In our workshop we all set up a personal blog in which we will document our ICT learnings over the next 6 weeks. This is my first ever blog, as at home my online self is busy enough with email and facebook (and I have never been prone to diary writing anyway).
Greg introduced us to Inspiration software (TIP: it is a 30 day free download - use in lab or save until end of unit). Greg says most schools should have this software. It is used for graphing and concept mapping. Example - a Year 6 student used it for a project on Roald Dahl. We all had a play and created concept maps/diagrams. it was interesting walking around the room to see what everyone had come up with. Need to think - how might I use this in the classroom? eg - good for sorting activities, say, after a visit to the supermarket. Today I did a very basic concept map of the animals we might find on a visit to the zoo. Students would be able to add notes about each animal and its habitat etc.
Note to self - look up mind maps on wikipedia and thinkbuzan.com - the mind map is a useful function of Inspiration.
Reflecting upon the afternoon's exercise, I think I need to work out how to use Inspiration in a less simplistic way - to get beyond the simple drag-and-drop process in a way that would be useful for stimulating learning in students. This will be my week's task.
