Millthorpe School Languages Blog: An outstanding video made by Eleanor Kettley-Tomlinson!

An outstanding video made by Eleanor Kettley-Tomlinson!

Eleanor has produced this video on daily routine in French. It is unbelieveable – click the link to take a look for yourself!

tags: French, video, secondlife

guessthewordle / FrontPage

Each Monday, Wednesday, & Friday a new wordle will be posted for you and your students to view.

Each wordle will have a TOPIC and you will need to use your diciphering skills to figure out exactly what that topic is.

Then by using the google form, you are invited to share what you think that topic is.

You are also invited to create your own WORDLE and send it to me (jenuinetech (at) gmail (dot) com) You will be given full credit for your creation!!

tags: wordle, game, web2.0, wiki

How to Kick Butt on a Panel

Today I moderated a very good panel at a conference, and while this experience is fresh in my mind, I want to explain how to kick butt on a panel. At any given conference, there are about three keynote speakers and twenty five panelists, so the odds are much higher that you’ll be a panelist than a keynote speaker. Thus, I hope this entry appeals to a broader audience.

Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/01/how_to_kick_but.html#ixzz0MRxqH6OE

tags: speaking, conference, panels, forums

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tags: socialnetworking, Tools, aggregator, web2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

CLI – Connecting classes trial

The project involved classes with students from two or more schools who received teaching and learning through “live” interaction using video conferencing equipment and shared interactive whiteboards across the DET wide area network. The combination of these individually “mainstream” technologies created a motivating connected learning environment that was more powerful than the sum of the individual technology components.

tags: IWB, collaboration, video

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/07/06/more-on-learning-platforms/ http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/07/06/more-on-learning-platforms/#comments Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:03:12 +0000 Paul McMahon http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/?p=280 I have spent some time therefore reflecting on what a platform in a school that really gets 21st century learning and embeds challenge/inquiry based learning into all that they do might look like, especially in the middle years. I mention the middle school years as, in my experience, it is there where more often than not the struggle between motivating students and appeasing parent expectations of homework, rigour and a modality that they perceived as being best for the teachers they had, comes into conflict.
Indeed, the disconnect between what a teacher is looking to do with 21st century learning and parental expectations of more traditional “read pages 1 to 10, do exercise 1 to 4″ style of teaching is often cited as the reason that teachers do put so many worksheets on a platform accessible by the parents.

So, if a school is committed to such noble things as Individual Learning Programmes, Assessment for Learning, portfolio assessment, “just in time”, as opposed to “just in case” learning, etc., how would this be evident to someone who had access to the school portal?

I am interested in your thoughts.

Photo: Inquiry http://www.flickr.com/photos/23346165@N03/2304444220/

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Learn Chinese – Free online mandarin audio courses

Learn Mandarin Chinese quickly and easily!
40 online lessons with audio, including reading, speaking, writing, modern vocabulary, grammar, calligraphy, examples and exercices. All texts and dialogs in mp3 format for download.

tags: mandarin, language, chinese, learning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/28/schools-still-not-up-with-alan-kays-ideas/ http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/28/schools-still-not-up-with-alan-kays-ideas/#comments Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:37:45 +0000 Paul McMahon http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/?p=278 You have to love long-haul flights for catching up on reading. I am flying from Hong Kong to Perth, Western Australia and, en-route I have been reading a paper that I saw referred to on a list I monitor which had an interesting discussion recently about whether it was possible to predict a long future for the teaching of ICT as a discrete subject in schools. As one might imagine, the list that had a lot of experienced and reflective ICT and other teachers on it really grabbed this juicy bone hard and chewed it till it was devoid of all meat, marrow and even bone! Along the way there was some great discussion about why we should bother to teach anything (a topic I often start workshops with).
Along the way, this dissertation was referenced TRACING THE DYNABOOK:
A STUDY OF TECHNOCULTURAL TRANSFORMATIONS
by
John W. Maxwell

This is a bit of a lofty and academic sounding title but I really do recommend that readers who struggle with why the educators and institutions that you deal with sometimes seem reluctant to embrace the use of the technology that is reshaping the world as we know it, consider putting it on your reading list.
One of the great take-aways for me was thinking about the vision and the energy that must have been a part of the teams that Alan Kay worked with in the early days of shaping his Dynabook vision. In today’s world of amazing technology being thrown at us every “marketing quarter”, design for obsolescence in a few short years, pursuit of the latest gadget and amazing web tools seemingly landing each day, It is a very easy trap to fall into being blasé about a device that Kay would still like to see used as an “instrument whose music is ideas”.

The other amazing thing is just how far-sighted Kay is about the transformative power of the technology. Even though a lot of what Kay was thinking and writing about back in the 70s is now commonplace in terms of the availability of the hardware, it is clear from reading this that we have a long way to go to take onboard the way that Kay sees technology being used with children. I loved this quote:

Kay’s enthusiasm and unbridled romanticism is captured in his best-known quotation: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Kay’s future included children, personal computers, and a new kind of literacy.

Such a large, far reaching document is impossible to summarise here in a short blog post. I urge you to consider putting it on your holiday reading list.

Photo: Looks like an Ad, No? http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystalginn/115479869/

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dougbelshaw.com/blog » Blog Archive » Acceptable Use Agreements, Definitions & Digital Guidelines

Over the past week I’ve been working on policies and documents relating to E-Learning and electronic resources at the Academy. The following are links to the Google Docs that were created with feedback from my Twitter network. They are very much still in draft form and I would therefore appreciate further feedback!

tags: aup, acceptable, policies, admin, docs

Frequently Asked Questions

Some of the findings of positive psychology seem like common sense. Does this add anything to what we already know about the good life? It is easy to claim something is obvious after the evidence is in. It is the job of science to empirically prove or disprove what we consider as the common wisdom. Sometimes this common “wisdom” is true, sometimes it is not. One person’s wisdom can be another person’s folly. Positive psychology research is discovering some things that might not be considered wisdom to all.

tags: Happiness, positive, pointers

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/21/evidence-of-21st-century-learning-on-a-learning-platform/ http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/2009/06/21/evidence-of-21st-century-learning-on-a-learning-platform/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:51:35 +0000 Paul McMahon http://xpatasia.edublogs.org/?p=273 In the lead up to the conference, I have been meeting with quite a few vendors. Some of these have been learning platform vendors. These guys have the unenviable task of trying to sell their product to schools who are not really clear on what they want to use it for. Some schools for example convey to the community that their programmes are inquiry based and student centered but then they say that the platform must hold lots of past papers and worksheets that to all intents and purposes look exactly what I used when was taught 40 years ago!

I am currently out of Hong Kong working in Australia but I know that the many of the schools in Hong Kong have closed down due to the Swine Flu Pandemic. There is a lot of talk about how the students can still do work online. I am wondering how effective it is and, if it still follows the inquiry model?

Given that many of the schools say that they have been prepared for this to happen for some time now, it should be easy to see how schools have used these tools effectively. I, for one, am curious to know if it is possible to see 21st Century Learning in evidence on a portal? It is easy to direct kids to a website to do activities and write reports or submit results but what would we see on the portal if the students are engaged in communication, collaboration and creative endeavors leading to innovation?

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Photo: If the leaders don’t get it.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcleod/2919154475/in/pool-858082@N25

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ICT games – Resource Topics – TES Connect

Great set of learning games. Many suitable for an IWB.

tags: resources, IWB, games, interactive

Staff ICT Skills Log Questions.rtf – Windows Live

A set of questions for surveying staff about ICT skills in a school.

tags: skills, checklist, audit, CPD, training

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.