Empty Shops Radio

As readers may be aware, I'm part of the Geography Collective. Over the past two weeks I've been developing a project that aims to reinvigorate some of Worthing's empty shops. Today I had teh pleasure of meeting @artistsmakers and @vobes at a former Allied Carpets showroom.

The plan was discussed and the wheels are in motion - so stay tuned for further developments. The project is linked to the Mission:Explore concept.

While there, I was interviewed for the Empty Shops Radio podcast. I'm on around 9 minutes in and discuss a few more details about the project.

Why teachers should have customer service training......

Not long ago a friend and I set off to complete the South Downs Way. The photo above shows my bike upended so I could fix a few punctures - flint is merciless when it comes to tyres and inner tubes! A little while later I departed company with my bike. At the time we were doing around 30 mph downhill. During this adventure, the seat post bent causing it to jam into the frame, my camera was smashed to bits and my shoulder has definitely seen better days. Still, we had a great time. Why?

• My local bike shop spent a silly amount of time fixing my bike, and even improved my brakes for free;
• Jessops agreed to replace the camera for free, and
• The B+B we stayed in allowed us to stay at short notice and locked our bikes in their garage, recommended a good pub for food and allowed us to order 6 sausages for breakfast.

These are all examples of great customer service.

As a teacher I think that the young people and parents are customers. They deserve a better level of service. For example, we could meet and greet our pupils at the door; take a bit of an interest in their passions and achievements outside of school.

Also, why do we still insist on closing the learning process down once the school day is over? New technologies could enable us to:

• Provide weekend and evening workshops through video conferencing
• Make staff available during the evening via IM to respond to revision and coursework pressures
• Allow pupils to have conversations with staff over Twitter type exchanges when they feel stressed about work or need advice or help.

What needs to change in schools for this to happen?

Are there already examples of this going on?

Shouldn't we treat our young people as valued customers and individuals rather than a group of people that we interact with a few times a week?

I'm not saying that staff don't work hard, or should be 'on-call' 24/7, just that there must be a better way of working that allows young people to achieve better.

When working as a bar man during my student days, customer service was paramount. Mystery customers tested our skills. My manager at the time said this was because customers that feel valued will return. If our customer service was better, maybe young people would engage fully with lifelong learning adventures as they would feel valued?

What do you think?

Collaboration, Google Spreadsheet Case Study - 2

I like to think that I am a fast learner. I used this youTube clip with Year 11 today:



The point was that in collaboration, a rugby team can perform well. Then this clip:




I made the point that when a team member upsets the apple cart, the whole team can suffer. Whether that is reputation, or task. Well, OK I really wanted to express my disappointment at blatant Kiwi cheating resulting in another Wales loss, however, the class did relate to the point I was trying to make. This worked well when applied to the GCSE case-study - if the group worked well together, everyone would benefit. For example, C/D border line pupils would be able to access work by more able pupils.

Macchu Picchu

View more presentations from David Rogers.

The class were collaborating on a case-study about Machu Picchu in Peru. the blog post that supported the lesson can be found here.

The Google spreadsheet worked very well. This time, I labeled individual computers with a different aspect of the case study. These related to a tab and column within the document. This meant that each pair of pupils was accessing only one area of the spreadsheet - ensuring no accidental erasion.

I also appointed some potential A* pupils to act as moderators. Their job was to spot and alter any input that needed it. This role proved valuable in improving the quality of the overall comments.

The class rotated every 10/15 minutes - changing machine. I found that this removed any confusion over what section of the spreadsheet they were editing. The labels I placed on the computers helped!

The pupils will now complete a past paper question at home. They have been encouraged to access the spreadsheet at home, which is now has editing locked.

Google Docs in the Geography classroom

This post is aimed at teachers who are thinking of using Google Documents in the classroom.

I'm the first to admit, that I am sometimes a late adopter of new technology in the classroom. This is usually because I take some time to identify and plan how the tech in question can be used.

I have been using Google Docs for quite some time for collaboration with colleagues and other projects. Today I used the Google Spreadsheet for the first time.

I wanted a Year 10 class to revise their knowledge of coastal management techniques. This was in preparation for decision making essay they have to write for homework. I thought this would be an ideal opportunity and effective use of a Google Spreadsheet.

The result can be seen by clicking here. I'm fairly pleased with the result - and I hope to see an improvement in the essays compared to last year. The pupils seemed impressed by how quick the work was produced by working in collaboration.

I learnt a few lessons myself - I will be using Google Spreadsheets again tomorrow with a Year 11 class. There were a few issues caused by pupils accidentally deleting work. Although I had allocated one area of the spreadsheet, I will need to be more specific in future, maybe limiting each pupil or pair to editing one cell. Tomorrow I'm going to try this and then get pupils to change, adding more information to each cell.

How do I find the time: Beyond the Google home page

This is a blog post aimed at supporting the Teacher Learning Communities session held today.

I introduced a two Google tools that improve productivity and, in my view, help improve learning. Both tools were aimed at teachers for improving continuous CPD.

1. Google Alerts

Great at keeping track of news events, especially if you teach a subject that relies covers lots of topical subjects. Also great for keeping track of your subject in the news.

2. Google Reader

Ollie Bray told me to start reading blogs in November 2006. Google Reader is a great tool for keeping a track of them. I introduced a number of blogs and have asked the group to keep am eye on them over the next half term. The blogs below were chosen as they are cross phase, cross curricular and have really challenged my thinking about LEARNING. They are also the blogs that have directed to to other blogs. I ignored Geography Blogs on purpose

Ollie Bray
Doug Belshaw
Tom Barrett (inb it's new home)
Dan Roberts

There are hundreds, thousands even, of educational blogs out there so start small. Follow a few, and add one or two of your own subject. Spend 10-15 minutes each day checking Google Reader. Think about what is said. Can it be applied to your teaching? Do I agree with what is said?

To finish, I introduced Twitter. I used the tweets sent in reply to a plea - I wanted people to tell me why technology is good. There were some great responses, and I shared these with the group. Most of the replies talked about how access to information and ideas has improved by using technology.

Why it's all Ollie Bray's fault.

This is a picture of a meal I ate on the advice of a total stranger. This situation is all Ollie Bray's fault. Let me explain.

After the SAGT annual conference on Saturday, I was on my own in Edinburgh. I was hungry. So I asked my Twitter network for recommendations. @digitalmaverick came up with The Advocate just off the Royal Mile. There, I enjoyed a very tasty pint of ale and Scottish Game and Blackberry Bangers and Mash. To me, this is a great way of using a social network.

So what's it got to do with Ollie? In 2006 I sat through his 50 Ideas in 50 minutes workshop at the SAGT conference. I was impressed by his energy and one of his ideas was to start reading blogs. So I did. This led me to starting this blog, which is now close to having 20,000 reads. In turn, this led me down the road of Twitter and all things innovation and madness.

Ok, so it's not all Ollie's fault. SLN, Alan Parkinson and Dan Raven-Ellison has lots to do with it also.

Today, I repeated the trick (I hope). I'll blog about that later.

So, cheers Ollie, Alan, Dan and all the other people out there. The recent flack Twitter has received is amusing. To be honest, I tend to ignore most of it. I write it off as the work of those who just don't get it, or just haven't used it. It amuses me because I am amazed that some of the most productive professional (and increasingly social) interactions I have started online. I meet and talk to MORE people face-to-face thanks to Twitter, not less. Don't worry, I always tell someone where I'm off to when I meet them ;-)

Didn't the Beatles and the Internet start as fads?

hELLO

Hello