This document discusses utilizing technology to teach geography at the secondary school level. It describes setting up an online learning hub with resources for students and using social media like Twitter and Facebook to engage students. Formative assessment tools like Kahoot and QuickKey are highlighted that provide real-time feedback. The document also explores using GIS software and apps to incorporate mapping and data collection into fieldwork. Storymaps are presented as a way to bring topics to life by combining maps, text and multimedia. Overall, the document advocates for various technologies to enhance geography teaching and learning.

1. Utilising Technology to teach
KS4 and KS5 Geography
Rob Chambers
Head of Geography, St Ivo School.
@RobGeog rchambers@stivoschool.org
• An online learning hub
• Use of social media in teaching and learning
• Innovative assessment tools
• Using GIS in geography teaching and learning

2. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
An online learning hub
Our online hub centres
around our department
website
www.geobytes.org.uk
Key aim: Bringing together
all teaching and learning
resources for the
department creating a
“centralised online home”

3. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
An online learning hub
Social Media Feeds Department Online Learning Courses
Department Blogs
Student Support and Advice
Bringing all department
resources & support together

4. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
An online learning hub
Why else?
Celebrating student
achievement
Student support
Promoting the Department
Geographical News
Strengthen connections
with parents
Transparency

5. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Online learning – Schoology Courses
- Lesson Resources
(powerpoints)
- Revision materials
- encourages
independence in
learning
- Video clips (can be
embedded)
- Supporting links
- Can create pages
- Useful for student
‘catch-up’ following
absence
- Supports students on
long term absence

6. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Online learning – Schoology Courses
Very well used at A
Level (and students
come used to it from
GCSE)
Use more of discussion
function, polls,
photograph/media
albums and also
providing supporting
resources for NEA /
undergraduate study.

7. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Online learning – Schoology Courses
Updates function
provides a ‘blog’ like
function to which
resources / links can
be added and even
polls set!
Members of the
course get
notifications when
updates are added.
Particularly useful at
pressure point times
– e.g. Revision
times.

8. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Schoology – teacher collaboration
There are now a number of
teacher driven collectives
using Schoology to provide
support for each other and
share ideas and resources
in light of the new KS4 and
KS5 specifications.
Easy to join – sign up for a
Schoology account
www.schoology.com
Access codes for relevant
groups are in the handout.

9. Twitter
Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media in teaching and learning
Facebook
Instagram
At St Ivo our geography department is active on a number
of different social media sites.
Each is used with a
different aim or purpose
(some with a different
audience in mind)
All hope to teach students the responsible use of social
media and how it can be beneficial in education.
All accounts comply with
school policy with regards
to the use of social media.

10. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media in teaching and learning
Why do we use Twitter
in the department?
- Promote
- Collaborate
- Learn
- Share and Celebrate
- GeoTweet Revision
-Reminders
-Engage with students and
parents
- Polls
Department Twitter Feed: @StIvoGeography

11. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media in teaching and learning
Protected A Level Twitter Feed: @StIvoGeogAlevel (only department students)
Why do we use Twitter
with A Level?
- Provide targeted support
for topics or VI form
issues (e.g. UCAS).
- Share links
- Revision
-Reminders
-Build a ‘community spirit’
-Encourage background
reading
-Protected as fieldwork
photos shared

12. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media in teaching and learning
Why do we use
Facebook?
-develop a geography
community
- celebrate
-share links
-engage with parents
and students
- promote
-remind
-connect

13. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media in teaching and learning
Why do we use
Instagram?
- Student engagement
- celebration of student
work and success
- department promotion
Students are the key
audience here.
(No student
photographs shared
here – purely student
work, department
promotion pictures or
reminders.

14. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Use of social media: Professional Development
Twitter provides an invaluable source of professional development which in turn can impact on
our teaching at KS4 and KS5.
Benefits of developing a PLN with twitter:
The handout provides
links to some Geography
teachers who are
particularly active on
twitter.

15. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Innovative assessment tools: Kahoot
Collection of
questions
asked in real
time to an
unlimited
number of
players.
Great for
plenaries and
revision.
https://kahoot.com/

16. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Innovative assessment tools: Kahoot
Students become very competitive – as they also score points according to time
taken to answer the questions correctly.
Just one of many forms of quick real time formative feedback for use in the classroom

17. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Innovative assessment tools: Kahoot
Kahoot have also just released a new Kahoot app which enables students to play Kahoot
independently outside of the classroom.
A new feature
enables teachers
to create “Kahoot!
Challenges” which
can be set as
homework tasks –
great potential for
revision quizzes!
Teachers can get
instant
assessment of
learning progress
with challenge
reports.

18. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Innovative assessment tools: QuickKey
Quick Key
-Quick marking using iPad / iPhone – results
automatically stored in mark book
- Quickly assess knowledge / understanding
and identify misconceptions.
A number of these shared on “Internet
Geography”
http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.
uk/quickkey.html
Evaluating the use of hinge questions and the
Quick Key app – Simon Renshaw
https://srenshaw.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/
evaluating-the-use-of-hinge-questions-and-
the-quick-key-app/

19. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Innovative assessment tools – other examples..
Plickers..
Another realtime
assessment tool. Benefit
over Kahoot is that it
only requires teacher
device..
Quickly assess
understanding.
Socrative
Requires student devices
– but several question
types.
Allows more opportunity to analyse results after a lesson by keeping scores for a class.
Disadvantage – requires you to have classes set up prior to use and Plickers cards printed.
There is a free version but also a paid for pro version. More flexibility on style of
questions asked than the other two (multiple choice, true/false & short answer)
.

20. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS in geography teaching & learning
ESRI provide free access to ArcGIS online for all UK schools – just sign up
https://schools.esriuk.com/

21. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS in geography teaching & learning

22. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Teaching with ArcGIS

23. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Collecting fieldwork data for use in ArcGIS
What does it do?
Allows you to capture data anywhere – works
on smartphones, laptops / desktops (as app
but also in browser)
Data collected using Survey123 is then
immediately available in ArcGIS to facilitate
interpretation and mapping of data
predefined questions that use logic and
provide easy-to-fill answers, embedded audio
and images
Survey123
There are number of apps
available to support data gathering
which link into ArcGIS and are
useful for fieldwork with GCSE / A
Level, one of these is Survey123.
A variety of
question types
can be set up.

24. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS in fieldwork – Survey123
Supports both
quantitative and
qualitative data
collection
Use in conjunction
with other apps to
support data collection

25. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS in fieldwork – Survey123
Easy to use interface for students (or staff) to design own surveys – fully customisable.
Using GIS in fieldwork – Survey123
Other apps for
collecting data in
the field include
FieldNotesPro (a
lite version is
available) and
An alternative but
a little more
complex is the
ArcGIS Collector
app

26. ESRI’s Living Atlas
Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Esri’s “Living Atlas of the World”
is available through ArcGIS
Online
It is an online collection of global
geographic information
containing maps, data layers,
tools and apps for geographical
analysis.
It is constantly being developed
by the GIS community
Items include:
- Urban systems
- Demographics
- Basemaps
- Transportation
- Landscape

27. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Living Atlas – Weather and Climate

28. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Living Atlas – Natural Hazards

29. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS - Storymaps

30. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS - Storymaps
These allow
you to use
maps, text and
multimedia to
bring to life
topics using
embeddedArc
GIS.
There are
many already
available for
use in the
classroom.

31. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS - Storymaps

32. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Using GIS - Storymaps
RGS and ESRI initiative to support teachers in schools by linking them with GIS
Professionals – find out more at https://schools.esriuk.com/geomentor/

33. Other online mapping – Digimap (Ordnance Survey)
The use of new technologies in Geography – ideas and suggestions

34. Easy to use for supporting presentation of data
The use of new technologies in Geography – ideas and suggestions
Very user friendly – great for
accessing maps at range of scales
for data presentation.

35. Utilising Technology to Teach KS4 and KS5 Geography
Other uses of technology in teaching geography
• Encouraging background reading / collating resources
• Collaboration
• iPads in Geography
• Teacher organisation
• Creating teaching and learning resources for KS4/KS5
• QR Codes
• Creating interactive quizzes
• Times in the classroom
• Online revision tools
Links and ideas for the above are all available in the handout provided which can also be
downloaded at http://bit.do/utilisingtechnologyingeography
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
rchambers@stivoschool.org or @RobGeog