Alvie Open Afternoon

The presentation started with a welcome, introductions and an image I consider to be very insightful and helpful in allaying fears about technology in education. The picture on the left is of pupils (in another Highland School) creating a recipe, a standard task. However, the pupils here are now creating a podcast having tested their recipe, they have firstly, with paper and pen, created a mindmap, they've found where they want to post it online, and they are using a tablet to record it, with an editing app. The point being here, quite, simply is that they have started their task with pen and paper. The technology has then helped them to share their recipe in a way that gave them feedback. Technology is not replacing pen and paper but helping to make the learning, their task exciting and relevant for them, they chose to make the podcast themselves. For those familiar with the SAMR methodology, this is a great example.

The rest of the presentation showed how the Care and Learning servce has a strategy and are committed to increasing access to technology in learning for the pupils, and importantly how e-safety and responsible use education is part of this. We looked at the Highland policies developed with pupils for the young pupils and older ones. We also looked at advice for parents and carers. The main points being that the behaviours we are developing in school are behaviours that should be encouraged and devloped for all their use of technology. This was presented in terms of life long digital skills that can transcend to future careers. The pilot has also been developed to support the transition to the High School where the S1 pupils will also be part of the Chromebook pilot. The P6/7 Teacher talked enthusiastically about how the pupils are developing critical thinking skills as part of their literacy work and how the pupils had co-created their own policy for using the Chromebooks. The closing slide highlighted that, yes, we are helping to prepare children for what comes next, but we must also ensure we keep them safe now. Childhood is not a preparation for life, but is living now. We then discussed the handouts.

Director of Care and Learning - Bill Alexander was also present, answering questions from parents and carers and listening to their feedback. Parents also looked at the Chromebooks, saw imaginative writing in action, the pupil's personalised cases was a big hit! We answered questions on durability, school and home bandwidth connections, whether they needed an additional bag to carry them in. The feedback was positive on the introduction of the Chromebooks and parents asked whether we were planning to extend the 1-1 model to the P6s. The answer being yes, once we fully understand the requirements and have dealt with any issues. There are still some intermittent connectivy issues that need to be resolved.

The presentation and handouts are attached here as pdf files, What is a Chromebook? Safe and Responsible Use explanations and also one about Mobile Technology. The one on mobile technology was included as we understand that the transition time to S1 is often when a pupil might ask for their first mobile phone. The next steps for the pilot is for us to resolve the connectivity issues and for the pupils to continue with their imaginative writing tasks, they are beginning to use the voice recorder, chats, hangouts and cartoon creation apps. Thank you to Miss Stewart, Bill Alexander, Head Teacher Kip Clark and all that attended, it really was a great step in the pilot.