Area of strength - eLearning PLD

eLearning PLD

 We had a teacher-only day dedicated to eLearning and the use of iPads in meaningful ways. Our day was facilitated by Innes Kennard, a specialist with years of experience in this area. During the day we mainly used Explain Everything and Book Creator, looking at ways that we could create and use different learning tools for our Can Kids.

Although I have used Explain Everything a lot, it was great to see some different ways of using this app, and AppSmashing to create some really cool stuff! Here are some things that I thought were really cool, and have started creating myself already:

• Being able to 'Lock' images or text within Explain Everything projects so that they can't move
• Using an external voice recorder for instructions, so that the kids don't get confused when there is something already recorded within Explain Everything
• Creating 'Jigsaws' where poems or sentences are mixed up, so the kids have to drag them back in the right order
• Animating images drawn by the kids in Brushes Redux (a super cool paint programme) and then inserted into Explain Everything, where you can record and move your drawings to animate them. Remove the white background of the image first so it is not a box. Lock background to EE, drawn separately form each character, etc. 
• Importing images and files from GoogleDrive
• Using EE to teach concepts like perimeter and area through Geoboard the app. Students will app smash these together as well. 

Below Zoe and I's Nursery Rhyme animation, created using Explain Everything and Brushes:
We had 10 minutes to quickly create something. It was fun.

We spent some time talking about the SAMR model. Innes explained that its not about simply aiming for one level, such as Redefinition, but more about ensuring that your programme covers all areas by developing programmes and experiences that utilise lots of different skills. The activities he got us to do definitely covered all areas.

We also looked at Book Creator and ways of using Comic Strips as reading reinforcement activities. My groups is below:

Since this PLD, I have experimented with different ways of creating Explain Everything projects, jigsaws, and animating poetry. I had fun experimenting with creating a project for my current Food Colouring inquiry, and even discovered that you can insert a web browser into an Explain Everything slide. I set the project up so there is a webpage with information for them to use, as well as a webpage that opens to Youtube and a clip I want them to watch. 

I also used the voice recording idea but found when the kids tried playing it, only some of the iPads actually played the recording. From talking to Lisa, she had had the same issue and worked out that unless Explain Everything is the updated version (or the same version as the iPad that made the project), the sound doesn't work. So I need to make sure to update Explain Everything on all the kids iPads before this will work.

It was great to have such a hands-on day and I left buzzing with ideas. It was really fun and everyone was really engaged. I can't wait to have Innes back again next year, as Jase is working on booking him for some more PLD.