It became very obvious to me when preparing for my Programming in the Primary School seminar that Apple was ahead in the programming apps race. iOS apps such as Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch and Kodable are all free and will be extremely useful when the new Computing curriculum starts in September. However, with more and more schools adopting Android tablets, it is only a matter of time before developers start to develop similar apps for the Google Play Store. One such app is called Pocket Code. Pocket Code works in a similar way to Scratch and is free to download and use. There is very limited support for teachers who want to know how to use the app in the classroom (compared to resources available for Scratch) but there are some basic tutorials available as well as sample projects to show what can be done. I will certainly be downloading this app to try it out and will let you know its suitability for use in Primary Schools. Link to the Pocket Code website is here.
The Learnpads and charging trolleys arrived a couple of weeks ago and I have spent my time setting them up and getting them ready for use after Easter. Here are my thoughts about unboxing and setup.
Reply to comment from Mike Waddell 20/10/2014 I spent a while working with SWGfL (our internet provider) to open up the ports required on our firewall so that all the Learnpad services worked correctly. However, I have yet to test these features since then with a whole class. The Learnpads are mostly being used with small groups and therefore the class management features are rarely being used. However, I will look for an opportunity to try again in the near future and let you know what the outcome is. Fed up with the out of date look of RM Easymail and the way it seems to take ages to search for emails? So was I! There were a number of alternatives but we decided to go with Office 365. Microsoft have made their basic plan free to schools but even the basic plan has loads more features than Easymail. TME helped us to move all our accounts across to the new system. This happened one evening after school and all the accounts were up and running ready for the next day. So what are the benefits of Office 365?
I haven't yet found any negatives compared to our previous email system! If you are interested in switching and want more info about our experience then please feel free to contact me. |
Michael EmertonPrimary Computing Teacher and Technician. Archives
February 2015
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