using bulbapp.com in the primary classroom

VLEs.  Online Porfolios.  All great (!) but what happens to the content when pupils leave school?  A lot of the time not a lot.  But that needn't be the case with bulbapp.com - a place for teachers and students to collaborate, and reach a wide audience at the same time.  They can even access their portfolios after they leave, apparently.

You can read about 'what makes bulb different' here and see some example portfolios.

Back to my classroom.  I am 'experimenting' with my Year 5 students using this service.  We have been examining different forms of making online stop-frame animations, and want a way to pull together their findings, whilst learning some new skills, and avoiding Microsoft Office. Bulbapp.com allows me to set a task -  almost flipped-learning style (brownie points for insertion of current buzz-phrase)  and watch them develop a pretty nifty way of showing what they have learnt in this 'topic'.

So, to set a task is pretty easy:

I can set this so just my classes can see it, or open up to a wider audience. Bulb are running a pilot program for 2014-15 with access for half price - $25USD (16GBP), but it is free to sign up and see if you like the feel of it:

The layout is nice and simple, so you won't spend hours changing font colours and sizes and the like - save that for another time - and it's something that if you like the look of it, isn't going to break the bank.  Have a look and see if it is something you could use - I will update with how it works in the classroom in a later post.