Tuesday 30th January 2018 If you are planning to present a YouTube video as part of a prepared lesson you want it to run immediately when you click the Play button. If your school’s Internet connection is slow or overloaded you may not be able to watch the video ‘live’. The solution to this problem is to download the video … Read More
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? >>>
Create a Quiz in Google Forms
Tuesday 6th September 2016 Google Forms now includes a Quiz feature. We can now easily create a multiple-choice quiz, notify students of their scores immediately, or email the results when everyone has completed he quiz. Download the QuickStart step-by-step guide >>>
New Quiz feature in Google Forms
Google has added some new tools to their Forms app – most notably the option to create self-grading quizzes. When setting up a multiple-choice quiz we can choose to notify students of their scores immediately, or email the results when everyone has completed he quiz. More info in this video from Shawn Beard….
The new Google Sites
Friday 17th June 2016 While the various Google Apps and Google Drive have been continually updated and refined over the past few years, Google Sites has languished with a clunky old menu-driven interface. All that is about to change. Drag ‘n’ drop page layout, responsive site design for viewing on multiple devices, etc, is coming to Sites. Here is the … Read More
This week in 2/3L
Parents, caregivers and the school community can share in Class2/3L’s learning activities through their class news page. A class web site is the first step in providing an online learning environment for your class – and a great way to start on that journey is with a class news page. The 2/3L class web site is created using Weebly. Visit the Class 2/3L … Read More
Google Slides gets Q&A feature
Friday 6th May, 2016 Google has announced a significant update to its web-based Google Slides with the introduction of a new Q&A feature that will allow the audience to ask questions from any online device during the presentation. The update also includes more presentation options for iOS, including the ability to present directly to a Hangout call. Google Slides also now includes … Read More
Is your school ready for an ICT Makeover?
Tuesday 15th March 2016 Of the many components in a school’s learning environment, the most constantly-changing physical component is undoubtably ICT. The speed of this change has been accelerating as the broader community rapidly adopts and ‘normalises’ the use of online and mobile technologies in their day-to-day lives. In comparison with this community background, many schools’ ICT offerings are now … Read More
dinotot Search
Thursday 3rd December 2015 DinoTot is a free search service for children, powered by Google safe search. DinoTot search results are kids-oriented. Sites that present information in an easy, simple way are placed on the top of the search results. Sites that are made specifically for kids get a special ranking boost. Search results appear in large Arial font and … 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
Planning – ICT supporting the Curriculum
Thursday 23rd July 2015 ‘ICT in the curriculum’ is not the same as ‘learning about computers’. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can become an engaging tool to support the learning environment. Is your school developing school management and planning structures that foster the exploration of new and emerging technologies, to support and enrich classroom learning activities? Our goal is to ‘normalise’ technology use … Read More
Technology is not a learning outcome
Tuesday 21st July 2015 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
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
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
Is that the right tool?
Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Yesterday I made reference to an article highlighting the inappropriate use of slide show software, such as PowerPoint. (Powerpoint should be banned) We can (and should) apply similar judgments to the use of technology in the classroom – digital technologies aren’t necessarily the best tool for many learning activities. It doesn’t hurt to be non-digital – in … 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
Plugging in to Nature
Tuesday 13th May 2015 Presented by the Illawarra Environmental Education Centre, this Teacher Professional Learning event will explore the use of iPads to support authentic learning outside the four walls of the classroom. When: Monday 22nd June 2015Where: Illawarra EEC at Killalea For more details, and online registration… Download the Flyer >>>
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
Add multiple teachers – Google Classroom update
Wednesday 22nd April 2015 Google has added a number of new features to Classroom, including the much-requested option to have multiple teachers for each class. A new ‘Invite Teacher’ button is now available on the class’s About page. Another much-requested feature is the option to prepare Assignments and Announcements ahead of time, and save them as a Draft, so that those items … Read More
Google Classroom – step by step guides
Tuesday 7th April 2015 Google Classroom provides an online classroom environment that you can ‘blend’ with your regular class activities. Use Classroom for sharing resources, submitting and evaluating class assignments, along with co-ordinating class discussions. Check out these Google Quickstart guides and videos >>>
The best Chromebook is ….. an iPad
Tuesday 24th March 2015 Both devices are great for education, though there are many myths and fallacies about each device that need to be explored. Read more at TechCrunch >>>
Govt online policies for Australian students
Thursday 19th March 2015 Many schools now use Google Apps for Education, and other online services, on a regular basis for both curriculum and administrative functions. However, the companies providing these services have a minimum age restriction for the use of their services – usually 13 years of age. In the US the use of such services by children is … Read More
Add a slideshow to your class’s Weebly web site
Monday 16th March 2015 Weebly is a popular option for teachers to create a class web page. The free drag ‘n’ drop site builder is easy to use, and Weebly sites look great. If you have been on an excursion, or students have been involved in an activities day, a slideshow is a great way to show off photos of the … Read More
Free Google Slides Templates
Wednesday 11th March 2015 Spice up your next staff presentation, or your students’ book reviews or other class presentation activities, with one of these free Google Slides templates…. All fully editable – open a demo presentation in Slides, then go to File > Make a copy. Free Templates Slides Carnival template gallery Free Google Slides Templates Make your Own … 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
Google Classroom – New features
Monday 2nd March 2015 Google have announced some more updates to Classroom… Teachers can now upload their own images to use as themes. Classroom will now help you crop your favourite image to the correct dimensions, and automatically pick a matching class colour. And in case you don’t have a great photo to use, there are now 18 new images and 30 pattern themes … Read More
Google Classroom Quickstart
Wednesday 17th February 2015 Have you begun exploring the possibilities offered by Google Classroom? Released in 2014, the Classroom platform continues to improve and regularly sees new features and updates. Classroom provides an ideal online classroom environment for schools using Google Apps for Education. Here is a getting-started guide for teachers new to Classroom (pdf) >>>
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 >>>