Here’s a great challenge for all QMC students (Year 1-13)
Click here for more info!
In response to a recent question from a parent, here is a reminder of why we made the decision in 2011 to require Year 6 – Year 13 students to bring laptops rather than tablets to school.
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has become an increasingly common requirement for New Zealand school students as teachers and students seek to explore the breadth and depth of learning opportunities provided by digital devices. While some schools are listing basic tablet devices such as Chromebooks or iPads as required student stationary, at Queen Margaret College we have (since 2011) had a compulsory BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) programme, in which we require students from Year 6 to Year 13 to have a laptop with its own full operating system.
The reason for this are that in our view tablets are passive devices with which the user is confined to ‘consuming’ digital media on the internet via web apps. In the case of Chromebooks, it is not possible to install any software on them at all as they are simply a web browser. Contrast that with a laptop with a full operating system and on-board software, which offers far greater scope for learning, particularly in the S.T.E.A.M. subjects. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths).
As we approach the 2017 school year it is more apparent than ever that the decision made in 2011 was the correct one, as our BYOL programme provides for our girls a number of rich digital learning opportunities that would not be available to students who brought a Chromebook, iPad, or similar tablet to school. For example, with their laptop, our students will:
Below are example of students and their various S.T.E.A.M subject projects undertaken using their laptop.
In addition, here is a nice video summary of why it is imperative that students should be exposed to computer science and programming at school:
In short, at Queen Margaret College we want our students to be creators of technology, rather than just consumers of it. That it, it is vital that our girls experience the huge range of learning and creative opportunities rendered possible by their laptop, rather than being constrained what is available to them via the internet. Most of the above digital learning takes place from Year 6 to Year 10, with students specialising and refining their use of technology in their chosen Senior School subjects. With our BYOL programme starting in Year 6, our girls can gain confidence and attain competence early in their education, providing the groundwork on which they can explore its enormous creative potential later as they get older.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding our BYOL programme.
Richard Knuckey
HoD eLearning
Well done everyone on another fantastic year at QMC! I’ve enjoyed working with you all throughout the year and I’ve especially enjoyed teaching so many of you in my middle school classes. However we aren’t quite done yet as there are a few things you need to do to tidy up your year’s work on your laptop and and make sure you are set for next year.
Note: If you have any problem carrying out these instructions, Mr Knuckey and the ICT office are available all day up until the 9th of December, and again from the middle of January 2017.
1. If you haven’t done so already, install OneDrive on your laptop
From 2017 all students will be expected to have OneDrive installed on their laptops. This means that all of your school files will be backed up automatically to the cloud and cannot be lost in the case of your laptop being stolen or damaged, or if the hard drive fails.
For Windows users OneDrive comes as part of your free Microsoft Office installation (part of your 365 account). For Macs it is available via the App Store. When you have installed it, you log in by selecting the Work or School account option … 
… then by entering your school email address and password.
2. Once OneDrive is installed, locate it by typing in OneDrive in the search box and drag it to the Favourites list on your Finder or Windows Explorer.
3. Go into your New OneDrive folder and create a folder called 2016. Copy and paste all of your 2016 work into this. Give it plenty of time to copy over and upload to the cloud (after all, you’ve all done plenty of work right?).
4. In your OneDrive folder, create another folder called 2017 and drag this over to your Favourites bar. (below). In this folder you create your subject folders for 2017.
Your cloud back-up is now all set for next year!
Note that your teachers will archive your Class OneNote books for the year. Your copy however will stay on your laptop as long as you like. If you wish, you can save each class Notebook as a .PDF (File Menu > Save as PDF)
A couple of posts back Audrey Kung from Mrs Robinson’s Year 3 class gave a us a great example of our Microsoft SWAY can be used as an easy and engaging way to present student learning. Here is another great SWAY from Audrey!
(click the image to open the SWAY)
Dear QMC Parents and Students
2014 has started with another successful term for e-Learning at Queen Margaret College. Our main achievement this year has been a successful transition from our previous 1:1 Student Laptop Programme (Years 6-10, using designated laptops) to a compulsory Year 6-13 BYO laptop of the students’ choice. This has meant a shift in the locus of responsibility toward the student, in terms of how they both manage and use the technology to facilitate their learning. The change can be seen as a logical step towards empowering students to take ownership of the ‘what’ and ‘how’ aspects of technology usage in the classroom. Judging by feedback that I have had from parents and students, this shift in responsibility and choice has been very well recieved.
While our ICT Centre staff have done an excellent job in connecting a range of different student laptops to our network, there are of course occasional issues that crop up which can cause technical problems. The key things to note are as follows:
There are number of new and exciting e-Learning opportunities in store for students in Term 2. Listed below are a few:
Roboclub
RoboCup Junior New Zealand is a national robotics competition for school children that is run annually. RCJNZ is a unique event that excites and motivates students to pit their design and creative skills to build Lego NXT robots to meet a specific challenge. 
It is a teams event and Tessa Frazer (Year 8) will lead QMC’s entry for the Theatre Challenge. This requires the robots to move (dance) in a defined stage area to a sound track for 60-120 minutes. Props and costumes are encouraged.
If anyone else is interested in taking part in this exciting event please see me. No experience with robotics necessary; all you need is enthusiasm, a little creativity and willingness to be a good team player!
Laser cutter
Term 2 also sees the Technology Department team up with Wellington Makerspace and take lease of a brand new laser cutter (as pictured). Laser cutting (along with 3D printing) is a very exciting new technology which allows students to design and create all manner of projects using hard (plywood, timber, acrylic) or soft (vinyl, fabric) materials. More details of the machine are here.
The initial use for the laser cutter will be in Year 8 Electronics class in which students will design their project using CAD (Computer Aided Design) software on their own laptops, send it to the laser cutter which will then cut it out very accurately (within 0.25mm). The laser cutter will also have applications in other Technology classes including soft materials (for fabric/vinyl cutting) as well as in Business Enterprise. This is a very exciting piece of state-of-the-art technology and we look forward to seeing what our students can produce with it.
Junior school
The school has also invested in some new technology for the Junior School; specifically a suite of Asus T100 tablet devices (pictured) and iPads. These will come into use at the start of Term 2, and will enable the Year 2-5 students and teachers to explore the huge range of educational apps, online spaces and hardware tools that are available across these devices. An advantage in having two devices available means that students and 
teachers will become adept using both platforms, as well developing a key skill with ICT usage: selecting the technology that best fits the task at hand.
iPads are well known for their ease of use and the multitudes of educational apps available to them, and the Asus T100s have all the benefits of fully interactive, touch screen tablet as well as having a keyboard and Office 2013 so that students can gain valuable experience using production software such as Word and Powerpoint. Stay tuned … future posts will include plenty of work produced by the Junior School students on their new devices!
ICAS Reminders
Finally, as outlined in a previous post, the ICAS computer skills exam is to be held on May 20, and all Year 7, 9, and 10 students have been entered. In line with QMC’s commitment to 1:1 student laptops and furthering educational achievement through e-Learning, the purpose of the exam is:
(i) for students to have a chance to showcase their computer skills with the possibility of gaining a Distinction or High Distinction award.
(ii) for the school to identify the computer skills that need to be targeted across the curriculum. This will ensure that students can use their laptops to maximise their achievement through Middle and Senior school.
All Year 7, 9 and 10 students have the last three years worth of ICAS Computer Skills exam papers on their OneNote e-folios, and these students are strongly encouraged to work through these as preparation for the exam. I will be going through these papers with the students prior to the exam to identify and address the challenging questions. Any students from Year 4-11 may enter the ICAS computer skills exam. Please contact our Head of Middle School, Mrs Rena Day (rena.day@qmc.school.nz) if you wish to discuss any aspect of the ICAS exams.
That’s all for this post. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the above.
Richard Knuckey
HoD eLearning and Technology
In a previous post I drew attention to the Microsoft Student Advantage announcement which has resulted in all Queen Margaret students being eligible to download a free desktop version of Microsoft Office 2013. The provision of a seamless integration between cloud based services and desktop software has further enabled QMC teachers and students to connect, collaborate and extend conventional teaching and learning practices beyond the walls of a conventional classroom. This post will share two success stories that have come about through harnessing the power of cloud computing.
One example is the use of OneNote which is now hosted via mag.net, our Office365 Sharepoint 2013 based Learning Management System. OneNote is sometimes described as ‘the hidden jewel’ in the Microsoft Office Suite and for those unfamiliar with the programme, it can best be described as an electronic version of the traditional ring-binder, replete with the coloured tabs/dividers along the top and pages which can be filed hierarchically behind each tab. All students from Years 6-10 are set up with a OneNote file at the start of the year, each with a separate tab (section) for each subject. In some cases, those subject sections are preloaded with course material such as course information and learning materials such as documents, pictures, quizzes and links to external media. Those teachers who wanted to utilise the e-folio system go onto mag.net, and into the class that they are teaching, then open each student’s individual OneNote file. Thus, an instant ‘virtual desk’ is established and shared between student and teacher, each with edit access.
Mary Wood, Year 9 Dean and teacher of Humanities and Technology is in her third year of using OneNote as a paperless e-folio for her students, replacing what were conventional exercise books. For Mrs Wood, the advantages of using OneNote are clear
Mary Wood, Year 9 Dean and teacher of Humanities and Technology is in her third year of having her students use OneNote paperless e-folios, replacing what used to be conventional exercise books. Left is an example of a Year 9 student’s page in her e-folio. For Mrs Wood, the advantages of using OneNote are clear:
“OneNote is excellent for formative assessment whereby all girls’ work can be checked both in and out of class time and learning materials tweaked according to the general needs of the class. Task differentiation for a small group, or individuals, who may need extra scaffolding of tasks or extension of work is often an option as well.”
“OneNote is also good for checking patterns of homework completion as it’s very easy to see when girls last edited a task. Communication can be maintained with students out of class, such as in the evenings when the students have needed additional input; it can function like a 1:1 discussion blog.”
“OneNote means that I can mark work without taking the books home, while any work done on paper, such as design sketches in Technology, can be scanned into OneNote via the school’s photocopiers for safe keeping and marking. Finally, because I have all students working ‘live’ on my computer, I can model good examples on the data projector via my laptop…. like an exemplar in progress!”
The benefits of using OneNote in education was also something I spoke about at the U-Learn Conference late in 2012. A brief interview in which these benefits are outlined can be viewed here:
Multipurpose efolios from EDtalks on Vimeo.
Another example of how the cloud can be used to provide a live portal for sharing and collaboration between staff and students is through the use of OneDrive (formally called Skydrive Pro). Every staff and student at QMC has 25 gigabytes of OneDrive space, with which they can store and share files. Importantly, OneDrive provides Office365 webapps for Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote files, meaning editing of these files can take place in the browser without the need for opening locally.
OneDrive is particularly valuable for QMC students who are compiling large folios of work such as the Senior School Digital Technology students. These students create a folder in their OneDrive called (eg.) ‘Conceptual Design Project’, and shares this with their teacher (which only requires a couple of mouse clicks). She then creates or uploads all subsequent files for the project to that folder. The teacher has access to everything within that shared folder, allowing her to view progress, add feedback/suggestions, and add additional files such as exemplars and checklists specific to the individual student’s needs. As is the case with OneNote, OneDrive is cloud based, meaning that all this can take place at anytime. This is invaluable for when a student is sick and unable to attend school or when projects run into school holiday time. It is similar to Google Docs; however a distinct advantage is that the Office365 webapps are completely compatible with documents created locally using Office 2013.
There are other cloud based collaborative tools available to QMC teachers and student beyond those offered by Office365. Weebly sites, Prezi, and Wikispaces are but a few examples of these and I will dedicate a later post oo how they are being used to add value to our teaching and learning practices.
As always, if you or your daughter have any questions regarding any of the above, or anything relating to e-Learning at QMC in general, please do not hesitate to contact me on the email address below.
Richard Knuckey
HoD e-Learning and Technology
e: richard.knuckey@qmc.school.nz
e-Learning Stories from QMC 