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There's an app for that...
What is it?Essentially SeeSaw works like a Facebook wall, posting content to those who 'subscribe' to the channel and keeping everything in a 'cloud'. The interface is easy to navigate and the set up is reasonably quick and painless! Nursery in BSAK have been trailing it as a way of keeping a digital record of what is going on in class, a sort of personal portfolio on each child. As each child has his/her own account, the parents of that child can also see what's going on and can add comments, both text and audio, to what's been added. Parents will only be able to access their own child's work, via a password or QR code generated by the program itself. It's all very clever, yet straightforward, stuff! The pictures we are looking at are the teachers viewpoint once logged in, either on the iPad or iPhone versions, so we can manage files and add images/videos as we walk around the classroom. Year 6 have been using it as a tool for communication and marking, where they are able to highlight aspects of writing, upload it and then give points for what they did well and for improving within the feed. As before, the feedback doesn't have to be written, it can be an audio clip, recorded directly within the app from the iPad. Again this allows for communication between child, parent and teacher, via the app itself. Feedback on the App has been great, with the sample parents involved with the project in Year 6 really enjoying the focus on the work and the ability to comment and engage in discussion. "I liked the voice comments and being able to see the picture as it was spoken about. It was a delight to receive something when we were in England." - Elaine D'Arcy "It's an efficient way of communication" - Randa "I love the See Saw app, I thought it was extremely useful and I felt much more connected with what was going on in the classroom than I would from a fortnightly newsletter... it was simple to download and easy to manage and use" - Diana Basi Elsewhere in year groups it's been used to upload videos from apps on the iPads at the touch of a button and can also host things like Adobe Voice or Clip uploads easily and presents them beautifully, as seen in the shots below. Hopefully Nursery are going to roll theirs out to all the parents in the next half term and I'm sure the response will be fantastic, imagine getting an insight like the video below of how your child is developing in class, and be able to comment on it... Like anything, a main stumbling block on developing this will be the cost involved in it's upkeep long term. Using the paid version opens up the continual movement of portfolios from class to class and allows you to then track the data and child's progress over years, as well as being able to download the entire portfolios to archive. It's definitely one worth looking at, although the cost for a large school can be a lot to commit to. Maintaining the habits and skill levels of the teaching staff will also be a challenge, but one I know can be easily overcome, seeing the stellar work that the Nursery staff have already put in during a term. The scope for future use, to allow different ways or recording work in a variety of subjects and in a range of ways can only strengthen our ability to provide accurate feedback and aspects of achievement in a whole host of areas that are difficult to do normally. A video of a gymnastic performance or sporting skills, photographs of them using equipment in Design Technology as they are using them, their artwork documented in stages, video clips of them speaking Arabic and French, or just a dramatic performance in English. Children talking through a maths problem or using equipment accurately. Taking a picture of their best handwriting or their amendments to their drafting. Uploading a screenshot of the coding they've just completed in Computing or videoing the effects on their code on the Lego model they've constructed. A smile, an act of kindness or documenting an unexpected moment of magic. We have the tools to start our journey with an iPad in each classroom, and hopefully, as people become more confident, and if the expectations are realistic, then we can take the first steps to enhancing our communications with parents and pupils alike.
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AuthorSome ideas on how you may be able to use App's in the classroom. Archives
November 2016
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