Journalist blogging and commenting guidelines | Community | guardian.co.uk

Journalist blogging and commenting guidelines Community guardian.co.uk

These 8 points, mentioned by @Ellen Geraghty @Peter Jordan on DET Yammer today.

I hope to come back to this list and use it as a springboard for a longer post on ethical use, in the organisational context.

Strategies for learning and performance support: a summary

Strategies for learning and performance support: a summary

Clive writes: "To wrap up this series of posts on strategies for learning and performance support, here’s a summary of the characteristics of each."

You can click back to the original posts via the keywords at the top of each column.

This blog is well worth a follow.

Digital Literacy Tour

Digital Literacy Tour:

Google writes:

"At Google, we support the education of families on how to stay safe online. That's why we've teamed up with online safety organization iKeepSafe to develop curriculum that educators can use in the classroom to teach what it means to be a responsible online citizen."

My comments:

I think I have listed this resource in a previous digital literacy or tools post. It is such a comprehensive resource, it is worth revisiting.

I have found it worthwhile signing up to the iKeepSafe newsletter also.

Girls think they are cleverer than boys from age four, study finds | Education | The Guardian

Girls think they are cleverer than boys from age four, study finds Education The Guardian

The article states:

The study – Gender Expectations and Stereotype Threat – will be presented to the British Educational Research Association's conference tomorrow.
The paper argues that teachers have lower expectations of boys than of girls and this belief fulfils itself throughout primary and secondary school.
Girls' performance at school may be boosted by what they perceive to be their teachers' belief that they will achieve higher results and be more conscientious than boys, the academics claim. Boys may underachieve because they pick up on teachers' assumptions that they will obtain lower results than girls and have less drive."

With just a cursory glance this research warrants a good think by educators and parents.

Project-Based Learning Strategies and Research for Educators

Project-Based Learning Strategies and Research for Educators

I have noticed over the last short time, many DET types on Twitter and Yammer looking at the features of PBL to improve learning and teaching outcomes.

Thinking I might rediscover my collection of online links for this topic, collected when I was teaching.

I am thinking also that it is still all about thinking.

Online dictionaries: which is best? | Books | The Guardian

Online dictionaries: which is best? Books The Guardian

I haven't done a Share to blogger for ages.

This is a useful article to start with.

I still have my collection of dictionaries of all vintages back to the 60s and earlier if I add those collected by my parents.

Hard to part with, really.

Various Themes: Time is in Short Supply (2)

Lately, family-life has taken up most of my time. 

Today, I found some time to get back to this draft post. No more than a mishmash of links to articles on my favourite themes. These themes are easy to work out if you have a quick backward look at my posts.

Literacy and learning

Digital literacy

Security of apps in the cloud.

Safety for young people on Facebook and more on the topic.


Networked social media in learning, teaching and research. A deck on SlideShare.


Nothing too startling here, really.

I will continue to post links on Twitter.

I hope I am inspired to return to posting links with a little commentary on my blog by spring.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (8)

Internet safety for kids - What's your story video contest results.

Online safety for younger students - Hector's World. Ways to develop digital citizenship

another useful online safety website.

At the enterprise level:

Facebook and Twitter in the workplace. What are the security issues?

This material just keeps on coming.

1: 1 Learning - Where to now?

I will put up more links to DERNSW activities over the coming months. It is all go!

 ... and the ideas from overseas, keep coming too.

1:1 - making the most of it.

Tools and services to use with 1:1 learning

what about wikis

and blogging to enhance digital literacy

Various Themes: A Work in Progress

Today, I have realised I collect a lot of links and resources.  I don't always set them in an articulate post.

Well, does that matter?  Probably not. I may or may not come back to this list and set it up more professionally.

Virtual learning at  high school level
http://ncvirtualelert.blogspot.com/2010/07/ncvps-community-e-lert-for-july-30.html
http://www.ncvps.org/

Digital literacy of digital natives

Digital natives not media savvy.

More on mlearning

For those who do more than me with presenting to others. These people are worth following on Twitter.

Digital Literacy and the Need for Change- A much discussed concept

Getting consensus?

This is a quote presented by Greg Prior Regional Director, Western Sydney in his message to Principals, 16 July 2010

"In schools the main problem is not the absence of innovations but the presence of too many disconnected... piecemeal, superficially adorned projects... We are over our heads".  Fullan 2001

My view:

This is where effective leadership comes in. To use the concepts of Karl Weick in his theory of "loose coupling":

"Tight" on the non-negotiables and "loose" on how subject leaders learn with their staff to implement quality programs and practice.

Our BOS and DET have outlined all these requirements and expectations in current documents.

Good luck with this in your schools ...

ISTE 2010 and Assorted Professional Learning Links

From an Oz blogger: Judy O'Connell thoughts on excellence at ISTE

David Warlick on another "R"

Reflections entitle "The Digital Generation" by Kristina Peters on one of the sessions she attended.

Reflections by Angela Maiers.

... and for our general professional learning ...

The networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy. Drexler, W. (2010).

I like this nifty google search graphic

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (8)

This post is another lazy-person's mishmash of links. I hope they are of use.

More on filtering in schools.

Online bullying resources

A wiki called filterclimatecheck

Risky behaviour by social networkers.

I think this Yahoo family safety site is a revisit.

Another useful site for online safety resources.

Discussions about online safety are one of the most topical issues in education.

UK Scene: What a difference an election makes. Not.

These issues have been much updated since these early thoughts from the UK.

Should we take note and worry?

Parents to set up schools

We still need selective schooling.

Most schools will become academies

The action on education in the UK is well worth following.

Brain Waves: What's the Latest Thinking (4)

Interest continues in this topic:

How children learn language

Web 2.0 pedagogical evidence and brain research

More about the aging brain


Reduce stress by changing how you think

Thinking about happiness and sadness

Whether the angle is early learning, teaching, thinking or just article on research about our wonderful brains, I will aim to keep up with the thinking.

DER in New South Wales-Where to now? (2)

More about:

In the last of my professional learning posts, I wrote about the fine things Bianca Hewes and Phillippa Cleaves are doing to support and inspire teacher learning.

A few other teachers are active too, here is a post on using Microsoft OneNote by Melissa Giddens

... another from Bianca Hewes, reporting on North Sydney Region DER Think Tank professional learning days.

I hope someone in the DER team is compiling a collection of DER teacher posts from around the state.

and the rest of the world ...

Building the world's largest student laptop scheme an article from NZ.

and another project from NZ.

Just another post on individualising learning

Hans Rosling on global population growth | Video on TED.com

Hans Rosling on global population growth | Video on TED.com

Very topical issue now. World Population Day is today.

The world is concerned with population growth and movement.

The visual impact of his everyday tools is very powerful.

The "west and the rest" says it all.

A must-watch and must-think video.

Presenting to the Office of Schools Conference - Engaging learners through innovative practice.

Darcy Moore has put together his presentation for feedback.

My thoughts:
Great prezi, Darcy!  Lots of useful in and out of class ideas. 
It is difficult to know how to pitch to a conference where the composition of the audience is not known.

Your "pitch" will strike chords with many people, since they will love the SRC and various activist ideas.

I would love to be in a high school at the moment, having blogED, DER devices and so on to work with. What an incredibly exciting time, it is!

I would aim to:

• engage each teacher in the context of their teaching passion, their subjects.
• offer generic and subject-unique quality teaching strategies
• run refresher-sessions on literacy and numeracy teaching at the subject level so that teachers...
• scaffold student writing [daily] using a range of text types and the blogED tool
• assist teachers to use the blogED learning tool to get students to plan, read, write, reflect [post] on their learning in each subject

I will keep thinking about this, since the success of the Learning Tools project will be a significant achievement for public education in NSW.

More from the conference lead-up:
Bianca Hewes and Troy Martin have prepared a deck on SlideShare: DER Leadership: A Genuine Learning Revolution.

Google Alerts: A Timely Source of Information

I love finding references to my own posts in my google alerts.

I only post on a narrow set of topics, so maybe it is to be expected.

Who said, self praise is faint praise?

Who cares?

Evaluating Website Content and Services for Student Access (1)

I have already posted some tips on this topic. Read them here:

Evaluating online products

Students registering to use web2.0 tools at school

Teachers need to maintain the currency of their professional skills and knowledge to effectively evaluate websites in the context of online learning for students of various ages.

I am thinking of an expanded checklist of criteria beyond reliability, authenticity and so on.

Today, it is also about: service, product, free now, games, login, over 13, sharing functionailty, adult/mature content, violence, parent role and and many more too infrequently considered aspects of a website.

"Potentially objectionable" is a key concept to explore.

I am formulating further comments about the wide range of issues relevant for this post. 

A work in progress.

Professional Learning - Who is Responsible?

An interesting post by Doug Woods has stirred me to action again.

He has a post entitled:
“Do we really need to explain to teachers why they should be using technology in their lessons?”

Better, he writes: "What may be lacking in some teachers is the knowledge of ‘what’ technology to use or ‘how’ it can be used."

His post is actually about training, I mean "professional learning".

My view remains, it is the responsibility of each teacher to maintain quality, effective practice by engaging willingly and proactively in relevant professional learning.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (7)

 ... and yet more. Getting hard to keep. Must confess, I have not yet read very word of the material at these websites.

The Cox Company's online safety tips-Take Charge! program and Teen Summit on Internet Safety

More online safety tips for parents

Risky Behaviours and Online Safety Literature Review by Danah Boyd.

... and some important tips to prevent people from falling for phishing scams.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (6)

This is a topic that will just keep on going. New programs and ideas to manage ever-more challenging issues.

Schools put safety curbs on student web access - filtering rules and appropriate supervision.

Reporting on the McAfee Report and the online life of teens with a post by Larry Magid.

Yahoo gives views about how parents protect children online.

This website gives parents tips on how to protect children who play online games. I hope this site is available now, it was down when I last checked.

Now for some thoughts on employee safety and enterprise security:

Malware threats via social networking websites.

Putting policy to support business use of social media.


I hope these links are all new.  There is a fair amount of revisiting of effective programs.

Professional Learning - How to make a difference [2]

Read this post on conjunction with my DER series.

Denise Loft's wiki that supports her mentoring and professional learning programs.

Melissa Giddens has worked extensively on OneNote in her school. Here, she is moving forward with a broader and more intensive program of professional learning.

Many NSW teachers are exploring creative ways to motivate colleagues and encourage thinking about quality teaching practice.

Breakfast and lunch sessions are a practical start.

Professional Learning - How to Make a Difference

This is the type of post that we all want to read.

Bianca Hewes at Davidson HS is doing some very thoughtful work, read professional learning with staff at the school. Her model, which is pushing the DE Revolution forward in an authentic way,  is worth replicating

All things DER - an update for principals in the Hunter by the prolific and passionate Phillippa Cleaves.

Models for Learning and Teaching - Is either or realistic? My question in relation to Darcy Moore's latest post. Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.

Ubiquitous devices, ubiquitous learning and ubiquitous education posted by Steven Wilson by Jorge Reyna

From Ollie Bray in Scotland a post on digital technology- children and young people.

Finally, another insight into a well-known thinking tool - the SOLO Taxonomy

Brain Waves: What's the Latest Thinking (3)

Interest continues in this topic:

Always interesting to read about early learning and brain development.

Developing Brains: Laying the Pathways to Learning

Brain images how learning strategies work.

Learning a language is good for the brain.
I think I can support this one via my own practical experiences.  This post is a set of short tips by a person whose next goal is to learn Arabic.


and finally, his topic has stirred some debate.

Mining your inner moron, why multitasking is such a waste.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (5)

The report of the Online Safety and Technology Working Group has made an impact in the blog- and twitterspher.e.

... more on this topic

... still more on this topic

Something a little different, I like these videos, I may have mentioned them before ...

Just another short post, compiling others worthy thoughts.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (4)

Julie Lindsay post on  personal information, privacy, digital citizenship and education.

Social networking and students: A bad mix? a short article from Inside the School

Some guidelines for employees using social networking sites.  A basic list, still covering most issues.

Guidance documents for school AUPs

Posts and articles on this topic are in increasing supply ... just as well, I say.

Such a complex issue.

Australian Curriculum - What is happening?

Find the latest on Australian curriculum here.

and a sidebar from the American scene: Common standards: from what to how - an extract from an Education Week article.

I am sure this topic will pop up again.

Leading Digital Learning Revolutions - Clarify the Focus (3)

Very diverse experiences and opinions from around the world are worth a think.


4 tips for integrating social media into the classroom.

Laptops in the classroom: Back row or front row? 

Districts want an app for that - laptops, handhelds, mobile devices.

At university some tools to enable collaboration.


I am sure, many more to,follow.

Communication: Content for Clarity and Correctness

Is spelling and grammar important?  I vote YES.

Steve Wheeler has interesting posts on writing rules, grammar and effective communication.

5 tips for making your presentation more social.  This Mashable post indirectly offers useful tips on communication.


Effective communication, is all!

Professional Learning - Opportunities to Engage with Change (2)

Many posts and articles can be put under this umbrella term.

Ben Jones has written a thought-provoking post - If we can't teach ourselves, who can we teach?

New York Times magazine on effective teaching ideas - as series of videos.

Worst practice in ICT use in education from the World Bank blog.

Being aware when caution is need-questions about online chat 

May be follow-up posts.

Reads, Feeds, Tweets - Am I Losing Interest?

Today, I remembered to look at my Google Reader. 

I was shocked to find 573 new items that I had not yet looked at.

Once, this would never have happened.

So what is the problem?

I have started to notice that with few exceptions, the same information is delivered through all the services I subscribe to.

What I read each morning on my google alerts, I see on Twitter and then I find it in my google feeds.

I am very disturbed that I have not checked my SlideShare saves for ages. I still believe it is one of the most useful tools out there and I notice how they are updating their service all the time.

That said, I mostly just follow tweets to SlideShare now.

That said, I think I will try to get back to SlideShare by next Sunday.  That is my challenge this week.

Another factor is that, I am in a corporate (education) environment, so now I do not have a direct audience with whom to share subject-related sites.  

I still do that sometimes on Twitter.

I like to follow various ed. tweeple and keep up with NSW education innovation.

Still, that niggling worry ... am I finally over it?

Keeping your Brain Healthy (1)

This is also quite a hot topic at the momeent. Whether it is diet, activity or sleep there are always new ideas for keeping our brains healthy and ready for learning.

This is a short article and video which outlines some tips for keeping your brain fit in the context of memory and focus.

Poverty goes straight to the brain is an interesting read.

A link from Larry Ferlazzo, the Talents of the Middle-Aged Brain. Worthwhile thinking of older as well as younger brains.

Sleep for success: Creativity and the neuroscience of slumber

More to follow.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (3)

Protecting privacy online - resources for National Privacy Week.  Test yourself about the risks of ID theft.

Social media parenting: Raising the digital generation from Mashable

Still more conversation about education's role in teaching students how to be safe online.

Keeping employees thinking about the risks.  Criminals are taking notice of all the advice being give.

More about filtering.

Time to launch this new mini-collection.  This debate looks unlikely to stop any time soon ...

Leading Digital Learning Revolutions - Clarify the Focus (3)

This topic is still a bit of a mishmash of very diverse experiences and opinions from around the world. They are all worth a think and add to our learning.

Changing the face of STEM education with ipods

Teacher learning - ideas for schools.

Laptops in the classroom: Back row or front row? 

Professional Learning - Opportunities to Engage with Change (1)

There are so many interlocking elements of any plan to refocus or change teaching practice.

Bianca Hewes speaks about presenting to her colleagues at a recent School Development Day.

It is even more a must now for teachers to be able to effectively evaluate for learning a wide range of website content and services.

More about the Iowa 1:1 laptop initiative. Worth keeping an eye on their wikispace too.

I have posted before about this very valuable resource - digital literacy toolkit.

Always worthwhile revisiting posts by Sue Wyatt, here is a letter to parents of Year 6/7 about their children blogging and the expectations she has about effective practice.

Look at for more in this series.

Online Safety - More about Key Concepts (4)

Social media issues

New Jersey principal asks parents to ban social networking

Social media curriculum in schools


Website filtering - another element in an online safety policy for education

Wesley Fryer wrote this post on school internet filtering

and as a result of feedback he received he wrote this follow-up post, claiming what he had written was not a personal attack on all tech. directors.


Finally, a follow up on Tom Barrett's idea for staff to map what is is not allowed.

This post, Mapping the filter: What do you block?  provides a US perspective.


I use delicious to collect websites relating to online safety concepts and education.

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World (4)

This series looks like continuing for a while.  Blog and twitterati always have something to say about teaching and learning.  Again, this one is a bit of a mishmash of posts, links articles, I feel are relevant.

Microsoft guides for teachers

A teacher wiki full of resources.

ReadWriteWeb has an article: Do kids read blogs? New study aims to confuse. 

Hooked on Thinking.

Finally, from Dianne Mackenzie, Information literacy is the basis for all learning

Digital Revolution versus Digital Distraction: A Hands-On Argument

This type of headline has been appearing more frequently of late.  Articles about banning laptops or handheld devices are always worth a read, just to get on top of the arguments.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, but hey, who am I to judge what higher-education staff might require in their classrooms.


Many others at all levels of schooling are more positive.

1:1 is more than devices

Student comments about the use of netbooks in Year 7

Good at games: mobile learning proves a hit in schools and Web-based learning leaves schools in two minds, are two interesting articles from the UK, Guardian.


Learning with laptops and various handheld devices, is a topic that still has a lot of time to develop and play out in primary and secondary levels of schooling.

NSW Public Schools - Critical Elements of Curriculum Design (1)

A useful extract from: Curriculum Support for teaching in English 7-12. Volume 14, No.4, 2009

This overview is an extract from a segment in this publication relating to programming for Gifted and Talented students. It is in fact the template for effective programming for all students.

Curriculum design
"The design process should first specify what students are to achieve. The BOS syllabuses determine the scope and sequence of learning, and before a unit of work begins, teachers should decide how they will know whether students have achieved the outcomes. The syllabus outcomes are the minimum that students are expected to achieve, and can be modified or extended to meet the learning needs of gifted and talented students. If the outcomes are modified, the teaching and learning activities and assessment must also
be modified.

The second element of curriculum design is the NSW Quality Teaching (QT) model, which is a generalised model of pedagogy based on teacher effectiveness research (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). The dimensions of the QT model, Intellectual quality, Significance and Quality learning environment, need to be interpreted in the light of the needs and characteristics of gifted and talented students.

The third element of curriculum design is the use of curriculum models such as those of Bloom (1956), Maker (1982) and Williams (1993), which provide ideas for the modification of curriculum content, instruction, students’ products and learning environments to develop engaging and challenging activities. "

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World (3)

This post includes thoughts on teaching practice, digital literacy and online safety.  You may want to catch up with the previous post in this series of loosely related topics.  I also have a series of posts with a focus on online safety.

How to evaluate the best toolkit for your class by Dean Groom.

UK teacher union supporting teachers when they have problems with social networking websites.

K-12 web 2.0 debate. Learning to communicate.

Curriculum teaches digital literacy and citizenship by Larry Magid.  This may be a repeat link and it worth reading.

Privacy chiefs keep watch over Facebook. 


Digital learning and teaching is a topic that is attracting a lot of attention and creative thinking.

More UK Learning Resources - Worth an Explore

In my previous post, I introduced a number of excellent UK websites with numerous useful learning resources.  You may want to explore these first. UK Learning Resources - So Many Gems
I have since done a little more exploring and found some more must-visit websites.

Birmingham Grid for Learning

Devon subject and specialist areas

Riding LEA- lots to explore here

Hertfordshire Grid for Learning

Thinking about thinking

The London Grid for Learning

Luton - teaching resources

Kent ICT subjects

Middlesbrougth Learners resources

South Gloucestershire learning

Welsh Grid for Learning


Enjoy ...

Writing Well Online in the NSW, Department of Education and Trainng

The Department has reminded all users about effective communication guidelines for online publications.  There are several files for download.

Well worth a read.

Online communications guidelines

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World (2)

This post is a bit of a mish-mash of links on topics that I feel are linked to this braod issue.

Effective teaching and learning - quick start guides provide an introduction to a range of practices.

Report from the learning and the brain conference

Teachers are learners too - an interesting blog post.

Transforming Learning ... No, Really an interesting post by Will Richardson.

Adobe Creative Commons resources released after the recent Adobe Leaders Conference.

Paul Wilson prezi for a School Development Day provides inspiration for teachers to update their practice.

Our children telling us how they want to learn. Links to the recent Kaiser Foundation Report.

An initiative from Calgary, Canada: High schools aim to have every pupil using a laptop

Classroom set-up tool another interactive from Scholastic.

"Wolfram|Alpha is a free online computational knowledge engine that generates answers to questions in real time by doing computations on its own vast internal knowledge base."
Check out the educators page.

The issue of who leads with school libraries

Teaching only to where the teacher feels comfortable.

Social networking in schools - benefits v risks

Check the hype - there's no such thing as "cyber"


I have put this post together over time.  Please let me know of any dead links.

"Hands-On" Learning with Laptops and "i"devices (4)

Generation i will grow on touchscreens and the Gartner Report that is the source of this article.

Iowa 1:1 Institute, Van Meter initiatives.

Not a lot of new initiatives reported lately, I'll open the post and add to it as they appear.

#ACEC2010 - Gary Stager - Views on Australian Education

DERNSW - Gary Stager's view

... and yet more, a post by Martin Levins on Gary Stager's views.

Reflections from Jenny Luca.

Others have since posted about the value of the conference with no reference to Gary Stager.

and I say ... does anyone really care!

Go public education ... the Digital Education Revolution is happening now in a public school near you.

Online Safety - More about Key Concepts (3)

Read all my previous online safety posts, to start your exploration.

Young adults care about online privacy

Facebook has done more work on this topic a with a new Safety Center.

Teaching about web includes the troublesome parts. A post that reports on the value of the new Common Sense Media materials on online safety. Please note this is a New York Times article and will be archived by the paper.

Building ethical learning communities - a hotlist on preventing plagiarism by Teacher Librarian, Audrey Nay

ipad family safety tips

More online safety and policy tips to consider:

• Loss or disclosure of confidential information – this needs to be considered from the organisation's perspective and also their clients' perspective
• Discrimination claims – from within and outside the organisation
• Reputation risk – who is saying what about you or the organisation
• Vicarious liability- liability through a third party
• Privacy breaches
• Defamation

Educators are always writing on this topic, look out for another in this series.

The unsurprising story of ning - Remember, it's all about money.

 ning social networking groups have been a favourite with educators for several years now.

There seems to be surprise, disbelief and even horror spreading among early adopters in the education community.

I wonder, do educators forget that these services and products belong to businesses? You have to make your money somewhere if a business is to be sustainable.  Even Twitter has a business model ready to launch. Etherpad has been swallowed up by google.

The story so far in the blogosphere:

A post by Steve Hargadon ning changes and the impact on educational communities

The company has written: ning update rolling out in full

ning eliminates free networks, we think.

Alternatives to ning by Wes Fryer

ning gives educators the heave ho!

RIP ning: Is that such a bad thing?


Will be interesting to watch developments.

Will the company be influenced by the outcry of educators.

What's on the Horizon for Ed-Tech in K-12? - Digital Education - Education Week

What's on the Horizon for Ed-Tech in K-12? - Digital Education - Education Week:

Education Week reports:

"The Austin, Texas-based New Media Consortium, in conjunction with the Washington-based Consortium for School Networking, released the second annual Horizon Report: The K-12 Edition Monday. The report is written by a board of international experts in educational technology who identify key trends and challenges facing K-12 ed-tech, as well as outline which technology trends are most likely to affect K-12 students in the next one to five years.

Not surprisingly, cloud computing and collaborative environments made the cut, with the experts predicting that both will be adopted into mainstream education within the next year. Game-based learning and mobile devices will be adopted within two to three years, the report says, and augmented reality as well as flexible displays are expected to be adopted within four to five years."

Now, click the title to check out the whole report.

What do you think about how this affects your teaching and professional learning?

Blogging with Students - A Powerful Literacy Activity

Using blogs with students is still a hot topic.

Sue Waters posted this earlier in the year. It is a guest post by Kathleen McGeady.

Students needed to be skilled to make contributions to class blogs. Providing guidelines or scaffolds to ensure that student comments are of good quality is a starting point that will contribute much to student literacy development.

Blogging in class is about literacy and learning.

Particularly, at the secondary level, if students are to learn (content and skills) from having their own blogs, then the process needs to be scaffolded by each teacher to suit the learning outcomes of individual subjects or key learning areas.

A model reflecting the types of texts that students need to succeed in each subject will ensure maximum improvements in reading and writing skills.

Top 10 YouTube Videos About The Web

Top 10 YouTube Videos About The Web:

Another ReadWriteWeb gem, the company writes:

"Our selection of the 10 most popular YouTube videos about the Web is of course based on page views. But we also filtered the results for videos that are most true to explaining the big-picture version of what the Web is. The selection includes some of the most creative ways the growth of the Web has ever been explained."


Follow the title link and have a look. Some are very well-known now.

Online Safety - More about the Key Concepts (2)

Take a look at my previous posts on this topic. If you are a teacher, are these ideas known to you? What model do you use?

Evaluating websites for "classroom" use: What classroom is that?

Student Learning in Digital World - Online Safety

Students registering to use web2.0 tools at school

Google makes YouTube Safer

When evaluating websites, first recognise that websites today are not just static content.

Websites that involve media creation and sharing require thorough review. A checklist will require these basic requirements and risks to be assessed.

• child protection - personal information security
• age-eligibility requirements that may be hidden in lengthy documents
• privacy relevant to age
• duty of care - online bullying opportunities
• data security - security of the enterprise's intellectual property
• network security - security of access
• location information - geo. services showing where people are
• ungrouped objectionable content that cannot be effectively blocked

Browsers may not be aware that websites expose them to threats including: phishing, malware, spyware, viruses, botnets and many new techniques developed by criminals each day

So you want your students to play subject-related learning games ...
A games website often has lots of games, many not useful for student learning. In fact, the website may be more designed to raise advertising revenue. Games on a website may redirect to different websites and this is often not obvious.

It is a professional responsibility of all teachers to be aware of these factors and keep up to date with the dynamic, unpredictable nature of an evolving internet

Teaching and Learning in a Digital World (1)

This collection is an assortment of posts, articles and websites that have an interesting bearing on the broad topic of "effective teaching and learning". Everyone has many and diverse views.

A FutureLab project on Digital participation, digital literacy, and school subjects: A review of the policies, literature and evidence

A useful collection of teacher resources created by the Education Department of Victoria

The Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) collection of professional learning videos.

Project Based Learning wiki -practice and theory

Talkin' about igeneration

A slideshare presentation by Pip Cleaves on. Her motto of Connect, Collaborate, Create has considerable power for leaders and learners using social media to inspire change.

Citizenship in the digital age

Teen blogging a good thing, study suggests

Wikipedia relaunch - easier to navigate, search and edit ... reports ReadWriteWeb

Look out for more in this topical issue.

"Hands-On" Learning with Laptops and "i"devices (3)

Third in this series ...

A story from Wales: Free laptops as windows of opportunity

Another from England, Somerset school issues all 1400 pupils with their own laptop

From the USA:
Residents hear more about the Central York laptop plan

Innovative ways to engage learners with cell-phones.

More and more initiatives every day from around the world.

Online Safety - Ethical Behaviour (2)

The desire to create responsible digital citizens underpins the proliferation and quality of online safety initiatives.

European trends to online safety

Educators grapple with social media

This video is worth a view: Symantec Tutorial on cyberbullying

Another video series from iKeepSafe: Social networking basics

Along with massive growth in student use of collaborative tools for sharing during school hours and at home, we are seeing more and more attention being paid to effective online safety programs.

Evaluating websites for "classroom" use: What classroom is that?

Recently, jomcleay tweeted:
Thanks to all who answered with their thoughts about twitter, some really good ideas. Now question is Twitter for classroom? Edmodo?

This tweet and many tweets and blog posts before have finally prompted me to comment on this issue.

Teachers have always reviewed and assessed the suitability of resources of any kind including websites before they use them in the classroom.

In the case of websites that offer login services, it is absolutely vital, that teachers use a checklist of criteria to assess each product or service, before they "direct" students to register or even use during school hours. Some of the critical issues include:

• being very clear about what is suitable for the age-groups you teach
• looking for interactive resources and adaptable lesson ideas from reputable sources. They are in no short supply for educators.
• being fully aware of the risks of using a service website that may reduce the potential benefits
  
• reading and understanding any age eligibility requirements in the Terms of Service or Privacy statements
• understanding the opportunities for and implications of student "sharing" attached to all the features and functionality of service websites.
  

... a short list to start ...

Finally, these articles touch on some of the relevant issues for educators wanting to engage students with the most powerful content and social media services for learning across all subjects.

Wikipedia fit for the classroom.

Is social media just for kids?

Facebook - To filter or not to filter?

Districts change policies to embrace Twitter, Facebook.

Assorted:

Blended learning - NSW CAP initiative

http://trichorder2.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-stood-at-crumbling-edge.html

New literacies and ambiguity a great overview by Doug Belshaw

Look out for my next post on the key concepts and language for teachers to understand when reviewing digital resources for student access.

"Hands-On" Learning with Laptops and "i"devices (2)

Survey: Student want Mobile Devices in School

Educators struggle to design mobile-learning content

Central York School District, Pennsylvania and the possibility of laptops for high school students

Rethinking plan for educating at-risk students.

Nintendo aims to get consoles in schools

Collection in progress as articles appear ... look out for three in this series

DER in New South Wales-Where to now? (1)

Where to for this exciting and successful project? Education in NSW is on the boil.

2010 laptop rollout starts

Education Minister, Verity Firth updates progress of laptop rollout at Kogarah HS.

Brendan Jones speaks about his thoughts on the "Education Revolution". This is a valuable post.

Diane Marshall at the Adobe Leaders Conference

Bandwidth for the DERNSW - Stephen Wilson speaks at the Adobe Leaders Conference

A parent/s view of DER ... how relevant to learning is the website referred to?

Enticing teachers to use technology a useful post by a teacher from NSW, North Coast

Watch out for the next in this series ... DERNSW is on the move ...

Health and Wellbeing (1)

Useful article with lots of tips about sleep

Effects of sleep deprivation

More on the value of naps

Nap boosts brain learning power

A brain on perfect is often late too - about the potential impact of "perfectionism"

Why some brains become leaders and others followers.

Parenting and early learning

"Hands On" Learning with Laptops and "i"devices

Going 1:1 - a conference post by Kim Cofino.

More from ASB Uplugged

Pupils to use cellphones as learning tool - NZ initiative

Tech booming in North Dakota schools

Chicago high school laptop initiative

At college and university - diverse opinions of the value of laptops during lectures

A laptop in very backpack

The great laptop debate. Desirable or a distraction in class?

Should schools be giving out computers?

In Iowa, Danville High hopes to give students laptops.

1:1Models: Options Abound

1:1 computing programs only as good as their teachers

How the iphone could reboot education

Don't forget to read all my previous laptop, netbook and handheld device posts.

Online Safety - Ethical Behaviour

My teacher made me do it. An interesting piece by Miguel Guhlin on teacher awareness of Terms of Service and age eligibility requirements of social media tools

This is a reference in Miguel's post giving a more legal perspective.

The 2010 State of K-12 Cyberethics, Cybersafety and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the U.S. Survey

Internet safety: Whose job to teach kids about it?

Bullying: Declining or just moving online?

Digital citizenship and innovation - an interesting wiki under development

10 internet safety tips for parents

Facebook, privacy and cyberbullying

Don't forget to check the links in my previous two posts on this topic.

Effective Teaching and Leading for a Digital Revolution

Every principal needs blog

Use of OneNote by Tami Brass

Kids search more from Joyce Valenza

A Prezi on google search tricks

Same schools, new tools

Digital natives variation in internet skills

Effective practice in a digital age

Effective Teachers

Banish the Powerpoint Curriculum - tips for effective presentations

Vast list of teaching strategies to use in all aspects of teaching

Education Eye- mapping innovations form FutureLab

Top 10 technology tips for new teachers.

Student Learning in a Digital World - Online Safety

In NSW, public high schools, support for the Digital Education Revolution continues. The recently available "Principals' Digital Education Revolution Checklist", contains a section with this title and leads into " Student Induction: Digital Citizenship"

Step 1 - p4
Is to ensure a clear understanding of and agreement to adhere to relevant DET policies including Online Communication Services:Acceptable Usage for School Students Policy and the Laptop User Charter. Specifically, students should be directed to the sections on: acceptable usage, privacy and confidentiality and copyright. A strong message is sent about a range of breaches and the consequences of breaching the Charter. The issues of privacy and the sharing of personal data and pictures of others without permission should also be discussed.

A range of "cybersafety" sites are referenced for further reading. p5 They should enable an interesting series of sessions to be developed for both staff and students.

Effective Teaching using Online Resources and Services

http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/25774/5-Questions-for-Planning-Successful-Web-Based-Activities/

http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/25777/3-types-of-web-based-instructional-activites-w-examples/

The problems of changing teaching (custom and) practice.

UK article: Education secretary warning to incompetent teachers.

Leading Digital Learning Revolutions - Clarify the Focus (2)

In leading a high school into 2010, my priorities would initially focus on:

• SC/HSC teaching, assessment and reporting - getting the best results
• Literacy and numeracy learning - effective, agreed teaching practice for shared responsibility
• Syllabus and program review schedules - refining and updating practice for DER
• Personalising learning to meet diverse student needs
• Involving parents in student learning - especially in the context of DER

This is just a quick brainstorm and the post is a work in progress ... in the meantime, check out this post

In the USA: Nation's superintendents to take back the reigns of educational leadership

About the kids: Tech-savvy 'iGeneration' kids multi-task, connect

A useful post on IWB: It's not about the board.

My First post on this topic

Student Safety Online - Must respond ... not just nice to respond (2)

Zip it, Block it, Flag it an interesting post from December 2009, by Steve Wheeler about some UK initiatives

Another post inspired by Safer Internet Day 2010, from the BBC:
When the tech becomes unfriendly

Safer Internet Day in German. There is French site too.

The Importance of thinking before you post

A reference in a @darcy1968 post to a review by readwriteweb of Europe's Golden Rules for keeping Safe on Social Networks. These rules were a Safer Internet Day 2010 response.

Advice on dealing with dangerous websites from BullyingUK and this one about being safe on social networking sites.

UK Council of Child Internet Saftety (UKCCIS) has useful resources and reference to latest campaign: Click Clever Click Safe.

How can I teach ... internet safety from @tasteach

A work in progress ... so much interest lately and it's about time. Read Part 3.

Leading Digital Learning Revolutions: Job Description Needed (2)

Nation's superintendents to take back the reigns of educational leadership

A work in progress ... in the meantime, check out this post.

First post on this topic

Digital Tools and Laptops for Learning - Global Buzz (13)

Continuing the buzz ...

1:1: Educators add individual computers and internet access to classroom

Calgary Public Schools can soon "tweet" in class using iphones, laptops.

Revisiting a ning group about the Victorian experience of 1:1 Learning Environments.

A new equation for maths students, an article about using laptops and other tools to improve results.

Laptops for Learning - NSW Experiences 2010

More as we roll ...

Forbes High roll out

Google makes YouTube safer

There has been a great flurry of interest in this development. All teachers should be interested in how to make sure that school-based browsing is a sfe form encountering objectionable content as possible.

Here are some of the posts and articles.

YouTube Help provides us with Getting Started: Safety Mode and writes:
"Safety Mode gives users the option to choose not to see mature content that they may find find offensive, even though it's not against our Community Guidelines. When you opt in to Safety Mode mode, videos with mature content or that have been age restricted will not show up in video search, related videos, playlists, shows and movies. While no filter is 100% accurate, we use community flagging, hide objectionable comments and porn image detection to identify and hide inappropriate content. Safety Mode on YouTube does not remove content from the site but rather keeps it off the page for users who opt in."

Safety mode demo video

CBSNEWS discusses the new parental controls.

Listen to Online Mom talking about Safety Mode.

Motivation to learn - Whose job is that?

Adult or child? Teacher or student"

This post has made me reflect on this question, in the context of motivating teachers to adapt, expand or bluntly put, change their practice.

Larry Ferlazzo wrote: I've never motivated a student.

I have been gathering information on the "brain and learning" in a previous post.

Work in progress ...

Student Safety Online - Must respond ... not just nice to respond (1)

Lots of interest worldwide in Safer Schools Day 2010.

Safer Internet Day 2010

From Ireland, an article about Irish teens online

Check out this Kentucky safe schools organisation website. The Pledge against cyber bullying is interesting, as is the matching cyber bullying website.

Visit wisekids UK and a post that refers to the Wise Kids conference on Young People in a Digital World

Online Safety: the sensible and the bizarre a post by John Connell about a UK experience.

Australian Federal government pilot increase cybersafety in schools. This includes a link to the National Safe Schools Framework.

Online safety push for 5 year old more about the UK experience.

YouTube safety mode, hot off the press is covered in a later post.

Effective (re)search - What is the Latest?

Textbooks, Wikipedia and Primary Source Research

7 Tools for Organising Web Research

Using google for Search and Research

A work in progress ...

Web Filtering - News and Views (1)

A topic that arouses high emotions and passionate, polarised opinions ...

Here is a selection of posts relevant to this topic, that I have collected over the last months.

Ewan McIintosh on Glow, Scotland, VLE and school filtering

Larry Magid writes on filtering for parents, recommending rarely for teens.

In a perfect world ... a teacher posts about a blocked website.

Web 2.0 and filtering

Filtering internet content for kids

Internet filtering as a form of soft censorship

Copyright, filtering issues for the 21st century.


I will continue to collate articles and post on this topic.

Still stuck on SlideShare - Where to now?

Work in progress ...

I plan to map the new features that should attract even more educators and users of social media to SlideShare.

I think I might set up a new group to save to...

I want to create some shows this year, a noble goal, but we will see ...

My enthusiasm about SlideShare, which almost matches my keenness for google tools, figured in many of my very first posts. My first major reflection post 2007-2009.

Social learning - the story so far ...

About my Slidespace, my uploads and my groups.

... and I am not alone, Angela Maiers Chalk Talk post on her use of @SlideShare and that of other well-known educators.

Just wait a minute ... reflection on the language weuse

Just wait a minute, is the language we use helping our cause. I have written on this topic previously. Breaking old habits is easier said than done.

Speaking about education reform. More useful terms could be: rethinking, reframing or what about simply variations of the word "change".

Angela Maiers has her thoughts on this topic too: Nurturing New Ideas: Turning "Yeah, but" into "Yes, how?"

Let's all abandon the notion that school teachers might teach "social media".

Digital Tools and Laptops for Learning - Global Buzz (12)

Seventh graders in Richfield Springs now have laptops to take home, a story from New York.

Some schools rethink bans on cell phones
This MSNBC article references activities in a few American states.

Another opinion piece on laptop learning: The Truth about 1:1 Laptop Programs

Student response systems still attract interest in the field.

Jury still out on EVSC laptop computer program

Finneytown students enjoy being test subjects.

An alternative view: Ban cell phones in school

Wesley Fryer writes: Teaching more content with an IWB is not transformational

My School: Achievement, Excellence, Closing the Gaps ... (3)

Now comes the thinking and talking about the what, who where, when and how of improvement.

Longer school hours for disadvantaged children

Funding to improve students literacy and numeracy

My January Learning 2010 - Reflection on Productivity

During January 2010, I produced 75 posts.

The flurry of literary and digital activity actually began when I started holidays on 18 December. First I finished a couple of "draft" posts that I had in the pipeline for a couple of months. Too busy to get it together.

My January posts consisted of :

1. Blog This! links to useful articles and posts.
2. Various reflections - mine and others.
3. Thoughts on effective teaching and professional learning
4. The language we use and words I would like to avoid
   
5. Several series of posts:
   

• DERNSW- laptops for learning and "i" devices,
  
• My School - improving achievement at home and around the world
• IWB and related technology
  

I was pleased with what I achieved and will make a review of each month's learning a feature of my work.

PBS Frontline Digital Nation - BBC Virtual Revolution - Lots of Buzz

Both productio have created some global buzz on Twitter. I will collate any follow-up commentary and posts.

BBC production The Virtual Revolution. How 20 years of the web has reshaped our lives.

PBS Frontline digital_nation

Henry Jenkins has written briefly.

Brain Waves: What's the Latest Thinking (2)

Part 2 in this series

How much does your brain know about itself? or 50 brain facts every educator should know.
Elementary school principals: Recess boosts learning

7 things very parent and educator should know about learning challenges.

What brain imaging shows us about gifted learners

Digital Learning - What are the Essentials?

Web 2.0 in the primary classroom

Helping children find what they need on the internet

Expert authors and advocates for information and technology literacy, Michael B. Eisenberg, Doug Johnson, and Robert E. Berkowitz announce their revised Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) curriculum for K-12 education. The document, updated to reflect current technology, demonstrates how technology literacy skills fit within an information literacy skills context. Find the download on this page.

Educon 2.2 - Now What Are You Going To Do? A post on school leaders moving from talk to action after an inspirational conference.

Two New School Policies: Cell Phones, iPods Okay In Classroom for one Colorado High School.


Back to basics in this wiki work: What do I use a wiki or a blog?
Should Schools Block Social Networking Sites

Digital Tools and Laptops for Learning - Global Buzz (11)

Down and dirty ... no neat links yet ...

http://blogs.itbusiness.ca/2010/02/one-laptop-per-student-a-pre-requisite-to-a-21st-century-public-education

http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/02/03/02customlearning.h03.html

http://www.slideshare.net/ajmccarthynz/evaluating-the-effectiveness-of-laptops-in-the-classroom

More about Iowa 1:1, Wesley Fryer writes and podcasts the detail.

1:1 learning: laptop programs that work

Setting table for learning

Israel’s Time To Know Aims To Revolutionize The Classroom

Some schools rethink bans on cell phones

Laptops in the classroom - getting feedback by Tami Brass.

Teachers or Teaching? Both Matter.

The flesh and blood person in the classroom is important. Effective teaching practice must be endorsed and delivered by this person.

That is what matters and makes a difference.

Technology, it's about the teachers not the tools.

Why certain teachers do jump out of the technology pot.

Focus on the facts. A post on the need for teacher reflection and change.

You mean the teacher still matters a post by Jeff Utecht.

Baffled educators: free and failing.

A blog post reference, by @gregwhitby to the now much tweeted article " What makes a great teacher?

Key Skills, Literacies, Capabilities ...

Five Simple Skills | Betchablog:

Chris Betcher wrote;

"There always seems to be a lot of talk about the need for more teachers to embrace “21st Century skills”. Of course, there’s a lot of discussion about what these “21st Century skills” actually are. Many people have debated and discussed this issue, asking the question of what exactly should today’s learners know in order to function in the “21st Century”.

I’m sure there are a whole lot of really good answers to these questions that dig deeply into effective pedagogy and the deeper philosophy of education. This post is not about those things."

This post stimulated some thinking on my part. I noted that Chris Betcher listed the following:

I can only agree with ONE of Chris' list and that is "learn to search". I have posted on this topic previously in many references to the effective use of the full power of google search.

His decision to include basic photo and video editing, use html editor and learn to think in hyperlinks does not match most skills that I would consider vital for effective teaching and professional learning in this the second decade of the 21st century.

I do not use the term " 21st century skills". That horizon is another 9 decades to live through and to my mind it is impossible to predict skills essential for 2020 living let alone 2090 living.

After effective searching, I would include:

• deep knowledge of effective teaching practice suitable for digital learning
  
• a willingness to keep on learning professionally through relevant networks
  
• the capacity to reflect on teaching practice and professional learning through short blog posts, wiki references or ...
  
• technical knowledge and skills that facilitate online, multimedia student learning

Hard to stop at 5 ...

Your Kids Know More Than You!!! - Synthesizing Education Blog

Your Kids Know More Than You!!! - Synthesizing Education Blog:

The points Aaron Eyler makes in this post have interested me for a while and I have a few thoughts of my own.

"I presented at a conference today on educational technology and had a ball doing it. I love talking with people about education and educational technology. I also love being provocative and providing others with interesting ways to conceptualize revolutions and ideas in education, which is why I am going to provide you with some information I shared with the attendees today: your kids know more than you."

My comments:
First point, would be to ask: in response to the statement "your kids know more than you" - about what?

If it is about the latest "tech tool, gadget, widget or mobile phone ... well maybe and maybe not. If the response is maybe, then I say so what...

As a high school languages teacher, I am happy to be and needed to be the "sage on the stage" most if not all the time. I am not going to teach very effectively if I am not a content specialist.

I am a fan of direct, explicit instruction, coupled with inquiry and exploration as the basis for independent practice of what our students need to "learn about and learn to (do)" in each subject area.

Maybe I am out of step ...

Brain-waves: What's the Latest Thinking? (1)

I set up a new google alert during January to capture the latest on "brain learning". Every day, sure enough, someone has written something new on our wonderful brains.

It may be well-researched, it might be a nice theory. I am wanting to collate these posts and learn all I can about:

• brain development
• early learning
• keeping our brain healthy

and any other related topic that any brilliant thinking comes up with.

Magnesium adds muscle to brain performance.
Strengthen your memory by taking a break
Why brainy is suddenly chic
Born to learn
An idle brain may be ripe for learning
Exercise, Brain Stimulation and Writing on the Move
An article on fish oil being good for our brains and happiness.
Taking It Literally: Testing How the Body Processes Information