magazine.T4L Issue 15

ISSUE 15

TERM 2 I 2021

Digital collaboration Communicate quickly and easily

Get the most out of Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and Apple Classroom

Collaborate with colleagues and students Set assessments and give feedback

Create, collaborate and communicate!

Get the best out of your favourite tools Mark Greentree

Are you getting the most out of the tools you use daily? Explore the best features of Teams, Google Classroom and Apple Classroom in this

Director,

issue. These platforms are fantastic not only for collaborating, but also

Technology 4 Learning,

for feedback and assessment. Get more time back in your day, or use

NSW Department

some of the amazing functionality of platforms that you might already

of Education

know and love. Let’s bring on a productive second term!

T4L Loves

Here are some stories inspiring us right now

Content source: Google

Content source: Minecraft

Listen to the Virtual

Heard of Blob Opera? 

Explore Ngā Motu  (The

Staffroom - Episode 14 

Create your own AI-based

Islands) on Minecraft: Education

and hear from Eric Peck,

opera, record your hit and

Edition and learn about the

CEO of Swoop Aero. A great

share. This is a machine

indigenous language, culture

story on drones doing good,

learning experiment in

and people of Aotearoa (New

including vaccine delivery

collaboration with Google

Zealand). It comes complete

from the air.

Arts & Culture.

with lesson plans, guiding ideas, student activities and more.

Inventor Robotics kit launches!

Did you know there’s a new stem.T4L kit?

The Inventor Robotics kit comes with your favourites: Makey Makey and micro:bit, plus the new and exciting LEGO Education SPIKE Prime! This kit is designed for students to take computational thinking and STEM concepts to the next level.

To find out more about the new Inventor Robotics kit, visit the Inventor Robotics kit page   in the stem.T4L Learning Library The Inventor Robotics kit is available right now for you to book. Jump onto the stem.T4L kit booking system   and reserve one for your school now!

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Please note: Tools, devices, software, links and educational practices reviewed within this publication are not an indication of endorsement by the NSW DoE and cannot be used as such.

Innovation inspiration

Curriculum links: Primary and secondary/ Science/ PDHPE/ CAPA/ Mathematics

On the nature trail at Bridge Road School Bridge Road School in Sydney’s inner city has created a program of work for students to encourage their connection to nature. Bridge Road students are complex learners and have been investigating animals and nature in the school grounds, using motion-sensitive trail cameras to capture wildlife footage. The program proved to be motivational and engaging for both students and staff!

Set-up Teacher Alan Skipper uses small, inexpensive battery-operated trail cameras (approximately $150 each) in the school’s garden grounds. These cameras can be tied to trees or set on the ground during the day or overnight. Baits and lures are set for the animals, and a sand trap has been added to capture animal prints. Each morning, students collect the cameras, question what might have been captured on the ‘trail’, and then they watch the footage together.

Discovery and enquiry ‘It’s all about questioning – are we going to find bait? Are we going to find that it’s gone, are we

Spotted in the wild:

going to find any tracks? It’s about students making hypotheses about what might have happened,’ says Alan. Students also get a sense of 24-hour time, dates and sequences. ‘Everyone

rats

cats

a very busy General Assistant

responds differently,’ says Alan. ‘We’ve got two students who are super-observant, are finding

birds

lots of feathers – we have a feather collection that started in the room.’ The levels of engagement with the program have been enormous. ‘Go in with no expectations, a questioning mind – follow

insect life

including a roosting tawny frogmouth

possums

students’ thoughts, rather than what you think will come out of it,’ Alan says.

Find out more Visit their YouTube channel  Don’t have a trail camera? Why don’t you set up a camera using the time-lapse feature?

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Road test

Microsoft Teams

Digital collaboration Do you collaborate with colleagues online or set structured work in your digital classroom? In this Road Test, we uncover some of the best features (plus a little bit extra), of the platforms we’re using in the digital staffroom and classroom.

‘Teams allows me to collaborate with groups of people in channels or a single colleague through the chat function.

Sharing documents and discussing items face to face in real time with hundreds of kilometres separating us.’

Tanya Riach, stem.T4L leader

Microsoft Teams STRENGTH Awesome for collaboration with colleagues and classes

HOW DO I ACCESS IT? Through a browser or on desktop or mobile app – access via Staff Portal  .

Google Classroom STRENGTH Great for managing a digital classroom - and feedback and assessment.

Check out our step-by-step range of resources for Teams on the T4L website:

➚ Getting started with Teams 

HOW DO I ACCESS IT?

➚ Communicating in Teams 

Through a browser or on desktop or

➚ Using Assignments in Teams 

mobile app – access via Staff Portal  .

Apple Classroom STRENGTH Optimised for classroom coordination.

HOW DO I ACCESS IT? iPad or MacOS app.

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We’ve got you!

➚ Organisation and administration in Teams 

Want to learn more?

Check out our range of MS Teams resources on the T4L site , including lots of bite-size videos!

There’s also a range of resources on OneDrive, presentation tools, video tools, accessibility, coding and more .

Top ten of Microsoft Teams

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We’ve broken down the best of Microsoft Teams for you!

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Use it for video chats or messaging with colleagues - add images, emojis, GIFs or

Want some peace? Turn off your notifications

upload documents to your chats

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by clicking on your initials – click on Manage Account then Notification

Create a team and build a network –

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simply search for names and add them into your group

Save time - set your status with the options available or create a custom notification – click on your initials/photo at top right

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8

It’s easy to set up a class.

Students just need a code to join the group

See whether an assignment has been viewed – or turned in. Click on the Assignments tab, select the assignment, then explore status

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options and start marking options

Team teaching? Click on ... next to team name, choose Add member to add a coteacher to a team

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Rich text allows for bold text, bullet points and hyperlinks to be displayed

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When using Assignments, a sidebar opens for you to easily mark, grade and give feedback

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Have something urgent that needs attention? Mark a message as urgent 

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Road test Digital collaboration Google Classroom The real gold of Classroom lies in the use of the comment box for feedback and assessment.

Top ten of Google Classroom

We’ve broken down the best of Google Classroom for you!

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1

Create a new classroom 

The chat in Google Classroom is called the Stream – this is where you communicate with members of your class

3 You can communicate with a specific group of students only – click Stream, click in the text box, start typing and select All Students – from here you can tick the students

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you want to receive the post

Did you know you can schedule a post? Simply click in the box in Stream, start typing then click the downward-facing triangle next to Post and click Schedule

We’ve got you!

Check out our step-by-step range of resources on Google Classroom on the T4L website:

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➚ Google Classroom features 

➚ Using Assignments in Google Classroom 

➚ Getting started with Google Classroom 

➚ Feedback and assessment in Google

➚ Communicating in Google Classroom  Content source: Apple

Classroom 

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6

Set up a range of

You can add a rubric to an assignment you set – simply click the plus icon Rubric button on the right-hand side

Assignments  – Quizzes, Questions, Material or reuse a Post

Feedback and assessment in Google Classroom is epic! Click on a student’s

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assignment to mark it. From here you can grade, add rubrics and private comments

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Suggesting mode (top right) is also great for

Choose the assignment, open a student’s

adding edits to work

submission, then click on Comment bank to personalise your response

10 In the Grades tab, get a quick overview of all student work that’s been submitted. Want to export your grades?

Watch this video 

Want to learn more?

Check out our range of Google Classroom resources on the T4L site , including lots of bite-size videos!

There’s also a range of resources on Google Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms and more .

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Road test

Apple Classroom

Digital collaboration

Have you tried Classroom for iPad or Mac? Download these handy guides for iPad  or Mac  and check out our top ten tips below.

Top ten of Apple Classroom

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We’ve broken down the best of Apple Classroom for you!

Launch a

Simple and easy to use interface

specific app

with the app only needed on

on all iPads to get the class on track quickly

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the teacher’s Mac or iPad

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Mute and lock student devices to

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Get a bird’s eye view of where each student is at using Screen View

Simply tab a student’s

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screen to zoom in to know when to offer assistance

gather attention

8 Receive classwork from students simply via AirDrop

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Provide targeted assistance by sharing links or opening apps on individual student devices

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Share documents with your students instantly

Get a summary of your students’ activities during class to help improve your practice - simply click end class

Share a weblink with all your students from Safari using the share button

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