educators Archives

We’re Building An Online Makematic Community

So we’ve decided to build a Community! A community of educators and education professionals who are interested in improving their use of multimedia in the classroom. We have a lot of expertise in this area and we want to share that expertise with you!Read More

image of woman putting her phone down on a bench

Try Putting Down Your Device For A Day

In 1946 Edgar Dale who was an American educator, developed the Cone of Experience also known as the Learning Pyramid. It has become a staple of the education sector. It examines how learners retain knowledge after interaction with different types of media.Read More

Image of two young people playing an online game

What Game Are They Playing?

If you surveyed our household today, you’d find that alongside watching short-form video content, games play an important part in my two boys’ education. There is nothing different from any other 21st-century household there!Read More

Resources To Help Educators Talk About What Happened at the U.S. Capitol

The events at Capitol Hill were shocking. And as an educator, whether you live in the United States or not, there is so much that should be discussed with those you teach.Read More

Video Content in 2020

It is the end of a long year, what better way to end than to do my usual and have a quick round-up of how video content has been growing as a consumer favourite in 2020.

Whilst international physical boundaries have been closed due to the Covid crisis, digital traffic has increased hugely. From our perspective as a business who produces short-form educational video targeting post-millennials and millennials, we have seen pretty explosive growth this year as brands, publishers and non-profits all turn to short-form animated and live-action video to educate their audiences.

According to Cisco, who this time last year said that in any given second 1 million minutes of video are crossing the internet, at the end of 2020, they say that 75% of all internet traffic is video content, and this will rise to 82% by 2022.

Publicis and Verizon in a joint study have discovered that a lot of video content is consumed on the go or at work and as a result of this, 92% of those in their study watch video with the sound off. So captions are becoming a must!

More than 2 billion people use Youtube – that’s one-third of all internet users with around 5 billion videos watched on Youtube every day, and Youtubers are uploading 500 hours of video every minute. According to Social Media Today, 82% of Twitter users mainly use the platform to watch videos. These are mostly mobile users as well since roughly 90% of all video views on Twitter happen via mobile phones.

We already know that most view video content via mobiles courtesy of eMarketer’s study in 2018, so this has only grown since then. We are nearing the point where everyone who possibly can in terms of device ownership, will view short-form video content on a daily basis, wherever they are, anywhere in the world. What’s interesting to learn from Brand Gym is that when consumers are viewing adverts on a mobile device, 75% skip the advertising in an average of 5.5 seconds (ie: as soon as they can!), so if advertising-supported video content is your strategy, then it’s completely the wrong one and something needs to change.

On the educational front, video-assisted learning has become more and more popular. Classrooms are awash with high-tech digital displays and now that schools are connected to the internet worldwide, video has become an important part of everyday learning – this has of course extended into the home this year. The Covid pandemic has created the perfect environment for distance learning which has increased spectacularly with universities having to create high-quality distance learning modules with high production values for their video content. Animated videos enrich subjects and help pupils and students understand complex subjects simply and easily in a format with which they identify.

The US government have recognised this and are awarding grants to those who produce educational video content. PBS Education an off-shoot of the network PBS has secured a $24M federal grant this year. They’ve seen the opportunity that presents itself and are going to spend it on creating high educational value, curriculum-linked video assets and they’ve employed early-learning and children’s education experts and media producers to realise this project.

Those targeting post-millennials are getting it right. I have often mentioned Blippi and how he’s grown to become a multi-million dollar brand in his own right through simply producing quality educational videos and posting them on Youtube. Last year he’d made about $12M. This year, judging by the merchandise in our house he’ll be making a lot more.

In the past week, Ryan Kaja became the highest-earning Youtuber earning $29.5M from his Youtube child influencer shows and a further $200M from his branded toys and Marks and Spencer pyjamas. Nickelodeon have now signed him for a series so next year that will only increase.

Without a doubt this year has been a big turning point for video content. It was always on the cards that short-form educational video was going to become the learning medium for learning anything. But the fact that the entire population of the planet was forced online this year, whether they liked it or not, has made this happen now. Not next year or the year after. Today. Those who choose to ignore this will simply be left behind.

Illustration that shows a list of the UN's SDG global goals, including a 2030 stamp

Makematic Case Study: Developing Global Mindedness With The SDGs

About

Mount Litera School International is a coeducational day school in Mumbai, India. They have a mission to develop their students into independent thinkers who are active participants in a global society.

Challenge

In 2020, to develop global mindedness in grades 1 – 5 PYP students learned about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As part of their learning, they were asked to choose one goal to investigate and to create action around that goal.

This initiative was been rolled out in all PYP classes. PYP teacher Chandrani Banerjeehas spearheaded this programme with educators at her school. Teachers in the PYP programme participated in an online professional development session with staff at Makematic where they were introduced to the resources on their app around the Sustainable Development Goals. Students participated in a workshop with Makematic staff online, used inquiry-based approaches to learn about the goals, created partnerships with other schools, and used Flipgrid to share their actions at a school event.

One of the biggest challenges was building the confidence of educators at all levels to use the sustainable development goals in their teaching. The teachers overcame this problem by asking educators to start with goals that they understood and were ‘easy’ for their students to understand and build on from there.

Impact

The teachers and students at Mount Litera School International now have a greater understanding of the goals and a blueprint of where they can take their learning moving forward. Their aim is to reach as many people as possible and to inspire others to action. In 2021 and beyond they’ll continue to teach others about the SDGs, enter competitions and participate in further challenges and projects to make this world a better place.

Conclusion

Teaching young people about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals may seem like a daunting task. Impossible even. The best approach is to start with the goals that you are comfortable with or you believe your students will enjoy and learn with them. The goals affect everyone and at some level, anyone can talk about them. Keeping the focus local before making it global can also really ensure that the goals have real meaning for the students.

Check out Rayyan’s video on climate action below. If you aren’t inspired to take action to save the planet after watching this, then there is no hope for the world.

What are you doing to save the climate?

If you’re after resources to use in your classroom to help your students learn and take action around the SDGs, click here.

A fun way for educators and parents to learn about the SDGs with their students or children is the #17DaysToLearn Challenge. A self-directed challenge whereby young people learn about and take action around each of the 17 goals. Read about how Kings Hospital School in Dublin used the #17DaysToLearn challenge here.

Check out these blogs on the SDGs…

Engaging Youth in The Sustainable Development Goals

Emotional Intelligence and the SDGs

Animated drawing of wifi symbol, books and laptop to show different methods of teaching

The Acceleration Of Online Teaching And Learning

The whole notion of online teaching and professional development is not an old one. In fact, I was surprised to learn that its history begins way back in 1981 when the Western Behavioural Sciences Inst in La Jolla, CA, started running distance education for business executives via computer conferencing. Since then, many multinational businesses have grown within the space and traditional businesses have metamorphosised through a move to online learning.

Kids are turning up aged 5 at school now with a digital-savvy to rival the best. Teachers have access to whiteboards, laptops, internet connections, online resources from publishers, brands, non-profits, digital content, VLEs and it all works swimmingly. Right? Well judging by what I have seen of my son’s first one year and one month of primary school, there’s still room for improvement.

When faced with a complete lockdown and need to provide proper online teaching, the local education system, appeared to creak at the seams. Maybe it is because it doesn’t seem as though there has been a concerted effort to couple the introduction of new technology in schools, with the introduction of blended learning methodology in teacher training. This would overall raise the bar in state education and without this approach, digital learning and digital content become ancillary to the ‘analogue’ classroom experience.

My first interaction with online digital learning was around 15 years ago in the professional space when a member of my team excitedly showed me Lynda.com, now of course Linked In Learning. Lynda was the gateway to the world of online learning for me – many of the experiments and projects we were attempting to do at that time as an early digital publishing team, were beyond our combined knowledge and capability, and being on tight budgets invariably we would learn software packages or web design techniques via the easy-to-use searchable interface that Lynda provided. I didn’t look back.

Since then, there has been a massive increase in the amount of both office and classroom hardware and software being produced and sold all around the world along with all manner of different attendant courses on how to make everything work.

In the classroom, the ubiquitous classroom whiteboard is supplemented with voting pads, laptops, iPads, and a whole host of other technology hardware and software products and services. As this has grown, the amount of video content has grown targeting teachers and giving them tips on how to use it.

This year the COVID crisis has highlighted both the need for increased interaction with online resources in any form of education for both teachers and learners. Our own recently launched TOM – Teaching Online Masterclass is a free online professional development resource for teachers making the leap into remote teaching and learning. Teachers, who hold a crucial role within the education eco-system, are being rapidly upskilled in the methodology of teaching both in the classroom and online using a blend of different learning experiences. This is key to creating the community they create in the classroom, in the online space – a definite challenge. If they don’t, they risk being left out in the rain. Their pupils will become alienated and the process will become soggy and tired.

We have learned from my son’s school that at the flick of a switch, his year one teacher can take the classroom experience and re-create it online with individual 1:1 teacher Zoom time factored in for each and every child online too. We now have a timetable for home-learning should the school be closed, and if it’s needed will give him 1:1 teacher Zoom time every two days – something which in its own right is no mean feat.

Teaching and learning are going through an enforced change right now. With little or no notice, thousands of schools up and down the country are having to adapt and change to home-schooling supported by the teacher online. Whilst the last lockdown was pretty much a write-off educationally from the perspective of every fellow parent that I’ve spoken to, there seems to have been a huge technology uptick in our local school since. Systems have been geared up to make sure that everything can be run as if it were in the school, and a questionnaire sent before the term even started has made sure that every child has access to the technology needed in a home-schooling environment, if just via a smartphone.

We are hoping that school stays open, but if not, then this time round, teachers and their pupils have better support. Let us hope it will be a more fun and educational time.

Animation of children in the classroom with devices

EdTech News – September

For many of us, September means the start of the new school year. This year, there’s a lot of uncertainty and changes to the usual set-up. Some students aren’t going back at all, some will have a hybrid model and others will sit in a classroom that looks and feels very different from before. Over these last six months, a lot has been written about the effect of COVID on Education and a lot more research will need to be done to assess the full effects. However, we do already know that some changes will be here to stay. Some people even say that the new desk set-up in the primary school classrooms, with all pupils facing the same direction towards the teacher, will increase attainment.

This article gives you some more insight into what the future of the classroom may look like. Hologram teachers are only just the start.

Two contrasting scenarios are offered here about EdTech and content consumption. First of all, a report by Credit Suisse, which claims that education is having its own Netflix moment. Secondly, how EdTech companies in South East Asia are partnering up with Telecoms providers.

This article explains that where internet access is scarce, students, teachers and parents are turning to ‘old-fashioned’ television for their lessons. It is lacking the interactive element, but in countries like Brazil, this has become the dominant model over the last couple of months. It certainly is better than nothing and it looks like some countries are going to invest more in their televised educational system.

At Makematic we continue the roll-out of Untold History stories during September, and this article offers some food for thought around history textbooks and the way that history is taught.

What do you think, are we teaching our children enough critical thinking skills?

Illustration of earth surrounded by different people with different occupations

EdTech News – August

August is for many students, educators and parents ‘Back to school’ month, but for many this year that isn’t the case because of Covid-19. I found some interesting articles on both sides of the debate on whether schools should re-open or not.

One teacher from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US makes the case against re-opening schools. The author believes that a physical classroom operating under the new social distance guidelines will be “less effective and less traumatic than the inadequate and painful remote learning experience”.

Of course, the rules, regulations and circumstances for countries let alone individuals vary a lot. The Economist argues that the benefits of actually reopening schools far outweigh the costs and that countries who didn’t reopen their schools a few months ago should look at those that did.

Finally, a report from Credit Suisse on how the adoption and usage of EdTech has swelled during the Covid-19 crisis, fast-tracking the digitalisation of education by 5-10 years.

This crisis has changed so many things and the way adults and children learn is just one of them.

Educator Insights Blog Series

There isn’t enough known about best practice is the blended learning space at K-12. In fact, most of the research and best practice information out there is in higher education, with a sprinkling in secondary.

We want to change that!

That’s why Makematic is looking for new educators to contribute to our blog. We’re looking for K-12 educators to share their insights on:

Teaching in the online world
Strategies to help educators build activities and engage learners in blended environments
Strategies and activities on how to use video and web-conferencing tools

I’d Like To Contribute What Do I Need To Do?

Email [email protected] with the subject line “Educator Insights Blog” to pitch us your idea!

This needs only to be a couple of sentences summarising what you’d like to write about. If you’re feeling really inspired why not give it a title too!

STEM Resources For Parents And Teachers

According to PEW research, employment in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) occupations has grown 79% since 1990, from 9.7 million to 17.3 million, outpacing overall U.S. job growth. Despite this, there is a serious skills gap which is costing economies, like the UK, £1.5 billion a year.

Research has shown that children from an early age often gender stereotype and make negative assumptions about jobs, especially those relating to STEM careers. It has also found that they make future career choices based on the influence of parents, friends of parents, teachers, the TV, and the media.

Getting children talking about STEM and STEM careers from a young age is a place to start. So too is providing children opportunities to do engaging and dynamic STEM activities, at home and in the classroom.

Here are three resources that you can use inside and outside the classroom to engage young people in STEM.

Crayola Create To Learn Family Projects and CreatED

Create To Learn Family Packs

38 fun and creative ‘at home’ activities to enhance key literacy, numeracy and STEM skills aimed at ages 3 – 12.

Art-Infused Education

20 project starters and explainer videos for educators to help them bring creativity into every classroom.

Kano Creative Coding In Every Classroom

34 live-action videos to help teachers and young people crack the art of creative coding.

Makerversity

13 presenter-led videos for educators that demystify the process of 3D printing in the classroom and some hands-on activities to try out in class.

Teaching Key 21st Century Skills In Every Classroom

Research by The Sutton Trust found that 94% of employers, 97% of teachers and 88% of young people regarded ‘life skills’ as being at least as important as academic grades to future success. These life skills include what we commonly refer to as the 4Cs – communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity.

Developing these key 21st-century skills is an ongoing process and mastery takes many years to achieve. Research has shown that two things can really help these skills – explicit teaching of these skills and extra-curricular activities. Whilst we can’t help with extra-curricular, we can help educators develop these skills to be explicitly teaching them in the classes.

That is why we worked with Participate to develop the series – The 4Cs. Part professional development part classroom resource, the series will help educators:

Understand how to teach these skills in their classes on a daily basis,
Understand how these skills are used in the workplace
Better prepare lessons to develop these skills with those they teach.

What’s Included?

Educator Professional Development

Series 1 – What are the 4Cs?

8 live-action videos with educators explaining what the 4Cs are and how to teach them in every classroom.

4 educator podcasts case studies where educators talk about how they have implemented the 4Cs into their everyday teaching practice.

Series 2 – In the workplace

4 live-action videos with people talking about what the 4Cs look like in the workplace.

Student Facing Resources

Series 3 and 4 can be used in so many ways. They can be used as whole class activities or as part of a blended or flipped learning experience. Whilst series 3 and 4 have been created as standalone resources, they can be used as a sequence.

Here’s an example:

You’ve decided that you want to develop your student’s creative thinking skills by introducing them to lateral thinking

You can engage your students with the skill by watching How To Be More Creative With Lateral Thinking from series 3. Following watching and discussing the contents of the video, as a class or on their own, students could develop this skill by completing any of the following activities from series 4:

Series 3 – How can …?

12 animated explainer videos that give the audience an understanding of how and why each of the skills can be developed by focusing on different sub-skills of each of the Cs.

Communication and Collaboration	Critical Thinking and Creativity
Giving and Receiving Feedback Understanding Body Language Social Skills Listening Skills Creating clear messages Email etiquette	Multiple Perspectives Being Opening minded Analysing arguments Ideation Divergent Thinking Lateral Thinking

Series 4 – Activities

12 animations designed for individuals to develop skills on their own. These can be used in a classroom as a whole class, as part of a blended or flipped classroom methodology.

Communication and Collaboration	Critical Thinking and Creativity
Improving concentration Mic expressions Are you a good listener? Funnelling questings technique Relaxation for public speaking The subject line pitch	Questioning basic assumptions Rebus puzzles Recognising patterns Brainstorming on your own The alternative uses test The elevator problem

Access the entire series here.