Six essential considerations when choosing apps for the classroom

It’s a new school term and a good time to consider the use of your school mobile devices in the year ahead, and whether you’ll be using them as effectively as you might.

In my work, I have the pleasure of visiting many schools, and I am always interested in finding out how different settings are using mobile technology. The most widespread device, in the schools I work with, is the iPad. I have to admit that my heart sometimes sinks when I hear that the main use is internet research.

Primary Computing Scheme – 10 ways our new version could help your school.

 

As the beginning of the 2017/18 school fast approaches, Herts for Learning is happy to be releasing its newest version of our popular Primary Computing Scheme. First launched in 2011, the scheme has evolved and developed over the years and the new version 6 offers more support than ever before for teachers delivering the 2014 national curriculum computing programme of study. It is open to any school or setting (we have users from different parts of the UK and abroad.)  I thought I would use this blog to explain what the scheme offers and point out 10 things which we believe make version 6 of the scheme both extremely useful for schools and great value for money.

Getting inside Google Classroom

As I have found myself spending a lot of time in a ‘virtual classroom’ of late, I thought I would put virtual pen to paper to create a blog post about this classroom – Google Classroom.

Get Certified!

These days there seems to be an increasing amount of badges and certificates that educators can acquire, particularly where education technology is concerned, to show they have expertise in using a particular system, piece of software or suchlike.

Guest Blog Post. From ‘Technophobe’ to ‘Digital Pioneer’

This guest blog post was written by Rachael Coultart, Computing Subject Leader at St. Nicholas Church of England Primary School and Nursery, in Stevenage.

Six things we can do with programming tools.

As I mentioned in a recent blog post about apps for programming, we are rather spoilt for choice in the number of learn-to-code tools that are available today. Whatever your available platform, you are likely to be able to find a range of on and offline tools for teaching children the basics of programming. Some of these guide the user, step-by-step, through a learning journey, others are blank canvasses (often accompanied by tutorials) and some are combinations of both.

How can we make sure that children get the most from these tools and develop an understanding, through their use, of the key computer science / programming concepts that the national curriculum outlines?

Exploring G-Suite for Education

Over the last term or two I’ve noticed a growing number of schools showing interesting in, or actually implementing Google’s G-Suite for Education (formerly known as Google Apps for Education.) Like many people, I’ve long used various Google services and apps for personal use, and recently I have been working alongside my colleagues in SITSS as they develop Chromebook and G-Suite services for schools.  I have also recently had the pleasure of visiting a local Hertfordshire primary school that uses G-Suite, more of which later.

Getting more from those early programming apps

It seems that a new app for programming or teaching children to code appears every week, and we are rather spoilt for choice these days. Many follow an independent learning, step-by-step approach, most are games of some sort, and often they are based on directing virtual robots or characters around various mazes or challenges.

Primary Computing Scheme, 2016/17

The new term and new school year has seen the release of the latest version of the Primary
Computing Scheme. Now in its fifth version, the scheme was first introduced in 2011 and has developed over time to stay in line with changes to the national curriculum and the Herts for Learning approach to assessment.