Free eLearning Conference

KnowledgeBank is hosting a free eLearning Conference for interested Victorian teachers. It will be held from Monday 3 August to Wednesday 5 August through the online conferencing program Elluminate. Here are details of individual sessions from KnowledgeBank:

 

Monday 3 August

Learning is Real, Rich & Relevant – Keynote – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Monday, August 3, 2009, 9 – 10am
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Tom March
Summary Tom March has contributed to authentic teaching, learning and children for the past three decades. He finds this often involves technology as bothinspiration to creativity and a means to impressive accomplishments. Recognised as a Teacher of the Year Finalist for San Diego County after five years in the profession, he concluded ten years as a classroom teacher in 1995 by taking a three-year fellowship at San Diego State University. There, Tom worked with Professor Bernie Dodge to develop the WebQuest model. Since moving to Australia in 1998, he has contributed at least one new product or initiative every two years. These include Web-and-Flow, BestWebQuests, ClassPortals, The New WWW and CEQ•ALL. Each initiative builds on what’s been learned and addresses new needs of Web-enriched education. He regularly keynotes, writes, and facilitates workshops focused on aspects of making learning for Real, Rich and Relevant.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…

 

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iPod Touch in the Classroom – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Monday, August 3, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Louise Duncan – eLearning Coordinator-SHS
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Linking Special Education & Mainstream World via Blogging – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Monday, August 3, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Sue King – Teacher Belvoir
Summary Sue is a Special Education teacher with a passion for providing resources and support to mainstream teachers working with students with special needs. This session will demonstrate how blogs can be used to motivate student learning, share resources and develop world wide learning networks, for parents, teachers and students.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Blogs and Wikis in the Classroom – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Monday, August 3, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Marion Spencer
Summary Jennifer Frisardi is an experienced Secondary ESL and LOTE teacher and Primary Classroom Teacher. She is currently working as a teacher at Mooroopna North Primary School which has IWBs in every learning space and student access to laptops. Jennifer has been developing Ms Frizz’s Blog and a Class Wiki. She finds that since her students use their laptops for the majority of literacy and numeracy sessions, either investigating websites, directed to from Ms Frizz’s Blog or doing work on their wiki pages, the laptops have become a tool for the students which is not far removed from their exercise books or pencils. It is her aim to have the students viewing the laptops as a useful learning tool and not as a special treat. The Blog and Wiki have proven useful tools for increasing the effective use of the internet by the students in her class and their online publishing skills have also noticeably improved.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Sharepoint V3 – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Monday, August 3, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Marion Spencer
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Tuesday 4 August

IWB Interactive Whiteboard – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 9 – 10am
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Monica Sketcher – Teacher
Summary Monica Sketcher is a dynamic and energetic teacher who wears many hats for her role at Mansfield Primary School (too many to mention!). She works as a full-time teacher in a team teaching situation with 2 shared Prep grades. Monica is passionate about the inclusion of ICT applications and tools in her daily program and has her Preps completing amazing work independently on their computers. In her role as ICT co-ordinator, Monica has enjoyed sharing her ICT ideas with her colleagues so that the inclusion of computers, laptops and IWB is a daily part of a classroom routine. She has made PD accessible to her local smaller neighbouring schools by offering training ‘online’ and ‘on demand’ to match people’s needs.
The aim of this session is to provide participants with some ready to use tools on the IWB for any classroom situation. Some activities will be user-created, online or downloadable. Participants will be asked to share their ideas, so that this session is relevant to their unique teaching situations and so that we can create a large resource of IWB ideas for participants to take away with them
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 Remote Control Response Paddles – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 9 – 10am
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Derek Bowey – Teacher
Summary Derek is in his 14th year of teaching. Currently teaching at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, he has a role in helping imbednew and effective technology into teaching and learning practice. Derek is enthusiastic about technology and it’s potential application in education. He is not a technical expert, but he hopes those who are not familiar with the remote response paddles (software and hardware) find his presentation of some interest: Workshop Content: (a)Software and hardware (remote response paddles) that allow students to respond to multiple choice questions.(b)Basic preparation – screen dumps. (c) Images and explanations of tools being used.(d) The power of immediate feedback and automatic collation of data for planning individualised future lessons.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Building a learning network in your town or region – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Mark Richardson – ICT Coordinator – PD Organiser
Summary Interested in networks and networking?? They’re great aren’t they? Especially the ones without servers, WAPs and blue cords! What did he say? Yes, networks of teachers you use ICT to enhance teaching and learning are essential to a vibrant pedagogy in classrooms. Whether it’s face to face or online, personal learning networks are an essential part of any teacher’s toolkit Mark Richardson shares his experiences of networking in a primary school, a DEECD region and in rural and regional Victoria.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Classroom Blogging in Early Years – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Tamara Steinhauser – Teacher
Summary Tamara Steinhauser is a Year 2/3 teacher who uses ICT to engage students in her classroom. Tamara started using a classroom blog last year as a means of showcasing student work to the community and enabling students to reflect on their own and other students’ work in a secure, moderated online environment. This session provides a first hand insight into using Blogs in your classroom program to motivate and engage students through all areas of the curriculum.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Delicious and DIIgo & Exploring free softwares – 21st century eLearning Conference

 
When Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter John Spencer – eLearning Coordinator
Summary John Spencer is an experienced teacher of ICT. He is currently an ICT teacher at Peranbin Primary College. This year he has 24 days of Professional Leave aimed at increasing effective use of ICT in his school. This workshop will look at using Diigoand Delicious (social bookmarking sites) in a classroom setting, along with other Web 2.0 applications available on the Internet.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 Wednesday 5 August

 

Online Resources for Early Years classroom – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 9 – 10am
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Kerry Rowett
Summary Kerry Rowett is a primary teacher who currently works at Connect (previously the Victorian Education Channel) at DEECD (Ed Dept). She has a particular interest in exciting online tools enabling students to communicate and create online. A practical session focused on how to find and use great websites, animations, videos, games and web 2.0 tools for use in the Primary classroom.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 Principal & eLeader Forum – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 9 – 10am
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Brendan O’Brien and Richard Olsen
Summary Brendan has an extensive background in ICT, science education, classroom teaching and teacher education. Richard is co-director of IdeasLab, and has been at the forefront of resourcing a 21stcentury agenda for Australian schools.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 ‘this is the Ultranet’: the basics – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 Using Digital Learning Objects on Remote Tablets – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 11am – 12pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Michael Barnard
Summary Michael is an experienced teacher of mathematics and physics at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, and is also an integral part of the Excellence in Mathematics and Science Program at that school.Perhaps you don’t feel as if you are taking full advantage of the Digital Learning Objects that are provided by The Learning Federation. This session will demonstrate how the “It’s a Drag” vehicle braking distance simulation can become the basis of an engaging mathematics lesson that caters for a range of abilities. The task involves collecting data then using a spreadsheet as a tool in its analysis.The use of a wireless tablet in the classroom will also be covered.To participate in this session you will need access to the DLO (available on-line: eduweb.vic.gov.au…) and Microsoft Excel or equivalent.
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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Dataloggers in science lessons – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Brahm Deo
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 Infomercials made by children! – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Rosemarie O’Brien
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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 PhotoStory and Audacity as aids to develop literacy skills – 21st Century eLearning Conference

 
When Wednesday, August 5, 2009, 2 – 3pm
Where Online in Elluminate
Event type Knowledge Bank Online Event
Presenter Helene Bearup
Elluminate Link sas.elluminate.com…
 

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There appears to be something for everyone! See you in Elluminate.

Google Translate

Here is a handy tool for LOTE teachers and anyone else wanting to communicate in languages other than English. Google Translate can do three great things:

  1. Enter a phrase in your selected language for search in another language
  2. Add a widget to your webpage to allow it to be translated instantly by readers in other languages
  3. Create content in other languages

Languages supported are:

Albanian
Arabic
Bulgarian
Catalan
Chinese
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
English
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Galician
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Indonesian

Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Maltese
Norwegian
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

Google Translate seems like it could be very useful, however you may need a Google account to use it.

Rainforest project for schools

This useful website provides free resources for teachers who are interested in the topic of rainforests. Materials for students aged 3 to 16 are available.

Homepage
Homepage

There are:

and other resources freely available for anyone to use. There are pages provided for teachers, students and parents. Students and teachers from around the world are invited to share their ideas and showcase their work on the site.

Although developed for UK schools, this site is applicable to Australian curriculum.

Best Australian library blogs, wikis, etc.

We are on the hunt for Australia’s favourite school library blogs, wikis, netvibes, webquests and pageflakes (and so on). We’d also like to seek out blogs by library staff that are reflective of of our profession.

Please consider nominating your colleagues, people from your networks and virtual networks or even yourself. Once we have a shortlist representing different platforms, voting will be open to anyone interested.

Please send information such as:

  • Your name and school
  • Who you are nominating (if known)
  • The name of the website/s
  • The URL/s
  • Any other information

You can nominate as many different websites as you like. Nominations will close on 11 August. Voting will commence shortly afterwards. Please send nominations to brightideas@slav.schools.net.au

Cyberbullying

After the tragic consequences of the recent incident in Geelong that apparently had links to cyberbullying, here are some websites that teachers and students may like to know about. Jo Robinson, from Orygen Youth Mental Health Services suggests:

Other resources include:

  • Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
  • Lifeline 13 11 14
  • SANE helpline 1800 187 263

The Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has a Cybersafe  Classroom page while the Australian Media and Communications Authority has developed cyber(smart:) resources for students (of all ages), parents, schools and libraries. ACMA also offers Internet Safety Presentations

There was also an article in Saturday’s Age that might be of interest to teachers and parents.

Students as Documentary Makers with Mitzi Goldman

Victorian teachers are invited to participate in this free professional learning session.

Students as Documentary Makers with Mitzi Goldman

Throughout this session teachers will find out how media is a deeply engaging tool when students use it to express their learning about the real world.

When: Monday 31st August 2009, 4pm. Sign up here – http://www.knowledgebank.global2.vic.edu.au

Where: Online in Elluminate. This event is free but you need to sign up – http://www.knowledgebank.global2.vic.edu.au

Who: Mitzi Goldman has spent 25 years as a film maker and educator in the Australian film industry. She has directed and produced over ten documentaries for television including international co-productions. Mitzi was Head of Documentary at the Australian Film and Television School for six years and is now executive director of the Documentary Australia Foundation. Mitzi is now focussing on sharing her educational vision of students as documentary makers.

What: In this online conference with Mitzi Goldman, teachers will find out how media is a deeply engaging tool when students use it to express their learning about the real world. Mitzi will engage participants in a discussion about the educational and social benefits of using media to produce documentaries. Teachers will learn the basics of documentary making and how they can get started in their classrooms. They will find out how media can be used as a tool to express the learning that takes place when students are given the tools to deconstruct, analyse and understand the information they encounter all around them.

This event is free but you need to sign up – http://www.knowledgebank.global2.vic.edu.au

For more information email knowledgebank@edumail.vic.gov.au

Readers Cup

A reminder that registrations for the 2009 Readers Cup Victorian State Final close on Friday 31 July. You don’t need to have run a Readers Cup in your school to participate. You only need to register and enter a team (or teams) that have read the books (and composed a creative piece) by 27 November.  Registration form can be accessed here. Book lists available at http://readerscup.global2.vic.edu.au

Feature blog St Martin of Tours – Rosanna

Kim Yeomans of St Martin of Tours Primary School in Rosanna has allowed Bright Ideas to gain insights in to the development of her library blog.

Kim says:

I did the SLAV Web 2.0 course last year and decided this year to set up a blog for our LRC. The LRC already has an active presence on our school intranet but I felt the blog and Web 2.0 tools might let me do a little more. The Library already has a MyClasses page (intranet), but I was looking for other engaging ways to share what we do in the LRC and promote reading.  The Web 2.0 online course offered by SLAV last year introduced me to many new and exciting tools.  Attending the SLAV conference with Will Richardson earlier this year provided the impetus to actually begin our LRC Blog in mid February.

Homepage
Homepage

The main aims of our LRC Blog are to

  • Share the activities and learning we do in the LRC
  • Promote books and reading
  • Encourage students to participate in an online community
  • Introduce students to appropriate Web 2.0 tools
  • Develop student understanding of a global classroom

 It has been really encouraging seeing the students embrace the blog and add their comments.  Even our Principal who is on Enrichment Leave is contributing her learning on our blog and adding dots to our ClustrMap!  I have found Slideshare and Animoto are great Web 2.0 tools that enable us to share our work. This term I’ve added to our blog with the New LRC and Websites pages.  I am currently trialing SimplyBox for our website collections (even though it is blocked at school) because it is simple for me to set up and visually easy for the students to use at home. 

Ripper reads - student comments
Ripper reads – student comments

Our LRC Blog is evolving along with my own skills and knowledge and will continue to do so to meet the needs and interests of both the students and our Library program.  It is trial and error seeing what works on our blog, but I’m really enjoying the process!

Congratulations to Kim on inspiring both students and staff to become a part of the Web 2.0 world! Well done Kim.  (Don’t forget that Kim had previously shared some excellent photos of previous Book Week displays that might prove inspirational.)

Games for learning wiki

Victorian Northern Metropolitan Region Ultranet Coach Anesti Anestis has provided Bright Ideas with information about a Games for Learning wiki.

Homepage
Homepage

Anesti explains, ‘It is a site to find, make and play games.  Teachers involved in gaming can share their experiences and findings in applying games in the classroom.’

Getting started
Getting started

With information on

  • Free stuff
  • Gamemaking software
  • Gaming sites
  • Getting Started
  • Nintendo DS
  • Nintendo Edu Titles
  • Nintendo Wii
  • Presentation and Resources
  • XBOX
  • XNA Game creators
  • there is plenty of support for schools that are considering introducing gaming for learning.