Group items tagged

"Children who blog, text or use social networking websites are more confident about their writing skills, according to the National Literacy Trust."

Interesting research about the literacy connection to social networking.

A cyberbullying 'epidemic' has hit our shores and threatens to contaminate our children through emails, chatrooms, blogs, mobile phones and social networking sites. The Bullies are nasty, highly contagious viruses that lurk in cyberspace, infecting young cyber citizens with unacceptable online behaviours. And unfortunately, something seemingly innocent such as forwarding an unpleasant email to someone can cause instant contamination. But help is at hand. SchoolAid, in partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, has launched a national campaign that identifies and personifies the different types of cyberbullying behaviours, and in particular, bystander behaviour, to raise awareness of this crucial issue, while encouraging open discussion among children and adults alike.

"The Federal Government has announced the first sites on mainland Australia where the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be rolled out."

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.

Filament Games is a game production studio that exclusively creates learning games. Our core competency is producing games that combine best practices in commercial game development with key concepts from the learning sciences. Accordingly, our senior staff is comprised of individuals who are equal parts game and instructional designers; a "dual literacy" that allows us to engineer authentic gameplay mechanics (rules and interactions that directly correlate with specific learning objectives). Filament Games was founded in 2005 by education technology expert Dan White, game designer Dan Norton, and software engineer Alex Stone. In the time since, Filament has developed over 30 educational games for clients ranging from National Geographic's JASON Science to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's iCivics Inc.

The Leading Curriculum Change program will enhance teachers' knowledge, skills and confidence to effectively lead curriculum change, particularly local implementation of the Australian Curriculum.It will be a unique opportunity to learn with teachers from across Australia in a national professional learning community.Bringing curriculum to life through innovation and excellence. Teachers will experience a high quality, evidence-based, interactive online professional learning program that is designed by experts for adult learners.

This site follows up the promo video - jump in and have a look.

is this something like the Ultranet?

The Australian Government will build its own $43 billion National Broadband Network, in a move that returns Australia's telecommunications economy to an era of part-public, part-private ownership.

"How Microtask's Digitalkoot game helps weed mistakes out of the Finnish National Library's e-archives One more step, and a tiny creature will cross the bridge and get to safety. Just one more step - but letters do not match, the fragile structure blows up and the brown mole falls into a digital abyss. But as Juha Valtamo, a 21-year-old Finnish student, correctly types the next word that appears on the screen of his laptop, another mole happily reaches the destination. Digitalkoot may sound like a typical online game - but there is more to it than just building bridges and saving moles."

The above world population and countdown counters are based on the estimates of the United Nations and will show the same number wherever you are in the world and whatever time you set on your PC. 

"September 27, 2014 Projecting your iPad on a large screen is great for demonstrations, simulations, explanations, and showing examples. There are several ways this can be done in the classroom.  VGA or HDMI Adapter Connect directly from your device to a projector's video cable. Click to find out which of the four possible adapters is the one you need. Document Camera Put your device under a camera connected to a projector. Glare may be a problem. Your audience can see your fingers.. Search Amazon for document cameras. Apple TV Connect an Apple TV to your projector and use your device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Apple TV is available from Amazon.com. AirServer Install software on your projector-connected computer and use device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Get AirServer at airserver.com. Annotate.net Install software on your projector-connected computer and use device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Download the Annotate Mirror Client.  Mirroring360 Install software on your projector-connected computer and use device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Download Mirroring360. Reflector Install software on your projector-connected computer and use device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Get Reflector at reflectorapp.com. X-Mirage Install software on your projector-connected computer and use device's AirPlay feature to mirror the screen. Get X-Mirage. iTools Install software on your projector-connected computer and attach device using its USB cable and choose Live Desktop. Macs can wirelessly mirror to iTools. It's beta software with no documentation and can be buggy. English version currently not available. OS X 10.10 Yosemite Update to OS X Yosemite on your projector-connected Mac and attach device using its Lightning cable. Open QuckTime & choose iPad as the camera source.  If you don't mind keeping your iPad in one spot, then a VGA adapter (for 30-pin Dock connector or for the new Lightning

From the National Film Board of Canada & the Guardian, this interactive resource explores many of the issues associated with digital citizenship through videos, stories and questions. NB Do check it for appropriateness before using with your students!

via @rmbyrne

"a comprehensive CPD toolkit for the new national computing curriculum" Aimed at Primary teachers in the UK.

"Earlier this month non-profit organisations and companies including Google, Mozilla, Yahoo, and Reddit united to organise a day of action called Reset the Net. The event marked the first anniversary of Edward Snowden's revelations about the National Security Administration's extensive and illegal dragnet surveillance apparatus."

"National data released this week confirms an ongoing trend that now sees nearly half of Australian secondary school students failing to meet minimum digital literacy standards. Current data underpinning decision-making and the new digital technologies curriculum isn't working for ICT in schools for these four reasons:"

"The teachers who instruct the most advanced American secondary school students render mixed verdicts about students' research habits and the impact of technology on their studies. Some 77% of advanced placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers surveyed say that the internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly positive" impact on their students' research work. But 87% say these technologies are creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans" and 64% say today's digital technologies "do more to distract students than to help them academically.""

The United Nations helped launch a smartphone app Tuesday that allows users to "walk a mile in a refugee's shoes" by simulating the daily struggles of a fictional Rohingya Muslim who was forced to flee her home.