ITGEN SOLUTIONS

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 ...