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Posts Tagged ‘GCSE’

Search Google by reading level

15 Feb

When students use Google to search for information they probably find that many of their search results link to pages where the language is above their reading level and difficult to fully understand.

Did you know that you can use the advanced search feature in Google to either show the reading level of all search results i.e. basic, intermediate and advanced?

Alternatively, you can choose a specific reading level for the search results you would like shown i.e. you can choose to only show intermediate reading level results.

This is a really simple feature to use and we have created a step-by-step guide that can be printed in A4 and laminated for use as a reference source in the classroom.

Access the full sized A4 guide here

 
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Posted in Classroom displays, Search engines

 

What do they know?

09 Feb

The Freedom of Information Act was passed in 2000 but didn’t come into full effect until 2005.  It is an important Act that has enabled us as individuals to access official information from over 100,000 public bodies and organisations.  This information can include things such as e-mails, minutes of meetings, research, reports or bids for contracts.

Most A level syllabuses require that students learn about this Act but trying to excite and interest students in any of the essential Acts can at times be an uphill struggle. 

However, there is a website called whatdotheyknow.com which allows people to explore the FoI requests made to UK government departments and public authorities. 

How about setting your students the task of trying to find the most bizarre FoI requests?  Here are a couple of suggestions you can use to demonstrate this idea:

- How much the BBC spends each year on chocolate digestives Click Here

- How many soft tissue toilet rolls the BBC uses each year  Click Here

One of the problems with the FoI Act is the cost to the organisation of having to deal with so many requests and in particular obvious time wasting requests. 

You could set a second task asking your students to find the most bizarre time wasting requests.  Here are a couple of examples you can use to demonstrate this to students:

- How many employees at the BBC have stated their religion as Jedi?   Click Here

- What percentage of the BBC license fee is spent by BBC employees on illegal drugs?  Click Here

Whatdotheyknow.com

 
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Posted in Freedom of Information Act

 

Could the Internet be shut down in the West?

07 Feb

Unless you have been on holday on a desert island (I wish), you cannot have missed the 24 hours media coverage of the developments in Egypt.

Notwithstanding the political developments, what has become apparent is that the Internet in Egypt was shut down for some days.

But could a government, say the USA, shut down the Internet? The answer seems to be yes. And plans are afoot to make it law that it is able to do so.

In Egypt, there are only a handful of ISPs and it seems they were told to effectively re-program their main routers so no IP traffic could find its way into the country. Traffic is directed through a router by a protocol called ‘Border Gateway Protocol’ or BGP. A quick change to the routers and the country became an Internet black hole.

Senators in the States are now pushing for legislation to have their own  ‘Internet off switch’, one that may give their government authority over privately owned computer systems.  Is this a good thing?

There has been such a furore over civil liberties that a statement has been issued to refute the implication.

It seems the Internet is now right at the centre of our democratic process in the West.

This could be a topic of discussion when discussing Society and ICT.

 
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Posted in Ethical issues, Government, Impact of ICT, Internet, Social effects of ICT

 

Cut My Pic

28 Jan

Many teachers run graphics units as part of KS3 and KS4 to teach students the skills required to use different graphics applications.  However, no matter how confident my students were with using said package, whenever they wanted to resize a picture for a piece of work either they seemed to have forgotten that the application existed or they just couldn’t be bothered to use it (their words, not mine). 

I came across an excellent web tool today that I think students would ‘be bothered’ to use.  In literally a few seconds they can upload an image, resize it, change the outline and even add drop shadows.  They then save the edited image and insert it into their work – it really couldn’t be any more simple. 

Find the website here

 
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Posted in Graphics, Web 2.0 tools

 

Programming Language Posters

26 Jan

Trying to find good quality, eye-catching and educational posters to display in the classroom can often be difficult.  There are a limited number of commercial posters available for purchase, some better quality than others, but many of them are too simplistic or just don’t engage the interest of students.

If you currently teach computing at GCSE or A Level or you are thinking about offering it in the near future there are a set of 8 free programming language posters that are available for you to print off and laminate for your classroom.

The posters contain the algorithm for a game called ‘Fizz Buzz’ with the syntax on each poster being written in a different programming language.

Download the posters from here

 
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Posted in Classroom displays

 

Why should I choose ICT?

25 Jan

If you had a pound for every time you were asked this question by a student or a parent you could probably retire from teaching (now there is a thought!)  How many times have you wished that you had a set of snappy, ready made answers to such a question?

How about when you have to put together a presentation for Year 9 Options Evening or Sixth Form Open Evening?  I know I have scratched my head in the past trying to come up with a set of persuasive statements that will imbue my passion for ICT to my students.

Thanks to a collaborative effort from a number of excellent teachers using Twitter we have been able to collate their answers and put together a set of statements that should help you when next faced with the question, ‘Why should I take ICT?’

View the statements here

 
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Posted in Education

 

Microwave racing

16 Jan

Learning about how to develop a well designed human computer interface (HCI) is important and it appears in all A level and some GCSE syllubuses.   However, students often find that the theory can at times be a little dry.

There is a short clip on YouTube that could be used to liven up the start of this topic and promote a discussion about the importance of HCI, especially in critical areas such as design of medical equipment and other key systems.

The video clip, Microwave Racing is by no means scientifically rigorous and yes you can pick many holes in the way the experiment was set up. But the key message behind it is easy for all students to grasp, i.e. that poor interface design can lead to all kinds of different problems.

 
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Posted in Human Computer Interface (HCI)

 

Choose a different ending

08 Jan

The Metropolitan Police have put together a set of videos about knife crime and posted them onto YouTube.  “So what?” you might ask.  Well these are videos with a difference.   In the first video you see a teenager preparing to go out with his friends.  Just before leaving you see his hand stretch towards some pretty lethal looking knives and you are given two options from which to choose: ‘take the knife’ or ‘don’t take the knife’.  Depending on which option you have chosen you will be shown the next video in the series.  Again, you will be presented with two options. 

As well as the important advice and morale implications of these videos the interesting thing for ICT students and teachers is how a series of different videos have been linked together to tell a story whilst giving the reader the chance to branch through different paths within the story.  

You will need access to YouTube in order to view the videos:

 
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Posted in Branching presentations, Video editing

 

Message Hop

29 Dec

I came across a superb web tool today called MessageHop. This tool allows you to quickly and easily create an animation using your own images and text and then share your work almost instantly with friends and colleagues. You don’t even have to sign up for an account – something which often stops many web tools being used in the classroom due to their age restrictions.

Here is an example that I put together in literally two minutes (excuse the text animations, this was the default but there were other options available).

You can then email the url to a friend or publish your work to one of the social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

It is an incredibly simple and intuitive tool to use and I can see so many applications for it in every subject from a tour of castles in History to the development of a glacier in Geography.

There is a tutorial here if you would like a quick run through on how to set up your first animation.

 
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Posted in Applications & software, Web 2.0 tools

 
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