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 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) >>>
NAPLAN 2015 – change to writing test
Friday 13th February 2015 The writing component of this year’s NAPLAN test will be split for the first time between primary and high school students as a result of a controversial question last year. The old model of a single prompt across all age brackets will be replaced with one for year 3 and 5 students, and a separate one for … 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 >>>
2014’s worst passwords revealed
Friday 6th February 2014 Despite all the warnings, people persist in choosing easy-to-break passwords to protect their precious online data. For all the high-tech security threats lurking in the shadows, weak passwords are the easiest to fix, yet apparently the most ignored. It’s not that difficult to come up with complicated yet easy-to-remember passwords, it’s just that some people still aren’t prepared … Read More
SAMR – ICT in your classroom
Wednesday 28th January 2015 As we commence the new school year (in Australia) there will be much discussion about the use of new tech devices by students in the classroom. Is technology redefining learning opportunities in your school? Or just dishing up more of the same with a new interface? Learn more about SAMR (incl a video in a Google Apps context) … Read More
Google signs student data privacy pledge
Friday 23rd January 2015 Google has joined Apple, Microsoft, and 90 other education-technology companies to sign the Student Data Privacy Pledge, according to an announcement on Monday from the Future of Privacy Forum, a non-profit group which created the pledge last year. Read more about this story at WSJ >>> Visit the Student Data Privacy Pledge site >>> More info about … Read More
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
Google to be revamped for under-12s
Monday 8th December With Google processing 40,000 search queries a second – or 1.2 trillion a year – it’s a safe bet that many of those doing the Googling are kids. Not surprisingly, Google plans to create specific versions of its most popular products for those 12 and younger. The most likely candidates are those that are already popular with a … Read More
Rubic’s Cube – A question, waiting to be answered
Monday 1st December 2014 Rubik’s cube is more than a puzzle – it’s a question waiting to be answered. And when the right person finds the right question, it can set them on a journey to change the world. As Ernő Rubik notes in the video below, great educators are helping young minds find the questions that challenge, excite, and let them … Read More
NYC approves Chromebooks in public schools
Tuesday 18th November 2014 The New York City Department of Education (DoE) announced Monday that it has approved Google’s Chromebooks for use in the city’s public classrooms – representing approximately 1 million students and 1,800 schools. The DOE also authorised the use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE), and put together a guide to implementing Chromebooks and Google utilities into the classroom. … 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
New school? What would the technology look like in 2015?
Monday 3rd November 2014 Imagine if you were setting up a new school today – planning and installing the school’s new technology infrastructure from scratch. How will it look, when the school opens in 2015? Some planning ideas for Networks, Servers, Devices, Software and PD >>>
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
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 >>>
Free Interactive Whiteboard Software
Wednesday 24th September 2014 Are you tired of your school being locked into one proprietary IWB application? Try Open-Sankoré – apps available for Mac, Windows and Linux. Sancoré features include… commenting, drawing and highlighting tools; importing flash animations, images, audio; importing pdf or ppt documents; embedding dynamic content into your course: apps from widgets, Wikipedia, or Google Maps; dynamic screen management, … Read More
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 >>>
BYOD Planning for Principals
Thursday 18th September 2014 Schools leaders are faced with two key challenges in the new world of BYOD. One is selecting the right device or devices for students to bring to school. The second is ensuring that their teaching staff are designing creative, engaging and purposeful digital learning activities to which students bring their devices. Scott Barnham and Nerida McCredie … Read More
Google Apps – Arthur Phillip HS Case Study
Tuesday 16th September 2014 Arthur Phillip High School is a public secondary school in Parramatta, Australia serving 1,500 students in grades 7-12. Students at Arthur Phillip hail from 65 different countries and 90% speak a language other than English at home. Five years ago, Arthur Phillip began exploring options to embrace digital education. At the time, the Australian Government’s Digital Education … Read More
How to support BYOD without really trying
Monday 15th September 2014 Following the end of a government sponsored netbook program, Yass HS is working towards BYOD. BYOD poses particular challenges for schools that are used to working with school-owned computers installed with ‘standard’ software. Yass HS thinks they may have found an answer >>>
Budget shortfall looming for NSW Public Schools
Friday 12th September 2014 The NSW public school system is facing a $7 billion shortfall and declining standards unless the government doubles its spending over the next two decades to meet the state’s growing population, a leaked report reveals. The report from the Department of Education warns that without a new approach to funding and planning schools, the government will … Read More
Neutral Bay PS – Open Day
Thursday 4th September 2014 Neutral Bay PS are holding an open day on Friday 12th September. You can visit the school to see how their 1:1 technology programs engage all students…. Learn how the technology infrastructure supports innovation in teaching and learning; Hear from members of the school community and visit classrooms to discover the possibilities offered by mobile learning. Who Should Attend? … Read More
LEGO stop motion video – quick how-to
Tuesday 2nd September 2014 Anyone can make a stop motion video using an iPod and the LEGO Movie Maker app. This app has so many curriculum applications, for any age group…. Watch the video below,and download the app here >>>