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Open Source e-Learning for Retail
Wednesday 17TH September 10:00 – 13:00
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City Exchange, 11 Albion St, Trinity Leeds, Leeds. LS1 5ES.
5 mins walk from Leeds City Station
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Only 20 places available
to book your FREE
ticket visit
https://bit.ly/wa_retail
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A half day seminar on the benefits of open source e-learning to the retail sector. Conor Gilligan, Head of Operations at Webanywhere will talk about how moving learning online can help retail organisations to:
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We’ll be exploring these topics via case studies from Zara and Autotrader, both of which have recently implemented online learning platforms, and discussing the improvements they’ve experienced post-launch.
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If you have any questions,
call us on 0800 862 0131
or email events@webanywhere.co.uk
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Open Source e-Learning for Healthcare
Wednesday 15TH October 10:00 – 13:00
.
City Exchange, 11 Albion St, Trinity Leeds, Leeds. LS1 5ES.
5 mins walk from Leeds City Station
.
.
.
.
A half day seminar on the benefits of open source e-learning to the healthcare sector. Conor Gilligan,
Head of Operations at Webanywhere will talk about how moving learning online can help healthcare
organisations to:
.
.
We’ll be exploring these topics via case studies from UCLH and the NHS Leadership Academy, both of which have recently implemented online learning platforms, and discussing the improvements they’ve experienced post-launch.
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.
If you have any questions,
call us on 0800 862 0131
or email events@webanywhere.co.uk
.
We have all heard someone talk about or be referred to as a ‘tech savvy teacher’, but what does that mean? They use their interactive whiteboard everyday and can programme a floor robot without looking at the instructions? Webanywhere believes that all teachers are tech savvy, but to different levels. If you look on Twitter you will see teachers sharing their planning and add links to fabulous websites to use in the classroom. The other end of the spectrum is a teacher that comfortably uses software and a some well chosen websites in their lessons. Using ICT and technology has to enhance your lesson, if it makes it more difficult and you lose the flow of learning then it is not worth it.
You will find many articles describing and celebrating the ‘tech savvy teacher’ and they are good. Often there are lists of attributes that identify the ‘tech savvy teacher’ and you feel inadequate and bored before item 5. We do not want you to do that to you. At Webanywhere we want to celebrate all teacher’s use of ICT and technology and to give you the confidence to possibly move out of your comfort zone and try something new. We have read the above mentioned articles and would like to offer our interpretation.
Your students read your blog
The ‘tech savvy teacher’ will have a professional blog where they share their experiences as a teacher, more aimed at colleagues in the teaching profession but their students like to check it out and comment. Or more realistically you have a class blog where you share class information, homework and resources that you use in class. It will also record what is going to happen in your classroom by your pupils and yourself. To take it one step further it may appear on your school website and parents also comment on the blog, after all it is a fabulous way to keep parents informed and actively engage with them.
You instigate your own CPD online
The ‘tech savvy teacher’ attends in-house training and staff meetings but that may not be where they learn about ICT and technology in a creative and innovative way. So they look to their Twitter feed and Facebook friends. They also read educators’ blogs and learn how to use a variety of new digital learning resources. Then they attend online courses and meetings and contribute to wikis. At a more realistic level you may look at a website that a colleague has told you about with lots of ideas for your lessons, it may or may not include ICT and technology.
You have made an online PLN
The ‘tech savvy teacher’ has a professional, or personal, learning network with whom they engage on a regular basis, possibly work together to maintain a wiki or website and regularly give and receive support regarding teaching and non-teaching information. At the other end of the spectrum you are already in a PLN but did not realise it. You collaborate with colleagues in your school and maybe further a field with your school cluster or colleagues that have moved on. You email each other with help and new ideas and resources that you find.
You share your life with virtual colleagues you have never met
This might sound horrific and contravene all the e-safety messages you know and pass on to your students. But there are those out there that do this. The ‘tech savvy teacher’s’ PLN is so tight and such a regular part of their life that they think nothing of sharing family events and personal achievements with them just like you would your family and friends. They follow people on Twitter that they have never met and congratulated them when announcing the safe arrival of a new bundle of joy! At a more basic level you may share your professional life with others by sharing activities and resources that you have created and used in your class. Learnanywhere and Jotter Learn customers do this on a regular basis and are part of those learning network.
Your weekly schedule involves Twitter chats
Where have you been? These are very popular and a great place to interact with like minded people. The ‘tech savvy teacher’ will most definitely partake in such events. #UKEdChat is a very popular meeting on Twitter for the education community. They vote on the topic and all meetup on Twitter at a preset time and search tweets with #ukeduchat and join in. The conversation is recorded and can be viewed later on their dedicated website. These people will be in the The ‘tech savvy teacher’s’ PLN and they will share their life with them. When you break this down you will most likely find that you do talk with your virtual colleagues, who are now your newly discovered PLN, about many topics that directly relate to your teaching practices. Whether it is asking for advice or sharing experiences. It is all valuable.
Summer break means ISTE and other conferences
No teacher has six weeks off, lets get that out there. You all do research and plan lessons and create resources for September during the summer holidays. SMT members are more likely to attend conferences during the summer break but the ‘tech savvy teacher’ will know what is going on and join in. But will it be totally relevant and useful to the new school year for them? Then there are the local conferences and meetings that you may arrange for your colleagues. You meet up and discuss topics for the new school year or go and visit places that you would like to visit with your students later on.
You know the vocabulary
Well more like acronyms and abbreviations, VLE, LMS and even LOL! The ‘tech savvy teacher’ will speak using these and even create their own. But you know what some of them mean and you don’t mind saying learning platform instead of LP. With the knowing comes the understanding of it. As long as you understand it in your context then all is good.
You turn to colleagues in other countries in times of need
Thinking back to the The ‘tech savvy teacher’s’ online PLN and how they interact with them all of the time, like 24/7. They can do this because their PLN is global. So someone is always online and available to offer advice. It’s great! Just as great, but may take more time to react, is the newly discovered PLN made up of colleagues in your school, your area and maybe just a little further a field.
You are a digital citizen
One hundred percent accurate. The ‘tech savvy teacher’ has the technology, the online presence on all the popular social networking and media sites. They are a good citizen, respectful to others and will not tolerate cyberbullying in any form. They don’t even like pictures of friends on Facebook that are anything less than flattering. They also instill this into their students and e-safety is a familiar phrase in the classroom. Looking at this from a different angle you do not need to have a comprehensive online presence at all. But the rest fits exactly. K. Mossberger, et al, define digital citizens as “those who use the Internet regularly and effectively”* You already do that, well most of the time!.
* Mossberger, Karen. “Digital Citizenship. the Internet.society and Participation By Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert, and Ramona S. McNeal.” Scribd. Web. 23 Nov. 2011. (https://bit.ly/1tzEnUP)
You are always hungry to learn, try and tinker with new tech
The ‘tech savvy teacher’ will have RSS feeds setup to notify them of new releases of gadgets, apps and software. They will most likely have an iPhone, an iPad and an iMac all with the same apps loaded on them. They are always contactable, online and their cloud space is permanently 95% full. But can they then learn to use one thing really well and use it successfully in their classroom? You, on the other hand, might investigate new technologies and apps that take your interest and you think could be of use to you in the classroom or in your personal life. You take an interest in what technology, websites and gadgets that your students use and sometimes pick up a gem for yourself.
We hope that you recognise yourself throughout this article and can smile as you know you are doing a fabulous job. If you are still not convinced just watch your students next time you are using technology or digital learning content with them, you will see them buzzing with excitement and totally engaged.
Back in June we launched a new and exciting competition asking teachers and pupils to design a new app for our best selling School Jotter suite. After all these are the people that use School Jotter and are possibly best placed to guide us on future apps.
The entries were varied and showed a great deal of creativity, we were very pleased with the response. It was a tough job but the decision was unanimous!
We are very pleased to announce that the winner was a pupil from Scargill Junior School in Rainham, Essex. The school will receive the full suite of School Jotter apps, worth £7,000. These include Jotter Learn, Resources, School Merits, Blog, Survey, Forum, Portfolio and Messages. We hope that the pupils and staff enjoy their prize.
Here is the winning idea and we are sure you will agree that the app icon is eye catching and the description is thoughtfully written.
More information can be found about the School Jotter suite of apps here. Please remember we are always open to suggestions and ideas from schools, so please let us know, prize not included!
We had a fabulous response to this competition, seeing the Tour de Yorkshire really captured your imaginations! A very big thank you to all of the fabulous pupils and schools that sent entries to us. You made the judges job very difficult!
Our winning entry is from a year 3 pupil who attends Skipton Parish Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School. The team is called Speeding Sharks!
I think you will all agree this is a perfect representation of the Tour de Yorkshire which gave Yorkshire an exciting and colourful weekend.
We would like to showcase some other fabulous entries that we believe deserve a well done!
If you would like to know more about our Bloganywhere app you will find more information here.
For those of you who follow us on Twitter (@webanywhere_ltd) you’ll know that we held a webinar yesterday, Improving Literacy Skills Through Blogging, using the Bloganywhere app in School Jotter.
It was a 30-minute presentation and demonstration about using blogs in the classroom to create a buzz about literacy, and subsequently help improve pupil attainment.
Our e-learning expert Tracey Gentle took delegates through how you might use blogs with your pupils and eventually the wider school community, and how your school can set up free trials of the blog app. If you missed the webinar, we recorded it – and you can watch it here at your leisure.
If you have any questions regarding the apps we have available, or need help with parental engagement, just get in touch here.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fabulous summer break and look forward to working with you all in September.
The summer holidays are nearly here and we’re celebrating with a prize give away. Webanywhere’s search for School Poet of the Year 2014 begins now!
We are looking for UK based children aged 5-16 to impress us with their literacy skills by submitting a poem or short story based on the title, ‘Do computers rule the world?’.
Ian McMillan, one of the UK’s best known contemporary poets will be helping us in our quest and he will be judging a short list of 25 entries.
The lucky winners will receive one of the following prizes;
- 1st Prize – 1 iPad mini
- 2nd Prize – £50 worth of iTunes vouchers
- 3rd Prize – £25 worth of iTunes vouchers
All three winners will also receive a framed copy of their poem, signed by Ian McMillan himself!
The closing date of the competition will be 10am on 3rd September 2014 and the first prize winner will be invited to our brand new office in Leeds on the 5th September 2014 to receive their prize from Ian in person.
To give one of your students a chance to win, they simply need to send their submission to poems@webanywhere.co.uk before the closing date to stand a chance of winning.
Good luck to everybody!
Blogging is now regarded by teachers all over the UK as a must-have way to improve literacy skills. It is in the new curriculum and is a great way to motivate your pupils to write for a real audience and get feedback from their teachers, peers and parents if the blog appears on your school website.
With our new blogging app, Bloganywhere, you can improve written English in your class, as well as encourage collaborative working and promote reflection.
On Wednesday, 16th July at 12pm, we are running a free webinar that will explain the benefits of blogging, and then demonstrate how you can harness these benefits with our blogging app, Bloganywhere.
If you would like to join us for this webinar, please email with your name, school name and school postcode to info@webanywhere.co.uk or complete the Get in touch box and we will send you an invitation.
You can find out more about Bloganywhere at www.bloganywhere.co.uk.
Our Think Of An App competition is closing on the 18th of July. We’ve already received many ideas, but there is still time to enter with yours, and you could win £7,000 worth of existing apps like Blogs, Surveys, Learn and Merits for your school. Click here for more blogs on our app suite.
Our recent webinar on engaging parents using apps was a great success. You can watch the recording here for ideas on how to bring interaction for students, parents and teachers using Jotter 2.
The development of all our apps has been based on comments, suggestions and feedback from teachers – and this is your chance to see an app developed and made available to school, based on your own thoughts and ideas. We want you and your pupils to think of app ideas that maybe save you time, make learning more fun, or engage learners more. We’re welcoming ideas from both pupils and teachers.
The best app idea will be rewarded with a full suite of apps, worth £7K. Three runners up will win School Merits and Bloganywhere for their school.
We’ve put together an information pack for the competition (download here), which includes a lesson plan to get pupils involved. The closing date for the competition is Friday, 18th July, 2014.
Sign up for a free fully featured demo of the Jotter system here.
