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An interesting report with the most interesting data being that "100% of students are online in 2011". While the survey data is apparently representative of the Australian population, I would argue that this figure is not the case and that deeper research needs to be undertaken before these figures can be used as a foundation for embedding technology and internet into education. However, it does show the increasing rate of uptake of online activities within Australia and the trends for access information.

"The twelve units of work in Global Words have been produced by World Vision Australia and the Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) to integrate the teaching and learning of English and global citizenship education."

Big thanks to the Oz-teachers list who provide the link. Go here if you want to join: http://lists.rite.ed.qut.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/oz-teachers Very useful the Professional Learning Teams at my school.

Conferences and events in Australia

designed to assist students and teachers to field trip and report on their local fauna in Australia; even if you are not in Australia there are great pictures and info here

The PZ Sydney Network has achieved many of its goals in the past five years. Most importantly the network has been able to provide high-quality professional development to many educators through free events large and small and both face-to-face and online. The PZ Sydney Network has been able to expand its reach and in recognition of this is transforming to become the PZ Australia Network.

I live in Australia and I have NO idea what all those lights are in the OUTBACK!! There's more light in just a few spots in the Outback (and there's LOTS of those shown in the image) than in the WHOLE of New Zealand? What gives? Mining? Aliens? A data ERROR? The ABC .net site explains that the lights are bushfires! As the images were taken over a number of months, the fires may not have all been burning at the same time. April (when the images were started) may be a the worst time for fires, however, the Outback is usually dry and fires would occur at any time.

I also live in Australia and have to agree with Colin - why so many lights in the outback? The outback of Australia is very sparsely populated and there are no big cities to generate these sort of lights. Maybe it is the aliens!!!

2011 has seen the proliferation of iPad trials in Australian schools and Universities.In most of these cased the iPad has been adopted as much for the Apps available as for its e-reading tools. Here are some sites and reports to look at.

Convenient Calculator for historical monetary data (Australia) care of Thom Blake.

a new world-class education website for Australia packed with hundreds of videos, audio clips and games 100% free to watch and play at home and in school See volcanos erupt and microbats fly. Investigate fossils, megafires and worm farms. Meet fairytale monsters. Unwrap an Ancient Egyptian mummy and explore the Great Barrier Reef without getting wet!

My reflections on the Google I/O and Education. this post has got a lot of interest especially in Australia. I make the point..."This is the real work of education - helping people take control of their lives and realising that in these still early days of the online world, we are being pushed and pushed into vistas that may be limited."

I originally wrote this post in September 2012. With a new school year beginning in Australia and plans to ramp up blogging and Edmodo at our school this year, I have updated this post to use with my staff with more screenshots, new ideas and some additional references to the iPad use of these tools with dedicated apps. For those who have seen it before, you may like to revisit.

Does Edmodo's Digital Citizen Starter Kit handle the challenge of educating kids to be good digital citizens? The answer is "Yes!" according to Bianca Hewes, a high school English teacher in Sydney, Australia who's also been doing awesome things with Edmodo since 2009 (including connecting 30 of her students with registered Edmodo teachers in the US, South America and England to mentor their individual writing projects). "Edmodo is a social network with training wheels," says Bianca. "By introducing it at a young age, teachers are able to develop the habits of the mind that are essential for students to be good digital citizens. Students learn to use appropriate language, to speak kindly and with compassion, to be supportive rather than critical, and to ask thoughtful questions."

For those in Australia the end of the teaching year has arrived or is just around the corner. With holidays approaching now might be the perfect time to find a good book to read and reset your thinking ahead of the start of a new year. Here are my favourite reads from this year. 

This is a very relevant and interesting article about some research that applies in Australia as much as the rest of the world.

Funded by the Australia Government a great way for students to explore and research the ethics of current science and technology issues.

Check out the resources section for a link where you can find resources aligned to the Australian National Science Curriculum. There is some great stuff there if you have a good dig around.

Compare countries to each other.

Panoramic ariel shots from Australia and around the world.

The principle of the MeasuringWorth is that there is no one standard measure for comparing what a monetary value in the past is worth today. The best measure depends on the question asked. At present, we have comparators that give you seven answers for the United States (from 1774 on), five for the United Kingdom (from 1270 on), five for Australia (from 1828 on). These dates are determined by the limits of available data.

This is a "field-book of tools and processes to help readers in all fields develop as researchers, writers, and agents of change." For more details and how to purchase: http://bit.ly/TYS2012. (Printing and distribution in Australia and Europe begins end of March.) Comments on the influence of this book's approach "I was able to get engaged in a project that I was able to actually use in work, which was extremely satisfying. The whole process encouraged me, and I felt very empowered as a change agent, which could be an exhilarating feeling." a healthcare professional and story-teller "I really had not been used to thinking about my own thinking, so learning to do that also helped me to slow down and start to look away from the career path that I had been taking for granted." a biologist-turned-web designer "I found that the experience helped me to accept feedback from other professionals. I am more comfortable with listening to why my own ideas might not work or need further evaluation. This even happens to the point where I find reasons now to seek out this kind of feedback." a teacher "I had viewed research as a process of collecting information into a sort of database and reviewing it effectively. I have now revised my notions to include a more broad understanding of interconnectedness between people and ideas. An important part of research is to keep relationships going." an adult educator "One of the most useful ideas was the use of dialogue, which helps to slow down the procedures used by the company. There's a tension between management's need to make quick decisions and desire to have real dialogue around proposed changes-changes to the internal company operational procedures as well as to evaluating the quality of what the company is doing with its publications." a teacher, currently working in publishing "I was asked to pay attention to what I actually could do instead of what I could not. This enabled me to (1) step back and let go of a huge technic

The message from PwC is clear, Australia needs to take action now if we are not to slip behind the rest of the world. 'Australia is waking up to the fact that the good times can't go on forever. In the face of economic challenges and a digital revolution that's reshaping business and the workforce, we need to act.'