POPtalk

COMPETITION TIME! Would you like to see YOUR design on a new Moby badge?

This competition is open to anyone under 16. All you need to do is:

1. Download and print this Badge Design Competition template. IMPORTANT: Use the big circle for your design and keep inside the lines as best you can. We’ve added an “actual size” circle too so you have an idea of how big your badge would be in real life.
2. We like to make badges that are inspired by our topics. Your design must incorporate Moby in some way – perhaps in costume, or in a famous historical setting, or in the style of your favourite artist! The possibilities are endless. For inspiration see some of the badges we’ve made in the past. But be creative as you like!
3. Don’t take too long! The competition closes midnight 26th May 2013.
4. Scan or photograph it and send it to us using the form below. You could also post your entry to:

Moby Badge Competition
BrainPOP UK
58 St. Aldates
Oxford
OX1 1ST

We’ll pick our favourite design which will be made into a REAL Moby badge later this summer. The winner will not only be sent a first edition print of their badge, but also the first person in the world to get a pack of our upcoming new badge collection.

Submission criteria

• Finished work must be submitted using the Badge Design Competition template
• This competition is for children up to 16 years old
• The winner will be chosen by the BrainPOP UK team (Moby and BrainPOP’s decision is final)
• The winning design will be interpreted by the BrainPOP design team and re-created in the BrainPOP graphics style (BrainPOP’s design decision is final)
• Entries must be received by midnight on 26th May 2013 (entries received after the competition deadline will not be considered)
• The winners will be contacted by email. Failure to provide a working email address will void your entry
• Winning entries will be showcased on this blog
• You can read our full Terms and Conditions on our website

Good luck, everyone!

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• Sparking imaginations with story cubes
• Get Cubed Competition
• Spotlight on Creative Writing
• And…action! Make a Tim & Moby movie competition

Wow! It seems we’ve been shortlisted in the “Online skills and training” category in the Nominet Internet Awards 2013!

What are the awards?

“The awards celebrate the achievements and innovation of UK internet initiatives. Now in their seventh year, the annual awards aim to showcase projects which help to make the internet a more secure, open, accessible and diverse experience for all.”

http://nia.nominet.org.uk/

Our category is sponsored by the venerable Open University. This is the criteria that entrants had to meet:

• Helping people to learn new skills or knowledge using the internet
• Using the internet to provide access to education or information
• Websites or tools that help to empower people online
• Improving skills to help users make the most of the internet

Well, Tim, Moby and The BrainPOPpers are knocked sideways even to be considered to stand alongside the other worthy entrants.

Now, can you help?

We would love it, if our fans from far and wide, could add their vote to our entry. Votes don’t decide the outcome but are taken into account.

It would mean the world to us if we knew folks out there thought enough of us to give us a nod. The Nominet Internet Awards evening is on 4th July 2013 (at the British Library in London, no less) so please get your vote in before then if you can.

To do this just fill in this very short form, and select the “Online skills and training” category > then “BrainPOP UK”. Simple.

Thanks for your support everyone, we’ll keep you updated!

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Google Apps for Education is the free browser based set of office and productivity tools, starting to be adopted by many schools across the UK, and the world. And we have our own free Google app your school can download.

Our short screencast shows some of the ways you can combine BrainPOP and and Google apps:

A great blog to read if you are thinking about setting up Google Apps in school is http://ianaddison.net/, run by the ever helpful @ianaddison. It is super supportive, offering advice to other teachers or administrators setting up their domain.

But leaving to one side the technology, what ideas for teaching and learning does Google Apps bring to the table?

One increasingly popular approach is Project Based Learning.

BrainPOP has long been a go to resource for project or enquiry based learning and with the addition of the BrainPOP Google app students and teachers can use BrainPOP outside the classroom too.

(Not sure about project based learning? Download this comprehensive primer to PBL –  ”Work that matters: The teacher’s guide to project-based learning” which describes PBL as “…students designing, planning, and carrying out an extended project that produces a publicly-exhibited output such as a product, publication, or presentation.“)

In PBL:

1. Students must work together to solve real life problems, and present solutions to the outside world.
2. It is designed to foster communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills. The skills students will need to work in a globally connected online world.

If you are interested in exploring PBL practice, we suggest the blogs of Tait Coles or Darren Mead for amazing teacher eye views of planning and implementing PBL with different student cohorts.

Being able to use Google Apps is ideal for students engaged in project work because it lets them communicate with their teacher and each other in a safe environment and collaborate on the production of documents in real time by sharing.

The point of project based learning is really to let students discover their own answers, the teacher acts more akin to a facilitator than an instructor. Sometimes students can lack the necessary ‘scaffold’ of knowledge to formulate solutions and this is something BrainPOP can help support.

Learning subject knowledge is only part of the process of Project based learning. Doing this quickly and efficiently means students can get on with the other vital elements such as thinking about and applying their learning. On BrainPOP UK not only will you find topics that cover curriculum areas, you will find a huge number of skills based topics from public speaking to writing business letters.

Google Apps + BrainPOP is a great fit for Project Based Learning because it gives students ‘anytime access’ to information without telling them all the answers (you can’t cut and paste from a BrainPOP movie!).

It lets them discover what they find interesting without sticking rigidly to a curriculum.

After all, life’s not like that… why should learning be?

Related Posts:

• WEBINAR: Is your school thinking about Google Apps?
• Google plus BrainPOP

To better support our teachers we’ve created a new section called “Teacher Use“.

You can access it from the main website home page or from this blog.

It brings together all the very best articles and materials to help you get the most out of BrainPOP, and offer up inspiration from the classroom stories we’ve gathered in the last few years.

We’ve divided it up into the following sections, some practical, some exploratory.

• Spread the Word Kit – A collection of resources, support materials and technical tips to help you introduce and embed BrainPOP into your school.
• BrainPOP lesson tips and techniques – A digest of quick wins to effective use of BrainPOP in class. It’s a great place to start.
• BrainPOP and SEN children – This is where we have brought together (and will continue to add) stories about how BrainPOP has been successfully used with SEN childen.
• BrainPOP and the curriculum – Read stories of how schools have subscribed to BrainPOP to complement their curriculum choices.
• Create outstanding lessons – Using BrainPOP as a way to engage kids and build terrific learning experiences.
• Use BrainPOP to stimulate further learning – Ideas to help you expand your use of BrainPOP, or simple inspiration to enhance your school’s digital learning.
• BrainPOP for NQTs – A couple of case studies explaining why BrainPOP is a big hit with newly qualified teachers. Always happy to find more!
• Making Great Use of Mobile Technology – Mobile is a HUGE part of the future of BrainPOP. Learn how to get started with BrainPOP mobile in this section.
• Using ICT effectively – Experience how BrainPOP can add tremendous value to your ICT strategy and demonstrate modern and effective ICT teaching.
• Promoting Literacy Across the Curriculum – See how BrainPOP can be used to promote opportunities to deliver literacy learning in ANY subject.

All these sections will be constantly developed and improved over time. If you have any feedback or suggestions (or you’d like to feature your own experiences of BrainPOP!) please get in touch.

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Did you know an increasing number of schools are using their Pupil Premium to fund a subscription to BrainPOP?

This funding has recently risen from £600 to £900 per eligible pupil so a typical 2 form entry primary school can buy a whole school, 24/7, 3 year subscription for approx 1 x Pupil Premium.

Why should you consider BrainPOP an ideal use of your Pupil Premium allocation?

1) Because BrainPOP is easily accessible at home on many different devices and there’s ZERO extra licensing cost for doing so

Successful use of Pupil Premium funding, as recorded by OFSTED:

“The school was very aware that its pupils seldom had access to good quality information communication technology in their homes so could not practise the skills they learnt at school outside school hours or use computers for research. Equally, pupils often lacked the wider vocabulary and knowledge that they needed to reach the higher levels in their writing. The school used the laptops that they bought with some of the funding to enhance pupils’ research skills in different subjects, to be able to conjure up instantly an image with which pupils may not be familiar, such a desert, a lion, or a snowy landscape, and to give them independent access outside of school hours to enhance their homework.”

“The Pupil Premium: how schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement” OFSTED Feb 2013

As well as being accessible from any browser that can display Flash, such as Sony Playstations, BrainPOP has an app for Apple and Android devices. From the cheapest smartphone to a top of the range iPad many homes who may not have access to a computer will have a mobile device ready to show BrainPOP (“the UK has the highest smartphone penetration of any market covered in the survey, at 61%”, says Techcrunch). We’re very BYOD friendly, and would complement any school that is investing in mobile tech.

Remember, our apps are free to download, and ALL site subscribers get automatic full access.

2) Because it’s wonderful at engaging parents too

“Good quality home learning contributes more to children’s intellectual and social development than parental occupation, education or income.”

The role of parents in a child’s learning, Department for Education

If Mum & Dad are involved in their children’s education the child does better at school. The role of the parent or guardian cannot be underestimated in seeking better pupil attainment and towards improving achievement.

But they need support and guidance. BrainPOP resources are cross curricular and cross phase. They are highly visual, fully subtitled and very engaging. If you identify specific needs in literacy or numeracy advise families to explore a BrainPOP topic together. That level of family support can have a big impact.

3) Because it’s mighty useful during transition and term breaks

Keep learning alive during school holidays with BrainPOP. It’s an educational resource that kids will WANT to use out of school. Take advantage of this by suggesting movies to watch that link into the following term’s work.

BrainPOP can be employed to help with Year 6 to 7 transition across the summer break, especially those about to enter Year 7 who did not achieve at least level 4 in KS2 in English and Maths. As BrainPOP is cross phase you might want to discuss licences across both your primary and secondary schools to ensure that consistency of resource.

4) Because it’s ready made to support SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar)

BrainPOP has a wealth of related resources that can be used to tackle SPaG concerns, or simply improve understanding.

• Knowledge About Language
• Reading & Writing

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We think www.scratchyournose.com is a terrific idea - creating Scratch based Red Nose Day games!

Their plan is “…to create an awesome day in support for Red Nose Day through a National Games Jam with students, teachers and industry from everywhere creating and sharing games in Scratch. What is a game jam? It’s a short period of time where groups of people get together and make games!​”

You can download lots of support from their website, including posters, Scratch assets and Idea Generators. Students at Highfields School, Wolverhampton, will be live streaming out support activities during the day too. It’s an fun way to learn to code (or flex existing coding muscles) and give to Comic Relief.

And can someone actually create a proper funny game? We hope so

Good luck everyone!

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We made a small but significant change to the way our movies work last week.

Subtitles are now opt out, rather than opt in. They play by default. This has always been the case on our apps but not on the website. Until now.

When you play a movie, like “Blood Types” in the example below, you will notice that the subtitles are on (if you want to hide/show them you simply need to click the “S” icon identified in red below).

Why did we do this?

Two reasons.

1. To make sure all students and teachers know this facility is there and take advantage of it.
2. To present a great opportunity to a teacher to promote literacy in whichever subject was being taught.

We’ll be actively exploring in webinars and blog posts over the coming months how to effectively use BrainPOP for opportunities to promote literacy across the curriculum. This is the first step.

Literacy in Art? When learning about Georgia O’Keeffe?

Literacy in Science? When learning about Moon phases?

Literacy in Maths? When learning about measuring angles?

Oh yes. All possible with BrainPOP.

Related Posts:

• 7 terrific subtitle tips for BrainPOP
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To start 2013 with a bang we’d like to introduce you to the latest addition to the BrainPOP UK family: our new Android™ app.

Learning at Your Fingertips™ with BrainPOP UK

Android users can now get “Mobylised” too, for free, with our Featured Movie app for Android devices.

It has all the same features and content as our hugely successful Apple app and allows all school and home BrainPOP UK subscribers full access, at no extra cost. Simply enter the same username and password you normally use to access BrainPOP UK.

If you don’t subscribe you can still check in every day to watch the Featured Movie and its related quiz, free of charge.

Why go mobile with Moby?

BrainPOP is designed to deliver an unsurpassed breadth and depth of educational topics while keeping the integration of learning and technology a seamless and simple experience.

You know what this means? Using smartphone, tablet or touch screen devices in class, at home or on the go you can be confident that BrainPOP resources are optimised and accessible to (nearly) everyone.

• Schools that use mobile devices can employ BrainPOP movies and quizzes in new and exciting ways.
• Quiz results are tracked (per device) for better personalised assessment.
• Kids shouldn’t have to wait for it to be ‘school’ time to access learning – they should have access to learning wherever they are. Out of school access provides a perfect opportunity to blend BrainPOP content into home learning so encourage parents to get the app – it’s free to download!
• Every movie is fully subtitled, can go full screen and can be paused and scanned easily.
• The app also has “predictive search” which means we try to guess what word you’re searching before you finish typing it – pretty neat, eh?

How to get access to all the movies and quizzes on your Android device

The Android app does not have in-app subscriptions but you can subscribe via our store, which provides full access to both our web and mobile resources.

1. Get the app from Google Play (it’s free)
2. Go to the BrainPOP UK Store and choose the appropriate option.
3. Schools can be invoiced and parents can buy 1, 6 or 12 month access using credit/debit cards or PayPal. This option gives you full access to both our web and mobile resources.
4. Got your username and password? Now log into the app when prompted and access all movies and quizzes at no extra charge.

Related Posts:

• The full access BrainPOP UK App has landed
• Writing a Rainbow – Our top 6 moments of 2012
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Earlier this year we did a very limited release of “Digital Leader” Moby badges, which we made as a one off request by a customer.

They were ridiculously popular and were decorating the lapels of Digital Leaders up and down the UK within days. But it was first come, first served so inevitably…they ran out.

In the meantime the grass roots Digital Leader program has gone from strength to strength (we think it’s a fantastic initiative).

So now we’ve made some more. But not just one design. This time expanded to six designs, a small range that covers some of the big digital skills. If they are regarded with the same affection and demand as the original we may expand the set later this year, based on your suggestions.

This first run of badges are available for free to BrainPOP subscribers only*, and limited to up to 24 badges per school (in whatever ratio you like). Badges will not be sent out until January 2013.

Fill out the form below to make your request.

SORRY! All badges sold out! If you would like to be added to a waiting list for the next batch please email info@brainpop.co.uk .

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• “Why I think BrainPOP is great for learning”
• Help us pick!
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Is it nearly Xmas already? Where did the year go?

Guess it’s time to dust off the Santa hat, crisp up the turkey and settle back with a glass of Moby’s special egg nog to take a wander down memory lane and give you my top 6 moments of 2012.

This is my 4th annual “Top moments…” post, by the way. If you want to look at our journey over the last 3 years (rose tinted glasses optional) you may do so from these links:

• “From nothing to something” – Our Top 6 BrainPOP UK moments of 2009
• “The power of YOU” – Our Top 6 BrainPOP UK moments of 2010
• “Perfectly personal” – Our Top 6 BrainPOP UK moments of 2011

Back in the present? Nice. Let’s begin the countdown…

6) and 5) If you’re ‘appy and you know it

2012 saw the arrival of two significant product enhancements: full access to all the BrainPOP UK movies and quizzes on our mobile iOS app and single sign on & pupil assessment through our Google App. Even though they are two separate technologies I’m adding them together because they reinforce a message that’s important to BrainPOP: it’s not about the tech.

BrainPOP UK app on iPhone and iPhone

It’s about how the tech gives educators an increased ability to blend BrainPOP into a variety of different contexts. For example, this great blog post describes how our mobile app enabled students to learn independently:

“Recently I used the BrainPOP app to encourage students to learn independently from the teacher with great outcomes. Students were motivated to learn as they were in control. The element of choice motivated students to learn in a variety of ways. Students enjoyed the short animated movies and all feedback was very positive. Students felt that they learn better from using the app and that they found it easier to use than YouTube and BBC Bitesize because the way that the app was set out and the quality of the videos and quizzes. The multiple choice quizzes provide a competitive twist to AfL and all students enjoyed taking part.”

Gavin Smart, Teacher of Science at Priory Community School -  ”Students learn independently using the BrainPOP UK app“

And for Google we have to highlight Norfolk Shared Services, the only county to have rolled out Google Apps for Education to all pupils and staff. First we were delighted to be endorsed by schools within Norfolk and meet the technical and curriculum criteria set by ICT and the Norfolk Integrated Education Advisory Service.

Then our Google app was added to their new cloud portal as the UK’s first LA wide integration to an educational resource!

This enabled 150,000 Norfolk students and teachers to seamlessly sign in to BrainPOP using their Google credentials and add their quiz results to their Google spreadsheets.

This is just the start. There’s such delights coming your way in 2013 it’s taking all my willpower not to disclose them to you now.

Just remember, it’s not the technology, it’s what the technology enables you to do.

4) Taking the 100 Word Challenge

The 100 Word Challenge is a wonderful example of a grass roots blogging/literacy initiative. Run (unpaid) by the inspiring Julia Skinner and her volunteer team of teachers it’s encouraging young writers across the world.

We were deeply honoured to be offered the opportunity to provide the creative writing prompt for the challenge in May 2012. We created a one-off animation which saw Tim & Moby trekking through a mysterious jungle only to discover…well, that was up the fertile imaginations of the entrants!

We 100% support the efforts of the 100WC and implore you to check it out. As a stimulus for literacy it’s one of the best.

3) Free BrainPOP CPD

In September we launched our Webinar series, free online CPD for teachers looking to learn how to enhance their BrainPOP knowledge.

We also hosted some amazing guest teachers such as Ian Addison who demonstrated “Google Apps and Project-Based Learning” and Danny Nicholson from Think-Bank on “Making your Interactive Whiteboard POP”.

We’ll be running one a month in 2013. If you would like to guest or co-present a webinar in 2013 please get in touch. It’s a terrific way to demonstrate to other teachers what you’ve found works in the classroom.

2) A grand day out, Moby style

In June Moby visited his first UK school, Titchfield Primary.

The class had produced some fantastic BrainPOP home work which they shared with us together with piles of hand made invitations to Moby. How could we refuse?

You can read the full story and watch Moby unexpectedly gate crash their assembly (and hug the Headteacher) in our post “A Grand Day Out“. A brilliant day was had by all

It’s also just as fun to see what the kids themselves had to say.

1) Reluctant writer

My No.1 is a small thing.

Insignificant, really, in comparison to some of the bigger, more headline grabbing entries above.

I chose it because if any moment in 2012 showed us why BrainPOP delivers a learning experience like no other then this has to be it.

Read the following first, by a year 3 boy:

“In summer the sun makes a rainbow from droplets of rain from the clouds. The sun can get very hot and if it goes on glass it can reflect the sun and could start a fire. When it is hot I stay inside on my bed.”

Seems unremarkable at first glance, right?

But this was the most this particular child had ever written. This is a child who was classed as a “P Scale writer” who usually verbally told the teaching assistant what he needed to say and copied from the scribe. This is a child who would be defined as a classic “reluctant writer”.

So why did we hear about it? Because it happened during a BrainPOP UK evaluation and specifically exposure to our “Rainbow” movie. It inspired him to  independently put pen to paper and just write.

Apparently BrainPOP, and specifically Moby, connected him to the subject matter in such a way that it led to unexpected and profound literacy benefits. Learning about rainbows was only half the learning journey.

So that’s (nearly) it for 2012. From Tim, Moby and all the BrainPOPpers we wish you all a splendid Xmas and happy new year and we’ll see you, bright eyed and bushy tailed, in January 2013.

Chris Bradford, Head of BrainPOP UK

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