ITGEN SOLUTIONS

The fifth edition of the Fastest Finger Typing Competition (FFC) and maiden edition of ITGEN Creative Challenge (ICC) was held on Saturday 23rd of June, 2018 at Sweet Sensation hall, Opebi, Ikeja, Lagos State. The Competition brought an amiable ambience with the objective to search for creative minds and fastest typist amongst participating pupils. It was indeed a mesmerizing event which would be etched in our memory for a very long time. Over 100 participants from both primary and Secondary schools in Lagos and Ogun States took part in the competition. Schools in attendance were:  Lea Valley School, Iju, Lagos UTOL Schools, Arepo, Ogun State Honeyland Schools, Ipaja Honeyland Schools, Command Grande Oakbridge Montessori school, Lekki Vicsum Private School, Omole phase2, Bethany hall school, Ogudu GRA, Lagos Chessington Montessori school, Agege, Lagos Witfield Montessori School, ogba, Lagos Bright Destiny School ,Ilasamaja, Lagos JOEN College, Isolo, Lagos Dawn...

Even as schools continue to invest heavily in technology, we are still staring down what experts call the “device gap,” where students from lower-income backgrounds don’t have the same digital access as their middle class peers. For students and classrooms, that divide can have real impact. In a recent survey, 67 percent of teachers in transitional kindergarten through third grade say they have at least on one occasion not assigned homework that requires technology or digital media because they think their students do not have access at home—a percentage that increases in schools serving more low-income students. For the survey, which was conducted online,  information were collected regarding young children’s use of technology specific to home and school settings, and also explored the connection between home and school technology use. Complementary to the above findings, 40 percent of parents report that home technology challenges make it hard for their children to keep up w...

Classrooms where students are “thriving,” foster connections and friendships between students that build self-assuredness, giving them the confidence to take risks and the conviction that they can learn the material. Educators who lead successful lessons also know how to weave play into their classes while exhibiting a zeal for their subject, and for teaching in general. A passion for teaching is contagious. Students almost instinctively know when educators have a love for not only the subject matter — whether that’s math or history — but also their own jobs. This joy spread throughout a classroom, producing happier, even more playful students who are willing to take risks as they learn, seeing the experience as fun, rather than fraught with stress. Administrators can’t write passion into curriculum. But they can encourage educators to pursue the things that bring them happiness — both out of the classroom and inside those four walls as well. Teacher enthusiasm may do more tha...

Experts argue over what the job market will look like in 10 or 20 years’ time, but they all agree it is changing, nearly half of the nearly 1,900 experts surveyed by the Pew Research Center said they "envision a future in which robots and digital agents have displaced significant numbers of both blue- and white-collar workers." As school struggle to prepare students for such an uncertain future, school leaders should remember public education has always been about creating good citizens, not just good workers. School face a number of challenges in preparing students for jobs that may not even be on the horizon yet. Repetitive jobs, such as factory work or jobs in the service industry are more likely to disappear and will be replaced by jobs requiring more technical skills, some say. Despite the uncertainty, confusion and fear of a future where everyone is subservient to evil robot overlords, some common-sense truths remain. The fact that computers will play a big role ...

As schools adopt digital tools and technology solutions, educators should pay careful attention to the risks these innovations bring to students. Entering information anywhere online — whether a child’s name or age — means that data can be accessed by others, and even sold. Keeping students’ information protected — and private — is a very real concern. The current trend to personalize or tailor curriculum to a child’s specific learning needs through online classes brings additional concerns. Studies are inconclusive as to the effectiveness of online education as compared to classes taught face-to-face, says Ravitch. Schools, worried that their students are falling behind, may also be eager to invest in technology designed for the educational space. Yet those budget lines are courted by so-called ed tech companies, eager for the funds. Technology is then brought into schools, without any planning on how they’ll be adopted in classrooms. The danger, then, is the tools growing ob...

Ask any teacher about teaching about a controversial topic, and most will tell you to avoid it at any cost. School administrators hate controversy and will often discourage teachers from discussing hot topics in their classrooms at all. Teachers routinely get fired or reprimanded for opening discussion in their classroom about ideas that some may take issue with. Teaching subjects like art, literature, theater, and even history and science, can be fraught with difficulty, as teachers navigate minefields of potentially offensive ideas and images. And since today’s teachers often have less protection than teachers in the past, allowing controversy into the classroom can come with truly nightmarish consequences. But in this day in age, when even the most high-ranking officials are saying and doing inappropriate things in the public eye, when our nation is starkly divided and intolerance creates a constant "us-versus-them" attitude among social groups, now is exa...

Its a New Term....New Year....with New Goals!! We welcome all pupils in our partner schools back to the New Term.

Children's excitement about coding lesson inspired new teaching ideas for teachers The first time I introduced coding to a class, as part of a games design project with Kodu (a visual programming language for children), things did not go exactly as planned. My first mistake was underestimating just how long the students would want to spend trying out all the landscape-design tools that Kodu has to offer. I either had to abruptly end their exploration – despite it clearly leading to some interesting discoveries – or delay the content I wished to cover. Then, as the project progressed, a number of students installed Kodu at home and learned how to do more than I’d imagined they would – some of them through experimentation and some by following the video tutorials that I’d told them about. Obviously, I was over the moon that they were so into it, but it did make timings a little tricky. It meant that students were getting to grips with the tools at different rates. ...

Its a New Day - New Month - New Opportunities - New Experiences. Make them count because you may not get another CHANCE! May the New Month bring glad tidings, successes and more accomplishments. Happy New Month from us all @itgensolutions

Clearly, when it comes to technology, the knowledge gap between young and old is widening. A recent survey revealed that this gap is greatest among young parents and those whose children are still at primary school, with 69 per cent of parents between 25 and 34 years of age admitting that their child knows more about technology than they do. This has repercussions for online safety and how far parents can assist their children with school work.  Schools have to play a part in bridging the gap. Today’s primary school students have grown up surrounded by tablet computers and touch screens; they are more widely exposed to technology than any generation before them. As the  new computing curriculum  helps teachers to move with the times, it is important that schools support the parents who may be finding it hard to keep up.   The best way to do that is to invite them into school for a short demonstration. School do this regularly with parent IT classes. “Le...

Challenging students need to be understood and re-engaged to get them on track. Let’s be honest: when it happens day after day, challenging behaviour such as disobedience, backchat, anger issues or other disruption from a child can really grind us down. It can change us from being patient, compassionate people with a genuine desire to make a difference, into sleep-starved, wild-eyed desperados, convinced a student has a personal vendetta. It can make us forget that if a student has barriers that stop them learning the way they want to, it is up to us to identify how we can help them. We all have those children in our classes who “behave badly and don’t learn”. That’s what we used to say. Today, we would say that they find it challenging to focus, produce positive outcomes and demonstrate appropriate learning behaviour. This terminology, while occasionally annoying, is rightly different. Children have an inbuilt curiosity and desire to learn, whatever their background and...

'The four key elements to getting the nuts and bolts of teaching right' Becoming the most effective and confident teacher you can be takes time but there are some key elements you can develop to help get you there a bit quicker Finding teaching and learning ideas and resources is easier now than it’s ever been. But before jumping into lesson planning, assessment formatting or imaginative curriculum design, its essential to get the nuts and bolts right, the bread and butter of teaching. So many times I've heard someone comment “but they had fantastic ideas and worked really hard” about a teacher who was unable to progress in the classroom. And this is such a shame because quite often it’s what a  trainee or new teacher  isn’t  told rather than what they  are  told which holds them back. The foundation on which all good teaching is built is subtle and difficult to identify, but contains these key elements...

Technophobia is a fear of technology. It is a condition that certainly exists in schools, often among teachers who are expected to use technology effectively in cross-curricular activities and in the new computing curriculum. While you might assume the condition is more prevalent among educators who are less “tech-savvy”, from personal experience, it affects those who are digitally literate too. And with more and more technology being used in schools, technophobia is something that teachers need to overcome or risking falling behind the times – and behind their students. Here are tips for getting rid of the fear: Don’t be put off by terminology  There are so many acronyms and unfamiliar words in the technological world.  This new “language” is overwhelming at first. However, jot words down and you’ll soon realise there aren’t as many as you think. It won’t be long before you know your “augmented reality” from your “m-learning”.   Don’t attempt to...

The Internet Digital citizenship education is too geared towards warning young people about the dangers of the internet, so we need to develop a new approach to digital literacy. Today, children are largely living their lives online. So, how have we allowed our schools’  curricula  to fall so far out of step with the world that we are not fully preparing young people for this reality? However, the bulk of the classroom material available was (and still is) on  cybersafety  and digital citizenship. In other words: rules about what not to do online, and rules about how to be a well-behaved user of the internet. A holistic approach Knowledge and awareness of the crucial role of the internet in our society, and how we should interact most appropriately with digital technology, is key to helping students thrive, both in social, work, and academic environments. Blocking, filtering, and scare tactics are certainly not constructive a...

#BeInspired

Technology can be a great time saving tool for teachers, if you ask the right questions Reducing teacher workload is, to my mind, a complex issue that doesn’t have just one answer – if only – but instead needs to be approached in many ways. And tech could be one tool that could prove particularly useful. So, how might this look? Well,  one of the big ways that technology can help teachers is in assessment and data analysis. Whether it’s fast, formative, ready-made assessment tools like Socrative, Kahoot or Quick Key, or full-on tracking and assessment systems, capturing data digitally can potentially make analyzing it and turning it into something meaningful and useful a whole lot easier. Like any tool, though, it is how it’s used that is the real key to this. What tech can also do is to make it easier for teachers to share stuff – and we have a lot to share. From planning and resources, to ideas and vital info, I’m not sure where I’d be without it all. Cloud ...

Five ways to buy tech well Follow these simple tips to ensure the software you purchase will be cost-effective and achieve the outcome you’re looking for When it comes to educational apps and software, there are more options out there than you can shake a stick at. So how do you know if you should go ahead and download? Ask yourself these five questions. 1. Have you clearly identified what your pupils need? Before you even go near the App Store or Google your options, make sure you know what it is you’re trying to achieve. Is there an issue you need to address? Phonics in Year 1? The teaching of programming in key stage 2? Writing for pupils with SEND? If you know exactly what problem you’re trying to solve and you find an app or piece of software that seems to address the issue or tackle the gap, then that’s a good sign. If you’re not sure what you’re trying to improve, then should you be spending money on the app anyway? 2. Hav...