Monthly Archives: May 2013

Talking Difference

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Jan Molloy, Programs Co-ordinator, Humanities at the Immigration Museum describes Talking Difference, a new multimedia project from Museum Victoria with content creation opportunities for schools and libraries.

On Thursday May 9,  Museum Victoria launched Talking Difference, a multi-platform online digital media project designed to facilitate dialogue about cultural difference and promote diversity.  The project incorporates touring installations in schools and libraries, personal stories and videos. Talking Difference is funded by the VicHealth ‘Arts about Us’ program which challenges race-based discrimination through the arts.

The Talking Difference Portable Studio is a touring installation and online experience that allows you to watch, create and share multimedia. You can watch or read questions posed by members of the community and see other people’s responses to the questions as well as add comments.

The Studio toured Brimbank Libraries in 2011 creating opportunities for a broad range of people to have their say. In 2012 the Portable Studio toured regional Victoria including Shepparton, Mildura, Horsham, and East Gippsland.

Talking Difference in schools

The Schools program promotes dialogue amongst students about race based discrimination and the impact this may have on both the school and broader community. Students will have the opportunity to understand and reflect on different perspectives of identity and diversity by creating and sharing content using the Portable Studio platform.

The studio will tour schools in Brimbank and Casey in 2013.

First school placement May 2013

Essendon Keilor Secondary College is the first school to participate in the project. Students met with Transmedia academic Emma Beddows and artistic fellow, Christie Widiarto. Students will take part in a number of workshops, producing an installation around the themes of diversity and race based discrimination. The portable studio begins its residency at the school on Monday, 20 May.

Overnewton College, Casey Greammar and Hampton Park Secondary college will all be  participating in the project in 2013.

If your school is located in the city of Hume or Melton and you would be interested in participating in the project in 2014 we are taking expressions of interest at the moment.

Please contact Jan Molloy  jmolloy@museum.vic.gov.au or Tatiana Mauri tmauri@museum.vic.gov.au .

For further information, photos and videos please go to the Talking Difference website.

 

Online assemblies using Blackboard Collaborate

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Scott Duncan from Cranbourne East Primary School recently spoke at TeachMeet Melbourne at the State Library of Victoria. His school has begun using Blackboard Collaborate to run online assemblies. This post, which originally appeared on his blog, details the process.

Cranbourne East Primary School shares a site and facilities with the local secondary college. Given the size of our school population and available facilities, we found we didn’t have a large enough space to accommodate a whole school assembly. We looked into alternative methods of delivery and began broadcasting assemblies using web conferencing.

We run sessions using Blackboard Collaborate, previously known as Elluminate, and publish them through our school website. Parents and members of the community who subscribe to our school website receive an e-mail notification when the session becomes available.

Every seven days (our school works on a 7 day rotating timetable cycle) I create a session and post the link on the school website. I also develop and upload PowerPoint slides and a recording of the National Anthem.

Our principal and school captains host the assembly and co-moderate the session. We meet about 15 minutes prior to the session and run through the agenda and slides.

Our online assemblies generally include:

  • A technical run through (audio setup, using the mic etc…) and reminders about acceptable use of Blackboard Collaborate for new users and parents at home
  • Welcome to country led by our school captains
  • The National Anthem – words appear on slides and we use the multimedia function to send out the music
  • Sign of the week – AUSLAN is our LOTE and each week our AUSLAN teacher uses the video tool to demonstrate a new sign for the week
  • Principal’s report – we cross to the Principals office where our principal uses slides, video and/or audio tools to present his report
  • Student performances are broadcast using audio and video tools
  • Shining Star Awards – the award co-ordinator creates slides which I include in the overall presentation, school captains read out winners’ names (we only publish first names due to cybersafety and privacy) and students collect their awards from the office at the end of the day
  • Mathletics update – the numeracy co-ordinator uses audio tools to present an update on students’ mathletics achievements
  • House Points – our house captains read out weekly results and scores appear on slides
  • Any other teacher announcements – staff use the ‘raise hand’ tool to indicate they have something to share and use the microphone tool to talk
  • Assembly recordings are published to our school website for those who miss the ‘live’ session.

Since we began using web conferencing, staff are considering ways to they can use the software with students. Parents who can’t come to assemblies can now participate from home, watch recordings and see students’ awards and presentations . The online assembly program has also helped students develop speaking and listening skills.

I hope to expand the program and involve more students, train more teachers as moderators and investigate ways we can involve people from the broader community.

You can see Scott’s presentation at TeachMeet Melbourne here.

Image credit: T.P. Bennett, (1915) Assembly in hall [picture], State Library of Victoria Pictures Collection

Foldify

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When it comes to apps and tools we tend to focus on free services, because, let’s face it, the price is right. It’s not often that we review and recommend a paid app, but when it comes to Foldify I’m going to make an exception, because it does something that is quite innovative. This is an app that  makes the most of your tablet and bridges the gap between the digital and physical.

Foldify runs on iPad and includes a number of different templates for making papercraft shapes (those little characters made by folding paper). Each blank template is presented as a flat two dimensional view and can be decorated with shapes, stamps, patterns and fills. The controls are similar to standard painting programs.

Foldify editor

Foldify includes a range of painting options and stamps

 

Where Foldify really shines is that any changes made to the two dimensional shape are also reflected in real time on the three dimensional model. For people who are spatially challenged (like me) it’s a great way of seeing how the 2D template translates into a 3D shape.

 

Foldify- Little Red Man

Changes made to the 2D template (on the right of screen) are instantly updated on the 3D preview.

Design and painting of shapes can be a bit fiddly and tricky, but some great results can be achieved even for those with limited artistic talent. There’s a range of stamps that can be added like body parts, natural objects and patterns. You can even import photographs to add to your shapes. Once your object is completed you can output to a PDF, print via Airprint or even upload for sharing on the Foldify website.

Once you’ve printed the object on some firm card then the real fun begins. Break out the glue, sticky tape and scissors, cut around the shape, fold along the dotted lines and assemble your creation. If you’d like to have a go for yourself then you can download our Little Red Man creation (PDF).

Foldify is available from the Itunes store for $2.99. You can find out more about the app and see a demonstration video on the developer’s website. It’s also worth having a look at this stop motion video produced using Foldify characters, created by 14 year old Yash Banka.

Terms of Service; Didn’t Read

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The most time-consuming part of evaluating web tools for educational use has got to be looking at the Terms of Service (also know as Terms of Use or Terms and Conditions). They can go on for pages, and are so often wrapped up in so much legalese that even if you manage to read to the end, there is no guarantee you will be any wiser. And yet we can’t just ignore them; it is our duty as educators and as digital citizens to protect rights and understand responsibilities online.

Wouldn’t it be great if  Google Translate could do something to convert ToS into Plain English? Well, Terms of Service; Didn’t Read might be just the web project we’ve been waiting for. ToS:DR (for short) are a user rights group aiming to rate and label website terms & privacy policies from “very good Class A to very bad Class E.”  As well as rating them, they are also providing a “thumbs up/thumbs down” report card that helps users better understand individual aspects of a service agreement. The report card is written in bullet point fashion but it is possible to expand the points for more detailed explanations, access the full terms of the web tool and there are discussion pages available behind each of the points.

ToS;DR is still very new (started in mid-2012) so the number of sites that have report cards are limited, but it is an excellent example of the positive change that can occur through global connectivity and collaboration, and the project is actively growing.

This is a grassroots project, created by citizens and volunteers who take their responsibilities very seriously; they engage in a peer-reviewed process of rating and analysing to create each rating, and they are committed to Creative Commons and Free Software licensing.

While this site does not take the place of legal advice, it does help users make some sense of the pages and pages of fine print before we click, and ultimately that offers us the chance to make better online choices.

Splash: multimedia resources, games and online events from the ABC

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Splash is a new educational initiative developed in partnership between the Australian Broadcasting Commission and Education Services Australia. The site includes a large library of media clips, audio, games and activities for teachers and students mapped against the Australian Curriculum.

The multimedia library provides access to the ABC’s impressive archive, including age-appropriate notes and questions. There is also information for parents, including a brief guide to the Australian Curriculum. All resources are free and can be accessed from any device.

In addition to resources, Splash is also the hub for live national events facilitated through online conferencing, connecting students to experts and each other.

This brief introductory video provides background to the project and highlights key resources.

Untangling the Web with Aleks Krotoski

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Aleks Krotoski is an academic,  psychologist and journalist who writes about the impact of technology on our lives. Aleks’ upcoming book Untangling the Web: What the Internet is Doing to You, explores the ways the web can influence our relationships and change our perceptions of ourselves and others.

Aleks is in Australia as the inaugural speaker for the Digital Society series at the State Library of Victoria (tickets are still available for both free events on May 20 & May 21). We were lucky enough to speak to Aleks about her work. You can listen to the full interview below, as Aleks explores the importance of cultivating an online persona,  the tension that exists between our private and public selves and the importance of information literacy. She also shares her ambition to own a full set of the 1974 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 


Portrait of ASeks Krotoski © Kevin MeredithShow notes and links:

Aleks’ online reporter’s notebook for Untangling the Web

Aleks Krotoski on Twitter

Aleks’ Tech Weekly podcast series

Aleks interviews T. Mills Kelly on Lying about the past

Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (Amazon)

Google’s Eric Schmidt: The Internet needs a delete button  

 

 

The value of shares

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There was an interesting development last week in the United Kingdom, where Education secretary Michael Gove gave a speech addressing a perceived lack of relevance and rigour in school education.

A key talking point of the speech was Gove bemoaning the way “proper history teaching is being crushed under the weight of play-based pedagogy which infantilises children, teachers and our culture.” Gove gave the example of an activity aimed at Year 11 students that asked them to create a picture book about the rise of Adolf Hitler in the style of Roger Hargreaves’ iconic Mr Men books.

History teacher Russel Tarr, who is the creator of the particular activity, responded to Gove’s claims. Tarr outlined the way the ‘Mr Men’ activity is used as a revision and consolidation task. Tarr’s response is well worth reading as it explains the methodology behind the task and student reactions to the activity.

Whatever your feelings about the task itself, the incident highlights the impact of technology on the professional practice of educators. In publishing the lesson Russel Tarr has not only shared a resource that may be useful to other educators, but he has also been drawn into a debate about the value of the particular lesson. I don’t think that is what Michael Gove intended when he made the point in his speech, but Tarr’s transparent approach to curriciulum design and his willingness to not only share but to also explain his rationale sets a great example for all educators.

Too often it is easy to feel protective or even defensive of our work and practice. I know when I first began teaching I would have been terrified of another teacher coming in and watching one of my classes. I’d make the most of resources created by others, but not want to share what I had developed. Often this comes from an irrational belief that we are not good enough, or that we need to be in the profession for a long time before we can share with other professionals. But however tempted we are to cover up the classroom windows or keep our resources to ourselves, it’s important to put our work out there.

This also applies to sharing online. Being able to publish our work opens us up to a whole range of other educators who not only can benefit from what we have done, but also help us to reflect on the efficacy of the tasks we create. For many people it might not feel natural to put this online. It can take a while for some to become active in online communities, and that’s okay too. But as we become more comfortable with those in our learning network we can become more willing to share. It’s challenging for some, but the benefits far outweigh the perceived drawbacks.

Even in the case of Russel Tarr, whose lesson plan became national news, we can see that a potentially negative experience can also be made into a positive. Tarr mentions that in a week that was ‘the strangest of [his] professional career’ he also received plenty of support from his colleagues and fellow professionals online. His blog response indicates that not only will he continue to share his work, but also continue to reflect upon his own professional practice. It’s an attitude to be commended.

Image Credit: W. Edmends, (1926) Bell Street School [picture], State Library of Victoria Pictures Collection

New writers in residence on Inside a Dog

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Jordi Kerr, Learning Programs Officer at the Centre for Youth Literature talks about upcoming writers in residence on insideadog.

Ever wanted to break into a writer’s mind and find out the true story – how do they do it? What makes them tick? Where did that idea come from? Welcome to insideadog’s Residence blog.

insideadog hosts a different YA writer each month – they hang around the kennel, and write posts that give an insight into their lives and writing process. It’s a unique opportunity for students, regardless of their geographical location, to pick the brains of an author. By commenting on the blog posts, students can interact with professional writers, and have their questions about reading and writing answered.

In March, debut author Myke Bartlett provided candid and humorous explorations of his background and process, as well as exclusive glimpses at some of his unpublished work, and his upcoming sequel to Fire in the Sea.  (You can easily access all of Myke’s posts here.)

Myke has also aptly demonstrated that blog writing is an art form in its own right. In the classroom the Residence blog can be used as a launch pad to discuss and explore how writing for an online audience is different to writing for print. What makes a good blog? How is blog success measured? How can readers be encouraged to become involved?

In April, American graphic novelist (artist and writer) Raina Telgemeier was at the helm. (You may have heard of her multi-award winning book Smile?) If you’ve ever been uncertain about how to introduce graphic novels into your classroom, this is your chance. Raina’s got some great posts from how a graphic novel is born (and raised), advice for budding cartoonists and graphic novel recommendations for young readers. You can access all her posts here.

Insideadog endeavours to publish the names of upcoming resident authors ahead of time, to give teachers the opportunity to prepare and plan. Students can familiarise themselves with the author’s books, and research them online. There is also a blogging worksheet included in the site’s teacher resources, which you can use or adapt to foster discussion.

You may notice that over the next few months the writers hosted on insideadog are also involved in our Reading Matters Student Day program. For those students lucky enough to be attending Reading Matters, the residence blog gives them a chance to get to know the authors beforehand.

Getting ready for Resource Description and Access (RDA)

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In the next issue of FYI Renate Beilharz explains all about RDA and the implications for school libraries. FYI editor Yso Ferguson gives us an outline of some of the resources and tips mentioned in Renate’s article.

Resource Description and Access (RDA) is a new standard of library cataloguing that is designed for the digital world. The RDA toolkit website describes the benefits of RDA as:

  • A structure based on the conceptual models of FRBR (functional requirements for bibliographic data) and FRAD (functional requirements for authority data) to help catalog users find the information they need more easily
  • A flexible framework for content description of digital resources that also serves the needs of libraries organizing traditional resources
  • A better fit with emerging database technologies, enabling institutions to introduce efficiencies in data capture and storage retrievals

In the next issue of FYI Renate Beilharz offers some tips for coming to grips with Resource Description and Access. The speed of the implementation depends on many factors. Important among these are:

  • What Library Management System (LMS) your library uses
  • Where your library’s cataloguing information comes from – it might be from SCIS or Libraries Australia or it might be original cataloguing

The main pieces of  advice to take away are:

  • You don’t need to panic as RDA and AACR records are compatible so you won’t have to retrospectively catalogue all old records. Expect to have both sorts of records in your catalogue for a long time.
  • For a general overview of what RDA record look like have a look at the RDA toolkit examples.
  • If you copy catalogue, you will need to find out what your record provider is doing about the introduction of RDA.
  • For schools using SCIS, RDA records will be introduced in May/June of this year.
  • More detailed information and explanation can be found by going to the SCIS blog
  • For schools using Libraries Australia , RDA records will begin in April 2013.
  • You can find out more by visiting the NLA’s Update on RDA implementation and Description of RDA
  • It is also a good idea to talk to your LMS provider to find out what they are doing to implement RDA.
  • Think about doing some training. There are various options. SLAV sponsored workshops will run in May and June. A list of commercial enterprises can be found through the Australian Committee on Cataloguing.
  •  Box Hill Institute is running some short courses. Search for Library Studies on their site.
  • You could also have a look some of the free online training materials such as the Australian Committee on Cataloguing (National Library of Australia), RDA Toolkit  & Library of Congress
  • Want to get started? Get the free 30 day trial, from the RDA Toolkit.

 

Clip web pages to Evernote with Dolphin Browser for iPad

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We’ve made no secret of our love for Evernote here at Bright Ideas, as it’s one of the best ways to keep notes and bookmarks together. One great feature of Evernote is the Web Clipper which works in most major web browsers and makes it easy to save articles for later reading. But on the iPad it’s a bit of a different story, as the iPad’s built in Safari browser doesn’t integrate very well with the Evernote web clipper.

We’ve written about a rather complicated solution to this problem in the past, but this tends to be a bit unreliable. A much more sturdy solution has now come along in the form of the free Dolphin Browser for iPad. Dolphin integrates with Evernote to make saving web pages to your account easy.

To set up Evernote integration, first install and open the Dolphin Browser for iPad app. When you find a page you’d like to save follow these steps:

  1. Select the sharing button (a small rectangle with an arrow)
  2. Select the Evernote elephant logo.
  3. Choose Login (you should only have to do this once).
Once you’d entered your Evernote login details you will see the Save Article option (circled below). The small drop down menu next to this button lets you choose to save the entire web page instead. You can also add tags, choose the notebook to store the note in and add comments. When you are happy select the Save button. The page or article should now be saved in your Evernote account for posterity.

Dolphin browser also has some interesting features apart from Evernote integration, including the option to draw commands on your screen (for example you could draw a G to take you to Google). It’s well worth a look as a good alternative to Safari.

The one draw back is that unfortunately Apple still don’t let users choose their default web browser (unless you want to jailbreak your device) so you’ll have to remember to open Dolphin for your browsing sessions instead of Safari. Hopefully with the upcoming IOS operating system upgrade this option will finally be available to users of Apple devices. But if you are a regular user of Evernote and you own an iPad then it is definitely worth remembering to use Dolphin browser to make saving those articles easier.