CMIS Evaluation Technology Focus

Thanks to Jane Hart [ @c4lpt ]

Read the original blog post here

Congratulations to Paul Fuller who has been recognised for excellence in the national NEiTA 2009 ASG Inspirational Teaching Awards

The following information about Paul is taken from the
NEiTA Awardee profile document.

The flagship project for Paul and his students is Podkids Australia, the most successful school based podcast in the country. The Podkids Australia podcast provides an authentic worldwide audience for the students’ writing and has subscribers in more than 50 countries. In the podcast, Paul’s students have interviewed the Western Australian Premier, leading authors, federal ministers and famous sportspeople. The students’ work has been downloaded more than 60,000 times.

Paul’s achievements in harnessing new technologies to inspire his students have been internationally recognised. Politicians, educators and administrators from Australia and overseas have flocked to the school to observe Paul’s innovative teaching practices. Representatives from Apple Computers have even visited the small public school and, in 2006, Paul was awarded the status of Apple Distinguished Educator.

Paul gives generously of his time to contribute to the professional development of his teaching colleagues. The following Prezi, on Blogs and Wikis was delivered at the ECAWA State Conference 2009

Paul also maintains the Educating the Digital Generation wiki where you will find a wealth or resources on topics including podcasting, blogs and wikis, Scratch, 1:1 laptop programs and Race Around the World. Paul is an active twitterer.

Want to know more?

Through the Department of Education Portal Western Australian teachers are able to access Teachers have Class! the Department’s FREE online professional learning program to support teachers to integrate ICT into teaching and learning.

Teachers have Class! provides relevant and practical self paced, online, on demand or instructor-led courses focused on technology integration with best practice pedagogies.

As well as Anytime Workshops and Self-Paced Books the following Instructor-led classes are available this year:

The CMIS Podcasts in the Classroom page provides background information and support materials useful to teachers new to podcasting.

Those who were unable to attend the ASLA Conference this week may like to check this twitterfountain for the tweets and photos posted to flicker.

An archive of tweets from the conference attendees is also available via twapperkeeper

Thanks to Libsmatter and Pru

Update: This morning’s post was put up in haste – before I left for the unconference. Thanks to Kathryn Greenhill (libsmatter) for this great example integrating technology at libcampperth09

Unfortunately only one java script will run on this blog so I have deleted the twitterfountain for the LibCampPerth2009 [It can still be viewed on The LibrariansMatter blog and a number of other places on the web]

Enjoy the show – wherever you are.

Visit Librariansmatter for Kathryn’s CoverIt Live window or the LibraryCampPerth2009 wiki where session notes, photos and videos will be uploaded as they become available.

Our recent posts I’ve seen that book and What will yours look like? focussed on the blending of digital and print formats in the field of young adult publishing. You may also have noticed our updated VodPod widgets featuring a selection of YA booktrailers.

Pursuing this theme of the blurring of lines between the two formats here is a further example of the use of electronic/digital media to enhance and support print resources.

The latest digital offering from Scott Westerfeld’s blog: a Leviathan countdown timer.

Visit Scott Westerfeld’s website!

Note from Scott’s blog: Small warning, this is an American countdown timer, which is only accurate for North America. I’m trying to get exact dates for the Oz and UK editions, and will then make adjustments. But don’t fret, Aussies and Brits, it looks like your edition will come out the same week as the US one—maybe even earlier!

Also of note is the Simon & Schuster offer of the FREE book download of Uglies.

The Feature Article in the latest issue of Fiction Focus: The Book 2.0 – Why eBooks are eLectric! looks at how technology is changing the way people read, interact with and access information. Please use this blog’s comments function let us know about your favourite digital/web-based resources used to  supplement or extend your students’ print reading experiences.
The CMIS Resource Bank contains reviews of  Scott Westerfeld’s books.

Book Trailers are digital multimedia productions designed to promote an interest in reading.

Sites to check out include:

• Digital Booktalk

This information-rich site which was developed by Drs. Robert Kenny and Glenda Gunter at the the University of Central Florida includes video book trailers produced by both K-12 students and students of the Uniuversity. Free registration will give users access to contributors blogs and help forums. The UB Director link provides curricula and plans to help teachers implement a Booktalk project in their classroom. This site is highly recommended as a starting point for teachers beginning to explore digital booktalking.

• Reading – Active-and-Engaging

Rhonda Powling, Head of Library at Whitefriars College and Information Services and School Library Association of Victoria President has created a wiki –  which outlines her rationale for creating booktrailers, records her experiences involving students in the process and provides access to student generated content. The Storyboarding page outlines a lesson plan used to prepare students to create their own booktrailers. The assessment rubric measures student achievement against nine criteria.

• Tech & Learning blogpost: December 1st 2007

According to Mark Greary ‘making a Book Trailer is fairly simple. Just follow these steps.’ His simple explanation to creating a book trailer using Microsoft’s free Photo Story 3 leads users through a step-by-step process complete with clear screen shots and jargon-free instructions. More detailed instructions for using Photo Story 3 are available online.

Youtube provides access to online booktrailers from a variety of sources. A collection of links to booktrailers targeting Young Adult readers is available via the CMIS Evaluation del.icio.us account. Included are links to booktrailers  for the following titles reviewed in this issue of Fiction Focus:

• Graceling by Kristen Cashore
• Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
• 3 Willows: A sisterhood grows by Ann Brashares
• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

YouTube videos of these book trailers can also be viewed using the CMIS VodPod widget in the sidebar of this blog or by visiting the CMIS Tech Focus VodPod page.

This is a repeat of today’s post on the CMIS Eval blog (for the benefit of those readers who do not subscribe to that blog)

WolframAlpha was announced in March 2009 by British physicist Stephen Wolfram, and was released to the public on May 15, 2009. Unlike Google, which searches for web resources to match a query, WolframAlpha generates answers to factual queries by computing the answer from available data.

Watch Part 2 of of the video.

Related CMIS blog posts include:

• Maybe AND/OR/NOT isn’t so hard
• Seek and you shall find…a list of Search engines (other than Google!)

Take a look at the CMIS webpages on Search Tools

If you know of other resources useful to teachers exploring aspects of Internet safety please let us know via the comments on this blog.

On January 16 2008 flickr launched The Commons, starting with a  pilot project in partnership with The Library of Congress.

One year later, 17 participating institutions have contributed to The Commons from their photographic archives. Australian contributors include: The Powerhouse Museum, The State Library of NSW and The Australian War Memorial.

Screendump from www.flickr.com/commons

The program has two main objectives:

1. To increase access to publicly-held photography collections, and
2. To provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge.

If you make use of a photo from The Commons, you are advised to read the usage rights statement.

from The Commons website…

The best way to get involved is to add a tag or two to the photos you see, and if you happen to know anything else about the subject, by all means add a comment.

*Any Flickr member is able to add tags or comment on these collections. If you’re a dork about it, shame on you. This is for the good of humanity, dude!!

For readers new to online photo sharing here is quick introduction.

In case you missed it – there are a couple of items in the August 8th Eddymail of interest to DET schools.

1. There has been a modification to school bandwidth allocations which is effective immediately. Details of the allocation formula changes can be found on the Intranet Some schools may find their allocation decreased whilst others will have increased. Generally schools will have a “per student” mb increase.
2. Improvement in Anti-virus protection for the Department’s Network should result in safer Internet browsing for DET users.

 For further information, please contact the Customer Service Centre on 9264 5555, regional callers 1800 012 828 or via email.