Time saving. Helpful sites. Ways to share effectively. This is some of the feedback from our Pioneer Schools so far. We’re over 2 weeks into the Pioneer School programme and already we’ve had a great response from schools and seen a spike in people splashing about in Pond.
By the end of last week, over 200 educators from these 16 schools had leapt into Pond and were adding items to the catalogue and making comments on resources that already exist within Pond. Schools were looking at how they could use Pond to enhance what they are already doing and to fit into the ICT programmes or systems they are already using. Ideas are growing, such as creating specific educational suitability tags relevant to schools to help teachers find and refine resources especially for their areas of teaching.
From the feedback we’ve had from the Pond leads within our Pioneer Schools, the response to Pond has typically been very good. Once staff see what it can offer, the ever present concerns about it being “one more thing to do”, fall away. Some educators are asking why the appropriate websites aren’t already listed in the Pond catalogue by us but we’re not the experts when it comes to resources for teaching – the teachers are – which is why teachers are given the mantle of adding resources to the Pond catalogue. Because Pond is completely new and not like anything else available to teachers, some are concerned about taking a risk and adding resources to the catalogue. Pond has been built as a safe environment, a place where you can share what you use to help with learning thus there should be no risk to teachers who share. Teachers are brave pioneers in the classroom, taking risks and being rewarded by the growth in their students, Pond is an extension of that environment.
As Simon Mutch, Principal of Governor’s Bay Primary School says “this is our (his staff) opportunity to give back to the education community” which we love, that’s why Pond was built – for teachers to help other teachers!
We’re proud of the work already being done in Pond by our Pioneer Schools, keep it up!