Teacher-librarians: Digital Communication Tools (Part II)

In the age of ‘infowhelm’ choosing the appropriate digital communication tools – to stay in-the-loop and professionally connected – is essential for any professional person, especially teacher-librarians. A teacher-librarian can make a start on developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) by following these steps at their own pace: finding several excellent blogs to follow and […]

Teacher-librarians: Context (Part I)

I am presenting to teacher-librarian colleagues about ‘digital communication tools’ this week.  I’d rather say we are ‘collaborating’ than I am ‘presenting’ and have used survey monkey to collect data from the delegates prior to the conference about their needs and yammer to seek advice about the perceptions of what ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge’ are needed […]

Learning: A Digital Renaissance (a draft)

I Music & Photography: A Digital Renaissance This century, the digital revolution in photography and music, has led to the democratisation and proliferation of human beings sharing images and sounds, experiences, knowledge and beauty. How have these two industries, with entrenched interests and well-established systems, changed so rapidly that they little resemble their former selves […]

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 […]

Flickr CC Attribution Helper(s)

Many bloggers want to create their own images as frequently as possible, with camera or software, to accompany their written text. However, often, a near-perfect image is legally available online. Ensuring the image is attributed correctly is very important, especially for educators encouraging students to source images appropriately. Thanks to quick responses to a tweet […]

Pen & Paper Exams

A recent conversation with a colleague, who genuinely believes that students are more creative when they write with a pen, really made me wonder about the future of pen & paper examinations in NSW and the rest of the world. As you likely know, the students sitting the Higher School Certificate examinations in 2012 were issued […]

Learning HDR Photography

It is always wonderful to have a fresh enthusiasm to share. HDR photography (or HDRI) is new to me and in the last weeks of the holidays I learnt much about this art. Just a few years ago it would have been very difficult for me to learn about this quickly as I do not know […]

‘Rethinking Education’

Michael Wesch has been such an important educational thinker and innovator for so many of us in recent years. Here is his ‘Rethinking Education’ video recently posted on his YouTube channel which is a must subscribe to space. You can submit entries for @mwesch‘s next video here. This is an remix of the submissions so far:

Video Games: My Personal History and Recollections

Do you advocate playing video games in education? We should talk more about our own life experiences as part of this conversation. I have been reflecting on my video game playing past and finding it interesting to try and remember what was played and when. I thought I would share this with you in the hope […]

Civilization Revolution: Learning & Games

Do you play video games? Lucy (7) and I are playing Civilization Revolution (CivRev) on PS3 with great gusto. Sarah (4) plays this same game on the iPad and we all enjoy each others company in the family room. Here’s the opening to the game for those not familiar with Sid Meier‘s Civilization franchise: A friend, who is not a teacher, […]

Golden Ages and the Problem of Perception

I believe we are in a Golden Age of civilisation. Not everyone has this way of seeing. I hear many commentators, educators and parents express grave concerns about the impact of technology, the internet, mobile devices and computers on young people and education in society generally. To me, it seems pathological, reminiscent of the comic book scare in the […]

Using Google Earth?

Are you using Google Earth? Which subject? How are you using it? Anyone exploring ethical questions about data collection with their students? The potential for students learning in an integrated, holistic manner using Google Earth are extant. I have no hard data – and would love for the following assertion to be successfully challenged – but […]

10 People I follow on twitter and why

Reading a post by Larry Ferlazzo led me to think of 10 tweeps I enjoy and get good value from each day. I notice that all have a fantastic blog/site which is essential IMHO. In alphabetical order: @ABCMarkScott – The ABC has positioned itself well online over that last decade or so, especially in regards […]

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

 In a world where fortunes are sought through data-mining vast information repositories, the computer is our indispensable but far from infallible assistant. Personas demonstrates the computer’s uncanny insights and its inadvertent errors, such as the mischaracterizations caused by the inability to separate data from multiple owners of the same name. It is meant for the […]

Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow is an author, essayist, activist and public intellectual I admire greatly. His musings on copyright and creative culture are of particular interest, as is his advocacy for the rights of young people. Educators should be, IMHO, cognisant of his ideas. The fact that Doctorow operates in a traditionally commercial way, as an author who makes the […]

The Endless Ocean, Situated Learning & James Gee

Holiday Fun At the beginning of the school holidays I asked Miss 4 and Miss 6 what we could do together for fun. Quite a list emerged, including – ride the bikes, play ‘Cinderella’,  take photos, see Toy Story 3, play soccer in the backyard, tease Mum and go to websites –  and ‘Dad, can you fix the Wii’? […]

LEARNING TO BE A SHOOTER

My interest in photography has always been, in a sense, academic. In truth, I am not really a practical guy and the technical aspect of taking a picture and developing a print never really appealed to me. Whereas the stimulation and aesthetic pleasure of vicariously enjoying someone else’s carefully crafted simulacra was immensely, is immensely pleasing. I like […]

What do you think?

I have changed the look of my blog and am seeking some feedback. I really like a number of features available from this new theme: The extra sidebars available – top, bottom, left and right – give some good options The most recent post being highlighted (although this seems to be currently not working properly) […]

David Crystal – texts and tweets: myths and realities

Thanks to Ben Jones for alerting me to David Crystal’s recent talk. Like you, I have many of his books on my shelf and find his insights into language, especially the English language, sage. [vodpod id=Video.3937737&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26] David Crystal – Texts and Tweets: myths and rea…, posted with vodpod

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