Top tips - December 2007

By Ewan McIntosh, National Adviser: Learning and Technology Futures

Learning and Teaching Scotland is placing more emphasis on new and emerging technologies than ever before, with the opening of the Consolarium, the Scottish Centre for Games and Learning, as well as an increasing use of blog posts, audio and video podcasts from around Scotland.

Ewan McIntosh, National Adviser: Learning and Technology Futures, shares how probationer teachers can be part of this learning revolution.

1. Get genned up. Getting to grips with new technologies can appear akin to jumping on an express train in full motion, but they are nearly almost guaranteed to engage learners and offer new ways of teaching and learning. Ease yourself into the different options by attending a CPD course through CPDFind, browsing through the ICT in Education website or regularly visiting the Connected Live blog.

2. Once you've got an idea for what you want to do it’s worth the time invested to reach out to teachers already using the same kinds of technology ideas in their classroom. The chances are there is a teacher doing what you want to do in a classroom somewhere in Scotland, and writing about it every week on their own learning log, online, through their own blog. Connected Live is the best place to go to find these people and connect with them.

3. New technologies are generally free, easy to use and quick to integrate to the learning of a collaborative and creative class. That said, there's often more value in sharing what you plan to do with a Principal Teacher or a colleague who's been teaching in the school for a while. They'll help you spot any flaws in your plan (new technologies or not, it's always handy to share ideas for lessons to make them better with feedback) and can also help you get hold of any additional equipment you need to get started.

4. As well as being helpful, colleagues can also feel threatened by technologies they see as ‘moving too fast’ or ‘inappropriate’ for the classroom. It's a good idea to have some arguments for using podcasting, blogs, wikis or news readers in your subject or classroom. Don't prepare a paper on it, though. Make your justifications short and sweet, enough to give a good idea of what you're up to in the time it takes to walk from staffroom to classroom.

5. There are a hundreds of new gadgets, gizmos, games and web services every week, and knowing which ones are going to flourish and which will flop isn't always easy. Keep an eye on the personal websites and blogs of people who are adept at using new technologies in the classroom; they'll give you the tip-offs about what's hot and what's not. Connected Live is the best place to start finding these people and striking up some virtual professional friendships.

6. There are more filters in schools' internet access than a branch of Starbucks. You will quickly hit the net nanny type barrier that stops you using the interactive website you had planned to employ to get your students being creative or collaborative. Don't let this put you off. Speak to your network administrators and explain why you would like a certain site to be opened up. Put forward the educational reasons, but also show that you know what the risks are, and tell them what you are going to do to limit those risks.

7. Stay safe. Internet safety's not just for kids. As a teacher you have certain responsibilities online as well as in the classroom. You may think that creating 'revision clubs' on Bebo or Facebook seems like a great idea, but think about what online spaces are 'private' and which ones are more aligned to the values of your school. Above all, don't make online 'friends' with your students on social networks such as Bebo, Habbo Hotel or Facebook. This is currently their 'playground', and could be yours, too. Think, instead, about using more public places for students to collaborate, such as a wiki or class blog, and set some ground rules. Ideally, these should be in place in your school or Local Authority. East Lothian provides an exemplary guide to using blogs, wikis and other social media in a safe way for education at http://edubuzz.org/support

8. Be innovative. This is hard to do with technology - the chances are someone has already been there, done it and might be saying it didn't work for them in their classroom. Don't let that stop you having a go, changing the technological ingredients you use to see if it works for you.

9. Share, share, share. Above all, get yourself your own weblog on which to share your experiments, successful and less so. It makes a great CPD log for you, and provides a highly useful reflection tool for other teachers. Best of all, you might meet other teachers elsewhere in the world trying out the same things. If you don't want to go about setting up your own space, then Connected Live would love to hear from you - we're always looking for guest blogger-teachers to share their experiences.

10. Don't be afraid to give everything a try. This is hard to do, especially if you hit across an idea it seems no-one else has tried yet. But we'll never know if something works until we try it out. If you want extra help or advice on trying something completely different from the norm with technology, then get in touch with me and we can look at putting your idea into practice.

Connected Live and Connected Magazine: www.LTScotland.org.uk/connected

ICT in Education: www.LTScotland.org.uk/ictineducation

Ewan McIntosh's edu.blogs.com