Purposeful Learning Technologies

Great article from the SMH- regarding the impact ipads have on students reading. Syd Diocese is running a trial of iPads in reading recovery.

great fun- use fly swats to add to the interaction

An interesting post on the effective use of SMART Boards that challenges the cynics

A nice grid around cybersafety and connected, safe and responsible use of technology 

This is a neat website that lets students track missions as they are happening with the satellites that are collecting information about the Earth from space.  Students can learn about the earth by choosing a mission to follow, zoom in and out of the globe, view satellite paths, view city and location labels on the map, replace the sun with an "artificial light" and see the view from Earth's surface.  As students click on the satellite, they will be able to view and discover more information about the mission.  Students can choose to view the 3D Earth in real-time or speed up/slow down the Earth with a time control.

Good tag cloud like searching for images leading to a sphere of images. Nice introduction to a unit or concept.

An example of what a Year 2 Class in Victoria is doing in their daily literacy block. They're blogging, commenting, listening to reading on their iPod touches and working on the interactive whiteboard!

A blog by a teacher discussing interesting uses and ideas with using Technology in the classroom and other stuff.

Directions for setting up your ipad out of the box

Great site for accessing free on-line video tutorials to learn some of the basic features of the smartboard

If you want your students to use the internet for research, but find that sites such as Wikipedia can overwhelm students and contain too much information - then you might like to take a look at the Simple English Wikipedia. The Simple English Wikipedia uses simple English words and grammar to explain topics.  There are 70,000 articles on the site, a fraction of the 3 million articles that are on the main wikipedia page, but enough for most students. Check before you send kids towards the site that it contains the topics you want them to research. If it doesn't you could always create a page and add the information yourself - or make it a goal for the research project to write a page!

A couple of useful tools for you to use with your class. Worth a read...

This is a google custom search that finds all the best notebook files from some of the best interactive websites around. 

A great article promoting the use of Twitter in the classroom, and some of the possibilities. Written by an Ex-Principal who was very anti-social media...well worth a read!

Tips for using Flip Video Cameras with iPad

A great video to introduce K-2 to certain aspects of Internet Safety. The video makes some comparisons between the real world, and the online world, and at the end sets some rules to follow. Worth a look. 

Conversations and podcasts by leading teachers about technology in the classroom. Some great ideas!

Interactive internet sites for Smartboards. Covers many KLA's.

A page hosting the latest Horizon Reports. Look for the Horizon Report Australia/New Zealand Edition and the K12 Horizon Report