Triptico - tools for the Interactive Board

One of the main things I am trying to improve at the moment is the use of the interactive boards around the school. These are pretty expensive pieces of kit and it makes me wince to see them being used lesson after lesson as a very pricey flat surface to project onto. Of course, there are times when you are just showing some data or a news article when this is fine but there are some tools out there which can really enhance their impact in the classroom. Both tools I have already blogged about, Thinglink and Quizlet, are good examples but the focus of this post is another great tool called Triptico.

The first thing to say is that Triptico is not a single tool to be used in a particular topic, it is a whole suite of apps which will improve a whole host of things that you already do in your lessons.

Let's start with some of the simpler ones.

Timers

By far, the tools I use the most are the various timers. The circle timer is usually my go-to option but there some other goodies like a flip timer and an egg timer in there as well.

Simply set the time you want and press start. At a glance, the pupils can see how long they have left in the activity. I have used it for short, thinking time of 30 seconds or so and longer, writing time when it comes to examination practice.

Names

Another staple task of the teacher is choosing individual pupils and groups. There are, of course, times when you want to keep a tight reign on groups and pick on individual pupils when asking questions but if you do want to go down the route of randomising then the Flip Selector (left in mid-flip) and Student Group (right) tools have got you covered. Set up a simple list of pupils names in a text file and import the class you need. Flip selector will pick a single, random name and the group tool will allocate all names into groups. You can decide how many groups you want. There are a couple of extra lovely features as well like the ability to eliminate absent pupils from the lists and choose random pupils within each group. The examples shows a class of 20 in four groups with two pupils selected from each group.

Flip Selector

Group Selector

Spinners

Two spinner tools (a free, text-based one and an image one as part of the 'Plus' tools) are great for adding an element of randomness into the classroom and making pupils think on their feet. The one below is used when teaching market failure. Pupils have to identify the nature of the failure before follow up questions on diagrams, interventions or definitions.

Image Spinner

Interactive Tools

There are a host of other apps (23 in total) if you sign up to the plus package for £15 (well worth it) which can really bring your interactive board to life. I'm not going to go through them all but here are some with specific uses in Business/Economics teaching.

The Card Board is one which I find particularly useful for things like definitions. One side of the board is displayed and pupils have to give the answer which can then be shown on the back of the card. Below is how I have used this for ratio analysis. 

Card Board

The Order Sorter is an excellent tool for developing the sequences of analysis in both subjects. The image below shows the steps used by the ONS when calculating the rate of inflation. Pupils need to come up to the board and drag the items into the correct sequence.

Order Sorter

I have found that using the Triptico tools have really increased the value of the interactive board in my lessons. I would say that I use at least one of the tools in most lessons, even if it just the timer. Recently, I have started to use several apps together such as the ratio analysis activity example above which, in full, goes as follows:

1. Set up the score tapper to keep track of points
2. Use the group selector to create the groups and select random pupils from within the groups to answer a question
3. Use the card board to make the pupil identify the relevant ratio (for one point)
4. Use the text spinner to pick a follow up which the pupil can attempt to answer by themselves (2 points) or with the help of their group (1 point)

That went on for a fairly sizeable chunk of the lesson but I was really pleased with how engaged the pupils were and the extent to which they could recall the information.

I would say that Triptico is unlikely to revolutionise your teaching but I don't really think that it the point. It allows you to do a host of activities you probably already do but in a more organised and interesting wa

Quizlet

As we have been approaching the examination period, I have been looking at various tools which will help pupils reinforce the basic theory which they need to know. In most cases, this comes down to definitions and diagrams (at least as far as Economics is concerned). I was looking for a sort of online flashcard site where I could create sets for pupils and they could also create their own.

The best site I have come across for this is Quizlet because of a few reasons:

1. It is involves the minimum amount of typing if you already have a key terms list already created
2. Pupils can test themselves in a number of different ways
3. It can be used to automatically generate tests which can be used for in-class assessment or homework activities
4. The output can be embedded

Let's deal with those one at a time.

1. Creating a key terms list in Quizlet

If you already have a key terms list in Word, Excel or even PDF format (such as the ones published by some exam boards) then you are in for a very easy ride as you will only need to copy and paste the content into Quizlet and it will create the set of cards based on your existing information. In this way, you can create a flashcard set in seconds. The video below shows you how this can be done.

2. Different forms of testing

Although I was hunting for a flashcard maker, Quizlet is great because it goes much further. Once your content is added, there are a few ways you can display it. You can see each of these applied to my F585 definitions list below. The 'Choose Study Mode' dropdown allows pupils to change the format.

Flashcard - either from term to definition or vice versa

Learn - the pupils are shown the definition and need to type the correct term. 

The system tracks how many they have answered correctly so that they can revise areas of weakness later. If pupils opt for the 'give up' option, they are shown the correct answer and then forced to enter it before continuing.

Test - I'll come back to that one in a bit
  

Scatter - I love this! 

The definitions and terms appear as a scattering on the screen and pupils must drag the term to the definition. If they get it right, both disappear. They are against the clock to get rid of them all. It works better when it's bigger so click here to view in its own window.

Race - testing knowledge and typing. 

Pupils must type the correct answer before the definition or term reaches the other side of the screen. If they fail to do so, they are forced to type the correct answer before continuing.

3. Automatic tests

Quixlet also allows you to create automatic tests from your content. You can choose from several question types:

• Written answer
• Multiple choice (essential for AQA and Edexcel Economics)
• Matching exercise
• True/False

You can include any combination of these and the output can be printed as you can see here for my Unit 1 definitions list. A link to the web version of the test is here and settings can be changed in the panel on the right.

4. Embedding

As you can see from this blog post, Quizlet allows you to embed the quizzes into other pages such as learning platforms. What I really like is that pupils can switch the type of test by using the 'Choose a Study Mode' drop-down in the embedded screen meaning they can choose the approach with works best for them.

Getting an account

Quizlet is available as a free version, requiring an email address or Google account to link to. There is also an educator version which allows you to add class groups to your page. It also lets you add images to the cards which is great for checking diagrams or identifying entrepreneurs. Both of which you can see below. The educator upgrade costs £15 per year and is well worth it.

A bonus idea

One way I really like to use Quizlet is to test knowledge of current macro-economic data. The example below requires you to match the country with their 2013 economic growth rate.

Thinglink

I really like Thinglink because of its flexibility and its ease of use. For those that haven't come across it before, Thinglink allows a user to add interactive 'spots' to a background image. These spots can include text, links, videos and other forms of content so that these images can be a really effective revision and research tool. Many of the examples on their site just include spots randomly thrown onto the image with relevant facts but I think that they become much more effective when the spots are.

I have used Thinklink successfully as both a teaching resource (it works really well on an IWB) and as a homework task. It supports embedding and there are dedicated iOS and Android apps as well. The Thinglink which is created has a unique URL and this can be easily shared in whatever means you normally communicate with pupils. They have also recently announced an education version.

You can download a full guide on how to use Thinglink as a teacher here.

As a data interpretation homework task:

I have used Thinklink to enhance data interpretation and research skills. I provide pupils with a picture of a chart (we have a learning platform to make this easier but email, Twitter or any other form of file sharing would work just as well). Pupils then have to research the situation and add spots to the chart image which explain the fluctuations or changes. The example below shows how it was used by my year 12 class to explain changes in the oil price using supply and demand. The sheet I give them with instructions can be found here.

As a regional research task:

Ask the pupils to find a map of a region which interests them or which you need them to know about (especially useful for the OCR F585 pre-release). They then have to add 'spots' the the map to highlight key economic issues. In the past, I have used this for highlighting regional differences in the UK in terms of wages and employment levels. It could equally be scaled up to a world map if you wanted to highlight the ways that difference countries deal with particular issues. Approaches to congestion used in different cities is another example of how I have used it successfully in the past.

Other ideas:

• Take a picture of a model answer and place spots on relevant parts to demonstrate best practice.
• Take a picture of a economics diagram and get pupils to annotate it.
• Take a picture of a wider reading shelf and place spots on books with a brief description of their content and level.

Welcome

This blog is my attempt to share some of the tools I use when teaching economics with a wider audience.

Most of the ideas here will involve the use of particular website or other technology resources but my hope is that I will be able to provide some clear examples of the sorts of ways that these tools can be used in an Economics or Business Studies classroom.

I would be really interested to know about ways that you use these, or any other, tools in Economics and Business lessons.

Enjoy reading.