Within PurpleMash, tucked away under the ‘Creative Tools’ tab, is an absolute gem of a program. 2Investigate sits on screen with the rollover message “Create Databases and Share these with other PurpleMash users”.
Now let’s be honest here and admit that that is a bit of an understatement. It does so much more, and after looking into the program myself over the break before the Spring term, I decided it would be ideal for an upper school unit on Databases.
Many schools are now empowering their pupils as digital leaders. Here the pupils spread their avid enthusiasm for new and existing technologies throughout the school. The benefits of this model of sharing are obvious:
One school, amongst the many across the UK that have been doing this approach with Purple Mash, has been Kensington Avenue Primary school in Croydon. Their ICT Coordinator , Claire Lotriet, recently brought her leaders along to the Bett show, here they described, amongst the noisy auditorium, their role as digital leaders.
It is clear to see from their own digital leaders blog how much fun and enjoyment they got out of coming to Bett and presenting.
Nicholas Hughes demonstrates how he has used 2DIY with his pupils in years 3 and 4 to create games.
I often return to this TED TALK as it makes me think of 2Simple and Purple Mash
One thing I notice more and more about our organisation is how an idea begins, mutates, matures and is then actioned. There are some eureka moments and there are times when the developers, artist and sales people do or say something that is just genius. But mostly things are built or shaped over a period of time by the interplay between all these groups and their interactions with customers.
Take Purple Mash for example, as content manager I take an overseeing role on both what goes in and what we leave out. But, there is a team of people that feed into that and who by reflecting, questioning and developing shape the product on a daily basis
I am fortunate that this is not a one man job, for a start the applications have been built by a team of talented developers. The look and feel is provided by our amazing artist, who helps ensure there is a more unified look and feel to what we build. And feeding into this is our team of consultants who are in school on an almost daily basis, showing the product and taking feedback from pupils and teachers about what they like and what they’d like to see more of. Furthermore those that interact with us on Twitter and Facebook also feed in views and points they want to raise.
It would be interesting to chart all the links between all these groups and discussions, but suffice to say they all cross and hook up in some way. In short, there are many good ideas from so many many amazing people who daily help to build and extend this great resource. Thank you to all of you
Anthony
When we started Purple Mash as a successor to our Online Tools offering, we offered a suite of creative tools, some excellent games, quality premium content such as 2Type and a few free extras. We called the extras Publish Projects and these structured writing templates have grown from twenty to over four hundred in just a few months. They have also been joined by Paint Projects too and these have also grown, though not all of these have been free.
Over the coming months you will see new content and more extensions to open ended tools. For example, 2Design and Make and 2Publish Extra will be expanded. We have been listening and will be acting on some of your requests, we know for example that many of you would like to make a boat or a pyramid in 2Design and Make. We want to give you a reason to keep coming back to Purple Mash and as such will be looking to increase the functionality and coverage of our successful creative tools.
One thing we do encounter from casual users of Purple Mash, who do not subscribe is that as we have so many open/free resources they wonder why they should subscribe. These are the aforementioned Publish Projects, which have proved a great means of getting people to visit our site, and have grown from 20 to over 400.
Publish Projects – image Simon Haughton –
To clarify Subscribers, do get an amazing deal which now includes the following:
But is it time to now restrict the majority of our Publish / writing projects to just a few that are both topical and typical of what can be found on the rest of the site. Perhaps we should return to just 20 or so being open to everyone.
Should we have so many free/open resources on Purple Mash?
Your comments please?
Post Bett thoughts from Anthony
It was a great four days for us at Bett last week. We really did love meeting so many of you and hearing about how you love Purple Mash or all/any of our CD based products. When I think back on Bett 2012, there will be a number of things that will mark this one out as different.
A couple of years ago we took the decision to share presenting duties with teachers and children. We knew we had some fans out there that loved using the software. And that they would be happy to share and show off what they had been doing at school.
With Teachmeet Take overs and other initiatives it is common place to have teachers talking on stands. So we are not doing anything new, and over the years this has proved both interesting to watch and enjoyable for these guest speakers and their children.
However it really struck me this year how lucky we were to have had some amazing teachers and their children talking about:
Games Design with 2DIY
Using Digital Leaders to help staff get to grips with online learning
Using Purple Mash at home
And more…
This is a route that I want us to continue to develop and hone, so that our stand is almost offering some aspect of CPD along with an introduction to our new and classic products. Take Claire Lotriet’s presentation with her children on digital leaders for example, they began talking about Purple Mash, but the children went on to talk about how they as digital leaders helped to spread ICT competency and confidence across the school. This ended with a Q and A from the audience to the pupils about how this was done.
Last year and in subsequent years we found that many teachers who watched demonstrations on Purple Mash , (or Online tools as they were called initially), were mainly concerned with integration into their current (or about to be procured) Learning Platform. Not the case this year.
This year it was mostly those that had not seen Purple Mash, 2DIY etc that wanted to see them or those that had Purple Mash and wanted us to add further content . I have made a note of these requests and already we have started to make more Mash Cams, leaflets and other things. I do hope that in the year ahead we can get to be more responsive and reactive to such requests. The other popular question and one that I am happy to talk about was around Ipads, Androids and others. All I can say on this for now is –watch this space .
I am not sure that I could have predicted that I’d find so much alignment and agreement with the words of Mr Gove as he opened Bett on Wednesday. If you are an ICT Coordinator, then I recommend you watch and or read his speech fully, rather than just picking up a few highlights.
From his landmark speech I circled the following points with my 2Simple Pen as being important and/ or encouraging.
1. A recognition of the role that games can play in education.
Games and interactive software can help pupils acquire complicated skills and rigorous knowledge in an engaging and enjoyable way. Adaptive software has the ability to recognise and respond to different abilities, personalising teaching for every pupil. With the expert help of a teacher, students can progress at different rates through lessons calibrated to stretch them just the right amount.
Britain has an incredibly strong games industry, with vast potential to engage with education both in this country and all over the world
We know that games can be incredibly engaging and effective tools for learning. This is what prompted us to make Maths Games, but we at 2Simple want children to create games as well as consume them.This is where 2DIY comes in. It has been said many times before but 2DIY can act as a good introduction to Games Design for children at primary level.
2. The government will not be dictating the detail of the curriculum
While things are changing so rapidly, while the technology is unpredictable and the future is unknowable, Government must not wade in from the centre to prescribe to schools exactly what they should be doing and how they should be doing it.
We must work with these developments as they arise: supporting, facilitating and encouraging change, rather than dictating it.
Technology in schools will no longer be micromanaged by Whitehall. By withdrawing the Programme of Study, we’re giving schools and teachers freedom over what and how to teach; revolutionising ICT as we know it.
Let me stress - ICT will remain compulsory at all key stages, and will still be taught at every stage of the curriculum. The existing Programme of Study will remain on the web for reference.
But no English school will be forced to follow it any more. From this September, all schools will be free to use the amazing resources that already exist on the web.
This is great news for creativity and creative teachers. Currently there is a mixed picture with how schools structure ICT, both as a subject and across the curriculum. Some schools have been forging ahead with a creative curriculum and innovations. However there are still many that feel they have to stick to QCA ICT plans, this can lead to a restrictive curriculum for teachers and children. By giving schools freedom then we could see more coherent and authentic use of ICT to support themes and topics, rather than doing a unit because we have always done that in year 2.
I look forward to seeing some innovative and more natural curriculum organisation methods and to talking to teachers about how and where they are using both Purple Mash and our other software.
3. A stronger emphasis on Computer Science
The new Computer Science courses will reflect what you all know: that Computer Science is a rigorous, fascinating and intellectually challenging subject.
After all, the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the most innovative and successful proponents of Computer Science today. But his computing skills are just as rigorous as the rest of his talents – which include Maths, Science, French, Hebrew, Latin and Ancient Greek.
Computer Science requires a thorough grounding in logic and set theory, and is merging with other scientific fields into new hybrid research subjects like computational biology.
So I am also announcing today that, if new Computer Science GCSEs are developed that meet high standards of intellectual depth and practical value, we will certainly consider including Computer Science as an option in the English Baccalaureate.
Let me stress that nowhere did Mr Gove mention programming or computer science at primary level. But it is clear that this is now recognised as being an important discipline. There is surely a case for beginning to explore this in primary. Coincidentally the very day of Mr Gove’s speech we had children as young as 8 showing coding with action script on our stand .
Read more about this on the Redbridge Games network blog.
Well Bett is almost upon us and we are very excited and keen to get along to our almost finished stand and deck the walls with Purple Mash.
What can you expect from us this year?
We want to show you Purple Mash and our vast back catlogue and hear about how you have been using it too. Though we’ll try not to keep reminding you where we are and what we have via Twitter. We wont be entering you into a prize draw or looking to spam you, we really just want you to enjoy the buzz and energy of our presenters both from within our team and from our specially invited 2Simple Superstars.
Who will be there and what will they be doing?
The usual 2Simple team will be there , including : Katie, Nigel, Andy, Alan, Katherine, Novah, Daniel, Sam , Sennay, Marcel, Lisa, Anthony etc . Aside from us, the list below outlines who will be speaking on our stand, and what they plan to talk about.
11.00 -11.20 ‘Using Purple Mash in ICT club’By Charlie Dean, ICT Co-ordinator at Titchfield Primary School in Hampshire
12.00 – 12.15 ‘Un-boring the lads’ – Inspiring boys to read and writeBy Jonny Zucker, Children’s author
12.45 – 13.00 ‘Un-boring the lads’ – Inspiring boys to read and writeBy Jonny Zucker, Children’s author
11.00 – 11.20 + 12.00 – 12.20 ‘Using 2DIY 3D in Purple Mash at Engayne School’By Stephanie Homewood, ICT Co-ordinator at Engayne Primary School in Havering
14.00– 14.15 ‘The Power of Programming’By Nick Hughes, ICT Co-ordinator at Nightingale Primary School in Redbridge
16.00– 16.20 ‘Mashing it up at home’By Tim Handley, ICT Co-ordinator at Woodlands Primary School in Norfolk
10.30 – 10.50 – ‘Look What I can do’By Nick Hughes, ICT Co-ordinator at Nightingale Primary School in Redbridge
11.00 – 11.15 ‘Mashing in Action’By Dawn Hallybone, ICT Co-ordinator ar Oakdale Junior School in Redbridge
12.00– 12.20 ‘ Staff Meeting (Purple) Mash up’By Claire Lotriet, ICT Coordinator & Year 6 Class Teacher at Kensington Avenue Primary School in Croydon
15.00 – 15.15 ‘Purple Mash in the Primary School’By Ian Addison, ICT Co-ordinator at St John the Baptist Primary School in Hampshire
15.45– 16.00 ‘ Purple Mash at Porchester, how to use Purple Mash in KS2 across the curriculum’By Simon Widdowson, ICT Co-ordinator and Blogger at Porchester Junior School in Nottingham
10.30 – 10.45 ‘Un-boring the lads’ – Inspiring boys to read and writeBy Jonny Zucker, Children’s author
11.00– 11.15 – ‘Using Purple Mash in Key Stage 2′By Claire Lotriet, ICT Coordinator & Year 6 Class Teacher at Kensington Avenue Primary School in Croydon
12.00 – 12.15 – ‘Creative Purple Mashing’By Simon Haughton, ICT Co-ordinator and blogger at Parkfield Primary School in Rochdale
14.00 – 14.15 – ‘Purple Mash in the Primary School’By Ian Addison, ICT Co-ordinator at St John the Baptist Primary School in Hampshire
15.00 – 15.15 – ‘Un-boring the lads’ – Inspiring boys to read and writeBy Jonny Zucker, Children’s author
Do you know that you can add some popular 2Simple titles to access via www.purplemash.com?
Add in any of:
2Simple French, 2Simple Spanish and 2Start English for a one off price of £200 each and enjoy them from both school and home.
2Start English £200
2Simple French £200
2Simple Spanish £200
For more info on each of these programs please click on the images above
Also please note our Purple Mash prices for 2012:
Purple Mash Annual Prices
Very small school < 50 pupils £250
Small school 51-120 pupils £350
Medium school 121-400 pupils £600
Large school 401-600 pupils £750
Very large school 600+ pupils £900
We can set up a trial of Purple Mash for your school. Send us an email / dm / facebook with your details and we’ll get right on it.
I regularly use the 2Publish Projects (available on Purple Mash) with children at my school to produce documents and posters with linked to topics currently being studied in class.
Each of the project templates – also known as ‘apptivities’ – are linked to a different: theme, celebration or event. At the time of writing there are over 200 of these available covering a diverse range of titles from ‘Seaside Senses’ and ‘Blitz Poem’ to ‘Superhero Profile’ and ‘Election News’, with the list growing and being added to on a regular basis. They can be easily retrieved by: going directly to a specific project’s URL, doing a key word search or by looking through the different subject folders on Purple Mash itself.
The projects all begin with a helpful instruction screen explaining to the child what they should do in it (e.g. write a persuasion leaflet or recount an historical event), with many containing a short video clip too which helps children relate their work to a real: person, setting or scenario. A word bank is provided as well, containing questions to prompt children’s thinking and useful vocabulary/sentence starters which are typed in automatically when a button is clicked on – extremely useful for encouraging reluctant or struggling writers.
In addition, the children can also enhance the appearance of their work by making use of one of the desktop publishing tools available to illustrate it – such as by:
The ability to rotate/resize the clip art and use a simple cropping tool to bring emphasis onto particular areas of photographs gives children the power to be able to control the appearance of their work even further.
Whilst most of the 2Publish Project functions are free to non-subscribers to Purple Mash, children from subscribing schools also get the added functionality of being able to save their work online and to change the format of their text from the default settings – such as by increasing/decreasing the font size or by change the font colour. This helps them personalise their work even more to their own individual requirements.
Each project is very highly focused and tailored to the theme it is about – the clip art, photos and associated word bank only contain a selection of relevant text and pictures, for instance. This means that all the resources that children may require are all easily available and they don’t need to waste time searching for them (especially useful for the more obscure topics).
To ensure that the 2Publish Project apptivities are accessible to as many children as possible, they have been carefully designed by the staff at 2Simple Software to have:
As I only have a limited time for each ICT lesson (whose main focus obviously needs to be on developing ICT skills), if any cross-curricular links can be made then I always consider it is a bonus to the session. To help prompt the children in entering the text for each apptivity, I therefore provide them with a sheet containing some words to help inspire them with ideas/aid them with spellings. These include: sentence openers that need finishing off, cloze procedures that need completing and lists of key words that need putting into full sentences. Whilst this may be seen as not being very creative, it’s important to remember that the children are taking part in an ICT lesson and not a literacy lesson. Obviously, I do try to differentiate the sheets whenever possible and like to encourage the more confident typists/writers to add extra detail/information to improve their work further.
In conclusion, I think that the 2Publish Projects have a valuable contribution to make in ICT lessons during the middle primary school years. They allow children to learn and to develop confidence in using a variety of ICT skills to produce posters/documents which can then be easily utilised in other subject lessons and later transferred to other software packages too (e.g. PowerPoint). I’ve always found that the children really enjoy using the 2Publish Projects, mostly likely because they are literally so straightforward to use for creating both pleasing and attractive pieces of work with – you would be amazed at what a difference to their levels of independence and motivation having all the clip art and photos readily available to illustrate/inspire their writing has. The fact that they be accessed online at home too just makes them even more perfect and I highly recommend that you introduce them to you children!
How do you use the 2Publish Projects in your classroom?
Learning should fun – if you want to get children: excited, eager and keen to develop their understanding of a particular topic then you’ve got to present it to them in a way that is both interesting and appealing. I therefore like to spend several ICT lessons with Year 4 children teaching them how to create their own interactive games using 2Do it Yourself to support their learning of current class topics. (See this post where I explain how I use 2DIY myself to create games for children, such as to put on my Infant Encyclopedia.)
2DIY is specifically aimed at primary schools and contains several templates for the children use to enable them to make a range of different types of games with.
Over the years I’ve shown the children how to make games/activities associated with a variety of different subjects, including:
I focus one ICT lesson on designing and creating one particular type of game:
Through encouraging them to regularly test and refine their activities, the children develop their ability to review and improve the effectiveness of them and by letting them play each others’ games on Edmodo, they are given the opportunity to both peer-assess their work and to greater develop their understanding of the particular curriculum topic being focused on.
The ease at which children can produce some fantastic games using 2DIY continually amazes me and it was nice this year to be able to show the children how to use 2DIY 3D on Purple Mash too. This application lets them create three-dimensional maze games in which the player moves around using keyboard controls from a first-person perspective viewpoint to collect items and avoid baddies on-screen. All the children enjoyed learning how to build some Christmas-themed using it (see here on my school’s website) and it seemed to be a great way to finish off their work on 2DIY – especially since they can access 2DIY 3D online at home. Indeed, one child even went as far as to come up to me and tell me that, “it was the best ICT lesson ever”!
In summary, 2DIY is an amazing program for developing children’s ICT skills in a fun, cross-curricular way. I’ve always found that children stay extremely engaged and focused when using the software and love being given the opportunity to develop their independence by being allowed to discover new features and tools available within it to improve their games/activities even further. I would perhaps even go as far as to say that I think that 2DIY is one of the most child-friendly, intuitive to use and interactive programs available for primary schools to use – it’s a ‘must-have’ in your ICT software collection!
As a post-script, if you want to see a video illustrating the true power of 2DIY in action, then I highly recommend that you get yourself a cuppa and spend half and hour watching the ever-inspiring Tim Rylands challenge two schools to create their own games using it at the Game Based Learning Conference 2010. Simply outstanding stuff!
