Image by Christine Rantzi (BY NC SA 2.0)
I learned about #BYOD4L via Twitter and joined in the conversation before finding out exactly what it was: a five-day open course for students and teachers focused on the topic of BYOD for Learning. Its aim to develop the participant’s understanding, knowledge and skills linked to using smart devices for learning and teaching.
My school is moving towards 1:1 devices for all teachers and students from upper primary stage onwards. We began this journey in January 2013 from a blank slate, so it is quite exciting to be so close to implementing our ideas. We trialled a number of different devices in school for learning and teaching and decided that the iPad would be most suitable for our needs. However it wasn’t as easy as going out with the company credit card and purchasing 1600 devices – we have worked closely with different companies and individuals to create a long term strategy for implementation while entirely redesigning our existing IT infrastructure. While it has taken a long time to get to where we are, the school’s digital roadmap is clearly defined and stretches out many years into the future. Fraser Speirs talks with Bradley Chambers on this very topic in their latest Out of School podcast and highlights the need for a “professional plan for implementation”. Recommended listening!
BYOD4L is the first time I’d encountered the pedagogical design COOL FISh (Collaborative Open Online Learning / Focus – Investigate – Share). I need to investigate this further but wonder how this digital pedagogy could add to Curriculum for Excellence and new National qualifications experiences and outcomes.
##Connecting
I’ve recently been paying more attention to my connections and using sites like justunfollow.com and twtrland.com to pro-actively manage the amount of people I link with on Twitter.
##Communication
Yesterday I took part in one of EdTechTeacher’s Winter Webinars. WHY Innovate ? was led by Beth Holland, Don Orth and Daniel Edwards and focused on the iterative development of learning spaces at Hillbrook iLab and Stephen Perse Foundation (also read about their Cabinets of Curiosity !). They used Google Hangouts on Air alongside ChatWing to open up the discussion to more than 15 people at one time while maintaining control of the conversation flow.
##Curating
This week I began to use List.ly . This service allows crowd ranking of web pages – be it articles or apps! I plan to use this with the iPad roll out to staff at my school to build a dynamic list of apps suitable for planning, teaching and learning. Now I just need to work out how to embed it in my Google Site (not public yet!).
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