Today I had the fortune to work with a group of KS4 students who we asked to come up with a quick-fire list of ways that they felt technology could ‘today’ make a difference to their learning if used. Here are their words (all ideas included, no editing). I’ve left in the typos/spellings, and put in bold the ones that I think are most ‘telling’; either about current classroom practice, or about where are so opportunities that we really should be looking more closely at…
- Text us for homework
- Calendar for trips etc
- Individual Facebook wall for each subject
- Printers for posters
- Send videos/work via email
- App to remind us about important dates & times
- Facebook chat for when being told to work in silence – can ask friends for some work ideas
- YouTube to show videos in class
- Photo editing computers in art
- Computers built into the tables
- Phone alerts for any last minute events, ie; assemblies
- Type instead of writing, or download the notes from the board and annotate on ipad so that your adding value not just copying
- Audio books for subjects like languages
- Mark work on computers in English so you don’t have to write it out twice
- Have a selection point for the canteen so you don’t have to queue
- Laptops to be able to research in the classroom
- Being sent emails for exam dates instead of being given a piece of paper
- Converter Apps
- Listen to lessons on phone for revision
- Iphones to text homework
- Break time – live feeds to your PDA giving people their own space and learning conditions. I prefer to learn on my own, so I should be allowed to.
- Media – ipads proper video cameras and laptops
- Only use electronical stuff when needed, not just for the sake of it
- Interactive games for each individual subject
- People will find their way around not learning with or without technology
- Order service for canteen
- It takes ages getting the scientific calculators out of a box, so why not have an app on our phones instead?
- USB cords to upload work
- Advance editing sofrware/equipment
- Update projectors
- Ipads & iphones in class
- More use of IT
- Record audio of teacher
- PE theory or for people who forget kit to play wii fit or sport
- Teachers need to learn how to apply learning through technology and how to access in depth
- Photoshop app for everyone
- Things to draw on (like Paint)
- Taking notes and apps for ipod touches
- YouTube to watch revision
- Chargers for stuff
- Coffee machines at hte canteen
- Get emailed unfinished work
- Make quizzes online for revision
- Iphones / pda
- A weather forecast thing
- Uploading revision to ipads instead of books
- Art – Wacom tablets digital drawing
- Heaters or air conditioning in classroom
- Reception / office app for messages to classes
- Instant messages
- Canteen app to order food
- Higher quality editing software
- Stardate: blog / digital
- Have freedom – more links
- English – computers for typing things up
- Photo editing programmes for art/ photoshop
- Drama – computers to use for writing and storing work
- Robot Butlers
- Move using ICT such as student using et jiant whiteboard (more movement)
- Headphones that aren’t broken! For listening to things
- Iphones to Bluetooth homework
- Apps for subjects
- Ipads to be able to sent work and annotate work then send back to be checked and marked
- Blogs to write essays and write ideas, intead of writing them up as an essay
- Advanced computers
- Personal Handheld devices
- Laptops to type notes up / essays
- Teacher podcasts for revision notes
- Water fountains in every room
- Charging – energy wasting
- Back up for files
- Progress chart thing – to see online what you need to do
- Personalised lessons online
- Blog for lesson discussion
- Video blogs to keep up to date on work
- Games
More sessions like this to follow…
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If you want to try this with your students, try the sequence of questions below. BUT; ask the question then ask students to answer it and collate as they’re going (either on a post-it wall, or via WallWisher – the online equivalent). They see the visual collation of ideas, and it gets some great brainstorming done in a very short space of time. All of the above only took 10 minutes with 6 students.
1. Name technology you’re familiar with. Which should be part of your learning at school?
2. How would it be used? Why would it be used?
3. What would be the challenges and how would we address them?