Future Learning Blog

This is another excellent tool that has been created by New Visions Cloud Lab , and  +Andrew Stillman  in particular.  I read about this in the GEG NZ group and was perfect timing as I was just about to launch into using Google sites as a way for my Tu Tane students to record their journey towards becoming a good man. I wanted each student to have their own site to use, and for me to be able to check on the sites and any edits or additions from a central location - siteMaestro allows you to do this and it isn't that tricky to set up, all you need is a site that you'd like the students to use, and a list of their email addresses!  It's so easy I made a video of it below.  The link to the site to install the Add-on is here . Overall I think it is a brilliant management tool when allowing students the power of using collaborative sites in their own learning journey.

This year I used Google sites to enhance the learning opportunities for my senior students.  This was particularly useful at the start of the year as we had minimal devices available for the students to use, and I encouraged the boys to get in the habit of completing the work at home and discussing it in class - much like the flipped learning method.  I found this enabled the students to develop good work habits with regards to working from home.  As the year developed and we had access to chrome books and I set up my own pirate wifi network I used the site to enable students to catch up on work missed through extra-curricular commitments and teenage organisation habits!   The architecture behind the sites involves a ‘PE Department Landing Page’ which provides a link to all the different courses we run - ‘Level 1 PE’, ‘Level 2 PE’, ‘Junior Health’ and so on.  The landing page also has slideshows and a calendar to communicate with parents.  Have a look...