Wednesday 29th October 2014 While there are currently a number of workflow solutions and Learning Management Systems that work well with iPads, Google Classroom will likely become popular in iPad classrooms because of the integration with both the Google Drive and Google Doc’s iPad apps as well as any number of iPad creativity apps. Although there is not a dedicated app for Google Classroom, … Read More
eCarnival free for schools
Monday 27th October 2014 eCarnival is an iPad app, developed by a local Illawarra teacher, for recording results at school sports carnivals. And it is now available for schools for free! Use eCarnival to record your sports carnival results, and the app will generate sports house points automatically. With eCarnival you can:– Record results for Athletics, Swimming, Cross Country or any other … Read More
Our Solar System – a helical model
Friday 24th October 2014 Here is a new (and possibly more realistic) animated model of how our Solar System moves in relation to the Sun. A helical model, rather than a flat elliptical model – though this animation has caused much debate in astronomical circles. (See also: Is the Solar System really a Vortex?) Might be an interesting discussion starter for … Read More
Google Classroom – New Features
Wednesday 22nd October 2014 With Classroom released just last month, Google has already responded to the many feature requests. (I have no doubts that this will be an ongoing process). The first improvements include… Invite students more easily using Groups Mark assignments as “done” Improved teacher controls Export assessment grades to other gradebooks Sort students by first or last name Learn more about the … Read More
Word Clouds with Google Docs
Tuesday 21st October 2014 Word clouds, also known as text clouds or tag clouds, are a popular tools for visually analysing text – making it easy to spot word frequencies. The more frequently the word is used, the larger and bolder it is displayed in the image. Many teachers use word clouds as part of their learning activities, or to support their own … Read More
EasyBib – create a bibliography in Google Docs
Monday 20th October, 2014 Are your students are creating research papers in Google Docs? If so, there is a great (free) add-on they can use to build a list of their references. Using the EasyBib Add-on for Google Docs, students can easily create a bibliography and add it directly to their research paper, as shown in the video below….
Comic Life for iOS – launch pricing
Thursday 16th October 2014 For one day only (US time) the new Comic Life for iOS app is available for the special ‘launch price’ of $3.79 in the Australian app store, or $2.99 in the US App store. Check out Comic Life the Australian app store >>> Check out Comic Life in the US app store >>>
HSC 2014: Why are we still handwriting?
Tuesday 14th October 2014 As this year’s HSC examinations get underway, a plethora of teenagers, who have spent their entire lives surrounded by digital information, will wonder why they are still required to handwrite their HSC responses. Why do a generation of young adults who have never had to write a letter, unless it was to Santa in the North … Read More
Parents, put down the cell phones
Social media has a place and a purpose, but too many parents are creating unnecessary stress by trying to be in two places at once, while modelling to their children that online relationships take precedence over real ones. In an era of constant distraction, we must decide what’s more important: heeding the constant ping of our devices, or telling our … Read More
Red Moon – Lunar eclipse tonight (Aust)
Wednesday 8th October 2014 Here is another one of those great natural science discussion-starters for students of all ages ….. A blood red moon will emblazon Australian skies on Wednesday night, during a rare total lunar eclipse. A blood moon occurs in the event of a total lunar eclipse, when the Sun, Moon and Earth form a line and the … Read More
There is more to GAFE than Drive
Tuesday 7th October 2014 Google announced last week that all 30+ million Google Apps for Education accounts around the world will have their Drive capacity increased from 30 Gb to ‘unlimited’ capacity. This is great news, and will make GAFE even more attractive for schools. There have been similar announcements recently from other providers of online file storage services. However, when considering the options for cloud-based … Read More
Drive for Education – unlimited storage
Thursday 2nd October 2014 Google have announced that all Google Apps for Education accounts will be upgraded to unlimited Drive storage. Read the Drive announcement, plus more info about other GAFE updates >>>
Microsoft announces Windows 10
Wednesday 1st October 2014 Microsoft has announced its Windows 10 operating system to replace the largely unpopular Windows 8, skipping ‘version 9’ to mark a leap toward a new system designed to unify desktop and mobile devices. The next version of Microsoft’s flagship product is aimed at recapturing the lucrative business market, which generally ignored the new-look Windows 8. Read more … Read More