Evaluating Kerpoof.com

Today we have been asked to evaluate Kerpoof.com.  Kerpoof is a Walt Disney website designed for children and encourages them to be creative while having fun.  Using Kerpoof children can make movies, design cards, create artwork, talk to friends and tell stories.  The website is also designed to be used as a learning tool in the classroom and there is a teachers guide and various lessons plans which the teacher can access for free.  You do not have to register to use the site however it does encourage you to and you will need to if you want to email things to yourself. It is also good that if using the website in the classroom only the teacher needs to set up a classroom account meaning students are not entering their own/parents email addresses.  This will make it safer for children to use.
You do not have to pay to use the website however there is an option to become a member for $4.39 a month which gives you access to the chat rooms and a greater number of areas to explore.  
I have been asked to evaluate the animation tool which we found easily.   From the home page you can find a very handy how to video which gives you step by step instructions to making your movie.  It is good as it stops at certain stages to allow you to have a go yourself.  To begin with we did not look at this and like a bull in a china shop decided to work it out for ourselves. It was fairly easy to do this but for children it would be recommended to use the guide which also shows them how to get the best from the site.  
Using the drag and drop tool we were able to design the animation we wanted using the already prepared stages and avatars.  You can make your avatar say what you want them to and use special effects to create a snowy scene, a rock concert, a fairy tale and much more.   You can draw on it using the drawing tool however you do not have to and this means young children and non arty children can create something too. 
You can email it to others and share but unfortunately it does not seem to give an embed code so you can attach it to your blog.  For younger children this is not really a problem as it is purely a tool for learning and playing but for older children this is not ideal.
Overall this website is fun, easy to use and navigate around and a great learning tool and very importantly with the added security features parents know it is safe.
Why not have a bit of fun and try it out for yourselves at www.kerpoof.com.  You never know it could be the start of your animation career!

Catchphrase - I see no ships!

Work is Piling up!

We are now well and truly into the first term and as Christmas quickly approaches so does the deadline for our first assignment.  I have to admit this was not really worrying me, the assignment that is not Christmas, until today's lecture on referencing.  Where as before I thought there was no chance of me ever committing plagiarism, now I am worried I will do it without even knowing it. The assignment we have been set is for History of Education and I have decided to concentrate on the 1944 Butler Act.  

In 21st Century learning we have finished looking at learning styles for the moment and have started to look at multiple intelligence.  This I am finding really interesting especially as I had no idea there even was a multiple intelligence until last week.  It makes a lot of sense and is something I believe is very important to highlight when teaching children.  Everyone is different and good at different things and it is important to encourage children to look at the positives of what they are good at and not what you think they should be good at.

I am sure if you are reading this you have also seen what we have been doing in ICT.  You will find below a series of seven Photographs taken by myself, which show a story.  My story is about my dog Bournville and what he got up to when the door was left open one day.

Bournville's Big Adventure

Reflective Learning

Hello Everyone

Well today we have been looking at reflective learning.  Below I have used a mind map to illustrate my views of how I would use reflective learning.  As you can see some of the ideas begin to link together and give you a good idea of how and what you would need to change if you did it again to improve your work.



It is important for learners to reflect on what they have done so they know how they learn best so they can get quality out of their learning in the future.  By using the mind map above it will help you to consider questions about your learning that you may not think of when under pressure.  It is a very visual way of looking at things and this helps people who learn in different ways.