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"The battle for supremacy in the K-12 whiteboard market is heating up. Companies are scrambling for new sources of revenue, making strategic moves to reinvent their products in the age of tablet computing, and sizing up their competitors to see what they can do to differentiate themselves from the pack. Who ultimately ends up on top has huge implications for educational technology leaders, who must determine which company is the best fit for their needs, and at a cost their districts can afford in still-difficult budget times. Complicating those decisions are changes in the technological landscape that are raising questions about the long-term educational relevance of interactive whiteboards. Do classrooms really need them in the age of iPads?"

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.

Decision: To use the Notebook, The Tablet or my iPhone. I think to myself. How do other people view Twitter? Where are they? Who are they and how often to they check Twitter and for how long. I guess this line of thought is why I became a Geographer. Then I thought to myself. I have all the resources I need in my hand to answer these questions. It's nearly lunchtime so I'll post a 24 hours survey, tweet a few invites to participate and tomorrow lunch I can check the results. So I did. Below are the results and some discussion from #WhoTweets. I would like to acknowledge all those who responded and retweeted to the invite to participate. 97 Respondents is a great result. Thank you everyone.

HERE'S a scene in my house: My almost 9-year-old is on the internet doing something or other, and I am not standing over her shoulder or otherwise monitoring her. Is this negligent? Am I throwing her to the wolves? I have no idea how to approach these thorny questions, so I have lunch with the academic and Microsoft researcher, danah boyd (she spells her name in lowercase letters for complicated philosophical and aesthetic reasons), who has studied this cluster of issues in an original and challenging way.

I have teachers ask me frequently about app recommendations for different subject areas. "What app could I use to teach subtraction?" "What app would you recommend for my students to practice writing?" "I want to use iPads in my Science class. What app is good for that?" I usually sigh to myself, when I receive questions like that. While I am not against in suggesting apps ( which I love doing), I am not comfortable with the level of disconnect between the teacher (who knows her/his students best) and the curriculum related skills and objectives and pedagogical relationship that needs to be in place for an app to be a match to use in a classroom or with an individual learner.

A fascinating counter-point argument to the "mLearning hype". Rick Zanotti questions several of the assumptions underpinning much of the embracement of mlearning. 

1. Create To make a vialogue, upload a video and give people something to talk about! 2. Invite You can make your vialogue a private affair by selecting discussants. 3. Interact Scaffold the discussion: Add comments, surveys and open-ended questions. 4. Share Embed and share vialogues easily on blogs or other websites!

"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."

"This leaves us with the question of how to inspire students to look through Internet search results with tenacity, to approach new technologies that may require more problem-solving skills, and to address tasks that are not as instantaneously gratifying as playing video games. It is our role as teachers to help students develop the skills to problem solve independently and collaboratively use 21st-century skills while not relying on technology to do all of the thinking for them."

Welcome to the Apps User Group website. Our purpose is to connect and assist schools in the use of Google Apps for Education. The site contains resources for implementing and using Google Apps, news from the Google blogs, links to schools that use Google Apps, a discussion forum, and more. All uses are encouraged to share resources, ideas, questions, and comments.

"Its well known that giving easy digital content creation tools into the hands of more teachers and students is a great way to encourage focus on higher order thinking skills in the curriculum. For schools with Macs and iPads, the release of Apple's iBooks Author software in January made this even more possible. Attached to this post is 1.0 draft of a 'know-why' guide to using iBooks Author to make digital content thats localised and personalised just for your students. Download and enjoy, plus leave comments if you have questions or feedback. To load, just download directly onto an iPad with iBooks 2 installed, and tap 'open in iBooks', or download to your PC and sync via iTunes."

"Google understands the importance of finding the right information at the right time. We create tools to let you find the information you need, of the kind you need, when you need it. In most cases, a simple search works really well. But for more specialized questions, a bit of instruction in how to search improves all searcher--from middle school students to trained professionals--and lets you discover and use more, higher quality sources than ever before."

10 Things in School That Should Be Obsolete | MindShift http://t.co/oBFO5FD via @Diigo and @Stephen_H #VICpln PLLlead Another one of those lists but I suppose is good to keep in mind. The question is are these just wishful thinking? How do we get there? What is needed to get there? Are those that control the money and policy going to let us get there and if not how are we going to change their minds? 

Interactive infographic answering the above question over the next century

via @LarryFerlazzo

Post provides an interesting discussion about why and how you might go about creating an online portfolio.

When the first version of HTML5 published in 2008, it raised more questions than it answered. Would it be a force of unification or division? Would content producers, browser programmers and device manufacturers agree to new standards? And would it finally solve issues related to multi-platform development? Its fate was uncertain for some time, especially as heavyweights Apple and Adobe duked it out in the mobile arena. The future of Flash, the standard for streaming video on the web, hung in the balance.

The Gallery is a showcase of e-learning possibilities We've included the best available samples of the many different e-learning strategies we have identified, ranging from quizzes and demonstrations to role plays and simulations. You can use the Gallery to answer these questions: What learning strategies can you use online? Where can you find examples? When would you use a particular strategy? How do you do it, and what's involved?

"he Creative Commons organization has a new tool to help you choose the best license for your situation. The new interactive Creative Commons license chooser helps you select the right license for your work. To select the right license for your work just answer a few questions and a license will be recommended to you."

Looking at the New Directions for school leadership and the teaching profession discussion paper, the only evidence presented to support the assertion that Victoria's education outcomes are not improving is the report "Challenges in Australian Education: results from PISA 2009: the PISA 2009 assessment of students' reading, mathematical and scientific literacy" Specifically the New Directions paper focuses on reading literacy, where in 2009, 14,251 students were given a two-hour pen and paper comprehension test. To get an idea of what types of competencies the reading test is assessing we can look at the sample test , with questions range from comprehension about a letter in a newspaper, the ability to interpret a receipt, comprehension around a short story, an informational text, and interpreting a table. While it doesn't seem unreasonable to want our students to be able to accurately perform these kind of tasks, these tests are not a true or accurate representation of the skills and competencies our students need in today's technology driven world.

The trend line is very much suggesting that in time every school in the developed world will use some form of 'bring your own technology' (BYOT) school resourcing. It is not a question of if but when your school will make the move. The BYOT 'tsunami' is rapidly coming over the horizon.