Getting started with BYOT in your school

The first item on the checklist of many schools planning for the introduction of BYOT is ‘what type of devices do students need’? In fact, experience in schools where BYOT has been a success suggests that this consideration should be towards the latter end of your BYOT planning checklist. So, where should we start with BYOT planning? >>>

Chromebooks A-Z

Chromebooks A-Z is a one day hands-on workshop that equips teachers, school leaders and IT staff to become familiar with Chromebooks and their use in K-12 schools. Participants will be involved in activities to explore the features of Chromebooks and how they support the use of Google Apps for Education in the classroom. The local (Illawarra) workshop will be held at … Read More

Getting started with Google Classroom

Tuesday 1st December 2015 Learn how to use Google Classroom to provide an online classroom environment that you can ‘blend’ with regular class activities. Classroom is available free for schools using Google Apps for Education, and is integrated with your Google Drive. Students and staff can access Google Classroom from any computer or iPad (or other tablet) at school or at home, fitting neatly … Read More

Preparing for BYOT

Monday 16th November 2015 Is your school planning for the introduction of BYOT (or BYOD)? The first item on the checklist of many schools planning for the use of students’ and teachers’ own technologies on the school network is ‘what are the minimum specifications of permitted BYO devices?’ In fact, experience in schools where BYOT has been a success suggests that … Read More

BYOT & BYOD K-12 Checklist

Wednesday 5th August 2015 The first item on the checklist of many schools planning for the introduction of BYOT is ‘what type of devices do students need’? In fact, experience in schools where BYOT has been a success suggests that this consideration should be towards the latter end of your BYOT checklist. Device specifications are not the most important consideration when planning for BYOT … Read More

Create a website for your class

Monday 3rd August 2015 A class website can be used as a gateway to online resources to support class activities. Check out some examples and read the step-by-step guides to making a free website for your class. It takes less than 15 minutes to create a web site that not only looks very professional, but will also play a key role in ‘normalising’ … Read More

Are you making the transition? – Check your school budget

Tuesday 28th July 2015 When considering ICT services, schools are rapidly transitioning from being providers of desktop PCs for students and teachers, to being providers of network and Internet services over which students and teachers interact with their own technologies. No longer do schools need to maintain on-site file servers or expensive software licensing contracts – this is now mostly available … Read More

BYOD / BYOT – Getting started

Thursday 16th July 2015 When schools begin their journey down the BYOT path – leveraging students’ own technologies to support the curriculum – much planning time is often focussed on which device (or devices) will be acceptable, how these devices will connect to the school network, how apps will be controlled, and other ‘technical’ hardware and software support issues. (Not to mention policy … Read More

Planning for BYOT in your school

Thursday 25th June 2015 If your school is planning to move to a BYOT model, this information may be useful in developing program resources, infrastructure and policy. The first thing to understand is that setting device specifications is not the most important factor for success! Learn more about implementing BYOT >>>

Glued to the screen

Monday 22nd June 2015 A third grade class where kids spend 75% of the day on iPads? Is this the future of education? When the 24 third-graders in Morgan Mercaldi’s class arrive at the Jackson Avenue School every morning, they take their iPads out of their backpacks and put them on their desks. The tablets will remain there, or in … Read More

K-12 ICT Infrastructure Planning

Tuesday 16th June A sound ICT infrastructure is an essential foundation of a successful modern learning environment. To be successful in supporting the curriculum, school ICT infrastructure development and implementation (computers, mobile devices, the network cabling, wireless access points, etc) must be considered in conjunction with, and in response to, the needs of the school learning environment. Is your school’s … Read More

Digital normalisation – the imperitive for all schools

Tuesday 19th May 2015 Digital normalisation occurs when the use of digital technology across all facets of the school operations is so natural, and so accepted, that it appears to be almost invisible. While the young people of the world, their parents and developed societies have normalised the use of digital technologies in their everyday lives, and moved their daily … Read More

Google Classroom adds Mobile Editing & Grading

Thursday 7th May 2015 Google has released an update to its Google Classroom software, bringing several new features to the mobile app. Teachers can now create assignments through the mobile app, edit them and distribute copies to their students. Teachers can also now grade assignments (with private comments or feedback) on their phones or tablets. Read more at The Journal >>> … Read More

BYOD – A new world of opportunity

Tuesday 3rd March 2015 Schools that have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy are encouraging independent learning and asking teachers to innovate in a fashion that would’ve been unimaginable to most just a few years ago. For teachers, the opportunities and challenges are extensive. They need to be supported by the school leadership, technically and professionally, as they explore … Read More

Where is your school on the ICT planning continuum?

Wednesday 11th February 2015 Rather than spending limited school funds on computers and software licenses, both of which need to be renewed every few years, clever schools are now transitioning their technology budgets to focus on the deployment of longer-lasting infrastructure that can support student- and teacher-owned devices, leaving the cost of device renewal and software licensing to the owners of the devices. … Read More

Is your school ready for BYOT?

Tuesday 10th February 2015 Deciding on technical specifications for student devices, developing policy documents and distributing student agreements aren’t the critical ingredients in implementing a successful BYOT / BYOD initiative at your school. Check out the BYOT/BYOD checklist >>>

iPads in schools: 5 critical mistakes

Monday 9th February 2015 While there are many effective approaches to incorporating iPads (and other mobile devices) successfully in the classroom, there are some common mistakes that are, in many cases, crippling the success of these initiatives. How can your school avoid these mistakes? Read more at Edudemic >>>

Google Apps v Office 365 – For your school

The expectation by teachers and students of ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ access to online services has resulted a rethink of software and file-server provisioning in schools. Many schools are now enabling student and teacher access to collaborative cloud apps and file storage services, which are accessible from school and home, on shared school computers and personal laptops and tablet devices. Which cloud service is … Read More

Google Classroom v Moodle

For many years schools have explored various options for providing an online component to regular classes. This need for an online environment has recently become more focussed with the move to BYO technologies in schools. Over the years Moodle has become a popular, though clunky option as an LMS (Learning Management System) platform in schools. Now Google has entered the market with the release of … Read More

Back to School – 2015

Tuesday 20th January 2015 As we begin to organise ourselves for the new school year (here in Australia), what should we be thinking about from an ICT perspective?… Where is your school on the ICT Continuum? As schools move away from centralised technology ‘labs’ to the use of personal devices to support learning, the school technology model has changed. Big time! Is … Read More

School Planning: the ICT infrastructure continuum

Friday 12th December 2014 As schools here in Australia begin their planning processes for the 2015 school year, now is a good time to consider how new technologies are being leveraged to support curriculum activities. The broad adoption of mobile electronic devices in the wider community has changed the options for ICT in schools. Schools are moving from remote ‘labs’ to always-available BYO models. Technology … Read More

Cloud Provider Policies

Wednesday 26th November 2014 How private is your data (and your students’ data) when it is stored with a commercial cloud provider? Will you and your students be targeted with advertising, based on the content of their emails and documents stored in the cloud? Who owns ‘your’ data, once it is stored on a remote server, possibly in another country? … Read More

eLearning Summit (Illawarra)

Friday 21st November 2014 The Five Islands e-Learning Summit is a full day event, providing primary and secondary teachers the opportunity to develop their skills and understanding of current technology and how it is best used to support learning. The day will consist of three sessions, broken up by morning tea and lunch (both provided) allowing for practical hands-on activities … Read More

Where is your school on the ICT continuum?

Monday 17th November 2014 As schools here in Australia begin their planning processes for the 2015 school year, now is a good time to consider how new technologies are being harnessed to support curriculum activities. The broad adoption of mobile electronic devices in the wider community has changed the options for ICT in schools. Schools are moving from remote ‘labs’ to always available BYO … Read More

BYOT – The very first step

Friday 7th November 2014 When schools move down the BYOT path – leveraging students’ own technologies to support the curriculum – much planning time is often focussed on which device (or devices) will be acceptable, how these devices will connect to the school network, how apps will be controlled, and other ‘technical’ hardware and software support issues. While all of this discussion and planning … Read More

Using iPads with Google Classroom

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

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….

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 >>>

Intel Chromebook resources

Monday 22nd September 2014 Intel have gathered some useful information, case studies and resources for teachers who are implementing Chromebooks in K-12 schools. Visit the Intel Chromebook site >>>