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New ICT National Curriculum Programme of Study (Very first draft!)

26/10/2012

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An initial first draft of the new National Curriculum programme of study for ICT is now on the BCS Academy of Computing website in PDF format - http://academy.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ict-pos.pdf. Accompanying explanatory notes are here. Note that this draft is not approved by DfE. Enjoy. 
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IWB = I Wouldn't Bother?

23/10/2012

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cat on a number line
Although now ubiquitous in almost every classroom, I can't say I have ever been entirely sold on the value of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) as tools for learning. Although they undoubtedly have great potential in the hands of confident users, they also provide a perfect pretext for a didactically inclined teacher to become even more didactic. The 'bells and whistles' offered by software, such as Smart Notebook, can result in all manner of supposedly interactive activities being inflicted on children - in practice, such activities punctuate long periods of passivity with a few opportunities for chosen children to push on-screen buttons or drag and drop icons or text.  

At best, IWBs can provide visual support for the explanation of complex concepts and allow engaging multimedia resources to be shared by a whole class.  They can provide a focus and a context for dialogic teaching and a way of sharing and modelling ICT skills. At worst, IWBs are expensive equivalents of chalkboards (with the same issues in relation to modelling handwriting and letter formation) and cumbersome throwbacks that are peripheral to the really exciting developments in educational technology, which centre on mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. At a time when, at last, we can realise the personalised potential of one-computer-per-learner, has the IWB got a role to play?

Below are some links to resources and research about interactive whiteboards. One or two make the case for and against, so you can make up your own mind!

  • Tony Poulter's Board with Teaching is a bit of a disaster area design-wise, but the content makes it an excellent starting point.
  • Tim Rudd's research report for Futurelab (PDF file) provides a very valuable summary of findings and issues.
  • Kate Wall, Steve Higgins and Heather Smith produced two significant articles in 2005. ‘The visual helps me understand the complicated things’ focused on pupil perceptions. 'Interactive whiteboards: boon or bandwagon?'  looked critically at the literature and came to some interesting conclusions about interactivity at technical and pedagogic levels.
  • Wood and Ashfield's article focuses on IWBs as tools for 'creative teaching'.
  • Christian Greiffenhagen's article from 2000, 'Out of the office into the school', provides a useful historical perspective on the development of IWBs as educational tools.
  • The Whiteboard Blog is written by an IWB enthusiast and provides links to a wealth of resources. The main IWB makers - Promethean and Smart - support websites which host ready-made resources for their products. Promethean Planet contains ActivInspire files and other resources, such as PowerPoint files, which can be used with any IWB. Smart Exchange allows teachers to share Smart Notebook files and content. TES iboard provides online activities for IWBs - many are free and there is a subscription service which gives access to more activities, planning and a newsletter.

Below are some Smart Notebook 11 files created as part of a time limited task by PGCE (Early Years) students. All  address EYFS or key stage one objectives and illustrate how the IWB can be used to provide visual support for teacher explanations - please take a look. I am sure the students would appreciate your comments.
2d_and_3d_shapes.notebook
File Size: 59 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

heavy_and_light.notebook
File Size: 590 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

non-fiction_text.notebook
File Size: 369 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

number_conservation_eyfs.notebook
File Size: 198 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

one_more_and_one_less.notebook
File Size: 667 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

order_2_digit_numbers.notebook
File Size: 79 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

word_problem_y2_maths.notebook
File Size: 622 kb
File Type: notebook
Download File

photo credit: Mrs eNil via photopin cc
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    Tony Pickford is a tutor and writer on primary education. 


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