Author: Jenny Lane

Twilight Seminar for Teachers – Technologies Curriculum and Coding in Schools
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Twilight Seminar for Teachers – Technologies Curriculum and Coding in Schools

We had an excellent group of teachers and school leaders for our twilight seminar on the technologies curriculum and coding in schools on the 11 and 15 February 2016. Both nights were fully booked with over 500 teachers attending these events.  I shared my research on the use of technologies in schools and a range of ways to introduce coding and computational thinking.

I was supported by an amazing team of colleagues Ian, Travis, Lauren, Mandy and Karen. A huge thank you to the presenters who flew in from Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne to present at these two events. We had representatives from local ,state and national organisations to provide support for our teachers in WA.

Click here to download the slides from the event: Twilight Coding feb 2016

Dr Jenny Lane presenting her research on technologies in schools

Dr Jenny Lane presenting her research on technologies in schools

Thanks to ECAWA, Digital Careers, CodoDojo, Young ICT Explorers and West Australian Curriculum and Standards Authority for supporting us in this event. We are able to share some great opportunities available to teachers and schools as they introduce the technologies curriculum and the exciting field of coding in their schools.

practical-arduino-coverTynkerscratch2.0Blue-Bot

 

 

 

How to write your first blog post

This is how to get started and create a blog post on edublogs

  1. You will receive an email with an invitation to the blog use this to go to the blog site Http://dtm4260.edublogs.org
  2. Follow the prompts and set up your user name and password. You will be taken to the home page of the blog.
  3. Select the house icon on the top left of the page
  4. Scroll down to dashboard
  5. In the dashboard menu you will see all the functions on the left hand side of the page
  6. Select Posts then select add a new post
  7. Type in a name for your post- make it interesting
  8. If you have prepared your post as a word document- you can cut and paste it to the blog page or type it directly into the blog
  9. Use the formatting tools at the top of the page to make your post easy to read
  10. Add media-all posts need a picture  or icon. You can even add a short video- see the add media box on the top right
  11. NB: Use the categories menu on the right to tick the boxes of the categories that apply to your post. Then select some tags. This is called metadata and makes your post searchable and easy to find
  12. Preview your post and make changes
  13. You can save as a draft to do more work later or
  14. Publish your post–  remember to press publish the blue icon on the bottom right of the page. Your post now comes to me to review and edit before it gets posted on the blog for everyone to read. If you do not have any categories and tags I will not publish your post because all posts need metadata so they can be found on the web. Happy blogging

  15. Have a  cupcake and a coffee to sustain you as you work on this task.

    Time for a coffee

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how to add a new post

Dear Students

There are instructions on how to add a new post on the blackboard site. Please remember to add the categories by selecting the relevant boxes fro your posting found under all categories on the right of the screen. You can also add some tags by selecting from commonly used tags or adding your own

Nb: When you are done  click publish. If you want to continue working select save as a draft. It will place it in your drafts folder and you can update and publish later

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Talking QR Codes

IMG_0002_2Subject: Digital Technologies

Year Level:F-2

Strand:Digital Technologies processes and production skills

Sub strand:Using digital systems

2.4 Identify, explore and use digital systems ( hardware and software components) for personal and classroom needs.

Link to the resource

http://edujen.com/?p=1790

http://vocaroo.com

Cross curriculum priorities and general capabilities

Critical and creative thinking (CCT),Personal and social capability (PSC),Information and Communication Technology (ICT),Literacy (LIT)

Links to other learning areas

English, Science

A classroom activity using this resource

This is a fun way to encourage our  students to use digital technologies tell their stories. A “talking” QR code is a fun activity to engage students young and old. This activity can be used for digital storytelling and to promote literacy. Use talking QR codes to encourage students to create authentic stories and share them with their peers and their families. Students in early childhood settings can tell the story about their artwork or  read a story they have written. Students who are at  pre-reading and prewriting stages can record themselves “reading”  the print written by their teacher. Older students can add a narrative to a project or make their thinking visible by explaining the process they followed to solve a maths problem. Talking QR codes can be used for learning a language or to describe a science experiment. I am sure you can`t wait to get started, the best part is that it is so easy the students can do it themselves. I have selected a very quick free way to do this in your classroom. It works with a computer or any mobile tablet or smart phone.

How to use this resource

You start by creating a recording and linking to it with a quick response code or QR code.

Scan this QR code and hear how to create an audio file
Scan this QR code and hear how to create an audio file
  • You need to record an audio file and store it online which can be accessed via a QR code.
  • To do this activity  you will need access to wifi
  • Go to this site http://vocaroo.com
  • Vocaroo is  easy to use.
  • It starts recording immediately you just have to press stop when you are done.
  • You can listen to your recording and redo it if needed.
  • It gives you a range of options for sharing the recording- select Qr code on the bottom right hand corner
  • You can read the QR code with any QR code application these are free for mobile devices-

Sharing options- click on the bottom right to create a QR code

 

 

 

A new technologies curriculum for Australian Schools

Australian teachers now have a new technologies curriculum for foundation to year ten F-10. This curriculum draws together the subject areas of design and technology and digital technologies. It addresses is a need for all students to become more confident, creative users of technology. Technology is such a vital part of our daily lives and the business world. This new curriculum has two strands

1.) knowledge and understanding

2.)processes and production skills.

There is a focus on systems thinking considers  the interconnected layers or aspects of a whole system before looking at isolated elements. The key factor in systems thinking is that  an action or disruption in one part or element of a system will influence and impact on the other layers. This connects to the cross- curriculum theme of sustainability.

Design thinking and design processes have been introduced  to explore the processes and thinking strategies used by designers as they engage in creative practices. There is a focus on students being actively engaged in authentic design projects which link across all areas of the curriculum. I am looking forward to seeing your responses and how you tackle this complex area of technology in your teaching.

Welcome to the Technologies Curriculum Resources Blog

Dear Teachers and Pre-service Teachers
I am Dr Jenny Lane  @EduJen

Thank you for visiting our community resource blog. We have set this up as a useful resource for teachers and preservice teachers. Technology is an important part of everything we do. We have a new Technologies Curriculum in Australia and it makes sense for us to work together to find and share the best most useful resources to use in our teaching.

I am an enthusiastic blogger. Community blogging is a great way to work together to benefit all of us and most importantly the students we teach. Please use this blog to build  a set of resources and teaching ideas that we can all use as we plan our teaching in the technologies area. I look forward to seeing your postings and comments. All the work in this blog will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Happy blogging
Dr Jenny Lane and the DTM4260 team