Developing Digital Skills in my Classroom by Ave Soodla

In troduction - me

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 13:53:56 UTC

Ave Soodla/Pärnu Old Town School/Estonia

Hi!

My name is Ave and I have worked as a teacher of English and Swedish for more than 20 years. It sounds long but, believe me, i still feel like a total newbie sometimes. Especially when it comes to getting digital.

I have worked at Pärnu Old Town School for 11 years now and it still feels as if I had just entered the building for the first time:)

Teaching Context

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 13:55:19 UTC

My school, Pärnu Old Town School (Pärnu Vanalinna Põhikool) is housed in a historical building which was built in 1902. Thus, it has been functioning as an educational institution for more than a hundred years .

Pärnu Old Town School is an scool of prolonged and time-proof traditions. It has its own anthem and the honorary badge, it publishes the annual collection of students´ creative works and issues a newspaper. The motto of the school is "the school of different opportunities."

In 2015 528 students learn and 63 teachers work at Pärnu Old School.

Despite the traditions and history, Pärnu Old Town School is a very open-minded bunch of people. We were among the first ones in our country to start the so-called "digital revolution". We are making use of our 28 tablets on daily basis, our computer class is overcrowded, we have a 3-D printer and we ose online environments almost in every lesson.

What digital skills are important?

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 14:41:39 UTC

What digital skills are important?

Digital skills are important, as without having at least basic skills it is impossible to function in the modern society,

Communication skills - both commone and digital - are definitely of great importance. The world is getting "smaller" by a minute and everybody has to be able to get in touch with everybody.

Teamwork is an important skill. To conduct digital teamwork, one must have certain knowledge of environments and technology.

Everything mentioned above can be summarized as "digital literacy". In addition to that, one must be educated in various areas (literature, art, social studies, etc, etc). Digital skills are the bones, the skeleton, other types of knowledge are the flesh and everything else is the rest:)

The future of work

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 14:56:13 UTC

The future of work

Work will be different in the future. Maybe not as different as we sometimes tend to think. 50 years AGO there still were teachers and engineers and agricultualists and sailors. Another 50 years passes by, and they will still be there. The essence of their work will change, of course. They will need different skills and tools, just like we need different skills and tools compared to our grandmothers and -fathers. At the final end, all that matters is, a human being - his intelligence, wisdom, kindness, inventiveness, reisilience. In the furture there will probably be digitally skilled criminals and mental gurus who have never seen an IPad. And then there will be the rest of us, trying to adabt.

Accessing future jobs

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 15:19:46 UTC

Accessing future jobs

I have never had an online interview myself but I just talked to friend of mine living in Scotland who had had a Skyoe interview with a perspective employer in Manchester. She was quite pleased with the fact that she did not have to travel and spend money. I am not sure if she considered all the aspects of making a good impression but she was happy with the experience.

My school does not have online interviews since it is a small place and somehow it is still nicer to have people coming round - it is easier to assess their body language and expressions. We do not teach ousr students how to behave during an online interview, in fact, I think we do not have a reference to it in our national curriculum.

I have had a Linkedin profile for quite some time now, however, it is quite passive. One day I might make use of it to be able to apply for a job somewhere outside my country.

Future thinking

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-14 15:34:57 UTC

Future thinking

I absolutely agree with Ollie´s analysis. Value-based education should definitely remain the basis of all teaching and learning. Also, i think both the teachers and students must be resilient and positive to be able to embrace the changes and innovation. It is more like a matter of attitude, rather than skills, tools and knowledge. If people had not not accepted a bicycle, there would never had been a car.

Types of Search Engines

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 15:33:45 UTC

I use Google myself, sometimes also Yahoo and occasionally Bing. However, so far I have not been familiar with the different characteristics of these search engines. As travellers, we have often used Skyscanner and other search engines related to travelling.

My students also use Ask.

Improving your search

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 15:47:04 UTC

In this area I believe i have been not as quick as my studants are. I am not sure if they know all (or any) of the tools Ollie mentions, but they are really quick finding ways to paraphrase their questions. Which actually is a great tool too. If you do not get an adequate answer, ask differently!

I feel much more digitally literate now, havind been armed with the tools provided by Ollie:

- - phrase

- intext

-allintext

etc.

Searching the Future Internet.

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 16:25:09 UTC

I am not sure if our school administration uses Google Alerts but I am definately going to tell them what a great way it is to be forearmed against any trouble. I am a class teacher myslelf and it would probably be good to be informed when something concerning my students has been published.

Wikipedia

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 16:52:19 UTC

Wikipedia id undoubtedly one of the major sources of online information used by our students. However, research materials referred to as wikipedia materials ar often not appreciated very much. We tend to be a little predjudiced against using Wikipedia as a primary, or a secondary, source of information.

Copyright and Creative Commons Do you think about copyright issues when reusing digital content?

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 16:54:05 UTC

At our school we have expected that the IT-teacher does the job of educating the students in that respect. Our school is a basic school, so teaching and learning copyright issues is really hard to the children whose world outlook is still somewhat limited.

I have always tried to keep my digital content clear and legal.

Digital Plagiarism

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-21 17:22:01 UTC

Our students write research papers every year and there is a constant mess with the sources and references in almost every paper. Students do not often understand that the online material belongs to someone, that it should not be presented as their own ideas and creations. We have used plagiarism checkers but not every suprvisor does so and I am afraid that not all the papers presented every spring are authentic or properly referenced.

STARTER ACTIVITY:

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-28 13:13:52 UTC

I have tried Scratch and Kodu and I have found tat it takes a lot of effort and at my level the results are scanty. So, I am losind interest in programming games myself. Whisc is a pity. I have had a FB account but I deleted it, since I felt as if I was too exposed. There are areas where I would like to stand in the background rather than foreground. Neither have I ever used Twitter. My attitude towards social media does not make sense (probably) and is a sign of obstinacy, not thoughtfulness.

Otherwise, I feel quite confident in digitak areas.

Writing for the Web

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-28 13:26:50 UTC

In eTwinning projects our partners have been our audience. When doing collaborative writing tasks, students make up an audience for themselves.

Online Collaboration

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-28 13:40:36 UTC

I have been participating in eTwinning projects for years now and these projects have been great ways to collaborate online. At our school we also use Flubaroo and many collaborative writing environments, such as Titanpad, Etherpad and Google docs. I tried out Kaizena and found it exciting. I would really like to be able to try out the collaborative slide mode on Google docs but I am afraid that will have to wait.

Audio and Video

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-28 17:14:20 UTC

I have made videos on Vindows Moviemaker and uploaded them on Youtube. I also use an app called Tellagami and an iPad app ChatterKids. When students make their own videos, they select their own favourite environments to be able to express themselves.

We have video cameras at our school, but I don´t think anybody uses them any more, as most of the filming is done on smart phones or tablets.

Website Design

avesoodla125 — 2015-09-28 18:00:51 UTC

Google apps can be used for different educational purposes - collaborative writin, creating documents together. Blogs are good tools for class teachers to keep parents and families informed of what is going on at school. Web pages can accumulate materials that certain group of teachers use, you can have discussions on web page forums and they are also places for presenting and publishing the results of students´ or teachers´ projects.

Pair Programming

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 13:23:18 UTC

I have never used pair programming but I think it is a good way to enhance team work and collaboration in our classrooms. When I created learning apps with my students, one of the students was responsible for the contents, the other one for technical execution. So I think in general that was pair programming also.

Links with other subjects

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 13:24:50 UTC

I amd absolutely convinced that foreign languages are easily linked with coding. You can produce cartoons or games and on top of that the coding environments are mostly in English.

I have not got very far with coding myselfölio09c0mj. But you can experience some elementary level coding in LearningApps.org also. Me and my students have been very busy creating different simple learning apps. My thirdformers created about fifty apps last year. Isn´t that amazing?!

App Development

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 14:07:32 UTC

I absolutely agree with the idea that first there must be a need for certain application. After the demand has been investigated, the app development may start. Educational or learning apps are different - they can be developed and designed just for fun or revision. Creating a simple learning app combines quite a few competences and is entertaining for both teahers and students.

Touch Develop

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 14:16:32 UTC

I had never heard of Touch Develop before and I did not quite understand what it was about.

Robots -

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 14:34:05 UTC

In my teaching I have never-ever made use of robots. I am afraid right now I am not qualified to do it.

Internet of Things

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-05 14:57:07 UTC

The fact that we are constantly recorded and digitally analyzed is really daunting. It probably halps to make our lives a bit easier, but for me personally it is quite frightening. In 2055, or maybe much earlier, people should be ready for things we can not even dream about right now. So, maybe we should adabt to make our grandchildren prepared.

The things I do not like too much at my school

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-12 14:54:22 UTC

Our school is really old and I think the biggest problem that we face on a daily bases is that the classrooms are really unpractical. In my classroom I hace three long desks that are too heavy to be moved. The furniture is really too bulky for a small room. Students come, sit down, and that´s it, They can´t even satnd up during a lesson.

A really annoying thing is also that the house does not have any ventilation. So, in order to be able to breathe, we will have to keep the windows open. And then it gets really cold:(

Social media around us - a good thing?

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-12 15:12:31 UTC

The world has definitely become bigger (or smaller?) and more open thanks to social media.

I personally am predjudiced against FB and Twitter but I have my Linkedin account. I really don´t see why I should tell people about everything that I do. There are many things that I would like to keep private.

Social media probably opens up quite a few apportunities to learn and teach, but at the same time it brings along so many bad emotions for children - why is my photo not liked, why did he hurt my feelings by saying this and that, etc.

Personal Learning Networks

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-12 15:34:11 UTC

I do a lot of face-to-face teaching and learning. I am also a member of many cligital closed communities - I communicate with people on my google account, I have been involved in eTwinning project for years and I am a member of foreign language teachers´r oom on eTwinning. When making tests and organazing my teaching, I use many online environments (quizizz, quizlet, testmoz, schoology etc)

However, I am not so sure about open digital communities... I am managing my husband´s FB account, so I basically know what is going on but I do not want to be seen by everyone. I am probaly just too shy:)

Social Media in the Workplace

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-12 15:53:48 UTC

The first thing I should do, is reopenig my FB account. I am quite reluctant to it, though. At the same time I understand that students have to be helped and monitored to handle social media well.

Safe and responsible use

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-12 16:23:57 UTC

Several projects have been launched in my country to promote safe and responsible use of the internet and social media. Our school won the first prize last year.

Still, I think safe use of social media platforms is a very big problem in Estonia. Very many of our students are just ten years old and they have their own FB and Google accounts, they are on Instagram and Twitter.

I think parents should be educated first and foremost to use social media responsibly. They should also be encouraged to check their children´s social media accounts from time to time.

Peer Review

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-19 10:35:39 UTC

Students will work together more effectively if they are given good and fixed guidlines of what kind of feedback they are expected to provide.

My experience shows that sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don´t.

I have attended four courses at Europen Schoolnet Academy and I think I have only received one peer review that was supportive, well targeted and detailed.

What will I use

avesoodla125 — 2015-10-19 13:16:47 UTC

I will definitely make use of Google slides, docs, sheets and some add-ons like Flubaroo and Kaizena.

I will also have a try with coding but I am not very hopeful here as I have tried it before and I am afraid i haven´t been very successful.