Category Archives: Techie stuff

Making GIFs in Microsoft PowerPoint

A quick little post about something I did for the #teachingwithsurface competition NZ was running – a ridiculous simple was to use Microsoft PowerPoint to make customisable GIFS for revision or for using in presentations to get key ideas across quickly. For some key ideas, a GIF is a really efficient way to get theContinue reading “Making GIFs in Microsoft PowerPoint”

Reflections from the PPTA ICT committee meeting November

Edit – since I first published this blog, the friendly folk at NZQA got in touch with some answers and responses to my ponderings below. I’ve put their responses in italics and separated it out from the general round robin info.  At the end of last term I attended the PPTA ICT committee meeting inContinue reading “Reflections from the PPTA ICT committee meeting November”

Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting April 2018

There was a pretty full on agenda for the April meeting of the PPTA ICT committee, and I got myself wonderfully wound up over several points. Much discussion was had of hard issues, and of course, hard issues have no easy answers and there is not always a clear pathway to follow. So if youContinue reading “Reflections from the PPTA ICT meeting April 2018”

Powerpoint recording – the little tab that can

When I first heard that one of my most favouritist tools Office Mix (an add in for Microsoft Powerpoint) was not going to be available from mid 2018, I had a proper tanty. I LOVE mix, use it all the time, for handy little feedback videos, for relief lessons when I am away, for examContinue reading “Powerpoint recording – the little tab that can”

Digital technologies, digital fluency, the New Zealand Curriculum and maybe even some fun….

The New Zealand curriculum got an update of sorts recently with the introduction of a new digital technologies strand. As a teacher interested in using digital technologies to enhance learning, I was really quite excited to see what it would look like, and how it might be integrated into the curriculum. The NZC digital technologiesContinue reading “Digital technologies, digital fluency, the New Zealand Curriculum and maybe even some fun….”

Move over classroom, Teams is coming to town

I have really enjoyed Microsoft classroom, and school had been enjoying a high rate of uptake from staff and students. Despite a few teething problems that any new system will have, the roll out school wide as a learning management system had been successful. Some departments or individuals decided that OneDrive suited their needs orContinue reading “Move over classroom, Teams is coming to town”

New Onenote Addins (stickers, forms and immersive reader) are making me smile

I am already a big fan of Microsoft OneNote. My school uses OneNote with most of our classes, and our Science department in particular has shared Onenote resources stored on our share point site. We are using Microsoft Classroom, which makes the classnotebook really easy (as long as you go to the manage tab inContinue reading “New Onenote Addins (stickers, forms and immersive reader) are making me smile”

Saving time with collaborative planning on Sharepoint and Onenote

(I need to acknowledge the significant amounts of work done by the Science department of my school in getting this set up, especially Kevin for his work on Sharepoint and Ryan for his work with OneNote and the unit plans, and EVERYONE for being willing to go along with this and make it AWESOME) AtContinue reading “Saving time with collaborative planning on Sharepoint and Onenote”

Sharepoint update – interactive unit plans

This year the Science department took a leap of faith and started using Sharepoint to store thier files and organise things. Along with Technology, Science really are leading the school in their use of Sharepoint to manage workflows, store data and organise bookings. It has been a real collaborative effort, but Kevin and Ryan hasContinue reading “Sharepoint update – interactive unit plans”