Sutori Stories

Sutori is a web tool that offers a powerful combination—simplicity and a unique formatting structure that allows students to organise content along a vertical continuum.

The college has a site licence for premium access, just inform a DLC if you'd like your teacher account to be upgraded and they will arrange that for you. As a teacher, any students you add to your class in Sutori will also be upgraded to premium account.

The obvious application is for the creation of a timeline (this tool used to be called HSTRY) but really the true power of it is in easily allowing the distribution of content in a way that shows understanding of order, process, within a linear structure that can also easily be used for collaboration, and can easily be shared with others.

Grade 6 Humanities

Here's an example from a Grade 6 student in a class who were asked to use Sutori to demonstrate their understanding of chronological order.

At the scale of a few days:


And at the scale of ancient history:

Grade 8 English

Approaching challenging texts:

Embedding for Formative Assessment

As Sutori supports embedding, it is a relatively simple step for students to use the embed code to submit their artefacts as an assignment to an online learning platform, making it very easy for the teacher to view the learning in progress and provide feedback see the example here, using Teamie, you can view my other post on embedding if you'd like more detailed instructions on how to do this:

Age Restrictions

Sutori supports Single Sign On (using Google) but unfortunately will restrict the features available if the student using the platform is under 13 years of age. This doesn't really curtail the use of the tool, but it does mean that they cannot share their work very easily, for example using embed code, or using a share link for peers or for their teacher to view. Instead, the teacher would need to set up a class within Sutori and invite students to join, then can share their work within Sutori, which is better than nothing, but far from ideal. 

An alternative (apart from waiting until they are 13 years old) is to use this Google Drawing as a template, not as simple to use as Sutori, but pretty close: 

Embed Web Content into a Teamie Assignment

Many teachers know that Teamie Assignments are a genuine example of tech that really does make the process of gathering student screen based work far more efficient than having students drop off content via a shared folder, or even worse, via email.

However, while the kinds of artifacts that are submitted to assignments are still dominated (understandably) by Google Docs and PDFs, assignments are just as effective at collating other forms of media: audio, image, video, slideshows, spreadsheets—pretty much any format that can be viewed in a web browser.

What many teachers don't realise is that students can embed internet 'Web 2.0' content to an Assignment as well, what does that mean? This would include anything like the following:

• YouTube Videos (that the student has uploaded)
• Padlet
• SoundCloud Audio
• Presentations like Prezi, Animoto, Haiku Deck, Slides.com
• Online Whiteboards like Google Drawings, RealtimeBoard, ShowMe, and others
• Mind Maps like MindMeister
• Maths/Physics models built by students from sites like Desmos et al
• If it's online, and it's interactive, chances are it can be embedded. 

I prefer to ask my students to submit their content at the start of the process; as embedded content is dynamic, I can see any changes that they make in real time, so this is a great way to be able to check in on it as it is in progress and to give feedback as it is in development.

Set up the Assignment

Bear in mind, the only change (if you're already using Assignments) here is required by the students, what you have to do as a teacher is no different to any other assignment, if anything, the main distinction is what you don't need to do.

1. Choose Text entry
2. Untick Files/Google Docs (so they don't get confused)
3. That's it.

Student Workflow

So what changes for the student? They work in the relevant website as normal, but they will need to embed the content to your assignment, as follows:

Embed?

Now, stay with me, it's worth it! Embedding can seem a little daunting at first, but trust me, it's not as techie as it looks. Most if not all of the kinds of sites mentioned above with have a 'share' option, and one of the share options will usually be to 'embed', when that is chosen, the site offers you a screed of computer gibberish, don't panic, all the students do is copy that, and paste it into Teamie and the rest is emagic. Trust me.

Here's an example of the kind of digital gibberish I'm talking about:

<iframe width="600" height="400" frameborder="0" src="https://www.mindmeister.com/maps/public_map_shell/992381377/area-of-knowledge?width=600&height=400&z=auto&t=M4DyiJO2IW&no_share=1&no_logo=1" scrolling="no" style="overflow: hidden; margin-bottom: 5px;">Your browser is not able to display frames. Please visit <a href="https://www.mindmeister.com/992381377/area-of-knowledge?t=M4DyiJO2IW" target="_blank">Area of Knowledge</a> on MindMeister.</iframe>

Once it's embedded, you can view the content right from within Teamie, where you can also leave comments in the side panel, use a rubric, or/and assign a grade, just as you would with any other submission.

Grab the code:

An example of embed code from a YouTube video

Here's a couple of examples of where students can grab embed codes from Padlet and MindMeister.:

Submit the embed code to the Assignment

I've broken this down into a step by step break down, you can always show/share this post with your class if they need assistance the first time:

Student view

Once they have copied the embed code, the click on the link symbol.

(Some will just paste it into the text field, [you know who!] that won't work)

Clicking on the link symbol pops up the embed window, they just paste in the embed code, and click Insert.

Then they will see their web content load in their submission window, so they can be sure it all looks hunky dory, before they choose Submit for evaluation. 

Teacher submission view

This is how it looks as a teacher, you can view the content, and leave feedback (written or spoken) as usual. 

Here's an example of how you can interact/navigate the content the student has embedded if it is a presentation, or interactive model for example. 

iPads vs Macs

Why use an iPad in the classroom, if you can use a Mac?

OSx vs iOS

This is a question that has plagued me for some time, and behind it lies the assumption that if you are going to use an iPad, then you should make sure that you're using it to do something that you couldn't have just used a Mac for. Of course this assumes that you have the choice of using a Mac or an iPad, for the sake of this discussion I assume a context where the students would use an iPad in the classroom exclusively in place of a MacBook or an iMac. After some initial scepticism, I now believe that these devices do have a unique contribution to make to the classroom; below I will attempt to outline my reasoning as to why I believe this may be...

Cost

Cheaper than MacBooks at about a half to a third of the price (depending on the model you buy), this means that you can get double or triple the tech for the same cost, especially important if you're attempting to get as many devices per student as possible. This can be the difference between one computer shared between four, or the difference between a classroom that is 1:1 or 1:2 compared to a classroom that is 1:2 or 1:4. It has to be said that iPads in particular lend themselves to a 1:1 context, as sharing them is not as easy as sharing a Mac, as they do not support multiple user accounts.

There are 'hidden' costs to consider, you most likely need to include a case, (I don't believe in screen protectors) a trolley for syncing/storage, and don't underestimate the amount of tech support required to sync and keep them updated, and the cost of Apps which is most likely much greater that that required for laptops etc.

Simplicity & Efficacy

iOS is a much simpler operating system than OSX, this means, especially with younger students, the operating system gets out of the way and students instead can concentrate on actually using the tech to learn, which is the point, right? Simply put, this means that students do not need to navigate through menus, create folders, filenames, organise files and folders and navigate the many additional conventions like full screen/windows, desktop management, that would be expected by using a typical desktop operating system.

Apptasticicity (Is that word? It is now.)

The plethora of applications available for this device at a low cost or even zero cost makes for an extremely powerful learning tool. Yes, there are also plenty of Applications on the MacBook and iMac, but the Apps on the iPad are cheaper, and especially focused on doing very specific things. One App for spelling, one App for TimesTables, one App for drawing—the list is long, too long for this post, see my other post that summarises the apps that are game changers in the primary classroom, apps like Explain Everything and Shadow Puppet that are utterly transformative and have no equivalent on the MacBook, to apps like Seesaw and iMovie, and GarageBand that offer affordances on the iPad that are unavailable with their laptop counterparts, and that are remarkable in terms of the simplicity of design, moving digital tools from the realm of advanced users to that of literally child's play.

The power of iOS apps versus full on computer applications is another major benefit. These are generally much, much simpler versions of their big brothers. Even the Pages App on the iPad is a much simpler pared down version of the full Pages application on the Mac. Often it seems to me that when using the full version of Applications on the Mac etc., most people are using 10%, maybe 20% of the capability of a program but the Apps on the iPad appear to focus on just doing the 10 to 20% that most people actually need. This means from a teaching perspective, we focus on the use of the tools in a way that is very effective and avoid getting sidetracked by less relevant or less important features that are not required for the task at hand.

Apps & Distractions

Funnily enough many people leap to the assumption that iPads will be a greater temptation for kids in terms of playing games, but with any decent Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, it is easy to control what apps are on any device, no apps that are games, no temptation. Any games there are on the device would have been installed by the institution, so of the educational variety, eg Squeebles, Khan Academy, Reflex.

On the other hand however, laptops present a much greater challenge in this regard. Not only are they capable of playing a wide range of high performance games (from platforms like Steam) but there are a plethora of Flash games accessible from any web browser, or/and through the installation of extensions, like Slither.io, Realm of the Mad God, Agario, Roblox, et cetera.

Control

Especially for younger students the freedom from having to control a mouse device to manipulate the cursor on the screen is a huge advantage, very few younger students have the necessary fine motor skills to control a device as (relatively) large as a mouse and often struggle to do so, especially managing left and right, and double clicking, never mind drag 'n drop. The iPad, by using a haptic touch interface completely bypasses all of these issues and is as easy for a three year old to control as for a 43 year old.

The iPad is a much more 'modal' device, that is, the user is focused on one 'mode' or application at a time, you don't have the problem (or some would say, the advantage) of having multiple Apps open and accessible and usable at the same time. With the iPad it is very much one thing at a time, better for teaching and learning.

Teacher have greater control; with Apple Classroom teachers can mute/lock/view all screens in the room at a glance or a tap. This is not a 'big brother' tool, but more of a ' teaching assistant', to help the teacher get a sense of the range of activity in the room, and to be able to intervene to assist students where necessary.

Tactility

Whether you choose to use a stylus or to use the digits that God gave you (no I'm not a big fan of stylii) it has to be said that it is a much more natural, authentic experience to 'draw' or ''paint' on an iPad and it has ever been or is on a Mac, even if you try to use the trackpad as a substitute surface. 'Screencasting' Apps in particular are absolutely revolutionary on this device; I really cannot see any App on the Mac that comes even close to offering the power of annotation combined with drawing and talking offered by apps like Explain Everything and Shadow Puppet et al. When this facility is applied to drawing, painting and image manipulation Apps, it takes on a completely new level of experience—with the ability to intuitively smudge and blur with tactile swipes and dabs there really is a sense of interaction with pixels which is almost is impressive.

Mobility

The portability of the device makes it particularly appropriate for capturing content with the on-board camera or capturing video, and then seamlessly knitting this content together in a meaningful way on the device with a minimum of hassle. Yes, this can be done with a MacBook, but trying to use a MacBook as a camera is something which would be impossible for small children to do and not advisable even for older students and adults. You have to bring the content to the MacBook whereas with the iPad you can bring the iPad to the content—particularly useful for field trips or subjects that are not portable, ie cannot be brought to the device.

Familiarity

Like it or not, many, if not most children these days, grow up interacting with touch screen devices. Whether this is an iPads shared by the family, or a Samsung Tablet/Phablet owned by them,  or whether it's one of their parents' smartphones that keep them occupied on long journeys and in restaurants (guilty as charged), one thing is sure. By the time they arrive in your classroom, the vast majority will already be extremely confident, adept at controlling those devices, possibly more so than their teacher. This does come with a problem—teaching them that while these devices may be predominantly used purely for entertainment at home, at school they are primarily tools for teaching and learning. That lesson takes a while to learn...

Organisation

The ability to group apps into folders very easily very much assists the pedagogical process as teachers can direct students to a group of apps that are focused on a particular skill, this is not often the case with a typical computer operating system.

No desktop. This saves a lot of trouble for the teacher, as the desktop paradigm leads to many problems, with a plethora of icons scattered across that virtual space - trust me this is the bane of my tech integration life. Students and teachers alike struggle with the organisation of files and folders and this often leads to work that is hard to locate or difficult to save in a way that allows the same files to be easily retrieved. Of course the question that follows this is, "When do we teach students how to use these operating systems? Surely that is also a important consideration?"

I would argue the older they are the more developmentally capable they will be. But it is clear with a even a fleeting glance at the desktops of most adults, that the complexity of managing and organising a laptop extremely challenging, so why would we impose this burden on children before they absolutely need to?

Sharing of student work is easy, utilising the Reflection App on a Mac (or using a classroom Apple TV). Sharing iPad content with students using AirPlay is as easy as a couple of clicks, and then the content of the student's iPad is beamed onto the board for the whole class to see.

So why would you ever use a Mac?

Using an iPad is often very much about working around the limitations, although it has to be said that what a techie person might call "limitations" is what an ordinary student or teacher might call a welcome relief from complexity. Put bluntly, a full powered computer offers so many options that it easily becomes overwhelming - the simplicity of the iPad very much restricts what is capable of being done, but for most ordinary people this restriction is a relief rather than a frustration. But, no the Mac is not dead, not for more 'demanding' users anyway. There are times when you really need to use the other 80% of features left out of iPad Apps. Here are a few of the aspects of an iPad classroom that require some patience:

Professional/advanced Applications

If you are one of those few people, (especially High School/FE teachers/students) who actually need to use more advanced applications, I'm thinking particularly here of high end video editing, production, design, VFX, 3D modelling, CAD CAM, and applications that can that model dynamic simulations like SketchUp, then using an iPad is far from satisfactory. All of these require a 'proper' fully featured operating system like that afforded by an iMac or Macbook, or even a PC! But, in my experience, that puts you in the bracket of the few people who know how to use the 80% of the capabilities of a professional app that are ignored by 80% of 'normal' computer users.

Less Robust Web 2.0 support

Web 2.0 sites like Prezi and MindMeister are arguably one of the foundational elements of what is commonly called "21st century learning" and due to the kind of cutting edge web technology these websites require, many Web 2.0 sites will will not function as effectively (if at all) on an iPad - although this is changing everyday. It should be noted that many of these sites (including the two mentioned) provide App versions of their content, albeit usually scaled down. The Google suite of Apps are definitely more iPad friendly than ever, but they still have frustrating restrictions, but these limitations wane with each passing year. If you really want to utilise Web 2.0 (bear in mind that most require students to be at least 13 years of age) you are still almost certainly better off using a Mac rather than an iPad.

iPads make it more difficult for users to share their content on third party platforms, eg, Google Apps, Sites or Picasa etc., most of these platforms cannot be exported to directly from an iPad and requires a mediating device, eg a laptop or desktop computer.

User Accounts

There is no support for multiple user accounts; this means that in practice sharing an iPad is much more tricky than sharing for example, a MacBook. Because all of the content created by users is shared on the same device this mean they will need to be particularly careful about respecting work created by others and not deleting content that does not belong to themselves.

No Flash support

While this is rarely an issue as more and more website shift over to content like HTML 5 etc, it is still an occasional problem, mainly on old (10-20 years) educational websites that have never been updated and so still rely on Flash as their media tool of choice. It is possible to get around this issue by using for example the Puffin Browser App, but it is still far from satisfactory.

Caveat Emptor

All of these devices are changing, fast. For for all I know the next release of iOS could well make all of my concerns history—the next App update could make a tool that was a fiddly frustration into a dynamic delight; the Google suite of Apps comes to mind, although these are still far from being as effective as their equivalents on a desktop operating system.

The bottom line to me is sometimes less is more (more often in my experience less is just less) and that is often the case with the choice of an iPad over a MacBook or an iMac - for the kind of things that we want our students to use these devices for, we need LESS - we rarely need a state-of-the-art computer, a state-of-the-art tablet may well be much a more appropriate choice.

Using an iMac or MacBook for just web browsing and word processing really is just using a Ferrari to deliver milk.


Thanks to Shaun Kirkwood @shaunyk for providing the impetus for this post and some great feedback.

Typing Club Tips

Use TypingClub, or the UWCSEA Portal

Typing Club is the online tool we encourage our students (and teachers) to use at UWCSEA to learn how to touch-type, so in the interests of 'walking the walk' I thought I'd better have a go myself. In so doing, I have gleaned some experience that I believe will come in useful for anyone attempting to do likewise.

Don't look down

Whatever you do, don't look at the keys! If this too tempting to resist, then maybe place something like a tea-towel over your hands/keyboard. Some people even cut down a cardboard box so a flap can be placed over your keyboard. Or it can be as simple as draping a cloth/towel over your hands as you type...

Courtesy of Wendy Jones - Touch-typing expert!

Or just fold a sheet of A3 paper...

You can even use a sweatshirt! 

Set your sights low! 

The goal is not to hit 50-100 wpm—yet. The goal is to become 'functional' ie type with all 10 fingers with capital letters and basic punctuation, even if the speed is relatively low, eg 25 WPM - at this point students can stop hunting and pecking and touch type, then anytime they type, they would effectively be practising. I reckon aiming for a minimum of 3 stars should suffice, and would mitigate the frustration they will most likely encounter if they try to get 4 or even 5 stars. If they switch to touch-typing for everyday use, they'd probably find that if they return to the typing tutor after a month they'd be able to turn those 3s into 4s and 5s without too much trouble. If they're anything like me, they will find that their touch-typing speed is probably slower than their 'hunt and peck' speed, but this is an investment, if they stick with it, they will be much better off in the long run.

Top Typing Club Tips

You start off typing gibberish, but fret not, most of the typing you'll be doing will be real words, even if the sentences don't make much sense.

Command R (refresh) to retry when (not if) you mess up right at the start.

Commit to at least 10-15 mins a day. This is all about making your subconscious know the keys without thinking about it, tedious repetition is the only way to do this!

Much like Maths, there's no point trying to be fast, focus on being accurate, and speed will come naturally and gradually with confidence. Focusing on speed will just stress you out, causing you to make more errors.

Give up (sometimes)! Sometimes your fingers just won't respond to your mind, and you'll find yourself going backwards! This is really frustrating,  you just need to take a break, do something else, come back in half an hour and try again.

Practice Makes Permanent!

You only get good at games like this through repetition, lots of repetition...  

Treat it like a platform video game, albeit not a very exciting one... It's the same kind of 'twitch' skill you learn through tedious repetition that is essential for mastering a platforming game like Super Mario Bros, or Geometry Dash, but a lot more useful! Soon you'll have a rhythm and your fingers will find the keys without you needing to consciously think about it. 

Ignore the backspace key, focus on getting it right without it, you can still get 3-5 stars even with some errors; the faffing about you'll be doing fixing the errors will actually lower your score more than you would if you just ignore the typos and keep going.

Star stress; the 'gamification' of this tool by rewarding you with stars is fine at the early stages, when hitting high scores is relatively easy... The problem is before too long this becomes a source of great frustration! My advice is that obtaining 3 stars (or higher) is more than enough. They can always return later and turn those 3 stars into or 5 stars when their skills have improved. There are other typing tools out there, like typingstudy that don't focus on these kinds of shallow motivators, which you might want to consider if the stars are causing stress!

Turn this off in settings as soon as you feel capable

Turn off the visual assistance ASAP, you need to be able to rely on touch as quickly as you can. I'd abandoned it by stage 10. I notice my speed increased significantly once I did that.

Focus on the first 56

Don't let the magical 100 bother you; by the time you hit 56 you will be able to touch-type, not fast, yet, but at least you'll have done the hardest part! As you can see from my stats above, I did, so can you! Out of curiosity, I decided to do the test review, which is kind of cheating, as you're supposed to do all the stages up to 75 first... But I 'passed' the test, I confess, I 'hunted and pecked' the numbers, still, I did it, and I couldn't have done it a few weeks ago!

How long does it take?

Based on the stats, it's taken me a total of 11 hours to get this far, or 660 minutes, which works out as 44 lots of 15 minute sessions—or about 6-7 weeks. Not a bad result considering this is an investment in a skill I'll be able to use for the rest of my life!*

So, you too can learn to touch-type in a couple of months, what are you waiting for?

When can they stop?

Even with a goal of approximately 2-3 months, you still need a clear idea of when it's OK to switch from using the Typing Club for practise, to just using everyday typing as practise, like I am now.

A good plan is to start at the start of term and push through until the end of term 1, ie Xmas. But the real point is to try and give kids 2 - 3 months of daily practise, to get them to a point where they can touch type basic sentences at about 20 wpm.

If you don't get to that point, basically everything they've done up to that point will be in vain, as they will have to revert to the bad habits of hunting and pecking for their writing.

Kids should keep going until they can score 20 wpm with 100% accuracy (they can use the backspace key to help!) in lesson 203, as that is the stage where they are able to write in sentences with capital letters and basic punctuation. 

This should be 100% accurate, even if that means sacrificing speed, as in their everyday writing/typing they will need to be 100% accurate for it to be useful. Lessons 200 - 244 are the ones which are the goal, as mastering these means they can confidently and competently type most sentences, although they will need to ‘hunt and peck’ numbers and characters. 

A speed in the dashboard of 20 wpm is not the same thing, as they could be hitting 20 wpm in week 3, just typing asdf jkl; asdf jkl; or ll ss llss, ll ss lssl ...

We want the students to get to a point where they can touch type basic sentences before they stop using Typing Club, as they can they effectively practise whenever they type anything they need to type, like I am now.

Addendum

A year ago I stopped using Typing Club, and from that point forced myself to touch type everything I write (except passwords). When I went back in to Typing Club to compare today, my speed is now consistently over 40 wpm with 100% accuracy—it works!

Padlet for Collaboration and Formative Assessment

Padlet is an excellent example of an app which we can repurpose in lots of different ways to support student learning. You can use it in simple ways to quickly crowdsource ideas from a class to more nuanced uses where you want to track growth in student skills and to support feedback.

Below are some examples and some geeky tips to get the most use out of Padlet. As a teacher you can sign up for free on their website and then share the link to any Padlet you might make with students via the Online Learning Platform. Make sure you check the sharing permissions so students can contribute or toggle authentication and commenting if you want to track student participation.

iTime Tech Tips

iTime, also known as Passion Projects and no doubt many other variations is a popular and essential element of our Primary School experience, what is it?

What is iTime?

iTime is an independent opportunities for students owned and student driven enquiry.

The "i" stands for a couple of things:
inquiry: This is an opportunity for students to ask questions and learn about something they are interested in.
​
individual: This is their project. They choose what they are going to do.  They decide how best to present their learning.
(http://gwaitime.weebly.com/)

iTime can focus on any endeavour that is practical to pursue in the classroom, from knitting, to learning a new language, to building a cardboard game arcade. But one of the challenges is managing the disparate resourcing requirements, and managing the logistics of this, especially if the students are working on this at home and at school, which, if they're really excited about it, is highly likely.

Enter digital technology. Now I'm not for one second advocating for iTime to purely focus on digital artefacts (as my examples above imply) but there's no doubt in my mind that focusing on creating and learning a digital skill to create a digital artefact is relatively simple to manage, assuming your students are fortunate enough to work in a 1:1 school like ours.

In order to facilitate this I created the document below to inspire students and teachers who are keen on using their iTime for something digital. This document will grow over time, and please feel free to suggest additional ideas in the comments below, and I will add them to the doc.

Five ways to get creative with tech: video, text, audio, and data.

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Who Teaches Parents Tech Skills?

They do, their children do, but now they have a way to help themselves too...

For decades society has been dominated by media such as books, comics, cinema, radio, and television — all are technologies, whether or not the users recognise it, all of which now have a digital equivalent, so that even if parents weren't familiar with the particular content their children engaged with, at least they could access and understand the medium, so that, if they wished to understand what their children were doing or share the activity with them, they could.

However, with the advent of digital media, things have changed. The demands of the computer interface are significant, rendering many parents to believe that they are 'dinosaurs' in an information age inhabited by their children.

Only in rare instances in history have children gained greater expertise than parents in skills highly valued by society. More usually, youthful expertise—in music, games, or imaginative play—is accorded little, serious value by adults, even if it is envied rather nostalgically. Thus, although young people’s newfound online skills are justifiably trumpeted by both generations, this doesn't help their parents much. For everyone of these mouse wielding, track pad savant, 'tech-savvy' students there is quite likely at least two not quite so tech-savvy parents - parents who often find themselves on the less competent end of the conversation - a conversation often sprinkled with a fair amount of eye ball rolling, groaning and huffing and puffing. Thankfully, the people at Google thought there had to be a better way...



The TeachParentsTech videos that attend to a range of simple tech support videos to help ameliorate this situation, you might even want to send them to your own mum, dad or uncle Vinnie. The videos are not perfect (they assume you are using a Mac) and hardly cover all the tech support questions you may be asked, or want to ask, but hopefully they’re a start.

Better than a click in the teeth, anyway.

Troubleshooting

With the considerable influx of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in classrooms these days, inevitably parents will find themselves increasingly faced with the challenge of providing adequate access to digital technologies at home, ie, a computer. To complicate matters further some of the resources that our students will be attempting to use can be quite demanding about the extent to which the home Windows PC or Mac is kept in efficient operating condition.

Following these (hopefully) simple pointers will mitigate a great many headaches for you as parents. For the purposes of this advice, I'm assuming you are using Chrome, you don't have to use Chrome, but it's the browser we recommend students to use in school, as it is the browser that plays nicely with everything Google.

• Keep your browser/computer software up to date, the Internet is constantly evolving, and your computer needs to be constantly updated to keep up with it, so if you get a message prompting you to update your computer - do it! This not only keeps your machine working well, it also makes it less vulnerable to malicious attacks. An out of date computer is a computer that is vulnerable to exploitation, and one that will be frustrating to use as it struggles to 'keep up' with the pace of change of the Internet.
• Direct your child to use the Google Chrome browser for their homework, this is the recommended browser at UWCSEA as well. Once your child as signed in and synced' all of the bookmarks, passwords, browsing history will magically follow them home as well as at school. The Chrome browser can be downloaded from here.
• Keep your browser up to date! The above links above include a tutorial on this. This is very important, many of the Web 2.0 technologies your child will be directed to use are very demanding of the latest browser technologies. An out of date browser will struggle to cope with even the most basic tasks. The Google Chrome browser has a useful option of automating these updates, I highly recommend you use it.
• Make sure your Adobe Flash Player is up to date. if in doubt click here to check to see if you have the latest version. This software is essential to run may of the awesome animations that are commonly used in these websites, such as Mathletics et al.
• Check the speed of your home internet connection, either directly with your provider (eg Starhub) or using a free web service like http://www.speedtest.net/ (no account needed) where you should expect to see at least 4-5 Mbps (>10 is better) if you are attempting to access 'rich' media, like streaming video, presentations, or interactive media. 

Sometimes odd behaviour in a web browser can be caused by 'cookies' that are interfering with the way you want your browser to behave.

If you clear out your cookies (something you should do regularly anyway) you can often find that resolves many problems. For normal (non techie) parents, Cookies are bits of code that are stored by websites on your computer to enable a site to 'remember' or 'recognise' you when you return to their website, like remembering your preferences etc.

Confused? Never mind, every browser has ways to do this, in the Chrome browser, just click Chrome on the Menu, and choose 'Clear Browsing Data' tick or untick as you see fit, just make sure the Cookies box is ticked, and then click the 'Clear browsing data' button. Don't panic, you can't do any major damage to your computer here.

Another alternative in Chrome is to browse using an incognito window, (File > New Incognito Window) which will force the browser to behave normally, since no cookies are stored.


Sharing a Home Computer

If you are a Primary school parent, you will probably need to share your computer at home with your child for them to do homework from time to time. This can be made easier by using a separate user account for each child, this can be as fancy as a completely separate user account for your child, instructions on how to set that up on a Mac here. This effectively makes your computer feel like your child's own computer, but it's a hassle if you want to be able to hop on and off without faffing about with account switching.

A simpler solution is to just agree that you will not use Chrome, just your child will, or, if you really prefer to use Chrome, create a separate user profile for your child within the Chrome browser, instructions on that here, or this post here. Now all your child has to do is choose their account, with a couple of clicks, and everything they've been working at at school will magically appear in their own copy of the browser, without affecting anything in yours (or vice versa).

          

Always remember (and use) the 'RQR' of troubleshooting:

Refresh (the browser)



Quit the browser and try again, or try a different browser)



Restart (the computer)




That's it.

Finally... you might want to consider creating a separate user account for your child/children, guidance on how to do this on a Mac can be found here. This in effect feels to your child like that computer is as good as their very own, until you log them out. Activating Fast user switching makes switching between their account and yours a very simple process.


Finally, maybe the best tip of them all?

Moving from examples to understanding an abstract concept - Google Slides and the Frayer Model

A approach lots of people are exploring this year is how do we scaffold students towards conceptual understandings and track and assess this growth.  In the work of Lynn Erickson and other theorists, this begins with the idea of concept formation or concept acquisition.

What do we mean by concepts?

As explained by Erickson, concepts are mental constructs that are abstract, timeless and universal. (Erickson & Lanning, 2014, p.33) They can be either broad in their context such as the concepts about change, interdependence or systems which are potentially interdisciplinary in nature or subject specific concepts such as velocity, unemployment or herbivores. These are also distinguished as macro or micro concepts, where micro concepts become evident in the depth of subject knowledge in each discipline.

Teaching to support conceptual acquisition:

One activity I see and utilise frequently is the classic sort, organise and group activity where you provide a wide arrange of examples relating to the concept and get students to identify similarities, differences and connections. In this Economics example, I was scaffolding students towards an understanding that:

products are related and the price change in one product can impact demand of related products. eg. complements and substitutes

In this case students quickly sort examples of products being substitutable or complementary to each other, but they often muddle the nuances of the relationship and the relative strengths of connections between goods that is evident when prices change.

Consolidating understanding: The Frayer Model

A perfect follow on activity is to use a diagram called the Frayer Model to get the students to record their understanding. The Frayer Model is essentially a graphical organiser you can use to capture either prior knowledge about a concept as a pre-assessment, to capture thinking after an activity, or as a tool to revisit and refine as students learn more about the concept through an inquiry.

• an operational definition; in subject terminology what does the idea mean?
• characteristics; what are the unique properties of the word that are shared by the examples.
• examples; in what examples are these properties clearly illustrated?
• non-examples; in what examples are these properties not illustrated?

The prompt asking students to list non-examples is really important as this is where you can identify some misconceptions. For instance peanut butter and jam (or jelly) might seems to be a complement for some people, but might be substitutes for others and a non-example.

Capturing the thinking: Google Slides

You can of course facilitate this in different ways e.g. pairs, groups on poster paper, but I have found using a Google Slides template as an effective way of scaffolding the students but also being able to track their work. It is a good tool where you can give comments, and where students can go back to as the learning progresses and make changes. It is also useful if you want students to scroll and see other students examples and ideas.

Click here to make a copy of the template


Together the two approaches are an important tool to help students build understanding which can later help them transfer and apply ideas to other situations.

Other related posts to explore:

The following are posts written by colleagues at the East Campus of United World College of South East Asia in Singapore. These cover the same ideas but from different subject angles.

1. Open Sorting for Concept Formation
2. Learning Concept words in EAL and transfer strategies
3. Concept acquisition and misconceptions

2FA with Google Apps

2nd Factor Authorisation (2FA) with Google 

Also known as 2-step verification, means making your account more secure by requiring a second device—usually your mobile phone—to authorise your access to your account. If you use online banking you've probably being doing this for years, but the second factor was a dongle, not the most convenient of devices to have on hand, whereas most of us usually have a mobile phone within reach. To learn more about this process from Google, click here.

1. Initiate Setup - SMS

You may not wish to use your personal number for this, that's okay, you can just use it to initiate the process, and then choose another method afterwards.

To start the setup process, click here. It's relatively straightforward, but you will (obviously) need access to your mobile phone to complete the set-up.

Once you've complete this step there is no need to continue unless you'd like to add/change your preferred 2FA method, which I would encourage.

Google App

2. Alternative/Additional Access

If find tapping in random codes tedious, or/and you don't always use the same mobile number, then you will want to opt for the ADD GOOGLE PROMPT option, using the Google App, or the GMail App.  You'll need to install the app on your phone and sign into your college account. Then you'll be able to add this option, so instead of typing in a code that's been texted to you, you can just tap YES to a prompt from the app.

3. Google Authenticator App

Google Authenticator App

As a third option, (or as an alternative to using the Google App) you can use the Google Authenticator App this will generate the codes you need.

Once you've installed the Authenticator app on your smartphone, when you log into your college google account providing your user name and password to the site, then you can run the Authenticator app. The app displays a six-digit one-time password.

Shared Accounts

For role-based and departmental accounts the person primarily responsible for checking or using the account should set-up the verification process.  All of the above methods are available, as you can add multiple mobile numbers to one account as back-up options to receive the code. So each person who needs access to that shared account, can add their mobile number to the same account.

If you are using the Authenticator App, then you can have multiple accounts linked to the App on one phone. So again, each person with access can link their Authenticator App to the shared account.

Receiving a voice call to a fixed line or even printing out a set of codes are other possibilities. It is best to set-up at least two of the options to provide alternatives.

Finally, you can generate and save a set of back-ups codes from the alternative second step options. Obviously, do not leave these codes next to a computer!

[Adapted from an original document by Ben Morgan]

Rubric design to support assessment in Middle School

The challenge with assessment is giving targeted and goal directed feedback quickly to students so they can improve and move forward with the learning. Our Online Learning Platform (Teamie) can help streamline this process for both teachers and students so you can spend less time worrying about finding student work and copying and pasting feedback and work more efficiently.

This blog post outlines how to;

1. Take a rubric containing reportables and our new scale and add this to Teamie
2. Create an assignment to collect in a Google Doc
3. Associate the rubric with created assignment
4. Give targeted feedback based on your reportables

If you want to video version of this guide jump here.

Why are rubrics an important assessment tool?

This is an example of a rubric that we are creating to help give feedback to students. The example shown here illustrates the connection between our five point scale and what is possible for each learning outcome or "I Can Statement."

For instance it is hard for students to demonstrate an exemplary ability in some of the communication skills goals such as writing a claim, so the box is greyed out.

For the rubric to be an effective assessment tool the task itself needs to be designed and written in such as way that it aligns with the learning outcomes we have chosen, thus giving students scope to reach the top levels. The alignment of assessment method such as a selected response, written or performance task to the learning outcome is always crucial in giving students clear opportunities to succeed.

Getting started with Rubrics in Teamie:

You can take the same text as shown above and add this into Teamie to create your own rubric which can be attached to an assignment. Assignments allow you to collect in one or more documents from each student and track attempts, deadlines and send notifications.

There is no magic button where you can import any random rubric in a Google Doc into Teamie as the formatting is always different but the online editor is easy to use.

Firstly, you need to first make an assignment from which you can attach a rubric to as shown below.



You now have the option to either search the rubric bank for ones that colleagues have made. (search by name) or to create your own one from a blank template. Click to create from top right corner.

You will always be able to go back and reuse your rubrics when you next make an assignment.



The following screenshot shows the rubric editor. You begin with one criteria and four levels which you can all adjust. All of the text boxes are editable but when you actually mark the work online you can see the criteria title but need to hover to see the detailed criteria.



To take the original rubric I began by copying the learning goals into the heading and some of the other detail into the descriptor. I then copied the scale descriptors into the boxes as shown below. Once complete there is a clever duplicate button which saves time when adding the next criteria.



Then duplicating allows you to add subsequent criteria but keep the same scales. Some departments might choose to give more specific guidance for each scale specific to assessed learning goals or "I Can Statements" but you can equally keep this the same and simpler for students to use.

Using your rubric to provide feedback on student work:

Once you have made the rubric you can step to open a submission and give feedback. You can open the rubric from the right hand sidebar and you can drag it around the page. Once you click on the level it will automatically save your selection.



You can also leave more precise feedback on each learning outcome by clicking on the add comment option at the end of each learning outcome title. This will save you comment in either text or audio to the sidebar comment stream so students can see. You can hide these comments from students.

Publishing and viewing assessment data from your Markbook

For students to see you final feedback you will need to go back to the assignment submission page and select all and then publish grades for them to be notified of the feedback. A clever trick is to publish these all at once in class and ask students to reflect and add their own learning goals into the comment stream for you to refer back to.

The collated data across multiple assignments that you mark within Teamie is available in your markbook and you can select on one student to see an overview of the year. Eventually you will be able to see a mastery overview of how students are progressing against all of your learning goals for multiple assessments but you might have to wait until next year for this !

The video overview