Warren Sparrow: education

Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

04 March 2021

Wakelet

I have been using Wakelet recently again and I really think it is awesome!

They have a 9 page official guide to Wakelet that goes from creating an account,

to creating your first collection to amazing ways to use Wakelet.

Click below to get the guide.

#wakelet #distance Learning #remote learning #Education

02 January 2021

Microsoft Edge Top 10 Features

I know that we are using Microsoft Edge to surf the web and do some other things, but have a look at the features you might not be using!

Table of contents

0:00 Vertical Tabs 1:10 Read Aloud and Immersive Reader 3:20 QR code generator 4:28 Collections 5:49 Web Capture (screenshot) 7:20 Profiles 8:40 Privacy Settings for Tracking 9:27 PDF Read Aloud and Ink/Draw on PDF 10:14 Sync Edge extensions and other info 11:14 Dark mode

My personal favourite is the QR Code Generator!!!

#Microsoft #Microsoft Edge #MIEExpert #education #Microsoft Educator Network #Microsoft Edge

31 December 2020

Microsoft Immersive Reader

Although I have covered this before, this is a really incredible feature
which is free and really easy to use!

Immersive Reader can help improve reading comprehension by:

Increasing fluency for English language learners or readers of other languages

Helping to build confidence for emerging readers learning to read at higher levels

Offering text decoding solutions for students with learning differences such as dyslexia

Provided translation of words, or the entire text into over 60 languages (over 40 of them can be read aloud)

Check out this free course to learn about Immersive Reader and how it can be used in classrooms and schools: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderMEC

✅ Introduction to Immersive Reader: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderPP

✅ Immersive Reader support: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderSOC

✅ More Immersive Reader video content: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderPlaylist

✅ Microsoft Education webinars: https://aka.ms/MicrosoftEDUwebinars

✅ Immersive Reader interactive guides: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderInterac...

✅ Take Immersive Reader into your class: https://aka.ms/ImmersiveReaderTakeitT...

✅ Get connected with Microsoft Store trainers for Remote Learning Support: https://aka.ms/MicrosoftStoreEDUTraining

#education #Microsoft #MIEExpert #TeachersMatter #ImmersiveReader

28 July 2020

New Teams features add creative ways to engage students

Microsoft have once again made huge changes to Teams.

There are so many new features that have been added or enhanced.

There is the Together Mode which adds all the participants in a shared background.

They have introduced Chat bubbles which will float the messages from the bottom

of the screen for everyone to see and Teams now support 1000 participants in a single chat.

Read the whole article here

#Microsoft #Microsoft Education #Microsoft Teams #Distance Learning #MicrosoftEDU

03 July 2020

New Teams Feature

This is a new feature that i have really been looking forward to and should be available very soon

Students can't join Microsoft Teams meetings unattended

is now at General Availability!

The other thing is that students will only be able to chat when a teacher is

present in the meeting.

Thank you Microsoft!!

#Microsoft #Microsoft Education #Microsoft Teams #Distance Learning

18 May 2020

Microsoft Digital Literacy 2

This is the next module of the Digital Literacy.

In this learning path, you will become familiar with the

concept of the internet and how to access it using a web

browser. In addition, learn how to use search engines effectively

and how to evaluate the results.

#Microsoft #Microsoft Education #Microsoft Teams #Distance Learning

15 May 2020

Microsoft Teams Raise your hand

I am absolutely loving the new raise your hand in Microsoft Teams.

Day 1 and I have already found it so useful.

I have more control over the class and I can now unmute the person

I would like to talk to or I can chat to them in a private message.

Brilliant !!

#Microsoft #Microsoft Education #Microsoft Teams #Distance Learning

Microsoft Digital Literacy

Microsoft Digital Literacy

I know that there are so many different courses to help with digital literacy.

So many of them are free, but then you have to pay for the certificate, etc.

Try this one to prove your skills. This has been updated for Windows 10!

Quick and easy and there is an online test to take.

#Microsoft #Microsoft Education #Microsoft Teams #Distance Learning

05 April 2020

Microsoft Teams Overview

Microsoft Teams Chat

This is a short video that I made to show you what you could

do in a Microsoft Chat

#Microsoft #Microsoft Teams #teaching #distance Learning #home learning #remote learning

01 April 2020

Microsoft Teams Create an Assignment

17 July 2019

Project Gutenberg

This is really incredible and a brilliant resource for any

teacher / person that needs free e books. You can download

this in either Kindle, EPUB, online or offline formats.

There are over 50 000 books available!

Brilliant!!

Click here

#Project Gutenberg #Education

16 July 2019

Duolingo

Although I have posted this before, more than 3 years ago,

I am still using this app and am more impressed than ever with this!

My family are all learning a different language, some for extra work in

their GCSE second language or just for fun.

You can choose from a multitude of different languages to learn.
It is very easy to use and you can go at your own pace.
My wife is now almost fluent in Italian!!

Click here for the app

15 July 2019

Announcing E2 2020

This looks absolutely amazing!! Having been to this event before in
Cape Town and Seattle, I know that this will be awesome!!!

Click here for more information about the event and how you could get there!

#MIEExpert #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech #MIEExpert #Education

21 June 2019

Microsoft 365 Roadmap: What's next?

#MIEExpert #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech #MIEExpert #Education, #O365 #Microsoft

20 June 2019

Hack the Classroom ISTE 2019

The Hack is back! Hack the Classroom will be streaming live on the
Microsoft Education Facebook channel from ISTE in Philadelphia
Tuesday, June 25th from 6:15 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. EST!
After the Facebook event, we’ll be switching over to Twitter around 7:10 p.m. EST
for a live Q&A with our presenters and studio audience.

18 June 2019

How to use Office 365 as your new free VLE in 3 easy steps

I have been looking at how to use Office 365 as a VLE and this guide
is a good start to show you what you can do with O365.

Click here to open the 4 page pdf.

#MIEExpert #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech #MIEExpert #education

25 March 2018

Let’s get serious about Climate change

This is most probably one of the hottest topics at the moment...

About three months ago, I finished editing 17 videos about the SDG’s.

The unusual thing about this group of videos is not that they are all

teachers who recorded the videos, but the truly amazing thing is that

the teachers are from various countries from around the world who all

met at the same place to record the videos. Although there were language

barriers as not everyone spoke a common language, we produced a video

on each of the SDG’s.

(The videos can be seen at http://wsparrow.blogspot.co.uk/p/sdg.html)

My philosophy is that one person can make a difference. Regardless of

how big or small that difference is, it can start with you and me. The beauty

behind this is if you make a small difference to one person, and that one

person makes a difference to another person, exponentially, very soon

it will be a huge difference.

One of the group members who I worked with in creating the SDG’s,

was Koen Timmers. He is one of my greatest inspirational and

innovative teachers that I know. Last year he created a global project

called Climate Action project. (https://www.climate-action.info)

This was a digital group project where 250 schools in 69 countries

worked together to learn about climate change. The project ran over

5 weeks and each week the students conducted research, brainstorms

and discussed various ideas before presenting their finding via videos

or online presentations. This was a brilliant student centred approach

where students where learning from each other from various parts of the

world.

(Koen Timmers has once again created another global project that starts

in April concentrating on SDG 4, 6, 7 and 11 and if you are interested,

you can join at http://bit.ly/climatechange2018)

For me, I decided to allow my students a bit more free reign and allowed

them to create videos about their own topics. The students created videos

about anything that they felt strongly about. The videos in essence gave the

students a voice to be heard, a video that allowed them to give their own

views and opinions. Although I gave them time to research their topics,

this was not based on facts, but more about feelings or impressions that

they wanted to convey to the world.

The videos that the students created covered poverty, gender equality,

health, peace, but the surprise to me was that the largest number of

videos that the students created was about climate change. Is this a

sign of the times that even though I had not given the students a specific

task, climate change came through as the most featured topic?

There are incredible resources that you can find online that you can do

easily with your class and there are global projects that involve

thousands of students and cover many continents.

The choice you need to make is an easy one.
How are you going to make a difference?

How are you going to take action against climate change?

#TeachersMatter #MIEExpert #Education #RubinWorldEDU

10 March 2018

Micro:bit Create a beating heart

Have a look at the different parts of the Micro:bit

Go to http://microbit.org and click on Let's Code.

Step 1

Create a beating heart

Watch the video below to see how to do this.

#MIEExpert #MSFTEdu #technology #edtech #MIEExpert #TeachersMatter #coding

23 February 2018

Health, happiness and well-being

Regardless of where you are in the world, children have very similar dreams and aspirations. I love walking into kindergarten classes and seeing the passion and enthusiasm that the children show when they are asked what they would like to do when they are older. Unfortunately not everyone gets their fairy tale in real life.

The catch for educators is to know the students in your class well enough to give them the support they need so that they can turn their dreams into reality. You might not always understand the complexity of the student's situation, but the student needs to feel that they can confide in you without feeling that you are judging them.

I love enrichment clubs where you are able to get to know the children on a more one to one basis outside of a formal education setting. I especially like to step back and allow the students to take control of their own learning during this time, allowing them to choose their own topics and do something that they feel is important to them.

With my one enrichment group of 11 year old's, they decided to make a video about healthy eating. Even after completing the video, they took the project further when they decided to start a campaign to convert the tuckshop in our school so that it would only sell what was approved by the heart foundation. Although it took a little while, they were victorious in the end. The indomitable spirit of this group of 11 year old’s was inspiring!

One of the great things about being an ICT teacher is that you have a little bit of flexibility with what you are producing, which also allows more creativity in my classes. With the new software / devices / apps there is always the option of creating something new and inspirational which can be shared with other schools or countries.

On the other side of this, which is equally as important is your own well-being. When you are feeling down, exhausted, sick, how are you expected to be teaching inspirational lessons?

There are little tricks that I try and do with my class where I can distress / relax at the same time as them. One of these is in the morning to have quiet time and reflect on the day ahead. I find that we all need timeout from technology during the day, oops I should never be saying this as an ICT teacher …. Playing soccer, hand tennis or table tennis not only gets you active, but it also creates a bond with your students.

Being a teacher is about having relationships and to me is more important than teaching a curriculum that they might forget about in 10 years time. This is about a connection, allowing the student to feel that they are important, that they matter and that you care.

With ICT, students need to be given a voice to share what they think is important. With the Internet there are so many global initiatives that they can be part of. Fairly often the students come across other students with the same difficulties living half way across the world. So often students feel that they are the only ones with a problem and being able to share their feelings with others seems to make them feel more human and that they are not alone.

Being there, actively listening, being supportive and knowing the students you teach can go a far helping them to believe in the fairy tale that is their life.

#TeachersMatter #MIEExpert #Education #RubinWorldEDU