Over the past few lessons it has become apparent to me that Glow is an excellent tool for teachers and pupils to use. During my one week placement I found that Glow was heavily embedded within ICT lessons and also used to document pupils’ learning within other subjects. Whilst observing my primary 7 class I was shown that they used the Glow Blogs Central app to write a blog to describe themselves, such as their likes and interests, as well as documenting weekly what they had learned within their subjects. This was to give the children a better understanding of how to use online websites and blogging so they could then take this skill and develop it further in secondary school.

As well as this there are several apps that can be used as great teaching aids and can be a good way of using digital technology throughout lesson plans rather than solely concentrating on written text. Tigtag was an app I found to be extremely useful when creating science based lessons. It enables you to pick which lesson you want to teach by clicking the button “find lessons” where you are presented with a large variety of topics such as material processes, physical processes, life processes and people and places. You can then also select which level you are teaching such as first or second level by clicking on the “curriculum” button at the top hand right of the page.

Once selecting your topic Tigtag then provides you with short video clips and activities which can help introduce the children to the new topic.

Tigtag also provides you with learning objectives and key teaching points which need to be covered within the lesson as well as supplying a starter activity, a main activity, several practical activities and assessments to ensure the pupils have a good understanding of the topic after participating in the lesson.

Overall I feel this is a great tool to be used in schools as it is a great time saver when creating lesson plans whilst also providing the children with fun and interactive activities which keep them engaged and interested during the lesson. Also after this lesson I feel that I would be more confident using digital technology within lessons.

As part of our introduction we were shown that there is also a Bee-Bot app available for iPads. We were allowed to explore the app and the objective of the game was to direct the the Bee-Bot to the flower using the arrows and “Go” button located at the bottom right of the screen. It also became clear that in order to generate new directions the child would need to remember to press the clear button, which is the “X” button, so the Bee-Bot would forget the previous step. I feel this is a great way to introduce children in early and first level to sequences and directions as the child can create a sequence with as many actions as they wish. As well as this they will have to have an understanding of left and right turns and grasp directional language such as forward, backward, left, and right.

As part of today’s Digital Technologies tutorial we were made aware that Bee-Bot is becoming more frequently used within lessons in primary schools across Scotland. Bee-Bot is a programmable toy which can be used within lessons to introduce children to the early stages of coding and programming.

An example activity we were given was based on a lesson about money and linked numeracy and technology to encourage cross curricular learning. The numeracy activity’s objective was to teach the children to recognise coins and by using Bee-Bot within the lesson also taught the children how to use programmable toys.  For example a child could be asked to identify the fifty pence coin by programming the Bee-Bot to move towards the correct coin. Another activity for more able children could be to introduce them to addition and subtraction of money by asking them questions, such as one pound take away fifty pence, and asking them to give the answer by programming Bee-Bot to go to the correct coin.

We were then asked in groups to create our own activity which also promoted cross curricular learning. Our group decided to link numeracy and technology within our activity with the hopes of covering the following experiences and outcomes within curricular for excellence:

Angle, symmetry and transformation at early level MTH 0-17a: “In movement, games and using technology I can use simple directions and describe positions.”

Technology at early level Tch 0-03a: “I explore software and use what I  learn to solve problems and present my ideas, thoughts or information.”

Our activity involved using the grid, as shown in the above image, to ask the children to programme the Bee-Bot to move to a square which had a specific number of items. For example in the above video the child could have been asked to move the Bee-Bot to a square which contained one item, like the sandcastle. As the child did this you could ask them to verbally describe what they were doing in order to get the Bee-Bot to the sandcastle which would allow the child to start using directional language such as left, right, forward and backward. This activity also allows children to start seeing the relation between numbers and quantities. For example a child will have to understand that two palm trees represents the number two.

I felt using the Bee-Bot was a great resource to use within the activity because it would allow the children to physically see the Bee-Bot moving forward, backward left and right and so I feel it would give them a better understanding of directions and how directional language is used in context. Supporting this view are the Professional Development Service for Teachers as they have stated that using floor robots in classrooms have benefits such as: having the ability to develop skills like logical sequencing, measuring, comparing lengths, space orientation and expressing concepts into words. They also claim it benefits children as it encourages group interaction, collaboration and conversation. It is also a great way to link more subjects together as another group related their activity to technology, literacy and health and well being. Therefore I think that by being able to integrate all of these subjects within one lesson will enable the children to explore more creative ways of learning.

http:www.transum.org/software/Logo

On Tuesday we were introduced to the early stages of coding/ programming using a website called Logo. This website allows you to create shapes by moving the turtle (arrow) using the commands listed at the left hand side of the screen as shown in the image above. I feel this would be a great way to introduce children in early level to directional language such as move forward, backward, left and right. It would also be a good resource when introducing angles to children who might be in the top end of first level or early second level. An example of a lesson for this would be to allow the children to create shapes using 90, 180, 270 or 360 degree turns. For example using the command [fd 12 rt 90 fd 12] this will show children what a 90 degree angle looks like. As well as this by using this website we would be encouraging cross curricular learning as we’re allowing the children to engage with technology as well as teaching them mathematics.

Whilst participating in Tuesday’s lesson I was introduced to another app on Glow called Glow Wikis. Glow Wikis enables you to create a website where you can write posts, upload media files, highlight events and also create discussion forums. It’s a great way for the class to communicate with each other online as the website has settings which allow you to restrict access to members only. Thus creating a safe environment to allow the children to explore learning through the use of digital technology rather than just being exposed to written word.

Having a Wiki page set up for the classroom would be valuable when the children are participating in tasks such as topic work or gathering fact files. It allows members to create pages where they can upload their information and even create discussion forums. Therefore if the pupils are participating in group work they have the ability to communicate with each other from home. As a teacher I also feel I could use this to my advantage as I could use the Wikis page to post instructions, useful website links or create discussion forums so that the children have the opportunity to ask any questions they may have.

I find that being able to post events on the Glow Wikis page is particularly useful as it would be a good way of highlighting important upcoming events such as class tests and homework due dates. When an event has been added the children are able to view this on the calendar by clicking on the button “Events” and so therefore could potentially use this as an online diary. The Glow Wikis page can also be accessed by parents of the children and so I feel this would be useful as it would allow the parents to be more aware of what their children are learning in class.

Another beneficial feature of the Glow Wikis page is that it enables you to post media files such as videos and pictures. Thus I feel that I could use this as a good approach to introduce the pupils to the “flipped classroom” method. For example, I could post a video onto the page for the children to watch prior to a lesson as homework. Therefore this would reduce class teaching time so more time could be devoted to class discussions, exercises or projects. However I feel this teaching style has limitations as not all pupils may have internet access.

Overall I feel that having a Glow Wikis page accessible to the class would be a good tool to use within the classroom as it has several features that could be beneficial for the children to use. By being able to post website links and videos this could engage the children in a more active style of learning. I also feel that this is a great way to ease the children into the world of technology and to help them become more familiar with this style of learning and communication.

As part of our lesson today we were able to explore the uses of the OneDrive App found on our Glow launchpad. A particularly good aspect of this app is that it allows you to access Yammer. Yammer can be used within the classroom as it enables the teacher to create a group and can add all children within the class as members. This provides a safe area where the children can communicate to the teacher and fellow pupils online as the settings can be changed to allow members only to post on this page.

I feel this would be useful as I could potentially use Yammer to post homework instructions for the class to read. Members also have the ability to comment on posts which would allow pupils to ask any queries they have regarding the homework by replying to the post. I find the like button could be useful to ensure pupil engagement as by asking the pupils to like posts after reading them I could easily identify if pupils are using Yammer at home.

As well as this Yammer allows you to post pictures and videos which could be used as revision tools for the children. For example a student posted a Youtube video in our Digital Technologies group which included an animation and song to help children remember the names of colours in Spanish. Therefore if I were to post this in my classroom group after a Spanish lesson it would make learning for the children more interactive and would be beneficial to visual and audio learners.

Also Yammer enables you to create polls which I feel would be beneficial if I wanted to receive feedback from pupils on how they enjoyed particular lessons. The children also have an option to write a reply on the poll and so if they had any comments on how they would change the lesson they could do so by posting it them on Yammer.

The OneDrive app also allows you to access features such as word, powerpoint and excel. I feel this would be useful to use if the children were doing group tasks as this feature allows pupils to share documents with others. For example if a group were doing a powerpoint presentation by being able to share documents with each other the children would not have to be limited to the one computer. This would mean that the children could each do a specific part of the powerpoint so that the workload is shared and they are able to use their time more effectively.

During my first lesson within Digital Technologies I was introduced to a software named Activinspire which enables you to design and create images either on the computer or by using the smart board. I felt this would be excellent for lesson planning because it encourages interactive learning in a fun and interesting way. Also, Activinspire allows you to save pages and so this would allow you to create your lessons in advance and could also keep them as a good revision tool for the children to use. Activinspire has multiple uses; children can write on the smart board, create and drag images and shapes and also insert audio clips and backgrounds. Therefore by making the lesson more interactive I feel this would increase participation within the lesson.

Throughout the lesson we were asked to design a mathematics activity that children within first level could use to learn about shapes. In my group we based our activity on the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” so children still had a sense of familiarity within the subject, despite learning a new topic, whilst encouraging cross curricular learning. Our activity involved having the three bears each holding an individual shape such as a triangle, circle and square and above them were more of these shapes which varied in size and colour. The objective of this activity would be that the children would drag the corresponding shapes to the correct bear. By using Activinspire we were able to use a background of a forrest supplied by the software and insert images of the three bears from google which made the activity more colourful and eye catching. Activinspire also has a library of sound effects which can also be inserted into the activity which I felt made it more interactive and would help to keep the children engaged in the activity.

I definitely feel I would use this tool in the classroom as I feel it would be extremely beneficial to children who are kinaesthetic learners as it provides an alternative method of learning from just written word. Also by having an activity on the smart board this can also encourage the children to build on their communication skills as the activity may be done in pairs and so the children would need to work together to complete the task.