getmorefromj2e

j2e follow up unit (4 weeks)

J2e is an easy to use, “virtual blank piece of paper” on which you can put text, images, shapes, and more to create posters and pages to print out. Also, it can be used to create interactive webpages with videos, sound, animation, hyperlinks, forms to collect data. Any file can be shared: with a friend to collaborate on work, with the school for everyone to see, published on the Internet (with teacher permission) or blogged on the school blog (j2webby) for others to comment on. Users can also upload files onto j2e (any type of file, eg word file) and share, edit, save from any computer.

The aim of this module is to remind pupils of the main skills of using j2e and teach some more advanced skills, so they can use it in school and at home to aid their learning across and beyond the curriculum. It will also introduce them to j2webby, our new school blog.

Creating a page, blogging, sharing, surveying

As it is so easy to use, time/effort should be dedicated to developing a sense of good page design – layout, spacing (there is a grid tool to help) sensible use of colours, fonts (less is better approach) – working towards level 5

There are lots of help videos in j2e which you could watch yourself in preparation for teaching or to show children as a demonstration.

eSafety issues.

Passwords should be secret
Children should be aware that teachers can view their files
It is possible to trace when and where files are created and changed
It is unacceptable to log into someone else’s account or to create anything on j2e that could upset anyone
Blog posts and comments should be informative, useful, worthwhile and always polite.

Examples of j2e projects in the curriculum:

Geography – fact file poster on a place, survey of leisure activities

Teacher – I am going to blog the best 3 pieces of work…

Blog your homework, spellings, termly letters,….

Have fun,                 Ben          July 2011

Learning Objective Lesson 1

Recap of (paper) page making tools

·        To create a page or poster

·        To recap tools (including graphic tool eg masking, shapes, measuring,…)

1.      Briefly remind children of the concept of j2e. J2e is an easy to use website, a “virtual blank piece of paper” on which you can

1.       Create pages with text, images, pictures

2.       Create interactive web pages with videos, sound, animation, hyperlinks,

3.       Collect data using forms

4.       Work on pages with others by sharing

5.       Publish work on the internet

6.       Send a page to the the school blog

7.       Upload any type of file into a personal storage area and share these files

8.       Add comments…

2.    Go over the importance of not sharing your password with anyone (apart from parents). (If you wish to explore this further see appendix for a circle time activity on the importance of password security)

3.    To change your password, click on your username, my settings, change password

4.    BIG NO-NOs: logging into someone else account, putting anything inappropriate on any page (teachers can view your pages) see AUP

5.    Ask children to go to www.j2e.com then “Sign in”, or go to school website www.st-marks.wilts.sch.uk click on j2e portal link, then login button (top left of portal page)

6.    Now give children time to explore the tools in j2e. Stop and share what children have found.

7.    Tick off skills on a record sheet when practised.

8.    You may wish to do step 6/7 in the context of a project eg design an exercise book cover, so they “learn on the job”

9. Your class/year group and their prior experience will determine how many of the tools you are able to explore. You may feel that you need another lesson using these tools or producing a poster/book cover etc.

10. Encourage saving frequently – if the power went off, how much work/time would you lose? (Save every 5 mins à can only lose 5 mins work) – could use AB tutor control as a scare tactic to make the point – freeze all screens…

11. Encourage pupils to go home that evening and show their parents j2e and their work

12. Note that creating a webpage is exactly the same but can be more media rich – ie include moving objects, sound, video etc

ICT Skills

Able Extension

KS2 SEN Ideas

Teacher Preparation

Changing password

Follow a hyperlink on a webpage

Use a range of editing and formatting tools

Children may benefit from two laminated cards with their user name and password on. One can be held by the classroom teacher and given to the pupil when they use j2e at school. One can be given to parents for use with the child at home.

Log on to your teacher account: e.g. school: stmarks; username: bwilliams; password:

Click on your name then “my settings…” and click on the “users” tab, click on class heading and find your class. If there are any problems (ch don’t know usernames, reset password, even add new children) you can quickly put it right on this screen

Highlight your class and “download csv”. This will download an Excel spreadsheet of your class so you can tell them their usernames in advance of the lesson.

Tick list of tools for children to tick when they have used them

Learning Objective Lesson 2

Blogging with J2webby

·     To post a blog

·     To comment on a blog post

Today we are going to make sure we know how to find the school website, j2e portal and the school blog.
Get children to type in www.st-marks.wilts.sch.uk into the address bar in Internet Explorer
Click on j2e portal link on school homepage – this is an area of our website all done on j2e – some by teachers, some by pupils – when they get good at j2e, maybe some of them can make pages of our website!
Explore the j2e portal. What sorts of thing are on there? Can they find...a place to leave a comment?
Click on the yellow star on the portal – this will take them to the school blog “stmarks” or “j2webby”
A blog is a website where people can put news about the school and anyone can read it and leave comments
Click on “News” to read some posts – are there any that they could comment on?
IMPORTANT
only comment if you have something interesting, worthwhile, helpful to say
always be polite
only use your first name (everyone in the world can read your comment)
Each class has their own blog on j2webby. You can write posts for it and your teacher may allow them on the blog if they are good enough…
Click on “apps” and then “j2e”
Sign in with your j2e details.
Now you can open a page that you have saved or create a new page. If you want to blog your page, save it first then click on the “blog it” icon. This will send it to a waiting area for your teacher to look at. If they think it is good enough, they can allow it to appear on the blog.
IDEA FOR TEACHERS – allow children time to finish off work in j2e from previous week – say that you will allow the best 5 pieces of work on the blog.
To moderate posts/comments, go to j2webby (as above), click on “apps” and then “j2webby”. Click on posts/comments and preview – publish any that you are happy with.
Have a think as a class about what sort of thing would be good to post on the blog – who is the audience? (children, parents, prospective parents/children,…)
Encourage them to use the blog, post and comment on posts….

ICT Skills

Able Extension

SEN Ideas

Teacher Preparation
Add comments to a discussion

Use terms: hyperlink, back button, menu, button, home page, blog, posts, comments

Understand responsible use of blogs

Learning Objective Lesson 3

Files, folders and sharing

¾   Sharing j2e pages and files

¾   Pins and stickers

¾   To set up a personal portfolio page and folder

Log in to j2e. Ask children if they have used It at home? What did their parents think of their page/poster?
TemplatesInstead of starting with a blank page in j2e, which can be daunting, it is sometimes good to use a page to start you off. Click on the Open icon and give children time to explore template and showcase files. Are there any that could be useful? Can they think of any templates that aren’t there but could be useful – eg Newspaper report template, certificate….
Open a template or showcase file and save it in own folder.
Sharing j2e filesTemplates and showcase are files that have been shared for everyone to use. You can also share your files with friends or the class so people view or even edit your file if you want them to.
Explain that in j2e it is possible to share your work with others so that you can both edit it, ie work on a project together, even though you are at different computers (in different houses…countries…)!
Show children how to share a file
Open a file you have saved
Click on the sharing icon (double blobby person icon) and click “share with friends”
Type in the username of the person you want to share with (or find them using find user)
Click “invite” and “invite” again
The person should now appear in the list of people that the page is shared with – if they want that person to be able to edit and save the page, select the person and click on “save”
When the person invited goes to “open”, the file should appear in their “shared files” tab
(You can also “allow live collaboration in edit mode” so that children can edit at the same time and see the effects on both computers – it can get a bit confusing though)
Ask children to open a file they have saved and share it with the person next to them (pair up so that everyone gets invited). Then open the file that has been shared with them, make some changes (eg add their name) and save.
Organising your foldersset up folders in the open area – maybe a folder for last year’s work (as in Admin unit), one for IPC,…
Storage area (for non-j2e files)In j2e you have a storage area, where you can store any files, not just j2e pages. The icon is the filing cabinet picture. You can drag any file from your documents into this file
Drag a file, eg from their documents on the network into their storage area. This file can now be accessed from home or school. It can be shared in the same way as j2e files.
Files in your storage area can be shared in the same way as j2e files (right hand click on the file…)
Web pagesExplain that j2e can be good for creating pages/posters to print or it can be used to make websites. On the tools panel to the right, children can choose between “paper” or “web page” and each has size options.
Also, they can choose a page background – this is good for web pages – not so good for paper projects as it uses a lot of ink when printing. If using a dark background for a website, use light font, eg yellow or white so it stands out.
Give children a chance to change page background and experiment with font colours. Which choices are most easy to read? Discuss – perhaps look at each others screens.
ChallengeYou could set them a challenge: to work on a file collaboratively over the next week. Create a file (see teacher prep below) and share with the class. Each child could log in at home or school and add their name to the page and save.
Again, this lesson may work better if done in the context of a piece of work, eg creating a web page for a topic theme.
ICT Skills
Able Extension

More able pupils could set up a Class web page, sharing it with the class for others to add to. – this could be put on the school website when finished and updated with events and news for the class…
SEN Ideas

Set up template files for homework and share with pupils
Teacher Preparation

For no. 11: Create a file called Our class and put your name and an interesting fact about you, perhaps in a box or with a picture. Share the file with your class.

Learning Objective Lesson 4

Make a website!

·     Uses of j2e

·     Forms

1.       Today we are going to make a website. What makes a good website? (range of media – text, pictures, animations – but not too much – get across the idea of less is better – keep it simple) Look at some websites – which are easy to read? Point out plain background, fonts that contrast with background - light on dark/dark on light.

2.       Click on the “new” icon (next to login) and select “web page”. (Alternatively, use page option on the right)

3.       Change the size of the webpage to the maximum in the options on the right.

4.       Show children how to turn on the grid and explain that this will help them to keep their pictures and text lined up and organised when they create their webpage – it looks messy if text and pictures are not lined up and equally spaced.

5.       For practising using the grid tool, you could prepare a “jumbly”/untidy web page and ask children to turn on the grid and arrange the text and pictures in a more organised manner.

6.       Ask children to create a simple web page – title, text, 2 pictures – perhaps about their favourite animal

7.       Remind children that it is not a good idea to put personal details on a webpage that anyone can see. (Webpages in j2e will not be public unless a teacher moderates them)

8.       Save your page. Then click on “view” at bottom left of screen – this takes you to how the website will look. Click “edit” at the top left to exit this view and return to j2e to edit it.

9.       Give children time to refine their website

10.   Save this page eg “Tigers” then make another page called, e.g. “Tiger pictures” and save it

11.   Explain that you are going to make a hyperlink between your two pages. You need a “button” to click on - this can be some text or a picture. On the first page write eg “Tiger pictures”. Select this text, then click on “link” in the tools on the right. Select “Tiger pictures” as the file to link to.

12.   Save and open the second page eg “Tiger pictures”

13.   On the second page, write eg “Back to Tiger page”. Select this text, then click on “link” and select “Tigers” as the page to link to

14.   Save then view to test out the hyperlinks.

15.   Give children time to develop their websites.

16.   Share both pages, either with a partner, or with the whole class

17.   Could discuss planning a class website (a number of linked pages) by using a mindmap/spider diagram where branches are hyperlinks

18.   As a teacher, you could set up a page shared with whole class that children write their name on and lhyperlink their name to their page. (In this way, you could easily skip through children’s pages to assess them without having to open each one in turn)

ICT Skills

Able Extension

SEN Ideas

Teacher Preparation
Add comments to a discussion

Vote using the survey

Include a simple survey – Do you like my website? OR Do you like tigers?

children could create their own learning blog,…

Each child/group could create a webpage that is linked to a common theme.

For no 5 you need to prepare an untidy webpage

Learning Objective Lesson 5

Forms, feedback

¾   Use web forms

1.       Explain that you can use helpful comments on other peoples pages that have been shared with you

2.       Open someone’s file, go to the “pin” icon and show children how to insert a pin or a sticker onto the page.

3.       Type a helpful comment – perhaps a compliment or some constructive criticism.

4.       Point out that your name appears on the sticker. According to our school expectations and Internet Acceptable Use Policy, comments should be kind, polite and helpful.

5.       Give children the chance to put a sticker or pin on someone else’s page (open partner’s page from shared files – everyone should have shared a file last week). When they have left a comment, children open their own file to read comments.

6.       Now ask children to open their webpage from last week.

7.       Explain that you might want to collect information on a web page from people who are visiting it – eg to leave a comment or to find out about them.

8.       Show children how to insert first a “push button” which puts a “send” button on the page, then other entry fields (tick boxes, radio buttons, text areas,…) Demonstrate typing “Name” with a text box next to it, then “What do you think of my webpage?” with a bigger text box next to it. You could also do radio buttons to select a rating eg very good, ok, needs improving, tick box for . (Could show the Y6 yearbook page which I published to collect data for Yearbook)

9.       Children have a go at putting a simple questionnaire into their webpage.

10.   Save, then view their page when they are finished – have a go entering answers then clicking send.

11.   Show them on the right hand tool panel how to view their results by clicking form results

12.   If time, visit other’s pages and fill in questionnaire, before returning to own page and viewing results.

13.   Could set up your own questionnaire on children’s experiences with j2e, or even about computers at home, time they have available on computers,….and ask them to fill it out.

14. (Note – it would be very easy to set up an assessment in a j2e page - children’s responses can be downloaded as an Excel file)

15. View children’s webpages as an end of unit assessment of their skills in using j2e.

16. Discuss with children the ways that children can use j2e in other lessons, at home to aid their learning.

ICT Skills

Able Extension

SEN Ideas

Teacher Preparation

Design a questionnaire for use with a topic to collect information from pupils, parents…

FOLLOW UP: Give children opportunities to use j2e in school and at home, eg homework options, surveys, saving completed work to E-Portfolio. Discuss with children how they are/how they could use j2e to help with their learning.