Heaton+Normal+Intermediate+School

After the Christchurch Earthquakes all classes began an inquiry into the redesign of Christchurch. Every class took the inquiry in different directions and focused on different aspects of the rebuild, and often the students within each class got interested in all different aspects too, so there was a lot of variety. Near the end of Term 3, Nick from eTime came in and helped us to collate a range of learning into an ICT presentation to send to CERA.
 * Goal 1**
 * Impact of e-learning on students**

Here are some examples of students using ICT in their learning, whether to create something new or to share what they have learned.

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 * Victoria's Introduction**

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 * Thomas' Google SketchUp redesign of the Crowne Plaza Hotel**

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 * Bridget's Google SketchUp redesign of Oxford Terrace and Armagh Street**

This group presented their learning using a powerpoint presentation, and then chose to create a 3D model in Minecraft, which they show at the 7 minute mark. media type="youtube" key="yP2ex_Rs2ZM" height="315" width="560"
 * Hamish and Eton's presentation of their "Christchurch Of The Future"**

At Heaton this year all teaching staff set an e-learning goal with Nick from eTime as part of a personal action research project to advance our use of ICT in the classroom. This model allowed all staff to work at their level and everyone was encouraged to set a realistic and achievable goal. After setting the goal some staff had personal professional development sessions and others preferred to inquire in their own time. At the end of the year we evaluated our goals with Nick, collected evidence, reflected on the process and set next steps for ourselves. Here are some examples of teachers' projects.
 * Goal 3**

This is my one. Using the school's ICT budget I purchased a charging station and sixteen iPod Touches and set them up for use alongside the iMac and three Macbooks in my classroom. Initially the iPods were definitely a novelty and students would gravitate towards them during lessons in which they could use them, but I expected that over time that would wear off and students would prefer to use the laptops or desktop computer. It's interesting to note that in actuality the iPods have remained as the go-to tools for almost all of the students. When I probed into why this was, they liked how they are always turned on so you can use them quickly, small enough to use at a desk with your book open and pencil ready (I love seeing this) and once you get used to the small screen, just as user friendly and easy to surf the web with. Digital natives indeed. Over the year I have used the iPods in a range of ways, listed below. One highlight that I'd like to go into more detail about is when I was teaching the class to summarise non-fiction texts as part of our Reading To Learn program. After modeling and guiding the process using a few different texts (mostly information reports), I added a task to the group rotation where the students had to watch an engaging and informative video that I had loaded onto all the iPods ( click for an example ) and complete summarising activities following Bloom's taxonomy on the information contained in the videos. This gave the students a new, authentic context in which to practice the skill, as well as teaching them that "text" can refer to a range of media.
 * James Musgrave - Using iPod Touches in the Classroom**

Other ways that I have used the iPods are: 1. As information delivery devices 2. To replace existing tools 3. As a fast finishing activity 4. As assessment / learning documentation and sharing tools 5. To connect learning to the real world 6. As creation tools
 * Videos/documents/bookmarks/podcasts pre-loaded onto the device for students to view and listen to.
 * Encyclopedia apps (e.g. Wikipanion, Uni of Maryland Medical Reference)
 * Dictionary/Thesaurus web-enhanced website saved as a bookmark
 * Encyclopedia app
 * GEarth and GMaps apps (to replace atlases)
 * Calculator app
 * Compass app
 * Stopwatch/timer app
 * Students listen to podcasts related to the inquiry theme
 * Students use it to document/share/record the learning they’ve just completed (see 4.)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students use it to fill in a GDocs form that adds their information to a spreadsheet (e.g. after a numeracy hot spot --> this could then be used to graph the student’s progress.)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students use it to take photos and video of their learning.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students use Google Earth (e.g. during a country/culture study)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students take videos/photos/audio of their learning
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students use a news site to source information for reading (e.g. an adult site such as Stuff or BBC, or an age specific one like TweenTribune)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Podcasts (e.g. to explain some learning)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Movies (e.g. to summarise part of a text)

Wendy used VoiceThread so her students could comment on the visual language features found in a range of images as well as what the images communicate to the viewer. The focus was "How we express ourselves."
 * Wendy Edge - VoiceThread**



Fiona has set up a Heaton Art blog this year to showcase what's happening in her area and provide resources to her students. Here are some examples of posts on the blog. The live site can be found at @http://heatonschoolart.blogspot.com.
 * Fiona Taylor - Heaton Art Blog**



Heaton's E-learning and ICT Strategic and Engaging Whanau Plan for 2012-2015 James Musgrave - E-learning Leader November 2011
 * Goals 2 and 4**