Here’s my first attempt to create an online booking system for my school using the new Appointments feature in Google Calendars. I filmed the video while I was creating the system for the first time, so please excuse the quality of the instructions…
Tag: Google Apps
Google Apps after 6 weeks: the why and the how
We launched our Google Apps for Education account 6 weeks ago. Staff and students have been using it increasingly over this time, although there’s still a long way to go. This video helps to explain what I think about VLEs in primary schools, why Google Apps is a good choice and some of the ways we are beginning to use it.
The Rocket Launcher Lesson
I taught, filmed and edited this lesson on Friday 4th February
How Learning Platforms could become the new ‘worksheet’
I was adding some maths games to my school’s Google Apps domain the other day when suddenly a warning bell went off in my mind. What if I was filling up the learning platform with so much stuff, it would detract from the relationships between the adult and the child?
- Lessons where I start from a point the children have specified, negotiate the learning goals and guide them to achieve them. (You can see why co-construction is a useful term for this, as the children work together with the adult to ‘constuct’ the scaffold).
- Lessons where I define the learning goal, set the specified success criteria (or steps to success, learning ladder – whatever you want to call it) and teach the various stages until the children achieve the learning goal.
“at the deeper level of classroom discourse, pupil– teacher interaction was still dominated by closed questions, emphasizing recall rather than speculation and problem-solving”
And with the ‘rigid scaffold’ the worksheet is king. It enables a teacher to give a ‘learning ladder’; to leave the children to get on with it; to ask mainly closed questions
A growing argument for Google Apps in schools instead of LA-imposed VLEs.
At one point I thought there was only reason why Google Apps would make a better VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) in my school over the LA-imposed one.
new technologies safely. These pupils were therefore more vulnerable overall. This was a particular concern when pupils were educated away from their main school, for example, in work-based learning.”
- Schools having developed a tradition of effective procurement and implementation of innovative use of ICT
- Schools having underpinned the implementation of the learning platform with a coordinated, positive and enthusiastic strategic approach by senior leaders and managers.
Good Design or Misleading Iconography?
A couple of months ago I read, or rather looked at, this on Doug Belshaw’s blog. A 4-set Venn diagram. I looked at the four areas described – Education, Technology, Productivity and Design and how the centre section where all four areas meet must surely be some ideal. The I realised I couldn’t meet the ideal – because I am rubbish at design. The other areas are fine, but not design.
First reflections on the impact of calendar training
Today I gave some training on using Google Calendars.
- It showed how useful online Calendars are and everybody grasped the basics of how to add events.
- It got everyone together in the same room to sort out some important rotas for the year.
- a little preamble,
- a spot of humour,
- some theory,
- practical application,
that it was really weird just letting my video do the talking – we didn’t even watch the video as a group (which would have been a bit embarrassing).