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Flip Camera

Flip Camcorder – Tannochside PS

Background

As a P7 class teacher I had recently been on the Active Literacy course for Narrative Writing.  As this involved a  new structure to the children’s weekly writing I decided to introduce this via co-operative learning in order to make our initial “leap of faith” more interesting, stimulating and supportive.

How ICT supported Learning and Teaching

Filming, editing and narrating our Co -operative Toolkit video contributed to and enhanced the children’s learning in both a fun and informative manner.  Children of all abilities contributed to our video which demonstrates their determination to take risks and support each other in their educational journey towards becoming independent learners.  The Flip Camcorders were a great stimulus to allay fears, support and promote active learning whilst simultaneously embracing new technologies.

Impact/ Conclusion

I found our whole experience very rewarding and would certainly use this technology again within my class.  The children clearly enjoyed this technology as they were  keen to volunteer to become “Roving Reporters” using Flip Camcorders for our recent Kilt for Kids Day.  This technology lends itself very well to providing evidence of all the children’s hard work that may otherwise not be evident, and is a great resource to further reinforce and consolidate what the children have learned – we just watch our Toolkit video to remind us!

iPod Touch

iPod Touch – Glencairn Primary

My Primary 6 class have been using the iPod touches to assist with their learning since January.  I have found them to be both a worthwhile and motivating resource to support learning and teaching.

Using iPod touches within the classroom has helped to promote independent and responsible learning.  The children have been given unlimited access to their own iPod touch and make decisions and choices about when to use it.  They take responsibility for the care and ownership of this and must ensure it is fully charged overnight.

In the beginning the children were introduced to the different apps available to them and they were given time to explore these before using them within lessons.  This was beneficial as it prevented valuable teaching and learning time being wasted .

The apps available on the iPod touch are very varied and have helped to develop literacy, numeracy, ICT skills and the children’s general knowledge.  I have found the maths games to be very useful and the children find them challenging and enjoyable.  Other apps which have been worthwhile are: Flags, The Human Body, Slideshow, Comic Twist, Wikipanion,  Google Earth and Safari.

With every child having their own iPod touch it has meant that internet research can be carried out at any point in the day, therefore not limited to when the class has laptop access.

I have planned lessons to incorporate the use of the iPod touches.  Google Earth has been used as a focus for maths lessons,  Safari has been used almost daily for a range of activities,  Notes has been used for writing lessons, Wikipanion for research projects and many purposes.

The children are also given the choice to use the ipod as a follow up to lessons.  They are provided with a choice of tasks and enjoy this.  They are eager to finish their other work to get onto the iPod tasks.

The children have learned to post comments onto the Glencairn iPod Blog.  Many children can access this independently to upload photos, podcasts or write text.  Parents and the wider community can access this blog to keep up to date with progress and comment.  Parents have reacted very positively to this project and the comments reflect their enthusiasm, many identifying the benefits associated with this initiative.  The children are highly motivated by the outside interest in their work and regularly check this.

To summarise, the benefits of using iPod touches have been:

  • Increased motivation
  • Apps enhance learning and teaching
  • Promotes independence and responsibility
  • Unlimited access to the internet
  • The children’s ICT skills have improved

Many opportunities for revision or consolidation, ie maths/ language games

There have been some challenges to overcome during this initiative.  Firstly, navigating around the ipod touch was difficult for some children due to poor motor skills, especially when typing.  Another problem we encountered was when sharing resources.  We had set up First Class as a way of sharing work, however this did not work well.  It would be helpful if there was a way of resolving this.

We also experienced some problems with the airport signal within our school and we were unable to use the ipod touches all at once.  This problem was resolved by updating the system.

The benefits certainly outweigh the challenges and I have found the iPod touches to be a very worthwhile resource within the classroom. So much so that the school are planning to invest in their own for all the children to use.  The primary 6 class will act as mentors for the rest of the school.

Thank you very much for the opportunity, it has been a  great experience.

Robyn Moonie

Wii

Endless Ocean using the Wii

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BACKGROUND

We were going to study barrier reefs with P5 and one of our teachers had experienced Games Based Learning and so we decided to use the wii and Endless Ocean as a hook in to our topic.

HOW ICT SUPPORTED TEACHING AND LEARNING

The children used the wii to dive in the ocean, to discover marine life and then recorded their findings. There was a class diving log to fill in and personal dive diaries too. The wii was an incentive and it encouraged children to improve their report writing too. Children, including some reluctant writers, were asking to write in their diaries. In class work we learned about aspect of the sea and the Great Barrier Reef. The children used a variety of sources, including the internet, to research different marine creatures. They were also encouraged to keep up a personal factfile, where they could research anything that was related to our topic. This gave the children an opportunity explore aspects of the Barrier Reef that they wanted to find out about.

The children drew imaginary sea creatures and wrote biographies for them. They used a programme called Crazy Talk to ‘bring them to life’. It’s a programme that can animate 2D drawings and make them speak, having recorded the children’s voices.

Emma b ocean

We also explored  the importance of caring for the reef and the environmental issues surrounding them . The children used flip cameras to record

adverts for eco friendly tourist attractions to the reef. As a natural extension to this topic we also covered Australia.

We linked up with a school in Kirkintilloch who were also doing the same topic. We used Glow during the topic, we held Glow meets between the two classes where we presented powerpoints we had made to each other.

The children from each school were able to discuss their topic with each other using a discussion forum in their joint Glow group. Finally we ended the link with a Glow meet spelling bee. Three children represented each class and were tested on spelling word that were related to the topic had been set throughout the study. This was a great experience and the children really enjoyed the interaction with another school.

IMPACT AND CONCLUSION

The wii was actually a tiny part of our topic, however it was probably the most important in the children’s mind. They didn’t see learning or class work as a chore. It was a tool to get on the wii! They were learning whilst they were playing. The game had an educational slant and they were learning social skills. We are hoping to do this topic again next year, along with some other Games based learning topics.

Find out more about our topic in the children’s words

http://www.cumbernauld-pri.n-lanark.sch.uk/CPS_Classes/2009_2010/5c_Topic5

Find out more about our school by visiting our web page

http://www.cumbernauld-pri.n-lanark.sch.uk/