As a way of supporting teachers in their own professional learning and pursuit of effective use of technology in the classroom MacICT is able to provide student workshops at the Centre. Such workshops are designed collaboratively by the class teacher and MacICT staff with a focus on tailoring the day to meet the students’ needs within the curriculum context and ICT area nominated by the class teacher. It is envisaged that such workshops will support the class teacher in linking their own learning from professional development courses to the application of that learning to the classroom.
Whilst workshop activities are negotiable it is expected that teachers will be involved in planning prior to the day, that the activities will be part of the broader teaching and learning program and, where possible, be linked to a MacICT project such as Operation Innovate. Teachers will also be expected to fully participate in the workshop, provide some reflection about the day and show how the workshop will be followed up at school.
It is anticipated that students will participate in workshops designed to inspire creativity, explore important aspects of digital citizenship, teamwork and leadership. Teachers may incorporate outdoor mobile phone activities or digital media creation into the day.
Examples of activity-based workshops might include:
Creating participative stories: Students, in small groups, or as a whole class, could create an interactive story that can be read on a mobile device. Students could use a range of mobile technologies and media to create a story that is designed to be ‘read’ or listened to outside. They could use location aware software, augmented reality applications and more to design their story which could be fictional or factual.
Creating interactive, collaborative artworks: Students could design a digital artwork displayed online that could be viewed as individual pieces or as a whole. Such a task would encompass the range of creative and practical arts including music, images and more. Students could design artworks using a range of digital and real media including drawing directly onto screen surfaces, scanning images or using digital photos. Images could be manipulated, layered and combined to create the whole product.
Working together, learning together, teamwork and technology: Students could design a game to teach other students a new concept. They could use LAMS, Edmodo or game making software to create a game designed for learning. They would need to determine the outcomes, activities and assessment and would trial the game on class peers in readiness for delivery to perhaps younger students or other same aged peers.
