iPhones in the Classroom

I have been lucky enough to secure four iPhone 4S from the lovely people at O2Learn. For those not in the know (or not in the UK), O2Learn is a site where teachers upload videos of their best lessons, for revision purposes. Until recently, it was always the teacher who created the lessons, but now the emphasis is shifting towards student created lessons.

To allow for the creation of peer-to-peer learning via video, O2Learn have created an iPhone app which allows the creation of high quality video, using images, video and sound from the phones library. Editing and sound recording can be done straight from the app, as well as adding effects and credits etc.

I'm very excited about this development, as I have often used video making in my lessons. The merits of getting students to create videos are fairly straight-forward: they like doing it, (especially if the process is simplified by using a device like an iPhone), its easy to assess (and works very well as an assessment piece), it raises confidence (especially for students who find writing difficult or a chore), and it can be embedded into a VLE (or YouTube channel) so that all students in a class and beyond can access it and learn from it.

As a result of being granted the iPhones, I now have an obligation to upload at least 15 student created videos to the O2Learn website in this next academic year. This kind of activity always requires good planning, and the first opportunity I've identified to use the technology is (ironically) a lesson about Web 2.0. I plan to split the class of fifteen students into groups of three to create videos about the rise, shortfalls and benefits of Web 2.0, with the best video being uploaded to the O2Learn website and winning a class prize.

For this activity, I will probably differentiate the task by terms of the support I give to the students. Slightly lower ability groups will be given a brief with more web links to research, and many more hints and tips. The brightest group will have less guidance in their brief, but will have web links to more academic pieces about Web 2.0, with more of an emphasis on the debate surrounding ethics, privacy and ownership.

This lesson won't be happening until the middle of September, but I will keep you updated. If you are interested in the O2Learn app, if you are running IOS 5 you can get it free in the App Store.

Thanks for reading, next time I will try and include some screen shots of the app itself, but time is a little short today.

Introducing myself...

Let me introduce myself - I'm fairly new to teaching, and completely new to blogging. I teach IT in a FE College in Birmingham, mainly to 16-19 year-olds. This is my second year here, before that I taught in Secondary school for twelve months. That's about the summary of my experience.

My primary purpose in creating this blog is is to help me to organise (and more importantly, share) my teaching experiences and ideas. I very much hope that other bloggers may like my posts, and in return share their teaching ideas with me. For so long now, it feels like I have loads of ideas swimming around my head, but apart from the occasional conversation with my colleagues I rarely share them. A blog feels like the perfect place to get these ideas down in writing.

My philosophy for teaching is fairly simple - I try to go for high engagement and variety in teaching methods. I am an advocate for technology enhanced learning, and use technology in my lessons whenever the opportunity arises. I have an academic interest in this too, and am about to start an MSc in Innovation in Learning Technology. I am currently helping to develop my departments VLE, and very much hope to have it up to scratch by the end of this academic year ( a tall order, as anybody working with established staff and a new VLE might recognise).

Thats enough about me now I think, I will return later today with a few ideas that have been milling around my head for a while.