Thursday 14th August 2014 Ever had a lesson prepared, needed to display a YouTube video, and right at the crucial moment you discover that the Internet is down? Fear no more! Use the Firefox YouTube Video Downloader to save the video as an MP4 file so it is ready to go, right when you need it. Install the Video Downloader Firefox … Read More
Stop Motion in the Classroom
Tuesday 5th August 2014 Stephanie Castle, an Australian teacher, has posted some ideas about using Stop Motion Studio on iPads with her high school students. Stop Motion Studio is available in the App Store >>>
Check out Haiku LMS
Monday 28th July 2014 Use Haiku to create an online learning environment for your class. Create classroom pages, add and organize content blocks, change layouts, embed content from YouTube, Google Docs, Maps, Skype, etc. Resource sharing in Haiku lets you share your classes, pages, and content blocks with any other Haiku user–and use content in your own class created by other teachers. … Read More
Have new technologies brought new learning opportunities?
Monday 14th July 2014 Today is a ‘student free day’ in local schools, with many teachers involved in professional learning activities focussed on the use of new technologies to support the curriculum. But are these new technologies bringing new learning opportunities to classrooms, or simply providing students with a new typewriter interface? The SAMR model provides a framework to define the impact of technology in the … Read More
Un-Googleable questions in the classroom
Friday 20th June 2014 Creating class projects that develop higher order thinking skills, by focussing on un-Googleable questions….. Teacher: What are we learning about this week? Class: EGYPT!! Teacher: Wrong. We’re learning about how to make and answer better questions, remember? We’re just using Egypt as an example when we do it. Class: *Nervous shufflings.* Can’t we just do a project … Read More
Google Classroom – first look
Tuesday 17th June 2014 Classroom is a new Learning Management System (LMS) environment being developed by Google to operate in conjunction with Google Apps for Education (GAFE). Classroom is currently available for trial schools, and will be available for all schools using GAFE in September 2014. Classroom will be free for schools. Classroom builds on GAFE to create and organize assignments, provide grades … Read More
Merrylands HS – BYOD
Friday 13th June 2014 This site provides a comprehensive overview of the BYOD program at Merrylands HS, in the western suburbs of Sydney. Includes an overview of the BYOD program, information for students and families, student agreement documents, frequently asked questions, and evaluation information from the school’s trials of BYOD. Check out the Merrylands BYOD site for more info >>>
iPads in Action K-6: Literacy and Mathematics
Thursday 12th June 2014 Think3 will present a workshop on integrating iPads in the Curriculum, at Helensburgh PS on Tuesday 24th June 2014. Participants will be introduced to a wide variety of apps throughout the day to showcase the number of ways iPads can be used to successfully support and engage students in their learning. This workshop will involve a … Read More
Getting started with Google Apps
Tuesday 1oth June 2014 Introductory step-by-step guides for a wide variety of Google Apps. Learn how to use Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and other Google products, such as Search, Video editing, etc. Check out the Google Apps Quickstarts >>>
Going BYOT? – Improve your Internet access
Thursday 5th June 2014 When schools rolls out a BYOT program they might be adding hundreds of new devices to their network. All using the school’s existing bandwidth to access the Internet. You will definitely need more bandwidth to support BYOT. But you can make better use of your existing bandwidth using a proxy server. Every time a student clicks on a link to a … Read More
Kathy Schrock’s Bloomin’ Apps
Monday 2nd June 2014 Would you like to focus on the use of new technologies in your classroom to support higher order thinking skills and creative learning activities? Kathy Schrock has published a page suggesting suitable iPad, Google, Android and web apps to support each level of Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy. These apps are also linked to the SAMR model of the use of … Read More
Google’s Reading Level Filter
Friday 30th May 2014 A class web page can be used to share links to web sites and other resources that support your class activities – but how do you find sites that are suitable for your students’ reading level? Google can filter your search results based on the reading level of the pages in the results…. Learn how to filter search … Read More
Inspired peddling
Thursday 29th May 2014 Would you like to encourage a cycling activity with your students? Maybe you have some experienced students that need something a bit more exciting to ponder? Then check this out…(The risk assessment forms might be a challenge though!)
Chromebook and Google Apps Showcase
Wednesday 28th May 2014 Arthur Phillip High School invites Principals and Technology Coordinators to a showcase of digital learning. This event is an opportunity to hear the story of the school’s journey from DER to BYOD with Chromebooks and Google Apps for Education. Following morning tea in the Governor’s Room, school principal Lynne Goodwin will lead a presentation describing the circumstances and … Read More
Class size DOES make a difference.
Tuesday 27th May 2014 David Zyngier has undertaken a study of the effects of class size on student academic performance. He finds: The more years students spend in small classes during grades K-3, the longer the benefits for achievement last during grades 4-8. Smaller class sizes are especially important for children who come from disadvantaged families. Read more of David Zyngier’s … Read More
Transitioning your school to the new ICT era
Monday 26th may 2014 A key goal of teachers using technology to support the curriculum has always been the integration of new and innovative technologies in day-to-day classroom activities. Unfortunately, the cost of new technologies has always been a hurdle to achieving this goal. When ‘technology access’ is located in a secure ‘lab’ in another building in the school – accessible once a week … Read More
Blended Learning Resources (NSW Rural & Distance Ed)
Friday 23rd May 2014 Blended learning is a teaching practice that has developed to meet the needs of 21st-century learners. It is methodology that can be used in all learning contexts, from face-to-face classrooms through to totally online learning environments. The NSW Rural and Distance Education site provides useful resources for educators in a wide variety of environments to integrate new technologies in … Read More
Showbie Pro Update
Wednesday 21st May 2014 Have you checked out Showbie yet? The video below demos the latest release of Showbie Pro, and gives a concise overview of the features of the app. There is also a free version for classes of up to 35 students, with similar features. Definitely worth checking out. Visit the Showbie site >>>
BYOD at Sydney Boys HS
Monday 19th May 2014 Year 9 students at Sydney BHS are expected to bring their own computing device to school every day. The school makes recommendations as to the model of device students may choose to bring, or students can choose an alternative device that meets the school’s specifications. The site includes information and links to documents outlining school policy, student charter agreements, and device specifications. … Read More
Digital storytelling with Animoto
Friday 16th May 2014 Animoto is an online and mobile video creation service that makes it easy for students to create and share videos using their own pictures, video clips, words and music. Students choose a theme, then upload pictures and video clips to the video editor. Next, they personalize their movie with text and music, then click a button to create their digital masterpiece. … Read More
What do we want kids to do with technology?
Thursday 8th May 2014 A few years ago I walked into a classroom with a local District IT manager. The class of 9 and 10 year olds were working in groups, all engrossed in producing videos about their chosen topics. Some groups were constructing stop-motion videos, others were outside the classroom conducting hard-hitting interviews with staff. Other students were off in … Read More
Google to stop scanning apps inboxes for ads
Wednesday 7th May 2014 Google has announced that it will stop scanning students’ Apps for Education accounts to target ads at them. What was somewhat lost in that announcement was that Google will also make similar changes to other account types. Google will also soon stop scanning the accounts of Google Apps customers with Business, Government and legacy accounts for the free version. … Read More
Faster School Internet access
Tuesday 6th May 2014 Every time a student clicks on a link to a web page, resources are downloaded over your school’s Internet connection to the student’s computer – using valuable bandwidth. So, imagine if you could store commonly used web resources inside your school network, and encourage students to use those common resources from inside the network, rather than repeatedly downloading … Read More
Showbie for iPad
Thursday 1st May 2014 Showbie makes it easy for teachers to set assignments and for students to submit assignments, all in an iPad environment. Teachers can also use Showbie to provide feedback to students. Watch the video below, or for more info visit showbie.com >>>
Sync Multiple Google Drives
Wednesday 30th April 2014 If you have a Gmail account for personal use, and a Google Apps account for school, then you have probably already felt the pain of not being able to sync multiple Google Drive accounts to your computer. Insync is a utility that allows you to sync multiple Google Drive accounts to your computer, along with several other neat … Read More
NAPLAN online – is everybody ready?
Tuesday 29th April 2014 The Australian Government is planning to conduct NAPLAN online from 2016. While the Government is to be commended on the move to take advantage of the efficiencies and the opportunities opened by going digital and online, will all parties critical to the success of conducting NAPLAN online be ready for a 2016 test? Will all Australia’s … Read More
Configurator – Course update
Due to popular demand, an additional course has been added to Scott Barnham’s Configurator roadshow workshops…. at Bodalla PS on Friday 30th May. Maybe tack the Friday on to a long weekend away on the sunny NSW South Coast! Learn how to manage your school’s iPads using Apple Configurator, at this one-day hands-on workshop. You will learn about….. Apple Volume Purchase Program … Read More
Google Sheets – Convert old to new
If you are using Google Sheets to create your spreadsheets, you are probably already using the recently-released new version of Sheets. But what about your existing spreadsheets? How do you convert a spreadsheet created in the original version to the new format? While Google doesn’t provide a simple one-click conversion tool yet, there is a quick workaround… Open the a … Read More
Google-proof questions
Simple fact-regurgitation questions make it all too easy for students to type their research questions into the Google search bar to ‘find’ an answer? We can leverage the principles of Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop research tasks that promote analysis, interpretation, and investigation – and avoid simple ‘answers’ that require no higher-order thinking skills. Learn more >>>
School ICT Planning – Curriculum Focus?
All school planning should be undertaken with a clear vision of how the implementation of a particular initiative will improve learning outcomes. However, some school planning procedures – ICT planning in particular – seem to be structured around a debate centred on hardware platforms, budget allocations, and the knowledge and personal preferences of technical support staff with no pedagogical experience. How … Read More