In this mini-series I’m looking at lessons we in the educational ICT community might learn from sports. In today’s article we consider the role of the specialist, and its relevance for peer assessment.
Lessons from the world of sports: #6 The rule of practice
What lessons can we in the field of educational ICT learn from sports? In this, the sixth part of this mini-series, we look at the issue of practice.
Learning about inclusive technologies through collaboration
There are all different ways of running a training day. One approach is to beat delegates into submission by talking at them all day long. Another is to get them to do something. Learning by doing is a well-known approach, having been perfected, I believe, in the Neanderthal era. In short, it has a good track record, and was the method of choice adopted by Load2Learn for their Technologies for Print Disabilities Training Day.
Lessons from the world of sports: #5 The rule of encouragement
Welcome to the fifth part of this mini-series, in which I consider lessons we might learn from sports and sports personalities which we can apply to educational ICT. How important is encouragement to Olympic class athletes? I’d like to start off with an admission of error….
Lessons from the world of sports: #4 The rule of expert guidance
Here is the fourth part of this mini-series, in which I consider lessons we might learn from sports and sports personalities which we can apply to educational ICT. Today I’d like to consider the role of the sports coach, and to start with I’ll quote from a conversation that has never taken place, and probably will never take place.
Lessons from the world of sports: #3 The rule of eclecticism
Welcome to the third part of this mini-series, in which I consider lessons we might learn from sports and sports personalities which we can apply to educational ICT. I’ve called today’s rule the rule of eclecticism because it’s about learning from different, and disparate, disciplines.
Lessons from the world of sports: #2 The rule of detailed analysis
Here in London we’re pretty much immersed in the Olympics at the moment, and it occurred to me recently that there are several ideas which can be applied from sports to educational ICT. Last week I was invited by Acer to a talk in the Olympic Park by Leon Taylor, the champion diver. In this, the second part of the mini-series on lessons from sports, we look at what he had to say about detailed analysis.
Lessons from the world of sports: #1 The 1% improvement rule
Although not by nature an avid sports fan, I have been enjoying the recent offerings in the forms of the Tour de France and the Olympics. While engrossed in these I was struck by how far the work needed to do well in these activities could be applied to education in general, and ICT in education in particular. I will be exploring this idea over the next seven articles, starting with this one, in which we look at the 1% improvement rule.
Review of the Technology for Print Disabilities Training Day
When I was invited to attend the Technology for Print Disabilities training day, run by Dyslexia Action, I was filled with a sense of dread. True, it was free. But I’d have to leave the house at the crack of dawn, travel a couple of hundred miles, return well into the evening – and all for a topic which I assumed had only a tangential relevance to my day-to-day work. Nevertheless, applying the deep philosophical outlook I learnt listening to Fats Waller (“One never knows, do one?”), I said to myself, “OK, let’s give it a whirl.”The stimulating classroom
It seems paradoxical, but the most boring classrooms tend to be the ones that are full of technology – and little else. The worst ones I’ve been into are those in which 30 or more computers are crammed into rows, allowing no room for note-taking, let alone collaboration. But even the ones with wall-to-wall interactive display screens, visualisers, graphic tablets etc etc are often, to be frank, Tedium City. How come?
Mystery solved?
Here in London there are so-called ‘Olympic Lanes’ on the road network, which may be used only by members of the ‘Olympic Family’, ie contestants and others directly connected with the Games (see this Alberta Games website for information about it). So, the lanes are in place, and motorists are allowed to use some of them at the moment. However, despite big electronic displays telling drivers they can use the lanes, lots of them didn’t realise that. Why not?
Read MoreHelping new staff
I’ve come across a couple of instances recently where a website has great resources, but either people don’t know about them, or don’t know where to find them even if they do. For example, apparently the Department for Education website has some brilliant resources for teaching children with complex needs, but they’re all but impossible to find. So that got me thinking: how will teachers starting in your school next term fare when it comes to accessing ICT-related information? Here are some ideas I’ve had, which I hope may be useful. They do not have to apply only to ICT.
Reflections on being off the grid
Last week I went “off the grid”. I thought I would benefit from a complete break. People rave about the 24/7 society, and anytime anywhere learning, but I actually think it’s healthy to cut off every so often. I also think we should encourage young people to as well. Anyway, here are my reflections on being unavailable for a week.
Off the Grid
I’ve gone offline for a week. No internet, no email, no mobile phone, no nothing. Just before I “disappeared”, I made a supreme effort to catch up with responding to comments. So I thought
Using the search engine right
Independent e-Learning Consultant Rob Ellis gives some tips on how pupils can use search engines properly.
When Terry tweeted about his post ‘Using the right search engine’ I rather flippantly suggested that he’d be better off simply reordering the words in the title to read ‘Using the search engine right’.
Leaving aside the damage I’ve done to the English language with that there is a serious point here. Despite the prominence given to information literacy I’d say that, anecdotally, there is widespread agreement on its importance but little progress on organised adoption in schools.
News: searching, mobile learning
E-learning consultant Rob Ellis made a bit of a mistake a few days ago. He (somewhat flippantly I think), suggested that an article I wrote about using the right search engine might have been rewritten under the title ‘using the search engine right’. Bad move, because I replied, “Great idea! Would you like to do it?” That’s because I always think that if someone has a particular bee in their bonnet they are likely to write about it much more eloquently and passionately than I will.
Read MoreScreen-sharing made easy
Have you ever been in a situation where you are trying to explain to someone over the phone what you are seeing on your computer? Or trying to explain to them what they should be seeing on theirs? I’ve come across a neat little application which enables you to share your screen with anyone you like – and without installing anything, downloading anything or even paying a penny!
E-safety: Knowing your digital rights
The place: A classroom
The time: Now
Teacher: So, class, that’s your homework for today.
Boy at the back: You can’t do that, Sir. I know my rights.
T: Er, sorry, I can’t do what exactly?
BATB: Set us that homework, Sir.
T: Why not?
BATB: ‘Cos it will take about half an hour, Sir, and you’re only allowed to give us 20 minutes. I know my rights.
T: OK, do 20 minutes this evening, and 10 minutes tomorrow evening.
BATB: You can’t tell me that, Sir.
T: OK, and why not?
BATB: Cos I have a right to a private life under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, Sir. I know my rights.
Lights dim as the characters continue arguing. Exeunt.
Reasons to have a blogging team
It took me an hour and 29 minutes to write a blog post this morning. Actually, it took me over two hours, because I thought about it last night. Fortunately, the amount of time I spent, which was about 1.5 hours longer than I’d intended, didn’t have too much of an impact on my work schedule, because I did the thinking last night whilst watching TV, and this morning I was the computer by 6am in order to get lots done before I started work.
But why am I telling you all this?
Because when I think of what I need to do to keep my blog updated every day, I realise what needs to be in place for a school blog to thrive. The answer is: a team.
BYOT Case Study: Scargill Junior School
Describing itself as being on the ‘networked’ stage of the continuum, Scargill school’s current Bring Your Own Technology model consists of utilising a wide range of mobile devices in school in order to enhance and support the learning in the classroom. It started with Nintendos approximately 6 years ago. But what prompted Scargill to consider a BYOT approach in the first place?