There are many wonderful resources on offer that teach students how to manage their digital footprint. However,I particularly like this one from Belguim.It would be an excellent tool to use when teaching students about safety and online privacy issues.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Free Range Learning
www.flickr.com/photos/willlion
Last year I posted about high quality educational resources that are now free online.ABC Splash and Gooru are just two examples that have been developed for schools.OER (Open Education Resources) is an area that is expanding exponentially, giving everyone the opportunity to learn outside the traditional classroom.However, learning doesn't mean only information and in fact we can become quite overwhelmed with what is on offer.
Maria Anderson in her TED Talk "Recipe for Free Range Learning" talks about the pitfalls of self directed learning and uses the concept of a recipe to ensure success.She suggests that high quality information is important as are other elements such as directions,engagement,reflection and learning challenges.Throwing lots of information at student's online certainly wont guarantee learning.Watch the video to find out what other elements are required to develop knowledge and skills.
Australian Curriculum Resources
What Makes A Great Teacher?
For more self reflection you might also like to look at "What Makes a Great Teacher" on Smart Blog on Education
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Welcome Lyn
Welcome back everyone to the In The Know Blog. We also happily welcome Lyn McNally to the ISC team as our new Library Technician/ICT Support Assistant.Lyn grew up in Sale and has recently returned with her seven year old son,Tyler. Lyn has lots of library experience and skills having worked in the Warragul Regional College Library for many years. She is also currently studying a Batchelor of Applied Science Library and Information Management at Charles Sturt University.Lyn has settled into her new role very quickly .We are already appreciating her energy and enthusiasm.
The Age Digital Edition
- easy to search feature with the ability to search the Archive for up to 6 months
- Easy to print and email
- Read aloud function
- Can be translated into any other language
We have also purchased a class set of subscriptions (25) so that all teachers and students can have access to this service.Teachers are encouraged to use this online resource in class which obviously gets rid of the need of having to purchase multiple hard copies.Please see the ISC team or go to the ISC Portal Document Section for username/login details .
Critical Thinking Skills
You might like to have a look at this series of videos funded by the Australian Government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. As we all know, training students to think critically is all important in the synthesis of information.These videos clearly show students how they can build arguments and create new knowledge. A great resource.
Words Dominating Popular Culture
Here are some words that
dominated popular culture in Australia, the US and UK during the last year.
Interesting for English Language classes!
Macquarie Word of the Year 2012 (Aust)
Announced today 6 Feb…..and the winner is....phantom
vibration syndrome - an obsessional conviction that your phone has vibrated
for an incoming call, when in fact it hasn't.
Honourable mentions: crowdfunding, technomite, marngrook,
First World problem.
People's Choice winner: First World problem - a
problem that relates to the affluent lifestyle of the First World eg. settling
for plunger coffee when the espresso machine is broken.
Some category winners:
Technology: technomite – a young child who is adept in
the use of digital media.
Internet: crowdfunding – obtaining small donations
from individuals contacted through social networks, to fund a project.
Health: diabesity – obesity accompanied by
diabetes.
Environment: green tape – bureaucratic regulations and
paperwork deriving from environmental legislation.
Colloquial: wine flu – a hangover.
Sport: marngrook – an early influence on AFL, played
by pre-European Aboriginal people.
See all shortlisted words in categories: http://www.macquariedictionary.com.au/anonymous@9c9986628003/-/p/dict/WOTY12/index_winner.html
Global Language Monitor
Their 13th annual global survey of the English
language. Number of words in the English language: 1,019,729.6 (est. 1/1/13)
Top word: apocalypse
Top phrase: Gangnam Style
Top 20 list includes: meme; MOOC; the Cloud; hen (Swedish
attempt to create a gender-neutral pronoun to replace him or her); obesogenic;
omnishambles; hashtag; drones; superfood; fracking AND adorkable – the rise of
the nerds - adorable dorks!
American Dialect Society
Word of the Year 2012
Winner: hashtag –
a word or phrase preceded by a hash symbol, used on Twitter to mark a
topic or make a commentary.
Runner-up: marriage equality. Also popular: YOLO ( You Only
Live Once); * -(po)calypse, -(ma)geddon
(hyperbolic combining forms for various catastrophes); Gangnam Style; fiscal cliff
(threat of spending cuts and tax increases looming over end-of-year
budget negotiations).
Merriam-Webster (US)
Words of the Year 2012
Based on the volume of user lookups at
Merriam-Webster.com. The presidential
election influence can be seen.
Joint winners: socialism and capitalism. The rest of the top 10: touché; bigot;
marriage; democracy; professionalism; globalization; malarkey; schadenfreude;
meme.
Oxford Dictionaries UK Word of the Year 2012
Winner: omnishambles -
Coined by the writers of the satirical television programme The Thick Of
It, an omnishambles is a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, and
is characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations.
Others considered: Eurogeddon, green-on-blue, pleb, to medal,
mummy porn, e-rotica (the phenomenon was fuelled by a surge of erotic book sales on e-readers); second screening (the activity of watching television whilst
simultaneously using a smartphone, laptop, etc., often so as to be able to use a
social media site to post about what was happening).
Oxford Dictionaries USA Word of the Year 2012
Winner: to GIF (verb) - to
create a GIF file of an image or video sequence, especially relating to an
event.
(The GIF is a compressed file format for images that can be
used to create simple, looping animations.
It turned 25 this year).
See the winning word revealed as a GIF: http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/11/us-word-of-the-year-2012/
Other popular contenders: Eurogeddon; superstorm; YOLO; MOOC
(Massive Open Online Course - a university course offered free of charge via the
internet); homophobia; Higgs Boson.
In January the New York Public Library launched
stereogranimator <http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/3-d-it-yourself-thanks-to-new-library-site/>
allowing visitors to create GIFs of 40,000+ digitized stereographs from its
collection and share them.
First World Problems
I must admit I had't heard of "First World Problems" until I came across the above list of pop culture words for 2012. Since then I have found this video .It is certainly thought provoking and would be an an excellent "hook" for classroom discussion
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