Digitising the department: November 2011

Sunday, 6 November 2011

It's been a long time...

It's been a long time, due to lack of access to ICT outside of work, Ofsted, buying a house and having a heavily pregnant wife, but I thought it was time to unleash a little blog on you all again. This is another little catalogue of ideas, resources and articles which have caught my eye on Twitter and made it into my favourites list.

I'll start with this absolute pearl from @jamieportman - a resource which I'll be looking into using with my department as a way around out school's slightly creaky VLE. I can see a huge amount of potential for both staff and students on this site.

Next, a few for the English teachers out there, over coming their intrinsic fear of anything not made of paper (I'm allowed to say that, I am one!). First, this video on teaching grammar, an engaging resource based on gaming and this APP resource, all from @tesenglish.

@sccenglish posted this list of websites for English teachers, which I have already dipped into myself.

@dailydenouement posted this excellent blog a while ago, which may be of help if you are trying to digitise a few reluctant staff, or even those who are willing but unsure where to go and what to do.

If you fancy a longer read, @web20classroom posted this fascinating and detailed article about meta-cognition - thinking about thinking.

Finally, one from @SirKenRobinson, retweeting the work of @mambjo, exploring the impact of video games on learning.

Hopefully, someone, somewhere will find some of these links some use! And, it goes without saying, you should follow all of the people mentioned above. Twice.

Purpose

This blog has a serious purpose. I've been inspired by the work of other educators, from around the world, and their use of digital technology to enhance the learning experiences of the children they teach.

Recently, I've started to use some aspects of this in my own work, with varying degrees of success. I want to move this to the next level.

Also, I have been lucky enough to recently become a Team Leader - new fangled speak for Head of Department. My vision is to digitise the department. I see a department using technology confidently, whether it be twitter, class blogs, digital story telling, or simply YouTube.

I want your contributions. I want to collate and share other educator's ideas and good practice, and use this to develop the pedagogical scope of my team, and support others in doing this.

I am not a technophile; I hated IT at school, and didn't send an email or type an essay until my final year at university. I'm a late adopter of twitter. However, I see the potential and engagement achieved by those who use technology bravely and innovatively. I want to do that, and, hopefully, help others to do that, starting with my team. Beyond that, who knows...