Keith Tellum is our Education Support Manager and expert in staff development and technology-based learning. He agreed to share his experience in the eLearning field with our readers to help you understand and leverage the power of online learning technologies.

1. What is the most important change in eLearning you have witnessed in the past years?
For me, this is the widespread availability of cloud technologies to education. At a basic level this has hugely increased the amount of storage available to pupils/students and staff which means that it’s now possible to make much more use of video and sound for assessment. This expands the ways you can teach and learn, and people can start to become more independent in their learning by the ability to watch or listen to themselves. Link this to one of the tools which allows you to include questions and information points in streaming video and we’re starting to develop new ways of learning outside the classroom. In a recent interview with some students, they also mentioned that it made it impossible to lose their work owing to lost or corrupted USB drives.
Another aspect of cloud-based learning is the ability to share documents and work on them as a group. In the past we’ve asked groups of students on educational trips to update a shared presentation with their photographs and reactions to their trip, and let students still at home share in the experience.
However, the most important thing here is that it can increase the opportunity for pupils to have feedback on their essays and tasks via the comments feature. From my experiences working in the educational field one of the most common requests from students was to have more formative feedback on their work so they could be sure they were on the right track.

2. Is there an eLearning influencer you admire? And if so, how does he/she inspire you?
As you can probably tell from the comments I’ve made so far, the thing I’m looking for in technology is that it changes and expands what we can do in learning. The most useful encapsulation of this concept was, for me, Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model.
This model gives stages of moving from using technology simply as a substitute for things we do already (e.g. typing up work instead of writing it) through to the redefinition stage where we can learn in ways not possible before the introduction of technology. An example of redefinition (the R of the SAMR model) would be a recent class where a teacher invited several local businesses to contribute to a class discussion via a Twitter hashtag. It would have been impossible to get several people to give up their time to come to the school for a short session, but they were all willing to contribute from their own offices.

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online teaching and learning?
For most teachers the major disadvantage comes down to time. Creating effective online courses and setting learning tasks can be very time consuming, and there are many other demands on them during the working day. If someone in the school can be given time to develop the platform or learning materials this will obviously help, but technology should aim to be able to save time where possible.
In my early career I was faced with the challenge of taking what I’d been working on as an e-learning mentor and actually applying it in the classroom. There was quite a high workload at the beginning putting the online part of the learning together, but I found that as the year went on the work put in at the beginning paid dividends and I had much more time to work with the students on their projects.
In some cases, especially with older age ranges, the preparation doesn’t have to involve intensive work, but extends the learning process through discussion forums, and, more recently, the use of social media.
One of the main advantages of online learning however, is to make learning more accessible. I’ve seen various instances where students have been provided with screenreaders, coloured overlays and magnifiers which have made it much easier for them to learn. In some cases, technology has enabled a student to participate in a higher level course than would have been possible had the technology not been available. For me, this has always been one of the main factors in why technology is now an indispensable part of learning.

How would you describe a modern teacher? Today we are sharing some skills and attributes that we think modern teachers should possess.
 

Engage in professional communities

Teachers should view personal and professional development as a continuous process. One of the best ways to engage in personal and professional development is by networking. Network with other industry professionals by attending education conferences and events or by joining professional online communities for educators. Networking with other teachers is a great way to exchange ideas about different ways of teaching and to share other useful tips.

Keep learning

Being a teacher does not mean you should stop educating yourself. Like with any other profession, there is always something new to learn when you are a teacher. Modern teachers should be curious and proactive in terms of gaining new skills and knowledge.

Understand technology

Modern teachers should be willing to explore new technologies and the different ways they can improve teaching and learning. Technologies are constantly evolving and changing, therefore, teachers should be flexible and adaptable in order to stay up to date with changes in technologies that could support education.

What is more, most students are tech-savvy, this means that having an interest in different technologies will definitely help you engage with students more.

Participate in social media

Incorporating social media into lessons can be a challenge due to lack of knowledge, accessibility and issues like e-safety. However, teachers who are using social media can benefit in a number of different ways. For instance, different social media sites can help make lessons more interactive as well as they can extend the learning outside the classroom.

Social media is also useful for engaging with parents and for promoting the school image online. What is more, joining different discussions or connecting with people of social media are great ways for networking with other industry professionals.

Know when to take a break

This is very important for keeping high levels of productivity and for reducing work-related stress. Modern teachers know when it is time to slow down and relax for them and for their students.

While School Jotter does offer Newsletter capabilities, we appreciate that, for those who want a more rich and designed experience, you can’t beat PDF downloads. Often these are created to send home with pupils, with digital copies uploaded to your school website. The latest release of School Jotter makes it easy to present these in a sensible and attractive way, rather than just a string of links!
To start with, go to where you want the newsletters to be embedded (we recommend a dedicated page for this but you can do it anywhere) and enter Edit mode, then click Insert Item > File list.

You’ll be given a page similar to ones used to update slideshows or any other situation where multiple documents are called for.

Press Select to add an item to the file list. You can add as many as you like and change orders with the arrows to the right in the bottom panel. When you’re satisfied, click Choose. You’ll now have a nicely formatted file list ready for people to download from:

To add files in future, click the box in Edit mode, then click Update from the dropdown grey bar at the top of the screen. Looks a lot nice than a series of bullet points, right?

April 2016 marks 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare – an English poet, playwright, and actor who is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. Some of the most famous Shakespeare’s plays include “Hamlet”, “Romeo and Juliet” and “Macbeth”. His plays remain highly popular, and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted throughout the world.

This month, the celebrations have officially started in the United Kingdom and across the world to honour Shakespeare. Today we are sharing some of the main events happening to celebrate the 400th anniversary as well as some online resources for improving your knowledge about Shakespeare and his work.

Events

1616: A Momentous Year at the Shakespeare’s Globe

Visit Shakespeare’s Globe in London for a year-long programme of performances, exhibitions, talks, workshops, conferences, a family story-telling festival, and even a Kabuki inspired ‘Ophelia’ in Japanese.

Shakespeare Lives by The British Council and the Great Britain campaign

Shakespeare Lives is a global programme of events and activities celebrating William Shakespeare’s work on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death in 2016. The work of Shakespeare will be celebrated throughout 2016 directly on stage, through film, exhibitions and in schools.

Shakespeare400 by King’s College London

Shakespeare400 is a consortium of leading cultural, creative and educational organisations, coordinated by King’s College London, which will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. A number of public performances, programmes, exhibitions and creative activities will take place in the capital and beyond in 2016.

Online learning resources

BBC bitesize learning resources for schools
Check out the BBC bitesize learning resources to learn about Shakespeare and his work. Great for schools!
Teaching Shakespeare on TES
Teaching Shakespeare provides a number of useful resources for learning more about Shakespeare’s work.

Other activities

Visit Shakespeare’s birthplace
Visit the house where Shakespeare was born and grew up.
Visit Shakespeare’s classroom
The original classroom where William Shakespeare is believed to have studied and seen his first plays opened to the public for the first time last week.

Coming soon

Last week we showed you how to use Exercises in Learn to create and manage homework assignments and more. These are a great tool, and using some basic built-in Jotter functionality, we’ll soon be able to extend it to make it even better. Note that, while you can set this system up now, it won’t be enabled fully until an update in a couple of weeks, which we’ll make you aware of!
First of all, for this to work best we recommend setting up a dedicated Learn page for homework and assignments – if all the objects are on the same page it’ll be easier overall to find and manage them. So, following the advice from last week, fill up a page with assignments.
Make sure the due dates are properly filled out!

Once you’ve filled out your page, it’ll look something like the above image. It’s a bit busy, and there’s the problem of students being able to submit homework before it’s even been properly set! We’re going to need to hide these, which Jotter can do automatically for us!
In Edit mode, click on the Exercise (this also works for any other object in Learn, Site or ePortfolio) and you’ll see three icons pop up in the top right. You’ll probably be familiar with these, as they let you move or delete objects.

Click on the cog in the middle to bring up the Advanced Settings – don’t worry, there’s nothing that advanced here! Choose the date you’d like the homework to be set and enter it into the “Date visible from” box. You can also set an expiry date if you want, but note that after this time students will no longer be able to see their feedback.
And that’s literally all there is to it! As the term goes on, the new items will appear for students to submit homework and exercises to, without you having to lift a finger.
Please note – this is a preview of an upcoming feature (time-sensitive content) not yet available in Jotter Learn.
Interested in getting these tips delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up at webanywhere.co.uk/jotter-tips.

School website is very important for making a good first impression as it often is the first contact that people have with the school. Therefore, the school website affects the overall image and reputation of your school which can lead to increased admissions. Having good school web design is also very important for delivering a good user experience for its regular users, including teachers, students and parents.

Here are some of the most important features of why having a good school website matters.

The features of a good school website

Website Appearance

The overall look of the website is the first thing that users notice when they visit the website. This includes the layout, colours, images and fonts you use to build the website. Make sure that all these factors are considered when building the website as they contribute towards creating an overall impression of the school.

Make sure you check our infographic on how to design an awesome school website here.

Quality content

A good school website is expected to include a range of quality content. Remember to add basic information like contact details, welcoming messages, school value and images to the homepage followed by learning resources, curriculum information, news, events calendar and other school information.

Navigation

The website design and good content are very important, however, if visitors cannot easily find the information they are looking for, they will become frustrated and it will negatively affect the overall user experience.

This is especially important when talking about parents researching the schools for their children because if they find the website impossible to navigate, they might just leave the website and search for another school.

The right message

Make sure your website sends the right message to its visitors and it actually represents the values and promotes the strengths of your school. Your website is very important when it comes to creating the best image of your school.

Mobile version

This is another very important feature that should not be ignored in the modern days. Most users, including teachers, parents and students will visit the school website on their mobile devices. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the website remains clear on all devices.

Check out our new mobile apps for schools here.

It is engaging

Finally, make it engaging!

Having a school website is very important, but making it a good website is what creates a good image of your school and leads to the positive user experience.]

The Importance of Having a Good School Website

A well-designed school website is crucial for creating a solid first impression and shaping the school’s image. Focusing on appearance, quality content, easy navigation, clear messaging, mobile compatibility, and engagement means schools can ensure a positive experience for all visitors.

A great website attracts new students and parents and is a valuable resource for the school community. Investing in a high-quality school website is vital in showcasing the school’s values and commitment to excellence.

This week we’re going to discuss one of the most powerful parts of the Learn VLE, and one which can reduce your workload and bring a lot more things online. Everything I’ll be doing today will cover setting up and administrating the homework – next week we’ll be showing you how to “set and forget” a whole term’s worth of it!
To start with, go to the Learnsite you want to embed the homework on – whether this is a dedicated page or part of another one is up to you. Enter Edit mode and click Insert > Exercise.

Once you’ve chosen where to put it, the following dialog will pop up:

Give it a descriptive title and explain the exercise in the two free-text boxes. The checkboxes below let you customise how you’d like it to present. The due date will stop accepting responses after a set time and date, while enabling feedback will let you give more detailed responses to students’ work.
Now you can save and publish the page, because as far as the editing is concerned, you’re all done – School Jotter will take care of the rest. Here’s what an exercise will look like – your students’ version will be identical but without the “See the results” link in the top right.

When your students access the page they’ll be invited to upload and submit files – alternatively, if you have Office 365 integration, they can be imported directly from OneDrive, and once done will see this page:

Now let’s go back to you as a teacher/administrator. Clicking on “See the results” at the top of your document will bring you here:

I’ve already graded the submissions of pupils 1 and 2, so let’s take a look at pupil 3 and grade their work. Click a student’s username and you’ll see this screen:

Through the boxes at the bottom you can assign a grade and score (make sure to click the “Save grade” and “Save score” buttons!). Additionally, the “Add new feedback” button will bring up a free text box, allowing you to give more detailed feedback. Once this is all filled out, the student will receive a notification when visiting their version of the page informing them that they have feedback – they can also respond to this as a comment, and so can you.

As you saw earlier on the results screen, you’re able to view the grades of the whole class as a handy list, as well as seeing who’s submitted their work! Even after the time has expired, pupils (and teachers) can of course go back in and see results.
Want to try this out for yourself? Check out the Learn app in the app store, you can get a 30-day trial for free!
Don’t miss next week’s tip, where I’ll be showing you how to use timed content objects to let you create an entire term’s worth of homework in one go!
Want these tips delivered straight to your inbox every week? Sign up here!

We’ve just pushed the latest update to School Jotter live. You might have noticed these are coming more frequently now – we’re aiming for smaller, more frequent, more agile releases every two weeks, rather than a big one every few months.

Site

• A new Files Download element has been added that allows you to share files and folders to your school website.
• Pinterest has been added to the social networks list (compatible bespoke themes only.)
• Extra security has been added to blogs that have been embedded on the website.
• An issue that broke pagination of embedded blogs has been resolved.
• An issue where CSV results were exported incorrectly from Forms has been resolved.
• An issue where images could not be removed from News stories has been resolved.

Continue reading →

Whether you are doing your homework, preparing for an assignment or studying for an exam, it is very easy to lose motivation to study if you do not feel organised, you are distracted or just feeling tired. Sounds familiar? These simple study tips will help you get in the right mindset.

Create the perfect studying environment

The first step to smarter studying at home is creating the perfect studying environment. Make sure your study area is quiet, comfortable and free from distractions. Try to experiment with different study areas. For example, if you get too distracted when you are at home, try studying in the school library or in any other quiet area. If you are not required to use technologies for your studying, try switching off all of your devices.

Stay organised

Use an academic planner to keep track of your assignments, homework and deadlines.You can use a traditional paper based planner or use the resources available on your school website or online. Always organise your learning materials. Keep all materials for different subjects in different folders, use colour coding or labelling to make your studying more effective. Most importantly, not all organisational systems work for all students, so make sure you develop a system that works for you.

Manage your time

Effective time management is one of the most useful skills that you can learn while at school. This is a lifelong skill that will benefit you in many ways. Plan how much time you want to spend studying a specific subject every day and set yourself realistic deadlines. Do not forget about any extracurricular activities that you might have and make sure you have enough time for studying.

Communicate with your peers and teachers

Engage with your peers on social media for asking questions, sharing your thoughts and resources or collaborating on different projects. What is more, teachers are always more than happy to answer your questions and to help you with your studying. This also shows that you care about your academic performance which can eventually lead to improved grades!

Turn your notes into flashcards

Turning your notes into flashcards is very useful when you are studying for an assignment or an exam. For instance, if you are studying geometry formulas, write the name of the formula on one side and the formula itself on the other side of the card. Use paper index cards or try some online resources and mobile apps for creating flash cards.

Take a break

Your brain can only take a certain amount of information at a time. If you do not take regular breaks, you will most likely find it difficult to memorise information and you will end up feeling stressed and frustrated. For every hour that you study, you should take at least a 15 minute break to do something that takes your mind away from studying. For example, go for a walk, listen to some music, play a game, chat with your friends or even take a nap.

Reward yourself

Positive reinforcement is a great tool for staying motivated. Reward yourself in small ways after completing tasks. Treat yourself to having your favourite snack, watching a movie or playing a computer game. Find whatever keeps you going!

Study all the time

Finally, try your best to study all the time instead of studying a day before your test or exam. Reviewing your notes daily and learning in smaller chunks will help you stay organised and will lead to better knowledge retention. This will definitely lead to achieving better academic results.

Studying does not have to be very stressful and time-consuming all the time. It is all about taking a different approach and finding what works for your. Hopefully, you found these tips useful.

Check out our infographic on the pros and cons of homework in primary schools. Teachers should take them into consideration when deciding whether homework is beneficial for their students.

Script:
Homework: Beneficial or Harmful for pupils?
No homework policy has been implemented in several countries, however, some experts still argue on its benefits for student learning.
The Pros

• Homework helps students consolidate what was taught during the school day.
• It lets parents learn what their kids are doing at school.
• Development of self-discipline, time management and research skills.
• Homework facilitates rote learning

The Cons

• Homework can be very stressful for students.
• It drains pupils’ free time for playing, sports and hobbies.
• Students feel their family time is reduced.
• Hatred for a subject can be developed due to the workload.

There in no doubt that homework in primary schools should be as light as possible. Teachers should always try and make it fun by using learning apps like the ones on School Jotter to increase pupils engagement.