Positive impact of game making part II - trip to Sweden

On 24th April 2017, I was privileged to visit Gothenburg, Sweden as part of the game project. I have blogged about the project previously - link to my previous blog post. The Games Project is an action research, collaborative project between Sweden and the UK, funded by the Erasmus+ programme – more information is available from the website:  http://www.gamesforlearning.se

Whilst at a first look it may seem that developing computer programming skills is at the heart of the project, this is far from the sentiments portrayed by everyone involved; first and foremost is the desire for students to develop social skills, including teamwork and respect.  The game making process also gives students opportunities to take a real pride in their achievements and, perhaps most importantly, develop their own self esteem, via making games or supporting peers in developing skills.  Championing the project is teacher Tom Boardman.  Tom has a really useful and interesting blog, which can be read at: https://mrbgamesproject.wordpress.com

The Positive Impact of Game Making

Today, I was privileged to attended a workshop organised by Stony Dean School, entitled:

Understanding and developing the use of digital games as a pedagogical tool in the classroom

The workshop featured presenters taking part in 'The Games Project'.  The Games Project is an action research, collaborative project between Sweden and the UK, funded by the Erasmus+ programme - more information is available from the website:  http://www.gamesforlearning.se The ethos of the project is centred around 'Maker Culture' (Maker Education Initiative – Every child a maker - http://makered.org), following the assertion that if pupils are makers they are more actively engaged.  In this project, such making is facilitated by computer programming to create and play digital games (artefacts).

Essential iPad apps for supporting SEN

App review sites and sites describing apps are found quite widely when browsing the Internet with just a quick search.  Also, to make life easier for educators, many kind people have created 'app wheels'; app wheels are another great way in which a range of apps can be explored, linked to areas of learning.  Here is a link to an example app wheel for pupils with ASD

Scribbling on a PDF using Smart Notebook

In this short (3 minute) video clip, I  demonstrate how to import a PDF document into Smart Notebook.  Why would you want to do this?  Many teachers have PDF documents downloaded from a variety of sources; with such downloads, teachers may wish to add notes, labels or highlights.

Please note: whilst I discuss 'editing' a PDF in the video, what I really mean is 'scribbling over the top of'; to edit, tools such as Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Reader) are required.

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Word Aware - electronic resources

Word Aware is an evidence-based approach to Teaching Vocabulary.  It is a ‘Universal’ intervention, designed for all pupils.  It is intended to be part of the life of the school, embedded rather than arbitrary.  Related text books include the  Language for Thinking series, which help teach increasingly complex questions.

The amazing Class Dojo

I've just received our 'School Report' for the year from Class Dojo.  The highlights include:

• 17 teachers in our school used ClassDojo
• 7 parents connected to our school
• 25 Story posts
• 1,628 moments celebrated
• On Task was the most awarded skill

If you've never heard of Class Dojo before, it is an online tool for celebrating the success of your pupils.  Incredibly for such a feature rich tool, it is completely free, and can be accessed from a PC or using the Class Dojo app on tablets.

Book Creator - from indifference to magnificence!

When I was first introduced to Book Creator several years back, I have to say I was a little indifferent.  I couldn't really see back then how it did anything different to other apps such as Keynote or Google Slides.  How very wrong I was!  Book Creator is now our most widely used app, and when used in conjunction with the accessibility features of the iPad (0r Android/Windows 10), it has allowed our pupils to communicate their thoughts in whole new ways.  It is intuitive, and really does make the best of facilities such as the camera and microphone which are built in to the iPad.

Update:  Book Creator is now available online too!

Writing with shapes and technology

Shape Coding is used in many schools to support language including writing.  The official source of all things Shape Coding can be found at the Moor House School and College website.  Here is a link. However, many schools have created or adapted resources to support writing, including ourselves.   We have developed an iPad app called 'Furze Down Shapes'.  To respect the wishes of Shape Coding's author, we are only using the app internally.    The app allows shapes to be used to support the writing process.  It features text to speech synthesis to read words to students and a limited selection of words in word banks. We have just started using the app with students, and staff have already provided some feedback:

• "Best thing I've seen for using with our students on an iPad"
• "It's very useful"
• "I like the way sentences can be rearranged" 

My first iPad app - Labels: Materials

After many months of squeezing in an hour or so here and there, I took the decision to dedicate five full days over the course of a month to creating my first iPad app. Working at a special school, I had a vision, long ago, of an an app that allowed pupils to label things around the room, in a sort of pseudo augmented reality fashion.

The app would speak to pupils, linking to the word on the label; my idea was that vocabulary could be learnt in a real-time learning environment. The app would be accessible for all pupils, and would help learn key vocabulary.After following numerous tutorials on learning Swift 2 and SpriteKit, and jumping through all of the hoops to publish on the App Store, I have now released version 1 of my app. I decided to call it Labels: Materials, with a view to later releasing more apps under the 'Labels' banner.

Using ICT to support pupils with SEND

What, why and then finally how

When considering investing potentially significant amounts of money and time in an ICT resource, I would always recommend that schools consider what they are hoping to achieve and why they want to achieve it first of all; once these questions have been answered, then the question of 'how' can be considered, and it is at this stage when schools can consider the most appropriate hardware and software solutions.

Kodu - visual programming

Describing Kodu as a game making tool is perhaps a little understated.  Kodu allows the creation of 3D worlds, complete with clouds, wind, water and waves, and the 3D world can then be populated with a range of ready made sprites including objects such as trees and castles, and more mobile sprites such as Kodu itself (an alien creature, I believe) and various vehicles.

Primary Computing (free) scheme of work

Written and adapted during my work in teaching computing across the primary age range, the scheme of work that I've put together is aimed at providing teachers with the resources, including lesson plans and tutorial video clips, to deliver the programming aspects of the National Curriculum for Computing.

Blogging in Primary Schools

Why blog?

Communication and collaboration are two key words at the heart of blogging.  In schools where blogging is used well, achievements are celebrated, with the whole world having a 'virtual window' in to the life of the school.  Imagine children going home at the end of the day with parents already knowing part of what has been learnt, having seen a photograph or video clip on the class blog; could this be the end of the eternal answer of 'nothing' to the question, 'What have you done today?'.   Not only can achievements be celebrated, but blogs can be used to share day-to-day things going on in school, keeping parents up to date with things like homework or key dates and information. Pupil blogs can be a terrific tool for teaching our children to stay safe online, respecting privacy and developing an understanding of copyright.