Wicked WIKI! April 26, 2006
Posted by Mark Tennant in : Computing, Dunbar Grammar , add a comment
I have been working with my S3 class just now on revision, how quickly the exams come around! Normally I would encourage pupils to create and share revision notes and questions to try and brighten up what can sometimes be a dull time in class, with endless past paper work, revisiting old topics, writing lots of notes, and so on. However, I have decided to try something different this year: a Wiki!
For those of you new to the idea of Wikis, it’s quite simple: essentially it’s just a group of web pages that anyone can edit and add content to. Exc-el already has a Wiki site
here . My hope is that this will encourage the pupils to research topics both in class and at home, then add to the Wiki. Initial results seem quite promising, as you can see if you visit
our Wiki.
Visual Studio for £free April 25, 2006
Posted by Mark Tennant in : Computing , add a comment
In one of those “I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned it before” moments, I thought I should post about some exciting news:
Microsoft (you know them, that company everyone slags off yet still uses all their software…) are giving away Visual Studio Express edition for free, nought, nil, gratis, etc..!
Exciting news for anyone even slightly interested in
programming . Hurry fast though - they will only be doing this until November, after that you’ll have to buy a copy as usual.
Get yours from
openoffice !
The Internet as you've never seen it before! April 25, 2006
Posted by Mark Tennant in : Computing , add a commentOne of the simplest - but best - uses of technology I have came across in this job is the use of
smartgroups by computing teachers. Basically, any teacher who wants to can join a smartgroup for a particular course, giving them access to hundreds of fellow colleagues via a simple email distribution list.
Quite often, it pays dividends. Today was one of those days. Many thanks to Kathryn Brown, who posted a link to
warriorsofthe.net on the Higher Info Sys smartgroup - a free to download animation film that helps to explain how data is sent across the internet in an abstract way. If you have broadband, it’s well worth a download to see a difficult subject presented in such a novel way. The video is 12 mins long, perfect for the start of a lesson, which can then be followed by further exemplification of the subject.
Now, if only they would also cover anti-virus, search algortihms, … :-)