My Year 10 English class had a really positive experiencing ‘skyping’ with Sarah Vaughan who is a “Director, Developer and Platform Evangelist at Microsoft Australia”. The group is comprised of boys who volunteered to be in my class this year (knowing they would have more opportunities to use technology than in other English classes). Their first unit […]
In the last few months I have been looking for an alternative camera to my Nikon D700 DSLR and iPhone for several reasons. Often, I do not want to lug around multiple lenses or it is practically challenging to board a flight with too many kilograms of gear. I have also wanted another option for […]
The students in my Year 10 English class are encouraged to pursue one of their passions as a Personal Interest Project (PIP). Over the years I have found that many students find it challenging to generate their own project. School is usually about doing what someone else gives you rather than a free choice of […]
‘I’ve seen the future of children’s digital education and it is awesome.’ Thanks to Brian Giesen for inviting me to Microsoft’s #OMGtips event at Est. in George Street, Sydney today. All of the speakers – Melissa Doyle, Ben O’Donoghue, Sarah Vaughan and Stacey Quince – were engaging and shared great tips to help parents use technology successfully in their busy lives. One could […]
A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing…invented in the 19th century, the process allowed rapid and accurate reproduction of documents used in construction and industry. The blue-print process was characterised by light colored lines on a blue background, a negative of the original. The process was unable to reproduce color or shades of grey. […]
If Australia genuinely wants to continually enhance the nature and standard of its schooling and move to the fore internationally it is imperative it advocate the appointment at schools small and large of principals who can successfully lead ever-evolving digital schools operating increasingly in the networked mode. Mal Lee posted The Principal and the Digital School at his […]
Why Don’t Leaders Listen? Professor Hugh Mackay‘s keynote at the the 12th ACEL Leadership Conference was excellent and quotable. It was a great, reflective way to open the day and I’m certain the delegates, myself included, will listen to colleagues and students more closely in coming weeks. I was conscious that ‘tweeting’ during the talk looked suspiciously like not […]
“The Australian Government supports the use of new technologies in Australian schools to prepare students to learn, train and live in a digital world.” (sic) SOURCE It has reached the stage where the contradictions in government education policy in Australia are leaving satirists with very little to parody. In […]
The narrative about learning at our school is changing and parents are increasingly in on the secret. Students are asking the question of their teachers: how do I learn how to learn (in this subject)? Parents are asking their children to explain to them what they are learning about learning too. One wonders what their answers […]
“What must be admitted, very painfully, is that this was a disaster made in Japan…Its fundamental causes are to be found in the ingrained conventions of Japanese culture: our reflexive obedience, our reluctance to question authority, our devotion to ‘sticking to the program,’ our groupism, our insularity.” Source I studied […]