Getting our #ict4red groove on again!!

The start of the new year is always a shock to our systems with all the planning, getting used to all the learners, the noise and the buzz!! I feel for you all! But it is also very exciting to be back and see all the new and old faces again!

We are just over half way with our #ict4red tablet course and it is time for some serious planning while we are at it! I will be virtually talking/working with each of you individually over the next few weeks to make sure that you get back on track and help with some lesson ideas, apps and tools that you can use to get your #ICT4RED jaribaaa back. The strategies that we have dealt with over the first 6 modules are totally fun, practical and ready for you to implement in your classroom into what you have to do in any case! So there is nooooo reason to panic!!

I know that having done the last few modules just before the end of year examinations, did not leave any time for classroom implementation. It is therefore essential that we plan our lessons this year in such a way that we can earn our badges and create award winning jaribaaa lessons at the same time!

Talking about badges..... Here is our top 10 badge earners from last year. It looks like the Queenstown Primary school is taking the early lead!!!!

1	Olivia	Horn	8
2	Christine	Murray	7
3	Nelia	Moss	7
4	Sarah-Lee	Frewen	7
5	Vicki	du Preez	7
6	Didas	Tumusiime	6
7	Gweny	Van Deventer	6
8	Jessie	Kay	6
9	Patrick	Adjei	6
10	BENJAMIN	MILLS	5

Our assessment this year is moving up a notch as we will be looking for the top #ict4red #GAPSchool achievers. To earn the #ict4red merit badge we will be identifying  innovative lessons that can be used as inspiring case studies in our #ICT4RED integration book/site and the lessons will also be entered into the #ispasuperteacher competition! So now is the time to get your groove on!!

The following rubric will be used to evaluate all badges this year.

Modules 1 to 10
The pink indicates the minimum requirements for earning a badge. The rest of the criteria will count towards a merit award.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Lesson plan description	Lesson plan is described in detail with Grade, Topic, CAPS alignment and specific outcomes and the lesson implements the given strategy with all tech well described.	Lesson plan is described in detail with Grade, Topic, CAPS alignment and specific outcomes and the lesson implements the given strategy.	Lesson plan is described in detail with Grade, Topic, CAPS alignment and implements the given strategy.	Lesson plan is briefly described but I can't quite get what the lesson is about. No CAPS alignment.
Badge criteria	All badge criteria is handed in and is accompanied by a detailed lesson plan and uploaded to Google drive.	All badge criteria is handed in and is accompanied by a detailed lesson plan.	All badge criteria is handed in.	Not all badge criteria is covered.
Originality	Lesson shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and innovative.	Lesson shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	Lesson uses other people's ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.	Use other people's ideas, but do not give them credit.
Technology use	Tablets and technology were used in a WOW seamless way and it was a paperless environment throughout with focus on pedagogy.	Tablets and technology were used seamlessly in an innovative way during the lesson	Tablets and technology were used during the lesson in a basic way (Photos, videos) and badge artifacts were uploaded to shared Google drive	No technology was incorporated into the lesson except for accessing the material in digital format.
Reflection	Your online journal is up to date and you are using it for everyday reflection and to capture all learning, notes and memos. You are constantly reflecting on your teaching practice and creating learning briefs e.g if anything did not work, you reflect on why it did not work and how you can change it to improve your practice. Your journal is WOW!	All lessons are captured in journal with what worked and what did not work with photos and voice recordings and detailed explanations of what happened before, during and after the lesson.	All lessons are captured in journal with what worked and what did not work.	Some evidence of reflective teaching (Some journal entries).
Total Score

Other badges:
The pink indicates the minimum requirements for earning a badge. The rest of the criteria will count towards a merit award.

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Email	Ongoing email communications, letting me know when you have uploaded your module stuff to your gdrive	You have send an email with a class photo attached to ict4red@gmail.com from your tablet	Email address is set up on tablet	Can access email using a browser
Twitter	Are a twitter ninja with over a 100 tweets, are flowing over 50 education related tweeps and is being followed by over a 100 people. You have shared at least 30 educational resource tweets	Have retweeted at least 5 educational tweets and replied to 5 tweets, shared a photo and a video in your timeline	Have followed 20 educational tweets and colleagues and have tweeted 20 education related tweets with the #ict4red #gapschools hashtag	Have registered for twitter and twitter is set up on tablet. Bio is complete and egg has been hatched
Content creation	The item is innovative and fresh and can be used in learner centred classrooms	The item can be used by other teachers in their classrooms and subject.	The item is clearly aligned with outcomes and can be identified as something that you have created as part of your teaching strategies	You have created an object about a topic that you are currently teaching. (Video, slideshow. infographic, tutorial, informational document.)
App Assessment	Have sourced apps and used it in innovative ways with completed assessment forms	Have identified new apps that are not part of the course for use with the strategies with completed app assessment forms and examples	Have looked at, at least 10 apps and completed the app assessment questionnaires in electronic format (photos/form/word doc)	Have looked at, at least 5 apps and completed the app assessment questionnaires in electronic format (photos/form/word doc)
Assessment	You have made innovative and creative use of technology and methodology to create your assessment tool.	You have used technology to create or capture your assessment task. (e.g. google forms, testmoz) and your students have completed it electronically	You have supplied a scanned/completed learner instrument as well as the Assessment Motivation Template	You have created 3 different assessment tools (e.g. rubric, self-assessment questionnaire, scoring sheet, test with memorandum)
Blogging/Blog collaborator	You have created a blog for your class/subject and have used embedded objects. Your learners are actively participating on your blog via comments and posts	You have created your own blog and have made at least 5 blogposts	You have contributed a blogpost to our www.gapict4red.blogspot.com blog.	You have made at least 5 comments on any of the ict4red school blog posts (www.gapict4red.blogspot.com)
Mobile skills	Have used apps and tools in innovative and creative ways throughout the course	Have created how to tutorials for apps and tools not defined in the course	Can do more advanced mobile skills required in the course	Can do some all the basic tablet skills required in the course
Jaribaaaa Badge	Your classes are transformed into learner centred innovation hubs and you are an exemplary guide on the side. You have the Jaribaaaa factor	Enthusiastically participated and are very excited about using the strategies and tech in the classroom	Helped others and actively participated in the gamification and fun	Attended the minimum no of training sessions (8) and participated
Total Score

 I would also like you to revisit what you have done last year and make sure that your ICT4RED google drive folder has the following in for every module (even if you have already been awarded your badge). This will be your online portfolio for SACE accreditation.

• Your lesson plan describing what you have done. You can use the lesson plan template here (goo.gl/dlZL7g) or use your own, making sure that I will be able to use the above rubric to "evaluate" your lesson, know what it is about and how you have used technology (mobile devices in your classroom.  It has to be in electronic format in your folder. 
• Make sure that you have covered all the criteria and that all evidence have been uploaded to your google drive folder. 
• Do not put ALL your photos and videos in your google drive, choose the ones that best describes the lesson and adhere to the criteria.
• If you want to do another lesson on a badge that you have already earned, feel free and let me know to look at it for merit achievement!!

If you need help getting back on track with what to do for each badge, see the badge support posts: 

Module1 Jigsaw Support

Module 2 Storytelling support

Module 3 Role Play

Module 3 Role play support

Module 4 Learning stations

Module 4 Learning stations support

Twitter Badge support

Content Creator Badge Support

Module 5 Mind mapping

Module 5 Mind Mapping badge support

Module 7 Game Based Learning

Module 7 GBL badge support

If you need help or just want to talk with me about what you are planning to do. or if you are ready to submit, let me know and we can set up a skype session for you. My skype name is Maggieverster. 

See you online and don't forget to get your tweet on again....#ict4red #gapschools

Game based learning support post

We had a lot of fun on Saturday exploring all the facets of Game Based Learning, but as always, when you are having fun, you always run out of time! So this is the first thing that you have to bear in mind when planning a game-based lesson -make sure you allocate enough time for fun!!

Games is a great way to do revision seeing that it is almost the end of the school year. Research (goo.gl/1y34Ny) is showing us that playing educational games, as a way of learning, is incredibly effective! Games also provide a safe place to "loose" and act a a great motivator! The following 2 articles will inspire you to get going:

• What is GBL (Game-Based Learning)?
• GBL Checklist for educators

So what do you need to do to get the Game Based Learning Badge?? 

You need to create a lesson where you will use educational game(s)  for your learners to play and achieve your learning outcomes. The place to start is as always with: "What do I want my learners to learn?"  (your lesson outcomes). You can then go and investigate what educational apps and tools are available that can be used in your lesson to achieve the learning outcomes.

As our "lesson" session topic was "Copyright", we used a quiz to make sure that  all the learning is centred around that topic. Dividing the learners into groups, where each member has to research a section of the work, also resulted in every group member taking responsibility for their learning and contribution to the communal group's quiz knowledge.

You can make use of the Quiz slideshow template in your resource folder to create your own class quiz (goo.gl/gdtQCC ) by replacing the markers with your own questions and answers. You can use the online Quiz maker called Flipquiz (Flipquiz.me) to create your quiz as it keeps track of the teams, categories and scoring for your.

You can create flashcards and use the app Quizlet (see previous blogpost) to re-enforce the gaming topics and to create an automated drag and drop time based game! Remember, any quizlet, flipquiz or slideshow quiz you create for your students can count towards your Content creator badge as long as it is a "freestanding" learning object. In other words, it covers a curriculum subject topic that can be used by another teacher anywhere!

There are many gaming apps for almost any educational topic. As long as it support or extend your learning outcomes, you are welcome to use it.

Here are the criteria for getting your Game Based Learning Badge:

Remember to upload your lesson plan and your learner photos to our shared Google drive folder. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Maggie or leave a message below.

Using quizzes in the classroom

In today's session we looked at (and experienced)  how to use quizzes and games in the classroom. To create a quiz you can

• Use the slideshow template in your module 7 resource folder 
• Create one using Flipquiz.me
• Create flashcards and learnig games using the app Quizlet, which you can also embed in you blog!! 

Module 7- Game Based Learning

During this module we will investigate how we can use Game Based Learning and gamification to create a fun learning environment in our classrooms.


   

Mind mapping badge support

So what do you need to do to earn your Mind mapping badge?

Let's just look at the badge criteria and then  we will investigate some ideas:

App Evaluation badge support

The criteria for this app is as follows:



To earn this badge you will need to evaluate at least 10 apps for their educational value. You can use the apps:

• On your tablet
• On the app sheet
• Or any other app that you think have educational value. 

You can use the following google form to evaluate the apps (goo.gl/Fzy0U0) or use the word document template here (goo.gl/5VquEZ) and upload it to your Google drive online portfolio folder.

You have to answer the following questions regarding the app:

What can you do with  the app? Here you have to describe what the app can do. e.g. Toontastic 3D

With Toontastic 3D you can draw, animate, and narrate your own cartoons. It’s as easy as play. Just move your characters around onscreen, tell your story, and Toontastic records your voice and animations and stores it on your device as a 3D video. Toontastic is a powerful and playful way to create interstellar adventures, breaking news reports, video game designs, family photo albums, and anything else you might imagine!

Blooms taxonomy?
Delete the verbs that is not applicable and add verbs that you think is also relevant. 

• Remembering - Recognising, describing,  retrieving, naming, drawing, recording, animating
• Understanding - Interpreting, Summarising,  explaining, exemplifying, visualising
• Applying - telling, carrying out, using
• Analysing - Comparing, organising, structuring, integrating
• Evaluating - Checking, hypothesising, critiquing, judging, testing, Detecting
• Creating - designing, constructing, planning, producing, inventing, devising, making, recording

How can you use it in your subject/with your students? Be specific

• In mathematics I/the learners can use it to create "story sums" that have to be solved. 
• In English we can create stories from written text, breaking news reports. 
• In the IT class we can demonstrate video game designs. 
• We can create school photo albums. 
• It can be used as part of any storytelling strategy....

Can you use it offline or do you have to be connected?   (Delete whichever one is not applicable)

• Online: This means that my tablet have to be able to be connected to the internet before I can use it.  I have to sign in to be able to use the app and must therefore have internet connectivity. 
• Offline: The app can be used without any connectivity
• Both Online and Offline: I can use the app while offline and it will sync when online

Is it free? Yes / No / Lite

Yes : No restrictions- it works well and is a complete app (maybe it has adverts to support the app)
No: You have to pay a small annual or once off amount to use it
Lite: It is free to download but if you want the full version you have to pay or you can purchase in app purchases to get to some of the more advanced features.

Evaluate how the app support 21st century learning? (or will it just help me do what I have been doing in a new technological way)
Think of the app in terms of our 21st century skills:

• Collaboration: Does the app allows learners to collaborate on creating something? 
• Communication: Can you send messages/communicate using the app?
• Creativity : Can you create something new using the app?
• Critical thinking: Does the app allows deep thinking and problem solving? How
• Connectivity: Can you share what you have done seamlessly with others using the app?

Your rating for this app (1-5) ______   (1: poor  to 5 Excellent)
You will give 5 if it is a app that you would like to use regularly in your classroom/personally

You then need to go and complete the self-marking online app test here: testmoz.com/912025.
Just insert your name and click on Continue and so the short little test which should not take you longer than 2 minutes!

Module 5 : Mind mapping

Open and download the mind mapping module resources to your tablet as needed.