It would be difficult these days to find a mainstream British classroom that does not use Interactive Whiteboards, and it is therefore of course crucial that teachers know how to use them.

In my second Computing session we learnt how to use the SMART programme on the Interactive Whiteboards, embedding videos and links onto pages, trying to use the pen and having a general explore. We then moved onto to thinking about how we could best utilise the Whiteboard to create interesting and engaging lessons.

We played around on the SMART programme in groups and planned a small starter activity. We thought about a KS1 maths lesson investigating odd and even numbers; the SMART programme allows users to create a box that ‘accept’ and ‘reject’ certain numbers by dragging and dropping them. When a child uses the pen to drag ’42’ into the ‘Even’ box the number disappears because the child has got the answer right. If they were to drag ’42’ into the ‘Odd’ box, the number would bounce back into its original place because the child needs to try again. This is a fun and affective recall of a previous lesson on Odd and Even numbers.

In today’s classroom e-safety is just as important as other aspects of safeguarding, and so it must be asked how we can best keep children safe online.

Many schools heavily block and restrict internet access in order to keep their pupils safe online, and yet it does not seem enough to simply deny children access to the internet; the internet will inevitably be a vital part of our children’s future and therefore we must allow children experience online, whilst providing online safety, and without making the internet seem such a terrifying place that children become uncomfortable online.

How is this to be done? I think that the internet needs to be an accessible place for children (within limits, of course) in order that they may learn to become responsible members of the online community. If the internet is reasonably accessible to children within the classroom it also becomes a place that they will not fear, thus preparing them for the adult world. Moreover, if the internet is accessible within a learning environment children can learn to keep themselves safe (zip it, block it, flag it etc) rather than the teacher providing a blanket safety, and then leaving children unprepared once they do face the online world.

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