We know you've heard it claimed many times, “made in collaboration with teachers”.
But what does that mean?
How can a teacher and programmer communicate sensibly without swapping jobs for at least 6 months?
iboard interactive screens work because they are made by teachers - from start to finish!
How ?
In the day-time we work in schools as ICT support teachers and in the evening (rather boringly) we have learnt how to program. We are not great at drawing pictures so a friend does that!
Why?
Because we can't buy the sort of interactive screens we need to use on a day-to-day basis.
Why Not?
There is some good software out there but it is hidden beneath a deluge of, in our opinion, inappropriate activities.
Activities in software for key stage 1 are often closed:
“How many crows are sitting in the tree?” – We don't care!
“Click on the dog with 2 spots” – What for?
We are looking for learning possibilities, not dressed up tests.
How do we know they are good?
We “partner-teach” using the screens – if they were rubbish we would look like fools!
Sometimes they work brilliantly first time (we like that), sometimes they don't (we learn from that).
Teachers find them incredibly useful projected onto a whiteboard, a screen or bit of card stuck on the wall; like an interactive big book.
Pupils are engaged in real learning when they use them – there are rarely any direct question and answer problems in our screens so they get to explore a bit, create a bit and make some decisions.
What have we learnt?
At first it was just gut feeling and positive feedback that motivated us.
Now we have some key learning objectives that guide us - language development, collaboration and coaching, problem solving, persistence, control and choice, creative exploration and play.
Start asking hard questions about the software you are using and see how it matches up!
Do we know it all?
No, so we would like to hear what you know or think!
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