RSS feed and push technology

RSS feeds:
-  avoids manual inspection of all websites
 - it checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for  new work, downloads and updates that it finds
When registering with a website  and you select your categories of likes eg gardening; buying shares etc  it allows them to look at what you like  and send updates on that. For example the BBC sends regular push notifications on the changes of the news throughout the day. The Finance sector also provides regular push notifications on share prices based on your preferences which are timely.
Registering with Wellcome Centere or the Natural History Museum will allow them to send regular updates based on your interests which can be pushed to students.
Push technology is about send information to learners and getting them to follow your blog or podcasts or audioboos. Or if you post photographs on twitter or face book then friends and family can follow you and provide comments that can be exchanged with select groups.
Setting up a course blog and allowing access to students will pushrelevant information for them and it can also invite feedback.

Pedagogy and regulations

What is inclusivity? And how does technology support students with disability?

It expects some sort of technological presence and expectation or ability that learners are able to use it also provides opportunities for learners with disabilities.

Technology has advanced extremely quickly in recent years allowing educational institutions to support students with autism; deaf people and hard of hearing; visually impaired and those with learning disabilities. Students with autism find it difficult to develop communication skills taking them years to develop simple language. Previously picture cards were used as a tool to develop non-verbal communication and now apps have allowed them to express any thought or feeling by simply pointing and clicking. This is useful for parents and counsellors as they can support them with and identify any psychological problems otherwise not addressed. With Deaf people it has given them the confidence to communicate without relying on parents or teachers – the computer reads the sign and offers responses allowing them to practice conversational skills. The visually impaired face academic challenges and tools such as talking calculators allows them to carry out and perform mathematical functions without using paper as well as having optical character recognition products. A vast number of students now have a variety of learning difficulties ranging from dyslexia to dyspraxia etc. The technology provides assistance particularly when they get confused while writing, giving them word choices they might want to consider.

Using digital technologies to promote inclusive practices in education

This addresses key issues such as:

1.       Personalisation

2.       Every Child Matters

3.       Extended Schools and the Childrens Plan

It widens the access to learning and makes possible new learning to take place.

Accessibility is about making materials and sessions more accessible to the learner where inclusive activities can be developed providing a directory of resources.

As the demands of the changing learner profile increases such as those with emotional and behavioural difficulties and moderate to severe learning difficulties, the need to create inclusion teams grows. It also takes into account personalisation and the learners’ right to have a ‘voice’ so student forums have been set up both at course level and departmental level and management level. The contents/sites should be easy to navigate; be careful of the language used. The culture of the classroom can be changed by flipped learning which can be the nom of any learning environment but must be set up right at the beginning of the year

For every learner who fails to demonstrate their potential or fails to make progress then the institution puts in place ALS support and other services. FE also offers flexible programmes for 14 – 19 year olds; allows learners to meet their aspirations by setting SMART targets’ and monitoring progress. They must have an inclusive learner experience.

Ofsted has helped learning providers evaluate standards in provision for students with LDD and SEN in post -16 so colleges must provide appropriate provision under the Learning and Skills Act and promote inclusive learning and individual programmes for these learners as well those that may suffer with learning difficulties mental health issues lack of motivation etc.

Teachers and learners can create effective, engaging and accessible learning materials and reasonable adjustments made will depend on the nature of the learner, their impairment, the resource, the learning objectives and the context of use.

Photographs from the field trip

Pictures 1 and 2 are showing a river ecology transect

1

2

Pictures 3,4 show sand dunes in Winterton and 5 is of a student using a point quadrat

3

4

5

Pictures 6,7, and 8 are of a belt transect on a rocky shore

6

7

8

gene technology

 Here is the link for my pinterest on gene technology

this is useful for my A2 students who can view the animations and look at some of the resources that they need to know about.

Biotechnology quiz

Here is a quiz I have created for my A2 students to do in class on Biotechnology:

One of the social networking tools that I have used is creating a playlist on Youtube which:
1. helps me upload videos for others to watch which are subject and topic specific for a particular examining board.
2.   The is useful for my teaching and students as it means I don't have to keep on searching for useful videos each time to use in my lessons. It also allows me to send my list to my students and direct them to specific ones to watch that are beneficial. It means they can use it for revising, updating their notes, visualise the processes and try and understand the concepts. The videos are so varied that it is suitable for all learners. Some include the animated drawings whilst its been narrated. The play lists can be hyperlinked to my SoW and is accessible for teaching sets and it can be shared easily by going to my channel and send it to students. Its easy to use, students don't need any login name or password. It also encourages peer assessments and peer reviews which allows comments to be recorded about the video

3.   The issue is that it attracts ''trolls'' - people who write obscenities in the comments box

micropoll

 Here is an invite for you to vote to say which is the right answer to the question:

http://micropoll.com/t/KE9ihZQkQK