The first Microsoft Meet held at Bishops in April

Don't you love attending TeachMeets? One learns so much from the various short presentations.
It was exciting to make my way to the first Microsoft Meet at Bishops in Cape Town. Linda Foulkes one of our really enthusiastic MIEExpert15 teachers obtained permission from Sally Bowes for the use of the venue for the Meet.

Unfortunately we had connectivity issues on the day as there was no WIFI in the room (only dedicated connections) and many of the 3G devices also couldn’t seem to connect to their service providers. Hence no tweeting took place.

Here are some of the takeaways from the day:

1. Warren Sparrow joined us by means of a video that he had created on Office Mix on how to use office Mix. – Introduction to OfficeMix. You can watch it at this link. http://1drv.ms/1QlDf0W

2. Linda Foulkes gave a hands-on overview of the Microsoft Educator Network its benefits. She chatted about the MIEE (Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert) program, the process and benefits of entering. She also mentioned Microsoft Sway and the benefits of using OneNote in the Classroom.

3. Fiona Beal spoke about different ways of using Microsoft PowerPoint other  than as a presentation tool.

PowerPoint is alive and well! 25+ ideas for using PowerPoint creatively in the classroom (by Fiona Beal) from Schoolnet SA

4. Sachita Jeeta, from Mauritius, joined us via Skype and presented on presented on  ‘Skype in the Classroom / Mystery Skype’

5. Mabore Lekalakala also joined us via Skype with a presentation called ‘Mix to Learn Maths’ but because of connectivity issues we weren’t able to connect with her.  – https://goo.gl/DuRkRH

6. Bradley Lawrence from Living Maths – presented an energetic demonstration of Kahoot (https://getkahoot.com/) and got the audience involved in the process. We needed to log in to the computers for this so that we could access the Internet.

7. Marija Preteska also sent us an Office Mix video – https://mix.office.com/watch/11jwvp0bgumn9 on how to use One Note



Photos from the day




Further plans
Upcoming Meets will be held at Rondesboach Preparatory School next term thanks to Warren Sparrow’s generous offer. After the Meet the participants asked if we could included other webtools and not just Microsoft tools in future Meets. We say a big thank you to Linda Foulkes for organisng such a great Microsoft Meet.

A slideshow of the Microsoft TeachMeet

I am adding this Slideshow of the Microsoft TeachMeet in Johannesburg because I was asked to find the participants and collect their PowerPoints. This was the first TeachMeet in South Africa so it was a very exciting event. If you want to visit the TeachMeetSouth Africa wiki I've created here is the URL: http:teachmeet-southafrica.wikispaces.com

A TeachTweet? That's a novel idea!

cc: http://chriswallace.net/category/blog/icons/

While browsing around on one of my favourite applications, Twitter, I came across a couple of interesting tweets inviting folk in the UK to a TeachTweet! I know about TeachMweets (and love them) but TeachTweets?! Well luckily for me, it is all happening tonight (31st October) so I’ll be there virtually to investigate! It is all part of the #ukedchat Twitter chat.

The TeachTweet website
There is a TeachTweet website (http://ukedchat.com/teachtweet/) so I have taken a surf round it. Awesome! Just look at some of the presentations for tonight’s TeachTweet – and they know exactly what time they’ll be broadcasting!

So, what exactly is a TeachTweet?
TeachTweet is an online twist to the TeachMeet genre to bring the Twitter backchannel to the fore. @UKedchat and @ICTmagic host the events together, and they encourage educators to submit videos sharing ideas and innovation within schools. Wow, and this is the fourth one tonight!

I looked through some of the rules to get the gist of everything

• The sessions run from 8pm to 9.30pm approx, and we ask for pre-recorded* videos between 3-5 minutes long which can be viewed openly on sites such as YouTube or Vimeo** and discussed by the Twitter audience.
• We request that these are new presentations, please. The links to the videos will be tweeted out for the audience to watch, so they should be viewed in ‘near’ sync.  Please ensure you are available online during the session to talk or answer questions about your video (via twitter).
• If you wish to make a video to showcase during the session, please ensure you are free on the evening, so you are available to discuss your presentation and answer any questions from the audience, via the #ukedchat hashtag.
• *We are using pre-recorded videos to (hopefully) minimise technical problems.
• **We are using video sites because we wanted anyone to find the presentations easily on a range of devices within needing to sign in to a video discussion forums. This also lets us use Twitter for discussion where the audience can ‘@’ to people rather than just appearing in a feed and to feel more like a regular TeachMeet backchannel.

Previous sessions
There is a PDF link to previous sessions with their videos on their website.

There is a blog showing archived sessions: http://ukedchat.com/2013/03/28/session-144-teachtweet-session/

There is a Scoopit with links to previous presentations http://www.scoop.it/t/links-from-ukedchat-sessions (usually stored on the presenter’s blog)

There is a form for signing up to present at future sessions.

Last night’s session (Session 175 – TeachTweet 5)
So, last night (31 October) I tuned in to the TeachTweet’s #ukedchat and lurked...and watched the videos! Fascinating! Exciting! As the short videos were watched individually at the assigned time, so the attendees at the #ukedchat Twitter chat commented on what was being said in the videos.

Here are the video links:

1. James Abela (@eslweb) Vector Drawing with PowerPoint –View the video here.
2. Lee Parkinson (@ICT_MrP) - The power of the internet to inspire writing. View the video here.
3. Alessio Bernardelli (@asober or @Collaborat_Ed) - Peer Assessment with Aurasma. View the video here.
4. Jon Tait (@TeamTait) – The Global Classroom; how to use SKYPE to create a global classroom. View the video here.
5. Hannah Tyreman (@HannahTyreman) – Feedback strategies and methods. View the video here.
6. David Obst (@david_obst) - How to make your own high-speed video. View the video here.
7. Martin Burrett (@ICTmagic) - Tricks and Treats for your classroom. View the video here.
8. Andy Lewis (@iTeachRE & @TalkingDonkeyRE) - ”Dazzle Us!” Our Family Learning Project. View the video here.
9. Danny Nicholson (@dannynic) - Interactive resources for teaching Science. View video here.
10. Andy Knill (@aknill) - Mishmash reflection. View the video here.
11. Daniel Harvey (@DanielHarvey9) - Applying research models to classroom practice. View the video here.

Well done on this fantastic innovation #ukedchat. I love your idea of TeachTweets!

Three TeachMeets taking place in South Africa soon!

TeachMeets are a great way to be exposed to new webtools that other teachers are using successfully in their classrooms. In South  Africa I created a TeachMeet-SouthAfrica wiki to keep a record of these happenings in South Africa wiki http://teachmeet-southafrica.wikispaces.com/. This wiki also gives ideas on one you can start a TeachMeet at your school. 

What is a TeachMeet?

A tiny professional development “un-conference” where teachers get together to simply share ideas or lessons using ICT as a tool using different devices. If one cannot attend but would like to share…why not Skype or submit a video which I will present for you.


How long is a TeachMeet?

2 hours is usually a good stretch of time to hold a TeachMeet.


What happens at a TeachMeet?

On sign-up one indicates whether to attend as:
1. Keen Bean – prepare and share a 3 min idea or lesson
2. Enthusiastic Lurker – relax, learn and absorb!

Upcoming TeachMeets

1) East London TeachMeet 15 October 2013

Date: Tuesday 15 October 2013.
Refreshments and networking: 14:30 - 15:00
TeachMeet time: 15:00—17:00
Venue: Stirling Primary, Epsom Road, Stirling, East London
Twitter hashtag: #ELTeachMeet


Note: Sign up for the TeachMeet by Friday 11 October 2013 - Click here,
Contact Claire Dean (claire@stirlingps.co.za)
Sharon Cox (coxs@clarendonprimary.co.za) for any queries.

________________________________________________

2) TeachMeet Durban 16 October 2013

Join this TeachMeet to share ideas and resources and collaborate with other teachers.
Register here to join in for a fun filled evening whether you are a Keen Bean or an Enthusiastic Lurker.
Date: 16 October 2013
Venue: St Mary’s DSG Kloof - Creativity Centre
Time: 18:00 for 18:30
Refreshments Tea and coffee will be served and a cash bar will be available.
Twitter hashtag: #TMDurban

Note: For more details visit their Wiki or follow them on Twitter
Contact llocke@stmarysdsg.co.za, sgordon@stmarysdsg.co.za or
mhartmann@ stmarysdsg.co.za for any queries.

__________________________________________________

3) Elkanah House on 2nd November 2013

Date: 2 November 2013

Venue: Elkanah House High School Library Resource Centre
Time: 10:00 – 12:00
Refreshments Tea and coffee will be served
Twitter hashtag: #elkteachmeet

Note: Click to sign up HERE or
1. Email teachmeet@elkanah.co.za
2. Visit the TeachMeet website on: http://elkteachmeet.pbworks.com
3. via the Faceboolk event:http://www.facebook.com/events/ 220751634753608/

A report back on the TeachMeet at Elkanah House on 8th June (from Linda Foulkes)

This is a guest post from the organiser of the TeachMeet at Elkanah House, Linda Foulkes, from her blog http://folklind.wordpress.com. Thank you Linda!

We had  a wonderful turnout at the TeachMeet @ Elkanah House on Saturday, 8th June!  Out of all the attendees we had  thirteen presentations lined up for the morning. It is absolutely great to see so many teachers who are willing to share and collaborate with others. It was a very fruitful
morning for all concerned as we definitely learnt a lot from each and every presentation given. Here is a link to the shared Google drive folder where all the presentations are available. Each presenter received a bag of jelly beans for agreeing to sign up as a Keen Bean. There were spot prizes handed out at intervals throughout the presentation. Every member of the audience received a number at the start of the meet and winners were generated by using the online fruit machine located on classtools.net.  Follow: #elkteachmeet or @folklind

Throughout the meet the TeachMeet a WIFI hotspot was available for those who wished to use devices to connect to the internet. Thank you to Stephan Botha, our amazing IT Network Manager. The presentations were excellent….so well prepared…so full of passion and engagement from teachers who are owning the use of technology in the classroom – children are very privileged to be engaged by these teachers in the classroom in this way!

The presentations
Juanita Oosthuizen opened the event by chatting to the audience about the KidBlog blogging tool. Kidblog is a fabulous tool to get your class to create and collaborate.  It is safe and simple to use, which makes it perfect for younger learners to introduce them to social media.  It would also be great for older grades to blog in a distraction-free zone.  Learn how to set up and run a blog for your class and explore some of the possibilities around the uses of Kidblog. Used avatar maker [illustmaker for blog]. Available as iPad app!

Gilmour Gordon had the TeachMeet audience in hysterics as he demonstrated a Grade 7 music activity by actually doing an ab workout. Gilmour’s students had to use movie maker, or imovie to create an ab workout video to 3 pieces of music. Audacity was used to edit tracks using fade in, delete, edit and export functions.

Jane Mackenzie-Hoskyn delivered the presentation called “ZOOM TO THE ORSAY”. An alternative and engaging way to stir some interest in learners prior to starting an Art theory lesson. Jane took us on a virtual tour of the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. Walk into the museum and travel, select artwork to view and analyse collaboratively. Technology used:  MacBook (laptop) and iPad (tablet), projector, white board, Edmodo for delivery / receipt of work, Reflector, Splashtop for control of laptop to iPad, Google Art Gallery, Google forms, e-mail. This content can also be applied to HSS, Geography and History, using Google Earth instead of Google Art Galleries .

Kevin Sherman – Took us on a trip to the moon and earth using Google Earth. Kevin also introduced us to ue layers in Google Earth to view 360 cities and panoramio. He took us on an underwater virtual tour which he used as an English lesson in order to get kids to describe the look and feel of what they experienced. Followed path of a Sea Turtle and Ray virtually underwater to enrich the classroom experience in many learning areas. Kevin also displayed how this tool could be used for Maths to measure distance between two points on the ground. One can also track elevations! 360cities.net can also be used.

Emmie Barkhuizen and Noelle Cowling – Emmie and Noelle discussed the introduction of their iPad project at Longacres Primary. Early challenges such as iTunes, technical issues and working with teachers. Working with teachers well in advance before introducing into the classrom and getting them to attend some TeachMeet events is a must. Pinterest boards a great way to get teachers to upload content. They used Apple TV for sharing reading of stories in the classroom, thereafter children used own iPad to listen and then read using earphones. Book creator was used as a Mothers Day project whereby children used video, music, personal voice notes [messages to mom], effects and explained the environment around them [farm animals etc.]

Michele Botha explained the progress of the BYOD program at Somerset House. After six
months they surveyed the parents, children and teachers. Interesting how children lead the way in terms of selecting the right device for a particular task. Cell phones definitely faded out. Another interesting point was
that the children controlled other children by “telling on” if they were accessing something they were not supposed to.
Michele also put together the OneStopShopping presentation which addressed the website classtools.net and other very valuable resources for teaching.

Alan Goldberg - introduced Showbie for the iPad for easy collaboration between students and teachers.Do need internet infrastructure as cloud based service – one creates class and shares codes with students for access. Showbie creates a shared collaboration folder as read-only. One can collaborate using text notes, voice notes, pdf, camera and the Pages app to name a few. Alan then introduced Grafio, add audio and content to shapes and link them. It is a unique canvas tool that uses the iPad capabilities to allow you to experience freehand drawing. It has shape recognition so redraws shapes if you freehand draw them and connects and allows one to move entire drawing with connected lines. Great flowchart app.

Carolynn Bruton – runs her own business called IT@Home. She shared a
huge range of mindmapping tools one can use in the classroom and went through the pro’s and con’s of each and which she preferred to use. Website Carolynn used are mindmapinspiration.com/top-10 and mindmappingsoftwareblog.com. Tool must have dropbox integration and be able to share and export.

Fiona Beal - encouraged us to use Learnist which essentially acts as a visual repository of all your favourite  articles, videos, ebooks, maps, surveys, blogs, podcasts, and images. Users create boards based on their interests and curate content around a chosen theme. Fiona also prepared a presentation on 
the African Storybook Project and urged us to encourage our classes to write for this project. 






Photo Gallery
Click on the photo below to be taken to the TeachMeet photo gallery

What a fabulous morning! Thank you to all those who attended – will let you know shortly when the next meet will be!

You are invited to a ToolTeach in Cape Town on Thursday 13 June from 4pm–5:30pm

If you live in Cape Town and want to know more about creating movies in the classroom, or maybe you have ideas to share on how you have done this - please join our 1.5 hours networking & ToolTeach on Thursday afternoon from 4pm – 5:30pm at St Cyprians. This is something new that we would like to introduce to Cape Town teachers.


At a recent Innovation workshop Glenn Bunger from LEAP Schools,   Corrine Cornelius from St Cyprians and Fiona Beal from SchoolNet  felt they wanted to start a regular ToolTeach for teachers who would like to share creative ideas on how to bring more technology into their teaching. This ToolTeach will encourage networking among teachers and will concentrate on one particular tool that teachers will find useful in the classroom. The tool selected for the first ToolTeach is Windows Live Movie Maker which is a free tool from Microsoft's Partners in Learning Network. The reason this was chosen is because Microsoft’s Innovative Educator Expert competition is in progress and it requires a two minute video about the lesson you enter for the competition. This ToolTeach will show you some ideas for this.

The format of the ToolTeach on 13 June

16:00:
Networking. Tea and coffee will be served
16:15: 
An introduction to this tool and its effectiveness.
16:25: 
Teachers who have used Windows Live Movie maker in the classroom will share on how they have used this tool successfully. You are invited to share.
16:45:      
Practical session. How to make a video using Windows Movie Maker (bring a few digital photos and/or movie footage along for this session if you would like to)
16:25:
Plan the next ToolTeach

Join us via this Eventbrite link

If you would like to join us at this first meeting please click on this Eventbrite link to add your name to confirm your attendance: http://toolteach-moviemaker.eventbrite.com

Report back on the East London TeachMeet 12th March

Every time I attend a TeachMeet I come away feeling inspired and encouraged after experiencing the fantastic atmosphere and enthusiastic presentations delivered by teachers. I love to see the types of innovation that teachers are employing in their classrooms. On Tuesday 12th March 2013 I attended the second TeachMeet in East London. Last time it was held at Stirling Primary (organised by Claire Dean) and this time it was held at Clarendon Primary (organised by Sharon Cox). You can read the report on the first TeachMeet in East London here

But, let me start at the beginning. I left for East London in the wee hours of the morning and arrived at 8am all set to spend the morning at Stirling Primary School. I had arranged to trail their new technology integration specialist, Mary Lou Berndt as she went about her newly-created position. This is definitely the type of job that Education Departments need to introduce at all public schools to get teachers on board with technology. At Stirling the teachers in a grade are free at the same time and Mary Lou schedules a session with them. These are lively and constructive times with the aim of improving the skills of each individual teacher while also pointing the way forward for introducing technology into the daily classroom routine. I thoroughly enjoyed every session and really admire the progressive stance taken by Stirling Primary.


In the afternoon after school we made our way to Clarendon Primary for the TeachMeet which was to be held from 3pm – 5pm. The two organisers, Sharon and Claire opened the TeachMeet and Pam King, principal of Clarendon Primary, welcomed everyone.

Who were the presenters?

What was shared at the TeachMeet?

1) Claire Dean: Tweetchat
Claire made a start by showing everyone how to use Tweetchat (http://tweetchat.com/) to follow the Twitter hashtag #ELTeachmeet and contribute more easily. A Twitter hashtag at a TeachMeet allows people to give feedback as the event progresses and enables others to follow virually.     Tweetchat is a marvelous way to follow twitter hashtags. All it takes is a set date, a topic, and a hashtag. Then you carry on a conversation at the set time with anyone using that hashtag. At the end of this post I will add the tweet archive of the afternoon.

2) Lorraine Richter – Aurasma app for the iPad
Aurasma is an iPad app that allows you to connect digital content with real-world objects. This is amazing! When the Aurasma app “sees” a picture you have selected and created an ‘aura’ with,  it triggers a video, an animation, a photo, a sound file or whatever you have connected to it.  This would be amazing to use on a classroom board display to make certain items come alive with more details; or you could use it on a worksheet to lead to further information. 

Lorraine used a video by Taylor Swift to demonstrate how this works.


3) Leana Bassett – Jib Jab
Leana got us laughing hysterically with the video she showed featuring her principal, Mr Johnson and other members of the school management, using Jib Jab. In Jib Jab you can choose one of their music videos and add a photo of a character.

STEP ONE: Open http://www.jibjab.com/. Become a member – it’s cheaper! Or at least persuade someone else to pay your membership fee…
STEP TWO: Sign up – It’s easy as pie!
STEP THREE: Now sign in
STEP FOUR: Choose your format, occasion, video… whatever floats your boat!

STEP FIVE: Choose your 'victims' wisely!
STEP SIX: To add more faces – just upload
STEP SEVEN: Edit your victims! (Removing wrinkles and double chins are at the discretion of the editor ;)
STEP EIGHT: Preview your masterpiece
STEP NINE: Now pay and download
STEP TEN: Hit the ‘forward’ button and enjoy!

4) Fiona Beal – Exciting Times ahead with Microsoft and SchoolNet
Fiona from SchoolNet showed how the Partners in Learning Network works and encouraged teachers to join the network to find really rich resources of all kinds. The current Partners in Learning Forum competition is open and teachers are encouraged to upload an activity to the PILNetwork to stand a chance of being selected as one of the 20 finalists for South Africa. 

The second part of her talk centred around the offerings of SchoolNet which you can be regularly updated on by becoming a member (free membership). The SchoolNet Conference is taking place in July in Bloemfontein and teachers were encouraged to register on the conference page of the SchoolNet website.

5) Fiona Beal – African Storybook Project
This is a wonderful Literacy project that is being funded by Britain and piloted in three African countries starting this year. The aim is to build up a wonderful website of stories for the Grade 1-3 children of Africa. The project is looking for stories and offers teachers a free digital storytelling and writing course starting on the 15th April.

6) Liesel Kuger – use Google Forms for assessment
Google forms are a wonderful way of creating quizzes, surveys, polls and assessments that can make a teacher’s life much easier. The form does the work. Liesel showed how using Flubaroo with these forms for more advanced grading.  You go to Tools - Script Gallery – search for and install Flubarroo. It creates a Grades tab in your spreadsheet.

7) Jenna Vorster – Khan Academy
Jenna spoke about using the acclaimed free Khan Academy to supplement Maths lessons in the classroom. www.khanacademy.org This can be used as a website or as an app on the Ipad. The Khan Academy can be accessed on YouTube. Jenna demonstrated a fractions video and how useful it can be in the classroom. Jenna finds the students learn better with visuals like this. You can download the videos to you computer if necessary.

8) Sharon Cox – Class Tools
Sharon spoke about the marvelous site known as Class Tools (http://www.classtools.net/). It allows you to create free games, quizzes, activities and diagrams in seconds!  Sharon gave examples of the plagiarism checker and the mindmap and brainstorm tools on Class Tools.

9) Sharon Cox – Todays Meet
TodaysMeet (http://todaysmeet.com/)  is a backchannel tool that helps you and your learners to connect with others in realtime. It is almost like having a private twitter account for an activity you are doing. Students can add comments and give feedback during the lesson. You can set a time limit for the information to be available. This site is great for brainstorming. Sharon demonstrated how it all works during her presentation.

10) Rod Harris shared his Interactive Mark Book in Excel
This can save a teacher hours! He showed us how to create it and how it all works. He has aligned his markbook with the current CAPS for Intermediate Phase.

11) Sam Botcher - Audacity
Audacity is a free audio recording and editing programme that can be downloaded free from the Internet. It is very easy to use for making audio podcasts. Sam demonstrated radio adverts for chocolate made in groups using Audacity.

Sam added some sites where she found free sound effects.

11) Sam Botcher – Pixntell for the iPad
Sam showing an IPad app Pixntell for creating narrated picture stories.The free version only allows five photos. She gave lovely examples using five pictures that have added effects and voice overs. These can be uploaded to YouTube if desired.  This app is great for explaining recipes. Sam gave a step by step demonstration on how user-friendly it is. The link Sam gave to an article on how to use five photos in the classroom can be found here.

12) Mary Lou Berndt – Pinterest
Mary Lou demonstrated using Pinterest which is one of the most popular applications available currently. Teachers can use Pinterest to create different boards according to different subjects.

13) Mary Lou Berndt – Flipped Classroom
Mary Lou spoke of the different role that is required by the teacher when using the flipped classroom approach. Teacher changes from a sage on the stage to a guide on the side. Mary Lou used a prezi to demonstrate the flipped classroom. She showed the various applications one can use for the flipped classroom.

Mary Lou’s principal, Mr Johnson, was very impressed with this idea and sent a tweet saying:

14) Shailey Lucas – Talking Friends app on the iPad
Shailey Lucas showing an app called Talking Friends. You can use this app to record lessons. The little creatures that you select will repeat it. This is very cute. Shailley had us giggling as we watched her demonstration of this.

15) Drik Greef – Free degrees
Drik Greef is the Chief Education Specialist of the Eastern Cape for e-Learning. He spoke about free degrees that one can do online overseas. This hasn't reached South Africa yet. These degrees are offered by the best universities in the world. Lifehacker University is a search engine that gives the list of free degrees. Drik gave other examples of places to find free degrees.

16) Drik Greef – Codes for Teachers
Drik also spoke on using QR codes on worksheets. This is useful for homework. If the students scan the code on a phone they can immediately get further information relating to the task. In a Grade 1 homework worksheet they could scan and then listen to a song or say the poem for example. Drik gave some great ideas.

Spot prizes

There were a lot of spot prizes from sponsors such as Microsoft and the local PC shop – in fact there were enough for all the presenters and quite a number of people that attended. Sharon and Claire used the Random Name Picker to select the spot prizes winners.



Twitterstream

The Twitter hashtag  #ELTeachMeet, used for the event, was summarised using Storify if you would like to view it.
http://storify.com/fibeal/tweet-archive-for-east-london-teachmeet-on-12-03-2

Final comment

This was a superb afternoon, in fact a superb day. If you live in the East London area you won’t want to miss the next TeachMeet which will be held in September at Stirling Primary.  Watch the TeachMeet-South Africa wiki for details. Thank you for organising this wonderful professional development event, Claire and Sharon.