If you are in a secondary school, you may like to pass information on this short story competition on to your students. (Right click the image, save as, then open to print.)
The Thousand Words Festival is a YA author event and is being held in Melbourne in November, so anyone in Melbourne may be interested in passing on details of the festival to their students. Sounds like it should be a fantastic day.
This article was published in today’s Age newspaper and the results of the summit seem to be a step in the right direction regarding the problem of cyber bullying.
Stemming the tide of cyber bullying
FARRAH TOMAZIN
October 13, 2009
Korumburra Secondary College classmates William Crawford and Courtney Graue were among 240 students at the state’s first cyber bullying summit. Photo: Pat Scala
A year ago, Korumburra Secondary College student Courtney Graue became the victim of a sustained campaign of cyber bullying. What started off as schoolyard taunts and social exclusion soon transcended into the online world: derogatory messages posted on her MySpace page, claims that she didn’t have any female friends, even comments about her appearance.
”I guess girls can get jealous of different things and one girl in particular would tell me I was ugly and that I only hung out with guys because no girls would want to talk to me,” said the year 10 student.
”In the end I talked to my teachers, and even to my parents, and they sorted it out. I got over it eventually, but at the time I got fairly upset by it all, and it certainly does impact your life.”
Courtney’s story is emblematic of a much broader trend: the latest research from Edith Cowan University suggests that on any given day, about 100,000 Australian children will be bullied at school. And between 10-15 per cent are cyber bullied through social networking websites, instant online messaging, mobile phones or other forms of digital technology.
Yesterday, Courtney and classmates William Crawford and Daniel Whittingham were among 240 year 10 students who took part in the state’s first cyber bullying summit.
The conference, involving 60 public and private schools, was convened by the Brumby Government after it became so concerned by the extent of cyber bullying that it decided to seek the advice of young people on the best ways to tackle it.
While the Government has tried to crack down on the problem by updating bullying guidelines and blocking access to video-sharing websites such as YouTube and MySpace through a filter system, experts agree that past policies have not done enough.
Appearing at the conference yesterday, Premier John Brumby admitted that the ever-changing nature of digital technology had serious consequences.
”The openness and ease of online communication comes with a downside,” he said.
The summit comes only months after the death of 14-year-old Geelong schoolgirl Chanelle Rae who, according to her mother Karen, took her own life after reading something posted about her on the internet.
Edith Cowan researcher Donna Cross said it was hard to quantify how many youth suicides had been caused by cyber bullying, but there was little doubt it was a contributing factor in some cases.
The message
This article, which was recently published by The Journal, is worth a read in relation to the social media risks to students. It may also be worth passing onto any staff who have an online profile.
By Bridget McCrea 08 October 2009
Name an online social networking site, and there are liable to be thousands of teachers, administrators, and students using it connect with people. Whether it’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or one of the more “specialized” online venues, all are replete with individuals looking to tap into the growing social networking wave.
Like any new, uncharted innovation, online social networking comes with risks not associated with many “traditional” ways of connecting with people. Unintentionally offend someone in person at a bookstore, for example, and the repercussions are likely to be minimal. But post a photo that others deem “offensive” on your Facebook page, and you could risk alienating others and even setting yourself up for potential lawsuits.
In her recent report, “Risk Management and Social Media: A Paradigm Shift,” Maureen O’Neil, president of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), called social media tools like blogs, message boards, and social communities the “fastest growing segment” of Web content. “These forms of social networking upend the traditional form of top-down information dispersal because information freely flows in and out of an organization,” said O’Neil.
The problem is that social media can expose organizations to significant risk, not the least of which is serious reputation damage, said O’Neil. That’s because social media is still largely the “Wild Wild West” of the Internet: It’s widely used, yet there are technically no set rules attached to it in terms of conduct. The good news is that institutions can take an active approach to influence and counteract their schools, students and teachers that are portrayed on these social media sites.
“That requires businesses to create an Internet reputation risk management plan that addresses what visitors to your site express, what your employees share on other sites and most significantly what things are said about your organization on sites over which you have no direct control,” said O’Neil. She suggested organizations actively engage on social network venues to understand how reputation can be impacted by the interactions, and then gather information on the social media activities under consideration.
From there, assess the areas of vulnerability, create counteraction plans, and communicate them to employees. Dedicate at least one employee to the monitoring of your online reputation, remarked O’Neil, and build a process to identify new reputation risk elements as social media evolves.
“The risks organizations face as a result of participating in social media are real, but so too are the benefits,” she said. “Don’t let risk blind you from taking advantage of the transformational communication opportunities that arise from social media.”
For schools, the need for risk management is especially high because teachers, students, and administrators alike are enjoying the benefits of connecting with one another online. Whether administrators are posting information about a recent school event, teachers are bouncing ideas off of one another, or students are posting photos of their weekend events, all of the information being shared is available for anyone to see and comment on.
The single biggest risk in social media circles is undoubtedly the participant’s utter lack of control over where the information is going, how it will be posted, and who is going to be able to access it. To avoid potential problems in this area, pay particular attention to what pages that online information is linked to, what types of pages are attached to the information, and which photos are included.
Schools looking to beef up their social media risk management strategies can start by setting up guidelines around their employees’ and students’ use of sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, to name just a few. Stress the fact that, once posted online, comments and photos “never go away,” even if the individual poster deletes them.
Sarah Evans, an Internet marketing consultant and director of communications for Elgin Community Collegein Elgin, IL, said schools should pay particular attention to the feedback being posted about the institution and its students and teachers. Assign someone to “search” the various sites (for the school’s name, for example) on a regular basis to essentially “police” the institution’s brand and make sure it’s being represented properly in the social media.
“You want to make sure that you’re portraying the same experience online that you do when people enter your institution’s doors,” said Evans, who pointed out that all social media sites incorporate a “search” function that allows users to type in keywords and “see what people are talking about in real-time, online.”
Also check out exactly what the content looks like before exposing it to the rest of the world. (If one of your teachers has his or her own Facebook page, pull it up online and see what it looks like to others.) Pay attention not only to the teacher’s or student’s own comments and postings, but also to the feedback being posted by “friends” who are reading–and commenting on–those social networking activities.
Article in today’s Age regarding the introduction of the e-book reader Kindle into Australia.
iPod for books Kindles excitement
October 9, 2009
IT’S the iPod for book lovers. The Australian publishing industry was abuzz yesterday over the announcement that Amazon.com’s foray into the world of electronic readers, the Kindle, is coming to Australia.
The electronic reader, Amazon’s biggest-selling product ever, has previously been available only to US consumers. A new version that can download books, newspapers and periodicals wirelessly in more than 100 countries will begin shipping this month.
Kindle is a reading device that uses the same technology as 3G phones.
About 200,000 books will be available for Australian customers to download through the device from October 19.
People will be able to read newspapers and periodicals from around the world, such as The New York Times, and Britain’s Daily Telegraph. The Kindle will sell for $US279 ($A314). Sony’s e-reader model begins at about $100 cheaper.
Amazon’s vice-president of Kindle, Steve Kessel, was on the campaign trail yesterday and was adamant that Kindle will run seamlessly on Australia’s mobile network.
”The 3G wireless connection means you can be reading a book less than 60 seconds after you order it,” Mr Kessel said.
Krystie Alleaume, Senior Project Officer at the Innovation and Next Practice Division of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has sent Bright Ideas the following information:
Would you like to learn how to run your own Elluminate session?
Have you thought about the potential of using Elluminate with students or teachers?
We have arranged a series of moderator training sessions for Term 4: Getting Started with Elluminate and Next Steps with Elluminate. Details and dates are below. These sessions are completely free, but places are limited to 15 per session, so get in quick!
To register, visit: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/researchinnovation/virtualconferencecentre/use/training.htm
Getting Started with Elluminate – Moderator Training (Part 1)
This 90-minute class is designed for anyone new to Elluminate who wants to learn how to facilitate an online class or meeting. The class will teach moderators classroom management skills, methods for establishing social presence, classroom capture and basic content management. The class will offer hands-on practice to reinforce the Elluminate features taught during the session. After completing this class, you should attend the Next Steps with Elluminate Live! for Moderators.
Dates:
Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Next Steps with Elluminate – Moderator Training (Part 2)
This 90-minute class is the second class in the moderator training series. Participants must take the Getting Started class first. In this class, more advanced classroom and content management skills will be taught. Additionally, classroom collaboration tools such as Application Sharing will be taught. Participants will have the opportunity for hands-on practice during the session.
Dates:
Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 3:30 5pm
Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 3:30 5pm
It is well worth the time and effort to learn how to be an Ellminate moderator.
In an ironic twist, Saturday’s Age published two stories about e-books. One by author Carmel Bird (see previous post) who states that the intimacy of turning the pages of a book can never be replaced. The second by Jane Sullivan explains how readers of The Age can access a new and exclusive digital story:
Now screening: a digital book for you
JANE SULLIVAN
October 3, 2009
“NOBODY is going to sit down and read a book on a twitchy little screen,” US writer Annie Proulx said in 1994. “Ever.”
What a difference 15 years make. Today, millions read books on a variety of “twitchy little screens”: laptops, e-books, iPods or iPhones. And from October 12, Age readers will be able to read a serialised story on their mobile phones.
In the tradition of Charles Dickens, who launched his novels in serial form, Melbourne writer Marieke Hardy has created a 20-episode story, to be sent out to mobiles over four weeks.
”It will be quite riveting,” promises The Age’seditor-in-chief, Paul Ramadge. “Marieke is a wonderfully talented and immediately engaging writer.” The idea is to test the story’s reception, get reader feedback and develop the potential to talk to Age readers “in multiple ways”.
It’s probable that this is Australia’s first sizeable fiction written for the mobile phone. But in Japan, millions of readers are devouring novels on their phones, often when commuting to work or school. They download the novels – usually racy romances – and read them in 70-word instalments.
As many as 86 per cent of high school girls read these phone stories, and the novels subsequently turned into print form have raced to the top of bestseller lists.
In other countries, alternatives to the traditional book are catching on more slowly. But Nick Cave wrote the first chapter of his novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, on his iPhone, and the book is available as an iPhone application.
Hundreds of other titles are being downloaded on to e-book readers such as Kindle or Echo Reader, or smartphones such as iPhone or iPod touch, either free or for a fraction of the price of a print book.
Melbourne mobile media theorist Paul Green does not see these alternatives taking over from print. “The novel is going to be pretty awkward to read on the small screen,” he says. “But there will be a place for the audio book, and a trend towards reading and writing short books with short chapters on these devices, as their screens get bigger.”
Sydney writer Richard Watson, author of Future Files, thinks the publishing world is about to undergo a seismic shock. Books as we know them will exist beside a host of new alternatives.
The creation of a book may not include an agent or a publisher: instead, authors will self-publish using software and online services such as Blurb, and search out niche markets. As well as downloading books, readers will print them through automated publishing machines, or buy e-books in 99-cent instalments.
It’s enough to make you want to get away from it all and curl up with a book.
Details of how to register for The Age mobile phone story will be announced next week.
It will be interesting to gauge the response to the digital story.
This lovely article by author Carmel Bird appeared in Saturday’s Age:
CARMEL BIRD
October 3, 2009
IN A photograph of the Obama family at home, taken by Annie Leibovitz in October 2004, surrounded by images of Abraham Lincoln and Muhammad Ali, there lies, all alone on a clear surface, front and centre, a slightly dog-eared copy of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It’s a cosy, informal family portrait, suggesting maybe that just before it was shot one of the parents was reading the storybook to the little girls. The book, flat on the table, draws the eye, and suggests that the photographer has interrupted an intimate and blissful moment, a moment familiar to many parents and teachers.
I treasure memories of lying in my father’s arms while he read from a green-covered volume of The Wind in the Willows, a book that gradually fell to pieces from loving over-use. The books I read to my daughter have a glow and resonance in my mind and heart. Some are still in either my possession or hers, but sometimes I think of one, and if it is lost, if it is out of print, I rush to find a second-hand copy. These replacements have a special quality of their own; they are part of a treasury of reclaimed and revisited moments of intimate bliss.
I recently got a replacement copy of a picture book called Miss Jaster’s Gardenby N.M. Bodecker. This is a story about a hedgehog that becomes part of the garden to the extent that flowers grow in his prickles. A rather poignant thing about the book I got is the inscription in handwriting — “To Grayson from his loving Aunt Jeni and Uncle Brett, for Christmas 2003”. But then maybe our old copy has wound up on someone else’s nursery bookshelf. I hope so.
On the day I received Miss Jaster’s Garden in the mail, I was writing a speech to give at the launch of Glenda Millard’s gorgeous new picture book, Isabella’s Garden. And I was listening to the radio. There I heard someone speaking about the coming disappearance of books as paper objects. They will be replaced by electronic devices of various marvellous kinds. This assertion seems to be quite widespread, but was strangely at odds with my pleasure in the two picture books on my desk.
In lots of ways I am old-fashioned, but I am also pleased to use quite a bit of modern technology. I don’t deny that there are and will be ways of reading that do not rely on blocks of paper covered in black type. I read things on the web and I often enjoy the experience. But if books as books are going to disappear, what will replace those Wind in the Willows/Charlotte’s Web moments that nourish the love between adults and children, and that sow the seeds of storytelling and language?
Does it matter? I think it does. I was reading How Fiction Works by James Wood. Referring to the “cherry-coloured twist” in Beatrix Potter’s The Tailor of Gloucester, Wood says: “Reading this to my daughter for the first time in 35 years, I was instantly returned, by the talismanic activity of that cherry-coloured twist, to a memory of my mother reading it to me.” The book, the language, the melody of it all, are part of the embrace of the mother for the son, the son in turn for his daughter. The stories of Potter are not simply a collection of disembodied words, but are part of something organic and emotional that goes where electronic reading devices possibly cannot go.
And it’s not just the children’s storybooks that will disappear with the book, so will the beloved physicalities and idiosyncrasies of all books. I have a lot of books, although I could not be described as a “collector”. They line the walls of several rooms and make me feel at home. In a mild and haphazard way, I am a collector of different editions of The Great Gatsby. I love all the different cover designs. Apart from fascinating differences, each edition brings back memories of when and where I got it, when and where I read it.
There is a moment, perhaps more touching now than when it was written, when Nick encounters the owl-eyed man in Gatsby’s library. The man asserts with amazed excitement that the books on the shelves are not fakes. “Absolutely real — have pages and everything.”
So altogether it seems to me it will be a sad world if books are completely replaced by other devices delivering text and information. Who would not want to see the pages turning, to hear the voice of their father intoning: “So he scraped and scratched and scrabbled and scrooged and then he scrooged again and scrabbled and scratched and scraped.” The words are good, but my father’s voice coupled with the memory of the velvet autumn leaves on the armchair gives them a marvellous added resonance. Or if you are James Wood reading to your daughter, you can hear your mother in your own voice, possibly reading from your childhood version of the book: “Everything was finished except just one single cherry-coloured button-hole, and where that button-hole was wanting there was pinned a scrap of paper with these words — in little teeny-weeny writing — NO MORE TWIST.”
You can find the texts of Potter and Kenneth Grahame on the web, where you might have the added entertainment of pop-ups offering you lovely Russian girls or cures for blindness, but I believe that nothing can really replace your mother or father holding you in their arms while they read you the story from the dog-eared little book.
Technology and e-books have their place, but who can deny the pleasure of reading and sharing a book that you can touch?
The annual report on emerging technologies – planning for change has been published. Education.au has released the report, which is part of the Strategic ICT Advisory Service, funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
The 102 page report may not be accessible to everyone in terms of taking the time to read it, so here are some salient points:
The Horizon Report identifies a number of meta-trends in ICT in education:
• the evolving approaches to communication between humans and machines
• the collective sharing and generation of knowledge
• computing in three dimensions
• connecting people via the network
• games as pedagogical platforms
• the shifting of content production to users
• the evolution of an ubiquitous platform.
The challenges for policy makers20 listed below are summarised from the discussions at the ICT in Learning Symposium and, along with the other references used, have helped shape this report’s recommendations. The challenges are:
• to provide a flexible framework that supports information sharing and reduces duplication through fragmentation of effort
• to choose where to invest in research, tools and systems that support integration
• to address the barriers to scaling innovative and transformative practice
• to monitor performance of the system against key outcomes that are learner focussed
• the development of a flexible national curriculum for schools and assessment so it is responsive to the potential of technologies to engage, enhance and improve learning outcomes for a 21st century economy
• the provision of tools, mechanisms and systems that encourage the development and sharing of content and of good teaching practice
• the development of policy frameworks that encourage widespread use of new technologies through a shared risk management approach the instigation and support of transformational professional learning programs across all sectors that effectively engage educators in incorporating the use of ICT to improve learner outcomes
• the provision of spaces and mechanisms for trial and evaluation of new ICTs and for sharing of good practice across sectors, between organisations, and across jurisdictions
• the development of a management, maintenance and governance model for managing a complex distributed and connected environment for all stakeholders
• the development of decision making frameworks that describe minimum standards for interoperability to encourage national integration of tools and services while allowing for local flexibility
• the provision of sandpit spaces for trial and evaluation of new technologies
• the promotion of frameworks and systems to encourage sharing of content and best practice in teaching and learning.
This report makes eight recommendations, each accompanied by suggested strategies to support the achievement of those recommendations. The recommendations are listed here, but should be read in concert with the strategies.
The recommendations are:
SICTAS: Planning for Change Education.au 10
• Implement an ICT in teaching and learning continuum so that learners’ new media literacyskills and abilities are augmented as they move through the education sectors.
• Task a national body to support national collaborative partnerships to reduce fragmentation of effort, and make best use of the existing and future investments made in ICT.
• Research and establish mechanisms to enable the more rapid adoption of innovative practice in the use of ICT across the teaching and learning workforce.
• Commit to providing ongoing resourcing and funding to maintain, sustain and enhance a technology rich environment for the education and training sector.
• Develop and implement a national approach to software infrastructure that minimises the barriers to effective use and sharing of resources, and maximises access.
• Address the complications of Australian copyright law in a way that encourages sharing and exchange of resources in the education and training sector, including the implementation of Creative Commons across Australian education and training.
• That the Australian Government takes a leadership role in collaboration with jurisdictions, sectors and educational institutions to develop a national professional learning strategy based on sound research into good practice.
• The Australian Government takes a leadership role, in partnership with other education authorities and entities, in implementing and maintaining the ICT competency framework for teachers as described in the ‘Raising the Standards’ report, but look to apply this to teachers in each of the education sectors. A key component of the described framework is teacher standards. The Government should undertake to task AICTEC, through its advisory bodies to develop teacher ICT standards for:
o Pre-service teachers
o Practicing teachers
o School leaders
o Teacher educators
o VET teachers
o University teachers
The report also provides a set of possible actions that could be taken to help position Australia to manage constant change in ICT in the education and training sector. A primary issue is delegation of responsibility: who will take responsibility for managing and implementing the range of actions, strategies and recommendations?
The current system of dispersed responsibility and fragmentation of effort does not enable strategic implementation ensuring equitable access to quality ICT in education for learners across jurisdictions and sectors regardless of where a learner or teacher is in the system.
Some of the Actions that are suggested in different areas are the same and therefore vital:
• Embed new media literacy skills in teaching and learning at all levels and in all sectors to enable learners to manage identity and privacy issues and empower students, teacher and leaders as digital citizens.
• Include online and collaborative learning pedagogies, online facilitation skills, new media literacy skills161 and appropriate assessment regimes and ICT tools in teacher education as part of the standard curricula
• Include new media literacy skills in professional learning programs (as defined in the SICTAS Collaboration in Teaching and Learning report162).
• Regularly review and (re)align professional learning programs to shifts in learning theory, pedagogical approaches and assessment regimes.
Having such a respected organisation reinforce many of the things that we all believe is powerful. Perhaps Principals and other leaders would like to read the report and implement some of the suggestions?
The SLAV 2009 International School Libraries Day Awards will be celebrated this year at a cocktail party at The State Library of Victoria on Monday, 26th October. We are very pleased to have as our special guest speaker for the evening, Chrissy Sharp, the inaugural Director of the Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.
This is a wonderful opportunity to join with colleagues in school libraries to celebrate this special day. Details are available from this link: http://www.slav.schools.net.au/downloads/01home/SLDCocktail09.pdf
Thanks to Di Ruffles for the information.
Relevant article on gaming that appeared in Saturday’s Herald Sun:
Cheryl Critchley From: Herald Sun September 12, 2009 12:00AM
The important thing for the younger players was to have the active involvement of their parents.
Brothers Luke (left) and Ben Tindley-Cox compete on their Xbox. Source: Herald Sun
SOME online computer games are good for your social life, new research has found.
The Charles Darwin University study found devotees of online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft often felt connected to others and enjoyed a sense of community.
Academics Peter Forster and Paul Fong found games involving virtual communities had clear benefits.
Are online games part of your social life? Tell us in the comments below
Far from feeling isolated, the players of some computer games feel connected to others and derive a sense of community from their game playing, they found.
The study, to be presented at the Australian Psychological Society conference in Darwin, found games with the clearest interactive components had the most social benefits.
They included the likes of World of Warcraft, Neverwinter Nights, Lord of the Rings Online and Club Penguin.
Next best were competitive gun or projectile-based combat games, such as Call of Duty, Counter-Strike and Halo, and the real-time strategy game of Starcraft.
Least social were those with no online interaction such as Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario games, Guitar Hero, Doom and Need for Speed.
Dr Forster said while there was still much to learn about game playing, negative aspects such as violence, aggression and addiction had attracted more attention.
This result clearly contradicts the stereotypical image of the computer gamer as someone who is lonely, alienated or isolated, he said.
Instead, computer games with interactive components may be regarded as another way people can make contact with each other.
Ben Tindley-Cox, 6, and his brother Luke, 12, love computer games, which proved a welcome distraction when their mother Megan, 43, who died last month, was seriously ill.
Luke, who will shave his head with several friends next week to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, loves Runescape, sport and battle-type games.
Dad Brendan Cox said knowing that some games had social benefits was reassuring.
“Luke has been asking me to get the Xbox connected up to Xbox Live so that he can compete with others on the internet,” he said.
Dr Forster said families should aim for games that were educational or had health benefits, such as Wii Fit, but added it was all right to play for pure entertainment.
Although the article states that games such as Guitar Hero are not amongst the more sociable games, one only has to see three generations of female family members playing Guitar Hero together to beg to differ on the definition of the word ‘sociable’.
