Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 22nd March, 2013
Recently I met a learner in first year in secondary school with a physical disability . She doesn't have the strength to hold books and turn pages, and she gets very tired handwriting. After due assessment and consideration of various devices we all concluded that an iPad was most suitable device...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 5th March, 2013
Load2Learn is a database of downloadable accessible textbooks and images that has been set up by RNIB and Dyslexia Action with funding from the Department for Education. It's similar to the Books for All Database (we gave them some input and it's actually hosted by Scran, same as B4A) but when it ...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 22nd February, 2013
New Guidance
SQA have published new guidance documents for schools who intend to use the SQA Digital Question Papers and Digital Answer Booklets in this year's exam diet. They have up to date advice on how to set up computers and software, and revised guidance for candidates:
‘Digital ...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 20th November, 2012
One very common question we get asked is "what do you recommend for reading out the SQA Digital Question Papers?"
There are several good programs for this such as TextHelp Read and Write Gold, ClaroRead, Co:Writer and Penfriend but if you have no money and you want a nice si...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 16th November, 2012
Yesterday we hosted a course delivered by the great Ian Bean, on switches and switch-operated technology, and during lunch I gave a short demo of my latest favourite switch-operated toy: a Nerf Havock Fire dart gun.
I set this up for the CALL Family Day earlier this year, and it was prett...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 13th November, 2012
Earlier this year eight schools in Scotland participated in a study which asked “How does the use of tablet devices (e.g. the iPad) impact on teaching and learning?”
Given the huge interest in iPads, this is a good question to ask, and even better to answer!
Researchers at the Universit...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 18th October, 2012
Local authority and school ICT services are rightly
concerned to protect their systems from abuse, hacking and from viruses, and to
protect their users' privacy and security.
In most Scottish schools, learners cannot use their own
smartphones or mobile devices to access the intern...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 9th October, 2012
Last week a colleague in a local authority got a quote for a single licence for Acrobat Pro from his Procurement department, for £480.
This is not good use of public money, given that you can get it for £58.58 per licence, plus £20 for the DVD, from Education Scotland (ex...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 27th June, 2012
Today I received a very positive evaluation back from a pupil and teacher who have been evaluating some equipment, and I thought I'd share it: seems like a nice way to end the term. (Mark is not his real name.)
Background
Mark is a Primary 6 pupil who attends his local primary school. Mark h...
Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 6th June, 2012
Quite a few people have been asking if candidates can use iPads to complete the SQA Digital Question Papers. Previously, the answer was 'no' partly because SQA prohibited use of iPads in the same way they do not allow mobile phones in the exam room. However, this policy has now changed and some pu...
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