVicent Gadea, an educator in Spain, described co-assessment using Microsoft Forms “1st time was complicated then was very powerful for us.”

Zelfstudforms

Koen Timmers, an educator in Belgium, has described in a step-by-step guide, illustrated with screenshots, how to set up a form using Office Forms, and shared what the responses look like for a form he created.

Making use of Forms in the classroom

There is a range of online form tools available, each of which can generally be used in similar ways, so it can be helpful to look at how others have used these tools when thinking about how online forms can support classroom activity.

DavidAndradeFormsChad Raid wrote about the use of forms on David Andrade’s Educational Technology Guy blog – some of which may be applicable in different educational scenarios. Obviously in any use of forms the issue of data security is paramount and guidance from school or local education  authority as to what can, and what must not, be requested via a form would clearly be essential.

What to Think About When You’re Surveying Students – a post by Marcia Quackenbush and Pamela Jakwerth Drake which provides a host of ideas for using survey tools with learners, outlining the benefits as well as considerations specific to schools to be borne in mind, and links to various resources.

 

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Find the time which suits everyone with FindTime

FindTime2FindTime – a quick way to find a time which best suits everyone when you are trying to arrange a meeting with a group of people.

There will be many times teachers are trying to organise a meeting time for a group of colleagues (sometimes in their own school, and often with colleagues in other schools, and sometimes with people outwith schools altogether) , but when you send out a message some people may reply only to you, some people may explain how they could make one time if they re-arranged something else, some say that a particular date is their preferred time, and some they just can’t manage at all.

FindTime1How do you make sense of all of these replies?

FindTime is one way of neatly taking all of that into account where you simply make some suggestions for meeting, add the people to be invited (just by adding heir email address), and everyone simply clicks on times which best suit them from the link in the email (they don’t need to log into anything), which times they can’t manage, and which they could possibly do if they re-arranged something else. And FindTime also gives you the option to hold suggestions in Outlook calendars and confirm to all attendees what the outcome was once it’s been clearly identified as the best option.

Here’s a video introducing the purpose behind FindTime

Here’s an animated video which shows the purpose behind FindTime, and the simple steps involved in making it work for you:

So how do you get started with FindTime?

FindTime works with Office 365, so for Glow users the person who creates the meeting invitation simply has to use their Glow account to set up the meeting, but thereafter anyone can be invited to the meeting, with no need for others to be Glow users of for anyone to log into anything. The email invitation sent out includes links specific to each invited individual so they simply click on the link in their email to make their choices.

First time setup for the organiser

First time set up just needs the add-in for FindTime to be added to the Outlook calendar, in Glow Office 365. So do the following:

  1. Log into Glow and navigate to Office 365 (Calendar).
  2. Then open a new tab in your Internet browser and go to https://findtime.microsoft.com/.
  3. Click on the button which says “Install for free – requires office 365” – untick the box which asks if you wish sent news of updates, and then click on the button which says “I’m ready.”
  4. In the login screen which then appears add your Glow email address where it asks for your Microsoft Office (that will be your Glow username followed by @glow.sch.uk). That will take you to the normal Glow login screen so simply sign in as normal. A button will appear to show that the add-in for FindTime is now installed.

How to start a meeting invitation

  1. The organiser of the meeting is the only one who has to have a Glow Microsoft Office 365 account – everyone else just needs to have an email address, which does not need to be within Glow nor Office 365. Navigate to the Internet browser tab where you have Glow Microsoft Office 365 Calendar (note that this also works from within Microsoft Office 365 Outlook email too, so the steps below work whether email or calendar part of Office e365).
  2. Choose the drop down arrow beside “+New” and choose “Calendar event.”
  3. Click on “Add-ins” and choose “FindTime. The first time you do this only you click on the “FindTime “link now” box which appears. Thereafter you’ll see the FindTime option each time you choose that from the add-in menu.
  4. Underneath where it says “People” you’ll see a box which says “Add people” where you simply type email addresses of each of the people who are going to invite – once each name is typed you click on “Use this address” which displays under the email address” to add each email address one by one (don’t user the + sign beside the box as this will only add from your address book).
  5. Now select the meeting options in the FindTime panel (it’s suggested to specify the meeting duration, then select as or as many days/times options as suit you). Then click “Next” – here you can click on the cog for “Meeting settings” to specify whether you wish to have notifications, to hold possible dates in diaries, or to automatically schedule the dates which suits everyone (probably you’d want to decide that for yourself so may no choose that last option).
  6. Finally click on “Insert to email” and send to those you are inviting to participate.

And once you get the invitations?

Each user simply clicks on the link in their email and makes their choices (preferred option, and yes or no for each suggested time/date) before clicking on the “Submit” button. And that’s all they have to do. The organiser can go to https://findtime.microsoft.com to review meeting details of any meeting they have organised, and edit or send out details to participants as required. They can also see the details from with their calendar entry for the selected time/date in Office 365.

 

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Learners engaging with their learning with Yammer

YammerlogoYammer – so what is it and why use in school?

Yammer is an online discussion/collaboration tool which provides schools with a secure online environment where all pupils in a class can ask questions of their peers, where they can seek answers and help each other, bounce ideas around and deepen their own understanding of what they are learning in class. It is available to all users of Office 365 for Education, meaning all Glow users, pupils and staff, have access to this tool. And it can be accessed by signing in online in a browser or using a mobile device app.

Yammer provides an ideal tool through which learners can learn about the use of social media, in a protected environment, where the pupils can be guided to model behaviours for use in an online discussion tool, which will apply to any social media tool pupils may meet outwith their schooling. So if a teacher is looking to help pupils learn about safe sharing, and what not to share online, being supportive and respectful of views of others, and a place for pupils to engage in deepening their understanding through questioning and responding to others, then Yammer provides a great environment for a school.

yammeronwaffleHow do pupils and teachers get started using Yammer?

  1. Glow users simply sign into Glow then navigate to any part of Office 365, such as the tile for Office 365 (School Site) and then click on the 9-square waffle icon to navigate to the range of tools available in Office 365 – and choose the Yammer tile.
  2. The very first time a user clicks on the Yammer tile they will be invited to invite further users – don’t invite others but instead just close that window (click on the greyed-out cross at the top-right or click on the background page behind the invitation panel.
  3. You will be presented with the terms of use of Yammer – read these and then click on the button to acknowledge you agree to abide by them.
  4. You’re then in Yammer and can start browsing some of the Yammer groups open to all users. Or, if a pupil is ready to join the private class Yammer group set up by their teacher, then the first time the pupil simply searches for the class group name, clicks on the link and requests to join by clicking on the “join group” button – that sends a message to the teacher who accepts their pupils into the group.

Alternatively, rather than go to Glow first, users can search with an online search engine for Yammer or go straight to https://www.yammer.com where they can then simply log in using their Glow/Office 365 email address and password.

How do you set up a Yammer group just for pupils and teachers in a class?

  1. A class teacher can quickly set up a private class group in Yammer. Click on “+ Create a new group” and then give the group a name – include in the group name something which identifies the school as well as the class name.
  2. Choose “Private – Only approved members” and untick the box which gives the option to “List in Group Directory” – that way only pupils who know what to search for will be able to find a teacher’s Yammer class group, and only pupils who the teachers knows are members of their class will be granted access by the teacher. Setting up that way avoids the teachers having to add a list of usernames – they simply tell their class what to search for, and to click on the “join group” button when they find the group.
  3. A teacher can see the list of pupils waiting to be added to their class yammer group by going into the Yammer group and then clicking on “Members” at the right-hand side. This will show which users have requested access and are pending approval by the teacher.
  4. It would be recommended to have additional teacher colleagues added as joint administrators – beside their name on the list of members just click on the cog icon and select “Make admin” to elevate that teacher to be a joint administrator of that Yammer group.

What can you do in a Yammer discussion?

You can ask questions, respond to requests from others, add comments or create polls to garner views of others. Attachments can be added to any discussion post – so pupils can perhaps discuss or share comments about a resource. You can even use the “praise” button to acknowledge the input of other users. A Yammer group provides a place to share resources, and links to related sites elsewhere.

MIEYammer

20 Ways to use Yammer in Education – a post describing 20 different ways in which Yammer can be used by schools, whether simply sending out messages to everyone in a class, setting up groups for specific groups, using the praise button, promoting an event, holding an online debate, developing a mentor programme, using Yammer to teach online safety specifically in relation to safer use of social networking, and more.

screendiscussionYammer – the next step for social networking for schools – describes some of the ways in which Yammer can be used in schools, whether for group work, study support (where learners can support each other), content sharing and use of the praise app to acknowledge and encourage.

How are schools using Yammer?

KirknewtonPSKirknewton Primary School in West Lothian has provided an excellent description of how they are using Yammer with pupils. This blogpost gives screenshots of different aspects to how they use Yammer, as well as the rationale to the choice of tool and the purposes behind it to better support learning and teaching. This has included using Yammer to support collaborative writing. Mrs Anderson, Principal Teacher at the school said “As a teacher and parent I feel that it is very important that we educate children about the safe use of social media – using Yammer has been a fantastic way to do so, in a safe environment. Feedback from parents has been positive.” “The impact on learning and teaching is evident in the content of the group and the enthusiasm of pupils (which is evident in the online interactions).” 

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/glowgallery/portfolio/kirknewton-primary-school-sharing-approaches-to-glow-yammer/

BearsdenPSBearsden Primary School in East Dunbartonshire – teacher Athole McLauchlan describes in at this link about the use of Yammer with pupils in the school https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/glowgallery/portfolio/using-yammer-as-a-social-media-channel-for-learners-and-learning/

Mid Calder Primary School – this link is to a post describing how Yammer is used for pupils to share ideas.

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/wl/mcps/2016/04/19/anytime-anywhere-learning-yammer/

Studentsbeingcreativewith yammer

Students being creative with Yammer – a blogpost by Kevin Sait of Wymondham High School describing how they got pupils started using Yammer and how the use developed in different ways, including as a safe environment in which to teach safer use of social networking tools, supporting learning in second languages (where discussion took place entirely in the language being learned), and pupil-created groups to showcase work, including art and writing.

What safeguards are in place for Yammer users in Glow?

Yammer groups can be set up to be private (such as for a class of pupils so that the Yammer group can only be accessed by pupils in that class with their teachers). There are also Yammer groups open to users across Glow and educators within Glow nationally act as Moderators for Yammer users, welcoming new users, helping guide users to use appropriate language in a supportive way.

Everything in Yammer is identifiable to the individual user. There is a simple “report a concern” option for all users (either use the question mark icon on a page or anywhere you see a “Report a concern” button) which will alert the national Glow administrators to concerns raised, and who will provide the support required to resolve any issues.

There’s also a filter to ensure inappropriate language can’t accidentally be posted.

And of course the educational-focussed environment shared between learners and educators means there is a visible supportive environment. Users can set email alerts either to all posts in a specific Yammer group, or to individual posts where alerts would be sent for replies or comments just to that post.

MobileAppsYammer Mobile App

Yammer has an app for mobile devices – search on the app store for your device. Then once downloaded simply log in with your Glow/Office 365 email address (that’s where your Glow username has @glow.sch.uk added to the end, after your Glow username). For many users the use of the app will be the most convenient way to access Yammer.

What help is available?

Day One Guide for the Glow Yammer Network (accessed using Glow account – but also available as a document download from the public-access site Yammer Guide for Glow Users) – a very helpful guide of do things to do, and things to avoid, as well as guides to getting the most out of Yammer, specially in the early stages of getting used to using Yammer in a school.

Yammer Guide for Glow Users – a Glow-specific help guide to getting started with the use of Glow. This includes guidance and suggestions for managing Yammer in an educational context. This link provides Yammer-in-Glow-guidelines as well as further tips and advice for learners and teachers using Yammer in Glow.

So how are you using Yammer in your school?

Do share in the comments below how Yammer is being used in your school

 

 

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Share your presentations and documents online with Docs.com

DocscomDocs.com from Microsoft provides a free way to share your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway and PDF documents.

These shared documents can be viewed by others just by sharing a link (whether in social media, print form or by text or email message). You can embed any shared document on a website or blog. You can choose to keep documents unlisted  so that others can only access them if they have the direct link, or make them public for anyone to view.

Upload from various sources

You can upload your files from your computer, tablet or mobile device, or from Sway, Office Mix or OneNote online accounts, or your OneDrive cloud storage.

Create collections

Documents can be grouped into collections by you – so a teacher in a classroom might group resources according to curricular area/subject, or stage or for a specific group, or for an event. So when you share the link to that collection all of the related files, resources and presentations will be displayed together.

Sign in with Glow account

You can create a new account or sign in with a Facebook, a Microsoft account or Office 365 – and importantly for schools works with Glow accounts, meaning that for Glow users it’s just one username and password to access and make use of this tool, as well as all of the other resources and tools within Glow.

Analytics and Journal

Your Docs.com account provides you with analytics to give an overview of which documents have been viewed and how frequently. And you can also add journal entries to describe documents you have shared.

Getting started

getstarteddocscomGet started with Docs.com in 3 steps – a short Powerpoint presentation, shared with Docs.com which can be viewed online, to show just how easy it is to get started with sharing a document online using Docs.com

Create links from document

You can even auto-extract links from a document and have Docs.com create separate links within a collection on your Docs.com site. Click here for a guide to doing this.

Share OneNote Notebooks

Sharing OneNote notebooks is a particularly useful feature of Docs.com. The following video by Darrell Webster shows how useful this feature is for teachers to share with others, and how to use Docs.com to share any OneNote notebook

So how are teachers using Docs.com?

PCleavesDocsComDocs.com, an educator’s wonder tool – a description by educator Pip Cleaves of how she uses her Docs.com site to share resources she has created or curated from various sources and collated in categories to support learners and other colleagues.

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Build it in 3D with Tinkercad

TinkerCAD-logoWhat is Tinkercad?

Tinkercad is a free online tool for creating images which can be rotated and viewed on screen as if in 3D from different angles, and which can also be used to send to a 3D printer to create real physical objects. Tinkercad is designed to be used by any age, whether for a simple or complex object, to make a toy or a design prototype, jewellery or ornament for the home. And even if you don’t make the physical object there is a lot of design skills and satisfaction which can be gained just by using the tool to design a virtual object.

If you can imagine the object in your own mind Tinkercad provides the tool to let you create it in reality. And as it is browser-based it only needs a user to be on the Internet to be able to sign up for a free account and to start a design, and continue anywhere they can get connected online – there is no software to download.

How do you get started using Tinkercad?

Here’s a video which gives an overview of Tinkercad:

A search on YouTube for “Tinkercad tutorial” lists a vast array of videos by Tinkercad users showing how they have created a wide range of objects, so that others can be inspired to get their own creative juices starting to flow. Tinkercad also has its own YouTube channel with a range of videos showing how to use the tool for a multitude of model-making requirements so that there is no need to start from scratch – someone will have created an object from which another user can adapt to get what they are imagining.

TinkerCAD-tutorial

Tutorials in using Tinkercad – there are video tutorials showing how to get started using Tinkercad and how to use the tool to refine and customise the models being created. These tutorials are interactive in that you are guided through the steps while you are using the tool so everything is shown on screen at the point where you need the guidance.

There are many videos showing how to make basic models, as well as objects which could form the basis for objects by others and which therefore just need customising to suit the user’s needs.

How are other people using Tinkercad?

Tinkercad has its own blog which provides illustrations of how other people are using Tinkercad, and shares advice about the process users went through, and what they did with their creations.

http://blog.tinkercad.com/

How might Tinkercad be used in the classroom?

Project IgniteTinkercad Project Ignite provides ideas specifically aimed at using Tinkercad in the classroom. This provides a means for teachers to create a class without the need for pupils to sign up with an account, but instead use a teacher-created sign-in code. And of course there are hosts of projects, with supporting resources, for engaging classroom activities using Tinkercad.

https://projectignite.autodesk.com/

DensRoadNurseryDens Road Nursery in Dundee have a blogpost on the Create blog detailing how Tinkercad has been used in their early years setting.

 

What if I don’t have access to a 3D printer?

Tinkercad produces files in a format which a 3D printer can translate into a 3D physical object. But if you don’t have access to a 3D printer then you may wish to consider sites such as Shapeways which lets you upload your file and they will calculate and quote a cost so that you could decide to have it created and sent in the mail to you. http://www.shapeways.com/create

How are you using Tinkercad?

How are you using Tinkercad? Do please share in the comments below this post

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Personalised Learning for Teachers about Digital Technologies for Learning

MicrosoftTeacherTrainingBadgesMicrosoft in Education is a site which provides free on-demand personalised learning for teachers in exploring the use of digital technologies to support learning and teaching – learning at a pace which suits each teacher on the topics they find most useful to them, at the time they need it.

The online hub provides a Training and Professional Development section which is divided into Quick Tip Videos,  Courses (which can be filtered by age range of learners, tools, skills to be developed, etc), and Learning Paths which provide a more in-depth look at use of digital technologies compbing different methods of delivering the information and sharing of skills as well as exemplars.

There is a wide range of free instant-access online courses. Some of these are short tool-specific how-to guides to learning the basics of getting started using specific digital technologies such as Sway, Skype, OneNote, Powerpoint, Minecraft, Office Mix or many other tools. Some are just short quick-tip videos highlighting a specific feature of a particular piece of software.

Some courses are longer and look at how digital technologies can best be used to support learning and teaching in different contexts. These combine text guides, video explanations and examples, as well as quizzes to help understanding.

MicrosoftEducatorCommunityAnd by signing up to the free Microsoft in Education Community a teacher can access a wider range of resources shared by other teachers around the globe, and when working through the range of courses on offer a teacher can gain visual recognition through digital badges of their accomplishments. Working through the online resources, with badges to record progress, can provide an extra degree of motivation when there is a tangible record of what skills have been acquired, and perhaps a spur to just complete another one (and another, and another!!).

So whether starting out, or just looking for an illustration of a particular application in a classroom setting, reading about how others are using digital technologies to support learning, an online space to discuss with colleagues worldwide what’s worked (or look for advice when you might be looking for a solution to something which has not worked in your situation), or wanting to further explore how to integrate digital technology to best support learners in your school, there is something here for every teacher.

Sign up for free now at the Microsoft Educator Community at the link below:

https://education.microsoft.com/

 

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Getting Going with GoNoodle

GoNoodlemontageGoNoodle is a free online resource bank of action videos and associated activities to support and encourage learners  to get active while helping engage with information being learned in the classroom (or anywhere) or prepare for a change of activity, or even set the scene for reflective thinking!

There is a GoNoodle blog which is full of ideas to inspire teachers with learners across any age group, with specific ideas suggested for topical events in the school calendar, or to support learning in a specific curricular area.

A teacher simply signs up for a free account (there is the option for additional premium features) to access the dashboard where the teacher can set up videos for different classes – they can customise their playlist of videos to suit their classroom and needs of their learners.

There are hundreds of movement videos to get young learners dancing, running, stretching, and more. And there are many which seek to help deliver health and wellbeing messages reinforced with rhythmic actions.

Below here you’ll find a some to give a flavour of what to expect.

GoNoodle: 101 – an introductory video to GoNoodle

Engaging less confident learners with GoNoodle

Changing classroom behaviour with GoNoodle

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

Sway for engaging online presentations

Sway_logoMicrosoft Sway is a presentation tool which is free and works on any device. It can start with a simple word-processed document (or from other sources such as Powerpoint or PDF) where you’ve put your ideas and, with just a few clicks, you can upload the document, highlight text you wish to emphasise, which parts to make into new sections, where to add images, embedded video links and images, and add emphasis in an engaging way.

Click on this link for a quick guide and introductory tutorial showing how you can make an engaging presentation using Sway –

The following video takes the brief introduction above and develops that so that you can create a presentation in Sway using the new layout set up specifically for presentations. This video shows how to use groups, grids, captions, and focus points to ensure your chosen message comes across in they way you wish with the emphasis on the content you deem to be most important.

Want to make a tutorial presentation using Sway? The video below shows how you can structure a Sway presentation to use embedded videos, images and text to explain the steps in any process for explaining to others.

How to use Sway for a school project. The following video shows how Sway can be used to create a project on any topic in an educational context.

Click here for links to video guides to using Sway from Microsoft.

Click here for a guide to using Sway specifically in Glow Office 365 – this also links to a variety of examples of the use of Sway in a school context

 

To share your Sway

To share your Sway presentation with others you simply copy the weblink URL which Sway provides for you, and share that, whether via social media or email (there are specific buttons at the share part of Sway which provides you with the appropriate link for each method of sharing. This can also be used to embed in a Glow WordPress blog – just add the short link in the body of a blogpost and it will automatically embed. Note that if you are using your Glow user account to share your Sway link the Sway presentation must have ben made public for others to see it, it cannot be embedded elsewhere online (such as a blog) unless the Sway presentation is public and can be seen by anyone on the Sway settings.

Below is an example Sway “Sway for Education: Sway in the Classroom” which provides examples of how Sway can be used, and also shows in itself what a Sway presentation can look like.

How to make your Sway presentation even better

Here’s a Sway presentation below by Nathan G Freier of his top 10 tips and tricks to make your Sways look great.

Examples of Sway in Education

Sway – The star of your 2015 Classroom – a post on the Microsoft Australian Teachers Blog. This provides a host of ideas for how Sway can be used in a classroom context, as well as examples of created Sways.

Sway in the Classroom – examples from Scottish schools collated by Laura Paterson

School Newsletter from Lockerbie Academy – an example of a school newsletter which can provide a different way of presenting information, news, updates and more about school life. The link can be shared with parents/carers in a short text or email and looks more engaging compared to a printed version.

Stirling High School Newsletter – this Sway (as well as the associated pdf version) was created by pupils

OneNote at Kirklandneuk Primary School – a great example of a presentation Sway (about the use of OneNote) which incorporates many Sway features including picture decks, Twitter posts integration, links, images and more.

The Sway below is a neat collaboration by pupils in different high schools working together to create a story – digital story telling “The Street of Shadows” by pupils in Largs Academy and Garnock Academy in North Ayrshire

The Sway below is the result of a project by primary 1 pupils at Westquarter Primary School in Falkirk about “Why We Do Research”

The Three Little Pigs – a neat use of Sway to share the activities of Polbeth Nursery School in West Lothian related to the tale of The Three Little Pigs – this Sway incorporates video, image decks (some of pictures of outdoor activities, and some of the artworks created by the children), and note of comments by the children.

Cloud Learning History and Place with O365 –  a Sway by teacher Athole McLauchlan showing how pupils at Bearsden Primary School used OneNote Class Notebook along with Sway in an interdisciplinary approach.

 

The “Uses of Fibre Optics” Sway below was created by Cameron Gilmour, pupil at Kirkintilloch High School in East Dunbartonshire as part of Physics coursework

The “Uses of Fibre Optics” Sway below was created by Payton Trimble, pupil at Kirkintilloch High School in East Dunbartonshire as part of Physics coursework

ICT across the curriculum in Falkirk primary schools - Glow blog by Malcolm Wilson

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