Category Archives: News

Upload your future!

Posted on by
2

Bianca van Meeuwen, the ICT Outreach Officer for the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies at Swinburne University of Technology has kindly sent the following information:

On 9 November 2010 Swinburne University of Technology will host Girls in IT, an Upload Your Future event.

We would like to invite all girls aged 14-19 years old to join the fun!

The day will include interactive programming and design workshops, inspirational female industry speakers, an opportunity to hear from current female ICT students, plus complimentary lunch and a show bag!

Multi-Touch iPod nano give away to one lucky participant!

Register to attend

The sessions are free of charge | Spaces are limited | Schools are welcome to register

Complimentary daily Metcard for each participant. Register to attend by 1 November 2010 to receive a daily Metcard for your students.

We look forward to seeing you and your students at Girls in IT!

Please find your Upload Your Future invitation Upload Your Future Invite.

What a fantastic event. Pity things like this weren’t around when I was a student!

eSmart schools

Posted on by
3

The news released yesterday that Victorian schools will be able to gain access to funding and support to become eSmart schools is a brilliant step towards cybersafety.

The program developed by the Allanah and Madeline Foundation and trialled by a number of schools is now set to be rolled out to Victorian schools.

Quick Tour 2.4 9 Nov

With funding, training, information and actions for students, teachers and students, eSmart schools will have a number of resources to hand to help avoid cyberbullying and policies to help deal with it if it does occur.

Detailed information is available on the eSmart schools website.

Readers Cup Film Festival

Posted on by
1

Sponsored by School Library Association of Victoria: A competition for Readers in Years 7-8 and 9-10.

Thanks to Sandra Hay for the following information:

Encourage your students to showcase their reading, thinking and creative skills, and have fun doing it.

The Readers Cup Film Festival encourages students to participate in school teams, sharpening their reading and thinking skills and developing their digital publishing capabilities.  The competition focusses on the creation of a digital artefact that reinterprets a story with flair and originality.  Any digital technology can be utilised, such as (but not limited to) PowerPoint, video, mobile phones and entries could include photo-stories, mash-ups, animations, videoed plays, news casts, interviews – *you name it*.

For example, in 2009, one creative school entry was a videoed version of a Reader’s Cup quiz panel.  It’s your choice.

The guidelines for the competition, and the Team Registration form are available on http://readerscup.global2.vic.edu.au

On Friday 26th November 2010 students work will be showcased at the Readers Cup Film Festival.  This end of year event will encourage audience participation with quizzes, competitions and great prizes to be won. It is a great end-of-year activity and lots of fun.

REGISTER NOW- http://readerscup.global2.vic.edu.au

Please contact Sandra Hay: sandrahay@bigpond.com.au if you have any queries about the competition or Film Festival.

Book Video Trailer Awards

Posted on by
3

Have you and/or your students created a book trailer? If so, you could be in line for an award. A couple of days ago, Joyce Valenza blogged about the New Book Video Trailer Awards to be held by the School Library Journal.

The competition is global and the categories are:

  • Publisher/author created for Elementary readers (PreK-6)
  • Publisher/author created for Secondary readers (7-12)
  • Student created for Elementary readers (PreK-6)
  • Student created for Secondary readers (7-12)
  • Adult (anyone over 18) created for Elementary readers (PreK-6)
  • Adult created for Secondary readers (7-12)

The deadline is 17th September. For more information go to Joyce’s brilliant blog Never Ending Search.

Indigenous Literacy Day, Wednesday 1 September 2010

Posted on by
2

Let’s all celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day today. As part of the National Numeracy and Literacy Week, there are a number of activities taking place. The website explains:

Indigenous Literacy Day aims to help raise funds to raise literacy levels and improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions.  We need your support to help raise funds to buy books and literacy resources for these communities.

What happens on Indigenous Literacy Day

  • Events and fundraisers are held across Australia.
  • Participating publishers donate 5% (or more) of their takings from their invoices on ILD.
  • Participating booksellers donate 5% (or more) of their takings from sales on ILD.
  • Participating schools host The Great Book Swap and other fundraising activities.
  • Participating businesses, clubs and organisations host The Great Book Swap and other fundarising activities.
  • Across Australia people attend ILD events including local Great Book Swaps, purchase books at participating bookshops or organise their own private fundraising literary lunches and morning teas.
  • People everywhere pause to read to support Indigenous literacy.

There are lots of activities to choose from to support this important initiative.

SLAV 50th anniversary gala dinner

Posted on by
2

The School Library Association of Victoria will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a Gala Dinner on Thursday, 9 September in the Ballroom at the Rendezvous Hotel. Damian Callinan will be the MC, so it will be a fun opportunity to catch up with colleagues old and new.

The Booking Form is at:
http://www.slav.schools.net.au/downloads/01home/Gala_Dinner_0910.pdf
Please pass this invitation on to your networks. SLAV’s 50th is definitely worth celebrating!

OLMC on Twitter

Posted on by
4

Our Lady of Mercy College Heidelberg has a library Twitter account.

We also set up a twitter account which was linked to the facebook page.  This was an attempt to tackle the facebook conundrum directly and to see if, as educators we can communicate through our students’ choice of social media.  After a year of working to inform teachers of the potential of Web 2.0 in learning and assessment, I also wanted to look at my own area and how we could utilise these tools.
Teacher librarian Michael Jongen explains how the need to tweet came about.
At OLMC Library we have been using Twitter to try to engage and communicate with students.  We use it to promote events like Book Week, Readers Cup and new books as well as good web links. Previously it was linked to the OLMC Library Facebook page which meant that I could place links, news etc onto Face Book and it would also be uploaded to Twitter.  Now that we have a closed group Facebook page this can no longer be done and I have to post separately to Twitter.
I feel that the initial enthusiasm shown by students to Twitter has evaporated and that they are back to Facebook which seems to meet their needs.  While I feel it is a great tool for educators I feel it is not so important with the young who seem to be enamoured with Facebook.  I will still use
Twitter to promote but will focus on Facebook.
Interestingly Head of Library Tricia Sweeney and I are using the school’s intranet portal to promote much more.  Filters enable us to target Year levels so we can target our message much more effectively.

It is really worthwhile to give some new communication methods a trial, so well done to the OLMC library team!

3D map of Titanic Wreck

Posted on by
5

Last week eSchool News reported that a team of scientists will venture miles underwater to visit and map the wreck of the Titanic.

Yahoo news has more detail and reports:

A team of scientists will launch an expedition to the Titanic next month to assess the deteriorating condition of the world’s most famous shipwreck and create a detailed three-dimensional map that will “virtually raise the Titanic” for the public.

The expedition to the site 2 1/2 miles beneath the North Atlantic is billed as the most advanced scientific mission to the Titanic wreck since its discovery 25 years ago.

The 20-day expedition is to leave St. John’s, Newfoundland, on Aug. 18 under a partnership between RMS Titanic Inc., which has exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. The expedition will not collect artefacts but will probe a 2-by-3-mile debris field where hundreds of thousands of artifacts remain scattered.

This is exciting news, particularly since the Titanic: The Artefact Exhibition is currently on display at the Melbourne Museum. No date for a completed map has been estimated as yet.

Reading 2.0 by Dr Joyce Valenza

Posted on by
2

The second of Dr Joyce Valenza’s sessions at the  School Library Association of Victoria Make, Share, Do conference held on Friday 30th July focused on the use of social media to promote reading.

Library20

View more presentations from joycevalenza.
With so many options and ideas for library staff to use to promote reading, as well as ways to have students create presentations, there is at least one brilliant idea here for every school library to use.
Thanks again to Tania Sheko for her notes from the session. My notes are also available.

National Year of Reading 2012

Posted on by
4

What brilliant news! A National Year of Reading for 2012 has been announced.

Screen shot 2010-07-28 at 11.12.39 AM

So far the website has only the basics, but will adding much more content for

  • children
  • adults
  • reading professionals
  • events

There are, however, already a number of flyers, logos and videos available to view, use and distribute. A year to celebrate one of the things we love – how exciting!