Of course, ICT often doesn’t work as planned. I was without a laptop and I couldn’t get the data projector to connect to one of the new computers in the classroom (where was the fn button!). Giving up on that, I gathered them all around one computer screen and logged into my account and took them for a brief tour. I hadn’t set up a structured activity at this time as I wanted them to explore first. Looking back, what I should have done was at least talk about the genre of comics and explore features of this kind of visual language. I should also have had a better idea of what I wanted them to have accomplished by the end of the session.

I then set them up in pairs to go and explore on their own. This is where things really started to fall over. I had to spread the kids around three rooms to get them all onto computers and hadn’t gone around and logged in to Pixton first. As kids are likely to do, they started to get a little noisy while waiting for me to log them in (I didn’t want to give them my login details – I should have set up one they could use without me logging them in). My stress levels started to go up a little. Next major problem was that Pixton wouldn’t let me log in to my one account from multiple computers! Obviously, I should have got to the school a little early and tested this! I could get kids on but as soon as I moved on and logged in a few more, Pixton would freeze on them and kick them off again. As I moved around the rooms I had kids coming at me from a number of angles asking me to come and help them. My stress levels rose considerably at this time as I hadn’t prepared ‘plan B’ (which every person using ICT knows is a sensible idea!).

Giving up on Pixton, I gathered them all together again and showed them Voki as at least something they could go on to and doesn’t need an account. I had no clear direction in doing this – I was simply in ’survival mode’ by this time. Again the kids spread out but still the problems continued. This time, the internet connection at the school wasn’t really fast enough for 10 computers at once to connect well to the internet so many kids had trouble getting their Vokis to load and work properly. Still, most got something going and then I asked them to pack up and sent them off home.

So what will I do next time? Well, I am not one to give up easily so I am going to give Pixton another go but this time, I am going to put a bit more thought into what the LEARNING is that I want rather than just playing with the tool (I know that seems so basic but even those who are doing this all the time need to be reminded sometimes!). I am going to have an offline and online component to the activity so that I reduce the pressure on their internet connection. I am going to go early and set up and check that everything works. I am going to have a ‘plan B’ this time that is not technology based. I am also going to set up more than one Pixton account so that kids can be working in a couple of different ones. I will let you know how it goes.

So what about your biggest ICT failure? Leave me comments letting me know what it was – I think we should always talk about what doesn’t work as well as what does. Teachers often have issues with ICT that then stops them from wanting to use it again. I think we need to let everyday classroom teachers know that everyone experiences failure but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep refining and trying again.

I have just been to Hastings this week for a two day meeting with other key staff in clusters. I enjoy these meetings as it is a great time to be around like minded people with a real passion for the use of ICT in education. There is so much expertise in the room at these meetings and it is wonderful to be able to swap ideas and information.

For instance, Sara is a facilitator for another cluster and she gave me a handy tip about a piece of software called Umajin that is great for layering images and video (some with the use of blue screening). This is so easy to use and much more affordable than Photoshop and easier than GIMP. They offer discounts for bulk buying and that includes buying through clusters of schools.

Tessa highlighted her great collection of resources on her area in Centre 4 – the managing change section is excellent.

Other than that, I have found a few new things on my own. I have now managed to sign up for Imbee (a safe social network for teachers, parents and children) as they now support New Zealand. I think it looks like a very interesting platform and may use some people in my cluster as ‘children’ guinea pigs (or anyone else that indicates being interested). It would be great if I could get a test group of children involved in a project around this tool. Watch this space…
I am also enjoying looking through the blog and wiki of Wes Fryer. He has a lot of interesting things to say and has fantastic collections of resources including a page on Digital Storytelling.

I also like the layout of Soople which shows you all of the advanced Google search options in a really user friendly format.

Well, that’s about enough from me for the moment To bed!