School 2.0 in SA

In my efforts to get more teachers (especially maths and lit teachers) to blog, twitter and embrace 21st century learning tools, I am having a free ONLINE (jip you can do it from anywhere provided you have internet access) un-workshop during the whole of August.

For more info and to register (20 people max) go here http://learnwithmaggie.ning.com/page/blogtwit-workshop-4-august-3

For reasons and examples on why you should be dabbling with social media tools in the classroom, see my Amesa conference slideshare here: http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/maggiev-220100-social-media-mathematics-class-teacher-school-classroom-socialmedia-amesa2009-july-education-ppt-powerpoint/ (Ps you can download it from there as well and go through it like a tutorial)

The aim of the workshop is for teachers to create and maintain a
focussed blog while supporting one another using twitter. We
will use twitter as our main communication channel and explore how
it can help us to do advocacy for our blog, get quick ideas and
discover the learning magic! This way we should be able to get into
the habit of “blog-twitting” and also explore how we can use it in
all aspects of our lifes, organisations,schools. The blog can be a
personal blog, school blog, class blog or a organisational blog! I
will endeavour to facilitate your journey through little steps in a
supported way, helping you over the nitty gritty little thingies of
blogging, widgets, gadgets and twittering. Hopefully we will evolve
as strong learning partners with functional blogs!! The first week
will be dedicated to twitter-ing and getting comfortable with the
notion of blogging.

Too much????!!!!

Level: Beginner blogger/twit

Skills needed: Basic computer skills (you can type (even if it
is with 1 finger) e-mail, cut and paste and navigate your way
around the internet!

Important skill: Perserverence and a longing to learn and
have fun!

Number of participants: 20 max

Cost:Free online

Tools to use: Twitter, Wordpress/edublogs, various other
widgets form photosharing sites, polls, google docs….

To make a commitment and register for this workshop, please complete the following form:

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• Give me a reason to go to the library (great read)

  A teenagers view of what the library mean to her….a must read
  (Thanx ANdrew)

  tags: library2.0, school2.0

• Great report: Personalising Education: from research to policy and practice

  Personalisation in education has been discussed in research and policy papers for approximately ten years. Personalised learning, as a concept, first appeared in the United States and was subsequently expanded and deepened through work in the United Kingdom as it became embedded in a wider argument for the reform of all public services. This reform aimed to create services that responded more directly to the diverse needs of individuals rather than imposing uniform solutions on all people.

  tags: school2.0, pln, reports, education, 21stcenturylearning

• What makes a good teacher as far as technology is concerned?

  tags: school2.0

• Libraries for a Postliterate Society

  Any number of recent studies are concluding that reading is declining, primarily the reading of novels and longer works of nonfiction. Pundits are remarking that online reading is changing their personal reading behaviors. Doug Johnson infers from this and other observations that we are rapidly becoming a “postliterate society.” In Doug’s feature, you can find out just what he means by that, and learn how libraries can serve this postliterate society.

  tags: library2.0, school2.0

• FREE Online Math Calculator, Converter. Mathematics Calculater Web Site

  Your Math (mathematics) is made easy here. Calculate things online with just mouse moves. This free online math web site will help you learn mathematics in a easier way. EasyCalculation will also help you to solve difficult problems too.

  tags: calculators, mathematics, school2.0

• Information Literacy: Building Blocks of Research: Overview

  Information Literacy is a transformational process in which the learner needs to find, understand, evaluate, and use information in various forms to create for personal, social or global purposes.

  Information Literacy shares a fundamental set of core thinking- and problem-solving meta-skills with other disciplines. Authentic cross-disciplinary problems which include observation and inference, analysis of symbols and models, comparison of perspectives, and assessment of the rhetorical context, engage students in developing mastery information literacy over time.

  tags: information, literacy, informationliteracy, 21stCenturySkills, school2.0, library2.0

• Educational technology Standards for teachers – Annotated

  tags: ISTE, Standards, teachers, education, school2.0

  • 
    • Nice rubric potential – post by misteanjava
    • Integration awareness scale:
      From NECC:
      Unaware
      Beginning Awareness = beginning
      Aware = Developing
      Active Awareness = Proficient
      Flexible Aareness = Transformative – post by diannekrause
  • Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
    • Use Blabberize or Voki for beginning teachers – post by diannekrause
  • Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
    • Can embed into edublogs, wikispaces, etc – post by diannekrause
  • Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
    • Make wikis more than just static text and images – embed web 2.0 tools and create a collaborative environment – post by diannekrause
    • Can use wikis for this – collaborative, searchable – post by diannekrause
  • collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
    • Moving up to more proficiency – use voki instead of blabberize – can pick backgrounds, etc… allows students to take the perspective during a debate
      Can comment on Vokis right on them
      Transform the blog/project into things that can be accessed by a multitude of kids
      Transformative – edublogs + blabberize + voki + elluminate
      Use elluminate to connect kids for collaboration
      Use elluminate to share work with other classrooms locally and globally – post by diannekrause
  • Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
    • Kids can demonstrate what they know in an easy and fun way – post by diannekrause
    • Use Voki to do this – post by diannekrause

• You can download 2 million free PDF ebooks from July 4th to August 4th, 2009.

  tags: library2.0, ebooks, school2.0

  • just what it says; its lists and tip sheets are regularly updated – post by jlesage
  • Technology news, blogging tips, best computer software and web services – post by alanbibb
  • Quick Online Tips has grown to be a popular blog over the past years and is regularly posting “Technology News, Smart Blogging Tips, Essential Computer Software and Web Services”. – post by rogerkondrat
  • good stuff – post by jakeycentral

• Class Collection of Book Reviews using collaborative google spreadsheets

  As part of a language arts or reading program, students read novels throughout the school year. Some of the novels are assigned, read, and discussed “all class.” Others are chosen by the students individually, and they keep individual reading lists. Students may be required to read a certain number per marking period, per school year, and over the summer. Some may be classics; other trade novels, but all contribute to the overall reading and comprehension abilities of the students.

  This unit can be done as a culminating activity for the school year. Students are asked to choose their two favorite novels from the ones they have read. They write reviews and post them online for students in their own school, in other schools, across the United States, and in other countries to read. The student reviews not only help student readers clarify their own understanding of literature, they also provide a “student-to-student” resource. Other students can choose novels based on opinions of their peers. The students review the novels, write descriptions that will appeal to other readers, and indicate the level of reading difficulty. They do this to help others choose novels suitable for their reading levels.

  tags: lessonplans, languages, english, google, googledocs, library2.0, school2.0

• Today’s the day: signups open for free Google Message Security for K-12 schools

  Google Message Security – powered by Postini – provides the capability for administrators to limit messages based on who they are from, where they are going, or the content they contain. Message rules can be applied to groups of users, allowing customization for different user sets (like younger students, older students, and teachers).

  tags: google, e-mail, school2.0, security

• 10 Alternatives to Moodle

  tags: lists, lms, school2.0

• Learning Leaders Fieldbook

  Senior learning leaders live a precarious life these days. As a result of our tumultuous global economy, we’re witnessing massive change in the world of business and within learning organizations. The role that learning plays within the larger context of business is evolving too.

  We hope you enjoy the opportunity to get into the minds of these learning leaders and look forward to your feedback on The Learning Leader Fieldbook. I believe you’ll find that learning from these leaders’ successes and mistakes will prove invaluable as you continue your own learning career.

  tags: principals, school2.0, education, ebook

• New tools wiki

  Great overview site for web 2.0

  tags: web2.0, school2.0, edtech, resources, wiki

• ednak. – Thought Networking for Online Educators

  tags: ednak, networking, onlinelearning, socialnetworking, school2.0, elearning

• Cellphones as Instructional Tools (free webinar)

  This free event is scheduled for Thursday, July 23, at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Cellphones have been called “the new paper and pencil” or “the new laptop,” and they could be in the hands of as many as 10 million to 15 million schoolchildren in the next few years. For their instructional potential and ability to connect students to the Internet, mobile devices are quietly making their way into schools in the United States and abroad. What does your district, school, or classroom need to make this technology leap? Guests will discuss policy and implementation issues and offer practical curriculum ideas for every subject.

  tags: cellphones, wshops, school2.0, webinars

• Technology trends in Higher Education: Web 2.0 and Social Learning

  tags: school2.0, sociallearning

• An intro course module to web 2.0 technologies

  Internet-based technologies abundantly exist for personal, business, and educational use; Curriki or del.icio.us are good examples. In this module you will learn the background of Web 2.0 technologies and become familiar with some of those technologies.

  tags: web2.0, courses, school2.0

• Voicethread Examples in Education

  tags: voicethread, school2.0, examples, interestingways

• 10 ways to stay out of trouble when you post to social networking sites

  The new head of British foreign intelligence recently demonstrated that anyone can suffer potentially embarrassing or damaging revelations through social networking activity – and even the most mundane and seemingly benign tweets and status updates can have far-reaching consequences.

  tags: twitter, social, networtking, guidelines, lists, school2.0

• If a teacher had designed Twitter…..

  tags: twitter, edmodo, microblogging, school2.0

• 50 Useful Blogging Tools for Teachers

  Blogging is becoming more and more popular in the classroom. Teachers can blog to stay in touch with parents and students or they can incorporate blogs from all of the students as a learning tool. The beauty of the student blog is that children from Kindergarten to high school can blog. No matter how you use blogs in your classroom, these tools will help you get started, enhance your experience, or bring the students into the fun.

  tags: blogging, teachers, school2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Social media (web 2.0 tools) presents lots of learning and teaching opportunities for the maths/maths literacy teacher. In this workshop presentation for my workshop at the Amesa 2009 congress, on how to use web 2.0 tools in the maths/ mathsliteracy classroom, I explore some of the uses for the classroom. It has been designed as a learning  journey with examples and tutorials for those who want to incorporate and learn how other maths teachers are using social media in their classes and for professional development.

The presentation with animation and links can be downloaded from
http://www.box.net/shared/j4kmpdsgip

• Task force tells how to keep kids safe online

  tags: onlinesafety, school2.0

• Education Week: Top-Scoring Nations Share Strategies on Teachers – Annotated

  American education officials trying to learn from the policies and practices of top-performing nations seem to have two exemplary models in Singapore and Finland.

  tags: school2.0

  • the selection of teachers is heavily directed by the central government, specifically the Ministry of Education, and the candidates are elite: The government recruits from the top third of graduating classes, Ms. Gek said.
    • I’m sure they miss out on some fantastic teachers, but one can’t argue with quality if it is measured holistically. I wonder how they determine “elite”. – post by ransomtech
  • receiving at least 100 hours of professional development annually
    • Wow… we could learn a thing or two from this statement alone. – post by ransomtech
  • “how to maintain good working conditions in schools”; national leaders believe such conditions are essential to luring talented people into classrooms and keeping them there.
    • Makes more sense to me this way – to attract folks who want to be there rather than recruiting the top tier based on grades. – post by ransomtech
  • nd teachers routinely assess students’ progress in class, in order to improve instruction, he said.
    • This is how it should be. We do need to prepare our teachers better to be effective assessors of student learning. I don’t think that we do a good enough job in this area at all. – post by ransomtech

  • erhaps not surprisingly, one common feature of the Singaporean and Finnish education systems—like those of some other high-achieving nations—is the respect that their societies have for educators, and the general view of teaching as a top-tier profession.

    In Finland, Mr. Lankinen said, “people dream to be teachers.”

    • … something that IS broken in this country. – post by ransomtech

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

• Mind mapping with Bubbl.us

  tags: bubbl.us, mindmapping, tutorial, howto, school2.0

• bubbl.us mindmapping tool

  Cool mindmapping tool

  tags: mindmap, brainstorm, mindmapping, visualization, school2.0, collaboration

  • Bubbl.us is a simple and free web application that lets you brainstorm online. – post by alanpoon
  • 在线的头脑风暴
    – post by hn82123
  • Sencillos y simples brainstormings a partir de burbujas. – post by mboygag
  • cool looking mindmap tool online. soon with realtime online collaboration.
    – post by vahidm
  • A brainstorming site that allows you to create bubble diagrams – post by adamant1988
  • Simple mind mapping. Brilliantly simple. – post by telecommatt

  • Diagrams 1on paper are cool, but diagrams on the internet are cooler. This is where Bubbl.us comes into play. Bubbl.us 2is
    a mind–mapping product aimed towards literally anyone who needs help
    organizing their thoughts or any untidy information. Powered by Flash,
    Bubbl.us makes it easy for anyone to quickly start planning and sorting
    out their ideas through the use of linked text bubbles. Each bubble of
    information is connected to its preceding parent bubble and color
    coordinated accordingly for hierarchy sake. Using the mouse wheel or
    the side tool bar allows for easy zooming in and out of your mind-maps.
    Also added to the tool bar is workspace positioning and setup styles,
    however most will find that holding the left mouse button and dragging
    is a much more convenient way of moving around the work area.

    3

    You begin with a parent bubble. Pressing Tab creates another bubble
    in the same color and level of hierarchy as the bubble you tabbed from.
    Pressing Enter in a bubble will create a new level of hierarchy with a
    different colored bubble. Naturally, levels of the bubble tree are
    connected with lines and are movable around the workspace while
    remaining connected to each other. Each bubble also has an “Unpin”
    function. This resets all bubbles that you might have moved back under
    its appropriate parent. Bubbl.us also has an amusing deletion
    confirmation for each bubble you wish to omit. Once you press the X in
    the corner of a bubble a counter will begin counting down from three to
    zero as the line connecting the bubble to its parent acts as a lit
    fuse. Once it reaches zero the bubble will blow up in a cloud of fire.
    Neat.

    Saving 4and
    loading is simple and fast. The navigation found on the right of the
    website is neatly made and holds all your current projects. Multiple
    brainstorming projects can be saved to follders in the side bar and
    loaded again at any time. Of course you’re also able to rename any of
    your projects using the side menu. Directly above the side menu is the
    link to edit your account information if necessary as well. A printing
    function has also been implemented so that your newly mapped out ideas
    can be printed out whenever you wish. They have included options for
    printing to the minimum height and width of your bubble tree, or simply
    a full screen print. Simply zoom out/in to what you feel is
    presentable, then print. There’s no hassle.

    – post by bigfellow

• 21st Century Skills Map for science

  The Partnership advocates for the integration of 21st Century Skills into K-12 education so that students can advance their learning in core academic subjects.

  tags: 21stcenturyskills, school2.0

• Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga MP 2009 Education Budget Speech

  tags: school2.0, doe

• Online testing Create online quizzes free quiz maker ClassMarker

  The ClassMarker online testing website is a professional, easy to use online quiz maker that marks your tests and quizzes for you. You simply create your quizzes and your learners or business clients take them online

  tags: quiz, assessment, quizzes, education, school2.0

• Supporting Distance Learners in the 21st Century – Home

  A guide, learning pathway on how to support distance learning and professional development!!

  tags: school2.0, maggie2.0, distancelearning, e-learning, saide

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.