Presentation software

I like this presentation software - easy to use and upload your presentations to embed online. Have a look at their examples. Great thing is it's free!

Netvibes page

I have set up a Netvibes page to store and show all my favourite sites - it is easy to see and access and you just store the favourites not the multitudes you may have in a site such as Delicious. I think it would be a great way for teachers to set up a page for their students with just the sites they want them to use.Change the look of the site every now and again for fun!

E-Portfolios

Lately I have been working with two schools setting up e-portfolios. At one school we used Google Apps. This was a small rural school and I had some concerns about connectivity but it all seems to be working. We set up a class site with list of names linking to individual student pages, each password protected. To do this all students needed an email address of their own. This was also set up in Google Apps. The idea is that each student in the class can upload examples of their work and write their own reflection on their learning. There is an emphasis on process rather than product with students taking charge of their next learning steps in partnership with the teacher. It was a relatively easy set up and appears to be working well.
At the next school we set up e-portfolios using Wikispaces for educators. Each childs name was set up in the side menu and linked to their own wiki pages. Again the idea is to engage in student reflections on their learning and posting their work on the site. Each page is password protected using the code script which Lenva Shearing has provided on her fantastic site
It is a wonderful learning experience for the students as well as keeping parents and caregivers up to date with their student's learning however I do have some reservations in that some students do not have access to the Internet at home and may be disadvantaged by this. This could be alleviated by having access to school computers for parents before or after school. There is also free Internet access now in most public libraries so I guess if they really want to see the portfolios there are ways and means.
I would like to see the students taking charge of their own pages and provided with specific times for this under the supervision of the teacher - not having this as extra work for the teacher to complete. It will require time for students to learn how to upload and work within a web space, however most students are more conversant with this than the teachers! I see it working with year 5 upwards. I have seen some interesting ones set up through Knowledge Net but many schools can't afford this option. I would love to see how other schools are developing e-portfolios using the free software out there!

Wolfram Alpha

There is a new search engine supposed to rival Google called Wolfram Alpha.
The search engine, or “computational knowledge engine” is the brainchild of British physicist and mathematician Stephen Wolfram, and has been touted as “The Google Killer”.

The difference between Wolfram|Alpha and a traditional search engine is that Wolfram|Alpha is able to compute data on the fly, rather than simply returning keyword results from existing pages.
What do you think?

Visual dictionary

Have a look at this dictionary - great if you want to grab some images for your topic study or enable those visual learners to 'get the big picture'

ACES Unconference 2009

It was great to get together again for an unconference - this time at Pt England School, a very inspiring and well organised place for learning. I was intrigued with the presentation by Pete Somerville of Summerland School - the notion of transparency in the classroom where students are made fully aware of their own levels of achievement and of others in the classroom. Teachers as social engineers. Food for thought.
I found Lenva Shearing's workshop on e-portfolios very valuable as several schools are working on this and are asking me for help. She advocated self responsibility as students reflected and reviewed their own learning on their e-portfolio so it went beyond a mere report by the teacher.
I already work with i-movie 09 so didn't find out much more about that but I went along to the workshop just in case there was something I didn't know - it confirmed that I am on the right track and inspired me to try the green screening option - something I have not done yet.
I am very interested in Fathom - the data anlaysis tool workshop - it looks amazing and I am sure it will be a great tool for schools in terms of analysing data to inform teaching practice. I like the concept - I notice - I wonder. Check it out here.
I look forward to keeping up with the educators who attended through the shared wiki resources.
Fiona Grant and Dorothy Burt set up a great day for us - thanks!

Gifts of Life website

I have been helping my oldest son with his web site for living gifts business, he has opened a shop in Albany and sells unusual and beautiful pot plants in amazing planters. It has taken the last three years to set up the business and the web site is looking pretty good I think. He plans to deliver potted plants instead of flowers - a gift that keeps on living. Check out the fantastic living gifts here

Interface ICT Lesson Plans

Click here to find a page of great lesson plans put out by the creators of the Interface magazine. This is a really great magazine for schools and only $1 per copy if ordered in bulk for teachers.

Photobooth for literacy development

Lately we have been using the video feature in Photobooth to record students reading their stories and poems to create small video clips which can be inserted into a Keynote or Powerpoint as a class digital reader. This provides students with an audience for their writing and motivation for their writing. We have also been creating small movies of students interviewing a partner about a book they are reading or about their topic study. This creates a learning opportunity to script open ended questions and also for the students to articulate their learning. The movie clips can be shared with other classes as well to share the learning and provide an extra audience. The movies can also be a reflective tool for students to reflect on their literacy skills.