Education On Fire - Sharing creative and inspiring learning in our schools

Round up of the computing and Edtech season. Plus how to get your school involved in season 3.   www.EducationOnFire.com

Peter shares his thoughts about season 2 and gives his insights into how teachers can implement them in their school. Peter has been in education professionally for 35 years, teaching in middle schools in Oxford, doing advisory work, teaching higher education and as a Primary Headteacher at Harwell Primary School. He retired from that post in September 2014, but has continued as Chair of OPHTA (Oxfordshire Primary Headteachers’ Association), was elected to become Chair of the National Network of Chairs of Headteachers’ Groups in June 2014 and was delighted to have become a NAPE council member this year, serving on the editorial board for Primary First. In January of 2015 he co-founded the Oxford School of Thought, an independent education think tank. He is a trustee and chairs the management committee of another charity, Full Circle, which is well regarded for its ground breaking intergenerational work. http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/

The week before SATs – Mark talks about how to make each child feel special and understand what they have achieved. What are the 2 things you can do today to make a difference for a lifetime? www.EducationOnFire.com  

Piota builds high-quality apps that are completely free to download. Our school apps can help streamline communication, cut costs, save time and aid pupil learning. Piota apps are used in Early Years Settings, Primary and Secondary schools throughout the UK. With 95% parents now owning a smartphone and regularly using apps, Piota believes that customisable school apps are the future of engagement. Get your free trial at: https://www.piota.co.uk Piota’s goal is to help schools communicate better with parents, carers and students. We understand that tight funds and limited administration time make bridging the gap between schools and parents a challenge, so we design school apps that are simple and quick to use while still delivering meaningful gains for the school, parents and ultimately students. With extensive experience in both education and app development, we have the sector insight and technological know-how to deliver a school app that will revolutionise the way your school engages. The Piota team are all parents and have been heavily involved in education through various roles including advisor to DfE, MAT director, governors and PTA organisers. 80,000 Pupils’ parents engaged 11,000 Average page views per school per month

• Finalist, BT Young Pioneers Award 2016 • Winner, Tech4Good People’s Award 2016 • Winner, Tech4Good Winner of Winners Award 2016 Aged just nine years old, Arnav Sharma studied the cause, diagnosis and effect of asthma and came up with a solution; the AsthmaPi kit. Using a Raspberry Pi hooked up to a range of sensors it helps anyone living with asthma and is particularly useful to anyone not sure about the diagnosis of asthma. Using email and SMS text message alerts, patients receive prompts to take medication and reminders for review visits, and the accompanying booklet makes it easy to understand asthma. Arnav started with two Raspberry Pis and added a Sense Hat, MQ-135 Gas Sensor, Sharp Optical Dust Sensor and an Arduino Uno – which he programmed using Python and C++. https://www.tech4goodawards.com/finalist/arnav-sharma/ https://www.educationonfire.com http://khanacademy.org http://raspberrypi.org

Now in its 6th year, the AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards recognise organisations and individuals who use digital technology to improve the lives of others. The awards were created by AbilityNet with the help of BT and a number of businesses, charities and non-profit partners and sponsors, because we want to know about companies that are utilising the empowering influence of digital technology – whether it’s at home, at work, in education. Access to the digital world can be life changing. https://www.tech4goodawards.com https://www.tech4goodawards.com/enter-now/bt-young-pioneer-award/ https://www.tech4goodawards.com/enter-now/comic-relief-tech4good-africa-award/ https://www.abilitynet.org.uk – Tel 0800 269545 https://www.goodthingsfoundation.org https://www.khanacademy.org https://www.appsforgood.org Education on Fire – Apps for Good Interview    

Part 2 of my interview with Lee Parkinson – how we can use technology to raise standards in schools. Lee Parkinson has been a Primary Teacher for 8 years where he has built a wealth of ideas for how technology can be embedded right across the curriculum. He has successfully deployed a class set of iPads across a whole primary school and worked alongside children from EYFS through to Year 6 looking at how iPads can enhance teaching and learning throughout the curriculum. Mr Parkinson always puts learning first and looks for creative and innovative ways in which technology, such as the iPad, can be used effectively to impact on writing & reading as well as developing key numeracy skills. He has built a reputation as one of the leading advocates for camouflage teaching, tricking children into learning by using engaging methods to motivate reluctant writers and inspire boys to write. After a recent Ofsted inspection, his use of iPads within a Literacy observation was deemed “Outstanding with a phenomenal use of technology and an Outstanding outcome to the lesson.” Alongside his expertise with iPads, Mr Parkinson also provides training for how using web based tools including blogging can impact on learning and motivate children to improve writing and reading. He also has a wealth of ideas to transform your classroom into the 21st Century from a real teacher with practical ideas that work.   Links of things we talked about: http://mrparkinsonict.com http://mrparkinsonict.blogspot.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/IctWithMrP/ https://twitter.com/ICT_MrP https://twitter.com/richardgerver https://twitter.com/DrChips_ https://web.seesaw.me https://bookcreator.com https://spark.adobe.com https://explaineverything.com http://get-puppet.co

Mr Parkinson is a primary school teacher who specialises in the use of technology to raise standards across the curriculum. His training and INSET provides teachers with a wealth of knowledge on the most engaging and inspiring ways to improve standards in Literacy, Numeracy and the NEW primary Curriculum using modern technology. http://mrparkinsonict.com

Mark Taylor gives his thoughts on the season so far and offers your pupils the chance to be on the Education on Fire Podcast for Season 3. EducationOnFire.com https://twitter.com/taylormapps http://www.goodstuffprimaryresources.com/  

A Complete Toolkit To Teach E-Safety Lessons with Online Safety Lesson Plans http://gooseberryplanet.com HomeHalo Gooseberry Planet uses gaming technology to help children learn about internet safety. In the course of a familiar game, children are exposed to online issues requiring a response such as meeting strangers, bullying, grooming and sexual exploitation. Children love playing games and Gooseberry Planet is a fun way to present internet safety situations to them. The software platform facilitates the participation of parents and teachers to discuss with their children/students the issues raised in the game, and to monitor their reactions to the situations. Internet safety is part of Personal, Social, Health Economic (PSHE) education and ICT in schools, but many schools don’t know how to teach the subject. It is very difficult to keep up with the trends and stay in touch with what their students are using.   Gooseberry Planet has a number of Apps for schools, which will facilitate the intervention of teachers and parents. We offer a complete solution for the whole school community, ensuring that every child is taught for a minimum of 12 weeks (1 hour per week) in each and every year of their primary school education! The games target 4-13 year olds. There are 5 levels in total, each level has been adapted for different age groups. Two other apps sit alongside the gaming software. One for the teacher (Gooseberry Teacher) which is a monitoring system and also a resource, and the other is Gooseberry Parent. The software platforms talk to each other whilst the student is playing the game. Areas covered with Gooseberry Planet: • Clickjacking • Grooming • Sexual Exploitation • Emailing • Live Gaming • Web Cams & Live Streaming • Social Networking • People online • Radicalisation • Meeting Up • Chat Rooms • Online Bullying • In-App Purchases • Online Safety for Students • Teaching Internet Safety to Students • Internet Safety and Online Safety tips for kids • Online Bullying tips for children