Tablet PCs, Hot Potatoes, projectors and collaboration
I got quite excited when I got to Rhyn Park this evening for a twilight session with the English Department. The department are looking to raise achievement through the use of electronic resources and I was looking forward to introducing some of my favourite tips and tricks as well as take a look at the resources they have bought in. For ages they have been waiting to use their tablet PC with the projector - the plan has been to use it as a collaborative tool that can be passed around the class.
But there’s the problem - if it’s attached to the projector how can it be passed around? The solution was to use remote software (NetOp in this case) to get a PC attached to the projector to show what is on the tablet. This works a treat at the teacher centre where we use the education version of NetOp - the version at Rhyn Park proved a bit more fickle and seemed to interfere with the mouse driver. Meirion the techie’s going to sort out VNC for next time so we can try that. When it works it will be revolutionary; giving pupils the chance to really get involved in the learning material that the whole class gets to see.
The thing I got most excited about was the way that Meirion had set up the machine connected to the projector. It’s got a dual-output graphics card in it (I bought one myself recently, £31 for a GeForce FX5200) and he had one display on the monitor and the other going to the projector. Now, on my home PC I’m driving two monitors to increase desktop space but I’ve not seen a school use this config before. It means that the teacher can be preparing a resource on the monitor while displaying something else on the projector screen. Obvious really, and it would have come to me eventually (honest), but this is something that other schools might like to try for the convenience it gives.
And so to work. Working with enthusiastic teachers who have already come to terms with the advantages of the richness that the electronic medium gives is so refreshing. We looked at Hot Potatoes and the exercises that can be created with it for use as starters and plenaries and for independent study - Jen suggested putting them into places where pupils working in smaller groups could use computers to do independent self-study. We might revisit this in future sessions.
Later we looked at the scheme resources that the department has already purchased. Initially I was sceptical about these but I was proved wrong - as electronic resources they form part of a thoroughly blended learning package with workbooks, on-screen activities and teacher and pupil guides. Next time we’re going to look at these in more depth to make sure that the staff are confident in their use for the term ahead.