It has been a while since I activley blogged here on TeachMeTekkie and I have some sad news for you. 

TeachMeTekkie as you know it will cease to function as a regularly updated blog.  It has ran its course under its current form and will now be updated to reflect this.  Over the past 4 years the use of TeachMeTekkie has supported an improvement in pupil attainment within my subject department as well as being used by a worldwide audience – this was always the goal of my blog. 

Times have changed, and my role as a Principal Teacher has changed which now means that I have less time to devote to the daily upkeep of TmT.  So, I will redesign the site and fix all links to reflect the Curriculum for Excellence here in Scotland and make sure the links to my podcasts and other educational materials remain to support learners in my absence.  This is not to say that I wont be updating my blog – it just wont be every week or couple of weeks.

We are entering an exciting time in our local authority with regards to the use of ICT and much of my time is now spent supporting and developing this.  I can only hope that these developments and ‘leaps forward’  help you ALL to become 21st Century Learners – as our Curriculum promises!

In the meantime, I will be working on developing ‘Social Learning Networks’ for schools using many of the social media and communication Web 2.0 tools you have seen piloted here on TmT.  I am also looking at the use of mobile devices and B.Y.O.D in education – all exciting stuff!

If I could offer one piece of lasting advice to you it would be that we have now entered the Web 3.0 era of the internet- an era of mobile technology that is location aware.  Make sure you know exactly what it means to ‘check in’ or ‘like’ a page on your favourite social media platform!

So, thank you all for helping me prove that what I have done here with TmT does work, can improve success and motivate learners (as well as having fun at the same time).

Mr B.

Anybody who knows me knows that my Apple kit is part of my daily teaching life from taking quick snaps and tweeting in school on my 4S, using my iPad for classroom management and videos to occasionally breaking out the old 3rd Gen iPod for some beats to lay down in the workshop.

It’s no surprise that I spend hours a week reading up on Tec on sites like The Unnoficial Apple Weblog and 9to5 Mac.

This image appeared online earlier tonight and it is referring to an invite sent to media in the states about an event on 12th September. It doesn’t take a genius to notice the shadow below the image, a great piece of marketing and design.

The shadow is a number 5, what do YOU think that means?

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I am sitting writing this blog post with Carly, Michael, Owen and Nicole from my S3 Wider Achievement Blogging class.

The link abouve was used to demonstrate how to make parts of text ‘clicky’. If you click the link above it shoud take you to the pupils own blog site.

A demonstration was also given on how to insert images into blog posts to enrich the content and make it more interesting.

The pupils are now almost ready to produce their first real blog report on subjects such as Lil’ Wayne, Baking, Muhhamad Ali and the PS3.

Just like in real life, copying someone’s work in school can have serious consequences. Especially at exam time. You will be disqualified if you are caught (Not just fined $1 Zillion like Samsung).

As far as coursework goes, copy/pasting from Wikipedia or the net is not your own work.

If you use the web for research be sure to re-write what you find – or you could find yourself in hot water!

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I’m Beta Testing the new software. I’m afraid that’s all I’m allowed to say!

We had fun in class today. Well as much fun as school can be. I downloaded an app called ‘Too Noisy (Pro) from the App Store and hooked my iPad up to the projector.

The app is basically a microphone that picks up ambient noise and displays its level on the screen in the form of a visual display. So, the louder the class get, the further up the scale the needle moves, the wee smiley gets sad, cries then the screen cracks and a buzzer sounds.

The app resets and keeps a note of the ‘fail’ and the process starts again.

It was a fun way to let the class see how their noise level rises at times and it allows them to manage their own classroom voice. It was amazing the amount of “shhhhhhhs” we got in class – especially as I was the one setting it off when I was talking!

Coming to a classroom near you, soon!