A long-awaited visit to Somerset House Primary in Somerset West

I am so excited because next term I will be starting a part-time job teaching ICT skills to the students at a little school in my area, and also helping the teachers to embrace more technology in their lessons should they wish to do so.   I love my current job as a technology integration facilitator with SchoolNet and of course I will still be doing it, but sometimes I wish that I could have some hands-on practise as well. I have got to know a few of the teachers at the school already because last term I invited the principal and the HODs to join me in a visit to a wonderful school in Somerst West known as Somerset House Primary. This post will outline our visit.

Somerset House is a really beautiful school in the Helderberg area of Somerset West.  I have been wanting to visit Somerset House for such a long time as I often hear about the great things they are doing curriculum-wise. This is a school that is on the move! For example:

• They have incorporated Bring Your Own Device into their Grade 6 and 7 classrooms in a very successful pilot. Michele Botha from Somerset West presented a webinar about this for SchoolNet. In fact I have often attended events where Michele Botha has presented.
• They present TeachMeets regulary.  I have always attended and reported back on their TeachMeets. 
• I have also seen their teachers being selected as Microsoft teacher finalists with great entries (such as Jenny Martin and Siobhan Thatcher).
• They are busy piloting Project-based Learning for Social Sciences in Grades 7
• They are upgrading their library to a Knowledge Centre
• Their Head of Curriculum, Michele Botha, is also their IT Integration Facilitator which makes for a great combination for implementation of the various programmes.
• A great programme with regard to school lunches and healthy eating
• and much more….

Well, the long-awaited visit took place at last.  I quickly sneaked a photo of the visitors being welcomed by Pam Roberts and Julie du Plessis from Grade 1.

The plan was that some of the Grade 7s would show us around the school. They would then take us to the Foundation Phase.After that we would witness Michele Botha introducing the "big question" of the new PBL project that the Grade 7s were doing on Medicine. We would attend the first part of the School staff meeting and would then chat to the progressive principal Chris Storey about the Knowledge Centre they are building and other ideas that they are busy implementing.

Foundation Phase
The classrooms are beautiful. The Grade 1s were at a music lesson so we were able to pick Pam and Julie'’s brains about how they use technology in their Grade 1 classrooms. They gave us a lot of great ideas. Both were extremely enthusiastic about what they do. I have heard Pam presenting at school TeachMeets on some of her great ideas. (At the last TeachMeet Pam gave an inspiring presentation on how she uses Youblisher.com in her Grade 1 classroom.  She demonstrated this by showing a lovely e-book that her Grade 1 class had created. Each student contributed an illustrated page of writing. Pam also showed how you can make lovely 2nd language books on various topics with Youblisher, and other ways of using Youblisher to encourage reading in a Grade 1 class i.e. for Big Books.)



Chatting to the principal, Chris Storey
We felt honoured to be able to chat to the principal, Chris Storey,  about the vision for the school and their Knowledge Centre that is busy being constructed. 
 

It was interesting to hear about the developments that had to take place in the school first before introducing BYOD and then Project-based Learning:
1. Teacher readiness and integrated curriculum planning and delivery.
2. Parent receptiveness, buy-in and planning ahead.
3. Wireless infrastructure and management software. This WIFI is available everywhere on the school grounds.
4. Lockers outside every classroom for the students to keep their devices locked away during break and sports sessions etc.

Project-based learning
We were very fortunate to be able to attend one of Michele Botha’s Project-based Learning (PBL) lessons with the Grade 7s. Michele is a master at devicing exciting PBL projects! This was one of the initial lessons where she introduced the ‘big’ question and was busy getting feedback for forming the content questions from the rest of the class. I will be mentioning more about Project-based Learning and particularly Michele Botha’s views in the next post. We were impressed with the engagement of the students and the variety of devices that each group used.


Somerset House places its curriculum on the school website where one can see exactly what is covered in Social Sciences using project-based learning.

I really thank Michele Botha for arranging for us to visit Somerset House! We can’t wait to visit the new Knowledge Centre once it is up and running.

I have migrated my blog!

For several years I have had a blog called 'Bonding with Blogging' hosted on Edublogs. Since I have started doing most things on Google platforms these days I decided to migrate the blog over to Blogspot.com. It was much easier to do than I realised! I am keeping the name Bonding through blogging because really, to me, that is what blogging does! It bonds you with other bloggers all over the world.

Goodbye Edublogs!

Have you tried Obami - an internationally recognised, award-winning, social learning management system?

This is a guest post from Ennis Jones from Obami. Obami is a local social learning management system and has won several international awards. Recently Obami digitized the Anas for teachers. Obami is free and well worth trying out in your classroom - with good local support available.

What is Obami?

Obami is an internationally recognised, award-winning, social learning management system. It is local, contextual, customisable and free.

What does Obami do?

Obami helps people to create or join learning communities. It is available on web and mobile and brings everyonewithin the education space together... learners, teachers and parents; as well as governing bodies, NGO's, small businesses, corporates-doing-good, and other passionate people.

By applying social media technologies to the virtual learning environment, Obami provides a powerful solution for individuals or schools to tap into or support existing learning communities. This gives everyone the opportunity to connect, create, share and learn.  Obami is free for primary and secondary schools.

General Overview
http://www.obami.com/portals/obami/about_obami

Obami supports and enhances all aspects of the teaching and learning experience. It provides a platform that...
- Facilitates the sharing of great educational resources
- Encourages social engagement between educators and learners
- Offers academic and personal development through assessment

Obami ensures the most appropriate experience for everyone. Schools can manage the safety, privacy and sharing settings - relevant to different ages, grades and social circles - within the context of their own school, the wider Obami community and the world-wide-web.
Obami also provides school and other learning community administrators with cyber-bully and profanity monitoring tools, ensuring that the environment is kept enjoyable for all.

Demo:  http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Demo

Obami in Action

Content:  

http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Obami_in_Action/Content

Communications: http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Obami_in_Action/Communications

Projects: 

http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Obami_in_Action/Projects

Assessment: 

http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Obami_in_Action/Assessment

More about ObamiObami is a web and mobile based platform that allows anyone to create, manage & access digital content, share resources, create mini-websites and even undertake exams - it brings social learning into the classroom.

Because some schools have been slow to manage change and adopt new technologies, Obami accommodates requests from independent learners (individuals under and over 13 years of age) via the “Obami School”. The platform doesn’t aim to replicate Facebook but rather to focus on developing and nurturing creative skills - as a result, the learning platform has been recognised for these efforts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vT2Darc2mg&feature=c4-overview&list=UUM91plbqCLGj1RqqeKDrm8w

Obami supports learning beyond the classroom involving peers, parents, on the street and even on the bus.

Slideshare intro: http://www.slideshare.net/barbsmall/powering-social-learning-25630491?from_search=3

Obami features
- Obami Portals can be created by anyone. By focusing on learning by ‘doing’, portals allow for communities to be created around user generated content. Portals are easy to set up with simple “add item” and “drag & drop” functionality. 

The add item tool accommodates anything from formatted text and extended math symbols and equations, to embeddable widgets, images, RSS feeds and even entire websites. Obami automatically resizes elements to fit within a number of pre-defined page templates but also offers tools which allow for tooltips, external hyperlinks and the bespoke resizing of images. All this allows for educator facilitated, as well as self organised, learning.

- Obami has an assignments application which can be used for pop-quizzes, tests, surveys or as feedback forms, questionnaires and permissions slips. Obami recently crowd-sourced 168 NSC past papers through UCT students, across 33 different subject areas and made them Obami style ‘sit & submit’ revision papers for Matrics: http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/NSC_past_papers/   ... They also digitised the ANAs across Grade 4/5/6 & 9 themselves:  http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/Welcome_to_Obami/ANAs

- Obami has resource and media applications to facilitate the storage of items in the cloud (docs, spreadsheets, PDFs, audio, video...). Alongside offering free cloud hosting, it can also facilitate the embedding of widgets, YouTube videos, OER, Slideshare presentations and other web based technologies throughout the platform and within its other applications.

- Obami has a blogging application. It can be used across different subjects and organised into specific subject folders.

- Obami has powerful communication tools including a messagingsystem, online chat and a calendar for event tracking (which automatically sync with parental accounts so that upcoming school work, impending tests and homework is easily communicated to parents).

It is worth noting that every application on Obami allows for commentingso that discussion can be facilitated. Pages can be printed for easy reading and any page can be set as one’s homepage. This allows for easy and rapid access to one’s most used application. 

Using Obami in the classroom, support and feedback
Obami FAQs, Tutorials etc: http://www.obami.com/portals/obami/faqs

Obami prides itself on offering full site page specific helper text along with unlimited access to online support which is offered via the platform’s feedback tab (responses are usually made within 2 hours)

Summary

Obami has focused on the South African market, even though it is being increasingly adopted in the US, Europe and other African countries like Ghana, Namibia, Botswana and Kenya.

Accolades and achievements: http://www.obami.com/portals/Obami/About_Obami/Latest_News

Most recent unpublicized successesObami supports the DBE and will be working together to bring quality educational resources and support the cloud

·       Obami has been asked to consult the Nigerian Government

·       Obami was selected as one of Africa’s Top 40 Start-up companies, and will be presenting at DEMO Africa in Nairobi

·       Obami has partnered with the University of Cape Town, and is part of the curricula for its Teaching with Technology moduleA

·       Obami has partnered with Creative Commons and will be delivering a digital course on licensing creative works across Africa

The Obami Team Story 
Watch the Obami Team story on YouTube

The Obami Team story...  http://www.youtube.com/user/ObamiSocialLearning

A wonderful infographic on student workflow using Google Drive

This infographic was created by http://oakdome.com/ and I was delighted to see they give one permission to reproduce it on their own site as long as it refers back to them. Thank you! This was created specifically for iPads but it mostly relates to the use of Google Drive on any platform.

Download any web video as an MP3 or an MP4!

I discovered this Freemake video converter by accident the other day, tried it out and really, it is amazing. You can download any video in a number of different formats. Thank you Freemake! Up to now I have been using Keepvid to download YouTube videos, but this Freemake application goes further in that you install it on your computer and you can download any web video (not only YouTube videos) it seems in a number of different formats depending on what you choose.

For the example below I chose to download a YouTube video as an MP4 and also MP3 to get to grips with Freemake. Once Freemake is installed on your computer and you use it for the first time, it gives you the option for installing an audio converter where, once again, you can choose various options.

I must say that I got a bit confused with names at times…sometimes Freemake calls this video converter a YouTube Downloader, sometimes they refer to it as a MP3 Downloader and sometimes they call it a Video Converter. Whatever the name confusion – it works well!

Download web videos with Freemake Video Converter (free) from Fiona Beal

SchoolNet webinar recording (12/09/2013) 'Let’s create a Learnist Board' (by Fiona Beal)

 

On Thursday 12th September I presented a webinar for SchoolNet entitled ‘Have you discovered Learnist boards? Try creating one...’. The webinar took place at 3:30pm. Thank you to all who attended the webinar.

Presentation
My presentation is given below via Slideshare and you can download it if you wish to.

Let's create a Learnist board from Fiona Beal

Summary of the webinar
Name: Have you discovered Learnist boards? Try creating one...
Summary: With the Internet being so HUGE these days educators have to become master curators of content. A Learnist Board is a really useful way to curate and keep a record of the information that you need. I love using Diigo, Pinterest and Scoopit for curation purposes, but Learnist has its own unique properties that sets it apart as a useful way of collecting the sites you want to keep.

Webinar recordingIf you wish to listen to the presentation the recording link can be found at http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p9tg7wom9gp/

Schedule your emails using Boomerang for Gmail

Do you sometimes just feel like writing a particular email to get it done even though it is only due to be sent in a few days time? I often land up in situations like that and I have discovered a really great Chrome extension that facilitates this. It is called BOOMERANG and it works with Chrome or Firefox.

What is Boomerang for Gmail
This is a gmail inbox management tool that not only allows you to schedule the sending time of your emails but also has a number of other features:

• With regard to scheduling your outgoing emails Schedule you can preset Boomerang from an hour to a month, and you can choose the time and date.
• You can also send follow up reminders to yourself. For example you may receive n email which you only want to work with in a few days time. if you set boomeragng fr that articular time the email will appear at the top of your inbox again.
• Boomerang can also remind you to follow up with people who haven’t responded to your email.

Tutorial

Limitations
Since starting to write this email, Boomerang has introduced pricing and the basic free version only allows 10 messages per month sadly! However there is a 30 day free trail so I am going to try that in any case!

Chrome Extensions #2: What is a credible webpage? Let Easybib help you decide!

Easybib is a free Chrome extension that has two useful functions:

• The first is to tell you whether a website is credible or not. If the source has not yet been evaluated Easybib will let you know.
• Its second function is to enable to to provide a quick citation of your sources in a bibliography. The bookmarklet will create a properly formulated citation for you.

I really like the Easybib website that gives a clear description of how to evaluate a website. It has been embedded below. The website gives a lot more useful information for students and teachers.

Visit the Easybib website
Click on the bottom right hand corner of this image to be taken to the original enlarged PowerPoint web app for easier viewing

http://content.easybib.com/students/research-guide/website-credibility-evaluation/

Find out more about Easybib in this YouTube tutorial

Introduce your class to Edmodo – a great Learning Management System

Edmodo has become the Learning Management System (LMS) of choice for many teachers around the world. Edmodo is one of those Learning Management Systems that every teacher can successfully use in their classroom whether they have PCs, a BYOD classroom, an iPad/tablet classroom or just one computer/tablet in the classroom. It works across the board. Best is, that if a teacher so desires, he/she can even invite the parents to join  the class Edmodo group as well. All Edmodo needs, really, is an enthusiastic teacher that has access to a laptop.

What is Edmodo
Edmodo is a free web-based platform that teachers can use to manage their class, share content, access homework and other school items. It is also a safe social networking place for the students in the class to connect and collaborate with one another.  What the students like about Edmodo is it’s Facebook-like appearance. Students don’t need email addresses – they sign in via an access code.

Edmodo’s features

• Edmodo has a collaboration feature where the teacher and students can add comments and share files such as PowerPoints, Word documents, videos etc can be shared.
• Edmodo has a ‘folders’ feature which enables one to organize documents in a folder and share that folder with a class.
• Edmodo has an assignment feature which allows one to post an assignment with a due date and a task sheet, see who submitted it and when, mark it using a PDF annotation tool, grade/assess it and give feedback all in one neat place.
• Edmodo has a quiz feature which enables on to create really quick and simple quizzes to use in class.
• Edmodo has a poll feature which allows on to create quick survey polls in class.
• Edmodo has a note feature where, for example, the students can write a reflection.
• Edmodo has a members feature which enables on to manage one’s students in each class or group.
• Edmodo has a small groups feature which is great for managing group work.
• Edmodo has a discussion feature which enables an online discussion to take place

I'm sure there are more features that I haven't yet got to know.

Using Edmodo in the classroom

Here is a Slideshare entitled ‘20 ways to use Edmodo’

20 Ways to Use Edmodo from seyfert6

A cheat sheet that summarises Edmodo
This useful cheat sheet summarises Edmodo. Click on the image to be taken to the enlarged image

A full introduction to Edmodo provided by Russel Stannard.
Here is is an excellent video tutorial created by Russel Stannard in which he walks teacher through a step by step guide on how teachers can get started using Edmodo together with all of its features such as creating a group or class for  students, uploading files, adding comments...and many more.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZHB6FfRjnQ&feature=youtu.be
.
Edmodo Help Centre
Edmodo has a great Help Centre that has screencasts and tutorials to help you with any problem. See https://support.edmodo.com/home#entries/22460840-quick-guides-to-edmodo

Wonderful blog posts on using Edmodo
1) Using Edmodo in the ipad classroom
2) 10 reasons I love using Edmodo in my iPad classroom…3) A great Edmodo cheat sheet 
4) A handy guide to everything a teacher needs to know about Edmodo
5) Russel Stannards two training vidoes on Edmodo
a) http://teachertrainingvideos.com/edmodo1/index.html
b) http://teachertrainingvideos.com/edmodo2/index.html

Conclusion
Why not try out using Edmodo as soon as possible? You'll be pleasantly surprised at how user-friendly it is.