[senit] social interaction via technology

Hi Sally,

Thanks for your comments Sean and I fully agree that collaboration and 
communication don't have to rely on literacy. As the topic was email the 
focus was on written messages beginning with exploring different forms of 
written communication - letters, cards etc, considering conventions used in 
written communication, writing messages to each other and printing them and 
exchanging them and eventually moving on to email.

I created simple WWS environments so that the students were able to create 
text messages independently using touch, mouse or switches. I did record the 
pupils in one class describing their school but the result was quite 
difficult for the other group to understand.  A significant number of the 
other group are non verbal students who have PD and some learning 
difficulties (rather than a group with PMLD for whom this topic would have 
not been appropriate).

Both groups seemed to understand the emails when they were 'read' by WWS so 
I extended that concept into the PowerPoints which gave everybody an equal 
voice - but I do agree that this isn't essential and recording pupils' own 
voices or the voice of somebody they choose to speak for them would have 
also worked well. The best opportunity for communication will happen this 
week when the two groups meet.

Sally
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean O'Sullivan" <sean.frankwise at easynet.co.uk>
To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: [senit] social interaction via technology

> Hi Sally,
>
> this sounds good, and the point you make about having something ready  for 
> the next time the class continue the work is very familiar - when  we've 
> tried collaborating with others it's often quite hard to plan an 
> effective session if you can't be sure of material to respond to.
>
> Can I just mention though, that we shouldn't be overly concerned to 
> labour the task of communicating via the text of an email, as opposed  to 
> the concept of communicating per se. So for example why not get  those of 
> your pupils who can verbalise to speak their own comments to  go with the 
> PowerPoint? And for those who don't verbalise, is the text  that's being 
> read out via WWS meaningful to them? If not, might they  enjoy perhaps 
> hearing a vocalisation of themselves captured and given  equal weight with 
> the words and phrases their classmates may have  produced?
> Overall, the pupils who do speak words/phrases may convey enough 
> information alongside the 'feel' of hearing the voices of the real 
> pupils.
>
> Of course, if the reason is to support the pupils' literacy skills and 
> the computer voicing is simply to add motivation then great. It's just 
> that it sounds like you're using highly motivating tools like Sound 
> Recorder and photos via PowerPoint, and for many of our pupils these 
> kinds of media allow them to take control and express themselves  without 
> the formidable barrier of conventional literacy. Don't get me  wrong - we 
> prize literacy very highly at our school and are all very  proud of what 
> many of our pupils achieve and of our Early Reading (and  now Writing) 
> Schemes, but collaboration and communication doesn't have  to rely on 
> literacy.
>
> All the best,
>
> Sean O'Sullivan
> sean.frankwise at easynet.co.uk
> Headteacher
> Frank Wise School, Banbury
> http://www.frankwise.oxon.sch.uk
>
> http://www.parkroadict.co.uk
>
>
>
> On 31 Mar 2008, at 17:34, Sally Paveley wrote:
>
>> This term I have been working on an email topic with 2 KS 4 classes  with 
>> an ability range between P6 and NC 2.  One class is at The  Bridge School 
>> and the other at Richard Cloudesley School.  We have  been using a 
>> combination of WWS2000, RM Easymail (with a single  account for each 
>> class) and PowerPoint to exchange information via  email - this is what 
>> we have done:
>>
>> We have used WWS2000 to create email text which has been copied and 
>> pasted into Easymail to send; conversely we have copied and pasted  the 
>> emails that have been received into WWS and had the computer  'read' them 
>> out.
>>
>> Both classes have taken photos of their schools which have been put  into 
>> PowerPoints to send to the other school as attachments.
>>
>> All the students have created personal profiles using WWS which were 
>> then copied and pasted into PowerPoint to go alongside passport  photos. 
>> I used Sound Recorder to record WWS reading their profiles  and added the 
>> sound to the slide transitions (and to each photo as  an action setting 
>> so they could listen again).
>>
>> I think creating slide shows of the schools and the students worked 
>> really well, both groups loved looking at the photos and finding out 
>> about the other school/students and I was very impressed at how much 
>> they understood and remembered from the slideshows.
>>
>> As I teach both classes I have been able to make sure that there was 
>> something waiting when we checked our email each lesson - I have  found 
>> coordinating this with another school can be a bit hit or miss.
>>
>> I will be taking one group to meet the other group later this week  and 
>> am already thinking of more ways to develop their relationship  alongside 
>> their ICT skills.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Sally
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "david fettes" 
>> <davidfettes3 at yahoo.co.uk
>> >
>> To: <senit at lists.becta.org.uk>
>> Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 3:28 PM
>> Subject: [senit] social interaction via technology
>>
>>
>>> hi the Byron report says that much of teenager's
>>> social interaction with peers is mediated by
>>> technology, rather than being face to face. Have you
>>> got any examples of students with learning
>>> difficulties interacting with adults or peers via
>>> technology in this distance sense? And any comments?
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>>     __________________________________________________________
>>> Sent from Yahoo! Mail.
>>> A Smarter Inbox http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> 