tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67650344925542904272024-03-19T12:18:08.385+08:00Teachr 2.0Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-71617712021906440562009-12-01T15:17:00.002+08:002010-03-01T19:34:46.708+08:00Facebook: Friend or Foe?<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jasondenys/facebook-friend-or-foe-2614423" style="display: block; font: 14px Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; margin: 12px 0px 3px; text-decoration: underline;" title="Facebook: Friend or Foe?">Facebook: Friend or Foe?</a><object height="355" style="margin: 0px;" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=facebookupload-091130082441-phpapp01&stripped_title=facebook-friend-or-foe-2614423" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=facebookupload-091130082441-phpapp01&stripped_title=facebook-friend-or-foe-2614423" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />
<div style="font-family: tahoma,arial; font-size: 11px; height: 26px; padding-top: 2px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" style="text-decoration: underline;">documents</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/jasondenys" style="text-decoration: underline;">Jason de Nys</a>.</div><br />
A presentation given to parents about Facebook. Privacy issues, dealing with inappropriate use and protective behaviours.<br />
<div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-26717213889397404742009-09-20T09:05:00.010+08:002009-09-25T12:59:06.363+08:00Podcasting<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrWA9-2yxVI/AAAAAAAAACM/f-PGjrs0ue8/s1600-h/wes.jpg"></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrWA9-2yxVI/AAAAAAAAACM/f-PGjrs0ue8/s1600-h/wes.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383350731924489554" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrWA9-2yxVI/AAAAAAAAACM/f-PGjrs0ue8/s400/wes.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 104px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 104px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><strong>The presenter:</strong> Wes Fryer </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: arial;"><strong>The gist:</strong> find the information </span><a href="http://handouts.wesfryer.com/podcasting"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://handouts.wesfryer.com/podcasting</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
his website </span><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://www.speedofcreativity.org/</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span><br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: arial;">he uses radio wilow web- digital show and tell...can add and show notes eg hyperlinks writing</span> is the most powerful form of writing...it connects my ideas and my writing...to media and the web...use music not just speaking<br />
</span><a href="http://learninginhand.com/"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://learninginhand.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">use a planning guide to help students and teachers go about creating a podcast and show much more than a podcast. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="http://mps.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio/podcastbooklet.pdf">http://mps.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio/podcastbooklet.pdf</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">he uses a online timer - for discussion Timeme.com/timer-stopwatch.htm<br />
attention grabber is clapping and clicking<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">podcasts improved literacy ...real audience eg parents, realtives etc and their peers<br />
difference between podcast and audio on the web...link on website says xml and itune<br />
ip tv...there is a convergence of computer, tv and phone..<br />
podcast are part of this convergence<br />
subscribe to podcasts use a podcatcher itune store you can subscribe<br />
search for wes fryer get his channels video podcasts<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">use audacity...free online editing..also need a lame file to make it work<br />
celebrate oklahoma voices.us project<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">digital backpack....what you need eg camera, recorder, headset, falshdrive, memory stick for camera<br />
</span><a href="http://wiki.celebrateoklahoma.us/Home/resources/handouts/audacity-quickstart.pdf?attredirects=0"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://wiki.celebrateoklahoma.us/Home/resources/handouts/audacity-quickstart.pdf?attredirects=0</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">audacity uses different layers..import music and move around....envelope tool to reduce volume of section..none of us like hearing us ourselves...sit and watch your self or listen and this helps you improve....practise using the microphone at end expeort as WAV (larger) or mp3..quality bitrate eg 32 if music<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">open podcast in itunes add art work get info add a id3 tags and artwork<br />
</span><a href="http://millsmurfee.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://millsmurfee.blogspot.com/</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> feed eg use gcast widget in a wiki<br />
</span><a href="http://www.gcast.com/u/wfryer/mothersday2009" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://www.gcast.com/u/wfryer/mothersday2009</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> eg<br />
</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;">3 sites let you eg drop.io record to web record to the web need to ring the site<br />
</span><a href="http://wiki.celebrateoklahoma.us/Home/resources/music-and-audio-resources" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">http://wiki.celebrateoklahoma.us/Home/resources/music-and-audio-resources</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> free music</span> </li>
</ul><span style="font-family: arial;"><strong>My summary:</strong> Podcasts are worth trying with students they make products creatively for "real" audiences.</span>fcrawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007326753425146045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-40350655563403421712009-09-20T08:44:00.008+08:002009-09-25T12:58:40.866+08:00Helping Students Manage Technology (or It WILL Manage Them)<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrV8MFmbUDI/AAAAAAAAACE/VHb0cnJvfZs/s1600-h/barry.bmp"></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrV8MFmbUDI/AAAAAAAAACE/VHb0cnJvfZs/s1600-h/barry.bmp"></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrV8MFmbUDI/AAAAAAAAACE/VHb0cnJvfZs/s1600-h/barry.bmp"></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrV8MFmbUDI/AAAAAAAAACE/VHb0cnJvfZs/s1600-h/barry.bmp"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383345476694921266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_efPCIV-gC9o/SrV8MFmbUDI/AAAAAAAAACE/VHb0cnJvfZs/s320/barry.bmp" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 48px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 37px;" /></a> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></span><strong>The Presenters:</strong> Barry Lawrensen, Rachel Dewey - Teacher ITGS and Design Technology - Gyeonggi Suwon International School, Suwon, South Korea<br />
<br />
<strong>The Gist</strong>:<br />
Technology in multiple forms is ubiquitous to our modern lives. Is it possible to develop critical thinking skills when concentration is on the technology?<br />
<ul><li>Some teachers prefer to check the laptops and smartphones at the door, while others are embracing the technology with 1:1 laptop programs and required participation in blogs and social networking.<br />
</li>
<li>The presenters met online a year ago just met face to face yesterday!!</li>
<li>187% mobile phone connectivity in HK these students cant remember a time without technology....if schools spending $ on technology we need equal amount on training teachers as to how to use it.<br />
</li>
<li><strong>Behaviour rules</strong> are same as for other classrooms and the school eg respect don’t have a list of rules eg you cant do this and that<br />
</li>
<li>It is important to talk about ..<strong>ethical use of technology</strong>eg how to get around firewalls etc. use and show them a behaviour code for business and talk about consequences- eg if you are at work you can get sacked for unethical behaviour<br />
</li>
<li>Use students to teach the class....use <strong>twitter</strong> to chat in class no talking...use a wireless keyboards so can use them in the classroom<br />
</li>
<li>use <strong>msn</strong>...students can use mobile under the desk and send teachers the answers to questions quickly<br />
</li>
<li>they share ideas on <strong>google documents</strong> using their laptops<br />
</li>
<li>tell students they have 20 mins to present the information to teacher - how you do it is your choice-<strong> be creative</strong> </li>
</ul><strong><span style="font-family: arial;">My thoughts:</span></strong> These teachers are using laptops in their classrooms in creative ways. It is important to teach appropriate behaviour when using collaborative teaching and online learning.fcrawfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06007326753425146045noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-7633029695711867032009-09-19T13:45:00.005+08:002009-09-23T23:29:52.204+08:00Forum: School 2.0<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The Panel: Bill Hutchinson (Principal Hong Kong Sea School) , Karen Moffat (Bahrain), Michael Webber (CiSOS) Philippa Curtis (SIS)</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The Question: </b>Many schools would like to think they have transformed but on the surface they have students sitting in classrooms being told this by adults which they will be examined on later. What are the signs that a school is shifted to a school 2.0 model?<br />
<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">From the panel:<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><ul><li>When the discussion is about learning, not technology</li>
<li>Audience: What does it look like, is it just the class, is it the teacher, is it both? Outside audiences?</li>
<li>Collaboration, tech people need to be involved, teachers need to be involved in discussion with administrators</li>
<li>Teachers immersed in the technology that kids use, but aware of the risks</li>
<li>Students educated in web literacy and safety, otherwise it is like sending them into a seedy part of town on a dark night</li>
<li>Collaboration: we are still behind closed doors in out little kingdoms, we need to be working on problem based learning and we don't singly have the skills, need to work together</li>
<li>High stakes environments already do this: military, medical, pilots</li>
<li>Rich environments: How does World of Warcraft compare with worksheets in engagement?!<br />
<br />
</li>
</ul><div>Open to the floor<br />
</div><div><ul><li>Good learning and collaboration can occur without technology</li>
<li>Not all students are digital natives, there is a range of skills, only 15% are digital innovators. Most do trivial stuff</li>
<li>Tools don't have innate educational value, we need to have it scaffolded for us and we need to scaffold for our colleagues and students.</li>
<li>Students are changing in the way they process information and learn.</li>
<li>Are they really? The research perhaps hasn't shown this.</li>
<li>Students have a much lower tolerance of boredom.</li>
<li>Younger teachers have grown up with tech, experience will be different for students in their classrooms</li>
<li>Google- workers work 4 days for the company and have 1 day for exploration of ideas. Why not trying this with teachers? Give flexible time for curriculum and change.</li>
<li>Chinese system schools, teachers have much more time to plan collaboratively, less face time</li>
<li>We don't give our kids the chance to do this because we don't do this ourselves</li>
<li>Schools can have a vision, but currently, teachers can choose to ignore this and do what they like</li>
<li>What about the fact that curriculum is geared towards getting kids through exams to enter Uni? </li>
<li>Teaching kids to learn should be just as effective preparation for those kids to do exams</li>
<li>But for administrators, they do not want to risk a drop in exam marks</li>
<li>Canadian school has 5 people training teachers. That is a sign that they are school 2.0</li>
<li>Rapid personalised feedback will enhance learning, maybe technology an facilitate this.</li>
</ul><div>Paradigm shift<br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-18727867648000886722009-09-19T11:45:00.006+08:002009-09-25T12:57:28.619+08:00Multi-platform Integration - A Case Study of RCHK<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://www.renaissance.edu.hk/libz/img_th.php?img=../uploaded_images/staff/staff_167.jpg&iw=80" /></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><b></b><br />
<b><br />
The Presenter: <span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal;">Andrew Ip - Digital Service Manager - Renaissance College Hong Kong</span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Gist:</span><br />
<br />
<ul><li>PYP ---> IB founded in 2006</li>
<li>whole school is 1:1, at any on time 1000 notebooks in operation at the school</li>
<li>Primary notebooks are school owned</li>
<li>Secondary students own their own</li>
<li>Multi platform integration is not which computer/platform/OS, they are Mac and PC</li>
<ul><li>Compatibility</li>
<li>Infrastructure</li>
<li>Security</li>
<li>Policy and practice, has to be supported by leadership, parents and teachers<br />
</li>
</ul>
<li>Compatability</li>
<ul><li>Cross platform networking</li>
<li>Digital literacy skill rather than 'which software', knowing about what is out there</li>
<li>Choosing the right tools for the school</li>
<li>Centralisation of software procurement</li>
<ul><li>site license approach</li>
</ul>
<li>Extensive research and testing of alternatives</li>
<ul><li>word of mouth, Google, OpenSource</li>
</ul>
<li>Migrate to web solutions</li>
</ul>
<li>Infrastructure</li>
<ul><li>Choosing the right directory service</li>
<ul><li>authentication</li>
<li>customisation</li>
<li>single sign on, log on with single identity</li>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.opengroup.org/">http://www.opengroup.org</a></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>LDAP as OpenDirectory</li>
<li>Mac Authentication</li>
<li>Windows authentication through scripting</li>
<li>SSO through LDAP with other systems like Moodle, Wordpress etc</li>
</ul>
<li>Policy and Practice</li>
<ul><li>Just in time technology</li>
<li>Closed membership system - host services inside school servers for security</li>
<li><a href="http://www.renaissance.edu.hk/uploaded_files/ICT_AUP_V31208217600.doc" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Acceptable Use Policy</a></li>
</ul>
<li>Security</li>
<ul><li>Non-Admin accounts for students, they do not install software </li>
<li>Parent-Admin accounts, parent backlash, their computers, so they were given back-door on understanding that inappropriate/ illegal software not installed.</li>
<li>Cloning (as much as possible), installs all software on computers on 15 minutes</li>
<li>Secret police? IT admin have backdoor to see exactly what students have been up to.</li>
<li>Have enterprise grade Firewall and spam filter</li>
<li>Talk to ISP - Global Firewall</li>
<li>Site-licensed Anti-virus <a href="http://www.sophos.com/">Sophos</a></li>
</ul>
<li>What next?</li>
<ul><li>Sustainable online learning platform (iTunes U,Oracle Education, Adobe)</li>
<li>Google Apps, working on integration with LDEP so that new students receive Gmail address of school's choosing.</li>
<li>Other Learning Objects</li>
<li>Moodle or other LMS</li>
</ul>
<li>Embrace Multiple Platform Learning Devices!</li>
<li>Training</li>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.atomiclearning.com/uk/en_GB/home">Atomic learning</a></li>
<li>Special team in teachers/students training</li>
<li>Research Education Development - Digital Opportunity On Request REDDOOR</li>
</ul><ul><ul><li>Train teachers and students</li>
</ul>
<li>Working with the likes of Apple, Adobe, Microsoft etc. to try to get some certifications for teachers.</li>
</ul>
</ul><br />
<br />
<b><br />
</b><br />
<br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
New school has the<b> </b>"luxury" of starting from scratch with their systems. Most schools have time and money invested in existing hardware, software and services.<br />
Very secure system but is it at the cost of flexibility?<br />
Haven't created a separate LLT like<a href="http://teachr20.blogspot.com/2009/09/models-for-teaching-teachers-technology.html"> Canadian International School</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-34413926161747756182009-09-19T10:54:00.004+08:002009-09-23T23:32:47.568+08:00Central to Modern Crime is the Concept of Identity. Central to the Concept of Identity is technology.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://www.htcia.org.hk/images/paul_jackson.jpg" /></span><b>The Presenter: </b><br />
<b>Paul Jackson (Chief Inspector of Police Computer Forensics & Training - Hong Kong Police)</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The Gist: </b><br />
<br />
<ul><li>Youth and Cybercrime</li>
<li>Identity used to be simple. ou were who you were.</li>
<li>Youth have different identities based on context</li>
<li>The meaning of identity is blurring and police are having to adapt<br />
</li>
<li>Example: Run on Bank of East Asia late last year, triggered by text messsages and online, went viral and people turned up to withdraw their cash. How to find original sender?</li>
<li>Some people say, so what about Cybercrime? Doesn't hurt anyone... But what about online suicide pacts? What about online bullying prompting suicide?</li>
<li>Does the education system put enough into teaching ethics?</li>
<li>Finland shooting, guy posted video on Youtube before it saying that he was going to kill people.<br />
</li>
<li>Virtual worlds, great technology, but as with the real world, crimes can happen in the virtual worlds; vice, prostitution, drug dealing, pornography</li>
<li>Hidden communities. People living at home and never set foot outside the house. Order food online and are difficult to police</li>
<li>Most use is benign but we ave to be aware of the risks</li>
<li>HK Law</li>
<ul><li>Access to a computer with criminal or dishonest content</li>
<li>Prohibition on publishing obscene material</li>
</ul>
<li>Use 'Loitering' law to prosecute 'Upskirt' photos!</li>
<li><a href="http://www.isafe.org/">isafe</a> Good educational material</li>
<li>Students don't seem to care about giving up their personal information</li>
<li>Example of a predator: Hong Kong paedophile would chat with kids on MS, engaged their trust by conversing, agreeing with their points of view. Gradually introduced talk of a sexual nature, drawing on the natural curiosity of the kids. Eventually suggested a physical meet and then abused them.</li>
<li>Parents too confident that they know what their children are up to. Children have alternate lives.</li>
<li>Loners without good friendships are those most likely to succumb</li>
<li>Kids have multiple identities on Facebook. One for the parents to see and one for their friends. </li>
</ul><div>When police in HK deal with an offence by a teenager<br />
</div><div><ul><li>First step should be to examine the nature of the offence - an it be dealt with at a parent/school/social worker level?</li>
<li>Reporting as a crime is a serious atep as all reports treated seriously </li>
<li>Minors get one chance, first offence they get a very stern warning</li>
<li>Second offence has to go through the courts</li>
</ul></div><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>"The doer is merely a fiction added to the deed - the deed is everything"</i> <br />
<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
Again it seems that we need to educate our students to be safe. How much emphasis are we giving this and where is it in our curriculum?<br />
We should get this guy for careers talk to students. Cyber crime forensics is a growth area!<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-76134534192585641802009-09-19T09:22:00.003+08:002009-09-23T23:50:04.851+08:00Keynote: Andrew Thompson: Education 3.0: A framework for Change in Teaching and Assessing 21st Century Skill<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></span></a><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/members/images/dropshadowed%20MLA%20pics/Thomson,%20Andrew%20300%20dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/members/images/dropshadowed%20MLA%20pics/Thomson,%20Andrew%20300%20dpi.jpg" width="143" /></span></a><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Presenter: </span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Andrew Thompson, Former minister of Learning, Saskatchewan, Canada, now educational advisor to CISCO</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"></span></span></span></b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Thomson_(Canadian_politician)"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wikipedia link to him</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Gist: </span></b><br />
<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Newspaper heading "Majority of pupils failing to master 3 Rs"</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;">2<span style="font-size: medium;">0Th century education shaped by Ralph Tyler's Rationale</span></span></li>
<ul><li><span style="line-height: 19px;"></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? (Defining appropriate learning objectives.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How can learning experiences be selected which are likely to be useful in attaining these objectives? (Introducing useful learning experiences.)<br />
</span></span><br />
</li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How can learning experiences be organized for effective instruction? (Organizing experiences to maximize their effect.)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated? (Evaluating the process and revising the areas that were not effective.)</span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rooted in the 20th century</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How are we adapting it now?</span></span></span></li>
<ul><li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Trying to spread education to all</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Accountability - how to compare students and schools</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">There has a lot of progress. Primary school attendance about 80% globally</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">21st century change</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Fewer children being born in Asia, in 40 years this will impact economy, less cheap labour</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Growth will need to come from higher skilled labour and technology</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Teachers are going to be even more important in producing higher quality education</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">We will be 18 </span></span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">million</span></span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> teachers short by 2015! </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The new three Rs</span></span></span></li>
<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69dAZ63-1npb0os1d5rLt1ThXCWIOJP0SwNeZQWF6oNkuNnQlV8_9rINWUGS6nJWDq1VbYgkuPOtHGUHxeM6EXSbxMFBNtM-8tFaT_egHh5BSViAwYdEiyWpWY1Xc1Dncgf_ErPCNUCw/s1600-h/educ+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj69dAZ63-1npb0os1d5rLt1ThXCWIOJP0SwNeZQWF6oNkuNnQlV8_9rINWUGS6nJWDq1VbYgkuPOtHGUHxeM6EXSbxMFBNtM-8tFaT_egHh5BSViAwYdEiyWpWY1Xc1Dncgf_ErPCNUCw/s400/educ+1.JPG" /></span></span></a>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Responsive Communities</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Relevant to Students</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Results Oriented</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Responsiveness: Economic and social, what skills do they need as citizens?</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Relevance: Formal --> Blended Formal?Informal. Anywhere anytime education</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Results: Acquisition model --> Application model</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The most important quality that employers are looking for are creativity and problem solving</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">"Online access to content is allowing us to be answer rich but question poor"</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Web 1.0 - Information, Web 2.0 - Participation, Web 3.0 - Collaboration </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Virtualised communities is where we will be</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Have to change classrooms to make them collaborative, interactive and engaging; need Intelligent systems for Energy management, Asset tracking, Building controls. Safety: messaging, signage surveillance.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change: Assessment. TIMMS and PISA</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Assessment </span></span></span></li>
<ul><li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It Matters, </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You cant improve what you cant measure </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Poorly done. Negatively impacts resource allocation, diverts attention and distracts teachers</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Need to meet principles of coherence comprehensiveness and continuity</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">US exploring competency based assessment using e-portfolios and a comparative pairing approach. But who is the judge? Just teachers? Anyone with an edu email address?</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Computer assisted assessment is getting cleverer, moving beyond multiple choice</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Learner response systems (eg ActiVote) ideal for formative assessment </span></span></span></li>
</ul><div><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
</div><div><ul><li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Next century learning will have to:</span></span></span></li>
<ul><li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change systems</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change Practices</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Change outcomes</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It will all be in a collaborative outcome</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">How will we do it?</span></span></span></li>
</ul></div><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> </b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">My Thoughts:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Daunting! So much change to come. We will need much more education for teachers. Heck, we will need more teachers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We need to get tertiary education systems onboard. So much assessment is driven by the need for an entry score.</span><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-50636023432732618842009-09-19T08:34:00.003+08:002009-09-23T23:57:05.481+08:00What is an unconference?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
Yesterday at lunch time we had the opportunity to take part in an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconference">unconference</a> (wiki link). A web page was set up where anyone could post a topic. Other viewers could then click it to vote. Just before lunch the sessions with the most votes were allocated to rooms, we then grabbed our lunch and turned up for the discussion.<br />
<br />
Some of the unconference sessions:<br />
<br />
<ul><li><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 15px;">the nuts and bolts of 1:1</span></li>
<li><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 15px;">Facebook in the classroom. Is anyone doing it? Is it blocked at your school? Open discussion.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 15px;">chat about google docs</span></li>
<li><span style="color: darkblue; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 15px;">"Birds of a Feather" for technology directors<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">I suggested the Facebook gathering so naturally I went along. Only one of the attendees was currently using Facebook with her class but she said that it was a great way to keep the information stream running to her students.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The consensus was that we should be using it because that is where the students are but that it would be necessary to make up another account to keep students out of our private lives. Nobody wants students to see them drinking alcohol or having candid conversations with real friends.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-19595474096888841442009-09-18T22:11:00.005+08:002009-09-24T00:02:13.726+08:00Forum: Clouds of Uncertainty<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><b>The Panel: Ray Schneider (Canadian School), Wes Fryer (Google certified Teacher), Paul Chillingworth (Island school) , Andrew Turner (former communications minister in Saskatchewan, currently working at Cisco) </b><br />
<br />
<b>The Question: Why are schools continuing to spend money on servers and disk space when Google will give a lot of it to you free?</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ads-links.com/images/wp/google-cloud-computing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://www.ads-links.com/images/wp/google-cloud-computing.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing">Cloud based computing</a> stores files 'in the cloud' on servers offsite. Can access it anywhere, eases collaboration, concerns about ownership and privacy.</li>
<li>Reliability? What if company goes bust? What if it is down for maintenance when you need the file?</li>
<li>How safe is it?</li>
<li>We need systems in place to get permission from students and parents if we are going to host students' work and likeness in the cloud</li>
<li>Perhaps teachers should be restricted in what cloud services they use for ease of training. Say for example everyone uses Wetpaint rather that some using PBwiki and some wikispaces. But then doesn't varying our tools increase teacher's and student's abilities to transfer skills?</li>
</ul><b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
The people with concerns tended to have an administrative role and to me seemed overly cautious. Most tecahers just want access to whatever tools are going to do the job best.<br />
The vast majority of data created in school is totally innocuous, who cares about possible (but highly unlikely) security breaches in this case. Naturally we should keep sensitive financial and social data in the securest available place.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-14097125237686084822009-09-18T22:04:00.002+08:002009-09-18T22:12:22.947+08:00And introducing...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a>My good friend and colleague Feona Crawford will be adding her 2 cents to the blog as a guest poster at the conference. She will probably be more coherent than me because she can type faster. Feona is a fantastic Biology, Science, Psychology, and Mathematics teacher who has the good taste to hail from Adelaide. She is great fun to work with and in her words "...gets bored if things stay the same too long...". Feona has had an amazing career in education so far and is an inspiration to me. Good luck Feona.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-65869941774974172912009-09-18T17:15:00.004+08:002009-09-24T00:15:45.795+08:00Models for teaching teachers technology in Canadian International School Hong Kong<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span><b>The Presenter: John D'Arcy (Canadian International School) </b><br />
<br />
<b>The Gist:</b><br />
<ul><li>Learning and teaching technology department - 5 full-time member team teaching 130 teachers how to use technology in the classrooms (1750 students). They do NOT fix computers (there is a 5 person team of technicians), they do NOT teach kids<br />
</li>
<li>Trying to create a learning community in the school</li>
<li>They offer free basic parent training in day time and at night</li>
<li>Parents pay for extended training</li>
<li>Technology vision came out of SARS and a need to be able to support students better in the future. Had no space for labs or room for desktops around the room. Had to go 1:1.<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Year 5 up is 1:1</li>
<li>Carts in years up to 4</li>
<li>Laptops owned by students / parents <br />
</li>
<li>Year 5 and 6 laptops stay at school. Students too small / young for responsibility<br />
</li>
<li> 100% Apple, same model to ease management and equity issues<br />
</li>
<li>7 up take them home all the time, 7s and up have administrator rights.</li>
<li>Technology at CDNIS - implementation<br />
</li>
<ul><li>"there is no rush"</li>
<li>pragmatic and compassionate (have expectations of teachers, they have to be on the journey)<br />
</li>
<li>curriculum and pedagogy</li>
<li>teachers and students first<br />
</li>
</ul>
<li><a href="http://www.xtranormal.com/">www.xtranormal.com</a> example of engaging tool</li>
<li>LTT Guiding Principles</li>
<ul><li>Collaboration is a key, if one person wants to get something going, they have to work with their peers in faculty or year level</li>
<li>Diversity in tools, whatever works</li>
</ul>
<li>Try to promote higher order thinking, using Blooms Revised Taxonomy and working towards curriculum outcomes </li>
<li>Teachers must believe</li>
<li>Skills - Integration - Infusion. Stages of teacher tech use in schools. When teachers are achieving their curriculum goals using higher order thinking and when tech is no longer even a consideration we are at the infusion stage</li>
<li><b>Don't let the people who are negative about it have the biggest voice</b></li>
<li><a href="http://ltt.cdnis.edu.hk/">ltt.cdnis.edu.hk</a> repository of student work that teachers want to share</li>
<li>Students tag their comments with what thinking skills that they are using</li>
<li>Infobits: 15 min demos, Infobytes: After school or a half day, Infotubes: recorded information, vodcasts</li>
<li>Google docs for teacher feedback</li>
<li>Teacher accountability, teachers have a yearly 1:1 meeting with team to talk about what they are doing in class</li>
<li>If it is infused into the culture it will go beyond sustainability<b><br />
</b></li>
</ul><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
A Mac is a beautiful thing.<br />
The Canadian School have an absolutely amazing system! Very privileged.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-75421490099178462802009-09-18T14:22:00.004+08:002009-09-24T00:14:42.803+08:00Keynote: Robyn Treyvaud: Developing responsible ethical and resilient digizens<a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/3040140921_7386608fa4.jpg?v=0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3030/3040140921_7386608fa4.jpg?v=0" width="200" /></a><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></span><b>The Presenter: Robin Treyvaud</b><br />
Her bookmarks on Delicious <a href="http://delicious.com/rtreyvaud">http://delicious.com/rtreyvaud</a><br />
<a href="http://www.cybersafeworld.com/">http://www.cybersafeworld.com/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The Gist:</b><br />
<ul><li>Online is a place, not a thing, to our students</li>
<li>Average young person has 94 contacts in phone, 78 people on messenger and 86 in his or her social network online</li>
<li>Technology has enabled kids to have <b>more</b> and <b>closer</b> relationships that ever before. Almost all students use tech to enhance face to face relationships.<br />
</li>
<li>Tech is normalised. It s part of their ives and they neither 'like' it or 'dislike' it</li>
<li>This generation is capable of self regulation when educated about risk.</li>
<li>Parents don't have the skills to keep up with what there kids are doing. Kids maintain their privacy.</li>
<li>Kids will always explore risky behaviour and some will do this online. We need to educate appropriately.</li>
<li>We cannot make the internet completely safe</li>
<li>Have to develop responsible and ethical digtal citizenship. e need to embed it into our current curricula</li>
<li> Parent and child views of what is bad about the internet diverge</li>
<li>The internet is not the cause of problems, it is just a medium that amplifies what is already there. People with issues have a voice where they did not before.</li>
<li>Online victimisers are most often known to the victim, they are their 'friends'</li>
<li>Online bullying starts about year 2, pirating starts about year 4, middle school students experience </li>
<li>Solution does not rely on technology but on sociology and anthropology</li>
<li> Kids don't tell parents when they see pornography because don't want to get into trouble. Most have seen it by the age of 12.</li>
<li>Sexting: Children biggest producers of child pornography. Minors face criminal charges for passing on or receiving these messages. End up on a sex offenders register</li>
<li>Thats not cool <a href="http://www.thatsnotcool.com/">http://www.thatsnotcool.com/</a></li>
<li>Students need to realise that everything that they post will be there forever. Students think that this is not so. These digital footprints are a character reference for the future.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hackhalfhour/programs/s2359534.htm">Triple J Hack half hour</a> : My Face. Good link to use with students</li>
<li><a href="http://www.digizen.org/">www.digizen.org</a> cyberbullying resources with more video. Good stuff. Resonates with kids.</li>
<li>Need age appropriate codes of conduct. Need to find space in curriculum. </li>
<li><a href="http://digicitizen-wiki.com/">digicitizen-wiki.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/">www.cybersmart.gov.au</a></li>
</ul><br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
She had lots of great research to back her up, check out her Delicious links above.<br />
Let students loose on the internet, but educate them.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-46274339963414292512009-09-18T12:04:00.004+08:002009-09-24T00:10:44.524+08:00Learning in and Beyond the Classroom: Mobile content and iPod Touches<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://www.clms.net/conferences/images/Ferenz.jpg" /></span><b>The Presenter: Kathleen Ferenz</b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;"></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><b>The Gist:</b><br />
<ul><li style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">.<a href="http://www.cmu.edu/stores/computer/images/ipod-touch1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.cmu.edu/stores/computer/images/ipod-touch1.jpg" width="119" /></a> </li>
<li>We all a big Macbook and an iPod Touch to play with! Yay!<br />
</li>
<li>How do we leverage technology to address individual student needs<b>?</b></li>
<li><b>Touch does not replace laptops</b></li>
<li>but it allows further mobility<b></b></li>
<li>Watched a video: kids using touches; looked natural, were collaborating, using it for text input, music making, in a variety of postures, all working on different things<br />
</li>
<li>5th grade students don't need directions to use it</li>
<li>Video: Skip Johnson, principal at school in America. Audiobooks uploaded to their touches that they take home, they listen while they track the words in the book as an aid to literacy. Can look up words that they don't understand.<br />
</li>
<li> <a href="http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/">http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/</a> free audiobooks<br />
</li>
<li>Need a "Gabillion" wireless access points <br />
</li>
<li>Hands on with the Touch, basic skills <br />
</li>
<li>Lots of traditional activities are replicated but helps with organisation, can't lose paper. <br />
</li>
<li>Video on the Touch: Show a video with a projector on the whiteboard and the kids can miss things. Put it on the Touch and they can watch in their own time.<br />
</li>
<li>Students can make vocabulary flash cards using inbuilt applications</li>
<li>Quote "This is the kid's thing"<b><br />
</b></li>
</ul></div><div style="margin: 0px;"><b><br />
</b><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0px;"><b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
<ul><li>Lots of implications for working with ESL</li>
<li>Engaging</li>
<li>Great as an adjunct to laptops</li>
</ul></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-37748380120968577362009-09-18T10:53:00.004+08:002009-09-24T00:06:03.725+08:00Student-Produced research skills video<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Presenter: Sharon Vipend and Richard Friedrichs</span><br />
<b>HS Librarian & Dept Head, Information Commons - HKIS </b><br />
<br />
<b>The Gist:</b><br />
<ul><li>Library changed name to "Information commons"</li>
<li>Focus on digital tools on-line books and references</li>
<li>Students need to take a class called "Information technology ad Media"</li>
<li>Found that students not very skilled at research, especially with more traditional media</li>
<li><a href="http://ourdigitalfuture.pbworks.com/">http://ourdigitalfuture.pbworks.com</a> wiki used for course</li>
<li>Students reviewed communication technologies from the past as background. Students created pages researching the different communication technologies<br />
</li>
<li>Students were tasked to make a teaching video on research skills, content open.</li>
<li>7 teams of students had mixed success</li>
<li>Students realised there own research skills shortfalls were not up to scratch when researching th eresearch skills video. Wasted time on process.</li>
<li>Coming out of that, all freshmen now have to attend seminars on research skills. Now front end loaded with explicit instruction of research and technical skills, followed by video production. </li>
<li>Before, the take up of these skills was hit-and-miss depending on what teachers the students had had.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Still-Cheating-Dont-Get-Caught/dp/159643306X">http://www.amazon.com/Still-Cheating-Dont-Get-Caught/dp/159643306X</a> book regarding ethics, good for teaching about plagiarism.</li>
</ul><br />
<b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
Not revolutionary, evolutionary, but if it gets the students creating then it is a good thing in my bookUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-77779941664465281022009-09-18T09:26:00.001+08:002009-09-19T15:19:23.474+08:00Keynote: Bruce Dixon: Are you ready for this? Re-imagining the possibilities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.computelec.com.au/elh2006/images/presenters_images/Bruce_Dixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.computelec.com.au/elh2006/images/presenters_images/Bruce_Dixon.jpg" /></a><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span><b>The Presenter: Bruce Dixon</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.aalf.org/">http://www.aalf.org/</a> Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation: 1:1 information<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://ideaslab.vic.edu.au/">http://ideaslab.vic.edu.au/</a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The Gist:</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><li>Lots of people think that when you get a laptop "we can get on with what we were doing" or "it will transform things" without knowing how that is going to come about</li>
<li><b>When</b> and <b>where</b> and <b>what</b> and <b>how</b> we teach must <b>change</b></li>
<li>Look up Levy and Murnane "How the demand for skills has changed"</li>
</ul><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img height="234" src="http://pub.uvm.dk/2006/unescoworkshop/images/side38.JPG" width="420" /></b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><li>Talked about the idea generation required to come up with new solutions.</li>
<li>What does transformation look like? What is your role in making it happen? Fundamental change or incremental improvement; the question isn't which is right, but rather why has there been so little discussion about the question?</li>
<li>Despite our technological advances he doesn't see that we have progressed much at all.</li>
<li>Students have ubiquitous computer use at home. School catching up.</li>
<li>In to many schools the technology emperor has had no clothes. Technology driven ideals, ill-defined expectations; trivialising teacher competence</li>
<li>59% of kids spend less than 59 minutes in front of a computer at school (Australian stats from a couple of years ago) the model wasn't working.</li>
<li>Computers as a 'shared' resource gets in the way of learning</li>
<li>OLPC transforming education in developing world. Movement towards equity. </li>
<li>Need personalised learning, computers should be able to provide if we can expand our pedagogical opportunities.</li>
<li>Text book publishers will be trying to dominate the space. Just a book on a screen with a few links thrown in. Need to rethink text books. What should they be?</li>
<li>Portugal giving laptops to every child and free broadband wireless access to every child!!!.</li>
<li>The only way to give students access to personalised learning is through 1:1. It doesn't matter if they have a computer at home if they don't have constant access at school</li>
<li>Laptops: '<b>an instrument whose music is ideas' 'an imagination machine'</b></li>
<li><b>Embrace accountability</b> make it transparent; people will listen to teachers; not journalists and politicians</li>
<li>Technology is pedagogically inert. Whether it sustains, supplements or subverts is up to us.</li>
</ul><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Lots of work to do pedagogically. Really excited about the possibilities.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What is it we can do to allow students to create more cognitively complex work?<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-2631656284469113022009-09-17T19:30:00.002+08:002009-09-19T09:59:26.528+08:00Welcome and Keynote<div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s1600-h/21cl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_eGk0JIInVcWMzmsaWCKg_fNqtXcf9lWgN9mKurRzT-QebGjK6MJcATQam_BgOgXER0_quHjgHMrPfJAa2kAUqhnyHjE9yWZRRlVo-Cu02c4RPyGa1nArdbkeol3GmlZGotgRCXeR50/s320/21cl.gif" /></a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Y7VF0Lx4nf2YuaCTx4RFTuhhFhFpnGsd074CazOUYjKnJjS5fBNkpXmQconpCrykFWYCvobcLyg07QNyUlPCrFD05B3BcjMiwLpIc7yf5jeVSLm8xX-HcHCoDIHtLdisHNKbiyPrifE/s1600-h/P19-09-09_09.46.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Y7VF0Lx4nf2YuaCTx4RFTuhhFhFpnGsd074CazOUYjKnJjS5fBNkpXmQconpCrykFWYCvobcLyg07QNyUlPCrFD05B3BcjMiwLpIc7yf5jeVSLm8xX-HcHCoDIHtLdisHNKbiyPrifE/s320/P19-09-09_09.46.JPG" /></a>Well here I am at HKIS for the C21 Hong Kong Learning Conference HK. I'm at the cocktail party and opening speech. There is a buzz! 500 participants from 17 countries and over 60 schools throughout Asia. The food is great and I am looking forward to seeing some great presentations.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><br />
</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Had a nice welcome from the principal.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Flat classroom project Sue Cofino and Julia Lindsay came out to tel us about it.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Talking about using Nings and wikis etc to "flatten" the classroom and get the learning the hands of the students.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">"Erasism" new project to get rid of racism for students in grade 7/8. If you want to take part contact them online.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>The Keynote Presenter: </b>Wesley Fryer<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.speedofcreativity.org/">www.speedofcreativity.org</a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>The Gist: </b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>Create - Communicate Collaborate</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-The 'Now' generation, steeped in technology. Used a Black Eyed Peas song to illustrate the idea.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-We aren't here to entertain..<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-He mentioned the Obama speech to students the other day. Year 5 students made video blogs in response. Wes showed us one student's work. She paraphrased Obama saying "They made Twitter and Facebook 20 years ago" Just goes to show the perception of students. She ended up getting over 200k hits on her video uploaded to Youtube.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Creating, Communicating and Collaborating much easier today<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-We need to be bridges for our students, the digital divide. They can be bridges for us. People at the conference should be bridges for those who could't make it. <b>Relationships are as important as ever.</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Not everyone needs to create a 'viral video' but we should all be creating.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- 1:1 learning is the future, a revolution<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- How can we transform learning? Can't just replicate what we are already doing. Need to move on.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Showed a video about a child with cancer who attends her school from home via Skype. Students interacting with the girl. She feels part of the class.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Teachers are across the spectrum of technology use and ability. Wes saying that all teachers should become certified at creating with video. We need to learn the 'grammar'.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Can now do things not dreamed possible in the near past.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Media literacy is critical. Every single image we see is carefully crafted as a message. If we step into the creative space it opens up our mind to these things.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Have to get past the 'accommodating' stage to the 'tranformative' stage with technology. Need to do more, bringing the technology doesn't bring the transformation. Need the pedagogy to change.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- Wes challenges us all to collaborate with one other classroom next semester.<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-<a href="http://k12onlineconference.org/">http://k12onlineconference.org</a> "<span style="color: #333333; font-family: tahoma; line-height: 16px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone</i></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: tahoma; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16px;">." <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;"> theme this year is "Bridging the Divide". Gives us all access to amazing presenters in video form. We can all engage with them.</span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">- "Create" is at the top of Bloom's taxonomy<br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">-<a href="http://storychasers.org/">http://storychasers.org/</a> Check it out! "<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Story Chasers Inc. is a nonprofit organization empowering learners to become digital witnesses, safely and constructively sharing their voices on the global stage of the Internet."</i></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Find his slides</i></span></span><br />
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</i></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://handouts.wesfryer.com/ccc">http://handouts.wesfryer.com/ccc</a><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><br />
</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b>My Thoughts:</b><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Great! Emphasised the fact that pedagogy is the key. Doesn't matter what technology you have. Have to advance beyond chalk and talk.<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-57375697363645149462009-02-22T17:29:00.009+08:002009-09-17T13:24:45.381+08:002 Games for fun and educationIn my opinion the best educational games aren't those that actually set out to educate. So many 'educational' games are simply rote learning tools dressed up and although rote learning has its place, it is only fun for a while. Added to that is the fact that if you know a game is supposed to be educational, then that sucks the fun from it before you begin.<br />
<div></div><div>A couple of years ago I came across Bridgebuilder</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305559319282864146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuMSK-uXWg2sh3ATRvOaWTuA98Oot2uuCiZ2Rn8VCB18BqD6fq9xz3AidkFDbY4LTI24v6siFnChp-6ABbfT6AGT1pICHQNh6iWeokFHb_q3k7ykVz4cQdCXuLyBjs82IUOOngWvHqBM/s320/Bridgebuilder.bmp" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 251px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" />by <a href="http://www.chroniclogic.com/">Chronic Logic</a>. It was created in 2000 and gives you the opportunity to create 2D bridges to span a given gap, and then run a train across it to see if it is structurally sound. It starts off easy and then the levels increase in difficulty to become fiendishly tricky. The creator of Bridgebuilder has since left Chronic Logic and you can get an updated version from <a href="http://www.crypticsea.com/bridgebuilding/index.html">his new site</a>. The total size of the game is only 239Kb so it is quick and easy to download and setup.<br />
<div></div><div>I have used Bridgebuilder with a senior science class to look at simple engineering principles such as trusses, arches and the importance of triangles. The physics engine in the game allows you to examine where the stress is distributed in your bridge and is great for illustrating the effects of compression and tension forces.</div><div></div><div> I have also used it with a year 4/5 computer club as a problem solving exercise. It would be a great game for early finishers in a primary classroom.</div><div></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305560061235132002" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDkIehVUqKWEzeWyoiCJKwUQH5tcMDXV1Y5FUwmuF9ZLtJvGXFmR83P3va9wDJqhUFA1RRJVI4-VpNP2E6VChl3FpPPg2cJ-5bUYQptELzvZO_9RGqfzv1zYRBI92IL_l7dyKPL8gDj8/s320/BCS.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 251px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /><br />
<div><a href="http://www.chroniclogic.com/">Chronic Logic</a> have since released sequels, Pontifex, Bridge Construction set (A.K.A Pontifex II) and Bridge it (essentially a remake of Bridge Construction set with glitzier graphics). All three are available to buy from their site, or you can download a demo. They will do educational pricing if you email them with your needs. The gameplay for these later versions is similar but the bridges are three dimensional and there are new materials to play with including suspension cables and hydraulics for the creation of draw-bridges so that you can make a greater variety of designs. They are brilliant and offer a more involved challenge but it <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> hard to beat free.</div><div></div><div><span style="font-weight: bold;">The second game</span> that I feel compelled to recommend is <a href="http://fantasticcontraption.com/">Fantastic Contraption</a> which is similarly themed in that there are levels of increasing difficulty, it is a physics based game, and triangles are king when it comes to stability.</div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305563769267489698" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLidauGSgTDIl5vchDxxQZ4exRqucL-93w9gKdMNHPT6_oWR6hoD_z2qxIPpWAgbnDiO9itrywWqbFUqj_3-F0WQxlDGwYKcYKJCKmGE2GZIOpstkf9Bfwj0CRlo7ZWp0aSlsR3ol21ig/s320/FM.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 210px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 320px;" /><br />
<div></div><div>The aim of the game is to move a box or ball from a starting area to a goal area. You have at your disposal two types of rod, self-powered wheels and unpowered wheels with which to move the box or ball. You can fling it with a catapult, build it into a car, send it on a conveyor ride, or pick it up with a crane. There are usually many ways to succeed in the task, and many more ways to fail.</div><div></div><div>The principles of gravity, pulleys, levers, force, friction and Newton's Laws can all be explored.</div><div></div><div>Again this is an excellent problem-solving exercise for all age groups. It is browser based so no need to install anything. For an extra US$10 you get access to a gazillion levels designed by the community. You can rate them for difficulty and quality. There is a<a href="http://fc.therisenrealm.com/index"> companion site</a> made by fans that helps to keep track of all of the extra levels. It has been bought by the Fantastic Contraption owners so should become integrated with the main site soon. It also has a wiki that has a page about the physics of the game so you could have your students explore the gravity constant in the FC 'universe'.</div><div></div><div>I spent waaaaay too much time playing this in during my recent holidays, give it a go.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-63806773666508727052009-01-07T17:30:00.003+08:002009-01-07T21:01:47.905+08:00Mixedink: Write democratically<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvC-eQEWN-6tghvjMsoHvB2QeQLAeyw1x4_ObzjC1jFyc4vfooR8ZzF6tKfvIGBJhVMj7I9wBhYP1iLMJStEkb3N5itl9bIxlp_Qt4yY5RahyphenhyphenQ-QY-BSSj2vzlKwb-tekREIqCCzq0c-c/s1600-h/Mixedink.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 168px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvC-eQEWN-6tghvjMsoHvB2QeQLAeyw1x4_ObzjC1jFyc4vfooR8ZzF6tKfvIGBJhVMj7I9wBhYP1iLMJStEkb3N5itl9bIxlp_Qt4yY5RahyphenhyphenQ-QY-BSSj2vzlKwb-tekREIqCCzq0c-c/s400/Mixedink.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5288483098573759074" /></a>By now, many people will have used wikis, blogs, Google Docs, Zoho or something similar to get their students collaborating on a task. They all enable multiple editors to work on a piece of writing, be it a poem, a practical report, a letter, a procedure or an essay.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.mixedink.com/main.php">Mixedink</a> also allows people to collaborate but it differs in the execution and is aimed towards getting larger groups to work together.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyone can start a piece of work for any purpose. As with other services, invites are sent to potential collaborators. If for example you write a letter to the government of Japan complaining about whaling, collaborators can read and rate your work. They also have the option of writing their own version and while they do, paste in and modify the best bits from your letter. When they are happy with it they publish their version and then other collaborators can repeat the process until there are many versions, each rated by their peers. At the end of a period set by the organiser of the letter/article etc the version with the highest rating is the 'winner'. Below is a demo video:<object width="400" height="302"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2183367&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1"><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2183367&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="302"></embed></object><div><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/2183367">MixedInk</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user884270">MixedInk</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Implications for teaching:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Collaboration in all forms is an essential skill and this service could be a great way to inspire and direct students to think about a given topic. The rating system encourages analysis of existing ideas and the drafting process encourages synthesis. One problem that many students have is in drawing on a number of secondary sources to create their own work. We have all had to mark a zillion cut-and-paste horrors. Plagiarism is something that can't be over</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; ">come without explicit teaching of how best to stitch together concepts and ideas. This tool has the potential to assist teachers and students to examine the process of writing a good piece that uses other's work ethically.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div>As with all work involving collaboration online, care would haveto be taken to set guidelines for students re: language, personal attacks etc. but this should be standard for all classrooms anyway. </div><div><br /></div><div>The rating system does have the potential to favour popular students and we don't necessarily want the physically attractive yet illiterate students to have their work rated highly. I would advocate having the students set up anonymous accounts that only the teacher knows the true name for. It is a shame that Mixedink hasn't prepared for educational users by allowing educators to create class sets of numbered IDs like a couple of other web 2.0 services do. Maybe later.</div><div><br /></div><div>Likewise there might be some hurt feelings for students whose work is rated lowly. This is something that students should be prepared to deal with and it is an opportunity for some real self-examination ie "did I work hard enough?", "how can I improve my writing?", "Why did Jenny's get rated so highly?"</div><div> </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Some ideas for use:</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Interclass debates: Imagine if the main arguments for and against were assigned to whole classes or even year levels. An interesting way to see what arguments would hold the most weight with a large number of people</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Writing an 'issue' letter: Write to government or a company to voice your discontent or otherwise about an issue.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Story writing: Set the class a character, problem, setting etc and let them create.</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">School newsletter: Crowdsource an article on any topic</span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Student council: Prepare submissions to the school executive about an issue of concern to students.</span></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">You get the idea!</span></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">What I'd like to see for educators:</span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">1) The ability to create bulk logins for students.</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">2) As mentioned above, the rating system could become a popularity contest. I would like an alternative rating system that rates work according to an algorithm involving number of visitors, average time spent reading the article divided by length of article, number and amount of paragraphs copied etc.... but then, I am a maths teacher. </span><br /></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-65343934519405631192008-11-26T09:56:00.006+08:002008-11-26T10:15:23.629+08:00Typealyzer - Spooky insights into the mind of a blogger<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.typealyzer.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 74px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5jVciFg0F8imoiRt_2RSe0fFDsiRtuTXMTMRyBJQ8oamFs60oou0APVazQrQXxPAyjzUG-jJddxrI5CuCOAvdl5qW7YOkO2Sc16XQFs_hu3LPlmY3Y168jTgUzMoEus-Mqwi2DIkJoDM/s320/Typealyzer.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272780682887408674" border="0" /></a>Long time, no post. I guess that is what you get when you teach and have a family. Some things just have to come third.<br /><br />I recently came across <a href="http://www.typealyzer.com/">Typealyzer</a>. It is a simple concept. Paste the URL of a blog into the box that appears and it gives you an analysis of the personality type or the author and a chart of what sort of brain activity was going on e.g. logical/mathematical, intuitive etc<br /><br />Apparently it references some sort of database and applies an algorithm to spit out these results and for the couple I tried it seemed to be on the money. I don't know how much store I put into a lot of these left brain/ right brain things but it could be a great way to engage your students in metacognition and motivate their writing. What a great discussion point if someone who seems to be all hard-nosed and logical seems to be writing an emotional blog.<br /><br />The creators point out that it is not necessarily profiling the personality of the writer, but of the voice that they are using in their blog. You could well have multiple blogs that each have a different assessment. I have included my brain chart for this blog... hmmm... do you think it matches a science / maths teacher?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaovqVQooe699LFnE810V93W1vIg_yejfFGDD1YPkdH6Vf-hU5jiDfoqW0ljT3v9inBdYLzgGPDPbLqraoqCjq36QngLadbjLiJY40hO4obFk-YQkvdG90uHkl6eRKiOnHU2ZVWIJmdvA/s1600-h/Brain+Activity.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 284px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaovqVQooe699LFnE810V93W1vIg_yejfFGDD1YPkdH6Vf-hU5jiDfoqW0ljT3v9inBdYLzgGPDPbLqraoqCjq36QngLadbjLiJY40hO4obFk-YQkvdG90uHkl6eRKiOnHU2ZVWIJmdvA/s400/Brain+Activity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272783479603869986" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-55034695293782581542008-09-08T12:53:00.007+08:002008-09-08T13:19:34.588+08:00Sproutbuilder - Grow your Own Widgets<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrVdoL8S25me7oFHHVbuFKFL17HuLngKULaN0_g3Aqj3O_S1s-7P-NJwAEL6t04_Tt54-jeqsnRl5XDdhuaRe1BWb4RwMXsH1UKZg_K6XnUTPm1s-7g3hoR3CKICEcPwuOBFNOTC_pZw/s1600-h/Sprout.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrVdoL8S25me7oFHHVbuFKFL17HuLngKULaN0_g3Aqj3O_S1s-7P-NJwAEL6t04_Tt54-jeqsnRl5XDdhuaRe1BWb4RwMXsH1UKZg_K6XnUTPm1s-7g3hoR3CKICEcPwuOBFNOTC_pZw/s200/Sprout.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5243510339505433490" /></a><a href="http://sproutbuilder.com/"><br /></a><a href="http://sproutbuilder.com/">Sproutbuilder</a> is a platform that enables you to make your own flash widgets without knowing a scrap of code. It has an easy-to-use interface that enables you to drag, drop, resize, copy and paste elements on to your project, which can be any size from a micro button to a full webpage. These elements include buttons, text, shapes, images, audio, video (including Youtube clips), RSS feeds, Google forms, <a href="http://www.polldaddy.com/">Polldaddy</a> polls and more. Whats more, you can embed the sprouts just about anywhere: wikis, blogs (of course) Moodles, Facebook, Myspace, <a href="http://teachr20.blogspot.com/2008/06/why-you-need-start-page-netvibes-is-my.html">Netvibes</a> etc. or just email them.<div><br /></div><div>When it launched earlier this year I had a play around with it but didn't really have much of a purpose in mind when making my own sprouts. However, I started incorporating them into my wikis: Countdowns and slideshows mainly and when my school launched its Moodle recently I started to see the applications.</div><div><br /></div><div>A standard Moodle looks pretty boring. 'Nineties in its outlook you might say. So I started using Sproutbuilder to add a little bling, some RSS feeds, slideshows and useful links at the top of every subject. Of late I have started using Sproutbuilder to make little interactive modules for the students. You can see these at a new blog that I have started called <a href="http://edusprouts.blogspot.com/">Edusprouts</a> where I hope to be able to aggregate not just my sprouts, but the sprouts of other teaching professionals. Not all sprouts will be suitable, forms and countdowns will probably have little use outside the confines of the course that you build the sprouts for, but for general sprouts like the one I have included below, any (science) teacher could find a use. </div><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="360" height="280" id="spo_EgB7QffACrw71MLg" data="http://farm.sproutbuilder.com/16824/load/EgB7QffACrw71MLg.swf"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><param name="align" value="middle"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="quality" value="best"><param name="movie" value="http://farm.sproutbuilder.com/16824/load/EgB7QffACrw71MLg.swf"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" name="spe_EgB7QffACrw71MLg" src="http://farm.sproutbuilder.com/16824/load/EgB7QffACrw71MLg.swf" width="360" height="280" wmode="transparent" align="middle" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="best"></embed></object><img style="visibility:hidden;width:0px;height:0px;" border="0" width="0" height="0" src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyMjA4NTA3ODQzNzUmcHQ9MTIyMDg1MDc4NjEwOSZwPTEyMDc*MSZkPTcxODgwNCZuPSZnPTE=.gif" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-58777874737347031792008-09-05T08:11:00.005+08:002008-09-07T12:29:11.779+08:00Down for everyone or just me?With our ever-increasing reliance on internet based resources like wikis and blogs it becomes frustrating when the page just wont load. Is it a problem with the school's systems? My computer connection? Is the site down for some reason?<br /><br />The easiest way to check is to use <a href="http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/">Downforeveryoneorjustme</a> just type or paste in the address of your online resource and get independent confirmation like in the screenshot below:<p></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDl1OVp_2HkSCsS_5M2pyoGH18RVS-IoyA6SYZ1ttZbWKyzbgMt4cAGcH9_UxIYqMbuDjxlNUVfYuX_f0R6jzoODRiJK9i972fsdOM_735GTnCGyhb07HhX_L_-76VQsOGjH0wREpJm0s/s1600-h/Down+for+everyone+or+just+me.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDl1OVp_2HkSCsS_5M2pyoGH18RVS-IoyA6SYZ1ttZbWKyzbgMt4cAGcH9_UxIYqMbuDjxlNUVfYuX_f0R6jzoODRiJK9i972fsdOM_735GTnCGyhb07HhX_L_-76VQsOGjH0wREpJm0s/s400/Down+for+everyone+or+just+me.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242324754182192914" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-27435028999910073752008-09-03T15:18:00.004+08:002008-09-07T12:29:59.821+08:00The Whiteboard ChallengeGet over to the<a href="http://whiteboardchallenge.wikispaces.com/"> Whiteboard Challenge wiki</a> and try your hand at one of the challenges being set for users of interactive whiteboards by teaching professionals.<div><br /></div><div>Every two weeks a new challenge is being posted and participants are encouraged to blog about their exploits. What a great way to encourage both innovation and reflection in our practice.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a button that you can grab from my sidebar for your own blog or wiki in order to promote the event.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-24429830630932133132008-06-19T12:13:00.004+08:002008-12-11T20:52:15.886+08:00Handy classroom organisation toolsI was reading a post on Classroom 2.o the other day and came across a reference to two delightfully simple tools for classroom organisation.<br /><br /><a href="http://tinyrock.com/termites/index.htm">Termites</a> for creating seating plans and<br /><a href="http://tinyrock.com/monkey/index.htm">Monkey</a>, for creating productive groups<br /><br />I have always wanted some tools for this purpose and had toyed around with Excel and just couldn't seem to get it right.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tinyrock.com/termites/index.htm"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH9-7jlVRQc3uiqZEUNCOF-T_gPesn3ZRcNGfrqw8d3bgLfdpOY5OvIzPqzpqqRbPT_I98FkVYupgAGRbR9h43htX4KxEYdQEl2J2dK53Vnev-neNG680swB3pIONgWjMicxU9o_uZUrk/s200/termites.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213472446348919698" border="0" /></a>Termites allows you to input 'relationship' scores for your students. That is, if you think that they work well together you give them a score up to +10 and if you'd rather that they didn't sit together you'd give them a score as low as -10. The generator takes these values into account when allocating seats. If you have a student who has poor eyesight you can specify that they are placed at the front of the room. If you have a real firecracker you can even 'glue' them to the seat closest to you so that you can keep a wary eye on them and everyone else will be shuffled around them.<br /><br />Creating the table layout is also blindingly simple. You are presented with a grid of whatever size you like. You then click on a box to make it a table and click on it again to clear it. Very easy to set up rows or pods.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://tinyrock.com/monkey/index.htm"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiimhIqE0kWtn0zY5__AHqGh6dGf6w4EKowDkKSXh9-eVRNri_yp3PBotqjutPxVdsZXxtrbaXSlOcVu8l6x4eW1GIROHiZ5q8gDbdbBv5_AM5naQZksDwj3JLOAf9BzGEDCPtF5U8jFrQ/s200/monkey.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213472441498484370" border="0" /></a>Monkey works on the same principle of entering relationship values but also gives you the opportunity to input an 'ability' score from 0 to 100. You then have the opportunity to group according to ability as well as taking into account the relationships. Group size and number is customised in the same way as for Termites and so is 'glueing' a student into a group.<br /><br />Try them out, they are as educational software should be. Easy, simple, created by an educator, useful and free!<br /><br />It takes the hassle out of making new seating plans and you could choose to have a different plan ever week if you so desired with a press of the button.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-2016378768020915902008-06-09T13:05:00.009+08:002008-06-19T14:19:59.083+08:00Why you need a start page. Netvibes is my pick.Start page, home page, whatever you like to call it, it is the the page that greets you when you start up your browser.<br /><br />Many people leave it at he default, which for a school is usually the school website or learning platform. This isn't necessarily a bad place to start, but is it the best?<br /><br />Many other people keep it simple and start off with the basic Google search as their starting place. Let me tell you: that is sooo 90's.<br /><br />These days it is all about personalisation of information sources. Why go looking when you can make the information come to you? Customisation is the key. It enables you to make the information come to you.<br /><br />Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! all have customisable start pages in <a href="http://www.google.com/ig">iGoogle</a>, <a href="http://www.msn.com/">MSN</a> and <a href="http://my.yahoo.com/">My Yahoo!</a> iGoogle and My Yahoo! work pretty well and both allow you to add and remove different elements like search boxes, RSS feeds, calendars, games and widgets.<br />MSN is the most restrictive of the three allowing only basic changes to content.<br /><br />I was a long time user of iGoogle and you can see my start page below:<br /><object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" id="doc_280144571459536" name="doc_280144571459536" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" align="middle" width="500" height="325"> <param name="movie" value="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=3282005&access_key=key-2d33fu41ur9fehya6jvk&page=1&version=1"> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="play" value="true"> <param name="loop" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showall"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="devicefont" value="false"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="menu" value="true"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="salign" value=""> <embed src="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=3282005&access_key=key-2d33fu41ur9fehya6jvk&page=1&version=1" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="opaque" devicefont="false" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="doc_280144571459536_object" menu="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" salign="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" width="500" height="325"></embed> </object><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/3282005/iGoogle">iGoogle</a> - <a href="http://www.scribd.com/upload">Upload a Document to Scribd</a></div><div style="display: none;"> Read this document on Scribd: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/3282005/iGoogle">iGoogle</a> </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;">You can see that I had customised it so that I was getting the latest news from New Scientist, Science Daily, Techcrunch and others and that my latest emails were also on hand. For fun I had a pregnancy countdown for my new baby-to-be.<br /><br />If you look closely you can see the option to add more tabs which means that you can effectively customise any number of pages and have them close at hand.<br /><br />However for the past few months I have moved over to using <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/">Netvibes</a>, which along with <a href="http://www.pageflakes.com/">Pageflakes</a>, makes the customisable homepage more of a social experience. You can save and share tabs and even your whole 'universe' ie all of your tabs together. You can browse other peoples tabs and add them to your home page.<br /><br />Here is mine below:<br /><br /><object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" id="doc_693184992989861" name="doc_693184992989861" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" align="middle" width="500" height="325"> <param name="movie" value="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=3293462&access_key=key-4nqx3elyoia428ea5z1&page=1&version=1"> <param name="quality" value="high"> <param name="play" value="true"> <param name="loop" value="true"> <param name="scale" value="showall"> <param name="wmode" value="opaque"> <param name="devicefont" value="false"> <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <param name="menu" value="true"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> <param name="salign" value=""> <embed src="http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=3293462&access_key=key-4nqx3elyoia428ea5z1&page=1&version=1" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" play="true" loop="true" scale="showall" wmode="opaque" devicefont="false" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="doc_693184992989861_object" menu="true" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" salign="" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" align="middle" width="500" height="325"></embed> </object><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 500px;"><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/3293462/Netvibes">Netvibes</a> - <a href="http://www.scribd.com/upload">Upload a Document to Scribd</a></div><div style="display: none;"> Read this document on Scribd: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/3293462/Netvibes">Netvibes</a> </div><br />At first glance it looks the same as iGoogle. But here's why I like it better:<br /></span><ul><li>You can customise the number of columns</li><li>More colour options</li><li>You can fit more information in the same amount of space</li><li>The social side of it, browsing and sharing tabs</li><li>A huge gallery of widgets to choose from</li><li>French people made it, so of course it is <span style="font-style: italic;">magnifique</span>!<br /></li></ul>Imagine using it with your students. You could make a tab with feeds and links to resources for a course or assignment to get them going in the right direction. Students could share tabs that they create with peers. As a minimum, students will be able to group all of their educational links on one page.<br /><br />If you zoom in on the top left of my example you will see an RSS feed from the discussion forum of a Wetpaint wiki that my students are working on. I have a constant eyeball on what they are doing. My professional reading comes to me. I have all my science feeds and web2.0 feeds on hand.<br /><br />I would be interested if there is anyone out there using Pageflakes who can let us know its benefits...<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6765034492554290427.post-58646040980332230182008-05-16T14:10:00.007+08:002008-06-19T14:20:33.378+08:00Use Widgetbox to embed any web pageYou may already know of <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/">Widgetbox</a>, it is a great place to find useful widgets to put in your wiki, moodle or other online learning platform. Calendars, countdowns, maps, video, it has it all.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />You can make your own widgets without even a skerrick of code and this includes embedding pretty much any web page so that students don't have to open another tab and get off track. You simply follow the links to <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/create/create_widget.jsp">create</a> your own widget by putting in the URL of the wep page in question and setting the size you would like.<br /><br />Voila! Then it is simply a matter of copying the code and inserting it in your wiki, moodle etc.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Update:</span> I have to retract the above couple of paragraphs, I got an email from Widgetbox rejecting my widget :( I should have read the fine print a little better, it turns out that they don't allow full page embeds. I guess it would slow down their servers too much.<br /><br />Instead have a look at the Blidget (Blog widget, isn't that great? A new word made from two relatively new words) I made on Widgetbox. Neat huh?<br /><br /><script src="http://widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js?appId=69005579-5a62-445e-8eb0-d6cad1a96c6c" type="text/javascript"></script><noscript>Get the <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/teachr-20-jasondenys">Teachr 2.0</a> widget and many other great free widgets at <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com">Widgetbox</a>!</noscript><img style="visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="http://runtime.widgetbox.com/syndication/track/69005579-5a62-445e-8eb0-d6cad1a96c6c.gif" border="0" width="0" height="0" />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0