How Can We Teach Coding Throughout The Primary School?

After Reading this article by Marc Scott entitled: Kids Can't Use Computers... And why It Should Worry Tree House TechYou, its caused me to sit up and think a little bit about the state of what computing I've really taught and how to quantify it. An excerpt:

Windows 7 and MacOSX are great operating systems. They’re easy to use, require almost no configuration, include or provide easy access to all needed drivers, and generally ‘just work’. It’s fantastic that everyone from the smallest child to the eldest grandparent can now use a computer with absolute minimal technical literacy, but its also a disaster. It didn’t used to be like this. Using an OS used to be hard work. When things went wrong you had to dive in and get dirty to fix things. You learned about file systems and registry settings and drivers for your hardware. Not any more.

According to Ian Livingstone (and any teacher who teaches ICT) there are all manner of abilities, experiences and modes of technology that children bring to school. They know how all the peripherals work and if they don't they soon learn from their peers of it's basic operation. They are expert consumers of technology as we once were. But this is the key aspect isn't it? They use technology but they don't know why or even how it really works.

This cauldron of one or two aspects of technology though that has been bubbling away for some time now and that is something akin, if you will, to consumerist coding. A platform of any kind that allows the average person to pick it up and build. This filtering and approachability, much like any aspect of tech, reaches out to inquisitive minds and especially kids. This is where it's our job turn these consumers into creators and support them in designing and building something fun and meaningful for them - much like Marc is atributing to.

In January 2012, I think Neil Lynch (an ex-colleague for ICT in Vietnam) and I had been teaching coding in various forms to primary aged children for about 6 -7 years and it was a key moment (it wasn't really a key moment but it's hit an apex somewhere) when Mayor Bloomberg announced his new year's resolution was to learn to code. In that time I think we've both been collecting links and resources to allow our classes to create with code. And, in that time our bookmarks folders have been overflowing.

Mayor Bloomberg

Much like yours I am sure, my bookmarks folder for links to coding aimed squarely at the 7 -12 age range is now full to bursting and there needs to be some kind of scaffolding within this menagerie of Apps, kits and platforms so that we, as tech leaders, can cherry pick and run a series of lessons and projects. In this collection I am going to outline a series of resources and within that try to stick to my old ethos of 'free for all'. Although, I am of the opinion that supporting those who create these amazing applications deserve recompense and I, personally don't mind forking out for a paid service, when it comes to offering this to parents and kids free is usually a healthy way forward. More-to-the-point, your school may not be anywhere near as well resourced as others, say, in the international community or after school club where class numbers are lower and there is an expectation that additional payments are the norm.

I will apologise up front that some things are paid for and my ethos that 'free is sometimes better' and I'm staunchly in favour of Open Source but where we sometimes need a 'straight out of the box' lay persons piece of sotware we have to pay. And pay through the nose and more often by each user. But, where possible I have stuck to cross-platform variants as we need to set homework tasks and not everyone is stuck in the Microsoft rut. Also, I'd like to think that if you're reading this then you too are of a broad mind and don't want to repeat the atrocities handed to the curriculum way back when. But I digress...

So, to begin.

Infants or Ages 5-7.

This is where I'd generally start with the logical processes of instructions and directions, then on to basic loops and repeats and then onto 'if this', 'then that' type understanding where remote control within code really turns heads. I would begin with mini robots (like these Bee-Bots and the accompanying Apps both for windows and iOS) first then progressing to simple in-game situations and backed up with role-play.

A nice idea here is using mini mobile phones (such as these from the same company. And no I'm not sponsored!) and something like Facetime or Google Hangouts so, while you're on the 1st of second floor of your building (or back in the classroom - best if you can see the outbound group below and them not in ear-shot) then you can direct your children around the a series of obstacles (P.E. Barrels, hoops, quoits etc) in the playground from up above. If though, you're a single floor building then, as long as you're connected in some way you can communicate via iMessage/ Chat on the iPads/ iPod Touch. The great thing about this is it can be turned into an amazing treasure hunt via the IWB. The Facetime chat (iPad/ iPod/ tablet screen can be displayed via Apple TV or AirServer or even ChromeCast (if you're on Android) if you have them already onto the IWB allowing the whole class to mark their preemptive directions correct or not. Corrections can be offered over WiFi.

The purpose of this is to talk about directions and instructions with 5-7 Year olds. The video allows you and your assistant (who is with the group outside the classroom) to hold up the 'Left, 'Right', 'Back' and 'Forward' cards (that you can actually buy along with the Bee-bots) so that the children in the classroom know what you are doing and what they are marking. Did they take the correct turn? etc.

This leads onto directions with the Bee-Bots or Pixie bots (if you have these still?). The great thing about the Bee-Bots is that this 'Remote-ness' of letting the robots 'go' and following their instructions can be incorporated into other areas of the curriculum with ease. And, the maps for the children can be made into anything. And I mean anything. Take a look at what we made with them this year...

Onwards and upwards. To take this a bit further within Reception and Year 1 we can create some abstraction to it is to offer some free and paid for services that allow the children to use the computer or iPads and actually input commands and program a sequence. I've seen a great way to make the children think about what they're doing before they run the program and doing the 'old hit 'n' miss dance'. Use the language 'Command' and 'Run' by wearing 'Commander' and 'Programmer' hats. It alleviated a lot of tension in the end and promoted discussion especially where the heavy-handed boys are concerned. Trouble is in a couple of 45 min. lessons it's a bit of a chore to get them to adhere to bringing them along. But I'm sure you'd have another solution - coloured/ traffic light fans might work I suppose.

1. Tizzy's Toybox is aeons old and still allows kids to control the clowns (any kids in your class afraid of clowns? Head on to the next offering) to collect the fruits from the garden. Simple and differentiated for Reception age. It allows kids to add the blocks for Tizzy to water the strawberries in different squares.

Charlie Chimps Modelling Party2. Charlie Chimps Modelling Party is a great place to get some programming done. It's actually a favourite of mine and the kids too. There are settings galore (a royal pain if you teach lessons back to back) so the groups can be differentiated and you can assess easily with a simple traffic light system - even on large numbers of students.

3. If you have students that struggle with these two options then NGFL make a series of flash animations that, I have to say for $50 (35UKP) for a full suite of resources not just EYFS, allow the children to use and record instructions (You'll need an assistant for this one) by sailing a boat. It's not strictly programming as it goes on instruction at a time. But this offers a solid stepping stone to the Bee-Bots (as these CAN work one step at a time!

The great thing about these two apps is that they are easily adapted with key questioning and honing of skills as a whole class. This is easily a term's work and I used to run this in the term running up to Easter and then just after Easter as a refresher. Much to the chagrin of my assistants! All good fun though.

Next, Year 1. As always a refresher. We found that running the above sessions were, not only re-using a great resource and was fun, but as the children are that much more mature are able to cope with turns. Some of you might say that directions are kind of lost on Reception aged children and certainly this conversation has been raised many times with my assistants and class teachers. I would like to point out that when you're teaching in Asia in an international school setting, I find their general ability to grasp these concepts is several stages higher than that of similar aged childen back home.

An aside here: I've seen many children pick up the Bee-Bot and, while following the track they have made with the obstacle course and pieces pictured below, have programmed the directions into it and set it off without any mistakes. This was at the end of the instructions unit and the children were very familiar with the robots. But, they do get it. And with squeals of joy when it works!

iOS now has a plethora of simple programming apps for children to have a go at in much the same vein as the Bee-Bots above. Of course TTS make their own but these are good free and paid for options. I have used these and below I offer a quick review of how I rate them in terms of classroom use and not personal, sit with your own child type of view.

1. Daisy the Dino:Daisy the Dinosaur

Game -like and very much with the children in control. Easy to assess as you can grade the kids based on where they are at. Then, on the IWB, the kids, after one session, can't complain with who they're grouped with. I would do this in pairs (if you have the devices in these kinds of numbers) else make it a bit of a competition on your tables in your classrooms. The controls are much like Tizzy and Charlie Chimp. They nice thing about this is that the controls also mimic Scratch and it's brethren: Hopscotch, Kodu (to an extent), Bloxer (have I made this one up?) and design blocks. Also, later on I use Sploder as a homework task

2. Hopscotch:Hopscotch Visual Programming

A great app. A great introduction to the way Scratch works and in simple to speak syntax. This is the killer aspect about this mode of programming is that you can speak the code in simple to understand English. Hopscotch goes a little further by kind of reducing the options and making it somewhat more accessible to younger audiences. It also adds friendly sprites much like Moshi Monsters. A differentiator too for Year 3 and Year 4 classes for those kids who can't quite grasp the abstract-ness of it all.

So, Year and Year 2 depending on where you want to introduce programming. Scratch as we all know is great in that you can make pre-made templates of any size and proportion for short focused tasks. At this stage, making things move and paint on the IWB in large denominations causes side splitting hilarity. Especially if a flashing cat is doing it on its own no less. It enthralls the class immediately.

Where I've fallen down in the past is allowing them to blast away and dragging and dropping and seeing what they come up with. I find this has mixed results. We've all read about the teacher who says "Allow them to discover the controls. They teach themselves!" This is code for something I'd rather not repeat here but when unleashing them on this automated paint-a-thon. Give them a guide sheet, video or pictorial. They may only look at it twice but there will be more kids thankful for it then you realise.

The lovely thing about this is that it differentiates very, very easily. You're in control.

Alternatives to this are: LOGO, Star LogoTNG (not really suitable for Year 1) and on iOS there is Hopscotch, Move the turtle (reviewed here by Wired Magazine's Geek Dad) and Kodable (Pro version too).

LOGO (built in 1967). LOGO is fine for simple shapes, directions, repeats (complex shapes) and a history lesson of when we moved from green (orange?) screens and beyond CRT but by comparison to the Scratch introduction and subsequent follow-ons it doesn't hold a candle to anything any more. Sorry LOGO. In my day it was the bee's knees and me made all sorts of things like this and this and, even music. Nostalgia. But, there is a iOS app for it to carry on if you so wish. Available here. It's actually not too bad.

3. Kodable is a great way to mix and match with Daisy the Dino in terms of game style learning and Kodableabstract programming (that moment of 'let it run' that sometimes kids don't get). Kodable is also of the Tizzy's Toy box style that can reassure the children where the program runs from left to right instead of front-facing like the TTS Bee-Bot and the lesson-ruining moment when the robot is facing you and you need to re-teach left and right all over again. Kodable is geared towards teachers too with a helpful guides and resources that get you started. The only thing I didn't like about it is the App's polish. I'm sorry guys but unshaded elements and standard gradients give it a basic Flash game feel. As a classroom app for 5- 7 year olds though, purchase.

4. As a bit of fun and ending with some game elements I love Tom and Jerry's Trap-o-Matic a gentle nod to programming and can also reverse the transition and start your topic off with this as the WOW! factor.

On to Juniors and Years 3 to 5

I'm going to leave Year 6 as a separate group as I tend to find that the ranges in mathematical ability and scope are far reaching where kids are capable of regular Year 8 and 9 levels in a few cases. What this means is that your differentiation can be off the scale especially if you have SEN, ESL or you're part of an inclusion programme. In which case I've found in the past that spending a few hours over a few weeks with my assistants teaching them how to code simply

Within the Year 3 to 5 age range

At this stage I think it's apt to think about mid-range LEGO programming and Pro-Bots where respectively you can build your robot and run a mechanism and with Pro-Bots you can make your mechanism draw with a Berol marker akin to LOGO commands on large A1 sheets of paper. The great thing about the Pro-bots is that the software, as with the Bee-Bots, is pretty robust and this allows you to download the instructions to the pro-bots and run the program.

The big downside to these are the costs involved. LEGO education packs are astronomical in price and the Pro-Bots' batteries whittle down in a matter of sessions. Get these batteries from SONY if you're serious about these kits. Regular rechargeables don't cut it where classes amd kids are concerned.

As a fun way to keep the programming and instructional aspects going at home and to keep in touch with my game-based methodology are these two gems:

1. Light bot (light bot has been around ages both online and now on iOS as a paid for and free version). It's a bit of a cheek to be asked to pay for this in my opinion as it's been around for so long. But then, hey so's Sonic and SEGA are still milking that cow even if emulators do just as good a job.

Light bot is great in that the commands are simple, the character approachable. The only downside is that the jumps in ability from stage to stage can be somewhat erratic. But, then that's half the fun. Send the links to parents and have a show and tell after the weekend.

TIP: if you're sending SWF games home as links. Remove the adds like this tutorial. Else you could have irate parents knowking onyour door come Monday!

2. Differentiation on this theme for the less able is to offer the classes an introduction with another olde favourite: Colin's Coffee. It's simple, effective and has variables within a very easy to understand theme: making coffee. A three step process of design, process and output and easy relay to whole-class or individuals who need support. It does cost though and is part of the simulation series of NGFL. As above it's about $50 a year. Worth it though especially for the Year 5 RPG game resources alone, i think.

3. Crystal ICT (Rainforest V2). Some people may groan at this and others may say it's a simulation rather than actually programming/ computer science. Well, yes, I agree with you all and it's a valid point but my goal here is to offer a broad cohort of children a chance to access and excel at programming hence the scaffolding in place.

Crystal ICT and the similar variants offer in-game (instant feedback) environments and it packs in several options not just the simulation but LOGO in a graphical format that you can set from teacher options. It's a touch expensive as a site license but per child is relatively cheap.

At this stage I like to keep things very jokey and fun. It's important not to ostrecise the girls in this arena and I feel that the slew of robots and their ilk turn the girls against coding in their droves.

So, we like to create scripts for the children to animate characters over a pre-made mp3. The end result is the Cake or Death lego animation sequence from Thorn2200. Now, a word of warning here and a disclaimer: We don't mention Eddie Izzard, YouTube or anything related. We also have a separate clip and script ready made for the kids and we tell all parents that we are doing this well ahead of time. All we use is the stand alone film and .mp3 rip of the script. This so that they don't go off watching material for a more mature audience.

The parents find this hilarious as do we and the kids. The end product is a coded animation of their making that uses the sequential purple blocks text and the blue movement blocks.

The project homework that lasts 3 weeks is something we call "Boom Chikka Chikka Boom" and is an animation of their vocal performance. Like this:

4. Towards the end of Year 3 we introduce 3D game making in Kodu. It's very simple and free. This is only a taster for the following year and nothing is assessed. The reason for this is to show that there are many elements to coding. It isn't all pretty blocks and this scratches the itch for something a little more concrete. What we do is purchase XBOX controllers so that they can input commands with something other than the keyboard and mouse. It's also a promotion for after school Game making club to get those who are serious about learning coding to create with other like-minded children.

By the end of this year the children should be able to tell you about a sequence of events where they may not be ale to use the terminology of "if this then that" but in their own words explain a process of making things happen with keys and buttons. They should also go so far as to explain by how much which, in essence, is the beginning of variables.

With the release of iOS Scratch clones and to enhance the children's understanding of events in their creations I would now offer the Dynamic Art app. It's in need of a few tweeks here and there but once Dynamic Art (Scratch Clone)the children are familiar with the way that Scratch works in class then they can revise their learning in Year 2 and 3 with this app. It's free and paid for.

Year 4

Now the real fun begins. In the past we've touched on sequencing text, colours being effected by hitting other colours and sprites and now we are ready to go further with true control.

In Year 4 we like to mix and match the 3-D and 2-D with Kodu and Scratch. 3-D is optional for lunchtimes whereby they replicate their learning of the Pacman in 3-D. It's a but like Wolfenstein minus the gore. We set them off with a simple maze building series and then as they understand the walls' colours are the parameters and, also, the next level triggers this is where we introduce broadcasting - a very abstract event to a 8 and 9 year old child. We role play this first by pretending to telephone one another and telling them to do silly rhings. But, it's a very big hurdle to traverse especially as the next level in Year 5 is making a platform and/ or side scroller.

This year though, I am very interested in getting more children on board with this abstractness by utelising Makey Makey. This, I feel, would help hugely in allowing children to understand how the inputs really work. And they make them as you can see in this video.

The next stage, if we had the staff to help out with would be to use the Kinect and build some games where there is an Augmented Reality element to it. But, I feel this is some way off yet.

Game homework I set for the parents to help out with their kids at home is a game called Robozzle. It uses functions as repeaters and it promotes the thinking of parentheses in mathematics. A great game but still a little too boy-ish for my liking.

Makey Makey

Year 5

Year 5 is by far the busiest year in ICT and it's where I like to really push kids with their thinking. We run 4 major projects (Imaging, Media, Presenting and Investigating and Control leaving modelling to Year 6) interspersed with in-class projects too. I usually set a homework task with each project so that by Christmas they are usually prepared for a coding project. In Year 5 they are expected to finish any projects at home so it's quite important to have a cross-platform application at hand -this is why Scratch is so handy.

At this level the children must utilise the broadcast to both influence sprites and the stage. They must also add scores to their games and make the screen scroll along the X-axis. It's put together piece by piece with each 40 minute session offering short focused tasks on scores and variables. What's surprising to me is that when you show the children a finished game and they see th ecode blocks for the first time they all gasp in horror. But, by session 3 or 4 they are reading through the code like they are born programmers. As they understadn the blocks more fluently, they should by now be able, in part at least, understand how the green and red blocks work together.

In this year group we also demonstrate what the code looks like as they have to be familiar with this in their Presenting and Investigating topic through website building.

To accomplish this we spend two weeks on RoboMind (free to begin and $15 per seat. For education it's $1 per child) that allows the children to compliment their understanding of AND, OR and NOT that they had to understand via the various inputs form bradcasts etc. Robomind is good in that it is differentiated by the remote control panel as seen here:

As you can see in the panel on the left the code looks a lot like C++ and works in the way that we have been teaching throughout the year groups - via a LOGO-esque manner. RoboMind really offers you an avenue to teach to a audience who want to progress in this manner. And, more importantly, it allows you as a teacher to manage your classes with true differentiation. Top level ICT children can progress with this more 'Pure' coding environment wile your less able progress with Scratch and KODU and all the time you can set homework as they are all Cross-Platform.

In the coming year groups:

Years 6 and 7 I will write about what's online and newer with things like Kidsruby, Codeacademy and HTML via Mozilla Thimble and compile a list of all the links in this article. Also, these past few years I haven't had the pleasure of running an after school club with NXT let alone classes. It's a shame really but it's so expensive that we had to purchase other key pieces of kit like iPads and their apps. Soon though it'll be back on the radar.

iPads in Education: Reception/ EYFS ICT Review 2011/ 2012

We are coming to the end of another Year at your school. The ICT dept. is gaining strength and is asiPad with Children's Book impermanent as ever: we are to become facilitators instead of discrete ICT teachers (albeit our new guy is 'front loading' skills for me to transfer in cross curricular lessons).

The problem we both face now is that the Reception children are demons on the iPads. They have been utterly sublime all the way to the Easter break. We have tackled some really tricky clusters of skills such as in-app camera work (MadPad and Puppet Pals) and other combinations such as animation using imports of various kinds via DoInk.

While these successes are great on their own and sharing the glorious depth a 5 year old has had to go to to achieve this - its not till we switch to a desktop that we see that the skills are so far removed from each other I am now trying to fast-track our classes in readiness for Year 1.

By Year 1 my set baseline is that they should be able to: Log in unaided (Ctrl + Alt+ Del), find a folder, open an application either from the folder or from the programs menu, use the application from a demo and then explore the application's buttons (lets take MS Paint or Purple Mash as a picture cue here). I have to say that the children just fail at the middle parts of that list. But it's not their fault.

There are many pluses that I will come to in a moment but the alien world these children now find themselves in is quite scary for me and them. Once articulate boys who are very versed in the use of the iPad and very much able to laud their abilities like some champion athlete are dumbfounded by the use of a rigid menu structure and a set of hard, fast rules that govern Microsoft (Linux and Mac to a similar degree) applications. This is a steep learning curve. One boy is almost mute by what he is new to.

The children now have to travel to the ICT suite (up a flight of stairs and some way down the school. Sometimes across a bridge!) where I once used to arrive in their classroom with a iPads set out or for them to gather from the trolley (tool chest). They would come to the carpet and see what new app I had for them this week or how we were going to take last week's introduction further. We would demo, talk, explore and revisit in a very fluid manner that was social and very mobile. Children are paired and in small huddles sharing advice like an infant notice board. This is now very different. I could almost play the theme tune to 2001 Aspace Odyssey and all would fit into place.

They now have a terminal to sit at in a big ICT suite that isn't mobile by any sense and they have only two people to share their learning with or lean on for advice before our wonderful Learning Assistants or I arrive as surrogate triage and apply TLC via Ctrl +Z. I feel for them.

They now have a mouse. Not the thing that 'eeks' and 'squeaks' and certainly isn't call Jerry. It's green and its best used with a thumb. Apparently. I've never had so many children use a mouse with a thumb in the near 8 years as an ICT leader. Every time I revert their hand position so that they use the mini-mice correctly that as soon I turn around it's back to a trigger position with the mouse sideways and the cable pointing left.

The mouse is peculiar to them. The remoteness of the gestures in relation to the screen and indeed the cursor, has at least 10-15% of the children looking at the mouse like a learner in a car checking the gear leaver by looking down (right before they have a prang). The problem is that this remoteness has a knock-on effect: Flash-based activities are forever being right-clicked leaving the child lost for words as to why its asking them do they either want some kind of hardware acceleration altered or grant access to the web cam or microphone. Alternatively it will just zoom in to 800% via right click and leave the eye of a cartoon Monkey blinking repeatedly at them. When you're 5, got your headphones on and seemingly in the jungle; to be 3cm away from the cornea of an Orangutan I too would wonder what this mouse is doing for my education.

What I find the most difficult is the change for my own teaching. Last week I set up videos for the children to watch and follow as I usually do for all other year groups. My own displacement was as plain as the nose on my face as I had completely overreached my audience. The video was set up for them and in my thinking, my experience, the deftness of their ability of using an iPad and that they are term 3 Reception, I thought that they could switch a window and play a video return to attempt the task. I cannot explain the look on their faces - imagine they'd asked for a pony and I gave them a goldfish. Without a bowl. You're someway close.

iTunes EulaIt's not as if they don't use a desktop in their classrooms - they can if they elect to as part of their child based learning it's just that the iPad is the all singing all dancing poster boy of Infant ICT. And therefore they don't opt to use it. It's what I have installed, championed even and I must re-evaluate its use in Reception. It's great, it's fantastic but the desktop, as with laptops still have a very firm place in young educational technology and for a log while yet.

I think we (read the tweets) have gotten carried away with the plethora of opportunity the iPad offers. I mean, its a complete device for Infant ICT. It's cartoon, a book that speaks, it has two cameras, records voice, dictates, apps galore, games, creativity (for the nay sayers drop: me a line I'll set you right!) and above all it is tactile. This combination is a 5 year old's dream.

Yes, there are issues with a device without a proper file system and walled garden of an ecosystem whose Eula can change at any time (especially where app purchases for schools are concerned) but this week has taught me something: it's not the be all and end all. And those of you who come across this transition will know what I'm talking about. Depth, breadth and balance is going to be mantra next year as we move into the new territory of facilitation.

iPad in the Reception Classrooom. EYFS

This is a snippet of the latest use of the iPad in Reception.

The children have used the app called MadPad that essentially turn the iPad into a musical instrument via video buttons.

This was a two part lesson - the first being to get to know the mad pad app and record percussion.

Then the second to import other children's percussion into new set of buttons.

They had to review what was good sound and what was poor sound. They also had to make sure we could see the instrument being played. 

The result was a mixed bag really but the children understood immediately that they could use Johnny's hammer sound as it was the best and he was from another class. Collaborative effects next time where we chose who we want to send our sounds to. 

Baby steps as they say as this is only really the end of the first half term.

Next up, drawing and painting with a stylus.

iPads in the classroom: Enhancing ICT in Early Years

This year there has been a huge change in the perception of ICT in the classroom and it is undoubtedly down to the iPad.

Let's take the notion of purchasing one application for a class set of computers - so that's per set not per seat. This is the one thing that already attracts me to the device. The fact you can purchase books fro school that not only are stand alone books but also have games, spoken word and animation all built in make the world of reading a completely new entity. So, I have set about completing a plan that I can edit when I have to install more or a project of similar standing.

Research

There are several methods to the research. Most to do with Android and how I would cope with the user on an iPad, the 'viewpoint' of the child - if its not an iPad then its not worth the money that was spent on it. The mentioning of the word gets the children into a chattering frenzy.

So I looked about and found these key snippets of research that swayed me.

Via Tom Barrett at edte.ch...

 

Since March I have been running this little survey that is a limited comparison between the current preferences between Apple iPads in the classroom or Android Tablets. It obviously doesn’t take into account the other platforms that are on offer such as Windows machines.

There has been a fantastic response with over 1000 responses submitted and counting!

From conversation with colleagues on Twitter it seems that many people are heading towards Apple products due to the maturity of the App store and the sheer range of Apps that is available.

It would seem from these results that most educators are opting for the iPads over tablets running Android operating systems.

more...

A new crop of Android-based tablets is targeting the educational market, striving to capture a piece of a niche sector spearheaded by the iPad.

Toronto-based mySpark plans to sell its Android-powered tablets from $200 to $350 this spring. The two 10-inch devices are aimed at the college market and will let students buy digital textbooks, sync their school calendars, collaborate via instant messaging and run apps.

The devices, equipped with a dual-core 1-gigahertz chip with graphics and media acceleration, comes with a stylus to let students write and take notes directly on the screen. In addition, files will fully be backed on a cloud server for safety if the tablet gets lost.

"Everybody is learning how to use the digital form," said Adrian Hartog, mySpark's chief executive. "We're really trying to provide a comprehensive solution for students."

The startup is facing a healthy competition from niche educational tablet developers, such as Santa Clara, Calif.-based Kno, which developed a dual-screen tablet that features a pair of 14.1-inch displays. Kno is expected to sell its tablet in mid-April for $900.

 And finally over at the Guardian...

Teachers at Ysgol Glannau Gwaun, a primary in Fishguard with stunning views across Cardigan Bay, are convinced their pupils are benefiting from their iPads and iPods.

The school invested in 16 iPads and 20 iPods specifically to improve literacy skills among its 247 pupils, thinking the boys especially might react positively to the technology. Irwyn Wilcox, the headteacher, said: "We were looking to beef up technology and find ways of engaging the pupils in different ways. I'm convinced it's having an impact."

It has been a steep learning curve for the teachers. "This time last year I'd probably not have been sure what an iPad was," said Wilcox.

Orders

Ordering the kit:

People

Training

Route map

Applications

Sugar OS - Linux for EYFS and Key Stage 1 ICT

Sugar OS and OLPC

OLPC

The project that kicked off a long time back (I think 2001-2?) was heralded as a large and complex operation that would encompass many governments, organisations and operatives. Since the many newspaper, blog and newsfeed stories that have chronicled the progress of the project it seems as though the OLPC has taken a slightly different track in it’s approach and direction. This sidestep is part and parcel due to Walter Bender leading a team with the OS rather than the hardware.

Sugar, the name for the OS that OLPC uses is a flavour of the Fedora Linux family and is also available through Debian, Ubuntu and, as I’m about to chat about, the live USB version. Although, I’m cheating a little, as I’ve actually got it through VirtualBox as as a separate installer. The idea is that I would like to use it in class as a live USB for the smaller children in another computing environment that windows for various reasons that i’ll come to ina moment. The live USB version, I would assume, is very similar in use as the main with some elements missing – but for this post I’m sure this won’t matter as the crux of the issue is classroom use.

So far, this OS (the Strawberry Sugar on a stick but not on a stick!) is working very well for me. i really like the interface, the simplicity and the ready robustness of the feel I played around with it and tried to think like a 5 or 6 year old would when they are presented with something new. The whole wow factor followed by the frantic clicking and then followed by the stop and look. I did this without precautiuon and ened up opening the turtle application. Now, my students (age from 4 to 11) are pretty familiar with windows and they see a changing desktop appearance week in week out but not the operation. The circular dial would, I feel, entice them to click on the picture. I mean, after all I set up icon shortcuts for them to “click-click” on daily and this seems kid centric to me. The circle of apps surrounds them too which is what I like also. So far, so good.

We have been using the Windows version of Gcompris for a while now as it has games and quizzes that are colourful and easy to follow and differentiate for  the more computer savvy 5 year old. Also, Gcompris is open source (resticted for Windows users) but the full set up available for your school should you run EdUbuntu or similar (or if your site manager allows you to run VirtualBox) coupled with Sebran and you have quite a setup for the bebinner ICT class for children (or OAPs getting used to a computer and keyboard).

What is really good about Sugar though is the potential of the site and the community that runs it. The model of the Mozilla extensions that has made web browsing sans IE has been used here too. The Activities menu is growing all the time and there are some reasonable addons here too. As any self respecting ICT teacher will know music is a brilliant factor in the attention grabbing eyes-on-the-screen activity where and hour zips by without a word said (headphones permitting). Tamtam Jam activities provide this with an easy download.

I am sure that I will hit stumbling blocks along the way and the fact I have to try and persuade my Principal to give me money for 25 2Gb USB drives so that I can operate this for my classroom is one of them. What I would then like to do is test and post up the pitfalls and the successes – especially the neighbourhood tool and see the reaction.

Early Years ICT Interactives at the British Council + How to Use the embedded .SWF files

Over at the British Council there are series of pages dedicated to learning English and it's in a range of languages to aid those starting out just for good measure.

In terms of ICT in the Early Years the stories are great for those children in Reception, Year 1 and 2 to listen to and complete the interactive lessons by downloading the accompanying .PDFs available underneath the flash games/ interviews or puzzles.

A lot of teachers will solely go to the page and play from there although there are several options available to those who wish to use the games in other places: blog/ class pages/ learning platform or ripped and stand alone. To do this you can use the following method:

If you use the Ctrl+U function (to get the page code) while on the pages showing the interactive then you can see the source code. Use Ctrl+F to search through the text to find .SWF in the page of code then you should come across something like this image here:

I'm using Google Chrome here but it will be almost the same in Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer

Copy the .SWF URL in the page. Then, use the embed code from a YouTube video and replace all the URLs in there like I have below. The you can then embed this amended block of code into your pages/ blog/ learning platform. Very handy if you use Frog or Studywiz types.

Alternatively you can drop the URL ending in .SWF into a browser and it should play from there without all the distractions. Which, if you're with the little ones is marginally better for them and classroom management as you can make a desktop shortcut for them to hit up directly.

In bold are the URLs to be replaced from the search in the source code page below in hyperlink format.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8kSCxwam2DU?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8kSCxwam2DU?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

"http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/files/short-stories-the-haunted-house.swf"