Best websites for teaching and learning

The American Association of School Libraries have published links to the top 25 sites that “foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration. They are free, Web-based sites that are user friendly and encourage a community of learners to explore and discover.” The sites are grouped with standards for each.

First QR Code in the IRC

Many schools do not allow the use of phones during school hours and our school follows this policy. For a bit of fun this QR Code was displayed today and we are watching for reactions (Our Senior Students are allowed to listen to music during study times in the IRC so do use music storage devices and this of course includes phones for this purpose only.)

 

 

Social Media and Learning

The blog post from Mind Shift: How we will learn entitled A Case for Using Social Media with Learning is worth sharing and fosters ideas and discussion points as teachers come to grips with the integration of social media into learning activities. Aran Levasseur says that “Social media has the potential to revolutionize our model of learning by transforming individual students from information silos into smart nodes within a dynamic and interdependent learning network. By serving as the connective tissue of a learning environment — whether it’s a class, school or community organized around common interests — social media can enhance student communication, collaboration and problem solving by aggregating perspectives.” This blog post could initiate discussion in the staffroom as we come to grips with change in our schools and classrooms.

TED talk by inspirational School Librarian, Dr Joyce Valenza

Dr Joyce Valenza is well known worldwide by Teacher Librarians for her innovative use of technology in schools and her contributions to the development of Web2.0 tools integrated into school research practice. She regularly visits Australia to share at our professional development conferences.

iPad Apps – Bloom’s Taxonomy

Kathy Schrock’s Blookin’ iPad has a wonderful chart organising iPad Apps according to their use within Bloom’s Taxonomy . She would like more people to fill in the Google Survey if they have found other useful Apps.

Having looked for some time for a simple ‘mindmapping’ tool, I was excited to trial the one suggested here and then upgraded for $2.99 for added features.

Books go interactive – a TED example

Mike Matas demonstrates an interactive book on an iPad in this ‘TED’ clip. The book demonstrated is “Our Choice”,  Al Gore’s sequel to “An Inconvenient Truth”.

Schools these days are weighing up the use of digital books on iPads as an alternative to hardcopy textbooks and this gives valuable insight into possibilities. The comments on What this e-book is missing are also worth reading and provide further issues and possibilities.

Biology Students – this one is for you!

A Biology teacher from Victoria, Andrew Douch, is making podcasts of various topics for his students – and sharing them with the world! Check out the topics….. and be quietly doing some biology study while your friends think you are listening to music! His podcasts can be downloaded/subscribed to free through iTunes or go to: http://biologyoracle.podomatic.com/rss2.xml

Douchy's Podcasts