Saturday 30 August 2008

AUP 2.0 at dougbelshaw.com

AUP 2.0 at dougbelshaw.com:

Doug Belshaw wrote:

"A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post entitled Towards a Forward-Thinking Acceptable Use Policy for Mobile Devices. To avoid repeating myself, a lot of what I’m going to say here builds upon that post. As a result, you may want to read that first before you start here ... No-one ever works in a vacuum, and I don’t think anyone in the history of the world can claim to have had a truly ‘original’ idea. At least not in terms of being the sole agent involved with the idea from scratch. With that in mind, there must have been something brewing in the edublogosphere, as the week after my post seminal blogger David Warlick posted his AUP 2.0. In it, he introduced his School AUP 2.0 wiki, a fantastic resource for anyone wanting/needing to grapple with these issues."

This post is a must-read for all teachers and administrators. Doug's thoughts and ideas, his references to the fine work of others has just about got the concept of acceptable use covered for now.

In a time of everything 2.0, there is an urgent need to plan for the ongoing education of school staff and students about the risks and the benefits of new tools and applications. Security and privacy are everyone's responsibility.

always learning

always learning: Kim Cofino wrote on her blog, a post called

"Going Full Circle"


"Eureka! I think I’ve got it! Thanks to all of your fantastic feedback on my previous posts, I realized that the Collaboration Continuum I started this weekend isn’t really a continuum at all - it’s a cycle:"

She has created a very useful graphic to outline the concept and detailed some of her thoughts too.

"...To me, the cycle idea makes much more sense than a continuum. For starters, I really didn’t like the idea that teachers would feel that they should be at one end of the continuum - the pressure to “figure out” where you are on the path and how you compare to others is just too tempting (and intimidating). I also didn’t like the visual impression that it was a finite process, appearing as if once you make it to the mentoring stage you’re done."

Could you use this with teachers in your school? Respond to Kim's post.

Saturday 9 August 2008

Plug into Generation IM | Scholastic.com

Plug into Generation IM | Scholastic.com:

David Rapp wrote:
For the generation that grew up with the internet, social-networking and IM-ing are second nature. Now educators must learn the language.

"It should come as no surprise to school administrators that many of those users are their own tech-savvy students. Every single day kids post huge quantities of information—blog entries, comments, photos, music, their likes and dislikes— to their interconnected networks of online friends through computers, cell phones, and BlackBerrys. As is common with technology at the forefront of popular culture, kids were among the first to discover these networks and understand how to use them for their own socializing. It is an integral part of their daily lives. Quite simply, they get it. Now it’s time for educators to get it, too, and to start to use these same social-networking principles in the classroom."

This brief article looks at some kids social networking possibilities and projects, Imbee, Webkinz, ClubPenguin, Moodle and iCue.

Where are the teachers in your school placed in terms of their understanding and practical use of these tools and/or their associated concepts?

Are teachers and students blocked to this sites because of web filter policies?

Monday 4 August 2008

Using twitter, sms, word clouds and audience response systems in my workshop ... a technology too far? [mobile-learning.blog-city.com]

Using twitter, sms, word clouds and audience response systems in my workshop ... a technology too far? [mobile-learning.blog-city.com]:

Andy Ramsden wrote on his blog, Monday 4 August 2008:

"I tried using Twitter, SMS, Word Clouds and Audience Response Systems in my last presentation. I suppose the first question must be, why use so many technologies? A previous comment on this blog asked if there was any evidence of people using Twitter within their large group teaching. This post describes a use by me in a recent session that I ran, and gives feedback on some lessons learnt."

This is an interesting post and the slideshow saved on Slideshare is worth a look too.

The concepts are valuable for school learning 2.0 and professional learning - enterprise 2.0.


This post helps us assess the potential of these interactive, mlearning tools.

Just Blogging Around: Bell-Bounded Learning

Just Blogging Around: Bell-Bounded Learning:

John Peters wrote on his blog:

"Bell-Bounded Learning - Learning which takes place within the limits of a class period or a school day. Learning stops when students leave the confines of the classroom and they are no longer in an educational enviornment.

The definition of Bell-Bounded Learning above is one that I made up. Why? Because although I have diligently searched, I could find no other definition.

I first heard the term Bell-Bounded Learning at Edubloggercon 'Live in San Antonio' at NECC 2008. I was attending a session called:

If the Leaders Don't Get It, It's Not Going To Happen - How can we best help school principals and superintendents move schools into the 21st century? What are their special needs and concerns? What are ways we should not approach training for these folks?"

John, has referenced a number of A List edubloggers in his worthy post.

Who was it that first posted: "If the Leaders Don't Get It, It's Not Going To Happen"?

This is a theme that rarely leaves my mind ... more to follow.

Smart Technologies whiteboard software now requires product keys for installation � Moving at the Speed of Creativity

Smart Technologies whiteboard software now requires product keys for installation � Moving at the Speed of Creativity:

I wrote this comment on Wesley Fryer's blog:

"In discussing this tool, the hardware in the first instance, it is wise to use the term IWB. All other terms are proprietary.

This tool will be useful if teachers understand and implement quality teaching practice. Without structured and sustained TPL it could just be a costly chalkboard.

As far as the various proprietary software goes, in my state NSW our education department has very skilfully negotiated contracts that have procured IWBs independent of the proprietary software.

Intelligent planning, I believe."

I will follow the many discussions around IWB across the world with links I have collected at delicious.com.

Saturday 2 August 2008

Learning in the ‘hallways’ of Twitter | More than just knowing stuff!

Learning in the ‘hallways’ of Twitter

Helen Otway wrote on her "More than just knowing stuff!:" blog:

"Dare I admit this in my blog? I think I am addicted to Twitter!

A day doesn’t go by without checking my Twitter updates. I haven’t quite put my finger on why it is so addictive. What possesses me to log on each morning to see what are people are doing, reading, saying or thinking? And why do I feel compelled to answer in 140 characters or less the question - What are you doing? Do people really care?"

She gets her inspiration from the Steve Hargadon paper "10 Trends" to make some observations about Twitter. Helen also references the work of another talented Aussie blogger, Jess McCulloch.

I commented on her Helen's blog post with some thoughts and experiences of my own.

~I like your observations connected to the Hargadon trends. I also wonder why Twitter is so compelling.

I signed up last year and resisted until about four weeks ago.

I only started using Twitter because of BeTwittered where it is on my igoogle page and that is fantastic! Also, I love the sleekness of TweetDeck.

So, I finally found it was easy to do and not just another tool to try to remember to use.

I like responding to tweets from hours ago and thanking people I have never met for the many professional learning opportunities I can so easily access.

The web meetings I have participated in have added a whole new dimension to my learning.~