Doug Dickinson, Independent ICT Consultant, is doing a seminar at BETT today called ‘Taking control of learning through collaboration, cooperation and peer review. He will discuss how, through the use of a variety or Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, teachers can use the power of collaboration and peer-to-peer review to effectively engage and enthrall students in and outside of the classroom. More on this can be found on Doug’s blog.

Thanks to Doug Dickinson for a superb hour-long session with a very interactive audience (as you’ll see…) in South Gloucestershire on November 11th.

If you think you know Textease and/or Textease Studio CT, be prepared to be blown away by the amazing stories and examples that Doug showed the group.

And if an hour is too long for you, watch out for shorter, bite-size chunks fromthe presentation which will be published separately in due course.

Enjoy - and thanks to the audience once again for this session.

Click here to view this video in full screen

Last week Softease were invited to attend an action packed and thought provoking day at Epsom Downs Race Course .The topic of the day was Boys Writing and dealt with how boys can be encouraged to start writing, whilst at the same time raising achievement.

With infectious enthusiasm Pie Corbett kicked off proceedings by imploring that writing must first and foremost be about enjoyment. He pointed out to a largely female audience that ‘ boys are not a sub species of slightly defective girls’( I do hope not - I have 2 of my own). Therefore the challenge is to engage boys with stories they want to hear, books they want to read and of course something they want to write about, bearing in mind that the genres that appeal to boys are not the same as girls…sports, sci fi and spy thrillers not pets, friendships and schools.

Pie challenged us all to encourage and inspire boys to write in the classroom but in fact many boys are more motivated to write at home, whether in blogs, emails or messaging. Maybe one of the challenges is therefore to think about how new opportunites with technology can harness boys interest in writing and give them a voice and an audience.

At Softease we are convinced of the benefits of using a wide variety of ICT tools to develop literacy whether it is the the creation of multi modal texts using Textease CT, creating a blog in Honeycomb or what about using Podium to write and  perform your own poetry. It was great to have the opportunity at Epsom to explore with teachers how these innovative tools can help boys develop writing skills and undoubtedly enable them to really unleash their creativity on a much wider audience.

 Erlas Centre,Wrexham 

 Metropole, Llandrindod 

  Llety Parc, Aberystwyth

Croeso! ( Welcome!)

 We have been visiting a number of people and places in Wales  over the last two weeks to talk about Textease Studio CT. We presented to the WJEC inset programme over two days, to representatives across Wales. We were invited to talk to Literacy subject leaders in Wrexham Welsh Medium Schools, earlier this week. The interest and potential for Textease in Welsh medium schools and for  teaching  Welsh as a 2^nd Language has been of particular interest. The ease of use of Textease has been enlightening and exciting.

When Doug shows how simple it is to record on the page and to use the in-built speech engine, so many faces light up as they think about the possibilities for use in the classroom. Such simple applications can be used for a powerful effect when recording directly onto an object, image, video or text.

 We are currently in the process of translating Textease Studio CT into Welsh thanks to Conwy ICT team who are hard at work assiting with the translation. Conwy primary schools will be the first to get the software to help deliver the new skills framework part of the new Welsh Curriculum but it will open up many uses in the growing interest in the Welsh language throughout Wales.  If you would like to hear more about this please do get in contact with us. 

Hwyl am y tro!

Recently I have been asked just how far the ‘LOGO’ language of Textease Turtle goes and what commands can be used in procedures …  so here they are… Turtle Commands for you to try out and experiment with.

Good luck!