POPtalk

Hayley is the newest addition to the BrainPOP UK team and she’s mega keen on all things gaming and ICT-related so last week she popped along to Channel 4’s 2010 Education Conference.

The Conference “focussed on the latest Government policies and the Opposition’s plans; explored how innovators in education are responding to the challenges, and showcased some of Channel 4′s new education projects on citizenship, science and games.”

So, bearing in mind the large variety of topics covered on the day, e.g. “free schools”, here are some of the highlights from Hayley’s day…

I’d never actually been to the Channel 4 building before so I was more than a bit surprised when I saw their huge “4” sculpture made of umbrellas – just like their adverts!

As a bit of a self-professed geek, the part of the day I got most excited about were the presentations by Matt Locke and Alice Taylor. Matt talked about what Channel 4’s been up to over the last year like their 1066 game, which surprised them all with its popularity, and Science of Scams.

While last year’s projects are interesting, it’s what Channel 4 education is up to this year that I got really excited about.

One that stood out was “The Curfew”. Really intriguing, it’s a game that looks at surveillance and authoritarianism set in an Orwellian near-future Britain. Immersive and interesting, it certainly looks like something I’ll end up playing when it comes out later this month. Plus, anything that helps young people engage with politics is a good thing!

Author of Fun Inc, Tom Chatfield, gave a really interesting talk about the role of play in learning and how it transforms the notion of failure into opportunities, from “I failed” to “I haven’t done it yet.”

I’ll leave the final note to Zenna Atkins, Chair of Ofsted, who summed up the general feeling of the day quite nicely by saying (and I paraphrase),

“good teachers are absolutely vital and good teachers will use these instruments (new technology) to enhance what they are teaching.”

We’ll make sure to keep an eye out for the transcript of the conference which should appear on the Channel 4 website soon and we’ll post a link here when it’s ready.

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• Plan for people, not technology
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• Where did I leave that order form? – Dawn Hallybone reviews BrainPOP UK

We’re excited to welcome Dawn Hallybone as an official BrainPOPper today.

Dawn, a Senior Year 6 teacher and ICT Co-ordinator at Oakdale Junior School, has very kindly offered to give us her take on using BrainPOP UK.

Dawn is perhaps best known for her ground breaking work with game based learning in the classroom  – see her presentation here using Nintendo DS in the classroom. She is also deservedly a finalist for the Hand Held Learning 2009 Special Achievement Awards winner of the Hand Held Learning 2009 Special Achievement Awards!! (Well done, Dawn!)

If you’ve been fortunate enough to hear her speak you’ll know what an inspirational teacher she is, and how passionate she is about integrating exciting and engaging ICT into the realities of classroom life.

“I am not sure when or where I first heard of this product but have a feeling it may have been at BETT.

I remember being drawn by the bright colours and the characters of Tim and Moby. This is true as well of the students themselves when they first use it; however there is a lot more to this package than colours and characters.

BrainPOP UK is an online environment, where as a teacher and as a pupil you can watch short (5 minute) videos explaining a range of subjects across the National Curriculum.

The videos are well presented and convey the information in both a child-friendly and factual way as well as injecting humour – a must I feel with some topics! After each video there is a short activity and a quiz, although you do not need to complete this if you chose not to.

I used BrainPOP UK a lot during the Summer Term with my year 6 class, and found their videos covering puberty and PHSE invaluable as they dealt with these topics sensitively, but with a sprinkling of humour!

When I asked the class which part of the topic they had enjoyed – they all agreed watching Tim and Moby as it:

• ‘…made it clear’
• ‘…did not talk down to us’
• ‘…I felt they understood us’
• ‘…I liked the fact that the letters are written by real children’ (a fact that I nor they knew until we asked via Twitter – another recommendation by one of the class when I admitted that I did not know).

Once we had used it for this topic – the class were eager to explore other areas – they wanted to know what else Tim and Moby talked about!!! We then discovered some great resources for Literacy and Maths which we watched before we sat the SATS.

Again this idea came from the children not me and proved a hit as one they were all watching, learning and relaxing before their tests. There are numerous ways of using the resource. I tend to use it to introduce the topic, and use the quiz at the end as I find that this equips the children with a good degree of knowledge before we start any topic.

BrainPOP UK is a subscription service, but the range of subjects that they cover is vast and they are constantly looking at ways of improving and are great at listening and responding to suggestions from both pupils and teachers.

They also offer free videos each month – a great idea particularly when the Swine flu hit schools and children were worried. We embedded this onto our school blog and children were able to share this with their parents at home.

It can also be watched on a trial basis, which as a teacher I feel invaluable when trialling out resources with my children. It can look really good and sound really good in a sound bite or blurb on company website but it is when it is used in a real context that, for me, is the real test!

I and the class thoroughly enjoyed trying out BrainPOP UK during the Summer term – now the only question is – where did I leave that order form?”

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• BrainPOP at BETT 2013
• BrainPOP on Probationer Teacher Scotland
• “Why I think BrainPOP is great for learning”
• Moby makes me feel happy – inspiring a reluctant writer
• Sharing the TeachMeet Takeovers from BETT 2012