Teachers and Social Media

“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 […]

Connected…or at least, connecting!

The department supports its employees’ participation in social media online applications such as social networking sites, wikis, blogs, microblogs, video and audio sharing sites and message boards that allow people to easily publish, share and discuss content. The above quote is the opening statement in the new Social Media Policy released by my employer, the NSW […]

How to use social media to collaborate*

Over the last few years my presentations and workshops, designed to share my enthusiasm for Web 2.0 with colleagues, have led to many new friendships as well as much personal and professional excitement at the future of learning. It is evident to me that all of us involved in education need to personally develop life-long […]

Passion for learning…

For the first time in 20 years I do not have English classes to teach. The principal has requested that I am ‘off the timetable’ and work with all students on digital citizenship and creating a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) or, if you prefer, Personal Learning Network (PLN). This is another small step towards creating […]

PLE Reflection (after a presentation for our Year 11 conference)

My brief, to present at a Year 11 conference about online tools, has accentuated, in my mind, how far away we are from providing the Personal Learning Environment (PLE) at school students need in a networked society. Your input, via comments at a previous blog post, twitter and yammer proved invaluable but also challenging, when one considers the […]

Prezi: Cool Online Tools (draft)

This is the first presentation using Prezi I have ever completed; although I have started a few in the past 12 months before the pressure of being prepared for whatever conference led me to not finish (and use my blog or PowerPoint).  Prezi has turned out to be a fun tool – once you ‘get’ the […]

Connectivism & Connective Knowledge #CCK09

This week, like many learning professionals around the globe, I commenced an online course to disrupt all online courses, Connectivism & Connective Knowledge. The #CCK09 MOODLE has many resources and you can drop by and read all the participant introductions. ‘Connectivism is the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections, and therefore that […]

A Brave New World-Wide-Web

David Truss created this great, inspirational video last year. [vodpod id=Groupvideo.3098352&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] more about “A Brave New World-Wide-Web! (The vide…“, posted with vodpod  

10 things 'a school' can do in preparation for 1:1 (laptops) in classrooms

This is the third post in a series. You may wish to read the first and second posts concerned with what a teacher and faculty can do in preparation for 1:1 too. 10 things ‘a school’ can do in preparation for 1:1 (laptops) in classrooms: 1. Funding– expectations of  a champagne experience from a beer budget tend to fizzle when the reality […]

10 things 'a faculty' can do in preparation for 1:1 (laptops) in classrooms

10 things ‘a faculty’ can do in preparation for 1:1 (laptops) in classrooms: 1. Support the school’s agenda – help to make good ideas work but also shape them with positive input followed by action. HTs have a special role here in leading their faculty positively and realistically. Be collaborative and then complete honest reflection […]

Australian Educators to Follow on Twitter

Recently I’ve been chatting with lots of teachers new to Twitter or keen to experience the service. I’ve sent them links that list ways to find teachers and professionals to follow on Twitter. Here’s an alphabetical list of 10 Australian educators that I get great value from on Twitter: Chris Betcher Dean Groom Elaine Talbert Kelli McGraw […]

PLNs and PLEs

Last year I started asking around, on Twitter, for the origin of the acronyms that I was reading so much about. ‘Personal Learning Networks’ (PLNs) and ‘Personal Learning Environments’ (PLEs) were so often used by the educators that I was following that it was surprising no-one really could source them. Recently, I have had more […]

ISER Conference Presentation – Web 2.0 & PLNs

My intention for this presentation above, given at the ISER Regional Conference, was to propose a way that we could engage students using new tools by transforming professional development in our region with Web 2.0 concepts. Students would benefit enormously as our colleagues became more Web 2.0 savvy and ‘new thinking’ entered classrooms (along with laptops/learning devices and wireless connectivity). […]

Open Letter to an Education System Leader

Mr __________,   Our community appreciates your attendance at our awards ceremony at such a busy time of the year.   While you are here, I was hoping to take the opportunity to present an outline of an idea that is both representative of the paradigm shift in education but also an example of how our […]