At our school, we have been using the iPad increasing success. Our catalog of regularly used apps is small, with most activity being in the browser for research purposes. However, when children are generating their own content, we have often struggled in sharing files effectively and transferring these to the next platform – usually a Windows laptop. This wasn’t initially a problem and only emerged after each iPad had been connected to more than five Windows computers – reaching the maximum number of devices to which a single iPad can be connected before sharing is denied. Once we started managing the devices with Apple Configurator (using the ‘Supervision’ feature), the USB option was no longer available to us at all.
Hampshire ICT Conference 2015
Last week I made my first visit to the Hampshire ICT Conference, a regional event for education staff who are delivering the computing curriculum in the primary sector.
As usual, I am somewhat out of my comfort zone at this sort of event – whilst I have a good understanding of what happens in the classroom, I am not a teacher. I support the staff who deliver all subjects, including ICT. It’s my job to ensure that they are able to deliver the curriculum through a ‘path of least resistance’. By this, I mean that the infrastructure, tools and support for their planning and delivery should be aiding their progress and not hindering it. My interest in a conference of this sort is therefore perhaps slightly different from those in a teaching role.
Finding copyright free resources
It’s important to remember that when using resources in school, they are often protected by copyright in some form. Finding resources that are not protected by copyright can be tricky. You can make the search process easier by using the Creative Commons search tool, which finds content that you can use more openly in the classroom. Finding copyright free resources can be difficult – a good place to start is the Creative Commons Search:
– To begin, visit the Creative Commons search homepage at http://search.creativecommons.org
– Next, enter a search term in the box labelled ‘enter your search query’
– Finally, using the boxes below the search field, choose the place you would like to search
The list of places to search covers a range of media types – here are a few to start with:
– For pictures and images: Flickr
– For clipart: Open Clip Art Library
– For audio: SoundCloud
You can also find out more about how to use resources within the terms of copyright at the Copyright and Schools site: http://www.copyrightandschools.org/