Flubaroo is a great free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice assignments. Take a look at the video below to see it in action.

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Your realsmart items can be shared in more ways than just the one.

You can actually embed them as you would with any other web content. Items be put inside WordPress posts, emails, or even inside of other realsmart items. This is particularly useful if you want to use an item as evidence within another realsmart item.

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A few years ago as part of a Learning to Learn course I was teaching, we asked students to create a website ‘all about them’. This was supposed to be a really engaging way for students to reflect and share their understanding of the first module of work, and a bit different from creating a PowerPoint or a poster.

The problem was, creating a website isn’t that easy, is it? You need students to understand some pretty complex software. I used Microsoft Front Page – just teaching them basic web design took weeks. Then we had the problem of hosting these websites (getting them online), which was near impossible. So at best this became a lesson in using front page, and students shared their work by rotating round the classroom and looking at each other’s computer screens.

rweb has completely revolutionised this approach. In less than a minute (before you can even say ‘hyperlink’!) you can create a website structure, without even having to worry about the esoteric skills associated with web design. Students using this structure can add content to each page using the web cell editor within realsmart.

But this is where rweb really gets going. Students and teachers can ‘share’ their websites with each other, really online. And the best bit is that using an agreed success criteria and asking students to create a page with this on, allows everyone you have shared your rweb with to add comments and feedback.

That’s real assessment for learning, baby!

*watch this video to see how easily you can create your own rweb.

Like a phoenix rising from the flames, Campsmount Technology College had a tough ol’ year in 2009 when it was hit by a devastating fire, but is now back on its feet and doing great things.

Recently we’ve been hearing all kinds of impressive comments about Campsmount’s website which has been created by staff using realsmartcloud. Add to the mix, rumours of staff using the cloud to improve whole school collaboration and we knew it was time to get in touch.

We caught up with ‘smart’ cookie and Assistant Headteacher Jamie Portman to find out how teachers are getting on with realsmartcloud at Campsmount.

If you’d like your school to follow in Campsmount’s footsteps, then why not get in touch and let us show you how we can help. To find out more and arrange a demo, please contact us on 0114 224 2334 or email realsmart@smartassess.com

Can’t see video? Click here1) So Jamie, first of all, tell us about the fantastic website that you’ve created with realsmartcloud.

“Ah thanks very much! We’re glad you like it. We’re all really proud of our school website here at Campsmount. Thanks to realsmartcloud, we can now access the latest in technology and use it to share information and communicate through our website in a very engaging way with students, parents and staff as well as the wider community.”

Can’t see video? Click here2) What impact has realsmartcloud had on staff using the website?

“Staff are really enjoying using the website, we’re finding that teachers are beginning to embrace the new technologies that realsmartcloud provides so it’s really helped to created a buzz of activity within the school.

“By this I mean that staff are uploading things like podcasts, image galleries and even videos to our website to showcase the learning and various activities that go on throughout the day. realsmartcloud enables us to celebrate our fantastic learning experiences and share them with the world!”

Can’t see video? Click here3) What in particular do staff at Campsmount like about realsmartcloud?

“To put it simply, realsmartcloud is so effective because it brings everything together in one place, making our lives so much easier! Rather than having to sign in to different applications, we can access a number of them quickly and simply through realsmartcloud. The cloud acts as the gateway to some of the best technology applications that exist currently, plus it’s also incredibly easy to use!”

Can’t see video? Click here4) How are you using realsmartcloud to collaborate?

“Through realsmartcloud, we’re using Google Docs which is a great suite of tools that enable us to collaborate easily across the school. Many teachers use Google Docs to plan lessons or create schemes of work and presentations. Through Google Docs we are now sharing resources with each other, working together on projects and accessing information. It’s really improving the way we work together at Campsmount and the potential is enormous.”

Can’t see video? Click here5) Can you sum up for us the benefits of realsmartcloud, in one sentence?

“realsmartcloud is a brilliant teacher toolkit which provides easy access to the best technology available on the world wide web. It’s amazing!”

About Campsmount Technology College

Campsmount Technology is based in Norton, Doncaster. It has around 800 students with a Sixth Form.

Check out the Campsmount website at: www.campsmount.com

New feature

If you are a realsmartcloud customer you can create a single sign on link from any wordpress item, google doc or site.

For example if you are a French teacher and you would like to link your google sites lesson plan to a students French activity in realsmart, you can!

Click here for an example…..

To do this you need to know SuperTed’s secret magic code, so here goes;

You will need to be signed in to realsmartcloud

Paste in this link and the activity name after the =
http://www.rlsmart.net/main/index.php?subject_name=

If you have spaces in an activity name you will need to add a + where the space would have been.

http://www.rlsmart.net/main/index.php?subject_name=Weekly+reflective+blogs

Please be aware that the user who clicks on the link must have a share in the activity you would like them to access.

For more information on sharing click here….. blog post “it’s good to share”

Winton School have taken realsmart fully on board and are starting to roll it’s use out across the whole school.

Whether it’s using rafl and rpassport on whole area Project Days which incorporate Modern Foreign Languages, ICT, and English, to using rcast to blog minutes of Leadership Meetings, the staff have become enthused and the kids are loving it! The Head has even started presenting at conferences using rmap instead of Powerpoint! On one of our support visits we talked to some of the staff about why they liked realsmart, what they were currently using it for, and their hopes for the future.

Click on the videos below to find out more.

Click  here to see Winton on youtube, where amongst other things they discus the merits of using realsmart.

We wanted to pass on a big thanks you to our friends from three of our best schools, who helped us present the realsmart learning journey in a schools showcase presentation, at this years SSAT Achievement Show.

We broke the journey down in to 3 sections: ‘getting started’, ‘making good use’ and ‘next steps’:

1. Making the decision to use online apps, saving money and creating immediate impact at Stretford High School.

Stretford made the decision to get their heads in the cloud in January this year and can already show how this has made a  big impact on teaching and learning. Dan Stucke, Assistant Head teacher, shared with us their rationale for choosing realsmartcloud, how it has saved them money and how it’s having an immediate effect in the classroom.

2. Getting the technology used and making it easy at Winton School.

Vicky Essex, Deputy Head, and Martin Ashworth from Winton School in Hampshire, told us how in less than a year their school has became one of the top users of realsmart.  Vicky showcased some of the great work they have done using realsmart to build learning portfolios, using simple tools to record and share learning across the school.  It was great to see that as a result of this students had built learning language in to their vocabulary.

3. Moving forward and engaging parents at Manchester Communications Academy

John Sibbald, Head of Specialism and Post 16 at  MCA, gave some practical examples of true parental engagement using realsmart to facilitate learning conversations between learners, parents and staff.  The Academy have facilitated their Parents’ Evening using realsmart to review student’s work and believe in true parental engagement, not parental voyeurism. We believe that it’s not good enough for parents to look at portfolios without the wider context. Even less so with grades and percentages. That’s why Manchester Communications Academy provide such a fantastic example.

All of our presenters did a fantastic job, with many schools approaching us afterwards to congratulate them on the brilliant work that is going on in their schools.

A good job, well done!

37signals  – the Chicago based makers of Basecamp and other great web-based software – recently wrote an article on smartassess for their Signal vs. Noise weblog.

The article, ‘Bootstrapped, Profitable, & Proud: smartassess‘, covers how realsmart came about, why it came about, and looks at the fundamental philosophy at the heart of realsmart – the learner!

It would be fair to say that since the article was published twitter has gone through the roof!

“realsmart is based on self assessment rather than the teacher telling you what to do. Students own their portfolios and can build them at their own pace. It’s based on the idea that we learn as we reflect and record our learning, not when a teacher tells us we’re a B- and could do better. It tries to help us learn like we do in the real world i.e. on our own, with our friends to help us, and occasionally some feedback from an expert.” Gwyn ap Harri

To read more about why we do what we do, click here.

P.S. You’ll also get have a look around the office and try and guess who’s who!

Our new 0-6 month guide is designed to get you safely and successfully through the first 6 months of your realsmart life. It’s full of practical help and support, and will be your guiding hand to cope with the first few weeks and beyond.

Copies have been sent to all our schools and further hard copies can be ordered by contacting support@smartassess.com

To download a pfd of this guide click here

How would you like a free iPod touch?

At realsmart we are continually looking for schools to share their best practice, and as you can see on the website – we like to make films about them! But we want to make more!

Submit a case study about what you are doing with realsmart, and if we can come to your school and produce a case study video, we’ll give you an iPod touch! Not bad eh?!?

So go on, why not tell us what you’re using realsmart for and let us help you celebrate your success! Simply click the link below and tell us about your achievements.

Examples of best practice with realsmart.

See how three schools in Birmingham worked together to build OCR National content in realsmart. Also, see how they use realsmart on a day-to-day basis providing great examples of easy wins and ideas for rolling out realsmart in your school. realsmart enables learners to build online portfolios using self-assessment to recognise and record progression.