graham.davidson

Having recently ranted and raved about how good the new Smart 9.5 software is, I was returned rapidly to earth yesterday. I was taking a “Using Smart Board” course in Inveraray yesterday, delivering to 8 primary and 1 secondary teacher.

When the boards (4 of them) were set up in the morning, we used PC’s on 2 of them and Macs on the other 2. But the software is not the same on both platforms, in particular the “Gallery” in notebook. On the PC it is brilliant but on the Mac it is very limited.

Needless to say, this did not impress some of my primary colleagues who only use macs.

Why is ICT never simple?

My only saving grace for the day was my witty charm. At least, I think that’s what they said.

The latest upgrade to the Smartboard software (9.5) is now available as a download from http://www.smarttech.com/support/software/index.asp 

The actual notebook software is slightly improved, but the biggest improvement has to be in the gallery. The gallery now contains excellent resources for everyone and they are now including many interactive Flash resources which are very simple to use but make education fun for all those involved. You must try “dissecting the frog” – it’s brilliant. 

One new feature of the latest offering is the ability to import Powerpoint files into “Notebook” as well as export “Notebook” files into Powerpoint. Very useful.

I was recently doing some graph work with my new S1 Science class (S1 Graphs.doc), and it sparked some thoughts on the use of ICT to do this. 

They can use Microsoft Excel to produce the graphs using the data that I supplied, and indeed, most of the pupils are very, very good at this. 

On the other hand, if they are asked to draw the graphs on graph paper using “old fashioned tools” such as rulers, pencils, colour pencils, pens, rubbers, etc.., they were very, very poor at it. 

So what does this tell us? 

It suggested to me a number of things: 

1. Most of them are very confident when it comes to using spreadsheets to draw graphs. 

2. They are not used to the discipline of sitting with a piece of paper and having to use a ruler to draw lines, measure accurately, label the axes of graphs, put the proper scales on the axes and plot the points or draw the bars accurately. And yet most of them will be required to do this in whatever “Science” exam they take at Standard Grade, Intermediate 1 or 2, and so on. In fact, it is a fair bet that it won’t just be in a Science exam. 

3. Perhaps we are going over the top at times in trying to incorporate ICT into our lessons and we should be standing back a bit and thinking about it. 

I am definitely NOT saying that we should NOT be using ICT in lessons, but perhaps it is time to stop and think where exactly we are going with this, what we are teaching the pupils and why we are teaching it. There is a time and a place for ICT, but there is also a time and a place for the good “old fashioned tools”. 

This being my 4th or even my 5th visit to SETT, I thought I was used to it, but again I was proved wrong. It was nice to meet the Argyll & Bute Glow mentors and put names to faces, but it was also very nice to get home last night as I was absolutely exhausted.

There is a lot of excellent technology out there which I would love to make use of in my classroom but the cost is such that it remains a dream. Perhaps one day???

Today S1 Science were introduced to the light microscope and using it to look at plant cells – in particular, onion cells. In order to demonstrate this we set up a microscope attached to a “Visiview” video camera which in turn was attached to the Smart board. This allowed the whole class to become involved and see the cells on the large screen. By doing this the pupils are then much more aware of what they should be seeing through their own microscope when they do it individually. It also made it easier for me to teach them what the different parts of the microscope do as they could all see what was happening at the one time. A fantastic lesson for all, particularly me, the teacher, as this is quite difficult to teach normally. Another plus for ICT as a “tool”. The attached photo shows the onion cells as they appeared on the Smart board.

    Onion Cells on the Smart Board

  “Visiview” camera attached to the Smart board and the microscope.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing Microsoft Powerpoint to 15 teachers within the authority, both from the primary sector as well as the secondary sector. I was a bit apprehensive to start with but this soon disappeared as their faces began to light up along with expressions such as “oh, that’s brilliant”, “I can definitely use this” and “what a difference this can make to boring old lessons”. From the absolute beginner through to some of them who had dabbled before and were actually quite proficient, they all went away home with their own presentation(s) which they will be able to use. Indeed, one of them will be using hers today in a lesson. I would still advocate, though, that these courses should be over a number of days, not necessarily together, where the participants can go away, use and practice the skills they learn and bring back a completed project for the next days training which would take them further. I think this would help to maintain the enthusiasm and interest over a longer period of time rather than them returning to the ‘chalk face’ the next day and it’s all forgotten about. However, I shall now dismount from my high horse and finish off by saying what a wonderful experience yesterday was and thanks to all my “students” who put their heart and soul into the day. I hope it was worth it – it certainly was for me!!

Today the new S1 Science class were being introduced to some of the basic science apparatus. This involved using a bunsen burner to heat some water in a beaker. They were to measure the temperature of the water every 30 seconds for 10 minutes and record their results. Once the water reached 100 oC they were to turn the burners off. Working in groups of 3, they each recorded their own results and next lesson they will be asked to draw a line graph of their results.

However, I have prepared a simple spreadsheet in Excel into which they will enter their group’s results. This will them average all the groups results together and convert them into a line graph. They will be using the Smart board to do this and they will all see the results instantly.

I tried to attach the spreadsheet to this post but it won’t allow it. If anyone would like a copy, please email me and I will forward it.

Since a lot of us are beginners or amateurs at this “blogging” lark, it might be useful if one or two of the so-called experts were to produce a help sheet or two so that we are all singing from the same songsheet. I’m sure there are shortcuts, tips, tricks, etc.. out there that may be of use to others. Any thoughts???????????

A brief introduction.

I have been teaching Biology & Science in Tobermory High School for over 23 years now and have a strong interest in ICT.

I try to use ICT most days in the classroom, where I have an interactive whiteboard as my main teaching tool. I have developed a number of resources which I use with the board. I encourage my students to use ICT whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I was a “Masterclasser” in Argyll & Bute, and through the Microsoft Academy resources became a “Microsoft Master Instructor”.

I hope to post some of my uses of ICT on these pages in the near future.