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"The Technology Enhanced Learning Research group, led by Kevin Burden (Principal Investigator) based in the Faculty of Education, have recently completed the first national evaluation to investigate the use and impact of tablet technologies (in this case the iPad), across schools and homes in Scotland."

"Ask a question, make a hypothesis, and observe what happens in this Sesame Street interactive science experiment! Help renowned scientists, Cookie Monster and Emma, investigate what sinks in water and what floats in water! Experiment with a rubber band ball, a lime and lemon, Ernie's rubber duckie, and a coconut. Start the experiment here! Will Bert's underpants sink or float? Go to http://www.sesamestreet.org/sinkorfloat for the full interactive experiment and find out."

Past scandals, bad photos, critical comments: the internet has a long memory. As the EU considers the 'right to be forgotten', we investigate the growing business of online reputation management - and learn how you can airbrush your own past

"WolframAlpha, the computational search engine has added a fun bit of functionality - it can now delve into your Facebook account (only with your permission obviously) and it can give you a whole bunch of interesting facts"

Jade Davis provides an investigation into VR and the ethical concerns fpr education. VR as a mass market product is still emerging. I am enjoying following the conversation and playing with the headsets that use my smartphone as a screen. Despite the risks and worries, I am still excited to see how VR evolves and what educational experience might be designed for it.

"This site promotes positive body image and tackles the impact of young people's internalization of idealised media portrayals of beauty and gender stereotypes.  The site has been developed by the Queen Victoria Women's Centre Trust. My image. Your image. The media.  Advertising. Take it apart. Discuss, investigate, unpack. Then make and shape your own. Take control."

Many of our staff have access to iPads and are keen to use these as part of their teaching. Some are exploring the use of Google Docs, some are exploring the Ultranet and some are exploring other options. The question of privacy and security of information was raised with regards to access to information that is stored within 'the cloud'. This lead to me completing a bit of an investigation of DEECD and Victorian Government policies on where we stand with regards to storing information online using Google Docs, Evernote and other web based applications.

Children given iPads to use at school are more focused on learning and less likely to misbehave, research has found. University of WA education researchers have been investigating the use of iPads and other mobile devices in 12 independent schools during the past 10 months. UWA's Grace Oakley said teachers found that students were more likely to finish their homework and do a better job.

Occasionally there is a piece software that comes along which astonishes me that I can download it for free. We have been recently investigating the ability for our users to sync their docs with a cloud service, primarily for backup. We have looked at Google Drive, DropBox and SkyDrive and there are many others. All have advantages / disadvantages however there is one thing that none of them seem to do - local storage. We simply can't have 1,500 users all trying to sync to the Internet and expect it to work across our 50 meg pipe.  We need it to be stored locally, on one of our servers. Sure we'll need tons of storage and won't have intercontinental redundancy and failover, but let's be honest we are not backing up nuclear launch codes here. One large RAID 5 storage should do the trick.

There are plenty of Google search cheat sheets floating around. But it's not often you get to hear advice directly from someone at Google who offers you his favorite search tools, methods and perspectives to help you find the impossible. Here are some of my favorite tips shared by Russell at the 2012 Investigative Reporters and Editors conference. Some of these techniques are powerful but obscure; others are well-known but not fully understood by everyone.

In 2012 Musgrave Hill SS is entering a new phase in learning as we begin an Apple trial to investigate the effectiveness of iPads for all students, in particular special needs students in mainstream classrooms. We have three target classrooms working with iPads 1:2 with students and two sets of six iPads available for all classes to borrow for use inteaching and learning. The classes in the 1:2 project have several special needs students and a teams of teachers and aides who will support the students, their learning and the project. We will document the iPad Project and provide data that we hope will substantiate our belief that iPads and many other digital technologies are essential to support teaching and learning at our school in the 21st Century.

Ombudsman report regarding the Ultranet (p. 93). Some interesting points such as a recommendation to update it every 5 years(!) and it costing $100 million to keep it going for 10 more years.

An interesting investigation into some misconceptions around mobile technology and the lack of virus detection compared to PC's.

"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."

An interesting investigation from New York Times into data and siren servers.

An interesting investigation into the 'rights' of robots and what it is acceptable to expect them to do now and in the future.

"This thesis investigates change in primary teachers' pedagogical practice following one year's interactive whiteboard experience and the factors that may influence whiteboard pedagogy."

Emaze might be a tool worth investigating if you are seeking to create interesting presentations

"In the Australian Curriculum students develop ICT competence as they learn to use ICT effectively and appropriately when investigating, creating and communicating ideas and information at school, at home, at work and in their communities.

"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!"