Group items tagged

"As a WordPress publisher you must have come across RSS Feeds. Each WordPress website automatically publishes RSS feeds for content and comments. Did you ever wonder what is RSS and how you can use RSS in WordPress? In this article we will explain what is RSS feeds, what are the benefits of RSS, how to use RSS feeds, and how to take your WordPress RSS feeds to the next level."

"Global2 is a blogging community provided by the Victorian government. It is the largest Edublogs campus in the world. Providing the functionality of WordPress, plus the added benefits of moderation, content filtering, class management and network administration. Examples of the blogging activities in which you can use Global2:"

"Blogging in the classroom was a watershed discovery for me.  I had such an acute need for a better way to manage my student's writing, but I was wary of blogging.  There are challenges to helping students learn in an online community.  Until I met Matt Hardy from KidBlog, I viewed these risks as too big to manage on my own.  I believe that as a teacher I have to both innovate and protect my own professional reputation.  When I heard Matt talk about how he created KidBlog to support exactly the kind of connected learning I want to happen in my classroom, I realized how accessible this learning is now.  Using school specific tools like Kidblog, or  Edublogs, can give you more control and management potential than using conventional tools like Blogger, or WordPress"

"The idea of students sitting in front of PCs learning how to use Word is as dead as the proverbial dead parrot. It is already an antiquated model of learning - like chalk or fountain pens with ink-wells; it has a whiff of the twentieth century about it, rather than preparing our students for the future. Whilst the DfE dithers about what they should do with technology (Mr Gove clearly wants to reboot the chalk and talk bygone age), schools are left with a rapidly changing world, where budgets are at a premium and ICT often stretches what budgets now allow. All the while, students are learning on their iPads, Android tablets and smart phones, writing more in texts and tweets daily than in their collective writing experience during the school week. We aren't harnessing this expertise, never mind guiding it to a place of higher learning!"

"Popular efforts to improve education are focusing on the wrong problem. Millions of dollars and hours of innovation are being spent on improving how we deliver content in an era when content matters less and how we interact with it matters more."

A regular update of how Teachers are using edmodo to engage pupils in Carr Manor Community School

'I used to think… Now I think' is one of the most powerful thinking tools (Visible Thinking routines). It allows you to grow, without having to have been wrong. It allows me to develop my ideas, change my practice, increase my understanding, deepen my thinking… and change my mind. I used to think that the more tightly I kept control, the more efficiently time would be used in the classroom so that more learning could take place.

"I have discussed and promoted the need for educators to reflect deeply on their beliefs, processes, and practices in several of my posts: Where is Reflection in the Learning Process and  Teacher Agency: Coming from a Strong Foundation.  As another strategy for engaging in this type of self-reflection, I developed these questions to have educators assess their pedagogical principles and instructional preferences:"

"Here I am at 365 days, my last post in a year of daily blogging about the science in my life. True to my usual form, it's been a jam-packed day and I've spent it doing a multitude of activities, all the while turning over in my head what I might write. I started the morning with a long run through the Adelaide's inner western suburbs and along the River Torrens."

"This post discusses some of the challenges and proposed solutions for implementing maker education activities into a learning setting.  Several trends drive this post: The Play Deficit - diminishing amount of free play in which kids engage Lack of creativity and innovation in children's lives and toys The Maker Movement -Maker Education"

"The problems stemming from this are many. How do we stress the importance of digital literacy to a group of people, many of whom are digitally illiterate in the modern sense of the term? How do we get educators to remain relevant in their areas of expertise, if their access to content is limited to the methods and tools of the 20th Century? How do we get educators to participate in collaborative learning on a global basis, when they are comfortable with their day-to-day, face-to-face connections with only their building colleagues?"

"A rigorous and engaging classroom….what does that look like?  Recently I tweeted a link to an article by David Price that challenged the current perception of what student engagement looks like. The article was a summation and analysis of a 20 year longitudinal study of Australian students.  Using the study, David's article addressed the following myths. 1. I can see when my students are engaged 2. They must be engaged, look at their test scores 3. They must be engaged - they're having fun The article (found here) was an incredibly interesting read but the Twitter conversation after my post was for me the most interesting part. "

""Blogging - an essential online space" (link to the recording)  was the theme of this week's Tech Talk Tuesdays. I feel stronly that blogging should be open and online. Why?  Otherwise students should use offline tools to document their learning etc. A question was asked "How can we ensure that students are safe and secure whilst blogging?" Here are some suggestions:"

"The internet has changed the way with think of information. The web as we know it is significantly changing our literacy and information encounters.Participative media tools have altered the shape and experience of learning, and provided teacher and librarians in this changing learning environment with the need to embrace new skills, new tools and new ways of working with literacy, information literacy and digital fluency. If there is any doubt about the scope and impact of the new technology environment, the Horizon Report K-12 edition (2011) issued annually since 2009 has identified and described emerging technologies that are having a significant impact on K-12 education, re-iterating the diversity of influences in the learning spaces of our schools."

"Tomorrow morning, I'll make a presentation at 7:30 in the morning to get our district technology camp started. My topic is "Building your Professional Learning Network," and will focus on how professionals can use social media to enhance their skills. As I prepared, I thought a lot about my audience, some dedicated educators from our schools who are facing the constant challenge of doing more with less. My job is to convince those gathered that it is worth their valuable time to create their own digital footprint. After some reflection, here's my 6 point argument:"

A short succinct article that makes a lot of sense.

"If there is one subject that most bloggers have written about, it is probably the act of blogging. I know for me, as well as many of my blogging friends, it is nothing like we imagined before we were immersed in the "blogosphere". Bloggers start their blogs for many different and personal reasons. One step common to all however, is that it does take an act of courage to publish that first blog post."

"To couple my continued passion for learning and sharing using Twitter as an education professional and this new rather lovely App by Adobe, I thought I'd create a new resource to support teachers looking to learn more about joining Twitter."

"For me, Edmodo continues to be a staple in my web-based apps diet. Yes, they have changed it a lot since it first debuted, and yes, some of those changes haven't been for the best (the iPad app continues to be dodgy!). However, its main functionality is the same, and I continue to find it super reliable and user-friendly for my students. I'm thankful that the school I'm now in sets all students up with Edmodo right at the beginning of year 7. This approach normalizes the use of technology in learning, and means students aren't messing around signing up in class etc."