Group items tagged

"State education departments are unlikely to roll out iPads as part of the federal government's digital education revolution program because of the device's technical shortcomings."

An invaluable guide for Australian Teachers on twitter. Very comprehensive and organised by subject area on google spreadsheet. I will put in my favourites:

IPAF (eye-paf) - aka The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation. IPAF works to raise awareness of the value of film and television content and the impact of online piracy and encourage Australians to access this content via legitimate channels.

"In Australia, Google is the dominant search engine used, claiming a market share in excess of 90%. Throughout this year, however, Microsoft has been taking steps to try and increase Bing's placement against Google, with the hopes of earning more Australian adopters. And while it hasn't exactly been a success story, Bing is ever-so-slightly increasing its market share. In today's blog, I'm going to look at 7 features of both search engines and how they compare to one another."

"Learn, teach and collaborate using digital resources to support the Australian Curriculum." Check out their online community and links to resources.

"Copyright has been firmly back on the agenda in recent months. We've seen the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) release its report on copyright which recommended that Australia adopt a "fair use" exception to copyright infringement. Yet we've also seen the Attorney General, George Brandis, get more exercised about copyright piracy this month, and pledge to do something to address it:"

"What I gained from this exercise was a thorough understanding of issues surrounding Cloud Computing and the information I needed to be able to speak confidently with my school community about the move we were making. If you're a school looking to move into the Cloud Computing space, then measures like this are necessary. If you're an Australian school looking for links to assist you with the process, then take a look at the following."

Based on US situation but still applicable to Australian situation. "Despite the increasing emphasis on technology as a learning tool in the classroom, many school districts still aggressively filter the Internet that teachers and students can access. While the federal Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires that schools filter for pornographic images, many districts are over-filtering, blocking sites that can be used positively for education. There are a lot of myths about how tight these required filters must be."

"Students at Westall Secondary College will soon be using revolutionary Apple iPads as part of an Australian-first trial of the technology at seven Victorian Government schools. The Member for Clayton Hong Lim MP said Westall Secondary College was among the first in the state to participate in the trial."

Just thought that you would like to know that we are part of this iPad trial :-)

"Back in August I predicted that newspapers in their current form will be irrelevant in Australia in 2022. That received significant international attention including from The Australian, The Guardian, Editor & Publisher (which called me the 'Wizard of Aussie') and many others. Part of the point I wanted to make was that this date is different for every country. As such I have created a Newspaper Extinction Timeline that maps out the wide diversity in how quickly we can expect newspapers to remain significant around the world."

Blog with play game activities for young children. Australian teacher group blog. Inspiration for teachers.

Following on from my last feel-good link 'Stop Disaster' I received a response from a post I put up about the game at my blog - http://abcreative.posterous.com Melanie, the Manager - School Education, National Security Capability Development Division, Attorney General's Department came across the post and shared this link with me. 'Dingo Creek - the disaster' and 'Dingo Creek - The Recovery' immerses students in an emergency management situation and gets them to make decisions will change the course of the game. The great thing this has been developed for Australian students. There are also offline units and lesson resources to download from the site. Another great resource for incorporating games / simulations effectively into the curriculum.

"Transforming Assessment is an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Fellowship project looking at the use of e-assessment within web 2.0 and virtual world online learning environments in Higher Education. Enquires relating to this project: Professor Geoffrey Crisp, University of Adelaide. Technical enquires relating to this channel: Dr Mathew Hillier, University of Adelaide. "

"The animals found in the south eastern Australian State of Victoria are unique and diverse. Detailed descriptions of animals, maps of distribution, and endangered species status combine with stunning imagery and sounds to provide a valuable reference that can be used in urban, bush and coastal environments. The content has been developed by scientists at Museum Victoria, Australia's largest public museum organisation. The app holds descriptions of over 700 species encompassing birds, fishes, frogs, lizards, snakes, mammals, freshwater, terrestrial and marine invertebrates, spiders, and insects including butterflies. From animals found in rockpools, minibeasts in your garden, to wildlife you might see in the bush. We've put in a lot of species, but it's still a fraction of the complete fauna of Victoria. Our scientists will continue to add additional species and refine descriptions over time."

"Connect.ed is an innovative, self-paced cybersafety education program offered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) as part of Cybersmart. Connect.ed provides teachers with the flexibility of a self paced environment to learn about current online behaviours of students, potential risks involved in these activities, a teacher's and school's duty of care and the appropriate tools, resources and strategies to help students to have safe and positive experiences online."

110 years of transcripts of our Australian Federal Parliamentary Proceedings (Hansard) have now been made available online as search-able web content.

"NSW Police have been made aware of a Facebook page that has allegedly made disturbing death threats against baby-faced singer Jack Vidgen. Telephones don't stalk children, Social Media doesn't intimidate them either. People do. Investigate People. Don't blame the online community tools. Thank the tools - they shine a spotlight on all that is horrid in our society. We cannot heal until we know what is wrong with us and acknowledge and address it. And newspapers are not here to heal us, believe me!"