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Interesting idea of using google maps as the visual for a fictional story. Possibilities for education innovation?

A comparison of Dictionary an Internet for classroom use - Do we still need dictionaries?

What services like Google Now and Evernote Context suggest for the future of knowledge?. According to IBM 'Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data - so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone'. What happens when this data finds the user instead of the user searching for it?

Recently Dropbox and Microsoft announced a partnership that offers users of the popular cloud service easy interoperability with Office on iOS and Android.

Recently many of our Year Six students have been involved in projects that require them to utilise the brain of a maker. Facing challenges involving the exploration of how everyday objects are manufactured and while responding to their 'Genius Hour' ambitions they are facing a new set of problems and discovering the joy that comes from solving these with their hands as much as their brains.

The start of a new school year brings with it great excitement and just a little sense of panic and chaos. We have new students, new classes, new teachers and new challenges. We spend time getting to know each other and building trust. But what happens next sets the tone for the year and determines our ultimate success.

Understanding and identifying the barriers to creativity and the conditions which are essential for it to thrive is an important step in the process of ensuring our students leave school with a capacity for creativity at least equal to that which they arrive with.

With the end of the year approaching and holidays looming for some now is the ideal time to share some suggestions for books and papers to read. A great book can provide the inspiration required to begin the new year positively and this list includes some of my favourites from 2015.

For teachers in Australia the year is drawing rapidly to a close. It is a time for packing away classrooms, taking down displays of student learning and saying farewell to students as they move on to new classes. At the ending of one year it is worth taking a moment to ponder what is so remarkable about teaching as a profession.

How might we define intelligence? What do we mean when we speak of intelligence and what evidence do we seek when we look for it? Is it a singular, fixed attribute determined at birth or does it vary across time and environment?

The teaching of thinking is a critical endeavour for teachers and one that brings enhanced learning opportunities for students. Unfortunately thinking is not something that we naturally do well and as a consequence it is a skill we need to learn.

Innovation is very much on the agenda in Australian and globally. The OECD publishes lists of nations most likely to succeed through innovation and nations seek to encourage increased innovation to maintain their competitive edge. The result of this in Australia is the recent launch of a new 'Innovation Australia' policy with wide reaching measures to encourage and foster a culture of innovation.

Sometimes it is worth stating the obvious, giving time and thought to what we easily take for granted. In doing so we name the things we value most and give them the value they deserve. The value of teams is one such ideal, we know that teams have value, we probably even know what it feels like to be a part of a great team but too often we take this feeling as understood and don't stop to consider what makes it worth chasing.