Exploring Learning

According to Kaminski and Bolliger (2012) a lack of technology skills remains one of the main concerns of employers around the world. If the global workforce is increasingly dependent on technology (Adams, 2002; Karkouti, 2016) and the point of education is to ready the next generation for employment, schools must consider the impact that digital competencies will have on their level of readiness for the world of work in a global society. Education has always made this provision in terms of a basic level of literacy necessary for communication. However, if we consider literacy as not only the ability to read and write but also to have education and knowledge enough to operate successfully, then we need to rethink what literacy means in today’s digital world. With particular reference to Qatar's Educational System in the Technology-Driven Era: Long Story Short (Karkouti, 2016) and What Motivates and Engages Students in the Education Process - An Examination of Qatari Students...

I set up my blog in Malaysia about five years ago; I moved to Singapore and maintained my blog. Most recently, I came to Qatar. My Blog address, as stated in the settings of my Blogger dashboard is: Google, however, redirects Blogger blogs to country-specific domains . For instance, if you open  blogspot.com in your web browser, it will change to blogspot.co.uk if you are accessing the blog from UK, or, as in my case, when I was in Singapore, I had the address mrshollyexploringlearning.blogspot.sg , and now I have mrshollyexploringlearning.blogspot.qa . For the past two and half years in Qatar, and for the years I had my blog before moving here, this has not been an issue. Until today.  I submitted my latest Masters assignment on my university VLE, and, as I often do, wrote a blog post about it. I was able to access my dashboard, write, edit and publish. I previewed my post and then, when ready, pressed publish. All this was fine. As always, I wanted to...

This year, I have been a little slack on updating my blog. However, it is with good reason! This year, I have the utmost pleasure in establishing a media studies department. It is challenging to set up and run a department single-handedly, particularly when compounded with technical issues that arise from working for a company that has very tight security and imposes extreme limitations - think 'exercise yard' rather than 'walled garden'. These restrictions have resulted in a school that has been protected from the advancements afforded in more liberal environments, which proves very challenging to a subject that requires access to online resources for success. In addition, the requirements of media courses now are much more demanding than my earlier experiences, particularly in technical aspects, meaning I am on as steep a learning curve as my AS learners in taking a subject for which they have no prior experience. All this compounds to formulate a very trying term. ...

Here is an infographic I created for my final project. It is based on THIS essay . Create free infographics with Venngage

To What Extent Does a Successful BYOD Programme Affect the Engagement and Motivation of Secondary School Learners?  This paper outlines current research into Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programmes in schools based on the experience of institutions currently employing the system. It explores the impact BYOD programmes have had on the engagement and motivation of secondary school learners, as well as the affect on achievement in tests and assessment in comparison to students not utilising mobile technologies in their learning. The experience of both private sector businesses and schools informs guidelines and advice for the successful implementation of a BYOD programme. SEE INFOGRAPHIC OF THIS ESSAY HERE Whilst some see technology in education as a “democratizer”, as a way of allowing “students from all backgrounds to access the same resources and tools”, to others, it potentially causes “great harm, widening an already substantial achievement gap related to issues of equity...

snapguide.com Explain Everything is an app I downloaded onto my iPad probably two years ago... I had a tendency to get very excited by new tools and not allow myself the time to trial them properly - this was one such victim of my over-zealousness. But, now, I have the opportunity and a great excuse to have a proper play! I found that I had to refer to the tutorials and help quite a lot to do what I wanted to do - which meant, perhaps, it was not particularly intuitive. It also took me about an hour to create a seven-slide presentation, which I am sure would become quicker with time. I do like how I can customise and add handwriting etc., and there is so much more potential to it than a regular presentation, so I think it is something I will continue to explore. I have recorded my presentation for you to see - however, the microphone on my iPad Mini was not picking up sound effectively meaning I need to send it to my MacBook Air to add the audio, or use and external microphone...

TED-Ed is not something I was aware of until recently. It is a "an extension of TED’s mission of spreading great ideas" and allows users to "take any useful educational video, not just TED’s, and easily create a customized lesson around" it. TED-Ed houses a  library of lessons  that are "carefully curated educational videos, many of which represent collaborations between talented educators and animators nominated through the TED-Ed platform." Types of Lessons Creating an account is easy - if you are already registered with TED, you can use the same one. It will require some additional information such as the ages and subject you teach. Once registered, you are able to search existing content by filters such as subject, content, student or duration. Once selected, you can customise the lesson by adding "context, questions, discussion items, and follow-up suggestions to any video on TED-Ed or YouTube" to personalise the learning...

As an English teacher, working overseas with a majority of learners with language needs, any tool that I can find to support the writing process is one that I HAVE to explore. In the past, I have used Ginger Software , and Read and Write , which I find useful, but  Grammarly  is a tool that has been on the edge of my explorations so far, and this seems like a perfect opportunity to see if I can add another writing support tool to my repertoire. What makes Grammarly different, is that it is free. Ginger used to be free, but as it has grown, it has limited options in the free version. What I do like about it, is it works on ALL online apps - and the same appears true of Grammarly. Once added to Chrome from the Chrome Store, it works across all online platforms: The links appear automatically and once added to my Chrome toolbar, I was taken to the page to create an account:- What I am impressed with, is that the account suggests it saves your style, learni...