Category Archives: Innovation & Teaching

APP CREATION- JS MAKER SPACE

Posted on by

App Creation ICLT Day

Could you design an app or a website?

Your challenge is to produce an app designed teach another person about a topic for which are an ‘expert’.

You might select a topic that you have inquired into this year at school or from a previous year’s unit of inquiry.

 

OUR PROGRESS

Students had their first information session today about the upcoming day. In one week we will be finalizing our topics and beginning to gather information for our apps.

2014-08-04 10.15.29

THINKING TASK

Students have been assigned the following task.

What topic or subject matter are you going to choose to create your first app?

Consider what makes a good information app?

What would you consider to be the most important information to include?

Who is it written for?

What is the purpose?

INQUIRY

BEGIN YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE INFORMATION APP USING THE RESOURCES BELOW

PLANET BLIPPIT 

DIIGO LINKS

CREATIVE COMMONS IMAGES & RESOURCES

2014-08-04 10.18.54

THE DAY – IN REFLECTION

It is seems that “the best day ever” is how the students viewed the day.

See our published apps on PLANET BLIPPIT.

It was a challenging and exciting day. Looking forward to the students sharing their knowledge with others.

2014-08-04 10.18.35

 

#blippit  #appcreation #salcICLT #ICLT

Please note: the apps created with Blippit are no longer active.

As of March 2014 Blippit has changed to Blippit IO App Maker.
To retain the work of the students this presentation was created.

Design thinking @Edutech2014

Posted on by

I was fortunate enough to attend a Masterclass at Edutech this year.

“Design thinking in the Australian Curricululm” with Ewan McIntosh @notosh (and Hamish Curry and Tom Barrett).

The sessions were fast and furious (I went through four pencils in the Immersion and Synthesis stage of the process).

Simple, yet effective ideas like the six word stories are wonderful ‘I can implement tomorrow’ ideas.

I think that a tool like Haiku Deck would be excellent to visualise these as well.

I am currently in the synthesising phase of how to actually implement this process at SALC. The concepts have great potential not only for use with the Australian Curriculum but perfect for the inquiry method in the PYP. I LOVED the idea of using TED talks to generate a “generative topic” and the challenging nature of them.

20140607-063752.jpg

 

@art_cathyhunt visual notes – nice!

20140607-063709.jpg

 

What’s in a word? Meaning and intention? Does it make a difference? Emotive words and hidden intent?

The focus on a key word in statements was frustrating (as often words used could be interchangeable) yet I understood the purpose and importance of the selection of language.

See some tweets – #Edutech

 

20140607-065606.jpg

20140607-065614.jpg

Lots of food for thought. Stay tuned for where we go next.

Maker Spaces, Design Thinking & STE(A)M

Posted on by

Ideas in the making…. Just some thoughts

Creating a Maker Space is just one way that we can connect what happens in the library to the real world.
There are many versions of Maker Spaces. In reality it depends on many variables such as money, space and time.
The Horizon Report 2014 (preview)  has identified  some topics that are clearly relevant and met by the use of Maker Spaces, Design Thinking and STE(A)M approaches to Innovative Teaching and Learning.
  • Significant Challenges Impeding K-12 Ed Tech Adoption 
  • Difficult Challenges: Those that we understand but for which solutions are elusive
  • Complex Thinking and Communication 
  • Integrating Personalized Learning 
  • Solvable Challenges: Those that we understand and know how to solve
  • Creating Authentic Learning Opportunities 
See the MAKER SPACE@THE LIBRARY PINTEREST for some curated resources on this topic.
Makerspace@TheLibrary
DIIGO LINKS – MAKERSPACES
Like most things, being creative and open minded can allow you achieve success and value add for our students.
I am looking at ways we might do this as SALC. The Australian Curriculum – Technologies allows us to do this authentically and to fulfill the requirements of the curriculum (win win!).
In the past students have participated in exploratory sessions with programming, designing apps, game making and digital story telling. I would like to further scaffold this with a design thinking approach, where the students design their own inquiry, rather than it being a structured teacher led experience.
Some ideas:

MINI DESIGNERS

KIDSTHINKDESIGN

CODE.ORG

K-8 CS course

GET UNBORED

PS: This week I visited PIMPAMA STATE SECONDARY COLLEGE and saw their design thinking in action. Looking forward to seeing the next stage of their journey.

Design Minds EXPLAIN from State Library of Queensland on Vimeo.

RESOURCING THE CURRICULUM

Posted on by

This resources curated below are to support teachers to locate resources to teach students about THE RESEARCHING PROCESS  and some of the resources that we have at St Andrews in the Junior School.

The resources provided for teachers and students include:

  • the research process
  • researching tools
  • referencing and academic honesty
  • and links to the units of inquiry
  • curated materials specific to the units of inquiry
  • use of the library management system (Oliver) to support reading through the creation of reading lists and materials

Other pages that may be useful are:

INFORMATION LITERACY – WIKISPACES

SEARCHING THE INTERNET – WIKISPACES

RESEARCHING (VIRTUAL LIBRARY)

 

QR code Resourcing the curriculum

 


 

Programming with Apps – Prezi and Thinglink

Posted on by

 

The links and support resources for teaching Programming with Apps for Teachers and Students.

More resources can be found at EdOffICT Programming page.
<
This prezi is under construction – just an upload of PDF’s at the moment. Will be adding to it soon.

 

The below thinglink has the links to the apps used in the session and some additional resources.