Feedly

I have been using the RSS reader,Feedly, for sometime now to help  keep me  abreast with what's trending in education. Only this week, Richard Byrne from the Free Technology For Teachers blog has created a video showing you how to create a Feedly account, find blogs and organise them into categories. Besides being an excellent tool for  your Professional Learning Network, it is also a great way to keep track of student blogs.

Crisis of Attention

Last week I came across a very  interesting article about how technology is changing our brains. Natasha Georgiou's article World of Online Distraction looks at student attention spans, and the growing evidence that the way we use technology is affecting the way we think and act.

 In addition, Mindshift's  Age of Distraction: Why its crucial for students to learn to focus is also an interesting read. It urges teachers to teach students to concentrate,stating that research shows that if students don’t learn how to concentrate and shut out distractions, they'll less likely  to succeed in life. Apparently it is more important than IQ and family socio economic status.The article also debunks the benefits of multitasking, stating that switching back and forwards from one task to another actually erodes the ability to focus on either tasks.

Teacher Eduation Review

 

When thinking about further developing your own Personal Learning Network, TER would be a worthwhile addition. It is a fortnightly podcast produced by teachers and offers a teachers' perspective on educational issues in Australia and around the world. Each podcast features a variety of guests that could include educators, academics, researchers and international experts.

 

Your Life on Earth

This interactive website would be useful when teaching students about historical timelines. Your Life On Earth is a feature of the BBC's Earth website. Your Life On Earth shows you how the world has changed during your lifetime. Enter your birthdate and Your Life On Earth will show you things like how much the world's population has grown, how many new species have been discovered, and how many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have occurred since you were born.

Click here for more  recommended tools for creating timelines

Searching Twitter For Educational Content

Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers has created the video above that shows you how to go about finding educational content on Twitter. This can be done without you having your own account which will suit  our non Twitter users.

ISC Virtual Library

 

The ISC is very pleased to announce that our school learning community can now access our custom made online resources directly from our school portal. The link on the left hand side of the portal home page is called  ISC Virtual Library. With just one click,students will now be able  to access our wide range of online resources that include subject guides,online reference databases, books and reading, research help and  digital citizenship resources. The ISC Virtual Library will always be a work in progress and we encourage all teachers to collaborate with us to ensure  that we provide high quality online resources that support  the curriculum. If there are ever any resources you would like us to include, please do  not hesitate to email us with the details.

 

Feedback As Formative Assessment

This week Edutopia has had an excellent article  called Make It Count:Providing Feedback as Formative Assessment. John Hattie's  mantra "feedback must be timely,relevant, and action oriented"  is highlighted and the article goes on to explore how other experts describe feedback as a formative assessment tool. Emily Wray's RISE Feedback Model is interesting as it encourages teachers to give feedback that is not only informative but moves students towards improvement.

 This article also explores a variety of technology tools that enable "timely, relevant and action oriented" feedback.