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There is much to be learned from journeys. From stepping out of our doors and by placing one foot in front of the other making progress towards a planned destination. Journeys are a great metaphor for the challenges we face in our day to day lives and the parallels we draw may allow us to set a goal and achieve it despite the obstacles.

The book 'Non Obvious' by Rohit Bhargava present an intriguing exploration of how careful observation and thought can reveal emerging trends and as the subtitle suggest 'predict the future'. For educators the ability to identify the trends which will deliver the best outcomes for our students from the noise of fads is alluring. While the talk of new technologies, of learner centric pedagogies and teaching for lifelong learning play the part of the obvious trends in education identifying the non-obvious trend is a more challenging endeavour. 

Only those who have taught a class for a year, who have struggled with the challenges faced by students and who have shared in the moments of success will truly understand why we teach. Maybe that is why we seek out opportunities to gather and share what we do, to spend even a Saturday in the company of those who "get" what it is that we do and why we do it. Teaching is a beautiful thing to be a part. 

Learning Without Training by JAY CROSS on MARCH 5, 2012 Successful businesses insure that software and tools are available for such things as bookmarking reference information, collaborating on tasks, searching organizational content, recording knowledge for peer learning, reinforcing of key concepts, locating experts, accessing outside information, and connecting with customers and partners. Here are a few examples of learning before and after instituting the learning infrastructure we call a Workscape. Usually it's training before and pull learning after, that is, from training to what Jane Hart has called learning without training. For a less murky version of this post, visit the white paper on the Internet Time Alliance site from which this was excepted. Note what's happening here. The shift from training programs to learning networks expands learning and development from a limited department isolated from business operations into a critical, pervasive business function. CLOs who embrace this challenge of integrating learning into work face enormous job enrichment. Those who don't will play severely diminished roles. My next post on this topic will discuss how to shift from the traditional pattern to the network model.

A social economic game where you are presented with lots of financial challenge. Can you make it to the end of the month? http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

A useful maths flash resource where players arrange numbers into a grid of addition and subtraction questions in the quickest time possible. It's great for practising basic skills. Why not set up a competition in your class? There are four levels of difficulty to choose from. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

This is a downloadable programme that teaches programming through a virtual robotic rover. Design games and challenges with your robot moving and finding objects. The commands are similar to MS Logo, but the interface and graphics are vastly more child-friendly. It is free for personal use. Found via http://twitter.com/@SheliBB http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/ICT+%26+Web+Tools

A well designed flash spelling challenge. In round one players must identify the correct spelling. In round two they must choice the wrong spelling and gain a bonus if they can spell it correctly. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/English

emystifying the Economics of Virtualization and Cloud Computing Posted by Michael Vizard Mar 15, 2011 11:51:15 AM Make the Financial Case for Virtualization and Cloud Computing With the advent of virtualization and cloud computing, figuring out the actual cost of enterprise computing has never been more important or complicated. Now that every application to one degree or another is eventually going to wind up sharing IT infrastructure with some other set of applications, ascribing costs to each application gets significantly more difficult. In the past, when every application pretty much had its own servers, the costs were clear, except for mainframe and minicomputer environments that were designed from the ground up to run a symmetric multiprocessing environment that supported multiple applications. But now that virtualization and cloud computing are pushing the concept of shared IT infrastructure across the entire spectrum of IT, application owners want to know what their true costs for running these environments actually will be. In addition, the chief financial officer - along with the rest of the board of directors - is demanding a more line-by-line accounting of the allocation of IT resources. Conceptually, most IT leaders should welcome this increased level of scrutiny. It gives them a chance to show how efficient they can be, which represents a significant change of pace after decades of meetings with senior managers that only really wanted to know what the availability of IT services was without much regard to the actual budget. The challenge facing many IT organizations today, says Chris Pick, chief marketing officer for Apptio, a provider of IT financial management tools that are available as a service, is they just don't have the tools needed to delve into all the financial elements of the overall IT equation. For example, a new survey of 100 CIOs in the U.S. that was conducted by the market research firm Worldwide Executive Council on behal

A great random workout generator. Choose the type of exercise and set the timer between 5-60 minutes. This could be used as a 5 minute challenge in a sports lesson. The site works well on mobile devices, but there are apps for Apple and Android devices to download. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Sports+%26+Fitness

21st Century Education is an education where students work with real world applications on inquiry-based, real world challenges, acknowledging the connected digital world they live in, where they can communicate and learn globally, and where actionable thinking, innovation, creativity and problem-solving are actively taught, encouraged and nurtured.

This is a superb site and download where you can make 3D animated cartoons by selecting your props, characters and locations and then use blocks to programme how things move and interact in a similar way to MIT's Scratch. You can upload your creations to the website to share. There are a set of challenges to try and you can even remix animations designed by other users. Discovered via @mberry http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Video%2C+animation%2C+film+%26+Webcams

Building an effective network though, is dependent on knowing the right places to go, which tools to use and how best to use them. With technology changing and new tools developing so rapidly, this can be a challenge to keep up with. With this in mind I have launched this quick research survey to find out where you prefer to build your networks and what the pros and cons of each of those networks might be.

www.thebargainplaza.com Most quality online stores.New Solution for home gym, cool skateboard, Monsterbeats headphone and much more on the real bargain. Highly recommended.This is one of the trusted online store in the world. View now www.thebargainplaza.com

This is a superb maths site with flash games on perimeter, area, factors, fraction, multiples and many more. Play against the computer or challenge your friends. A free sign up is required. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths

The GLOBE Program (http://www.globe.gov) is taking this opportunity to salute teachers everywhere----for all of the things you do----for inspiring your students and cultivating the love of learning. Teachers are the backbone of our educational system. They encourage, inspire and challenge us to reach new heights and dream without boundaries. The GLOBE Program Office in Boulder, Colorado produced this video for teachers everywhere. We encourage you to watch it, send it to your fellow (or favorite) teachers, school administrators, friends and family members. Encourage them to share it with their network as well so that everyone may pause for a moment and truly appreciate the teachers who made a difference in their lives.

Salute to Teachers Video

Does this video include private, charter, online teachers or those who belong to a teacher's union?