e-Learning Round-Up | 3 October 2011
It's the last week of a very long term – time for a coffee and an e-learning catch-up of the ICT-goodness from across the VLN Groups.
Member of the week
Each week we'll profile someone who has made a valuable contribution to our e-Learning community. This week, it's....
Tony Greer: Tony is the Deputy Principal at Somerset Crescent School as well as being one of the lead ICTPD teachers in the school. Scroll down to ‘Beyond the Classroom to check out his blog post this week on helping families get connected.
Group of the Week
We are excited to invite you to join this group which provides community support as part of Enabling e-Learning, the Ministry of Education's online ‘hub’ for ICT-related education resources and programmes in New Zealand. It is the parent group for the e-Learning groups in Leadership, Technology, Professional Learning and Teaching.
A sneak peek: eLearning in VLN Groups
Leadership
- School principals – leaders of e-learning: The ICT-PD blog unpacks the influence that principals have on student learning outcomes as leaders and learners of e-learning.
- The voting continues on... Can a principal be a leader of e-learning without leading this themselves?
Professional Learning
- Using the VLN: John Phelps reflects on how one of his clusters is using the VLN for much of their communication, sharing and reflections.
- Teacher observations: A reflection on how teachers are observing one and other to help develop their own reflective thinking and e-Portfolios.
- Enthusiasm of schools: Kathe Tawhiwhirangi-Perry writes a personal perspective about how busy schools are on a daily basis but how they may also have time to enjoy the gems in the VLN.
- How to help the technophobes?: Yes, this thread is still running…
Professional Learning Events
- The Virtual Professional Learning Development programme: The VPLD team is very keen to hear from NZ teachers, Principals, APs and DPs, who are interested in participating in the next VPLD intake (programme beginning in February 2012).
- Creating great presentations (28 October 2011, Hamilton): Free to Connected Cluster members, $50 to others
Teaching and Learning | Digital Citizenship
- Junior children, with assistance from their parents are learning how to send and receive messages with their classroom teacher. This is on the school's ultranet system.
- Waima learning journey: How one school introduced the Lane Clarke model to their students. How the teachers used the model to best suit the needs of their students.
- eBooks: Unpacking the value of eBooks for reading and writing. "The opportunity for children to write and publish books is motivating and the interactivity provided by some eBooks is exciting. The key seems to be to gain a balance."
- Is all this interactivity and engagement really a good thing?: Allanah ponders about the iPad interactivity, on its own, an how it may actually not be a good thing...
- How to teach using mobile devices: Some ideas for mobile devices
iPad for learning
- Bloom's Taxonomy with iPad Apps
- Useful iPad/iPod/iPhone Apps for the Modern Language Class: This section of the website will present some iPod/iPhone/iPad apps that may be of use in the Modern Language class
- 50 Best iPad apps
- The Apple iPad in Education Workshop Course: More iPad resources than you can poke a stick at, shared by John Larkin.
- How will iPad picture books affect young reader’s literacy? | The Digital Media Diet: Interesting discussion here about the nature of iPad picture books.
Technology
- QR Codes in Education: Law, C. & So, S. (2010). QR Codes in Education. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, 3(1),85-100
- Using OneNote for organising and appraisal (Theresa Bosch)
- Educator's Guide to Mobile Devices: Everything you need to know about mobile tech and schools
iPads
Locking an iPod Touch or iPad
Mathletics on an iPad: Yes, it can be done!
New iPad product for charging and syncing 10 iPads at once (Karen Mills): This may be an option for schools looking to have pods is iPads.
Bringing your own devices (BYOD)
Bring your own device survey - US example 1 and example 2: A teacher in the US posted a survey on her blog for students on Bring Your Own Device, simple, yet it gets students to think about what they will use the device for with their learning.
Beyond the Classroom
- Using e-learning to inform parents about assessment: ICT PD blogger, Tesa Gray, shares how one school is informing parents about assessment practices in their school by using screen capture tools to make instructional videos in Youtube.
- Connecting 14 families to the internet via Computers in NZ Homes: Tony Greer (Connected Whanau) blogs about the solutions they found to helping families connect when they do not have land lines (only cell phones).
VLN Tip: A makeover
- Check out the homepage which has had a makeover and now sports a tabbed layout to clarify the different aspects of the VLN, separating out the Programmes of Learning from the VLN Groups professional development community.
- And a "VLN News" widget has been added to the top right of everyone's dashboard so news can easily be shared across all 2500+ members.
e-Learning on the Wire…
The Wire is the micro-blogging stream in the VLN. Posts appear in the activity stream…Here’s what we heard:
- FlorenceMaclic: http://vei.moric.org/captaincaptivateweb/Captain_Captivate/Volume_2_-_NETS_Tools.html A lot here WOW!
- Merrynd: Good news! Into Music 1 classroom music in years 1 - 3 is now digitised and available on Arts Online at http://artsonline2.tki.org.nz/resour
- Tania: AWESOME day @ Whg Primary today - QR Code Treasure Hunt created by senior class 4 juniors. All went well with lots of learning experiences!
- Tessa Gray: I'm just writing a blog post on cybersafety and wandering... What are our biggest fears in the classroom?
Images: photostock | renjith krishnan | fotographic1980 | jscreationzs ... all @ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
