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As games, particularly virtual worlds, become increasingly popular and as they begin to approximate large scale social systems in size and nature, they have also become spaces where play and learning have merged in fundamental ways. More important is the idea that the kind of learning that happens in the spaces of these massively multiplayer online games is fundamentally different than what we have come to consider as standard pedagogical practice. The distinction the authors make is that traditional paradigms of instruction have addressed learning as "learning about," while these new forms of learning deal with knowledge through the dynamic of "learning to be." It is the authors' contention that the experiences offered within virtual worlds provide a fundamentally different way of thinking about

Nearly 1 in 5 gamers play social network games and 1 in 10 massively  multiplayer games. Growing social and online play is driving interest in online content. One in five gamers say they would either be "motivated" or "very motivated" to sign up to a faster broadband  service for game downloads and online play.

Has helpful lesson ideas and resources for reading, writing and thinking and great for persuasive writing

Fun, great to view, some people have time on their hands!  These experiments were created by designers and programmers from around the world using the latest open standards, including HTML5, Canvas, SVG, and more. Their work is making the web faster, more fun, and more open - the same spirit in which we built Google Chrome.

a fantastic post about class and student blogging. Some great links for blog support and ideas. A must read if you are unsure about the widgets and sidebar. This is compulsory reading for level 3 teachers who should be considering students having their own blog.

This looks like a great tool for reading activities. Perfect for those using ipod touches in the classroom. Just load and listen and best of all its free!

This is a fantastic web 2.0 tool. Upload images and annotate. You can other embed media inside the annotations. Annotations pop up as you click or hover over the objects you add. You can embed the annotated image into webpage or blog. This could be a useful tool for teachers and students. Lots of scope for creativity with layers etc. You can share to a group and set editing permissions for public or restricted people/groups for collaboration purposes. 

Great information and hard data on Natural disasters including tsunami, earthquakes and volcanos, long term data, hist of natural hazards and research

Another great post by Tom Barret. Where does he find the time? Great ideas for digital writing and integrating ICT into your Literacy and english lessons

Bec Martins great blog reviewing apps and games for the ipad and ipods

For years, almost no-one wanted to talk about education policy. Suddenly everyone is. Of course, just because you can invoke the name of "Gonski" doesn't mean you've read the Sydney businessman's talismanic report on schools funding reform, much less understood it. Schools funding is a complex topic. There's an alphabet soup of abstract acronyms (SES, AGSRC) and a spaghetti diagram of administrative structures. Funding for a particular school could include money from parents, from a major church, from a state or territory, and from Canberra. The formula is set with a bewildering array of equations, fed by the demographic chance of Census data.

Creativity is the act of thinking. Whether you are deliberately engaged in thought for the purpose of making novel connections or in a state of incubation where the creative process is happening somewhere in the deep unconscious it is thinking that you are doing. Making thinking visible is a must read and have for all schools who are wanting to promote thinking. The thinking  routines outlined in this book are easily implemented and have robust research from Harvard Graduate School Of Education that demonstrate their effectiveness.  

Doing shape and or tessellation in Maths??? This blog post could come in handy. Some interesting discussion on tessellation in real life. So the next question is why do we teach tessellation in maths? Shouldn't we just get rid of this aspect of maths and create a new subject called design??

This looks like an amazing site with loads of activities for teachers and students. Amazing when do people find the time to put this together and who is paying for it?

Yep Andrew, total agree! Not quite sure how the stages relate to VELS. But loads of open ended problems and games. Seems to have activities for just about all of the different areas of the Maths cirriculum.

This website has a whole range of great activities and lessons in regards to reading, writing and thinking.

This is a great article outlining the success of the Finnish education system. They don't standardise test, they don't track or target teach, they have smaller class sizes, train, educate and pay their teachers better. Dah!! That's why they top the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. What's happening in Australia???

Phonics games, online phonics games for students, reading and spelling games for kids and adults from Fun Fonix.com!

Wow what a cool idea. You could do this in the Lab. Would be great if we had a 1:1 program. Independent self-analysis of visual, audio or written text. Very easy to create a google form. All students who have access to our email system can do this

A valuable website with information about ASD and other disabilities. Categorises the disabilities and gives valuable information to assist in working with these students.