Slide 2:
As a school we have to plan opportunities to reflect on learning. Whether this reflection occurs immediately after an activity or at a later stage, we have found that ICT can provide the perfect means for doing this. The purpose of this is to ensure children have the time to learn from success and failure and to see learning as a life-long journey rather than a series of separate events. We have found that using ICT to enable reflection also has developed the collaborative aspects of learning for our children.
Slide 3:
Idea 1 – Learning platform gallery At Halterworth we use Hampshire Wizkid as our learning platform. We start by teaching the children about e-safety and use it as a safe resource to enable the children to access learning resources in school and at home. To encourage reflection, we use the gallery tool. This enables teachers (and possibly pupils) to upload photographs. In this example, it was photographs of the children hard at work in a Design technology lesson or performing their celebration assembly to parents. The children are then able to browse the photographs, make a selection and comment on the learning observed – both the challenges and the successes. All children can read all the comments made, reinforcing the point that reflection is also often a collaborative activity. The children’s comments can also be directed to focus on exploring different areas of learning. For example – “What do you see in these photographs that shows children working collaboratively or independently?”
Slide 4:
Idea 2 – Discussion boards on learning platform Throughout KS1 and KS2 we have used discussion boards on our learning platform for sandwich assessment. At the start of a themed project children share their existing knowledge and the questions they want answered throughout their work. Throughout the theme children update their threads and respond to one another’s comments or questions. The benefit of this ICT tool is that it allows us to keep a permanent record of all the children’s understanding at a given time whilst growing inline with the children’s knowledge and understanding. As the children’s knowledge grows, so does the discussion board.
Slide 5:
Idea 3 – Photographic journal Throughout a theme children can keep photographic record of their learning to share with others. Our Year 3 and 4 children have been doing this with their work on the theme of ‘One World’. At the end of the theme of work this collection of evidence can be used as a stimulus for individual or shared reflection. As the children look back through the photos they can identify significant learning points, the highs and the lows! We have found it an invaluable tool for reinforcing the range of learning styles and curriculum subjects that make up the experiences of a large piece of work.