• 50 Really Cool Online Tools for Science Teachers

  “If you are looking for ways to integrate online learning into your science class, then take a look at these cool online tools that are just perfect for both teachers and students.”

  tags: science chemistry resources Tools Online Google_Earth geocaching biology periodic_table lessons 50 calculators games_in_education maz onmyradar

• Which ebook sellers will allow publishers and writers to opt out of DRM? – Boing Boing

  “Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Kobo were all happy to carry my books without DRM, and on terms that gave you the same rights you got when buying paper editions. “

  tags: ebooks Doctorow_Cory DRM Amazon onmyradar

• How to Create Nonreaders

  “The more you rely on coercion and extrinsic inducements, as a matter of fact, the less interest students are likely to have in whatever they were induced to do.

  What a teacher can do – all a teacher can do – is work with students to create a classroom culture, a climate, a curriculum that will nourish and sustain the fundamental inclinations that everyone starts out with: to make sense of oneself and the world, to become increasingly competent at tasks that are regarded as consequential, to connect with (and express oneself to) other people. Motivation – at least intrinsic motivation — is something to be supported, or if necessary revived. It’s not something we can instill in students by acting on them in a certain way. “

  tags: motivation learning reading books maz onmyradar

• FNO: How many is too many? – Jamie McKenzie

  “It turns out that one-on-one is perfect for some activities but not the best choice for other learning activities. Smart teachers and schools have figured this out, making sure that students have the right array of equipment to get the job done.”

  tags: McKenzie_Jamie ict_integration maz onmyradar 1-1

• Bureau of Meteorology – Learning Activities

  This BOM website contains a number of learning activities written to address curriculum standards in Science, Health & PE, Maths and Geography. Year levels 3-10. The inclusion of weblinks and interactive objects make them ideal for integration of 1-1 computing.

  tags: ict_integration activities weather BOM 1-1computing maz onmyradar

• Virtual-Literature-Circles – home

  An example of a wiki structure suitable for Literature Circles.  Students have separate wikis that link off main wiki.  I also like the idea of setting up each group on a single page with a menu (plot, setting, characters & commentary) that links down the page to headings.  This keeps them within the same space and facilitates sharing.

  tags: wikis literature_circles reading onmyradar

• Third edition of OED unlikely to appear in print format | Books | The Guardian

  Publishers confirm that print dictionary market is disappearing so third edition is unlikely

  tags: ebooks publishing books dictionary onmyradar

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This is a free, online conference conducted over two and a half weeks by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Running from September 20 through to October 5 with daily webinars, online conversations, presentations, learning resources, videos and more, it will be the place to learn and be heard for anyone who has a stake in improving education. Check out the full schedule of webinars here.

Included are presentations from education leaders such as Bernie Trilling, co-author of 21st Century Skills, also featured are examples of how leading schools, districts and states are implementing policies and practices to ensure that students graduate prepared for success. School libraries get a guernsey with the webinar:
Engaging 21st Century Skills in the Middle with Leslie Preddy, AASL 2010 National School Library Media Program of the Year winner and 2010 Indiana Teacher of the Year Finalist.

This looks good and well worth tapping into during the holiday break.

Started another series of Personal Learning sessions today.  Over the next few weeks we’ll take the journey of exploring Web 2.0 resources and their application to the classroom.  It’s not difficult to work with teachers and learning assistants who come along with a real willingness to learn.   This video helps to lighten the learning as it perfectly sums up the effort required to introduce changed practices while continuing with the regular hectic daily pace.

It’s timely to revisit the article I wrote last year about the value of an educator’s Personal Learning Network and the role of the teacher-librarian in supporting school staff to building and developing a network suited to their individual needs.

Elliott, C. (2009) ‘We are not alone: the power of personal learning networks’ in Synergy, 7 (1) pp. 47-50.

• How New Media is Transforming Storytelling: A New Video Series

  These videos from a range of European and US universities include Daniel Pink, Henry Jenkins and others. Each video is between five and ten minutes long and tackles some of the ways that shifts in the media environment are changing the nature of stories and storytelling.

  tags: storytelling stories digitalstorytelling newmedia media onmyradar maz

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• Shall we play a game? | Playing 4 Real

  ICTEV project on Serious Games. Developed to provide authentic games in education through Dept of Educ Vict – FUSE.

  tags: games games_in_education ICTEV FUSE maz onmyradar

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• It Takes a Village – with Greg Whitby – Educators’ Guide to Innovation

  Educating our students is a collective responsibility. As educators and leaders in schools we often wonder if we are providing the best possible education for our students.\nThis series of Professional Learning sessions will explore the complexities that we are faced with when working through these three main areas -\n\n* Learning Culture\n* Learning Paradigms\n* Learning Spaces\nTHIS WEEK – Greg Whitby – Catholic Education, Parramatta Diocese, NSW

  tags: Whitby_Greg learning 21stCenturyLearning maz onmyradar

• Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture – The MIT Press

  An occasional paper on digital media and learning. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Henry Jenkins, Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

  tags: Jenkins_Henry learning_commons web2.0 education participatory_culture maz onmyradar

• Shareable media sets – K12 Open Ed

  Shareable media sets — collections of open-licensed photos, diagrams, maps, audio, video, etc. that could be used by teachers or students in word-processed documents or presentations or used to create web sites or other multimedia presentations.

  tags: free images maps audio digitalstorytelling media ancient_Egypt science Creative_Commons maz onmyradar

• Google-Proof Questioning: A New Use for Bloom’s Taxonomy

  tags: Blooms_taxonomy questioning literacy maz onmyradar

• Is climate change burning Russia? – environment – 12 August 2010 – New Scientist

  Russia has sweltered under an intense heatwave since mid-July, recording its highest ever temperatures. The heat has caused widespread drought, ruined crops and encouraged wildfires that have blanketed Moscow in smog and now threaten key nuclear sites. According to the head of Moscow’s health department, the city’s daily death rate has doubled – up to 700 from the usual average of 360 to 380.

  tags: climate_change global_warming climate Russia maz onmyradar bushfires

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• Math 2.0

  The Math 2.0 interest group holds weekly events online on Wednesdays around 9:30 pm or Saturdays 2pm Eastern USA time. The goals are to share resources, to collaborate on our projects, and to save mathematics from its current obscurity in social media. From the comfort of your browser, join live conversations and debates with authors, community leaders, and innovators in mathematics education.  
  Time often doesn’t suit Australians, however, it’s possible to revisit the recorded session to get the presentation without participation.

  tags: maths mathematics online maz onmyradar Elluminate

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• 22 Filmmaking Apps for the iPad & iPhone

  Filmmaking site with numerous resources relating to screenwriting, production etc.  

  tags: apps filmmaking 1:1 elearning onmyradar

• Electronic reading devices are transforming the concept of a book – latimes.com

  Electronic reading devices are transforming the concept of a book. Digital tools advance beyond screens that talk and play videos, connecting readers to authors and online fan communities.

  tags: ereaders digital books reading onmyradar

• Open Source Mac – Free Mac software, all open-source, all OS X.

  Free, opensource software for Mac. Suitable for classroom use across a whole range of subjects.

  tags: opensource free software Mac maz onmyradar

• OpenDisc for PC | Education

  Free software available for school netbooks. The OpenEducationDisc focuses solely on meeting educational needs of students of all ages. Software has been chosen to address specific IT needs across a wide range of subject areas.

  tags: software free opensource netbooks maz onmyradar

• National Year of Reading 2012

  Australian libraries and library associations have got together to turn 2012 into the National Year of Reading, linking together all the great things that are already happening around books, reading and literacy, and giving them an extra boost, with inspirational programs and events taking place across the country.

  tags: reading national Australia libraries maz onmyradar

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• Gulf Oil Spill Information Center – Library Guides at University of South Florida Libraries

  This is a comprehensive guide to some of the information and data concerning the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the clean-up efforts. Includes links to resources on the incident, economic, environmental and social aspects as well as background to oil industry in the region.

  tags: Gulf_oil_spill oil disasters pathfinder USA maz onmyradar oilspill BP

• Incompetech – Royalty Free Music

  Good range of royalty free music for use in student multimedia projects.

  tags: music royaltyfree free open_source maz onmyradar

• Beyond Social: Read/Write in The Era of Internet of Things

  An excellent blog post tracing the transition of the Internet from its social identity into the semantic web. Emerging trends are the growth of data being uploaded by governments and business and the ‘Internet of Things” involving all the devices and applications interacting online.

  tags: future Internet semantic web emerging_technologies ReadWriteWeb onmyradar

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