Challenge Machine

If you have not come across it, the challenge machine is a web based way of easily creating quizes that can be done online. You can challenge classes or friends or anyone and you can rack up points scores. Here is a simple example...

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Change Management

Having spoken to a Headteacher about the challenges of embedding learning platform use in a high school I feel I have more clarity about the scale of the issue.

It is massive. Schools and in particular high schools are large organisations - pushing through change is difficult because of the inertia such behemoths possess. Management books speak of the different types of people that have to be dealt with to effectively manage change and give advice on changing the culture of an organisation. In schools however the people you as a leader are trying to change are effectivly the gate keepers and the sales people who will promote the change to the 'customers' or 'pupils' as we may still affectionately call them.

School leaders are rightly protective of their staff and students, consious of change fatigue and work-life balance and may balance the potential benefits of a dramatic change in classroom practice with the possible consequences to morale of divisions in the staffroom.

To look toward the future and make brave decisions requires school leaders who have a clear vision of the benefts learning platforms can make to their learners.

WYSINAWYG

Go on, guess what it means?

Ive been realising something over the last few days as I have used a variety of online tools claiming WYSIWYG functionality. (I will spare their blushes). I have encountered the following;

• mysterious duplicate snippets of code appearing in widgets on websites
• undisplayable images creating blank spaces on the screen and masking other content
• pages veering out of printable area in browsers
• random colour changing

Browser and plugin differences obviously are partly to blame but one does get the feeling sometimes that the editors were designed for the web as it was about 5 years ago. They just can't handle the volume of linking and embedded code that is the norm these days. Arcane, forgotten early html formatting rules still apply in some of them that dissapeared thankfully with Frontpage.

I don't know.

'What you see is not always what you get'

5 Learning Platform Quick Wins

What are the easiest ways to make a beneficial difference to a school using a learning platform?

Top five suggestions (in no particular order) that require little or no additional work....(IMHO)

1. Communicating with staff by email, IM, online notice boards, cover lists, school calendars etc - no more pigeon holes or students carrying notes round the school.

2. File storage - cloud computing - no more memory sticks left at home (or school), easy access to school documentation.

3. Communication with students and between students - e.g. electronic submission of work,class blogs, forums, wiki's, even chat and IM as well as good old email.

4. School 'portal' - a common homepage for all members of school community accessible from inside or outside school

5. Celebrating success - publishing examples of student achievement electronically.

All of these can be done without having to generate any new content or even having to digitize things that are not already in an electronic format.

What do you reckon?

Picture log in to the Learning Gateway

Many children (and adults) waste lots of time trying to remember passwords for all the websites they sign up for. An alternative that can be useful is picture based log in. Have a look at this screencast to see how it could work;

Capture your screen in seconds

21st Century Learning

I am exited about 21st century learning. I am not sure I understand it properly yet but am trying to get my head around it. The problem is, I have been brought up and trained as a teacher using a very different model of curriculum and I am having trouble letting go. Having been bound by perceived QCA dictats and inflexible, results based planning for so long - I think I am starting to breathe fresh air.

I think there are opportunities for learning platforms to do what the name would suggest and support the delivery of 21st century curriculum. Providing tools that facilitate personalised learning and put students and the creativity they desire at the heart of their learning. I am hopeful that learning platforms can be a tool that will motivate learners and give them access to knowledge whilst also giving them a means to learn.

Snow and opportunities for learning platforms

As I opened the curtains this morning and the new day greeted me with usual blizzard I had a thought. As school leaders struggle with their responsibilities on days like this - health and safety of their students in school against missed learning opportunities. What if they didnt have to oppose one another?

What if schools could say: the school buildings are closed today - learning will be happening solely in the learning platform?

It is possible I think. School communities would have to be in the habit of regular electronic communication. LP use would have to be embedded. All (or at least most) classes would have to be using the LP regularly. But it would remove some of the pressure schools are under in these exceptional weather circumstances we find ourselves in.

Learning platforms and speed

Further to the comments I have made before about the 'click and wait' syndrome when people are using the web to present something to me is another consideration;

What effect do webpage load times have on usage of learning platforms?

I ask because of a blog I read about some research google have done that says that for every half a second on the load time for their search results they get a 20% drop in traffic.

Wow. Most learning platforms in use are much slower than google. Maybe one of the ways to increase adoption in classroom is to ensure speed performance is a high priority when evaluating learning platforms?

Content is King?

Is it really? That was the moniker of web 1.0 Without killer content websites died away, they were used as sources of factual info as much as anything else. While that is still true to an extent, the advent of web 2.0 has meant interactivity above all. Want people want to do is communicate and collaborate.

Of course that fits right into the educational agenda. The internet is not a textbook. It is not reliably edited, nor is it tailored for a particular course, nor is it ever exactly at the right level. Stuff isnt always easy to find. What the internet can do really well is to facilitate meaningful communication. Look at Facebook - all the people we keep in touch with more than we used to. In a learning context the power of this is in the connections that can be made. The germs of ideas that can be nourished.

Think of teachers moderating forums on a topic after directing students to evaluate a range of web sources. Think of mobile learning; podcast mashups put together on a whim after a topic for fun by a student that becomes a vital part of GCSE revision.

Content is filtered (obviously), communication rules.