UWCSEA Teachers

"The most important thing is sitting and talking with your children," said Gabrielle Strouse, an adjunct assistant professor at Vanderbilt who has studied e-books. "Whether you're reading a book, whether you're reading an e-book, whether you're watching a video. Co-interacting, co-viewing, is the best way for them to learn."

Simple interactive game that allows students to apply knowledge of simple machines to assemble a device that serves a task

"When I listen to my colleagues in this connected coaches course, I think one area we have in common is that we see the urgent need for change and we are impatient. I read the article "What can we do about teacher resistance" by Jim Knight. Teachers are unlikely to implement a new practice successfully, if they implement at all, if they have had only workshops without coaching or other forms of follow-up support."

"Bring your own device" programs have transformed the way schools are delivering technology services to students.

Somewhere between kids' intuitive social savvy and their online behavior lies an opportunity for both parents and educators to teach responsible digital citizenship, and there are plenty of organizations dedicated to this task alone. Define the Line, a project of McGill University in Canada, was recently awarded a digital citizenship grant by Facebook to help further its work in creating materials to open dialogue about finding the line where joking crosses into negative or criminal behavior. The site includes videos and scenarios designed to enhance discussion of real-world digital topics. Common Sense Media recently launched a free digital citizenship curriculum categorized by age. The curriculum includes both paper-based and digital activities and teaches online safety and Internet research skills in combination with ethics.

The average reader of e-books says she has read 24 books (the mean number) in the past 12 months, compared with an average of 15 books by a non-e-book consumer

Swedish study finds no correlation between video games and violence.

Unfortunate example of sexting happening at a NZ school.

"Kinetic typography is a form of animation that centers mostly on moving text. Simple enough in concept, but it can lend itself to some truly amazing and complex animations if done properly. "

Has some inappropriate language, but a great blog post about being a girl, and having people say things like, "You throw like a girl" etc. 

Easy extension to add to Chrome to hide YouTube comments.  Would be good for parents to install on their home computers.

Beyond Laptops 2012

Suggestions from a mother and employee of security firm Trend Micro on how to support your kids when they set-up Facebook.

Essential readings from #beyondlaptops conference at Yokohama International School. Some really good articles here

"The First World War Poetry Digital Archive is an online repository of over 7000 items of text, images, audio, and video for teaching, learning, and research. The heart of the archive consists of collections of highly valued primary material from major poets of the period, including Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, and Edward Thomas. This is supplemented by a comprehensive range of multimedia artefacts from the Imperial War Museum, a separate archive of over 6,500 items contributed by the general public, and a set of specially developed educational resources. These educational resources include an exciting new exhibition in the three-dimensional virtual world Second Life. Freely available to the public as well as the educational community, the First World War Poetry Digital Archive is a significant resource for studying the First World War and the literature it inspired."

Self explanatory...

A good collection of dystopian novels

Interactive Biology website chock full of resources to make invisible processes visible.

A way of viewing your Instagram photos online

New feature where people can contribute to tons of book lists.... great for browsing....