Monthly Archives: June 2010

educationeye

Posted on by
3

Mapping innovations in education, Futurelab UK’s educationeye website is an engaging site for educators.

educationeye

Futurelab explains what educationeye is all about:

Education Eye is a free, engaging and easy-to-use online space that gives access to a wide range of exciting, relevant and useful innovations which are selected from the best of the web and updated daily.

The Eye provides a way to discover, explore and share new ideas. It maps hundreds of the top educational websites, forums and practitioner case studies. With additional features like saving your own favourite innovations, Futurelab’s favourites, customisable email digests and a widget version, it’s invaluable for exploring educational innovations.

Users don’t have to subscribe to the website, however a free subscription opens further resources. Daily updates is a useful feature for keeping up with what is new and relevant to learning and teaching.

MLC Lit Club Blog

Posted on by
4

Kew’s Methodist Ladies’ College have kindly shared information on their Literature Club.

MLC 1

No link as the blog is on the school intranet

Robin Anderson, Literature Club Coordinator and Jane Viner, Director of MLC Libraries explain:

MLC Lit Club is a group of Year 7 – 12 students who meet weekly to share a love and appreciation of literature. As a teacher librarian part of my role is to coordinate these weekly sessions, organise activities and encourage student participation and membership. Before establishing a blog for the MLC Literature Club in 2009, I worked with a learning technology liaison teacher for two sessions. I needed to understand the concept of blogging and how to set up and maintain a blog as part of the mymlc website. Previously the Lit Club members had access to a discussion forum which is part of Educate, an online curriculum delivery software program.

No link as the blog is on the school intranet

No link as the blog is on the school intranet

Lit Club students from Years 7 to 12 have posting rights on the blog and student posts have not so far needed to be edited. Bloggers review/discuss particular authors (Agatha Christie), titles (“Twilight”), favourite picture books (“The Very Hungry Caterpillar), conduct polls… We also record, with appropriate photos, special events for example author visits, book selection activities, excursions and joint meetings with other schools. Students are encouraged to continue discussions online about a topic of interest arising at the weekly meeting. Teacher librarians also form part of the Lit Club blog audience and there is a link from the Library homepage to our blog.

No link as the blog is on the school intranet

No link as the blog is on the school intranet

It certainly sounds like the students are enjoying their involvement with the Lit Club blog. Being able to share and discuss thoughts and views and write to an audience is a real attraction for students, while honing writing and communication skills. An excellent resource!

Weekly links (weekly)

Posted on by
1

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

CSI: The Experience Web Adventures

Posted on by
3

Any school studying forensic science will probably be interested in this site.

CSI web adventures

Funded by the US National Science Foundation in conjunction with other organisations, CSI: The Experience Web Adventures provides three adventures, one each for beginner, intermediate and advanced. Registration is free and players can either sign up or play as a guest with no login (this means you won’t be able to save your game to resume playing at a later date). CSI characters help guide you through the adventure and offer help when needed.

This could be a good site for language learners as adventures are available in German and Spanish as well as English.

There are a number of resources for educators for students at different levels, a family guide, as well as links and other activities. Please check the site out before using with students as the nature of crimes involved may not be appropriate for everyone.

Thanks to Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers for supplying the evidence!

Gaming and Families

Posted on by
2

Recently the UK’s Futurelab organisation published a report about ‘the benefits and risks to children’s wellbeing and learning associated with playing computer games.’ As most of us either have children or relatives who are children who play computer games and/or are considering introducing or have introduced gaming into schools, this report will be of interest.

questions addressed included:

  • What role do computer games play in the social, leisure and informal learning activities of families (parents and their children)?
  • What are the attitudes and perceptions of family members towards the benefits and risks of playing computer games?
  • How can we support parents and their children to appreciate and understand the benefits and risks associated with playing computer games?

Three documents outlining the project and results are available.

One of the key findings was

Parents and young people, that is, those aged 5-15, perceived that there were benefits to playing video games as a family, with the main motivation being enjoyment.

The important aspect of this is communication and connectedness within the family for building and maintaining good relationships. This should be applicable to school as well.

Doing Social Good

Posted on by
4

Some further resources for students who want to be more connected with their learning by helping real people and learning multiple skills.

  1. Free rice – cost $0, time 5 mins.
  2. Samasource – cost $25, time 0 mins.
  3. CauseWorld – cost $0, time 5 mins.
  4. Vittana – cost $25, time 5 mins.
  5. The Extraordinaires – cost $0, time 5 mins.
  6. Kiva – cost $25, time 5 mins.
  7. Deki – cost $15, time 5 mins.
  8. Give Work – cost $0, time 5 mins.
  9. SocialVibe – cost $0, time 5 mins.

Please access the Mashable website for more details and to see if any or all of these projects are suitable for your school.