”Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity…It’s terribly exciting. But on the other hand it doesn’t matter if you think it’s exciting or not; it’s what’s going to happen.” David Bowie Sonos, with Spotify, Deezer, Rdio, JB Hi-Fi and Songl streaming have made my mp3 collection feel somewhat superseded, if not […]
Thanks to Robyn Beyer and the organising committee of the Northern Sydney Regional Teacher-Librarian conference for kindly inviting me to present the keynote today. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The delegates were enthusiastic and treated me very kindly indeed. cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore My pre-conference survey […]
Today’s information technologies provide instantaneous access to vast amounts of information, opening up wondrous new possibilities in education, commerce, and entertainment. But these opportunities are not without cost: the easy availability of information can turn into information overload; the presence of multiple communication sources and devices may lead to the fragmentation of attention; and the […]
One of the great joys of fatherhood is learning with your children, especially while travelling. We have more time to hangout, walk and talk when the usual routines are put aside for exploration of unfamiliar places. Everything is somehow new and the light different, more subtle. It is undeniably true that Time is needed for […]
cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore Reading has always been a solitary pursuit – by definition – in my mind. I never sought membership of any kind of club that met to discuss books. The idea of attending a ‘festival’ to listen to an author, or ask them […]
My 5 and 8 year old daughters have monopolised our iPad since we bought it in 2010. I never really used it that much but my partner, who is not at all geeky, would prise it away from the kids for email, browsing, Plants vs Zombies, ABC iView and reading the ‘newspaper’. Wikipanion is her […]
From a teacher’s perspective, the Quality Teaching Framework is an important professional document supporting learning in NSW schools. At a glance, for readers unfamiliar with the QTF framework, here’s an overview: I’d like to relate a recent and ongoing class conversation, related to the element of ‘problematic knowledge’, raised in dialogue with some experts Year 10 engaged […]
A leader is a dealer in hope. cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by artfulblogger I retweeted this quote on Twitter this morning as it reflects what students need at school and we all need in life – hope. Hope that the future holds wonder, love and forgiveness. Hope that it will all be […]
cc licensed ( BY NC ND ) flickr photo shared by billaday The announcement of new education tools at the ‘Apple Special Event’ excites many and leaves others with a range of concerns. Here’s a guide to this Apple education initiative if you do not watch the presentation. iBooks Author is what excites me. I […]
Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is an open online course that over 12 weeks explores the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. Participation is open to everyone and there are no fees or subscriptions required. Connectivism and Connective Knowledge #CCK12 is a Massive Open […]
I have been asked to ‘lecture’ at the University of Wollongong this year. This position gives me the privilege of working with tertiary students preparing to become English teachers. This is an exciting opportunity and while preparing, thinking about the idealistic and the pragmatic, it became evident to me that the experience of organising to teach […]
What online and tech tools do you use daily in your personal and professional life? Have they changed in the last two years? What has failed to ‘work’ for you? I am having a little tidy – before the New Year – and was thinking about 2011. This is a brief ‘Christmas’ post (a list […]
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!
The Edublog Awards provides opportunity to grow the community of edubloggers and let others know how professionally and personally important they are to us. It also gives one a chance to update blogrolls. I couldn’t believe that I had left some of my favourite bloggers of my roll. Apologies…and apologies to any friends, colleagues and bloggers […]
“If you can’t dance a step, you can’t teach it, and if you can’t teach it – we might as well all pack up and go home.” from STRICTLY BALLROOM cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by Dell’s Official Flickr Page I read Steve Wheeler’s PLN post, ‘Tools of the trade’ this weekend and […]
cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo shared by Darcy Moore I am currently listen to the live stream from TEDxLondon of the #EducationRevolution. Here are the speakers and the Facebook page for the event. Sir Ken Robinson has just opened the conference with his usual inspiring clarity. His anecdote relating Peter Brook‘s beliefs regarding theatre, that you can strip almost everything […]
Google Translate is the most essential tool in my daily existence at the moment, on exchange in Denmark, at Viborg Katedralskole. Most Danes speak English and it is completely possible for me to function at the school, without speaking or understanding the language, in most contexts. However, the Danish documents I want to read would […]
Infographic by the Pay Per Click Blog Hat tip: Think and Dream in English
A colleague, who prefers it when I do not mention his name on any social media channel as he is a geek who studiously avoids facebook, twitter, blogging etc, emailed some interesting links about Stanford University and the new, “Online Introduction to Artificial Intelligence, by Professors Peter Norvig and Sebastian Thrun“. I noticed, a few minutes […]
On the road for more than a month now, I have not been paying as much attention to my social media networks as usual and was a little horrified to see that foolishly I had two Google+ accounts. That’s to0 many circles. How did this happen? A colleague needed my (not often used) Gmail account […]
The digital footprints being created for my family, or more to the point of this post, being created by me for my children, gives rise to some reflection about the future of family history in our societies. Family history has been revolutionised by the internet. Ask anyone who did research prior to the 1990s about […]
“Travelling is just like homeschooling but way better…” says Lucy – and I tend to agree. Not having the chance to travel overseas until was 25, I really value this opportunity and what it represents for my family on a number levels. Together time, learning, new experiences and just opening up horizons – for all of […]
Last year I wrote a unit of work, after my travels in Shanghai, that I would like to share with you. It is written for NSW syllabuses but it may be of some interest to any teacher interested in travel, Asia, teaching visual literacy, social media or organising a student trip overseas. Here’s the PDF […]
This post was written for the IBM 100th Anniversary website, Shaping our Future (hit the drop down under the education topic). The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed. —William Gibson, quoted in The Economist, December 4, 2003 ‘The future is here’ and this oft (over) quoted line from the father […]