Hi all, We have a group of tutors all in their second year of DTLLS training and keen to use online and digital resources so the Third Sector toolbox seems very apt.
I got the group to explore some of the tools. Their initial feedback - it looks like
Go animate
animoto
quizlet
Poll everywhere
Khan Academy

are the most useful after a first and  quick look through.

The trainees will be feeding back their comments to me and their course leaders , I'll be keepings tabs on lesson learnt and where we can share any good practice internally as well as on the blog

we have some IT issues ( or so I am told ) with using tools like Box but we're keen to soldier on.
with the ones mentioned above

CN4C’s blog...

I've been using Google Drive for a number of years for storage purposes - principally backing up teaching documents. 2 years ago I switched to DropBox which, for storage, is far more user friendly/practical, I love DropBox & have clocked up about 34Gb of free space some of which came with my phone contract. Both systems are usefully cross-platform & multi-device friendly. However, I continue to use Google Drive to upload ITQ courses for Internal & External Verification. We have a dedicated Google account for this. I can compile & upload the courses at my convenience from any location & the verifiers can immediately access them from where ever they are. There's no paper, so the sustainability-in-education people like it.

I've been using Google Docs, recently, as a learning tool for new ICT users who don't own computers, they can be digitally included without the expense of buying a computer. They've set up a Google account which gives them an email address, storage space & access to free software (particularly word processing). Google Docs is good visually, easy to navigate, has editing tools that are similar to gmail text editing tools & a good stepping stone for progression to Microsoft Word with which it is compatible. My learners have been creating CVs which they can then update & email off, from any computer. My only concern is that now they've discovered the templates they may not find Microsoft Word (more formal) as fun!

My Level 2s started blogging last week - they each created a post but were less interested in writing content & more interested in the design facilities, this is the 1st time they've experienced blogging or being able to affect the 'look' of software. So it was interesting to see them exploring & being unafraid to be adventurous - good for learning!. 

My youngster learner is setting up a Raspberry Pi so I uploaded a picture of it to Picasa & discovered the others had found it when it appeared in their blogs.

A learner's perpective on the toolbox.

Access to the website, and first look at the Toolbox.

Negatives

·         Arrows in the boxes are a big distraction, and take up space

·         Brighter background colours on the “steps” would help

·         Recruiting Learners, Teaching and learning, Reviewing learners' progress, Boxes — be better if all search results were on one page

Neutral points

·         Boxes and writing is pretty small  through my IPhone, however you can make it bigger if you know how.

·         *Second time had a bit of a problem loading page and buttons however this could just be my internet

Positives

·         Easy to see with white writing on coloured background

·         All information together

·         Easy to navigate and find information needed

·         All information needed but in individual points so not overloaded with info

·         All boxes load quickly

·         Looks neat

Overall I like the website, I think it's easy for people who are not as Internet savvy as me (like my mum) to be able to look around without getting lost or over faced by information.

I’ll review the “tools” later. - Jodie