CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

Your Year 10 students can shape future safety in the cyberworld.

Schools are invited to nominate up to 6 Year 10 students to attend the Cyber Friendly Student Summit to be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Wednesday October 22, 2008.

Participating students will take part in interactive activities, facilitated discussion groups and will have the opportunity to cast their vote about issues and actions relating to cyber bullying via electronic voting technology.

To increase students’ knowledge of key cyber bullying issues before they attend the Summit, nominated students are required to create and send in an original multi-media submission in any format up to 30 seconds long. Students are NOT required to present their submission at the Summit, but a selection of multi-media submissions will be shown during the Summit program. Students who participate in preparing a multi-media submission for the Summit or who attend the Summit may count these hours as contributing toward their Community Service requirement.

The CMIS Cyberbullying webpage provides links to resources to support cyber safety teaching and learning programs.

Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere – June 21st

Use the occasion of the winter solstice to explore some interactive multimedia resources explaining the Earth’s changing seasons.

If you are unable to view the embedded YouTube video ‘What causes Earth’s Seasons?’ you may be able to access the same content via TeacherTube.

This interactive flash resource Earth in Motion: Seasons from the Adler Planetarium provides a simple audio and video explanation of the earth’s movements.

Reasons for the Seasons This applet has been designed to help students visualize the reasons for the seasons.

Seasons Interactive Everyone knows that it’s warmer in the summer than in winter, but why is that? With this interactive you can examine the main factors which affect temperature: the position of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, the tilt of the earth’s axis of rotation and the path of the Sun in the sky over the course of day.

TLF Learning Object on the Seasons
Control the motion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. Work out how the Earths orbit and the tilt of its axis determine seasons in the different hemispheres. Work out how the Earths orbit and the tilt of its axis determine day length in the different hemispheres. Examine the heating effect of the Sun. Compare seasons at different locations on the Earth. For example, work out that when it is summer in China, it is winter in Australia. This learning object is a combination of four objects in the same series.

Tag clouds are popular to both represent and navigate web content. Now students can build ‘word clouds’ from written text to help them visualize the main concepts in the text.

From the Wordle website:

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

So what text was used to generate these Wordles? The image at the top of this post was created using the first section of the Classroom First Strategy: A shared understanding.

Below are Wordles created from the first two of the six key elements of the strategy:

1. A focus on student achievement: success for all

2. A classroom orientation: sound teaching

Have some fun and generate some Wordles of your own.

Please be aware that some clouds in the Wordle gallery include examples that might offend.

Imagine being able to select the information you want and have it delivered to your desktop … as soon as it is published on the web!

Add an online stopwatch timer, a To-Do list and a pet tree frog at the same time. You can even choose a theme to suit your mood.

RSS [Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary] combined with a Personalized Home Page will let you do all this … and it’s easier than you think:)

That’s the last of the technical jargon I’ll use in this post.

PLEASE NOTE: RSS feeds are not supported in Internet Explorer 6.

Sue Waters of The Edublogger has a simple guide to Making Your Life Easier Using RSS which will help readers using Internet Explorer 6 set up an RSS news reader.

Follow these 3 steps to create an iGoogle account with RSS feeds.

Click on the images to view more detailed versions.

Due to different computer configurations your computer screen may not look exactly like the images included here. Despite some minor differences the process should be the same.

Step 1: Create an iGoogle account:

• Go to Google and click on the Sign in link.

---

• Click on Create an account now

---

• Fill in the boxes and click on I accept. Create my account.

---

• Check your email and click on the link in the new message from Google to confirm your account.

Congratulations – Step 1 done. (Easy wasn’t it!)

Step 2: Sign in and Add Stuff

• Go to Google and click on the Sign in link.

---

• Enter the email address and password you just used to create your account to sign in.

---

• Click on iGoogle (a new screen will appear)

---

• You may have to click on iGoogle again (in a different spot this time)

---

• Select the content you would like to appear on your personal iGoogle homepage by ticking or unticking the boxes. Click Save

---

• Your page will look something like this – depending on which boxes you selected in the previous step. You can set iGoogle as your homepage and select a theme for your page.

---

• Adding more tabs is easy. You can select different themes and gadgets for different tabs. Drag and drop the title bars to re-arrange the content.

Step 3: Add CMIS RSS feeds:

• Create a new tab called CMIS. Untick the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ box. Click OK.

---

• Go to the CMIS Evaluation blog and click on ‘Subscribe by RSS’

---

• Click on Subscribe

---

• Click ‘Add to Google Homepage’

---

• Congratulations! You have added the rss feed to your iGoogle homepage. Every time there is new information on the CMIS Evaluation blog your homepage will automatically update and show you the new content. You can even read the post without leaving your page by clicking on the +sign next to the post title.

• Now visit and add the feeds from the CMIS Fiction Focus, Primary Focus and Technology Focus blogs and you will always be up-to-date.

This is the final CMIS Tech Focus blog post in recognition of Library and Information Week. These posts have identified a range of WOW websites, CMIS recommenced resources, K-10 Syllabus support documents and TLF Learning Objects for each of the eight Learning Areas.

The previous post – It’s a small world – included a range of resources to share with your LOTE specialist teachers.

Other Learning Area posts have included:

· Society and Environment – The past meeting the present (local history) – make sure you check the Perth Heritage Trails and the WA Museum’s WA Land and People Virtual Exhibition

· Health and Physical Education – The Tobacco Industry catches you young (drug education)

· The Arts – Techno Arts – (Visual Arts, Music and Dance)

· Mathematics – National Mathematics Day

· Biggest Morning Tea @ Your Library – 360 Panoramic Virtual Tours and more

· It’s Storytime – Storytelling

· Science – Happy National Library Technician’s Day

· English – The Digital Bard and more…

Please take the time to explore some of these resources and share them with your teaching colleagues.

You can subscribe to any or all four CMIS blogs by email or rss so you will always know what’s new.

How Every Day Things Are Made From the Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing at Stanford University.

Make sure you have your sound turned on to watch and listen to the Introductory video guided tour for the site. There is a wealth of information here.

If you’ve ever wondered how things are made – products like candy, cars, airplanes, or bottles – or if you’ve been interested in manufacturing processes, like forging, casting, or injection molding, then you’ve come to the right place.

AIM has developed an introductory website for kids and adults showing how various items are made. It covers over 40 different products and manufacturing processes, and includes almost 4 hours of manufacturing video. It is targeted towards non-engineers and engineers alike. Think of it as your own private online factory tour, or a virtual factory tour, if you wish.

Making the Modern World brings you powerful stories about science and invention from the eighteenth century to today. It explains the development and the global spread of modern industrial society and its effects on all our lives. The site expands upon the permanent landmark gallery at the Science Museum, using the Web and dynamic multimedia techniques to go far beyond what a static exhibition can do.

The Powerhouse Museum’s Online Resources include many resources relevant to the Technology & Enterprise Learning Area:

• Electronic swatchbook
  Browse fashionable fabric designs ranging from the 1830s to the 1920s, and use them freely in your own creations.
• Design Hub
  A gateway to the world’s best design collections and online magazine with news, interviews, opinions and ideas.
• Australia Innovates
  An online guide to innovation in Australia’s industries over the last century.
• HSC technology syllabus support
  Case studies in design, technology and cultural diversity showcasing objects and research from the Powerhouse Museum.
• Australian designers at work
  An educational resource exploring the design process. Meet six Australian designers and learn about how they work.
• Sydney designers unplugged
  Detailed case studies of seven industrial design groups with video interviews. A resource for students and anyone with an interest in design.

Australia Advances – Science, technology and innovation are recognized worldwide as the primary source of national growth and prosperity – as well as to sustainability.

Australia Advances is a series of short video stories showcasing some of the most brilliant, fascinating and important Australian discoveries and technological achievements, the people and dynamic companies involved.

You can view the stories online by clicking on the link at the bottom of each story page.

The videos are available at two sizes, the larger size is recommended for fast internet connections only.

Of particular interest to Technology and Enterprise specialist teachers are videos in the Applied Technology, Industry, and Textiles and Leather categories.

Media-rich, interactive websites make the teaching and learning of Languages Other Than English an engaging and exciting pursuit. Today’s CMIS Tech Focus blog features a short selection of WOW websites and CMIS webpages to share with your L.O.T.E. specialist teachers. Also included are links to K-10 Syllabus documents and TLF Learning Objects to support L.O.T.E teaching and learning programs. [DET portal log on required]

WOW Websites

• Use the Internet Public Library Kidspace site to Say Hello to the World.

• Forvo is the place where you´ll find millions of words pronounced in their original languages. Cool, isn´t it? Be a part of this cultural phenomenon now!

• Aboriginal Languages of Australia There are more than 200 Australian Indigenous languages. Less than 20 languages are strong, and even these are endangered: the others have been destroyed, live in the memories of the elderly, or are being revived by their communities. This site has annotated links to 231 resources for about 80 languages. About 35% of these resources are produced or published by Indigenous people.

• International Children’s Digital Library. The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation is to excite and inspire the world’s children to become members of the global community – children who understand the value of tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online.

• iLoveLanguages’ purpose is to list, categorize, and promote Internet resources related to language learning, education, and use. We want to make sure that people who are interested in learning a language can find information, products, and services they can use to help. We also want to promote language education by giving everyone the opportunity to delve into a language other than their own.

• The CMIS Learning Area page: LOTE contains extensive links to resources to support LOTE programs.
• Also available are the CMIS WACE webpages to support
  • French
  • Indonesian: Second Language
  • Italian

• K-10 Language (LOTE) Syllabus documents are available via the DET portal. [logon required]

This search strategy will help you locate useful TLF digital resources in this collection which support LOTE teaching programs:

Have you used TLF Learning Objects in your classroom?

Please take 10 minutes to complete a simple online survey to provide feedback

Survey link for Teachers

Survey link for School Leaders

Survey link for Principals

Survey link for Sector Personnel

Closing date is June 11