Today I joined my ICT cluster - Kapiti- for a day with Dorothy Burt from the Manaiakalani cluster in Auckland. It was my first real look at how google apps might be used very effectively in a classroom. A feature that she mentioned that I really liked was the Teacher Dashboard. This was really the selling point for me.
The group that Dorothy Burt comes from are using 1 to 1 devices in the classroom and I liked that too, and their way of bringing that about. They have formed a trust, and they lease to buy to their students. It is a decile one area and they make the cost very small per week.
While our school may not go this way, my Principal's brain was ticking over beside me, and I could see that we will explore it with our Board and parents and find our way of doing it. So I am rather excited by that.
I have been a great user and fan of Edublogs for the last few years because of the way I can manage the student blogs. However I now see that next year I would definitely consider switching to Blogger and using the teacher dashboard alongside it. I can see how student emails and google docs - which we already have - and other websites that we already belong to will seamlessly fit into this.
My Principal has already emailed harpara.com to discuss with them our buying Teacher Dashboard, so I think it won't be long before we are giving it a whirl.
Hi Kathryn
ReplyDeleteThanks for that feedback and for your comments during the day. I can see that with the work you are doing with your students TD would be a great asset.
All the best
Dorothy
We love Teacher Dashboard. It makes managing student Google Apps work easy -- for checking current work, providing feedback, encouraging students and their work, and assessing student work. Even if the student forgets to share or deletes work, teachers and admin have access. Their is nothing better! I know you will love it!
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