Category: Primary School ICT

Quick Primary School Link Creator

Posted on by John McLear

Worst post title ever.  I just did a mock up for Ian Addison and I figured I would share it.

Only took 1 minute, it is just an idea and may never be made, I quite like it, what do you think?

Something similar will already exist, I just don’t know about it?

Either way I could make something like this in 1 to 2 hours from start to finish so if you like it let me know and I will make/host it.

The reason I used shapes/colours instead of thumbnails was so a teacher can say “Click on the red love heart” or the “yellow circle” instead of click on the thing that looks like a granny racing a unicorn.

Double.

I added an admin screen design so Ian could see how to edit a URL.  It detects the title from the URL and I added a new site button to this view.

Construct in the classroom – The free open-source game creator

Posted on by John McLear


Scirra Construct is an game construction tool that looks like it may be a bit too complex for Primary but if someone could create a wizard interface and some primary school templates and maybe a few LA’s start doing some CPD around it the results could be excellent.

I have 2 gripes and they are obvious: It is a download + install application and the games can not be played in a web browser.

If anyone is currently using game maker you should check this post out on why Construct is better.

It certainly has the wow factor but with alternatives like 2simple’s 2DIY and scratch it may feel like overkill to some!

Transparent background with My Avatar Editor Object

Posted on by John McLear


If you are using the javascript swfobject method for the hosted My Avatar Editor object you can use this code to give your avatar a transparent background:

<script type="text/javascript">
        //<![CDATA[
        var avatarvalue = "<?= $avatarid ?>";
        var avatarURL = "myavatarcharacter.swf?avatar=" + avatarvalue;
        swfobject.embedSWF(avatarURL, "avatarSWFContainer", "160", "200", "10.0.0", null, {hosted:"true"},{wmode:"transparent"});
        function setFacialFeature(){
                var avatarSWF = document.getElementById('avatarSWFContainer');
                avatarSWF.draw();
        }
        //]]>
</script>

The only bit you need to change from the default code is the parameter which is the {wmode:”transparent”} bit

Creating your own Safe Search – A call to teachers!

Posted on by John McLear

Searchy Pants is a new exciting way for schools and parents to create their own safe search home page.

We focused on three main benefits:

  1. Include your family/schools branding/logo
  2. Include a message to your kids/pupils/teachers
  3. Include useful links

We kept the admin interface as simple as possible (Just 3 pages and a wizard style setup)

Please do sign up and test it, we are happy with it so far but we know that feedback over the next few months will get us to a point where we can do a formal launch to all schools.

We kept Searchy Pants as safe as possible with various bits I will talk about in the future, most of you will be aware of the Safe Search engine we have maintained for the last 4 years with great success.

SearchyPants is pronounced – Ser Chee Pants  – Like SmartyPants but that domain was gone 😛

Thanks to Matt Lovegrove for the testing so far.  If you think Searchy Pants is a good idea then please share it!