Tomaž Kušar, Osnovna šola Mokronog

The first sentence of each software-manual usually starts by printing a »Hello, world«. If we continue with the programming step by step, as dictated by the manual, we get acquainted with the basics. Applications, through which we learn the basics of programming, may on one hand, be of interest to someone, but also extremely boring for another. But programming can become interesting for everyone.

Students who are talented in technical field are not neccessarily impressed by programming. Usually they like using modern high-tech electronic devices such as their mobile phones or tablet computers. Moreover, they also like to research all the applications and learn about all the benefits that such devices offer.

This paper presents a simple example project from electronics through which a beginner can finally learn the basics of programming while at the same time create an interesting and useful device or application using a microcontroller and a phone. In continuation some forms of learning of programming in simple and freely-available software environments are presented. We conclude with pupils’ response on this way of teaching programming.

Bernarda Hvala, Vrtec Ledina Ljubljana, Dejan Čegovnik, MOJ TV d.o.o

The article will show you how camera as a learning tool is used in kindergarten. The purpose of using video camera was to record the activities of children and how they are reacting and responding. The recordings gave us a chance of multiple reaction monitoring of individual children. In this way we got better insight of each individual in a group and learn about their strong and weak areas. Several times we showed the footages we took to the children and at the same time we filmed their reactions. Children were very interested in footages and while they were watching the tape they commented on it and communicated with each other. Children tried to identified who was on the tape, what he was doing, who was missing that day, etc. By analizing reactions of the children on tape we noticed that they were more intensely involved than in normal activities and they were using vocabulary that we never noticed before.Using the camera to work with the youngest showed us that it is very helpful for the evaluation of activities, for joint reflection with children and also when we are working with parents. The benefits of team work were also shown. Coauthor was of great support because with his advices and support we made better videos. In the future we would like to give children of age 1–3 a chance to handle with a camera so they could record activities in a group. If they will be able to cope with such challanges you will find out at Sirikt 2015.

Lea Senica, Osnovna šola Dobje

Mahara is software that enables us to create an e-portfolio, blog, curriculum vitae, and represents a social network. It provides users with tools to create a development environment for personal and professional education. It is a domain of older pupils, but with the proper management of pupils already possible in fifth grade. In activities that I represent, I joined three projects of the National Institute of Education: the pilot project the EUfolio (Mahara), the project Induction of e-content development services by using tablet computers and Reading literacy project. The reason for choosing these activities was pupils’ weak reading technique. I wanted to improve it with the help of two tools: Mahara as a web application, which was used for planning the activities, observing their progress and critical friendship; and tablet computers, that were used for recording their reading and for planning the activities in Mahara, wherever and whenever. Since the activities were well planned and Mahara supported formative assessment, the results were positive. Pupils’ notes were more moderate (these are fifth graders) as they would be in the case of older students, but nevertheless they have learned to work with Mahara, write down goals that they want to achieve, think about their progress and critically comment with classmates. They have acquired competences that will serve them in their personal and professional education.

Brigita Klemen, Pedagoška fakulteta Ljubljana, magistrska študentka, Alenka Žerovnik, Pedagoška fakulteta Ljubljana, asistentka

Modern pedagogical approaches enable the use of various forms of learning and teaching. Teachers want to link learning to real life with problems and assignments formed in a way that students get the necessary knowledge and skills for life. In trying to do that teachers often face difficulties finding and using suitable tools.Our goal is to connect two different groups of students and increase knowledge transfer between them. One part of the teaching process takes place in the classroom and the other outside, in nature. The intention of the classroom activities is interation of the students from different groups. Activities take place in the form of different social games, adapted to the age and needs of the children. When the social interaction between students strengthens the teacher introduces field learning with the help of tablet computers. They serve as an effective tool, enabling students to follow an interactive map of the route and look for specific signs in the nature. When they reach marked points they answer pre-prepared questions. Because the questions are answered via Internet the teacher can follow their responses in real time and provide immediate feedback. Learning is therefore more effective and students are motivated for further research due to constant incentive and tips. Besides covering the required learning material from different parts of the curriculum, we also strengthen social interaction between the two groups.

mag. Janja Jakončič, Gimnazija Poljane, Ljubljana, Tanja Ahčin, Gimnazija Franceta Prešerna, Kranj

In our article we present a case of using an ICT tool for evaluating student knowledge as an aid in preparing the students for the final exam. Part of the preparation for the final exam is answering publicly accessible exams from the previous years, with which we can test the students’ readiness for the final exam. Students are not yet sufficiently aware of the importance of pre-exam testing and feedback. Therefore teaching the students the ability of self-evaluation is a tough job, requiring expert knowledge and time from the teacher. Achieving students’ autonomy in answering tests, ensuring suitable and individually adapted content, encouraging the use of ICT in learning and looking for possibilities of use of new teaching and learning methods are all very important tasks. With that in mind we checked if we can make the process of pre-exam evaluation easier with the use of a suitable ICT tool, especially in regard to individual’s result analysis, identifying subjects with worst results, use of these data in class, encouraging cooperation between students and teacher and healthy competitiveness among students. We have categorized the tasks from old exams, integrated them in the chosen information system, connected the students and automated part of the teacher’s work. We found that we can improve the preparation for final exam, encourage remote learning, implement flipped learning, as well as use gamification for higher student motivation.

mag. Irena Gole, Osnvna šola Bršljin, Novo mesto

E-learning and learning with e-textbooks represent a »window to the world« for students because they can quickly access rich sources of knowledge. Teaching one-on-one with the tablet demands flexibility and ability to overcome the traditional teaching by using modern technology. The teacher must, therefore, know their students and the advantages of this kind of learning and teaching very well as well as its challenges, which he/she must be aware of while using the tablet in the classroom. The tablets are interesting for teachers and students. They help the teacher bringing more creativity and inquiry-based learning into teaching. The students can monitor their learning, adjust it according to their own abilities and make their learning process more interesting. Using the tablet in the classroom has its advantages (the information is easily accessible), but there are also disadvantages (the teacher only leads the activities and offers support, and has no control over the activities of the students), so modern technology must be introduced with consideration. Using the tablet helps in easier adoption of learning contents, but we need to realize that this is only support and cannot substitute actual activities.

Dagmar Logar, Prva gimnazija Maribor

The key task of the IT teacher is to guide the students towards active and creative problem learning, and prepare them for the competences of the 21^st century. The flipped learning method is very convenient to encourage a dynamic and interactive learning environment. Participation in the e-Šolska torba project allowed us to implement the method, as students have tablets which provide the same conditions for learning at home and at school. The method was tested for introducing graphic design in Sketchbook Express, a free application that is available for iOS and Android.

Students had been required to install the application before the lesson and to examine the video guides, published in the e-learning environment. During the lesson, students were first divided into groups and began to solve the tasks on the worksheet provided in the e-learning environment. They helped each other. If they had problems, I helped them with guided questions. If the same problem occurred in several groups, I demonstrated the solution by projecting iPad’s screen image. In the second phase, students independently solved an authentic practical example and uploaded their solutions in the e-learning environment. The results were analyzed and evaluated, and we also demonstrated the process of making the best one. The flipped learning method enables more creativity and autonomy for students, and more time for the teacher to work actively and individually with students.

Elizabeta Žabkar, Osnovna šola 8 talcev Logatec

We decided to perform formative assessment in math class in 8th grade; the topic was ”A circle and a circumference”. While learning about multinominals in school classes, the students’ home work was to repeat what they had learnt about a circle and a circumference. Their task was to explore new facts on the topic under the supervision of the teacher. I introduced e-folio into this project. The students used it for writting down their findings, the goals and the ways to achieve them. The students were encouraged to implemente critical friendship with their classmates. At the end of the project we analysed the self-reviews of the students. The project was driven by our creativity – the students created amazing presentations of their work using Power point or Prezi. They scanned pictures they produced and stored them in e-folio. The students have learnt a great deal yet they had a lot of fun while learning. The creativity, the research and the use of computers highly motivated them. We exceeded the goals and consider the project very successful.

Mojca Dolinar, Zavod RS za šolstvo, Marija Pisk

As a part of work in our elementary education e-development group we’ve payed a lot of attention to different possibilities of evaluation and assessment via quiz in Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). The technological development enables us to assess and evaluate with the help of ICT. As the best option we have chosen the open source freeware program with safe online learning environment. Written form of knowledge assessment was used as a base for making the application Quiz. Advantages and disadvantages were thoroughly analyzed and the recommendations for the composition of a valid test were taken into account. We took different cases of tests and adjusted them for use in the Quiz aplication. Quiz helps teacher with the preparation of an online exam, it can also help determine the time and number of attempts given to students in the virtual online classroom. Supported types of questions are: true-false, marking single and multiple correct answers, short written answers to essay type questions. Feedback depends on the type of question, simple ones are provided automatically, the essay type answers must be checked and graded  manually. Teacher has the option to store data in a collection and to use them in all kind of combinations. Results can be displayed in two different ways, individually or for the whole class together.

Andreja Žavbi Kren, Osnovna šola Toma Brejca Kamnik

Modern society is surrounded by information and communications technology (ICT) and so is learning and teaching in Slovenian schools. Digital competence is developed not only in class but also during other activities carried out by educational institutions. Once passing the theoretical exam and practical cyclist’s licence qualifications, 5^th grade students are faced with real life traffic (Road Traffic Safety Act, 2004). It is recommended students revise the rules of the road and get acquainted with the test route before they can get actively and independently involved in traffic. All this can be done by means of ICT equipment with the 1:1 innovative pedagogy method. A video that had previously been recorded with one of the students was viewed by other students individually in the computing room. The student in the video had not been previously prepared for the cycling, since the aim was for others to see, analyse and substantiate the mistakes made by the student in the video. After establishing and finding the mistakes in the video individually, a common evaluation of the cycling was done and students tried to set forth better solutions to the problems featured in the traffic situations in the video. The approach showed that although the work was carried out individually, cooperative learning helped students grow more independent in their work. The advantages of the described approach to student testing are higher motivation and development of digital competence. Watching the video and analysing it enabled students develop higher taxonomic levels, which contribute to long-term knowledge.