THIS BLOG IS MOVING!!!!

Soon we will be moving this blog onto another domain and onto our own servers so we can enjoy all the other features and benefits of wordpress…. polls, more multimedia, podcasting, etc.

You can get a preview of the work in progress and update your blogrolls and feeds at: http://blog.prometheanplanet.com

Voting a gimmick or a voice?

How can a teacher engage children? 

In a world where technology abounds, is it the equipment or its implementation which will engage pupils in their own learning?

Each child is an individual and every child does matter, but how can a teacher treat every single child individually and continue to meet the needs of the rest of the class as well as meeting the day to day learning objectives? 

A child’s future is being personalised by today’s experiences.  Research has shown that children do benefit from formal feedback, but verbal discussion will have more impact than a written comment. Using Voting or a Learner Response System (LRS) for pupil self-review allows a degree of ownership and commitment to target setting.  If children are to evaluate their own progress they should be involved in the target setting.  A range of techniques should be adopted to promote self assessment.  

Let us consider the combination of iwbs and LRS and recognise their potential impact on Personalised Learning. One of the strongest features of the way in which LRS can be used is to generate discussion opportunities. To gather pupil opinions and establish children’s understanding of right and wrong is paramount to their developing into responsible citizens of the future. The ability of LRS to engage pupils in discussion on a range of topics, can also begin to help meet the needs of a variety of learning styles.  The graphical images and concrete examples necessary in any lesson together with the opportunity to give every learner a voice means that children can begin to own some of their classroom experience in a way which was rarely apparent in the past. 

Effective questionning is key in establishing children’s understanding and offering an opportunity for all of the children to respond and therefore be included in any discussion is vital. When a class of children are asked a question, there will always be those who know the answer and put up their hand, there will also be those who don’t know the answer and put up their hand and then there are those who passively observe or opt out.  Why ask one child when you can have the whole class responding and offering an opinion. Nobody likes getting the answer wrong, but we all know that it is precisely this experience which has the most impact when visiting a concept for the first time or learning a new method of doing something.

Giving the opportunity to check an answer is an ideal way of raising confidence.  To be able to offer immediate feedback will undoubtedly assist the learner in his own understanding, but more importantly raise self esteem for those less confident pupils who may struggle to ask.  If Personalised learning is about offering learners a voice and communicating their feelings about a particular topic then we need to ensure that they feel comfortable doing so.  Using scenarios which allow children to identify with a character is a safe way of inviting opinion and encouraging discussion.  I am always amazed at how apparently relaxed children are when engaging in a debate from behind a mask.  This apparent anonymity eases even the most hesitant forward into the speaking arena.  I think if this aspect of children’s development is addressed early enough it will give them the confidence to cope with what we are increasingly expecting of them within the Personalised Learning Arena.

This is an edited adaptation of an article originally written for a NAACE publication during 2007.

Handheld Learning 2007

One of the key events of recent years has been the Handheld Learning event. Focusing on mobile learning with devices and the opportunities presented by ubiquitous access to the internet, it raises and explores many issues that educators will have to deal with in coming years.

I was lucky to be able to present at this event with a Promethean colleague and we ran a workshop that covered all the ways that the Promethean Activboard could work with devices. Many of the ideas in the blog made it to the presentation – using images from phones to using the Activsoftware on Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPCs)

As well as the technical tricks and techniques some other interesting Promethean technology was presented – incuding the ‘VR’ versions of Activote – basically Activate that floats on the screen of a laptop, PC, UMPC or Nova5000 student computer.

Interview with Robert Powell on delivering personalised, formative assessment

  

Your team is trapped! - Your next answer will determine if you are entombed in the sunken ship or make it to the Helicopter!

Robert Powell, a leading authority on assessment in the UK has used a ’developer kit for Activote’ from Promethean to make a new range of software that lets every learner in a class take an active role in an on-screen adventure.  He says…

“The big challenge with assessment is to gather information and data to help both teachers and learners to identify strengths, weaknesses and next steps for progress. There is a lot of evidence that ‘over-testing’ can damage both the curriculum and the level of learning, and we have tried to develop software that motivates and engages children while at the same time providing important information for evaluating progress and identifying needs.”

On the software…

“The feedback we get from teachers and learners has been excellent. Some classes arrive in the room and ask for a test using the software; not a request you normally get from young people!”

Called ‘Quest Mathematics – AfL’ it blends the appeal of computer animation & video games with differentiated assessment and a team based approach. Students can battle their way through the Jungle or an Underwater landscape or brave the Haunted House. They have to answer questions selected from a vast database to get through each stage. Each quest is full of very high quality animated movies and themed music to keep the kids focussed and engaged. Just see the pics!

The teacher can organise their class into an assortment of mixed ability or levelled teams and assign differentiated questions sets to each. With over 18,000 questions covering the complete Maths curriculum and the ability to differentiate by NC Levels – each learner can operate and progress at their own level even when being taught in a whole class situation with an Activboard and Activotes.

For fully ‘personalised learning’ or if the school does not yet have Promethean Activote’s – the software also support network deployment where students can take part in the Quest alone or with a group of friends.

Even though the students enjoy the activity as teams and can be encouraged to debate and solve problems together – each individual’s performance is tracked automatically and is exportable as Excel for further analysis.  

It really is a complete ‘plug and play’ system for fully differentiated and personalised assessment for learning.

 

Find out more about the Robert Powell products on Prometheanworld