Maths and Moodle

Maths & Moodle

Why bother?

I am looking for a Maths Dept that is using Moodle to improve what the classroom is already doing. The dept is successful with very good teachers and great results.

So I would like to see some Maths practice that is beyond the usual 'VLEs are cool' stuff I throw at teachers challenging technology in schools.

Email I received from Head of Maths below:

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Thanks for taking an interest in us!

It looks good – a bit like equation editor in Word. How would we use it? This is not a moan, but a genuine question – I’m not sure what the benefits for our students would be in doing maths over a virtual environment, but when you have the time would like to discuss this. From what I have seen of independent schools (mainly Hailbury Group) ITC use is minimal – we are probably quite advanced in comparison. Have you seen any good examples?

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Thanks to Ian Usher and Dan Needlestone for discussing/twittering about this with me.

We determined that we already use it for access to rich-media content in the form of electronic text books mapped to KS3 and KS4. Other than this, and the normal VLE exponents (24/7 access), we thought it would be excellent to adopt an idea presented at TeachMeet Bett 2009 by a TechSmith employee teaching at a Primary School. He suggested using Jing (free product) for pupils to record screencasts explaining what they were doing on whiteboard software (graphics package of some sort). If you adapt this model to tablet PCs, you could see more sophisticated sums being sloved and narrated on video. These in turn could be posted to Maths forums within Moodle as a catalogue of good practice or learning. This would be a really neat idea. And work at potentially the highest level of Maths delivered in schools (A Level) would be satisfied by a tablet PC, maybe the tablet eeePC. I'll have to investigate the tablets a bit more as I have never owned one but hopefully the annotation facilities won't be too far away from pencil and paper. The Maths department have expressed their reluctance to move away from that media before but this might tip the balance.

ActivStudio is relaunched as ActivInspire

Promethean have launched a leaner meaner looking ActivStudio called Inspire.

Download it from http://www.prometheanplanet.com/ - you have to be registered to get the download.

It looks great - a welcome makeover and some new features you can read about here!

Quick screencast preview made with Jing (techsmith)...

Best use this link as the video hasn't resized properly - ooooops....

screencast of Inspire

A new screencast demonstrating the upgraded Handwriting Recognition Tool - I am loving this bit because it is so much better than before.

HTC TouchHD Comments

A friend of mine had this to say about it...

The HD is lovely. It is a great size and weight and feels just right in your hand. The screen is fantastic and the touch usability is excellent. However, TouchFlo is just a bolt front end that only temporarily hides W6.1. Eg texts 'arrive' on a touchflo screen, but as soon as you click on reply, you are in nasty W6.1. It would be good if HTC developed TouchFlo to do all of the main phone functions instead of just pretending! W6.1 doesn't respond to the accelerometer, so in most screens, turning the HD on its side makes no difference. W6.1 seems to have 'improved' some things over PocketPC 2003 (which I think my old ipaq is on) and in the process made it worse. A small example is the alarm clock feature. I use my pda as an alarm clock and on the old version of WM when the alarm goes off, a big screen appears asking 'dismiss or snooze?', which is logical. On the new WM6.1, when the alarm goes off, the only way to enable snooze is to fiddle with the menu and then select the length of snooze required. Whilst this is an excellent way of waking me up, it not what a snooze feature is supposed to be! WM6.1 is basically pda software with the mobile phone bits added as an afterthought, so for example emoticons, which now most mobiles support do not display. The TouchFlo keyboard is nice and easy to use and is a massive improvement on the W6.1 version which can only be used with a stylus, but it is nowhere near as nice as the iphone one in which the keys 'grow' as you touch them to show you which letter you are typing - surely this cannot be copyright and is such an obvious thing to do.

I realise that these are all minor things compared to all the good things it does do, but it frustrates and annoys me that manufacturers produce software with such disregard for finishing touches. It is a bit like a car manufacturer designing a beautiful looking car that has a fantastic engine and bodywork, but with windows that do not fully close.

The only REALLY annoying thing about the HD is the camera software. I am used to the Sony Ericsson cameras which are SUPER quality. Excellent software and brilliant results. I often used my mobile as my main camera (even though it is only 3.2 mp), because the results were so good. The HD allegedly has a 5mp camera, but what is the point in this hardware if the software is shit. The autofocus takes an age to settle down, and the shutter speed seems to be extremely slow. Most of the pix I took over Xmas seem blurred with dull colours, whereas in previous years the pix I took with the SE were colourful and sharp. HTC need to majorly rethink their attitude to cameras if they intend including them in high end units. I will carry on experimenting with the camera, but at the moment it is a huge disappointment.

Overall, I am pleased I went for the HD.

For me, the choice is defined by quick access to the main tools I use - twitter, web browser, text messaging, family contacts (calling) and music. But the camera is becoming more and more important to me. So the comment about the camera being a bit poor is a concern. iPhone no better though - so maybe the Nokia N96 would be good.

Apparently the Google Android G2 is coming out end of Jan 2009. That is going to have Touch HD hardware with G1 keyboard etc.

OMG! What's the big deal anyway - just a ******* phone and it's not like I travel the world every week. I'm rarely more than 30 minutes from a computer!

ICT Prefects at School

I have decided to create the post of ICT Prefect for my most diligent ICT students (6th Formers).


I have had a special school tie made for the prefects which is distinct from all other school ties but includes the school crest. The ties will be awarded in whole school assembly by the Headteacher after a short outline of the project by me.



The post will entail giving them responsibility to:

1. Run ICT Clubs in one of their specialist areas
2. Supervise Middle and Upper School pupils in the ICT rooms during lunch
   
3. ICT support for teachers and students; all members of the school will be able to call on them for help and advice with computer problems
   
4. Moodle; I will train them in the basics of using Moodle and they will be able to provide training and support to teachers
5. Interactive Whiteboards; I will train them to troubleshoot basic IWB problems so teachers may call on them if having difficulty with their IWBs.

Professional Development

In addition to the TeachMeet post I responded to a post by Colin Becker, a new blogger (not that I'm that long in the tooth).

Colin questioned Professional Development looking at the possible use of blogging as a means to generate accountability in PD. I think he has a good point. In England we have Professional Reviews each year where we set targets at the beginning of the year and then meet with line managers to discuss how we met those targets at the end of the year. Blogging PD would be a good target for any teacher.

The whole idea of PD (CPD in the UK) needs reviewing and I think that is happening in some ways. The conclusion is going to be some kind of online network or blog or community. But this is going to be a long time in the making.

If I were a Headteacher, I think I might use your idea and ask my staff to create a blog detailing their PD for the year, or their time at that school. It is a great starting place for accountability. Currently, it seems to me, thousands of pounds are wasted each year on little day trips with nice lunches. But even where the PD courses are good it would be excellent practice to see a blog post about what was learned and how it might help others in the school etc.

I am expecting Professional Development to change on a large scale in the next decade, but for me, right now, I have changed my PD by using the web to develop my PLN (Personal Learning Network) using essential tools:

1. Twitter
2. Diigo
3. Podcasts
4. Blogs
5. MirandaMods
6. Ning networks
7. EdTech RoundUp

More about developing a PLN in a future post.

TeachMeet BETT 2009

TeachMeet BETT 2009

#TMBett09

Friday 15th January 2009 there will be a TeachMeet. Signed up to attend are 130+ teachers, consultants, advisors, educators, decision-makers.

Sign up here: http://teachmeet.pbwiki.com/TeachMeet09Bett

I have never been before. I've attended two MirandaMods which work on the same unconference style.

At TM teachers will present their classroom practice and other interested parties will proffer their thought and ideas. Most will show the use of technology in the classroom. They will share with whoever may care to listen.

What is a TeachMeet - it has a wiki here?

I don't know. This will be my first. This is what I think it will be...

Teachers get together by agreeing a time and a place. Someone usually takes the lead on this. A sponsor or two are found to provide some beer, the venue and one or two other things (e.g. futurelabs are providing some wifi bandwidth for the online broadcast). The cameras will be operated by volunteers.

The TeachMeet will provide Professional Development for the working teacher. In my opnion it is the best PD you can get. Presentations are limited to 7 minutes including set-up. In that time an issue is raised and discussed or an aspect of pedagogy presented. The atmosphere is informal with a certain respect for decorum and a vibrant buzz around the room.

This is from the wiki; a few rules:

TeachMeets are about sharing practice, so if you've something interesting or exciting to share, please add your name to one of these lists - either for 7 minutes' or 2 minutes' duration. The rules (such as they are):

• You can't sell or simply plug anything - this has to be classroom-based practice that's happening right now, not "this is what someone could do in their classroom using product or tool X"
• No PowerPoint / KeyNote / other presentation software - unless you're doing 20 slides for 20 seconds each (pecha kucha style - pecha kucha article);
• You can't sell anything - reeling off a long list of features with no context is counted as selling.
• You will be asked to stop when your time is up - time is short and there will be plenty of people happy to ask you about what you've spoken about when you've finished!
• Your time includes setup - so if you bring a laptop and need to plug it in to a projector, find the audio I/O connection, etc., that all eats in to the time that you can use to share. A way around this is to make sure what you're showing is online, then use the machine at the front to access it.
• If you want to use your own machine, it's worth using the Scrapbook extension for Firefox to save offline copies of pages you want to use - just like in the classroom, it's always good to have something to fall back on if your connection to the internet just disappears...
• It's TeachMeet not SalesMeet - if you sell and don't feature any classroom practice, you'll be asked to stop. Harsh but fair...
• As it's likely that there will be more people wanting to contribute than there are slots for them, presentations will be selected at random - that's the way TeachMeets work, so please don't be offended if your name doesn't come up. It always turns out like that for a few potential contributors.

I am really excited about attending. I'll get to meet (and meet again) some people I work with online and value as a great asset to my work.

I will be bringing my laptop to plug a camera into for one of the broadcasts (flashmeet and ustream) and a tripod to sit the camera on. Also, I will be tweeting as the back channel makes a noise and making a few qik interviews to broadcast from the sidelines.

It is going to be an interesting night with a lot to show and a lot to learn. The web is full of fantastic tools for learning; for the classroom there have rarely been more exciting times for the teacher willing to take the plunge. You don't need to be a geek to do it. You don't even have to know that much about any of these things.

All that is required is that you want to spice up your classroom and help prepare young people for the digital world which lies ahead of them. Once you start using ed tech you will never look back. Just one project is all it takes. Watch and learn. If you do, you will be very pleased that you did.

6th Form creating Moodle courses

Today I was sitting looking for a bit of inspiration as to what to do with my students on the new AS ICT specification for module INFO2. The A Level has been changed from three to two units and I have finished going through the material for INFO2. However, in the true style of my classroom, I am concerned that my students haven't really got to grips with the material. They still can't talk about it and to me that's annoying because then it's only me opening my mouth in the room - no thinking time (:O).

I had been working with them creating mindmaps on MindMeister (just the free service). They had done presentations on some of the content. This worked okay. Not the best outcomes but some basic learning achieved. Exam questions covered. Tests etc. So what were we going to do...

I paired them up, got them to sign into my moodle sandpit digabites. Then I created a course and made them all teachers of it.

I ran through all the basics about adding content, blocks, activities, resources and the HTML online editor. Then I showed them the moodle site linked below so they could develop it further should they want to.

My plan for this is to make them set up their own course in pairs (i.e. one course between two) and then pick a chapter from the text book and build a course for their age group by breaking the content into small chunks for learning and applying a variety of learning activities to it. They have the freedom to search moodle.org for new modules and blocks which I will install for them should they ask me to. They are also encouraged to use a variety of tools we've been incorporating into the classroom:

1. twitter
2. posterous
3. diigo
4. delicious
5. youtube
6. sliderocket
7. google docs
8. netvibes
9. animoto
10. mindmeister (and the other mindmapping online services we checked out)

SO the plan goes like this...

• 12 pupil's in Lower6
  
• 10 chapters in unit
• pair pupils together (and I'm the match maker)
• give each pair a chapter (lucky dip)
• give me a chapter to model/compete/join in with the work
• give them maybe 12 lessons (40 minutes each over 4 weeks) + homework time; timescale may well be less depending on progress.
  
• they must complete the course for their chapter and have it tested by others in the group
• they must get my approval for a learning activity
• they must break the material down into chunks and develop exercises that require the learner to explore and understand each section

The astute reader stumbling across this post might deduce that this is what I should have done in the first place. I am aware of this; the moodle course I put together was a skeleton of content and we have been playing with other tools (as listed above). In my classroom I like to create a sense of adventure and fun as well as running through the material the exam board have provided. This may be why we have time left to try something different. My exam results add value to my students expected grades as determined by ALIS and GCSE data, an average of two grades above, so I feel comfortable doing this.

It's all a bit haphazard in the making but I'll think it through properly over the weekend and push my pupil's to deliver an outcome they consider to be of worth.

The coupling effect (I always like a positive flip side) is that now these students will be competant using Moodle. Some of them are ICT Prefects as well. I will get them to help teachers use our school Moodle which is called Bernard and can be seen at http://stbens.org.uk. Most of the stuff is locked but you'll get an idea of how I use it in school.

Having said all this, as I write I can't help thinking I'm missing a better approach of having bigger groups that create learning activities for the same chapter and work collaboratively and more competitively to develop learning activities for the same material and then they can try out each others and vote on the best one. Self-evaluation. Peer-evaluation. Assessment for Learning.

Please comment if you have any ideas about my plan.

My moodle sandpit is open to create an account in so please feel free to join it. It's called digabites because my nickname was digger when I was a youngster in the north of England.

Seven things about me

Monty (thegriffinster) has challenged me to provide seven items of interest about me (here are his). Not normally something I'd go for but a good twitter friend so here goes...

1. Dai is not my real name. I was born on March 1st and hence christened David because it is St David's day. St David is the patron saint of Wales. From birth I have been called Dai Bach; Welsh for little David (so I am led to believe). I was called Digger when I lived in Newcastle after Digger Barnes on TV show Dallas (I was 8) by my geordie teachers and friends. My cousins still call me this and I have a brass zippo with Digger engraved on it as a 21st present from friends at University. My family (children) call me Dai.

2. I play guitar and sing to a remarkably low standard but have done a few gigs in university and schools and around London.

3. During my A Levels I started to play bass guitar in a band. Long hair and wide brimmed hats; recording studios and youth club gigs. We broke up to go to university but Laurence (Loz) Hardy went on to form Kingmaker who were relatively very successful (top 15 in single and album charts) but ultimately crashed and burned.

4. Smoking. I smoke and shouldn't. Roll-up cigarettes. About 12 a day.

5. I am a middle child (of three boys) and therefore foolishly competitive, sadly even with my own children.

6. I once ran a small business doing DIY for clients in their homes carrying all my tools on my bike. I built a mini staircase, installed low voltage lighting and other handyman jobs.

7. When I qualified as a teacher I moved to London and did supply teaching in some of the most difficult schools London has to offer including Geoffrey Chaucer in the Elephant & Castle and Kingsdale School in Dulwich. Working in the difficult schools meant I got a lot of work but the days were hard. To quote one of the deputy heads I worked with "What do you mean teachers? I just want ten bodies to stand in front of a class" when speaking to the supply agency 20 minutes before school was due to start.


Rules of the seven things I didn't know about you...
* Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

The seven people I am passing this on to are:

@tombarrett
@gardenglen
@heyjudeonline
@ariherzog
@moodlefairy
@intrepidteacher
@mattlinguard