Author: George Milliken

Computing Science in Local Authority Secondary Schools

This paper provides an overview of Computing Science delivery in Local Authority secondary schools.

Education Scotland carried out a survey of 356 schools between July 2021 and October 2021. The survey was promoted via local authority technologies leads, Computing Science teacher groups and Education Scotland officer contacts with local authorities and RICs. At the point of writing, the survey had 309/356 unique local authority school responses. This represents 86.8% of local authority secondary schools. While this is the majority of schools, it is acknowledged that the survey data is not complete and that this paper should be treated as provisional in this respect.

The survey collected data relating to Computing teacher numbers, delivery of Computing Science in S1/2 and opportunities for learners to study Computing Science or related courses in the senior phase.

The paper also provides an overview of Senior Phase Computing Science uptake and attainment, including summary data relating to attainment and deprivation.

View the document here

Learning with Google Workspace (This is Digital)

Google Workspace has a range of tools and apps that can be used to support teaching digitally.

Google Workspace in Glow – DigiLearn (glowscotland.org.uk)

Classroom

Google Classroom Assignments are an effective way to share learning activities with learners – share learning intentions, activity instructions and assessment feedback in one place.

Jamboard

Jamboard allows your learners to share ideas and understanding with pre-made mind-mapping layouts (effective for scaffolding thinking) and post-it notes

Teaching with Google Workspace (This is Digital)

Google Workspace has a range of tools and apps that can be used to support teaching digitally.

Google Workspace in Glow – DigiLearn (glowscotland.org.uk)

Classroom

Google Classroom allows you to check in with learners using the Stream comments page; and assign learning and activities to individual learners, groups or whole classes with Assignments.

Jamboard

Google Jamboard can be used to share ideas and thinking on a collaborative whiteboard, or learners can use the app to make their own notes and order their thinking.

Planning with Google Workspace (This is Digital)

Google Workspace has a range of tools and apps that can be used to support planning digitally.

Google Workspace in Glow – DigiLearn (glowscotland.org.uk)

Google Meet allows you to work together on video calls.

Google Jamboard allows you to share ideas with pre-made mind-mapping layouts and post-it notes.

Google Drive can be used to create and collaborate on documents together.

Creating Videos for Learners

Video is a major component of educational delivery using technology.  We need to ensure that the content we create is as accessible and effective as possible.  Video alone is not a single solution to learning online.  It is likely that a single video will be part of a suite of learning resources which may include practical tasks, diagnostic assessments, interactive challenges etc. 

Multimedia instruction is defined as “presenting words and pictures that are intended to foster learning” (Mayer, 2009).  The cognitive theory of multimedia learning makes three assumptions about how the mind works:

  1. there are two separate channels (auditory and visual) for processing information;
  2. channel capacity is very limited and can hold very little information for short periods of time;
  3. learning is an active process of filtering, selecting, organizing, and integrating information.

Cognitive Overload happens when the content being presented exceeds the processing capacity of a learners cognitive system.  

In order to reduce cognitive overload, there are some principles to consider when developing a video or multimedia resource, including…

Coherence principle

Learning is better when words, pictures, and sounds are directly related to the subject matter. Keep your content simple.

Segmenting principle

Creating multiple, short videos illustrating a single concept/area instead of one long video. 6 minutes is the recommended length.

Contiguity principle

Place printed words near corresponding parts of graphics to reduce need for visual scanning

Signalling principle

Use cues such as  numbers, arrows or labels to direct learners attention to the content.

Options for recording videos

Dual Coding Your Presentations/Videos

The Learning Scientists define dual coding as:

“The process of combining verbal materials with visual materials. There are many ways to visually represent material, such as with infographics, timelines, cartoon strips, diagrams, and graphic organizers. When you have the same information in two formats – words and visuals – it gives you two ways of remembering the information later on.”

Dual Coding is an excellent strategy that learners can employ to aid learning and revision, however, practitioners can employ the same strategy when developing materials for learners.

Presentations / Slideshows

Within powerpoint and powerpoint online, a number of tools can be used to better format slides for presentations or screen recordings.  Tools such as designer, smart art, built in icon and image  searches can help develop content in a clear, concise way.

YouTube player

Mixed Delivery

As we continue to protect ourselves and others from Covid19, there are times when learners and practitioners may find that they are asked to isolate at home, or find themselves at home for other reasons but are still able to support learners in school at a distance

Using Glow and other digital tools, this page gathers examples of how practitioners have utilised technology to continue to support leaners in these circumstances.

Flipped Learning

Planning for flipped learning

  1. Plan
    Figure out which lesson, or series of lessons in particular you want to flip.
    Outline the key learning outcomes and concepts.
  2. Record
    Make a video. Try to ensure that the video content utilises techniques to reduce cognitive load such as dual coding, particularly if you are recording a presentation.
  3. Independent Learning Activity
    Consider a short learning activity that accompanies the video.  For example, you may wish to

    • create a diagnostic quiz that will allow you to see how well the learners have understood the content/identify any misconceptions
    • visualise the video content as a concept map or infographic and add to a OneNote page
    • create a set of flash cards about the topic

4. In Class
In class, you can spend more time engaging learners in higher order thinking tasks, practical activities, groups work.

You can use the learner evidence from the independent learning activity to facilitate discussion and debate, or tackle misconceptions.

Some other strategies that can be used in in-class activities, either in person or online include:

  • Active learning
    Allow students to apply concepts in class where they can ask peers or instructors for feedback and clarification.
    There are a variety of digital tools that you may find useful for in class, or remote use.
  • Concept Testing.
    Students can explain their understanding to each other by explaining concepts and misconceptions or working on small problems.
  • Collaborative learning.
    Collaborative learning activities could increase student engagement, enhance student understanding, and promote collective intelligence.Multi-authoring features of cloud based productivity suites such as Office365 and Gsuite allow learners to work together on the same documents in real time.

    in a virtual live environment, tools such as Jamboard in Google Classroom, Whiteboard in Teams or the collaboration space in Class Notebook can all be used for lcollaboration

Assessment with Microsoft O365 (This is Digital)

Microsoft O365 has a range of tools and apps that can be used to support teaching digitally.
 
 

Office365 in Glow – DigiLearn (glowscotland.org.uk)

Teams allows you and your learners to share files – making it easy for them to return learning activities and evidence to you in one place. You can then access these shared files and provide feedback directly on their document. As the documents are shared online this enables the teacher to provide feedback in real-time, making it even easier to provide more meaningful feedback that can be direct learning.
Assignments within Teams add additional functionality to file sharing and managing assessment evidence from learning.

Forms Quiz option allows you to create interactive quizzes for assessment. When set to Quiz, Forms allow you to set a correct answer and feedback comment that will auto-assess and feedback to learners instantly. Forms also has an ‘upload’ option for answers, allowing learners to submit media or different file types, such as a photo of mathematical working or a Scratch file, making it effective for different evidence types. There is even an option to allow maths inputs, such as symbols or formulae, making it an adaptable tool for assessment.