TED-Ed Beta Website Launches - WOW!

The long awaited TED-Ed website has launched, promising to help teachers get the most out of video in their lessons. The wonderful website, currently in its Beta form, provides an innovative and structured approach to using video in the classroom. The website is based around providing excellent curated educational videos, created by collaborations between teachers and animators, and in providing a structured lesson around them- which includes quizzes, extra materials and big questions! The new platform will also allows users to take any useful educational video, not just TED's but from YouTube perhaps, and easily create a customized lesson around the video. Users can distribute the lessons, publicly or privately, and track their impact on the world, a class, or an individual student. It's genius! The video below actually explains things better than I could (showing the power of video, perhaps!)

The Beta version of the website currently has 62 curated videos, from a range of curricular areas, on their system with 670 "flips" or personalised lessons based on those videos. One of my favourites is this short video on "just how small is an atom?", a tricky concept for some kids which is presented in simple terms in this excellent animation. Of course, TED-Ed also provides you with a quiz and other learning tools to effectively use the video in class. There is also the the option to "flip the lesson" and edit it to suit your own class. It is such a brilliant idea but more importantly TED, having taken their time developing this, have created a portal that teachers will feel comfortable using. I'm looking forward to getting involved! Visit TED-Ed now!

 

Share Your Innovative Lessons with O2 Learn

Have you got an innovative lesson that works? Would you like to share that lesson with other teachers and students? Would you be willing to make a short video about your lesson? Would you like to win some cash for your troubles? The O2 Learn Awards are a brilliant initiative which allows teachers share their inventive lessons online with thousands of other teachers and students. They're building a video library of great revision lessons, on a range of subjects, from teachers across the UK to help connect people to great teaching. These curriculum focused mini-lessons can help students catch up on some subjects that they can't remember or might have missed and give teachers new ideas for their own classroom!

The lessons are rated by the students and judged by expert teachers, with cash prizes awarded to the winning teachers. So far, O2 Learn has awarded over £300,000 directly to teachers and schools in the UK. A £1000 is awarded each week to the best lesson uploaded to their website with amazing overall prizes awarded at the end of the year for the three best lessons submitted. Every teacher that submits an entry will received a mobile broadband starter pack - although this is limited to UK teachers? Sadly teachers in the Republic of Ireland are not eligible for the cash prizes.

Their excellent website has all you need to know about submitting your video, with tips on creating your video, designing your lesson and uploaded it to the website. There is also a clever section with requests from students on what they would like to know about! You can also explore the lessons on the system and get some ideas for your classroom! Science teachers might find the following lessons of interest but there are loads of other subjects covered too.

• Rocket Science - Exploring forces, Newton's Laws, velocity and acceleration.
• Covalent & Ionic Bonding
• Winning at boardgames with probabiliy
• Making Poo - The Digestive System

Watch the video below for a little more information and check out O2 Learn now! You can also follow O2 Learn on Twitter.

David Puttnam at Science Gallery (Video)

I recently attended a lecture in the Open Minds series in Dublin's Science Gallery in which David Puttnam gave a wonderful lecture on 'Technology, Education and Ireland'. The lecture was recorded and is now available on YouTube. It's embedded below for your convenience. You may find the question at the end particularly interesting.

 

CESI Meet 2012: An 'Education Hack Day' for Ireland?

If you're visiting the blog while attending CESI Meet in Portlaoise this evening then you're very welcome. If you're not, please join the discussion anyway!

This evening in Portlaoise I am giving a mini  presentation (7 minutes) to a group of similarly minded technophile teachers at CESI Meet 2012, a Teach Meet style "anti-conference" which will formally kick off the CESI (Computers in Education Society of Ireland) Annual Conference. I am really looking forward to the event as this is my first CESI Meet and, by all accounts, they are incredibly enjoyable evenings that inspire, educate and motivate. I'm looking forward to hearing new ideas for incorporating technology in to my classroom / teaching and on how to get more from the technology I already use. 

My own short talk is about plugging an idea - a first 'Education Hack Day' for Ireland. Let me explain. 

What's a Hack? 

A hack is a solution to a problem, not always the most eloquent solution but, more often than not, the cleverest. Think of a problem (let's say poor attendance) - now think of a solution (maybe a simple app which texts parents instantly when a student is marked absent).

What's a Hack Day? 

A Hack Day is a meeting of minds - people with ideas and people with know how. It's about sharing information with other experts in order to make cool and most importantly useful things!! They are generally free to attend (people don't get paid to attend either) and typically last between 24 and 48 hours. Hack Days bring together individuals from a range of fields - scientists, politicians, educators, engineers, programmers, designers, web developers, people with ideas and "makers" etc. and usually have a central theme (There have been "Government Hack Days", "Science Hack Days" (the Irish Robotics Club have organised Science Hack Day Dublin this March) and "Music Hack Days"). The purpose of the events are to think of real life issues related to the theme and develop effective solutions during an intense 24 / 48 hour period. There are normally prizes at the end of the event for the teams that come up with the best solutions to their problem. Everything happens at the event - idea, design, production even things like marketing and funding are discussed. There are usually a number of speakers and workshops organised to kick start the event.

An Education Hack Day?

Why not? We all have ideas for making our jobs easier - both in terms of teaching and administration. We can all identify problems with the tools we currently use but may not have the technological ability to find the solution ourselves. At the moment many educational tools / software are being developed without sufficient input from the people who will ultimately use them. 

As far as I am aware, the one and only Education Hack Day took place last November in Baltimore (the US not West Cork). There is another planned for New York but no date has been set. Some of the ideas that became reality that day include an iPad app that allowed students in the class to browse specific websites relevant to the lesson but no others, a browser extension which allowed a teacher highlight a specific section of a website while making the rest invisible, a tool to help make parent / teacher meetings easier to schedule, an image-to-speech application for autistic pupils, a checklist tool for students and a homework tracker for teachers. Individual teachers are being asked to submit their own ideas too - here's a list of what's come in so far.

The possibilities are endless - think of the ideas YOU have for web apps, mobile apps, widgets, online games, websites, IWB tools, software, hardware, social networking tools for teachers / students or assessment for learning tools? Now think of being able to put those to software developers and designers and seeing them turned in to reality in a day!

What's next?

I want a number of things to emerge from my presentation / post this evening. Firstly, I would like this post (or the Twitter Hashtag #EDHACKIRL) to act as a discussion forum to hear what other teachers think of the idea. Secondly, I would like it to serve as a platform for discussion on what "hacks" you would like for problems you currently have. What ideas would you like turned in to reality? Thirdly, if you are a designer, software developer, maker, doer, programmer etc and you would like to get involved - leave your name below! Finally, if there is an agreement that an Education Hack Day would be worthwhile attempting, I want someone to make the idea a reality. I don't personally believe I have the skills, contacts or time to put such an event together but I know there is someone out there who could. Maybe CESI might want to bring the concept to fruition? Maybe another organisation? Of course I would love to help and will be the first person to sign up - guaranteed!

That's my lot - let me know what you think. 

David Puttnam on 'Technology, Education and Ireland'

The 'Open Minds Series' returns next Monday (February 27th) with the brilliant David Puttnam speaking on "Technology, education and Ireland: How new ways of learning can assist economic recovery". The 'Open Mind Series' is a collaborative effort from McCann FitzGerald and TCD's Science Gallery, which will see some of the world’s leading thinkers coming together to support the development of Ireland as a global centre for science, technology and innovation. The event kicks off at 6:30pm sharp and pre-booking is essential. Tickets cost €10 or €6 if you are a student. Further information can be access from the Science Gallery website here.

David Puttnam - A Short Biography.

As well as producing award winning films like The Mission, The Killing Fields, Local Hero, Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone and Memphis Belle, David Puttnam has been working in the areas of education, the environment, and the 'creative and communications' for nearly 15 years. He founded the National Teaching Awards, was the founding Chair of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and spent 10 years as the Chancellor of The University of Sunderland. He is President of the Film Distributors’ Association, Chairman of The Sage Gateshead, Deputy Chairman of Channel Four, Deputy Chairman of Profero and a trustee of the Eden Project. He is also the present Chancellor of the Open University,

The talk is sure to inspire and engage, and might prove a nice way to top off what is sure to be a cracking weekend at the CESI Conference in Portlaoise?

Fine Gael - Labour Programme for Government: ICT in Education

This is an interesting snippet from the new Fine Gael - Labour Programme for Government on their policy on '21st Century Schools'. What are your opinions on their plans?

"The Government will end the treatment of ICT in education as a stand alone issue, but will integrate it across education policy.This will begin with merging the National Centre for Technology in Education with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. .... The primary priority for investment in ICT in the immediate term will be the the integration of teaching and learning across the curriculum and investing in broadband development to ensure schools have access to fibre-powered broadband. Investment in ICT will be maximised through pooling of ICT procurement. Greater use of online platforms will be made to offer a wide range of subjects and lessons online, and to enable schools to "share" teachers via live web casts. These online lessons will be made available through a new Digital School Resource, bringing together existing resources from NCCA, Dept. of Education and other sources as a cost effective means of sharing expertise between schools. We will engage with the publishing industry to develop more online resources and new mediums for their learning materials."

An Inspirational CESI Conference

Last Saturday morning my colleague Julian Girdham and I set off for Portlaoise College to attend my first (and I believe his second) Computers in Education Society of Ireland Conference (#CESI2011). We had been pencilled in to give a short presentation on “Building & Growing a Subject Blog” in the late afternoon but were also keen to attend several of the other workshops and talks on offer in the impressive itinerary. I, personally, was eager to finally meet all those “tweachers” and edtech tweeps with whom I had been conversing with since I joined Twitter way back in November ‘09. Inspirational figures like @simonmlewis, @rozzlewis, @pajo23, @fintanmurphy, @anseoamhuinteoir, @pizievondust, @fboss, @magsamond and @lismiss (to name but a few) were all in attendance and I was excited to see each of them in the flesh. Needless to say, all were equally as impressive in person.

The day began with an inspiring and motivating presentation from @tombarrett, a powerhouse in the world of educational technology (or simply education in general). Tom spoke passionately about his views on education and offered some simple yet practical advice for getting the most out of our charges. Indeed, Tom was eager for all of us in attendance to contribute too and he asked each of us to write just one simple idea on a post-it. Since then, Tom has collated all those ideas and created a “mosaic” of all our suggestions including my own: Become a Tweacher, Connect on Twitter!

Unfortunately, so many of the presentations I wished to attend conflicted on the timetable (despite some being repeated) but I still got great enjoyment and inspiration from those I did attend, namely the excellent presentation by Ross Mahon from Google (with the guys from Camara) on Google Docs and @pajo23’s superb presentation on “Extreme Twitter”. I wasn’t sure if this was going to involve bungee cords or a parachute but it turned out to be a brilliant talk on using twitter for sharing news and information (or for the occasional treasure hunt) within the school environment – really inspirational stuff!

The day ended with a couple of hundred techie teachers singing in Zulu, all thanks to the inspiring figure of @markpentleton. And I think inspiration is surely the recurring theme of my first trip to a CESI conference. I was frankly astounded by the wealth of talent and enthusiasm amongst the delegates and workshop presenters. I genuinely feel that teachers are often excessively modest and don’t give themselves the credit they deserve, but the teachers I met as #CESI2011 warrant every plaudit. These individuals are experts in their field and in any other profession would be placed on a pedestal and praised from on high. Yet they seek no praise and do what they do, simply from a love of teaching and a willingness to share their passion with others. If that isn’t inspirational, then what is?

To see some photos from this year’s CESI Conference click here. Please leave a comment below if you were at this year’s conference and let me know which workshops you attended and who inspired you!

ICT and Education - A New Blog

ICT and Education is a new blog aimed at providing teachers (and their pupils) with advice on ICT issues as well as offer information on new technologies and resources that could be of use in a learning environment. The site is run by Scott Crombie, a colleague of mine in St. Columba's College, and is primarily aimed at the teachers of our school. However, many will find the articles extremely useful and practical for their day to day computer use. A couple of the articles of interest include Scott's excellent guide to Prezi, the importance of a good password, the Google Apps Training Centre and tips on how to save YouTube videos and embed them in presentations. Click here to visit ICT and Education.

Thoughts on Using Prezi as a Teaching Tool

CESI Conference 2011

The Computers in Education Society of Ireland (CESI) hold their annual conference on Saturday February 5th in Portlaoise College from 9:00am to 4:30am. The CESI is an association of practicing teachers from primary, post primary and third level with the common interest of using ICT to benefit teaching and learning. The conference will see a blend of workshops and talks aimed at providing educators with additional information to help them incorporate computer technology into their teaching. Those who wish to attend are asked to register here before February 2nd. A full programme of events is available to download here and the cost of the event is just €30, which includes lunch. The conference is preceded by a CESI Meet on Friday evening in the Heritage Hotel Portlaoise (unfortunately this event is now currently booked out).

At 2:30pm on Saturday, I will be co-presenting a talk on "Building and Growing a Subject Blog", along with St. Columba's College colleague and SCC English front-man Julian Girdham. This 45 minute talk will look at the ways both of our subject blogs (The Frog Blog & SCC English) have developed and expanded over the past number of years, their benefits for students and teachers, and the extent to which they reach beyond the school to wider blogging, educational and intellectual communities. We will also discuss their use of podcasts, Twitter, self-publishing and other tools. This year's CESI Conference is sure to be a brilliant event and we look forward to meeting you all there!

Easy Grade Pro

Easy Grade Pro is a suite of software, from Orbis Software designed for educators at all levels and institutions who want powerful but easy to use tools to manage their student results, homework, attendance, efforts and other information. This suite consists of software for desktop and handheld computers. There is now a new web version which means you can access your information from anywhere. I have been using the desktop version on my laptop for the last six years, and honestly would be lost without it. I can easily record attendance and homework / test performance and create both written and web reports for parents. It isn't freeware, but a single licence costs just €34. This can be used year after year, without needing to buy bulky teacher journals. You can find out more information or download an evaluation copy by clicking here.

ICT Funding Announced

Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, has annouced that €20 million will be made available over the coming weeks to secondary schools to fund the purchasing of ICT equipment for their classrooms. The funding is the first tranche of funds to be made available to secondary schools under the government's Smart Schools - Smart Economy strategy. The funds will be available to nearly 700 secondary schools with each will receive a basic grant of €1700 along with €63.45 per pupil. While this is not a huge amount of money, it should be enough for schools to purchase a number of computers and projectors - for the ambitious some iPad's, iPods, interactive whiteboards or visualisers. So far, €42 million has been provided to both primary and secondary schools for ICT equipment since the November 2009 announcement, but is still somewhat short of the €150 million pledged. The Minister said she was committed to providing further resources to schools stating "these new grants will enable post-primary schools throughout the country to equip their classrooms with appropriate technology, to enhance teaching and learning". The fund announcement coincides with the launch of the very first Irish Teaching and Learning Festival which gets underway this morning in the Citywest Conference Centre, which is sure to provide plenty of information on what to spend this money on. 

While these funds are gratefully received, ironically the government are expected to make significant cuts to education in their upcoming budget. Read my previous post on why cuts to education never heal.

The Irish Teaching & Learning Festival

The Irish Teaching and Learning Festival is the first ever interactive conference and exhibition focusing on the future of education in Ireland. It takes place this weekend in the Citywest Conference Centre, on Friday 15th and Saturday 16th October. The event consists of a large exhibition centre, with displays from a wide range of commercial, teaching and learning organisations including 3M, the Centre for Talented Youth, Edco, Gointeractive, MySchoolWriting.ie and many many more. In fact there over 80 exhibitors displaying their wares at the festival, aimed at all sectors of education including primary and secondary teachers, parents, principals, parents and management. There are also a whole series of workshops and seminars to allow everyone involved in the educational process in Ireland to air their views and share ideas. Many of these workshops will focus on the incorporation of technology, using podcasting, animations and film making, and on the effective use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Here are the seminars I'm most looking forward to:

• Friday 12pm - Advice for schools on purchasing ICT equipment - Tom Lonergan - NCTE - Creativity Suite
• Friday 2pm - Enquiry Based Learning Instruction in Junior Certificate Science - Joanne Broggy UL - The Promethean Demonstration Suite
• Friday 3pm - Keynote Address - Lord David Puttman - Keynote Theatre 
• Saturday 10pm - “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything around here?” - How Cloud Computing is transforming schools - Simon Lewis Anseo - Creativity Suite
• Saturday 1pm - Interactive White Boards: A Literature Review, National and International - David O’Grady - UL - Promethean Demonstration Suite
• Saturday 3pm - Virtual World Primary Schools Project - Using 3d Immersive Technology for the Support of Exceptionally and Twice Exceptional Students - Margeret Keane & James Corbett - Giftedkids.ie - Keynote Theatre

The event is sure to be an excellent opportunity for teachers to explore new ways of bringing innovation into their classroom and to share ideas with teachers with similar aspirations. I'm certainly looking forward to networking with peers with similar ideals. To obtain free admission, delegates must register their interest on their website: www.itlfestival.ie. For a complete programme of events click here or here to read their latest press release. I hope to see you there! Follow the ITL Festival on Twitter here.

Teachers! Tweet, Blog, Connect.

What are your new back to school resolutions? For me, it's learning to organise my time more effectively and to prioritise! It's the same resolution made every September but this year will be different - I'm sure of it! But can I be so bold as to make some suggestions for your back to school resolutions: Tweet, Blog, Connect!

What is Twitter? Twitter is a micro blogging social network which allows users write short snappy messages (just 140 characters) which then appear on the user's profile page (Click here to see mine). Users follow other people on Twitter who may be friends or have similar interests. Sounds kinda pointless until you see how tweets can allow you share resources, web-links, videos, photos, interesting stories or classroom tips. It's an excellent way to expand your view on how your subject can be taught and to connect with other teachers from around the world. I would go as far as saying that Twitter is an essential tool for newly qualified teachers. We all know the web is a brilliant resource and Twitter allows you to share the best of the web with like minded people. It is so simple to join and start tweeting. Just visit Twitter.com and get stuck in. You might find it useful to follow these teachers to start connecting: Me, Patricia Donaghy, Julia Thompson, Maryna Badenhorst, Pajo, ScoilNet, Nicole Galante and Julian Girdham (from SCC English) to name but a few. Here are few useful links on how Twitter can help you become a better teacher: here and here.

The Appliances of Science

The article below, written by yours truly, also appears in the Science Today section of today's Irish Times 

The development of Apple’s iPhone has revolutionised our perception of the mobile phone. But how can it help us learn more about science?

Since its release, the iPhone’s potential as a multi-purpose device has been realised with the development of applications or apps, software programmes designed specifically for your mobile phone. Last year, there were 2.5 billion app downloads worldwide and this is expected to rise to 4.5 billion this year, 82% of which will be free.

The development of apps for the iPhone led other mobile phone manufacturers to alter the way they structured their operating systems and recently developers have expanded their apps to serve Nokia, Blackberry and Android Smartphones. And now, with the imminent release of Apple’s latest offering the iPad, apps are about to get bigger and better.

Why I Love My iPhone ... and its apps!

I've had my iPhone for a few months now and it has changed me! Sounds dramatic I know, but I think it has. I must confess - I love my iPhone. My previous phone was a HTC Touch - a powerful Windows mobile with everything I needed - email, Internet, calendar. So I thought I didn't need an iPhone - no one needs an iPhone - but it has made my life so much easier. What makes the iPhone brilliant is the abundant supply of apps - apps for everything. Simple apps like Awesome Note, Calendar, the new Irish Times app, Evernote, Skype and the brilliant Quick Office make everyday easier, especially in work. When I'm bored I play Touch Physics or Angry Birds. When I want to be informed I click on the Guardian app, RTE News, the Telegraph, Treehugger or the ITN app. When I feel like connecting I open up Facebook, Tweetdeck or Blogpress. I'm never off the damn thing. And then there my role as a science teacher - oh yeah nearly forgot that - and the iPhone offers plenty to keep me occupied here too. To be a good science teacher you need to be informed about what's happening in the world of science and there are plenty apps which let me do that. The picture over shows some of the science related apps on my iPhone, I emphasise the "some". NASA has become cool again (at least in my eyes anyway), the Hubble app mesmerises me with wonderful images from deep space, the Planets app has given me a sore neck from looking up at the night sky, Discovery News lets me know when a new frog species has been discovered (I'm kidding), Speed Anatomy makes sure I know my arms from my elbows and Science Dump contains brilliant videos from YouTube of scientific interest - all great. Then there is the amazing Sky+ app, which makes sure I will never forget to record that documentary on the BBC when I'm out again! The iPhone is here and here to stay and with the new software update making it easier to use, it's getting better. But the iPhone didn't arrive empty handed - it has brought loads of wonderful apps to play with. Never to bored, misinformed or disorganised again!