Making Whiteboards Hi-tech

A couple of weeks ago, I began an experiment to keep a record of my whiteboard scribblings. The idea was to have a look at my thought processes after the lesson, and see if I could improve what I was doing. So far, I've been focussing on trying to capture good enough quality images and reflection has taken second place, but I thought I'd share what I'd learned so far.

How do I do this? I like using Evernote on my iPod to remember things for me, as I can synchronise it with my computer afterwards. It has an option for snapshots, so I use that to take a picture of the board just before I erase it. I should warn you – my students still find this kind of strange. Here's a typical snapshot:

My bad handwriting

It's not too bad, as I can get an idea of what we were talking about at the time. The good thing about Evernote is you can tag your notes and add more information to give you context. I tend to put the class name in there to help me remember which students this was for. It seems I'm not the only one with this idea, as I found a post the other day about using mobile phones with a similar result.

Later on, I imagine I could share these snapshots with my students or with other teachers at my school, but for now I can use them as quick reference before I teach this group again to refresh my memory of any problems. I'd be interested to know if any other teachers have had a similar idea and what their experiences have been.

Virtual Library

We have added further features to Gardner English thanks to Google Apps. Our teachers are now able to look for books in the school library via Internet, as the Gardner English library now has an extensive catalogue which is shared with all our teachers. This step saves them time when considering which materials to take to their classes. It also benefits our students, because these materials will be the most suitable for their development.

Present, Absent, Late...

Gardner English teachers now have the option of delivering their class attendance via Internet. As we use Google Docs & Spreadsheets to share spreadsheets, it's easy to fill them with the details of our classes. This step will save time for Gardner English teachers and for our administrative team.

The website has also been updated a little this week, because we've included our team's birthdays on its calendar. This way, everybody can celebrate them! We believe that the Gardner English staff deserve this public mention for the hard work and effort they've put in over the years.

Gardner English and Google Apps

Gardner English is now backed by Google when it comes to communication. Our school's teachers will have email accounts provided by Google Apps, which will also be linked to online calendars and documents. We expect this step to make the school more responsive in its relationships with clients and students.

New Resource Page

Our students' forum now has a resource page to help students with their learning. This page provides several links to websites for reference, external exams and bookshops for English students. In this way, we believe that our students will have more options when they are studying.