Saturday 22 May 2010

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.

Sunday 16 May 2010

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.

Saturday 15 May 2010

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 ...

Sunday 9 May 2010

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? 

Sunday 2 May 2010

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

Saturday 1 May 2010

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.