This page is designed to provide you with some ideas for using IT in your classrooms and for your professional development.

The key thing to remember with using IT is that it must fit the learning purpose of your class. That is why the tools and ideas listed on this page are grouped according to the processes you might be following in class. See the Course Contents menu on the right hand side of the page. 

At the moment, the ideas all look a bit Social Science-y, because that's the context in which I'm working with them. However, many have potential to work in lots of different settings and I will be looking to improve this page so that there's more examples from other subject areas.

Hopefully you find something here that is useful that you can take away and try. Feel free to contact me if you need technical help, or you have some ideas that have worked for you (wa@burnside.school.nz)

Cheers, Chris

Diigo 

Diigo allows for websites to be highlighted and annotated online, using a web add-on. The highlighted sections and 'sticky notes' you add to the website are then featured on your Diigo homepage, as shown below.

BYOD Note: Diigo has it's own Android and iOS apps, so it's all good!

Chogger

Chogger is an online comic-creator. You can choose your layout, use images from image searches and add your own custom text. The completed cartoon has it's own web address/URL which you can link to your website. The only problem is the lack of option to save your work mid-comic!

Instructions for Chogger: http://www.slideshare.net/BigDaddyEll/chogger-20

BYOD Note: Sadly, this will not work on iPad. There are comic making apps on iPad, but we are yet to locate a good free one.  

Glogster Edu

Glogster is an online poster-making site, where your poster presentations can be media-rich: ie, they can include text, images, weblinks and videos. It is set up as a kind of social networking site, but there is an 'edu' version, catering for teachers and students.

Click here to see an example from History, focusing on Tsar Nicholas II.

BYOD Note: Sadly, Glogster isn't equipped to work on mobile devices. Viewing is possible through downloading apps, but not content creation. Grr.

Xtranormal

Xtranormal is a really fun tool that allows students to turn text into animated movies. This can be a useful tool for review of content and for introducing some entertainment into the classroom.

Here's a promo video I made for my class a couple of years ago. Since then the graphics have got better, but the site has introduced a points system designed to make money. The way to get around this is to get your students to invite each other to become members of the site, thus gaining themselves points to publish their movies.

BYOD Note: Sadly, like so many presentation tools, Xtranormal won't work on mobile devices. Suggest you give the class multiple presentation options, get them working in groups, or book some netbooks.

Prezi

Prezi is an online presentation tool for those who are keen to do something a bit different from PowerPoint. The Prezi page is a canvas on which you put all your slides, then select a path to zoom through the info. It's a bit of a learning curve, but worth the effort and there's lots of online help available.

BYOD Note: Prezi is a fantastic tool, which has it's own iOS app. Unfortunately, it won't work on Android devices. So I suggest you make Prezi one option for presentations amongst others (such as Google Presentations, powerpoint).

Zoom.it

Zoom.it is an online image tool that allows you to use your mouse (click or scroll wheel) to zoom in on any image. Very handy for showing detail in Art Topics. Zooms can be linked or embedded into your website (see Ara Pacis relief example below).

Classtools Games

Classtools.net is actually a super-useful site for a host of online tools, including their newest addition Fakebook, which provides a Facebook template for historical figures' Facebook pages to be imagined. But the most popular tool on the site is the Arcade Game Generator, which takes a set of terms and definitions that you input and converts it to 5 different revision activities.

Try out a Roman Art set by clicking on 'Play!':

Click here for larger version

BYOD Note: Only some Classtools apps will work on iPads. This is because most of the tools are flash-based.

Quizlet

Quizlet allows you to turn a set of terms and definitions into a number of revision activities, including flashcards, online tests and revision games. These can then be linked or embedded into your website. The example below is of a 'Scatter' game.

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards | Study classical flash cards

BYOD Note: Quizlet has free mobile apps for iPhone, iPad and Android devices, for study on the go!

Quia

Quia is like Quizlet, except with a greater variety of activities, a student gradebook system and a few other bells and whistles. However, unlike everything else on this page, it costs money to join and create you own activities (US$50 a year). Nevertheless, you can still freely use the revision games others have created.

BYOD Note: "Most Quia activities work well on iPads". Quia will be fine with everything else, it's just that some quiz games are flash based.

Edmodo

Edmodo is a social networking site designed specifically for the classroom. You can create class groups and groups within classes. You can post messages, links and assignments to students. They can comment and post their own materials. It's a bit like having a localised Facebook.

BYOD Note: Dedicated iPad and Android apps are available for Edmodo. 

Google Docs

Google docs is a fantastic tool for creating:

• Documents
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations
• Forms (very handy for surveys)
• Drawings

Click on the links above to see examples of each of these. A big part of their usefulness is that staff or students can work collaboratively on these documents, at the same time. This feature makes Google Docs the best tool I've found for working in groups.

In addition to this, anything created in Google Docs is always accessible as long as you have internet access (offline saving is possible too) and all docs can be embedded into other websites (like your Moodle page). When you embed a document, it will be automatically updated on the website when you make changes in Google Docs. Handy! 

My documents list is shown below.

BYOD Note: All things Google Docs will now work happily on iPads. However, iPad users will need to download the relevant apps: Gmail and Google Drive are both free. For more on using Google Apps on iPads, see this presentation. 

Wikis

Wikis are editable web pages that are very easy to set up and use. You can set up your wiki so that students can contribute their work and edit the content. Wikispaces is a common provider of free wikis. An alternative which does very similar things is Google Sites, which also comes with the Google Apps package.

The Wiki was built almost entirely from student work in Year 13 Classics (click to visit):

BYOD Note: Wikispaces has been updated to be fully compatible with iPad use. Hooray! More info: http://blog.wikispaces.com/2012/09/wikispaces-for-ipads.html

Wallwisher

Wallwisher is a online collaboration tool to share ideas, resources, and thoughts on a particular topic. When a wallwisher 'wall' is created it is blank, but the link to the wall can be shared with students for them to contribute ideas. Students then post ideas that are labelled with their names. Excellent for group research work, brainstorming, or even a whole class revision exercise, like this one (click for a larger version):

In fact, there are loads of different Wallwisher applications. Click here for some more ideas: http://blog.wallwisher.com/

BYOD Note: Wallwisher will not work with iPads. However, are very similiar tool called linoit (http://en.linoit.com/) will. Click here for some instructions: http://esu3media.wikispaces.com/Wall+Wisher+and+Linoit

All Things Moodle

For assistance with using this site for:

- Providing Resources to students eg Documents, Weblinks, Videos

- Starting and moderating student discussions through Forums

- Collecting work online using Assignments (aka Dropboxes)

- Some of the unique activities Moodle uses eg Glossaries

click here: Moodle Help Page

BYOD Note: All things Moodle will work swimmingly on mobile devices. Except Hot Potatoes, which, being flash-based, doesn't like iOS.

Teaching in an environment with one device per student can make a big difference to how we run our classrooms. 

This section is designed particularly for those who are teaching a BYOD classes at Burnside. It contains useful articles, past surveys and other thoughts and strategies for working with these classes.

Articles about BYOD 

Research Around BYOD

Managing a BYOD Class

Lesson Ideas

Additional Documents and Resources