68. Innovative teaching “ Registered teachers skillfully adopt and deploy a wide variety of innovative resources, including ICT and, where appropriate, the outdoor environment. ” GTCS Standard for Full Registation
69. Innovative teaching “ Registered teachers skillfully adopt and deploy a wide variety of innovative resources, including ICT and, where appropriate, the outdoor environment. ” GTCS Standard for Full Registation
* They personally own 8 devices (including MP3 player, PC, TV, DVD player, mobile phone, stereo, games console, and digital camera) * They frequently conduct over 5 activities whilst watching TV * 25% of them agree that “I’d rather stay at home than go on a holiday with no internet or phone access” * A quarter of young people interviewed text or IM (instant message) friends they are physically with at the time * They have on average 123 friends on their social network spaces * And the first thing the majority of them do when they get home is turn on their PC
* A quarter of young people interviewed text or IM (instant message) friends they are physically with at the time123 friends
One of the recent projects of the Consolarium has been the development of CANVAS (Children’s Art in the Virtual Arena of Scotland). CANVAS is accessed by Glow and is a safe and secure on-line virtual world where children from local education authorities can showcase and talk about their artwork. But as well as providing an individual showcase the main CANVAS galley can hold guest exhibits and also accommodate guest speakers.But that’s not all – coming back to the Internet Safety and Responsible Use agenda. We know that are current 5-7 year olds already exit in on-line in virtual worlds. They will never grow into Bebo, or facebook that offer only text driven interfaces. CANVAS provides a mechanism for teachers to teach about behavior in online virtual universes in a safe and secure way. We will be offering guidance on how teachers may choose to utilize this resource later in the year.
Content for all
Technology also now give teachers the opportunity to access real time data with their students. There is something about real time information that is highly engaging for young people and is something that we should perhaps try to capitalise on more in schools?Google Earth is a good example. Its free for schools to use and real time information can be displayed spatially. By turning on the weather layer…
…real time cloud data appears over the virtual globe.
By turning on the web cam layer and clicking on camera…
I can see what is happening, what the weather is like, what the people are like all over the globe.This ‘real time’ interaction is so important for teaching young people about global citizenship, society and other cultures. One of my new technologies staff was in a school recently as he asked a student if they had used Google Earth. They told him ‘I use it recreationally, but never in school’. When the learning potential of such technology is so obvious, when the software is free – when do we have to start to question why is it not being used?
Technology also offers ways to provide personalization to the learner. Take this game game ‘My French Coach’ for the Nintendo DS. Its been built for the commercial market but has huge potential in education. It can provide each user with over 150 short and progressive French lessons that tracks progress and takes learners from where they are to become more proficient in a modern language. The software will even tell you how good your pronunciation is and contains a full French dictionary – all of this for just £10.
