Author Archives: Cam Hocking

Screenr: a free screencasting tool

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During his keynote speech at the recent ICTEV 2012 conference, Alan November explored the value of screencasting in education. He had spoken to a student about why they preferred to learn from a video made by another student or their teacher, instead of having a teacher explain concepts on a whiteboard to the whole class. They student told him that learning this way was great because “my teacher doesn’t have a rewind button”.

The popularity of the flipped classroom model and sites like Mathtrain or the Khan Academy show that viewing and recording instructional videos is a great way to supplement and support learning. Teachers might record short videos about key concepts or students could record their process for completing a task. Having a student consider how best to teach a concept or procedure reinforces their own learning. There are great apps like Educreations that work as a virtual whiteboard to be recorded and shared. We’ll explore this tool in a future post.

For recording video of your computer screen we recommend Screenr. This free service is stable, requires little installation and allows you to easily publish to the web or save your files for later viewing. You can also log in with a Google or Twitter account so that’s one less password to remember. It does require an internet connection while you record, so if this is an issue then you might try a free program like Jing instead.

To get started, have a look at our screencast about Screenr below. (3.25)

What does the Twitter map of Australia tell us?

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Researchers have released an interesting map which charts the relationships between Australian Twitter users. The map aims to group and link tweets based on thematic clusters by showing the popularity of topics. Topics that appear in the middle of the map (such as books, television and news) are not only popular but also the users who tweet about these topics are closely linked to other topics. The topics that appear on the edges of the map (like the ‘Beliebers’, Adelaide or teens) are less connected to other themes.

Source: Financial Review

In the bottom right of the map the topics of Teaching, e-Learning and Schools appear. The relative isolation of these topics may actually indicate the strength of the community of Australian educators on Twitter. Educators are embracing Twitter as a professional learning tool and there is a thriving network of people sharing links and collaborating, using hashtags such as #vicpln. The close nature of this community may be indicated by the isolation of the group on the map. There is also a possibility that educators are more likely to have a professional and personal Twitter account which may also have pushed topics related to education to the edges of the map. But there is a danger that with such a strong community, educators could actually end up becoming part of the Eli Pariser’s ‘filter bubble’.

The strength of the education community on Twitter may also be a weakness. Can there be some way to push the topics of education and teaching further into the mainstream? Could Twitter become a tool for educators to show the innovation that is occurring within schools; a way to promote the work of educators and to gain even more respect from the community? Perhaps it is time for educators to begin beating their own drums a little more, building wider networks on social media and then sharing some of the work they do with people outside of the profession. Then education may take its rightful place in the centre of these conversations, rather than at the fringes.

 

TEDx Melbourne: Education Leadership

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Exciting news this morning, with registrations now open for the TEDx Melbourne event which will run on the evening of Thursday the 19th of  July. The free event will be hosted at the State Library of Victoria and will explore the theme of Education Leadership.

The event certainly has a wonderful line-up of speakers with Will Richardson, Professor Stephen Dinham and Jenny Luca due to present. You can read about Jenny’s excitement about being asked to present in her recent post. Congratulations Jenny, this is a great reward for all of your work and we can’t wait to see your talk.

Places are limited so make sure you register as soon as possible and keep an eye on the #tedxmelb hashtag and TEDx Melbourne website for any updates about the event.

To get you in the mood, why not watch one of the most popular TED talks on education, the wonderful Sir Ken Robinson’s Bring on the learning revolution!

Google launches Search Education site

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Google has recently launched a new Search Education site which aims to help teachers and students hone search skills. The site includes a number of lesson plans (aligned to the U.S. Common Core Standards) and could form the basis of an interesting discussion with students about search and search literacy.

The lesson plans often refer back to the A Google a Day site or feature activities based on an introductory video like the one below. This video is worth a look. Not only does it give a nice overview of how Google indexes pages, but it would also be worth examining with students the claims made at the two minute mark that Google “don’t ever accept payment to add a site to our index, update it more often or improve its ranking.” You might have students consider the validity of this claim and show students how to distinguish between paid advertisements and unpaid results. Comparing Google results to other commercial or academic search engines would also be a worthwhile exploration of how search engines work.


While some educators bemoan the increasing reliance on Google by students, any resources that help to demystify search and help students search more effectively are useful additions to the classroom. Like any resource it is important to speak with students about the credibility of the Search Education site. Have a discussion about the reasons it has been created and the intentions of Google. This will not only help students become better searchers but also help them be more critical about evaluating the reliability or bias of websites they visit.

 

Permission slip

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Those of you who follow the Victorian Police Twitter account may have noticed over the weekend an odd tweet about a magical weight loss technique. Most followers would have picked up straight away that the tweet was from someone who had gained unauthorised access to the Victorian Police account and the police moved quickly to inform followers and delete the tweet. (You can read more in this article about the tweet, with obligatory donut reference.) To see an official and trusted account accessed in this way is a timely reminder of the importance of keeping your accounts protected.

We’ve probably all received strange tweets or emails from our contacts, usually with a message that “This user is saying nasty rumours about you” or “I saw this photo of you and I’m laughing so hard” with a link to a malicious site. Because so many tweets share links using URL shortening services it can be difficult to see if a link is trustworthy just by looking at the address. Our tip would be to only open links from trusted sources, and make sure they have some context provided rather than just a general message like “I saw this site and thought of you”.

Twitter in particular seems susceptible to the problem, possibly because of the ability to connect a number of third party applications to your Twitter account. Being able to log in to different services using your Twitter account is very handy, meaning you don’t have to remember multiple passwords and making it easier to share links with one click. But the side effect can be that you are handing over partial control of your account. When you authorise an external service to access your account make sure that you read what the service will be able to do, and only authorise if you feel comfortable and trust the service.

Even if you have given permission to access your account, you still have the power to revoke access to an external service at any time. In order to secure your account and not see your followers or friends spammed with annoying or dangerous messages, we recommend doing a bit of housekeeping. Have a look at the services linked to your accounts and revoke permission to any that you aren’t using anymore or don’t trust.

To help you out, we’ve put together guides below to revoking external access to the three main accounts that you might use; Twitter, Facebook and Google.

Guide to revoking access to your Twitter account

Guide to revoking access to your Facebook account

Guide to revoking access to your Google account

Wunderlist- a free to-do list manager

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We’re big fans of any tools that help us stay organised here at Bright Ideas. There are plenty of to-do list managers out there but our favourite service is Wunderlist.

Wunderlist is available for free on Mac and PC as well as a wide range of mobile platforms. It synchronises seamlessly across all of your devices, so lists can be created on your computer and then checked off on your phone. You can also keep track of tasks by setting importance or due dates.

One great feature of Wunderlist is the ability to create a number of different lists, so you can view tasks based on one project or see all of your upcoming tasks in your inbox. As soon as you check off a task it will be greyed out, then later it will disappear from view to keep your lists tidy.

If you love pen and paper you can print off your lists and you can share a list via email for others to contribute to your projects. The developers have also released a more comprehensive shared project management tool called Wunderkit which we’ll explore in a future post.

While some people will still feel that the best list management tool is a pen and paper, we find that being able to set alarms on tasks within Wunderlist helps us stay organised. And you’ll get almost the same feeling of satisfaction clicking that little check box as you do crossing off an item on your handwritten lists.

For a guide to getting started and managing lists, watch our screencast below (Best viewed in full screen 2.42 minutes).

 

Google Research Tool

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Google have added an interesting new feature to Google Docs, the Google research tool. When you open up a document you will now see a sidebar which allows you to perform a web search. Results are displayed in this panel and can be quickly added to a document. If you can’t see the sidebar, you can display it by selecting Tools>Research.

We had a look at this new feature this morning, and recorded a quick screencast of our first impressions. Have a look at the video below to see how it all works. The drag and drop features certainly looks to be a time saver and the automatic referencing is also a handy tool.

At this stage only results from Google search are displayed, but we probably couldn’t expect other search engines to be included, could we? We hold out hope that other search options may be included in future versions. Once again, this may again lead to a discussion with students about the importance of cross checking information and using a range of reliable resources.

Despite this minor quibble, Google research tool certainly looks like a handy way to get started with research and to keep track of any resources accessed.

Have a look at our first impressions below.

Getting the most out of Evernote

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The 2012 Victorian PLN course has been progressing well, with participants next week beginning Unit 9 of the course. This unit looks at research and referencing with a particular focus on one of our favourite tools; Evernote.

Evernote

Many of our readers tell us that Evernote is the application that has changed the way they work. We’ve posted about it before, but it’s worthwhile touching base again as the developers are constantly adding new functions. The power of Evernote is that it provides a searchable catalogue of your notes which are synchronised across a variety of devices. You can also add voice recordings, handwritten notes and pictures, or clip entire web pages for later.

If you are looking to get started with Evernote feel free to visit the Victorian PLN blog and have a look at the Evernote page, which has some screencasts and tips to get you going.

For those of you who know the basics, a recent article by ReadWriteWeb outlines some of the ways you can make Evernote even more powerful. These tips include how to share notebooks, save web pages or email notes directly to your account. One particularly interesting tip for educators is the ability to disable web syncing on some notebooks so notes are not stored in the cloud. This may be useful if you have sensitive information (such as student data or parent contact details) that you would prefer to only store on your computer. This option is only available when you create a new notebook (see below).

 

For tips about student use you can read Buffy Hamilton’s great post about using Evernote in the classroom. Remember to share any tips you have in the comments below or on the Bright Ideas Facebook page.

 

Free online PD: Digital storytelling and comic creation

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This guest post comes from David Portelli, Education Officer at the State Library of Victoria. David will be running free online sessions, exploring the range of tools available to make digital comics.

Linking in with the exhibition Love and Devotion: From Persia and Beyond, we will be offering free online Professional Development sessions through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development’s Virtual Conference Centre.

The sessions will look at the stories from the exhibtion and the associated education resource, with a focus on creating digital comics. A discussion of digital storytelling and comics will be linked to the education resource, other State Library of Victoria resources and application beyond the exhibition and its content.

As the session will be delivered online, all you will require is a computer with internet connection and a headset (with a microphone if possible).

The sessions will be held between 4:00pm – 5:00pm on two alternative dates – Wednesday May 9, 2012 or Tuesday May 22, 2012

If you would like to attend or find out more information, please contact openaccess@slv.vic.gov.au or call 8664 7557.

Please note this session is also listed on the VIT Pdi website 

For more details and direct links to the online sessions, visit the Educator’s Guide to Innovation using the links below:

Digital storytelling, comics and ‘Love and Devotion’- May 9th, 2012

Digital storytelling, comics and ‘Love and Devotion’- May 22nd, 2012

 

ABC: 80 days that changed our lives

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The ABC has recently launched a fantastic new site, 80 days that changed our lives. The site explores 80 key events in history that shaped our world. As you would expect from the ABC, there are a wealth of video and audio resources related to each event, along with personal reflections from ABC staff.

The events are organised by theme but perhaps the more interesting way of browsing is via the timeline. You can also make comments about each event on the forum located at the bottom of each page.

The site is a great introduction to some of the key events that have shaped our society and is an great way to browse the wealth of resources available in the ABC archive.