Category: Uncategorized

Session Resources: Planning for Effective Digital Experiences

This page is for season resources from our Planning for Effective Digital Experiences session. This session explored planning for digital learning from both a documentation and a practical application point of view. 

Session Slides

You can view a PDF copy of the slides below. If you’d prefer the Keynote version please contact Kerry Abercrombie.

Additional Content

Our sessions tend to have a lot of live demonstrations within them. The remainder of the page outlines some of the digital tools covered in the session or signposting to some of the resources shown or mentioned in a format which can be easily revisited or passed along to colleagues who were unable to attend the session.

 

Planning for Digital Learning Document

Below we have embedded the new Planning for Digital Learning document. You can also access this in full screen here. As we mentioned in the session, this is only part one – part two which focuses on practical application is currently being created. 

 

Session Recording

Here is a recording of the session for those who wish to watch it again or who missed it. Please be aware that the session recording is edited to remove all discussion and task sections. This is to protect the privacy of our participants and ensure everyone feels comfortable speaking freely on mic and in the chat without worry that their comments will be made publicly available.

Session Resources: AI in Education – Differentiation and Accessibility

This page is for season resources from our AI in Education: Differentiation and Accessibility session. This session explored AI tools designed to help cater to diverse learner needs.

Session Slides

You can view a PDF copy of the slides below. If you’d prefer the Keynote version please contact Kerry Abercrombie.

 

Additional Content

Our sessions tend to have a lot of live demonstrations within them. The remainder of the page outlines some of the digital tools covered in the session or signposting to some of the resources shown or mentioned in a format which can be easily revisited or passed along to colleagues who were unable to attend the session.

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AI in Education: Guiding Principles and Support

All Falkirk Council education staff using or considering using AI in education should familiarise themselves with the AI in Education: Guiding Principles and Support information. 

Education Prompt Library

The education prompt library is a collection of pre-prepared, high-quality prompts covering a wide range of planning and preparation tasks and pedagogical approaches. Educators can browse the prompts, copy and paste their selected prompt directly into Google Gemini, then customise it to suit their specific context and needs. The education prompt library is an ongoing piece of work and will continue to grow over time. Prompts 4, 5, 7, 10, 11 are specifically related to differentiation or accessibility.

AI Teacher Tools – Starter Suite

Navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of AI in education can be overwhelming for busy educators. Our starter suite offers a carefully curated collection of nine free AI-powered tools which have been assessed to ensure their educational value and ease of initial use. The hope is that this provides a practical entry point for teachers and establishments embarking on their AI journey. The document sorts the tools by educational function, gives an education focused use overview and provides quick guides for each tool.

Falkirk AI Teacher Network

Are you interested in exploring the potential of AI in education? Express your interest in joining our AI Teacher Network. By filling out this form, you’ll help us connect with like-minded educators and keep you updated on exciting opportunities, resources, and events. You will also have the opportunity to influence the use if AI in education within Falkirk. We’ll be in touch with details of how to join the Microsoft Teams space.

Which ‘Grade’ is That? Conversion Table

Here is that handy conversion table for use with AI tools which default to the US system.

Quick Guides

Below you can find the quick guides for the four tools featured in this session.

Google Gemini – Quick Start Guide

Gemini Quick Guide by Miss Abercrombie

What does it do?

Google Gemini chatbot is a large language model (LLM) developed by Google. While Google Gemini describes a family of LLM tools integrated throughout Google Workspace, the Google Gemini standalone chatbot is available to all staff via Glow login to the Google Workspace tenancy operated by Glow/Education Scotland. Its ability to process and generate diverse information aims to create more natural and helpful AI interactions. Google Gemini is an 18+ product and is only available to staff users within Glow. It is designed to be multimodal, meaning it can understand and operate across text, code, images, and more.   

How do I get access? Staff can log into Google Gemini for free via their Glow account. Learners do not have access to Google Gemini via Glow as it is an 18+ product.

Diffit

Diffit Quick Start Guide by Miss Abercrombie

What does it do? Diffit is an AI-powered tool designed to help educators create differentiated learning materials quickly. It allows teachers to generate customised content at various reading levels based on a given text or topic. By adjusting the complexity of language, Diffit ensures that students with different abilities can engage with the same subject matter, supporting personalised learning and making lesson planning more efficient for teachers. 

How do I get access? Teachers can sign up for a free account on the Diffit website.

Pupils do not need to access Diffit.

 

Magic School – Quick Start Guide

Magic School Quick Start Guide by Miss Abercrombie

What does it do? Magic School is a collection of 70+ AI tools (Magic Tools) to help teachers with a variety of tasks including lesson planning, differentiation, planning group work, generating vocabulary lists, and so much more. It also has 40+ responsible AI tools that can be launched to students to allow them to explore generative AI while the teacher can monitor their interactions with and the outputs from the AI model. Tools for students include study habits, debate partner, multiple explanations and more.

How do I get access? Teachers can sign up for a free account on the Magic School website.

Pupils do not need accounts to participate in Magic School activities.

School AI – Quick Start Guide

SchoolAI Quick Start Guide by Miss Abercrombie

What does it do? School AI allows learners to explore a Large Language Model in a safe environment through ChatGPT powered experiences called Spaces. Teachers can choose from a library spaces, or create their own with custom instructions tailored to learners’ needs. Teachers can manage, moderate and steer as students interact with the machine and receive real time ‘insights’ as well as being able to access live conversations from the teacher moderation screen.

How do I get access? Teachers can access School AI by signing up for a free basic account on the School AI website.

Pupils do not need accounts to participate in School AI spaces.

Session Recording

Here is a recording of the session for those who wish to watch it again or who missed it. Please be aware that the session recording is edited to remove all discussion and task sections. This is to protect the privacy of our participants and ensure everyone feels comfortable speaking freely on mic and in the chat without worry that their comments will be made publicly available.

Get Going with Green Screen film-making in the classroom

So what is green-screen?

Essentially it’s using software or an app to combine different images or video so that one appears as if part of the other. The green screen part makes use of chroma-key feature of the app so that anyone standing in front of a green screen will appear in the video with the green screen not seen at all, but replaced by another chosen background image or video. Wikipedia gives a much fuller explanation here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chroma_key.

But how do I create a film in the classroom with green screen?

With an iPad, and a green screen app (such as the Doink green screen iPad app) and with anything in the background which is green (whether frieze paper on the wall or green sheeting, or specially made green screen fabric on a frame) you are ready to go.
Have a look at the Sway below for examples of videos created by pupils using the DoInk green screen iPad app, along with how-to guides to starting to use it yourself. And then it’s creativity on the part of your learners in the classroom – for further inspiration have a look at the DoInk green screen app blog  to see how others have shared about using green screen film-making in the classroom.

Getting Going with iPads in the classroom

So you’ve got iPads in your classroom? Where to start? Have a look at the Sway presentation below for a guide to some help to getting going with using an iPad in the classroom to support learning and teaching.

And if you’re wondering how iPads are being used in classrooms then have a look at the Sway presentation which collates some of the Tweets shared by Falkirk schools about how iPads are being used to support learning and teaching across the curriculum at all stages.

Apple Education 30 Time-Saving Tips for Teachers

Apple Education has provided a quick guide to “30 Time-Saving Tips for Teachers” – an at-a-glance list of tips which may be helpful to teachers in using iPads in learning and teaching. Each tip on the infographic has a link to a fuller description and how-to guide, so if one of the tips resonates with you, then just click on the link for a step-by-step guide to how to use the iPad feature.

Microsoft Educator Centre: what is it?


Microsoft Educator Centre 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.

Read more

Simulations to engage pupils in their learning

15 Simulations to Gamify Your Class – this post by Jacqui Murray lists and describes a variety of online tools which let learners interact with a situation and make choices, which lead to different options depending on their choices. These include historical situations, life choices, enterprise activities and science and technology scenarios where the learner has to understand the situations, make choices based on their knowledge, then to see what happens based on their choice. Jacqui Murray has also helpfully added further suggestions and tips for teachers using these simulation tools in a classroom context.
29 Games Kids Can Play to Try Engineering – a post by Richard Byrne describing and linking to several online game simulations with an engineering focus on the Try Engineering website. This website also includes 114 lesson plans on a host of engineering themes, including those associated with the simulation games.
More Online Learning Simulations– a post by Larry Ferlazzo listing and describing a range of online learning simulations with a focus on finance or economy at different stages, as well as providing a link to a further post by him of additional simulations sites.