The most appropriate applications to support my teaching.

I am here, my last post so to speak, a blogger nearly blogged out. Here, I will briefly discuss the few applications that I use in my lectures and tutorials on a regular basis. The first and most obvious is the use of that magic invisible network the internet. Without it I would not be able to access my choice of software applications and I would not be able to use them. I must admit that my favourite application has to be PowerPoint. The use of PowerPoint in the classroom has dramatically increased in the last ten years, not always successfully though (Abernethy, 2012). Just by using PowerPoint alone has made me more confident about using ICT in my teaching. I no longer fear ICT in the way that I used to, and just by constructing this blog I have learned how to embed a Ted Talk into it, so if I can learn at my age anyone can. Whilst PowerPoint will not replace traditional teaching methods, it is a modern tool which can be called upon to deliver subjects which are appropriate to its audience and presentation delivery method.

I feel more confident in moving forward using new technology in my lectures and tutorials, however I do think that the applications must be appropriate for the students age and also the content must be suitable and delivered according to the teachers technological capability. I would also consider using Prezi instead of, or as well as PowerPoint, however it is a more time consuming application, so for the time being it has to be PowerPoint. 

The second application that I would use to support my teaching has got to be Microsoft Word. It is a versatile application which the students need to get to grip with as soon as possible. They will need it to complete assignments and design reports, it is therefore a forgone conclusion that I will use it within my teaching Portfolio. Within my own limited teaching I have already had to direct a class of students how to use Word and shown them how to access the Office 365 software on their Moodle at their place of learning.  As it stands, in my next semester I have already been notified that I will be teaching my students how to construct letters of application for employment and cv's so I am going to see quite a lot of Microsoft Word in the future.

Hang on ? I have fibbed, There is one more piece of technology that I have forgotten to mention which I use every time I venture into the classroom and the lecture room and its right in front of me ! The SMARTBOARD ... my new best friend. At first I struggled to use it, I am still a novice, but I am getting there with it. It is my new best friend when used in conjunction with the internet connection on the resident class computer and overhead projector. Together they all make a formidable team which enables me to have easy access to numerous ways of delivering a lecture or tutorial. Its early days, but the signs are good, its user friendly once you know how to work out its secrets. It does have one or two problems when you try to use a clicker in PowerPoint to move the slides, but I am sure that will be sorted out with practice. It enables me to roam around the room and still deliver a presentation. A very useful tool together with the smart pens and the smart board rubber. As a result I have found it to be a versatile tool when delivering a presentation to my students or going native and using chalk and talk.   

Overall, in this age of advancing technology there will be applications which become compulsory and those that are never going to be used and those which fall between the two. This will be down to the individual attributes of the teacher concerned and how capable they are and what they want to achieve with their students. In a 'time of change'  higher education is in a position of having to change and adapt to outside conditions created by the adoption of new popular technologies such as mobile services, social media and social networking services (Kukulska-Hume, 2012), we must be technologically inclusive if we are to meet that challenge.

Abernethy, M., 2012. Reducing 'Death by Powerpoint'. Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology, 1 (1), p. 63.  

Kukulska-Hulme, A., 2012. How should the higher education workforce adapt to advancements in technology for teaching and learning? Internet and Higher Education, 15, pp. 247-254.

Barriers to the effective use of technology in education

The barriers to using technology in the classroom for learning are many. To enable the students to access the subject matter via technology is the first hurdle, every student has to have a piece of mobile hardware in their possession or have access to hardware to which they can gain access to the software delivering the learning. According to Keengwe, Onchwari and Wachira (2008) teachers committed to using and integrating computer technology into the classroom may find it a challenging process due to the barriers that exist. These include resistance to change, lack of professional development and teachers attitudes, suggest El Semary (2011). The most serious being the lack of development. Many teachers still feel unprepared for the digital tools that they have access to and many are not trained to use them correctly, in order to use them efficiently in delivering learning packages. In addition to this are the physical barriers of a lack of technical support, too few computers and inadequate professional development of teachers in the field of new technology.

It appears to me that the strategy of learning via the use of new technology needs to be reviewed from top to bottom. Whilst in University at least software like Moodle has been introduced which enables students to access lectures and timetables and an online library from everywhere, not every classroom has computers to access the facilities that it has to offer. To enable access you have to attend specifically constructed computer rooms. As these rooms are a very expensive luxury the education establishment rely on the students having their own technology terminals in which to access the software. Teachers must be fully trained in the new methods in order to utilise the new methods and dispense learning via the new technologies. At the same time educational establishments must increase their spending on hardware and software to enable these technologies to be used successfully by their students. Students who cannot afford the new hardware should not have to be penalised because they are too poor to afford to purchase them for themselves.    

I, myself use new technology in my classroom, however I am a 'digital immigrant' (Prensky, 2001) and basically I get by. I learn by asking and doing. I have had no formal training in the field of new technology and I have the feeling that most teachers are in the same position. It has to change, for the sake of the teachers and more importantly for the sake of the students. 

El Semary, H., 2011. Barriers to the effective use of technology in education: Case study of UAE. Asian Transactions on Science and Technology, 1 (5), pp. 22-32.

Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G. and Wachira, P., 2008. Computer Technology Integration and Student Learning: Barriers and Promise. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17, pp. 560-565. 

Prensky, M., 2001. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon. MCB University Press, 9 (5), pp. 1-6.

How technology has changed the way we learn.

'Once not so very long ago, students gathered information by listening to face-to-face lectures, searching the stacks of libraries and reading books. Quaint as it seems , papers were written in longhand or typed on typewriters. Today, learning involves technology unheard of only a decade or so ago' (Technology, n.d.). 

As I sit here and write this blog I am in deep thought about how technology has changed the way we learn. Just by writing this blog I am actively engaging and learning via the use of mobile technology. As a mature student I will use this blog to reflect upon this subject as it is indeed a history lesson in itself on how learning has changed over the last 50 years. My first taste of technology in the classroom was a radio which the teacher used infrequently for us to listen to children's programmes on the BBC, usually because she had had a bad day and wanted a rest. Rolling through the years and nothing much changed until the advent of televisions and video players in the classrooms during the 1970's. I vaguely remember some in my Grammar school but when they abolished Grammar schools in 1972, I was sent to a Comprehensive School where there was virtually a television in every room and on the advent of video recorders, a video recorder in every classroom. 

From there I went to a Technical College, where everything was hands on practical learning and theory, not a lot of tv, but as I went through my various career paths I remember technology creeping more into what I would call 'ordinary' life through the introduction of supermarket bar codes for
consumers and receiving training in the police via distance learning packages on basic desktop computers. This enabled the training to be designed, and delivered from Scotland Yard at a touch of a button for us all to do within a set time period. It also enabled us to be evaluated and have delivered updated e-learning packages every month and if we did not complete them an e-mail was sent to our Inspector or local training dept and we would have our backsides kicked to get it done. This meant that we could learn in quiet periods on a night duty, rather than be in a classroom 9 to 5 during busy periods of duty.

Technology has sprinted ahead since the introduction of the iphone. According to Burke (2013) 'There's no doubt that the iPad and its multiple applications , along with other mobile devices and online learning, could bring amazing resources into the very foundations of the educative process'. We are now in an age of self-learning and distance learning. We do not have to attend a school or a college at all if our courses are validated and accessible online. We can study part time for degrees at home, we can virtually learn anything from our living room. Learning can be fun, interactive and to the point, but at the same time it can be de-personalised, lacking that personal touch, that intimacy of discussion with a living human being, instead of interacting via a plastic computer terminal and a liquid crystal screen.

Burke, L., 2013. Educational and online technologies and the way we learn. International Schools Journal, Vol XXXII (2), pp. 57-65.

Technology., n.d. Wikipedia, blogs and podcasts: Does technology change the way we learn? Technology, [online] Available at: http://www-e.openu.ac.il/geninfor/openletter/ol19/download/page-20-21.pdf

The Value of Mobile Technology in Teaching and Learning.

From the start of this blog I have looked at different software, all of which can be used in education, whether they be stand alone software, or part of a software package. They are all available on mobile technology, and they can all add to the students learning environment and experience. The use of new technology in education is a new and growing field, however a question which needs to be asked is does it actually add to our learning experience ?  

According to Montrieux, Vanderlinde, Schellens and Marez (2015) a study of students and teachers perceptions on the impact of using mobile tablet technology for learning and teaching purposes in the classroom found that it does have an impact. However, they suggest that the results indicate that teachers can be separated into two distinct categories. One category being innovative teachers and the second categories being instrumental teachers. The innovative teachers move away from a teaching centered approach to a learning centered one. They have altered their teaching style by adapting their lessons in accordance to the perceived advantages that mobile tablet devices offer. Whereas instrumental teachers use mobile technology as a 'book behind glass'. This separation between the two has consequences for the way in which courses are delivered and in the way that students experience them. It also shifts the way in which students learn as modern devices present students with media-rich and interactive environments. 

It is fine to introduce new technology into the classroom as far as I am concerned, however using computer technology to learn with is replete with disappointments and promises (Rosenberg, 2001). Whereas according to Kozma (2005) 'Information and communication technology is a principal driver in our Information Society'. I do find it difficult to find a balance, especially as the teaching value is only as good as the teacher delivering. If the teacher is no good at mobile technology then you are simply not going to gain any benefit from it. However the reverse is also true, if the teacher is a technological geek and everything is geared towards learning by technology you have to ask yourself where is the personalisation of the input from the teacher ? otherwise it will be a completely sterile environment in which to learn. 

Kozoma, R. B., 2005. National policies that connect ICT-based education reform to economic and social development. Human Technology: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Humans in ICT Environments, 1 (20), pp. 117-56. 

Rosenberg, M., 2001. E-learning : Strategies for delivering knowledge in the digital age. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. 

Montrieux, H., Vanderlinde, R., Schellens, T. and De Marez., 2015. Teaching and learning with mobile technology: A qualitative explorative study about the introduction of tablet devices in secondary education. PLoS ONE, [online] Available at: http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0144008&representation=PDF [accessed 17 January 2015]    

Ted Talk - We are all cyborgs now.

As you may be aware from my blog I like new technology, I love the simplicity of some applications but I hate those which are complicated just for the sake of being complicated. I am also a big fan of Transhuman. I firmly believe that we as humans will not exist in our present form in the future. It is inevitable at the present rate of technology advancement and the additions of technology to the human body in the form of new knee joints, new prosthetic fully functioning limbs and microchip implants into humans brains and spines that we will become what Star Trek refers to as a type of 'Borg', a half human, half machine. In this Ted Talk by Amber Case she puts forward her theory that as we create technology, technology itself is causing us to evolve. She refers to us as a new version of 'button-clicking' homo sapiens, where instead of using our own brains we now rely on 'external brains'' such as computers and mobile phones in order to communicate with others. Even to the extent of using mobile technology as our memories and using the same technology to live out a secondary life through the invisible network of the internet and mobile phone network. As a result of this Amber discusses whether through this evolution and advancement in new technology will homo sapiens actually remain in control of the technology. 

Amber tells us that 'we are all cyborgs', not in the Robocop way, but every time we use our computer or mobile phone. Amber states that a cyborg is an organism 'to which exogeneous components have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments'. Traditionally, humans have made tools to use as an extension to our physical self, such as cars, aeroplanes, tools. However, what we are producing now is an extension of our mental self. How much information does our mobile technology hold ? if it was printed off on paper it would weigh a lot, too much to carry, and we add to it every day. All of us online now have secondary selves, they exist even when we are not using the technology once they have been created. They also need attention in order for them to function properly and maintenance. people also interact with these second selves when you are not there. You have to keep your presentation in your analogue life AND your digital life. Amber then puts forward the case that people now go through two adolescences, once in your analogue life and again in your digital life. 

Amber discusses the fact that a mobile phone is a wormhole, we do not physically transport ourselves around our world, but we mentally transport ourselves instead. We can now stand on one side of our planet and be heard on the other side. The downside of all this contact and invisible networking is that we are all in continuous contact with everyone. Whether it is active or not, it does not allow us to have mental self-reflection. Amber has quite rightly concerns about this. If you have no mental self reflection how can you figure out yourself who you really are. Once you can figure out who you are you can then go forward and present your second self to the world instead of just dealing with all the e-mails and information that floods into your technological devices. It is concerning that children are now getting used to using their devices and being addicted to their devices whilst ignoring their true selves and having no time for self reflection. We live in a digital world, Amber suggests that technology is not taking over, but that we as humans are communicating in a different way. She suggests that it is making us more human. On one level I get it, but on others I have my reservations. It is an interesting talk coming from the view of an anthropologist into the new species of Homo Sapiens.

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 6.

Welcome to Part 6.

In this review I will be looking at my two favourite applications. The first is Word, this I consider to be a must for any student. With this universally used, versatile piece of software you can create any document for any scenario from handouts, to lesson plans and handbooks to novels, reports, critical assessments and assignments to note keeping. Since having being forced to use it in my previous

occupation as a police officer (and hating it) I have grown to love it. It is a must for all new students and I would wholly recommend it to them. A word (excuse the pun) however of caution, always remember to save it in multiple areas such as a memory stick or an external hard drive or in the cloud on for example OneDrive. It does have a tendency to have a mind of its own and work can be lost.

PowerPoint ! Where do I start ? It is simply the best and easiest presentation tool as far as I am concerned. It does what it says on the tin. I am new to the Presentation game but as a novice even I with my digital technological adolescence phase can create a professional looking presentation. It is easy to create a simple presentation and I am now even creating sentences that 'fly in' and 'appear' out of thin air on screen. I am having fun in finding and using these tools which are completely new to me. This is one I am already using with my students and as part of my assessments in my PCET. However, I do like Prezi but I think for creating a quick presentation it has to be PowerPoint.

Where would we be without YouTube ? It is a teachers font of information. Almost any subject has an educational video or presentation or documentary that can be found on this amazing piece of technology. This is one I have used myself in class in my micro teach, where I found a clip of a television news show which had a report on a public disorder situation at which I was present in my capacity as a police officer at that time in the 1990's. It is very useful in the classroom either as a gap filler, or to deliver an informative documentary or as an explanation of the subject matter you are teaching. It is also one I have used with my placement students to refresh their memory on Harvard Referencing, where University students in England produced a basic Harvard referencing guide and placed it on YouTube, and it is definitely an application that I will be using with my students again due to its ease of use and it free availability as long as there is an internet connection and a facility to use it in the classroom.  

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 5.

Welcome to Part 5.

This review will cover Prezi. Prezi itself is a cloud based application which opens up a new world of creativity between PowerPoint presentations and the whiteboard. With the zoomable canvas you can create and explore connections between ideas that you have.This enables you to create and discover new, visual, audience grabbing presentations, bringing your students a new aspect to learning by making your presentations visually entertaining. It is a piece of software that I would use with my students, however, one has to be careful not to go overboard on the visuals, otherwise that is all they will remember, instead of the subject matter on display. The only problem with Prezi is the time it takes to create a presentation, it has so many fantastic looking templates. it is easy to access anywhere there is an internet connection and it can access digital media seamlessly. However, it is difficult to modify templates and time consuming. But, depending on the subject you wish to teach I personally think that sometimes its worth it. Personally, I would use this with my students.

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 4.

Welcome to Part 4.

This review will cover very briefly Hot Potatoes.This is mainly due to the fact that according to  edshelf.com technical support is no longer provided for this application by the company that created it. Hot Potatoes is now outdated, however, it is easy to use to create tests, even if you are not computer literate.The tests can also be linked so the students can go from one test to another and it

also supplies a few alternative options for feedback, assessment and review. It is a freeware software which contains within it six further applications, these applications enable you to create multiple choice, short answer, crossword, jumbled sentence, matching/ordering gap-fill exercises for the internet which are interactive. It is still available as a download however as it is not supported and it also uses java, for which browsers are now withdrawing their support as well, there does not seem to be much point in using it. A definite no from my point of view to use with my students.

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 3.

Welcome to Part 3.

The concept of Nearpod is simple. A teacher is able to construct presentations that can contain images, videos, polls, Quizzes, web content and so on. It is an interactive presentation app which is also an assessment tool as well. Students access the teachers presentation by using a code, it is then down to the teacher to lead the class through the presentation and leave them interact with it as they go through it. Nearpod is accessible via any internet connection which means that it is quite versatile and it is made for mobile technology like an ipad. You can create and run presentations from your ipad which is a boon rather than being tied to a fixed terminal in your classroom as you can create presentations at short notice.


It also has a self assessment tool which can be quite useful for the students themselves and it has an ongoing assessment data collection facility for the teacher. However. It may be useful for distance learning and interaction with the students. But is it necessary when at the end of the day you can just use a PowerPoint presentation and have a proper discussion around the subject being presented ? It also necessitates that the whole class has an individual computer each to access the app ?, this can be problematical unless you are permanently based in a computer room at your educational establishment. Unfortunately, another app that appears to be good at face value but the novelty and practicality soon wears off. Not one that I would use personally.

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 2.

Welcome to Part 2.

Socrative is a piece of software that can be run on multiple devices at the same time. This means that the students can have access to the software as the lecturer who is in control of the program. Socrative's only use however, is to run quizzes, and when the result data is collected the lecturer can assess them virtually instantly. It is a useful application for assessing the amount of information that your students can remember or that your students already know.  The software allows for various options on the types of quizzes that you can create in your virtual classroom which allows the teacher to be flexible. The teacher can then keep the questions relevant to the topic or discussion subject. It is

very useful in drawing attention to the students lack of knowledge, or their poor results by providing instant feedback which the lecturer can then assess and where necessary provide specific remedial help or assistance.  

Evaluation of applications used, and their possible use in my subject area. Part 1.

Software programs to aid teaching appear with such regularity these days that it is a problem just keeping pace with their advances. In this part of my blog I will review a few of those covered in my ICT course and give my opinion as to whether they would be of use to me in my subject area. 

The first review is on Kahoot! This is a game based system which 

utilises a game-based learning approach to facilitate creation and research in students. The system is free to anyone and to use you simply create an account. Once logged into the system the students are expected to research, create and present their own quizzes. Kahoot saves the results of  every quiz and when their student colleagues start asking questions they need to enter a nickname so that their scores can be saved to their personal profile. The system appears to have been designed for the younger audience, and not for Higher Education, so I do not think I will be using this one for my adult learners.

Next on the list is wordle ......arghhhh I cannot get it to work on my computer as I have windows 10. I have a Firefox browser and it totally refuses to allow me to activate Java....which is another bone of contention...every time I do manage to download Java it affects my PC's operation and completely slows it down or causes it to crash. Unfortunately this gets a big fat zero for user friendliness. I then tried to use the Microsoft Edge browser to download Java, again it does not work as the Edge browser does not support Java, it even tells me to use Firefox !. Over to my i Mac, same problem it needs Java. I am seriously getting fed up of this. Java downloaded on my i Mac and  ..... well I managed to create a wordle but it wont let me save it. Unfortunately I was ill during most of ICT week so I was not able to test this application during class. However, I should be able to use this piece of software on ANY computer ANYWHERE. This appears not to be the case, disappointing to say the least. As when it worked on my i Mac it was quite simple to produce a wordle, but there again I could not save it. Not a piece of user friendly software in my opinion, and again, not something I would use for my adult learners due to the nature of my subject which is Public Services and Policing Skills and Knowledge.  

What is my experience of mobile technology and learning

Dinosaur, that's me a Dinosaur, or am I ?

When it comes to mobile technology I sigh, not something else I have to learn how to use. Why is everything sooooooo complicated these days.........or is it? When I went to school the most modern piece of technology in the school was a pencil, pens were things you got as a birthday present and

invariably it was a refillable fountain pen which had a little lever on the side so you could refill it from a bottle of ink. To refill this was an art in itself, an you usually ended up with ink all over you hands, the pen and your books. Blue splodges everywhere, including your clothes.....mum was not happy. As time moved on radios were introduced to listen to children's programmes on the BBC ...only if we behaved though. Then metal boxes with an overhead lamp became the norm and when the bulb was lit, it projected pictures and words onto a blank wall ....the teacher had to spend hours writing on a clear piece of acetate in order to produce these wondrous pieces of art...instead of dictating passages from a book to us, the use of technology in the classroom had been born.

Time moved on and messy ink refills moved on too, instead of bottles of ink we had cartridges of ink, hurrah, less mess NOT. They were just as bad, however in the classroom we now had a television set and a video player/recorder. Oh what fun we had when the teacher came in, told us that he or she was going to play a video of something educational that we had to watch and study ....only to find that either the television was broken or the video player was broken or the remote control was missing from one or the other, or both, or they couldn't open the locked steel cabinet that the video player was in because some clever student (brat, not my words, toned down for educational purposes) had put chewing gum into the lock. Back to dictation whilst the teacher recovered from a near nervous breakdown. Anyway, time moved on and there appeared to be a hiatus, televisions and video players evolved but nothing much changed as I moved through further education and into paid employment. 

As the years flew by, mobile phones came and became mini computers overnight. Personal computers became personal, and home computers. Computers had been introduced into the home via games consoles such a Atari and Sony. Children of all ages became besotted with playing games on tv with their freind's, learning by the use of technology had become the norm. Even the BBC got into the act with their Acorn computer and Clive Sinclair with his ZX spectrum computer, a computer that you could programme yourself at home. Technology advanced at a greater pace, drawing us in and seducing us with its new marvels. learning by playing, learning by doing, learning by watching (also getting lazy by sitting on our bottoms instead of playing outside). Teachers devised new ways of educating and entertaining us at the same time. Then when I entered University I found everything had changed....MOODLE!. A platform meant to inform and educate. A platform that supplied e-mail facilities, Office 365, supplying all the software such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel all in one place for student to use across the University. OneDrive for storing your work, and of course a digital library. No more waiting in a library for a book to be returned, if it was digitised into an e-book ...easy access, a journal sir ? no problem if it was online, job done. Would you like to do an add on course from home ? easy ...log on supply your information to the provider and off you go . The course completed online without moving from your front room. Smartphones are used in poor countries all over the world to enable easy access for their students as new technology impacts on education.

Whilst technology and mobile technology has advanced at a breathtaking pace and has provided a brilliant platform for us to use and to learn from and develop your knowledge and qualifications with easy access, there is a dark side. Once you engage with it distances you from personal human contact, it isolates you, you have no audible, visible, human contact. You become isolated, you become ....dare I say it part of the machine. It is invaluable for learning and progress, but at what cost ? I appreciate the advances that mobile technology can bring to the student with ipads and iphones and their like but there has to be a cut off point. We ourselves are human, not robots , not machines. However, as time progresses we are becoming what we produce, a machine that accesses information, acts on it, produces something with that information and moves on to the next gigabyte of information.....exactly like a production robot in for example in a car factory.

Recent studies however now suggest that mobile technology is not the panacea to increasing knowledge and education that it appears to be students cannot multi task using their mobiles and study at the same time. doubts have also been raised by world renowned institutions such as the OECD (Organisation for economic co-operation). They state that 'computer's do not improve' students results. Information can be accessed at a touch of a button or screen, a simple way of accessing information, but you can turn a computer off, who turns the students off so they can rest and recuperate ? When does using mobile technology become a dangerous habit like taking drugs in the quest for more and more information, and when does mobile technology actually decide whats best for you ? That future that the likes of Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick where a computer makes decisions and the human cannot override them may already be here .......but its name may not be

Dave .......   

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8508040.stm

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33047927 

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34174796

Microsoft Applications - Personal Experiences

I don't know about you personally, but normally when I open up a new piece of technology the first item I look for is an instruction booklet. Especially the one that states 'Quick start menu', However in reality, how often do you find a booklet these days? or how often does it work that quickly? In this review I will be writing about my experiences with Microsoft Office software. 

My first experience of using any kind of computer software was in the Metropolitan Police (Met) in London. To start with, it was a basic crime reporting programme that we all were trained up to use called Cris (Crime reporting information system). This was the main crime recording instrument which had been developed on an MS-DOS (Microsoft disk operating system) based system to mirror the paper based system which the Met Police had been using for well over 150 years. Progress is infinitely slow and laborious in government run public services and instead of being user/customer led it is normally pulled along by its nose according to the requirements for statistics from various government departments. We were literally dragged into the computer age with the introduction of desktop computers and told to make our arrest reports/case files on word for submission. Ahhhh those blissful days of firstly finding a computer that worked, especially at 2am in the morning, and then having to try and get the Microsoft Word software up and running, and set to a reasonable font and spacing invariably because some clever person before you had mucked them all up (and in some cases hidden all the tools). Perseverance my boy (and girls), perseverance.

The two pieces of software that I have used out of Microsoft Office frequently are Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. I have also used Microsoft Excel for a short period as well and Microsoft Outlook, but to a much lesser extent.

Word has developed so much over the years that instead of hating it like I used to I now regard it as a kind of digital friend. I have spent many a sleepless night weaving my way through a word document and having copious cups of tea and coffee, and talking to it in an effort to complete an assignment on time. Getting used to its frailties, it's tantrums, its mischievousness, its brilliance and its (or mine) utter stupidity when the document suddenly disappears for no reason. You know its there, BUT WHERE ????. Visions of lost work haunt me, so much so that despite knowing that Word automatically saves work over set time periods, I still save it in three different files/folders or memory sticks......just in case.

PowerPoint, my new bestest friend that I talk to whilst drinking late night beverages and wondering what have I clicked on now, and where the heck has the last line disappeared to, and why has it gone THERE . I remember the days of teachers setting pages in books for you to read, and dictating passages of work to you.....those days are no more....you put it on PowerPoint. I am still in the early stages of wooing this marvelous piece of software. It is a fabulous tool, it is chock full of ideas and creative ways in which to make a presentation hit you squarely between the eyes. However there is a word of caution, you MUST remember, it's not ALL about the presentation, it's also about the students LEARNING.

The next piece of software is the Excel package. I must admit that this is the one I have had least experience of, but logically and practically, in the creation of spreadsheets it is very very good. I got to know it reasonably well during my dissertation but since then our relationship has deteriorated. It served a purpose but we have now moved on. No doubt our paths will cross again. In the meantime I have fond memories of inputting data and performing calculations which normally would have taken a considerable amount of time to do and getting the results in seconds instead. There IS only one spreadsheet package as far as I am concerned and that's EXCEL.

Last but not least is Microsoft's Outlook. Where do I start, NOT a big fan. It does what it is supposed to do as a platform and that's it as far as I am concerned. It may be because I only have to use it when I sign into the University's Office 365 account on Moodle to access University/student e-mails. I have used a separate system from talk talk at home for many a year and it is a far simpler and easier system to use. I do not find outlook user friendly at all and the time it takes for you to navigate your way around the system is far to long. Access to your e-mails can be far quicker and simpler. The only benefit is direct access to Onedrive, however even that is longer than using the Onedrive app outside the Outlook system.  

Is that it ! errr no, I have forgotten about my favourite, my saviour, my Onedrive. Onedrive has saved my neck on more than one occasion. It is my favourite of the Microsoft Office world applications. Not even Word has saved my neck as often as Onedrive. It is so easy to use to save your items and files to, and it is also easy to access. However you have to be fastidious in order to keep the files in a set order and dated accordingly otherwise it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. As far as I am concerned it should be firmly attached to Word. 

So there you have it, my version of the top four of Microsoft Applications. All four have applications in teaching and learning. Word teaches the student how to format and write in a legible style, styles which can also be varied and personalised, both for themselves and for the purposes of submission as assignments. It also automatically saves work, just in case your younger students forget to. It can also be used with voice recognition software so that physically disabled students can speak into a microphone and produce work in Word.

PowerPoint is an educational tool within itself,  it can produce stunning presentation displays with twists and turns and tweaks that grab your attention and entertain whilst at the same time delivering informative and knowledgeable displays. Whilst Excel, when set up properly can be an extremely time saving and productive tool for those students using extreme mathematical calculations or even simple and basic maths.

Outlook despite its unfriendliness does provide a platform to access and save e-mails which you can set to your own preferences. Making it easier to access certain information, this can be used as a learning tool for basic knowledge of learning how to access and send and keep e-mails. Lastly but not least, Onedrive. A vast storage facility which students can use to retain virtually everything that they produce in the Microsoft world and which they can dip into at anytime to retrieve their work as long as they have a computer, from anywhere on the planet where there is an internet connection.

Blog Review:- Ben Johnson 'How to manage cell phones in the classroom'

Modern technology.....a saviour or a curse ? discuss........

As a newbie to the education world and a student teacher I was heartened to see that my concerns and frustration at students using mobile phones in the classroom whilst one is trying to teach them is a phenomenon experienced by many.  Ben Johnson in his blog tries to explain that what today's students are doing by being virtually physically attached to the mobile phones is no different to what the the Sony Walkman generation did. I remember it as if it were yesterday. A Walkman was a portable cassette recorder and if you could afford it, you could have a radio with it as well. According to Johnson his students liked to play music to themselves via earbuds, which by the way also excluded any other audible noise....in this case the teacher. The students enclose themselves in a cocoon of music and according to Johnson when asked to remove the earbuds, they inform him that the music helps them to study .....yeah ok ....pull the other one its got bells on it. The human brain can only focus on one thing at a time so the excuse is not a valid one but still the problem exists.

And if that is not enough you have the problem of texting. Johnson complains of being tired of students texting each other in the classroom, even whilst writing with one hand and texting underneath the desk with the other hand. Even to the extent that texting slang appears in his students assignments. I myself, have personally witnessed students sitting a desk or two away from each other texting to each other instead of paying attention to the lecture.Unfortunately, we cannot uninvent the mobile phone, it is here to stay. Johnson poses the question's 'How do you monitor and keep 30 phones busy doing productive work'? and 'What do you do with the few students that do not have phones' ? or do you have a completely phone free environment and be an ogre. The choices left are either to embrace a 'bring your own technology' or 'you take it  out and I take it away'.
     

Johnson goes further in his blog and discusses banning phones from schools and the logistical problem of enforcement. He quite rightly starts with the fact that whatever policy is enforced it must have the backing of the administration.  To me this is where the problem lies, Johnson, discusses where the problems lie but does not come to a conclusive conclusion. He appears to make an excuse that if you ban phones in the classroom then there will be an endless queue of repeat offenders being sent to the office. I disagree here, the simple solution is to set down rules BEFORE the start of the lecture and if necessary get the students to place their phones in a storage box out of their teach on the lecturers desk if they cannot be trusted to have the good manners not to use their phones during the lecture. However as he quite rightly stipulates it has to be backed up by your administration and also reinforced throughout the educational establishment by all concerned to create a level playing field. 

Many schools and educational establishments do not have rules regarding mobile phones. Johnson suggests that students who cause no problems with their phones should be allowed to use their phones outside the classroom. He also states that teachers should decide how much their students use their phones in class. Here he quite rightly states that this can be a significant issue and will then involve a struggle between the lecturer and the student, creating a significant discipline situation which impacts on the rest of the class and their learning too. it is therefore imperative that strict guidelines are established and followed from the first day. 

To conclude it is important in my view that you have to have a level playing field for all your students to have the SAME opportunity to learn in your lectures. If the lecture is distracted by one or more students using or playing with their mobile devices then firstly it distracts you and your ability to teach and continue with your lecture, secondly, and more importantly it distracts the students. Simply because you have interrupted your flow and the students have had their learning curve interrupted by you having to veer off course from teaching in order to chastise a pupil who does not want to conform because they have a diversion to attend to....namely a mobile device...whether it is to play a game, use twitter, answer a text, or Facebook someone during your lecture. This can also have a damaging effect on a student who has learning difficulties and who requires a quiet stable environment in which to learn.

 

 Johnson admits that as soon as he walks into a classroom and he sees earbuds and mobile phones out during a direct instruction lesson he sees it as a problem that needs to be corrected, I agree. Banning mobile phones can also produce better academic results according to a report in the guardian,  resulting in an extra week of classes over a students school year. If that's not a good result of managing students mobile phone habits I don't know what is.

A Reflection .......

"I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death."

Leonardo da Vinci

Reflection........what is it?, why is it?, where is it?, when is it?, who is it?, and how is it?. these are many questions , which throughout one's life you may or more than likely will have had to call upon to use in a multitude of situations and circumstances. However when you do, are you really answering those questions by reflection or are you simply reacting to the circumstances or the situation you find yourself in at the time?......

Coming from a public service perspective (as an ex police officer) I find myself strangely drawn to this paradox of reflection. For many years I worked through blood, sweat and tears, my brain and thought processes exploding with questions about the scenes and the circumstances of the events which I was called upon to deal with, the deaths, the destruction of people's lives, both emotionally and physically and mentally, occasionally touched by instances of gratitude and thanks which made the job bearable and which were more than gratefully received in a world of carnage and destruction. The mental issues being the most destructive of all as you ride upon a permanent emotional adrenaline filled roller-coaster .........where no one can see the damage to the inner soul .....and the scars are invisible.....until?????.

You find solace in self-reflection, you use it as a tool to rebuild...you cannot hope to renew what has been broken, but you can rewire, you can rebuild in a fashion which enables you to live a life which you had thought you would never see again. You find new avenues to learn about, you find focus in your life, you relax, you take one thing at a time, you tell people who fuss and stress to chill........ NOTHING in life is so serious that you make yourself ill over it ......Reflect on it and find the key ........

Good teachers are always the first to acknowledge that no matter how good they think their lessons are, their teaching strategies can always be improved. This is often achieved by asking our colleagues for their opinions. The process of self reflection is important because its a process which requires you to record, analyse and collect everything in the lesson so that you can improve your teaching strategies where necessary. Bringing together effective-teaching and self-reflection is a process, the first step being to work out which part or what feature of your teaching you need to reflect upon - or is the reflection a response to a particular problem which occurs in the classroom?. Whatever it may be, you need to start collating the information. 

There are many ways in which this can be done:-

Peer Observation: Ask a colleague to observe you teaching, create a questionnaire and ask them to complete it and afterward sit down and discuss the observations on your lesson.
     
Video Record your teaching lessons: This enables you to see an unbiased and original record of how effective your teaching is from both a student and teacher perspective.

Student Observation: Handout out a questionnaire to your students and ask them what they thought of your lesson. encourage them to express their thoughts and feelings critically.

Write a self-reflective journal: write down a few notes after each lesson describing your feelings and reactions. Write down observations about your students and where necessary break your journal into sections so you can assess and measure yourself time and time again.

And for those who serve and protect in the public services a few wise words .....https://youtu.be/Jmg86CRBBtw