Friday 13 July 2012

HOT SOLO Maps, iPads and a treasure hunt!

In my previous post I explained how we have tried to embed SOLO across the school through our learning teams. At the same time we have also begun an iPad trial. This started with a group of staff interested in the use of mobile technology in the classroom and has developed to ensure every department has one person with an iPad.
Last Monday we had our final training day of the year. We wanted to take this opportunity to incorporate our work on SOLO with the iPads.
In a conversation with @rachel_ireland and @Thereal_MrH we came up with an idea of a treasure hunt.
After a search on the Internet we found a company called Huntfun which does treasure hunts in various towns and cities. Armed with our HOT SOLO map templates on our iPads we followed the Darlington hunt to see whether we could incorporate them.
We merged some of the clues from the treasure hunt with activities around the HOT SOLO maps. My favourite being the cause and effect map where the event was 'you lose a £135 on Houndgate'. There were multiple possibilities as there was a betting shop and a pub but there was a sign halfway up the street that said cars parked would be clamped and the owner would have to pay £135 for its release. A lot of staff didn't find this sign!
We wanted to keep the day a secret until the morning so all we told staff was that they needed to be appropriately dressed to be outdoors! Those people who had iPads were emailed the HOT SOLO map templates to save in the Explain Everything app. This is a great app. It allows people to write on the maps, type in the maps or record their voices explaining what they have put in the various boxes.
On the morning of the training we gathered staff in the performance hall and explained what was going to happen. We demonstrated how to use the apps they were going to use in the morning and then emailed them the treasure hunt which had been prepared in the Pages app. Staff were told to take photos and record video footage as they would need them in the afternoon. Also the funnier the better! They were then split in to 14 cross curricular teams who were then in groups according to which bus they were going to be on. We had 2 mini buses doing two journeys. The teams were therefore split in to buses 1-4. Each bus was going to start the tour at a different time. Bus 1 went to the start of the tour. Bus 2 went on a tour of the catchment area before being dropped off. This tour was an important part of the day as it gave teachers a chance to see the context within which we are working. Bus 3 and 4 teams were in school designing a team logo in Paper 53 and a team theme tune with GarageBand before being picked up by the returning mini buses. Bus 1 and 2 teams did their logo and theme tune once they returned to school after their hunt.
When all of the staff were on the tour me and @Thereal_MrH prepared a barbecue for when they returned. I've got to say at this point that I simply cut the sausages and transferred cooked burgers etc to an oven in DT to keep them warm!
In the afternoon we demonstrated how to use comiclife and iMovie apps. Teams then had to choose which they would use to present what they had done in the morning. This was followed by each team presenting their work. Some of the imovies were hilarious! I will try and provide links to some when I work out how! The winning team each got a bottle of wine for their efforts.
The day went really well with lots of positive feedback from staff. From our perspective it achieved it's aim. It gave staff first hand experience of HOT SOLO maps, let them see the potential of iPads for learning but most of all allowed staff to have fun, helping to build that crucial social capacity which is needed in successful schools!

1 comment:

  1. Amazing! It'd be interesting to get some more detail on how you embedded solo; I'm assuming that the use of te apps and their variety was one of the major learning objectives?

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