You’re a school with an IT provision that’s the antithesis of state-of-the-art. Your budget is allocated and the money is burning a hole in your pocket. You’re itching to buy all those shiny, new computers, interactive whiteboards and software, and who can blame you? But before you start shopping, have you asked yourself (and your IT specialist) these questions about buying school tech?
Hardware

• Interactive whiteboard – with the most popular choices having been Smartboard and Promethean Activboard, most teachers now prefer to work with a conventional screen and projector using their own laptop or alternatively, they use the screen mirroring feature with iPads or smart TVs. It definitely seems the trend is moving away from expensive Smartboards, with their clunky software and screens that won’t stay oriented.

• PC, laptop or tablets? – although it could be argued that laptops encourage poor posture with the monitor so low, there’s no doubt that these portable devices facilitate sharing 30+ computers around the school, even moving outside when required. It also frees up the need for having a dedicated IT suite. While laptops are more powerful and have a much larger capacity, many children will be familiar with smartphones and/or tablets, so you may wish to consider a set of iPads as well. The wonderful array of educational and creative apps can make learning more engaging. Tablets can be used for independent learning, guiding reading and whole-class teaching.
• BYOD – One controversial movement that’s gaining popularity is allowing pupils to bring in their own devices. Not only does this free up more of your IT budget but pupils will feel more familiar with their own tablets or laptops. Of course there is the problem of batteries running flat and online security.
• Broadband – often neglected when considering buying school tech. Always go for a larger bandwidth than you anticipate needing. Determine if you’ll need as much upstream as downstream bandwidth and how much data you’ll use each month. The line speed and capacity must take account of educational and managerial uses, as well as communications, networks, operational systems and security (closed circuit TVs). With the move towards an ever-increasing percentage of content being delivered through a VLE, requiring numerous pupils to be online simultaneously, it’s more sensible to overestimate the school’s broadband needs.

Software

• Virtual learning environment – an essential item is your VLE, which needs to be adaptable and easy to use. Apart from buying the platform, many suppliers charge annual, per-user licence fees, which can eat up your budget. An alternative would be to opt for an open source platform..
• Website – every school should have a modern and multifunctional website to act as a portal for the school brand. An innovative solution would be to find a platform that integrates website with VLE. Buying a complete package can save money and make it simpler to use, with a single interface style.
• Content – teacher’s time is at a premium and designing effective content for lessons can be demoralising, unless you’re tech-savvy. There are content design companies specialising in the school curriculum, such as Webanywhere. They also have their Content Club, where for an affordable, annual fee, schools can have specific topic websites created. Once in the club, schools can then share their bespoke sites between members. So a cluster group could collaborate to have multimedia, interactive content to cover the entire curriculum.

Power in Numbers
And remember, before you accept any quotes and go off with your shopping cart, find out if anyone in your cluster group is looking for new software or hardware. If you collaborate with others, your negotiating power will increase when buying school tech.

As discussed previously, integrating technology in the classroom helps to improve engagement, it encourages individual and collaborative learning, provides students with useful life skills as well as it benefits teachers in many ways.

Social media

Most students are already using social media outside the classroom. Embracing social media in the classroom can instantly engage with students and to make learning more fun. For instance, Twitter or Facebook can be used to start a discussion on a particular topic. You can also use social media for making school related announcements, posting reminders about deadlines, uploading pictures or videos.

Blogging

Blogging is a great way to  promote collaborative learning and to encourage open reflection by letting students share their work with others. What is more, blogging helps to develop reading and writing skills. Blog can be used for homework, assignments or for discussing topics of interest.

Podcasts

Podcasts can be very useful for recording lessons or for providing students with additional learning materials. There are many ways that podcasts could be used in the classroom. For example, recording a class discussion, reviewing a book, conducting interviews or broadcasting classroom news.

Video conferencing

Using video conferencing in the classroom creates exciting opportunities. Students can make friends by interacting with other students in different countries or they can learn by participating in virtual seminars with guest lecturers.

Online resources for learning and assignments

Teachers can test students by using online resources or they can make studying more fun by letting students undertake online quizzes to practice different subjects online.

Use videos

Videos can be used for demonstrating practical examples related to subjects taught in the classroom as well as for providing different approaches to subjects. Videos are useful for making learning more fun and engaging and these are the factors that lead to increased knowledge retention.

Games

Consider elements of gamification to improve the way you deliver the teaching content. The main idea behind gamification in the classroom is to increase motivation through engagement by using elements of video games. Some of the ways to gamify your classroom include: gamification of grading, awarding students with badges, using educational games, implementing a rewards system or gamifying homework.

If you want to learn more about different ways of incorporating technology in the classroom, contact the Webanywhere team.

Bett 2016 is over! Webanywhere team had an amazing time at the event and everyone is talking about new ideas for the next year already. All about making our stand better each year!

This years’ event had some exciting speakers, great exhibitors, and fantastic demonstrations, all of which were aiming to increase the awareness of new educational technologies and to provide information how schools can introduce or improve their use of technology inside and outside of the classroom.

Our stand was very busy throughout all days of the event and it was great meeting so many lovely teachers, parents and students. We loved showing our amazing products to everyone and we hope that all event visitors managed to find the best education technology solutions for their schools. Our education experts tried to introduce the benefits of our products to as many event visitors as possible. I’m sure Webanywhere team attracted some schools that will become long-term clients.

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To make Bett more engaging and to give something back to some of you, we had some amazing giveaways on our stand. We gave away four giant Toblerones that received a lot of attention and four ipads mini. Congratulations to everyone who won!

Let’s not forget our special guest – Webbber – the Webanywhere meerkat. Everyone agrees that Webber was great at attracting visitors to our stand. I’m sure he made Bett more enjoyable for event visitors as well as for the Webanywhere team. We might invite him to join us next year as well:)

What Webanywhere team said:

“For me it was an opportunity to meet and bond with my work colleagues that I see so rarely as a remote worker. I was able to share my experiences and expertise and this was reciprocated in bucket-loads by the team. To also have Cieran and Sally as the ‘glue’ to keep the whole show moving effortlessly added that extra layer of professionalism that Webanywhere exuded the whole week!”

“Best part was being able to work with colleagues who I don’t usually work with”

“The best thing for me was the noticeable shift in attitudes schools have towards VLE’s. People are starting to curiously explore what they can do and realise they can offer a whole lot of exciting opportunities to schools (and save them a bunch of time)”

“Being Webber was really good fun”

“For me one of the best things about the BETT experience for WA was seeing a ‘team’ evolve out of several new starters within the group. Sometimes this takes a long while but being in a group at a show like BETT speeds up that process. It was also great to see the new starters develop their product knowledge skills and grow in such a short period of time”

“It was like 4 days of speed-dating with people who we share a common interest with” 

“It was brilliant to meet with so many teachers from across the world, I think the running total is 49 countries on our stand”

Thanks to everyone who visited the Webanywhere stand at Bett 2016 and to everyone who helped to organise it. And of course, well done to Webanywhere team!:)

There’ve been several significant advancements in educational technology over the past few years. From filmstrips to tablets and learning management systems, technology keeps changing in an extremely fast pace and reshaping the way everyone views education.

We have put together some of the greatest innovations for the classroom as it’s important to remember where it all started. Enjoy!

Welcome to our last post in the four-part series where education experts give their opinion on learning management systems. In this piece, David Palank, Principal at San Miguel School in Washington DC and Jeannette Geib, the Educational Director at the world’s first online high school CompuHigh, share their experience of using  virtual learning environments.
Also read:
– Learning Management Systems: Your Opinion – Part 1
– Learning Management Systems: Your Opinion – Part 2
– Learning Management Systems: Your Opinion – Part 3
San Miguel School uniquely serves low-income youth in the DC area with a preference for those living in poverty and who would not otherwise have access to a high quality private education. San Miguel uses multiple Learning Management Systems at our school. They are an excellent tool for teachers and schools to monitor progress, give feedback, and gather data on student performance throughout the school year.

They benefit students in multiple ways. One of the ways they benefit students is that they give unbiased and immediate feedback. If a teacher gives you feedback, there is a chance that the student may feel that they are under ego threat and not accept the feedback. However, if a computer gives you feedback and tells what has been achieved or not, it is not a person telling you and therefore the student’s ego is not threatened.
Video games operate under similar principles. Many students enjoy video games because they are challenging, give immediate feedback, and operate on a progression through levels. They engage students because of these elements. Learning Management Systems operate the same way.
However, these systems are a tool, not a crutch. If teachers rely on them as their sole means of instruction, they are not using them properly.

I am the Educational Director at CompuHigh, an online high school that has been around since 1994. When this school was founded, there really wasn’t anything else like it out there; there wasn’t even a ‘World Wide Web’ to speak of, so doing high school online was a unique proposition.
Our founder, Stan Kanner, simply taught himself programming and created the software he needed to run a school on the internet. Today, our ‘homegrown’ Learning Management System works beautifully because the programming has always sprung organically from the needs of the students, teachers, and administration. We just say, “Hey can we have a button here that does this? Can we have a system that tracks this?” and Stan could make it happen, usually the same day.
I realise that most school systems are too large to be that nimble, but I would always recommend hiring a smart programmer and growing your system ‘in house’ rather than trying to buy an ‘out of the box’ LMS.

Another busy and successful day at Bett 2016. Today we are looking at some highlights of the third day of the event. One more day to go and Bett 2016 will be over. One more chance to meet our education experts for some demos and learn all about our education products.

Webber – the Webanywhere meerkat was extremely popular today! It was great seeing him surrounded by children (and some adults of course).   The giant Toblerone is getting more and more attention every day, and you still have a chance to win one of our giveaways tomorrow. Visit us at stand F350, all we need to do is scan your badge for free entry!

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We’re really looking forward to meeting all the children taking over the ExCel arena tomorrow: Saturday is all about #KidsMeet! A new blog post with all Bett 2016 updates coming next week. Thanks to everyone who visited our stand today!

Another successful day of Bett 2016 – the world’s largest learning technology event. Thanks to everyone who visited Webanywhere team at our stand today! We had a great time sharing our knowledge about education technologies.

Today our visitors had a second chance to win our amazing giveaways, including a giant Toblerone and an iPad mini. Visit us at stand F350 to find out how you can win one of our giveaways.

Webber – the Webanywhere meerkat joined us again and he received a lot of attention from Bett visitors!

Free 30 day trial School Jotter Mobile App

We love taking care of everyone who visits our stand, that’s why we offered free coffee/tea and snacks again. I’m sure Bett visitors appreciated that.

Two more days to go! More updates tomorrow:)

This is the second of our four-part post on learning management systems. Read Learning Management Systems: Your Opinion – Part 1, where Donna Lubrano from the Northeastern University in Boston shares her opinion with our readers.

In this post, Kathy Walter, Educator and CEO at Nsoma, reveals her thoughts on Learning Platforms and their contribution to student learning.

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are used in a number of schools to deliver online learning content in a structured way. As opposed to gather random search content from search engines, learning management systems do just that – they manage learning based on the subject, teacher and curricula being taught. Like all technology, they work only as well as the people or person loading them with content. Most technology solutions for learning do not come with content and those that do need to have that content licensed separately.

Learning Management Systems are great for delivering content to students for a number of reasons.
1. Different paces, steering together: because you can control what content students see, but students do not necessarily know where other students are in their learning path. So, for instance, one student may be far ahead in a lesson and another may be far behind, but unless the lesson plans for them working together on a topic, each student proceeds at their own pace.
2. Anytime, Anywhere: LMS allows students to log in at school or at home. So if they are sick or miss an assignment, want to review for the day ahead or want to go back and review a concept they did not understand, it’s all possible.
3. Flexible Delivery: Most LMS render on a computer or laptop, but also on mobile phones and tablets. So it does not matter what device a student has, they can learn from anything.
4. Special Needs Handled: When students require additional mechanics like braille readers, color blind screen adaptors, text readout, etc, many LMSs link with other technology tools to help all learners.
As with any technology, there are also drawbacks:
1. Training: LMSs are more prevalent these days, but many schools and teachers still have not learned to use them. And schools may change their LMSs as contracts expire and new bids have to be issued. It takes a long time to train staff and students to use them when it’s not something they are familiar with.
2. Let me in! LMSs require logins and when they are not sync’d with other login systems and a student forgets a password, it takes valuable learning time to get them up and running
3. Technology changes: LMS companies deliver a lot of technology changes each year, but not all LMSs have the same functionality. Some can vary widely. And some functionality works more intuitively than others. This can be frustrating for users when they expect to do something quickly and wind up with more work – for instance, teachers trying to load in lessons and assessments. People usually adapt well, but when a new round of changes comes out, companies still have a habit of not always understanding classroom and school processes, and it can lead to user frustration. Too much user frustration, particularly by teachers means some will stop using a system all together.

Bottom line: every school should have an LMS. The types and cost vary widely, but technology runs our world. Not introducing our school kids to technology in all aspects puts them at a severe disadvantage. It’s worth the time and effort to deliver at least part of their education via online content.

Kathy Walter, CEO at Nsoma, is responsible for conceiving and delivering innovative solutions that support the instructional and educational agendas of school districts and edTech companies. She recently served as the Executive Director, Product Strategy & Innovation at the NYC Department of Education and prior to that as Director, Product Development at a start-up online learning solution.
Kathy has a BA in Applied Math from Union College, an MBA From NYU’s Stern School of Business, and a Graduate Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). She’s currently completing her JD at Fordham Law School in Education and IP law. Kathy has been an ESL Educator at Northeastern University and Cambridge Learning Center; an ESL curriculum consultant with the YearUp program in Boston; and a program developer for several teaching projects in Uganda.

Now, I’ll admit, this one is a little bit cheeky – Schoolanywhere is one of our own websites, dedicated to promoting the Moodle VLE. Earlier this year, faced with an outdated, non-responsive theme and the potential changes from Google’s “Mobilegeddon”, the decision was made to redesign Schoolanywhere on the School Jotter platform, utilising our new uber themes.
We did this for a number of reasons, the most prominent being that companies should “eat their own dog food” – if a product isn’t good enough for us to use ourselves, why would we expect customers to pay us for access? This would therefore be the perfect opportunity to put School Jotter through its paces as a business CMS, to see if it could replace the old WordPress-based theme.

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