Thanks to Aaron Peterson for alerting readers to the new updated “Shift Happens” video. This is the 4th version of Karl Fisch’s original thought provoking video and includes interesting facts on the changing face of technology with an emphasis on media convergence. This video was developed in partnership with The Economist and while educators are […]
Origami Craze!
The students in my Grade Two class love origami. We have used videos and applications on our iPod Touch as well as a great website called Origami Club to learn how to make all sorts of origami creations. The Howcast website has some great step-by-step origami videos. Origami iPod applications can be found at the […]
Virtual Sticky Notes as a Thinking Tool
This week Andrew Douch published a post about Wallwisher; a site for posting “sticky notes” online. Wallwisher is an online notice board maker that people can work on collaboratively. Wallwisher is very easy to use. You just click and drag sticky notes and can easily link to websites, pictures or videos on the web. Repositioning […]
Using Blogs to Find Classroom Resources
When you are looking for sites and resources to use in your classroom, you have a few options. You can try search engines such as Google however this can be like looking for a needle in a haystack at times! NB click here to view a one page “cheat sheet” of tips for making searching […]
Some Tips for Classroom Blogging
Here are some quick tips to get the most out of your class blog that I have learnt through working with my class on the 2KM Blog. Leave a comment if there are any other good tips that I have forgotten! Encourage parents to be involved in the blog and leave comments. It may sound […]
Typing Practice
With the evolution of Web 2.0 technologies, traditional typing practice is something that has been left at the wayside a little. While most people now learn how to type but just “doing it” (typing for authentic purposes), there are some fun games on the net that you may like to use with your students to […]
Bubbleshare Alternatives
Thanks to Angela Hall who recently alerted me to the fact that Bubbleshare will no longer be available from November 15th. This is disappointing as many teachers use this site to put slideshows of photos on their blog. I recently wrote a post on how to embed a Bubbleshare slideshow on your blog in a […]
Bloom’s Taxonomy in the Digital Age
Most teachers are probably familiar with the Bloom’s Taxonomy model which details the six levels of thinking from lower to higher level thinking (remembering, understanding, applying, analysing, evaluating, creating). Mike Fisher, an American instructional coach and consultant has come up with an interesting revision of the Bloom’s Taxonomy model based on 21st century skills. The model incorporates online tools […]
Share screen captures and screencasts with Jing
Jing is a piece of free software for screencasting and screen capture. It can be downloaded for both Mac and PC from http://www.jingproject.com/. Jing allows you to take a picture of anything on your screen. You can then annotate your still image and add objects like arrows. Here is an example of what a Jing screen […]
Great Overview of Web 2.0 Tools
David Kapuler, who writes the blog Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero has created this excellent “blog companion” which is an overview of educational Web 2.0 tools. It’s well worth a look for all teachers and educational bloggers.
Try the Knowledge Bank Online Events
Knowledge Bank Online Events is an online professional development program for Victorian teachers. It is organised around a free online meeting space in a program called Elluminate. Activities in Elluminate are live and interactive – you use your own computer to listen, speak to others and participate in activities. Knowledge Bank offers a series of […]
Adding a Bubbleshare Slideshow to your Blog
There are a number of sites where you can embed a slideshow of photos into your blog. One of them is Bubbleshare. I have used a Bubbleshare slideshow on my sidebar of my class blog to display pictures of my classroom. I have also embedded slideshows into posts on my blog about excursions, student work […]
Whyzz
Whyzz is a site that provides kid friendly answers to children’s questions. The tagline of the site is “answering your child’s whyzz, whatzz and howzz”. It is aimed at answering the questions of children aged 4-7 although could be used for children older than this. Registered users of the site can submit and answer questions. […]
Student Avatars
If you need student avatars for blogs, Voice Thread or other Internet applications and don’t want to upload photos of your students, there are a few options for creating avatars. I had my students draw a self portrait which I then photographed and uploaded (as above). Alternatively, there are a number of sites you can use […]
Future Me – Email Yourself
This week, I came across this cool online application called FutureMe where you can send your future self an email. I thought it could have a number of uses in the classroom. It would be interesting for students to send themselves an email that they would receive in one/two/five/ten years time. You can receive your […]