Group items tagged

"The Royal Children's Hospital provides a unique environment for student learning. The Education Institute has started the new year with a fantastic program of project-based learning to engage students in meaningful learning experiences with real world relevance."

This is an interesting Twitter client for following hashtags in a chat-room type environment. Speed of update can be controlled or paused

"Presented by well known science educator, Sean M Elliott, Rough Science is a digital learning environment that explores three exciting Australian Curriculum Year 5 & 6 science topics: Layers of the Earth; Solid, Liquid & Gas; and Adaptation & Evolution. Each unit is comprised of a short video and a creative challenge. The App is accompanied by a free Rough Science Teacher Handbook, available from the iTunes store. "

"It is pretty much a given these days that students have mobile phones, tablets, and e-readers. Leveraging what your students already have and already know how to use is a smart idea - even if you aren't implementing a full-on BYOD classroom environment. There are many ways to have students use their mobile devices in the classroom in a format geared towards learning rather than for leisure. The infographic in this post takes a look at ten fairly general ways to use devices in the classroom. The general nature of some of the recommendations makes it a great starting point if this is a newer concept for you or for a particular group that you're working. "

Game-based learning offers an approach where learning and play aren't at odds with each other; in fact, games are the vehicle and environment for learning.

"Minecraft is more than just a game and used carefully it can also be a powerful educational tool. It allows young people to create and explore places that are completely inaccessible by other means. Within the blocky world, they can roam around historical sites, delve into the geology beneath their feet or fly through the chambers of a heart, and much more besides. The rich resources of these virtual worlds, coupled with the educational version of the game, allow teachers to immerse young people in a comfortable but exciting learning environment. Minecraft has the ability to bring just about any conceivable structure to the classroom, and beyond.

Ocean Tracks is an Australian website on which students can view the tracks of marine animals in an online 3D environment. The "tracks" part of Ocean Tracks shows you where in the world tagged animals are swimming or have swum. Ocean Tracks uses the Unity browser plug-in to provide animations of the underwater views of tracked animals. You can see what bluefin tuna, swordfish, sharks, and many other fish see in 3D.

Too often a student's digital literacy experience is limited by what their teacher can do.  How often do we hear "I can't do eLearning unless I get adequate PD first". Enter Minimally Invasive Education.  Today a couple of exceptional junior school teachers and myself pooled all our iMacs together to see if we could encourage our 5 year-olds to gather in SOLES (Self-Organised Learning Environments) and teach themselves how to use iMovie.

The Official iOS 5 Education Deployment Guide. This guide is designed for those responsible for the deployment of iOS devices, from IT leadership to implementors. It highlights best practices and considerations relevant to deploying and supporting iOS devices in education environments. Though US based it still has useful information. 

When it comes to using technology in school, the tension between what students and parents want and what schools allow is becoming more apparent - and more divisive. Students want more control over how they use technology in school, but many classrooms are still making it difficult. That's according to the most recent Speak Up 2011 report, "Mapping a Personalized Learning Journey," which reflects the views of more than 416,000 K-12 students, parents, and educators nationwide surveyed on how technology can enhance the learning environment.

"RoboMind is a simple educational programming environment that will familiarize you with the basics of computer science by letting you program your own robot. In addition to an introduction to popular programming techniques, you will also gain insight into areas such as robotics and artificial intelligence. "

"It can help to start out by asking yourself some important questions, such as "What can the iPad do that is not possible without it? Put another way, what problems does the iPad solve?" But the learning environment you're starting with can make a big difference as well. It's one thing to come up with individual lesson plans high on the wiz-bang factor, but low in terms of sustainability. Below are 4 distinct areas of instruction and instructional design that can help frame the concept of iPad integration. Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, and Integration."

CPD 4 Teachers provides tailored professional development opportunities, by working within the school environment to bring about strategic and sustainable change management initiatives.

"Building 20 and brainstorming came into being at almost exactly the same time. In the sixty years since then, if the studies are right, brainstorming has achieved nothing-or, at least, less than would have been achieved by six decades' worth of brainstormers working quietly on their own. Building 20, though, ranks as one of the most creative environments of all time, a space with an almost uncanny ability to extract the best from people. Among M.I.T. people, it was referred to as "the magical incubator." "

I visited Eric's High School on February 24th to observe Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and his implementation of a contemporary learning environment.  I was impressed.  I was most impressed at Eric's reflection that he was once part of the problem, banning devices from his school rather then embracing the use of the technology.  That has changed and Eric trusts his students to interact responsibly with media and communication tools.  These expectations are being met by staff and students. 

Great discussion starter around student priorities for environments

"The digital age has presented many and diverse challenges for copyright law. The rapid uptake of digital, networked technologies led to widespread online distribution of content, as well as the emergence of new practices and technologies that enabled digital content to be shared, reused and remixed on an unprecedented scale. But while technology provided the capacity for sharing and reuse of content to occur on a vast scale, legal restrictions on the use of copyright material hampered its negotiability in the digital environment."

"Zebedee is a handheld, three-dimensional mapping device that has a vast array of applications, and has already been being picked up by the Queensland police for crime scene investigations. Zebedee is able to generate 3D recreations of spatial environments in the time it takes to walk through them. The portable laser scanner is one of the latest whiz-bang inventions from the scientists at CSIRO."