Tag Archives: inclusion

Maths Apps – Manipulatives & More in Chrome & iPad⤴

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As more and more of our pupils are supplied with devices on a 1:1 footing it starts to make use of the tools in everyday learning more possible. I think it would be fair to say that most digital mathematical experiences for pupils in primary schools have tended towards games and content-filled puzzle websites rather than tools to help them visualise and manipulate during their actual maths lessons.

With more resources at hand, pupils can now be given the chance to use digital numberlines, number frames, manipulatives to help with numbers, fractions, and patterns, and use geoboards – without elastic bands!

This set of tools (available for both Chrome & iPad) from Clarity Innovations would be a great place to start connecting maths teaching & learning with digital resources more directly.









Learn more and download your apps here.

They work brilliantly on your IWBs too for teaching and demonstration.

 

 

Filed under: Assistive Technology Software, Chrome, Inclusion, IWB, Literacy, Numeracy, Teaching & Learning

Clicker 7 & Chrome Apps⤴

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Clicker-logo

Many schools have been using Clicker 6 successfully over the past few years but because of our impending move towards Chromebooks there’s been no talk or impetus behind upgrading to Clicker 7. Despite the changes that are about to take place over the coming couple of years as many of our pupils are moved to Chromebooks there are compelling reasons why schools might want to consider upgrading to Clicker 7.

  • Teachers will still be using PCs to drive their IWBs and can make excellent use of Clicker 7 for class lessons that can neatly interface with pupils who might be using one or more of the available Clicker apps on their Chromebooks. The Clicker Board planning tool springs immediately to mind.C7 Board
  • There will still be PCs in our schools to meet the more demanding and varied needs of our pupils with additional support needs. Only Clicker 7 offers the full range of functionality that allows for adaptations that might include combinations of pictorial support along with text and speech.


  • The full range of writing, predictive and speech support, reading, matching, sequencing, Listen & Say, Voice recording, and accessibility is present within Clicker 7.




  • The apps (for both Chrome & iPad) are fantastic (but only) subsets of the full Clicker 7 package.



 

 

Filed under: Accessibility, Assistive Technology Software, Chrome, ICT Support, Inclusion, Teaching & Learning

Assistive Apps for Chrome⤴

from

As we start to gear up for the roll-out of Chromebooks across our secondary and upper primary schools, beginning next session, we might be excited at the new possibilities that are potentially available to us but we also need to consider continuity or transition for users who rely more heavily on Assistive Technology supports to help them with their school work and in their wider lives.

This blog has lain dormant for quite some time due to various pressures but it is my intention to restart it with regular (we hope) additions to available tools for Chrome. Any items posted on here will have been looked at through our Assistive Technology ‘filters’ and will have been tried with users and tested to ensure they are robust, perform consistently and without additional fuss or difficulty once installed.

Obviously, there’s a great deal of web content that will work in Chrome – we will include comment or reference to these if they meet our AT criteria.

Both Apps and Extensions will be looked at and functionality against cost will be an important feature.

If an App or Extension makes it on to these pages it means that we might consider using it in a scenario that we have encountered with a user or group of users- it is not and should never be read as a ‘catch-all’ recommendation or a ‘must have’.

 

Filed under: Accessibility, Assistive Technology Software, Chrome, Inclusion

What helps young people feel included in school?⤴

from @ Reach

Hello, I’m Mark, I’m a 17-year-old pupil at school in Cumbernauld and I’m the Inclusion Ambassador for North Lanarkshire.

I went to Luxembourg to represent Scotland in a Europe-wide inclusive education conference. When we were there I got a good idea of what was important for pupils all over Europe – the key message is “Everything about us, with us”. We want to be heard and we want to have a say in anything that has to do with us. We are the experts in our own needs and we know what works and what doesn’t.

This is not just a message for politicians. It is the teachers that make the immediate difference to how inclusive a school is.

Take my school – before I moved up to high school my year head met with my parents and me. We worked out barriers for me in and around the school, spoke with teachers in private to make sure they understood my needs and made a clear plan for every type of situation at school. This might all seem quite a bit of work for one pupil, yet this only took three meetings and it was all made so much easier because of the talking and listening that went on between me and the teacher.

Sadly, some pupils do not have such a good experience as me, which is why I’m pleased to be one of the Inclusion Ambassadors for Education Scotland. We are a national group of young people who act as a ‘voice’ for pupils on inclusion. We share our views and experiences with Scottish Government Ministers, local authorities and schools. We are hoping to develop resources, a school pledge and a film in the coming months.

Here are three of our top priorities to make schools more inclusive:

  • Social Problems: being excluded at break times and not having enough chances to be included and make friends are big issues. My school found a way around this by setting up a club where pupils could play computer games and socialise. This helped pupils who were often quiet to come out of their shell.
  • Issues with Support staff: For some pupils (but not all), having support staff can sometimes feel like a barrier to their social life, and they might not need them as they get older.
  • Awareness: We feel that there isn’t enough done by schools to raise awareness of the issues that pupils face or the reasons they need support. The worst thing schools can do is to pick out a specific pupil – that’s just everyone’s worst nightmare – but what schools can do is to educate the year group that other people have different needs and promote the fact that you are a diverse and inclusive school so it’s great to have all types of pupils.

For me, talking and listening are the key to true inclusion because without this everything you might be doing could be entirely irrelevant to the pupil. After all, how can you include someone who isn’t involved in the conversation?

 

 

The post What helps young people feel included in school? appeared first on Reach.

Nominate a Family for a free break through Visit Scotland⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

Free breaks for Scottish families. As part of VisitScotland’s Spirit of Scotland campaign a range of  businesses will offer  almost 100 vulnerable and disadvantaged Scottish families the opportunity to experience more of the Spirit of Scotland for themselves. All families must be referred by someone who knows them professionally like a teacher, social worker, health visitor or another charity.  To find out more and apply for a break click here http://www.familyholidayassociation.org.uk/scotspirit/

Tackling Gender Imbalances at Scotland’s Colleges and Universities⤴

from @ Education Scotland's Learning Blog

HE Tackling gender inequIn support of the Gender Balance Interim Report published by the Scottish Funding Council this research maps out the approaches currently taken by colleges and universities to address gender imbalance.  It aims to:

  • map current activities tackling student gender participation imbalances across Scotland’s FE sector;
  • assess what approaches work best and why in terms of achieving sustained change in relation to gender imbalances;
  • assess what approaches do not work;
  • offer recommendations for  tackling gender imbalances to achieve sustained improvements.

You can access the full report here: Post-proofread report – gender imbalances HEA

Interpersonal Small Group Mediation⤴

from

The purpose of this guide is to support teachers/tutors in resolving conflicts within Learning Sets through Interpersonal Small Group Mediation strategies.  As I have expressed in a number of articles on my site collaborativegrouplearning.com, Learning Sets are dynamic group structures designed to engineer and facilitate both effective socialised-learning and social relationships. The three principles of: […]