pen.io

By Mike Britland

Click here for the project

In the interest of pushing the ICT curriculum into the 21st Century, I have developed a SoW that aims to incorporate two facets of digital literacy and computer science; blogging & coding.

The unit of works asks students to produce a blog on a subject of their choice, they are required to research the topic and log all research in the correct manner. Logging and commenting on the validity of the information that is found is an essential area for assessment. This can be adapted so students need to comment at greater length on copyright issues.

Students present their blog using the free blogging site pen.io. This site is fairly unique, as students need an understanding of basic HTML and CSS in order to present work in an interesting manner. For instance, students will need a basic understanding on HTML in order to change the font size/type/colour/style. The site also tests students ability to organise work as they need to develop a navigation system for the their blogs.

The unit was originally taught in year 8 but the nature of the skills tested make the SoW scalable. Therefore, the more advanced use of HTML/CSS taught or used allows the unit to be taught to higher year groups.

This unit fits perfectly into the proposed draft programme of study for KS3 as it covers creative use of ICT and coding.

Follow Mike on Twitter:  @mikematthewsCDN