Inner Western Region eLearning

In Australia we have ACMA and CyberSmart (haven’t been to their website yet? It’s a must visit for all teachers and parents), in the US they have the Federal Trade Commission. This agency has produced a range of resources to assist parents and teachers to better inform children and themselves about issues relating to digital citizenship and cybersafety. The resources are in the public domain and so may be used without permission. Resources include:

Admongo (www.admongo.gov) an online game which teaches critical thinking skills and encourages children to apply them to advertising. Aimed at Stage 3, but could be used by younger or older students.

Living Life Online (ftc.gov/livinglifeonline) print (available as a pdf download) and online resources for digital kids, with short articles, activities and quizzes.

OnGuardOnline (onguardonline.gov) a website to assist consumers of all ages get around safely in the online world.

Net Cetera (onguardonline.gov/features/feature-0004-featured-net-cetera-toolkit) a great range of downloadable resources and links to videos.

Edutopia, one of my favourite online resources, celebrates it’s 20th anniversary this year. It’s recent newsletter links to a number of posts from blog contributers celebrating this event…20 ideas for engaging projects, 20 tips for creating safe learning environments, 20 tips for managing project-based learning are just a few examples. Subscribe to their newsletter and receive regular high-quality resources…you won’t be disappointed!

Registration is now open for the FETC Virtual Conference on October 27, 2011. I “attended” last year and found some of the sessions really engaging.

The FETC Virtual Conference Features:

• Interactive presentations from education technology leaders
• A virtual networking lounge to reconnect with colleagues and
  make new contacts
• Technology product and service demos in the virtual exhibit hall
• Free content downloads and presentations-to-go

All for no cost, and no travel! Registration gives you access to the archive, so you don’t have to sit up all night and attend the conference live…catch up on sessions in your own time.

TeachMeet is happening again, this time at at St Ambrose Concord West on Thursday afternoon, September 15, from 4pm to 6pm. Please check the Google site for details and to register your interest. It would be great to get lots of attendees and especially some willing presenters!

The June/July edition of ISTE’s online magazine, “Learning and Leading with Technology” is available here. Articles include “Digital Age Teaching”, “Tech Integration & Special Needs” and “Should Students Use Their Real Names on the Web?”. Remember, you can have direct access to this magazine and many of ISTE’s resources by becoming a member of ISTE.

The US Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have launched PBS LearningMedia (pbslearningmedia.org), a free service for all teachers, students and families. This appears to be very much like Scootle. In addition to a rich public media library, PBS LearningMedia has content contributed from other publicly funded organizations, including the US National Archives, the Library of Congress and NPR, as well as content funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Education, to deliver thousands of resources for use in the classroom.

Beginning today, teachers and students have access to more than 14,000 research-based instructional resources – including videos, interactives, images, audio files, mobile apps, lesson plans, and worksheets. Combining dynamic and engaging instructional content with professional development support, PBS LearningMedia empowers educators to create media-rich curriculum lessons that meet the needs of 21st century learners (their words!!).

Connect.ed, released by ACMA (the Australian Communications and Media Authority), is a free online professional development program designed to train teachers on how to protect students from potential online dangers.

The Connect.ed program covers: cyberbullying, sexting, excessive internet use, mobile use, e-security and managing your digital reputation and digital profiling. More information, including registration details, can be found here.

The NMC Horizon Report: 2011 K-12 Edition examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of K-12 education. It introduces six emerging technologies or practices that are likely to enter mainstream use in the educational community within three adoption horizons over the next one to five years. This year it identifies cloud computing and mobiles as near-term horizon technologies likely to enter mainstream education within the next twelve months. The report can be downloaded from here.

The May edition of ‘Tech & Learning’, an US online magazine for educators, is available here. Lots of product reviews and articles including iPads and displays v projectors.

Please consider subscribing to the magazine and the regular email newsletter. Although this is a US-based publication there is lots of content of interest to Australian teachers.

This guide is presented by Sue Waters on her blog ‘The Edublogger’. It is also available as a pdf download from her site…a comprehensive and easy to follow guide to using Skype at home or in the classroom.