Handheld technology, BYOD, @socrative .

I’ve never spent any money on interactive whiteboards or class voting systems. Although I see the merit in both, I just feel that a tie in to certain technology isn’t the best choice and that money is better spent in supporting creative and innovative practices.

I saw socrative demonstrated at #TMPompey by Alex Bellars. Priory School’s DiGITAL LEADERS used the website during their staff Inset session and I finally got around to playing around with the tools with Year 10 last week.

I should point out the groundwork that has allowed us to explore the use of such technology, mainly employing pupils’ own devices. I remember being at a meeting at GSMA last year where somebody argued that it was about the device and not the behaviour. Priory Geography’s use of a patchwork of mobile devices has proven this to be false. It is about the behaviour. The device used doesn’t really matter. I am always aware of the political reasons to tie schools into a particular set of devices and it’s not an approach that I see any merit in. Yes, BYOD takes a bit more effort (mainly the education of young people about what their devices can do and how to perform simple functions such as adjusting proxy server settings – there is not digital native) but it’s worthwhile.

The groundwork includes:

The creation of a mobile device policy;
finding out how many of which device each class has (around 60% of our students have smart phones in school);
developing access to a range of devices to fill the gaps;
allowing access to WiFi for students.

I can’t emphasise the importance of finding out what devices your own classes have access to. In my GCSE group, all but three students have access to a smart phone. Out of these, 15% or iDevices, 60% Blackberry and 23% Android. I have to say that I love the simplicity of Apple’s WiFi settings!

Anyway, back to the tool. Socrative is one of those tools to play with yourself, but essentially it allows you to create quizes. Students then use handheld devices to log in to your quiz, in effect turning them into a class voting system. We used a range of devices and some of the department's stash of tech to fill in the gaps. This approach would allow our 25 or so handheld devices to be used with three classes.

Creating quizzes is straightforward and students log in to your room using a simple code and a student version of the site.

I always use the teacher paced quiz at the moment as it allowed discussion after each question. The results can be shared through a digital projector. We used a range of multiple choice and manual entry to emphasise the importance of spelling and key terms. It was also possible to set full GCSE style questions as students are very quick at inputting data. A very useful feature of Socrative is the report function, allowing me to check the understanding of individuals in an Excel file.

So – check it out Smile

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment is not always conducive to profound

The danger of Teaching and Twitter conversations: poorly formed bipolar arguments.

Sometimes in life, there really are only two options. Get the wrong one and you can look like a muppet. Take this useful sign for the toilets in Morocco. I successfully navigated it, choosing the right option. The result? No egg on my face. As a mountain leader, there are many right or wrong decisions that I’ve faced, as there are all over life. It’s not a good idea to let inexperienced young people walk themselves down Snowdon. They may die or be seriously injured. If someone is showing the signs and symptoms of hyperthermia, you need to treat it fast in a specified way. There is no real arguing with this sign: Other options are less obvious. Take this sign recently spotted near to where I live: Now, I wouldn’t consider sleeping in a bin. However, faced with a sub-zero night, I could see the appeal. The danger? Being tipped into one of those huge lorries with a compactor. (by the way, I only really considered all of this thanks to questions from my four year old boy).

David Rogers

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