Thursday 15th May 2014 The two articles below , published by Dominic Norris at Innovate My School, discuss reasons why schools are choosing tablets to fulfil their 1:1 ambitions and suggests a slight tweak on how this by-now-familiar formula might be improved. As Dominic writes…. Fundamentally, schools want to bring the undoubted benefits of a really powerful and functional device to every … Read More
BYOD Sandpit
Tuesday 13th May 2014 Thinking about implementing BYOD in your school? The BYOD Sandpit contains support documentation and resources developed by teachers, school communities and consultants. The material at BYOD Sandpit is provided to help inform discussion on the implementation of BYOD in K-12 schools. There is a great deal of info on this site relating specifically to NSW DEC schools, including step-by-step … Read More
North Baddesley Infants School (UK)
Friday 9th May 2014 Discover what is happening at North Baddesley Infants School in Hampshire in the UK. This engaging site provides the school community with a clear insight into various aspects of school life. Great example of a school web site. Visit North Baddesley Infants School >>>
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
Why you need a Gigabit connection for your WiFi
Monday 5th May 2014 If you have 20 wireless devices connecting to a single Wireless Access Point (WAP), those wireless devices are sharing the bandwidth that is available to that single WAP’s connection to the network. If your WAP is connected to the network (via an Ethernet connection) at 1000 Mbps then each of those 20 wireless devices can expect … Read More
New Google Docs and Sheets Apps
Friday 2nd May 2014 Google has announced that its Docs, Sheets and Slides apps, currently part of Google Drive, are being broken out into separate mobile apps. Docs and Sheets are available now on the App Store and Google Play. Slides will be available soon, along with a new version of the Drive app. One of the major new features of these stand-alone apps … 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
US bans junk food in school canteens
Monday 28th April 2014 The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a ban on junk food in schools in an effort to cut the level of obesity in young people. The ban will begin on July 1 and will be nationwide. According to the proposed ban, schools across the country will only be allowed to sell healthy foods such as fruit, … Read More
Finnish Lessons
Some holiday reading….. “Education policies in Finland concentrate more on school effectiveness than on teacher effectiveness. “This indicates that what schools are expected to do is an effort of everyone in a school, working together, rather than teachers working individually. “In many under-performing nations, I notice, three fallacies of teacher effectiveness prevail….” Read more at The Washington Post >>>
Google codifies crawling your email
On Monday, Google updated Gmail’s terms of service to spell out its relationship with users in no uncertain terms: “Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customised search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.” … 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-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
Office for iPad is free – but it will cost you!
Increasingly, large software vendors like Microsoft are making their iPad apps exclusive to subscribers of their main software package. It’s a troubling trend. Microsoft launched Office for iPad last week. The good news is that the new apps are free – the bad news is that they’re read-only runtimes unless you pony up for an Office 365 subscription. Read more … Read More
iPad Apps for your classroom
What do you want to do today? A list of popular iPad content-creation apps connected to every-day curriculum-related activities. Check out the apps >>>
Basic Skills or Soft Skills?
Is creative brain power more valuable than formal education? Google’s Brin, Page, and Schmidt seem to belong to a school of thought similar to that of Papert, Minsky, Negroponte, and even Albert Einstein: “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and “learning to learn is more important than memorising information.” Read more at the Huffington Post >>>
The SAMR model in your classroom
Friday 28th March, 2014 Have new technologies brought new learning opportunities to your classroom, or simply provided students with a new typewriter interface? Are you using technology in the classroom for the sake of using technology, or are these new devices creating new and engaging activities? The SAMR model suggests a framework to define the impact of technology on the learning … Read More
Google Apps – Office Online – iWork for iCloud
Online ‘office’ apps are becoming a critical component in every educators’ toolbox. There are now three main players in the online ‘office’ apps department – Google, Microsoft and Apple. Which one is right for you or your school? Read the review >>>
BYOD at Banksmeadow PS
Teachers Eric and Ben discuss the process of introducing a BYOD program at Banksmeadow Public School in Sydney….
Edmodo at a Glance
Discover how Edmodo can make your classroom a community….
Planning an ICT Makeover for your school
In comparison with the ever-changing use of ICT in the wider community, many schools’ ICT offerings are now looking a little tired and outdated. Lots of ‘same-old’ ICT has been happening in many schools for the last 10 years – research, copy, paste, summarise, print, hand-in! So, where do we start in hauling a school into the modern ICT era? … Read More
Cloud providers – Policy statements
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 emails and documents stored in the cloud? Who owns ‘your’ data, once it is stored on a remote server, possibly in another country? Links to privacy statements from … Read More
Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow
The ACOT project identifies six design principles for the 21st century high school: Understanding of 21st Century Skills and Outcomes; Relevant and Applied Curriculum; Informative Assessment; A Culture of Innovation and Creativity; Social and Emotional Connections with Students Ubiquitous Access to Technology How can you apply these principles in your school? Read more >>>
Essential Guide to Innovation in TPL
The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) Essential Guide to Professional Learning series examines the research behind key themes of the Professional Learning Charter. This latest issue expands on the importance of innovation and adaptability in professional learning. How will you know when your school’s professional learning culture is innovative? Learn more (pdf) >>>
iPad v Chromebook
A smartphone in the car or train, a tablet at meetings, a laptop when I am at home or in the office – all have their pros and cons. In a post-PC world, which mobile device is the best option, and can they completely replace your laptop computer? Read more >>>
Google slashes paid Drive prices
Google has announced huge reductions in the costs of their paid Drive storage plans. Google offers 15Gb of storage for free – if you want 100 Gb of online storage the cost has dropped from $US4.99 per month to $US1.99 per month. (Google Apps files don’t count towards your storage). Read more at the Google Drive blog >>>