Category: primary

One social web could make school social networking a reality

Posted on by primaryt

Ever wished you could have a school social network that has the the privacy settings to protect pupils yet the power to connect pupils and teachers globally?

One Social Web may make this a reality.  The purpose of One Social Web is to enable free, open, and decentralized social applications on the web. *Like Facebook but not owned by Facebook, owned by, well um, everyone!

Usually your school data exists only on your school server.  If your school server was integrated with One Social Web school pupils or teachers could easily be “transfered” to another school without losing any information, files etc. and/or be able to access their old school work whilst being access to connect their new file storage.

The One Social Web platform is based in London, UK and has developers all around the world.  The platform is completely open so anyone can contribute and privacy settings are managed on a per user basis.

It would be interesting to see the first school deployment of this, I certainly hope I will get the opportunity to tie Primary School Teaching into the platform!  It would also be interesting to debate how One Social Web can work with Shibboleth providing not only single level accessibility but accessibility at an organizational level.

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Free Office 2010 Web Apps in your school

Posted on by primaryt

To compete with Google Docs, Microsoft Office 2010 web apps is free. If you want to use Microsoft Office without an internet connection you will need to purchase the offline version of the software for the usual educational price tag of around £30.

Microsoft Office Web Apps is an on-line version of Microsoft office.

So what do you/don’t you get with Office web apps?

  1. No Microsoft publisher
  2. You get limited web based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote
  3. Access anywhere, any time (requires internet)
  4. You can upload your current existing Office 2003/2007 documents

When it comes to it, you have a few options for working with documents.

  1. Purchase the office suite.
  2. Use the free online tools by Microsoft – Microsoft Live @ Edu
  3. Use the free online tools by Google – Google Apps Education Edition
  4. Use open office (Free).
  5. Use educationally focused alternatives such as Glogster, Scribblar, Empressr, PrimaryPad – Each of these alternatives is specific to one job, and that job is done well. (Mostly free)
Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Show My Homework review

Posted on by primaryt

UPDATE & Warning: Show My Homework will spam your email inbox with no option to unsubscribe.

Show My Homework is a web based service for teachers to creates a calendar for pupils that shows when homework has been issued and is due.

The process works like this:

  • Teacher posts a piece of homework, including information such as the recipient class and date/time.
  • Pupil checks on a certain URL to see what homework has been assigned to their class.

This website is primarily aimed at secondary schools and colleges where homework is set in advance and is essential to the ongoing education of the child. Comparing this service to something like Edmodo is difficult as Edmodo is much more of a communication platform where files are the focus.

I don’t see the Primary School uptake of a system like this being high.  The concept is great and so is the delivery but I feel without a large change in the way primary schools assign homework and a change in the way the website handles individual/group assignments, learning platform integration that this service may be overlooked for some time to come.

The credit process encourages teachers to get other teachers involved with Show My Homework by providing free credits as a reward for inviting other teachers.  There is no mention about how the process will work when all of a schools teachers have been invited onto the system.  I expect this is when a small fee will come into place.

Show My Homework is focused more on classes than groups, some would argue this sacrifices individualized learning for a more formal work structure, this seems like a natural sacrifice as Show My Homework is a specific job for a specific task and that task is homework assignment.

I like Show My Homework for its simplicity and practicality and salute it for not trying to be something it isn’t.  A perfect example of how it is beautifully simple are the email reminders, nudging you if you haven’t assigned any homework lately.  I personally think Naimish and his team should think about providing an open standard for homework assignment that can integrate with a learning platform such as Moodle.

Watch the video and see what you think!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Android gets turn-by-turn based navigation

Posted on by primaryt

android_man_kicking_appleSo, this might initially be a very “educationally focused” post but you have to read between the lines to understand the significance of this (even though it was somewhat inevitable) announcement.

Basically turn-by-turn is that lovely lady who tells you to “turn left in 20 meters”.  We all knew it was coming to the UK but companies such as Jarmin & Tomtom have been trying to stop it.  That is because they have made absolute packets of money by selling their app to iPhone fanbois and girls alike.

This may be the final blow android needed to really knock the Apple iPhone OS off it’s #1 mantel.  How does this affect education you may be asking?  Simple, a consumer based demand of Android handsets is inevitable now that your phone now replaces your usual Sat Nav product, and lets face it.  Google will do some crazy cool stuff with turn-by-turn based navigation, already boasting an incredibly smart caching system that caches your trip so if you lose Internet connectivity you don’t lose your map or location.

As android becomes more popular and more schools grow sto adopt the platform it means less iPhone applications will be developed and more Android developers will pop up.  Is this a good thing?  Surely iPhone apps are better than Android apps?  Yes it is a good thing.  Android promotes open source and a large majority of the applications available in the market place are completely free.

So today’s  announcement might not have a direct impact on Android in Education but the knock on effect should be huge and the future certainly looks bright the little green operating system and it’s place in the UK market.

As a side note its worth mentioning that most of the popular netbooks/tablets will soon run Android (including devices such as the Asus EEE)

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]



Safe Search gets an earth day snail

Posted on by primaryt

Today I added a snail banner to the safe search page to promote a move towards using ICT as an embedded tool and to move away from the standard wasteful paper based approach of sharing information.

earthday[1]

Before I run into a flak of teachers accusing me of a Zionist approach to education I will say that paper has its place and that ICT shouldn’t have to be used in every lesson.  I am merely trying to help promote something I believe in.  It will be removed on the 25th when Earth day has finished.  More information on Earth day and more information on the pledge to go paperless for the day.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]