Below you can find my most recent news for 2022-2023!
Like many Apple Educators, I have spent the past few weeks exploring and experimenting with Freeform to see what educational benefits and connections it could offer. For those that are unfamiliar, Freeform is the latest app from Apple that works similarly to an interactive whiteboard. It allows a user to create a board and populate it with a plethora of options, ranging from media and web pages, to YouTube videos and document files. My most recent excitement about Freeform has been because this tool allows you to do what other Apple apps don’t, and that is house and view Augmented Reality files in one place. In the process of this exploration, I found a way to link this tool to an unlikely user group: early childhood students. Freeform used in my way acts as a “single source of truth”, housing all different types of resources in one file. An easy way of combining multiple resources in one place for younger students to locate and use. Take a look at my sample Freeform board that I will be using alongside our Kindergarten students for their Polar Animals research unit Additionally, scroll further down to see some additional Freeform board ideas!
Video Player
In the sample Freeform board below, students can easily access all of their learning materials from one easy location. For this Unit Topic on The Solar System all the required access to resources are housed in a single reference location, rather than multiple links shared via platforms. Students either get their own copy of the board, or are invited to collaborate on the board. This provides a gateway to Freeform on their individual devices. If accessing from iPads, students can also view added AR files without navigating away from the board.
This coming March 2023 I will be speaking in the Teaching and Learning theatre at the BETT Conference in the London Excel Centre. My talk will be from 1:00-1:30pm all about my journey with Augmented Reality in Education.
2022, what a maze you were, but with some unexpected positive moments hidden around the twists and turns I navigated this year. Here is my year in review on 2022!
In December I was fortunate enough to be invited to share my school’s journey with becoming a recognised Apple Distinguished School. If you are interested in knowing more about what this process takes and what it provides for your school, check out the interview in the link below.