eT@lking: Augmented Reality

When: Wednesday 27th February, 8-9pm, Melbourne, Australia time (gmt+11) or see timeanddate for the times in your time zone.

About this session: Augmented Reality will be the topic of conversation during this free webinar.  Experience its wonder through the eyes of Christopher Winter, Senior Program Officer (Professional Development), Dept of Training and Workforce Devlpt, Perth. This webinar is part of the Australia eSeries.

Here is the link to join this session.

You can read more about this session from Chris and his description below:-

What if your students could stand in any room and by looking through their phones camera, be presented with an entirely new virtual world? What if instead of 30 students crowding around one physical object, they could each have an almost tangible replica on their desks to study, even when at home?

Augmented Reality is not a new technology and was in fact in danger of fading out before it really had chance to make an impact. The fact was that holding a piece of paper up to a webcam in order to see a 3D object on a desktop computer is neither engaging nor fun. It was less than intuitive and quite cumbersome.

Fast forward to the present day and thanks to the mobile revolution Augmented Reality is not just an option, but an integral part of effective mobile delivery. Engaging students in the real world rather than a dingy computer lab really brings back the possibility for blended delivery in a digital age.

Join us as we explore effective use of mobile technology in delivery and get ready for the very near future.

You are encouraged to have a mobile device with internet connection to hand during the session and have the following apps pre-loaded if possible:

•  A QR code reader (such as Qrafter for iOS or Google Goggles for Android)
• Augment (iOS and Android) and also print the required Marker. All available from http://augmentedev.com/
• Layer (AR browser for iOS and Android)Wikitude (AR browser for iOS and Android)
• While downloading the above will help you engage with the session on the day, it  will also be demonstrated via webcam.

 Have you used Augmented Reality? What do you know about it?

A big thankyou to Chris Smith for creating this video of the session.

eT@lking: What the #####? The all important hashtag and Twitter!

When: Wednesday, 12th September, 2012, 8-9pm

About this session: This will be a presentation and exploration of how to set up, manage and promote and get involved in an online community using twitter #hashtags. This presentation, by Jason Graham, will share experiences of how to create or join an online community using Twitter.

About our presenter: Jason Graham, a Canadian, who calls Melbourne home, currently working in Indonesia. Jason is the Learning Technologies Coordinator and Grade 1 teacher at Bandung International School, PYP Workshop Leader. He classifies himself as a “Disruptivist since 1971”. You can read posts on Jason’s blog.

Please join us and share in the conversations or should that be #tags! Here is a link to the recording. Thanks to Jess McCulloch for organising this session.

What questions would you have? What are your favourite hashtags? Why do you use them? When do you use them?

eT@lking Webinar: Immersive Education and Virtual Worlds

This week we will be joined by teacher Jane Taylor from Wooranna Park PS.  Earlier this year Jane attended the Immersive Education Summit in Boston, MA. and has agreed to share with us some of her findings from the conference.

When: Wednesday 5th September, 2012

Where: The link to our Blackboard Collaborate room.

About the Session: The world of virtual worlds, immersive education and augmented reality is constantly growing and expanding.  In this session Jane will talk about some of the exciting opportunities for teachers and students including Open Wonderland, Scratch, EcoMuve and many more.

eT@lking Webinar: A Melting Pot of eIgnite!

When: Wednesday August 29th, 8-9pm, Melbourne, Australia time (gmt+10)

About the session: Loosely based on the eIgnite idea of people having a limited time to speak and taking a little bit from Teachmeet and other timed sessions, the presenters will choose either 20 slides with 20 seconds to speak to each slide or a 6 min or 10 min timing.

Our presenters and topics:

1. Symbaloo (a free social bookmarking site) with Adrienne Kajewski
2. Flickr (online photo management and sharing application, with ability for connecting globally) with Penny Bentley
3. Quest Atlantis  (virtual worlds for the young) with Ness Crouch
4. Twitter with Anne Mirtschin

Here is the link to the recording. Please join us and share in the conversations and the fun!

Tech Talk Tuesdays/eT@lking: This week’s webinars

When: Tuesday June 18th, 4-5pm, Melbourne Victoria time (gmt+10)

About this session: Listen to two practising teachers, Marg Beagley and Judi Hale share some amazing adventures and global connections. They will discuss the ways that Yarram Primary School, a small rural school with little exposure to multiculturalism, has integrated studies of the world and society into their program in a ‘real’ way.  These teachers initially formed a bond with Argentina and whilst this friendship is growing they now intend to extend their learning to China.

The impact that their interactions with the school in South America has made on that school and its community is just ‘magical’ and shows the power that technology can bring to learning and global education. If you are interested in global education, do not miss this one!

Click on this link to listen to the recording.

eT@lking –  LEGO MINDSTORMS – with Mic Lowne

When: Tuesday June 20 from 8-9pm

About this session: Maths, but not as we know it. Learn more by attending this great webinar.  Jess McCulloch is our host for the month of June.

Our Presenter: Mic Lowne from Wooranna Park Primary School Here is Mic’s Twitter handle 

Here is the link to the recording

Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking: this week’s webinars

Tech Talk Tuesdays: The power of social media and its implications for education.

When: Tuesday, March 13th, 4-5pm Melbourne, Australia (gmt+11)

About this session: Year 12 students walked into my classroom for the first lesson of the day on Wednesday last week and asked if I had seen the Kony video. Intrigued, Iasked more questions to find out that the students had seen the links on facebook which was viral with the news. It had also hit other social media eg twitter, youtube, vimeo with a vengeance and the traditional media had also shared the news. Using a teachable moment, we viewed the highly engaging video. Since then it has come under some criticism.

When we watched the movie as a class it had had 3 million hits, by the end of the day the hits amounted to 10 million but 24 hours later had reached 40 million. Wide use of social media has also been used in the recent floods in Victoria.

• What are other examples of social media use  that have had global impact?
• What impact does this have on learning and for education in general?
• How important are critical thinking and internet research skills?
• How can these skills be taught?

Join us as we share conversations around these important questions. Here is the link to join in this session.

eT@lking: The Black Line Murder Mystery:Using Google Tools Creatively

When: Wednesday, 14th March, 8-9pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+11)

About the session: Jess McCulloch  teaches mandarin Chinese. She is an innovative google certified teacher who created the Black Line Mystery  for the 2012  K12 Online conference. The Black Line Mystery is a story about the most complicated Chinese character known to mankind and its community. It is an online meta linguistic awareness unit using Google Tools in an innovative and creative manner.

As well as learning language, it’s important that our students learn ABOUT language. The Black Line Mystery is a unit Jess created to introduce students to the Chinese character writing system. The unit is all online, allowing students who don’t go to my school to join in. Come along to hear about how she got this unit together and what free Google Tools she used to make it possible.

Here is the  link to the recording.  Try and watch the Black Line Mystery before the session. It is a creative, engaging story that uses google apps to fabulous effect. Try and view it before the session.

eT@lking in Review: Digital Citizenship-What do you need to be one?

A big thank you to Veronica Fitzgerald who so aptly put together some slides and some great discussion points on this topic. Veronica aptly led us through an intense discussion on this topic. Coach Carole also provided some resources and links and as usual, the participants were actively involved contributing their knowledge, ideas and opinions. Thanks everyone.

Here is a link to the recording.

From the chat came the following:-

From the chat

• Seven most useful new social media
• 21^st Century Fluency
• Teacher2.0
• Definition of Digital Citizenship
• 21^st Century Digital Citizenship
• A digital citizen is responsible, ethical, resilient
• @jjash I think just citizenship is everywhere and shouldnt be labelled as digital its part of the total package of being a citizen. off line is the same as online
• young people feel freedom and anonymity when online and on mobile phones etc.
• people who were once isolated are no longer
• children are sequentially taught about citizenship in terms of family, friends, school, local community, state, national and global citizenship – but my god I am so constantly amazed at what children and people do online – especially in terms of thinking things are safer, more anonymous or factual than they are.
• protecting self, respecting others
• @jjash: At the cybersafety session in Bendigo they mentioned 3Rs to manage digital interactions relationships, reputations and resilency
• digital citizenship as literacy about wider global issues
• Interesting article by Doug Johnson, Mankato MN: Developing Ethical Behaviors in Students: What Schools Must Do
• @aaane http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/developing-ethical-behaviors-in-students.html
• Australian teachers granted permission to use facebook in the classroom
• Diigo group for online safety
• Time to take the cyber out of bullying
• The grid
• Cyber citizen profile
• We had a year 10 student sacked from work experience after her employees read her facebook update yesterday 😦
• One recent report I saw said that employers are now up to 80% for checking social sites for potential employees
• Facebook safety
• Stay smart online
• Being smart online diigo group
• @Angie: I think it has to be very embedded in education and in the home from the very beginning. It cannot be introduced to teenagers who think they already know it all (speaking from experience with one at home!) 🙂
• Where are you? Award winning video
• Keep safe
• Commonsense media
• Quest Atlantis: learning in citizenship in a virtual world

Tech Talk Tuesdays/eT@Lking – This week’s sessions

Tech Talk Tuesdays:- Within, across, beyond : using technology to connect kids and realise a vision

Tuesday, May 17th, 4 to 5pm, Melbourne, Australia time (gmt+10)

Topic: Within, across, beyond : using technology to connect kids and realise a vision!

About the session:This session will focus on the following:-

• Connecting the kids within the school using  a wordpress multi blog  site and buddypress,
• Connecting kids across schools through inter-school discussions
• Using videoconferencing
• Connecting kids beyond schools to our virtual experts, a team of online historians, scientists, graphic designers and engineers who help our students in their learning.

Dr Rob Sbaglia and  Simone Uren will share their exciting connections within and beyond the classroom walls.
About the  presenters:-
Dr Rob Sbaglia is the ICT co-ordinator at Castlemaine Nth Primary School, in Australia, and team teaches grades 5 and 6. Prior to this, Rob has been an ultranet coach, a research  scientist and a secondary teacher. He has a particular interest in connecting students beyond the classroom.
Simone is the literacy co-ordinator at the same school and holds a leadership position within the school, where she team teaches grades 5 and 6.  Mrs Uren has a particular interest in the application of ICT in literacy.

Here is thelink to the recording of this sesson.

eT@lking: The Google Teacher Academy in Sydney

When: Wednesday 18th May 8-9pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

About the session: Listen to Tony Richards, Roland Gesthuizen, Chris Betcher, Andrew Williamson and others as they share their experiences at the recent Google Academy in Sydney. Come and join in the conversations and consider  how google and its apps can be used in education.

Here is the link to the recording

Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking: this week’s sessions

Tech Talk Tuesdays: The Google Teacher Academy – Sydney

When: Tuesday, May 10th, 4 to 5pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

About this session: In April this year, a Google Teacher Academy was held  in Sydney – the first time for Australia. This prestigious event is offered to innovative educators.  Tania Sheko and Glenda Morris will present to us on their experiences at this academy.

These will include

• highlights,
• the cohort
• the agenda
• benefits
•  some google apps
• takeaways
• How can google and its apps be used in the classrooms and education in general.

Bring along your questions and share in the conversations.

Here is the link to join the session.

eT@lking: Dropbox and Digital Citizenship

 

This session is cancelled and postponed to a later date. Apologies to all

When: Wed May 11th 8-9pm

About the session/webinar: After last week’s popular discussion,  further discussions will continue on this vital notion of Digital Citizenship. Time will also be spent looking at dropbox (saving and sharing in the clouds) and why it is becoming increassingly popular and how it can be used advantageously for individuals and classes.

eT@lking: Digital citizenship (Trait or Skill) – an overview

As the aromas of Joe’s great baking wafted through the virtual cybersphere, eT@lking provided a lively place to discuss ‘digital citizenship’. Prior to the main discussion, participants shared some great tools that they had worked with during the week.

Effective and efficient use of technology was used during the session, with:-

1. Roland Gesthuzien quickly sharing some of the back channel used at a staff meeting.
2. Jenny Ashby creating a wordle out of the Wikipedia definition of Digital Citizenship and then sharing the visual image with us on the whiteboard.
3. Within minutes of a request, Joe who was baking crunchie biscuits whilst participating in this webinar, took a photo with his iPhone and shared them immediately with us using mobile me. Here is the pic!

Here is a link to the recording.

Tips, tricks and treats

Used sketchcast this week with Year 8 in a humanities class and the students loved it.

From the chat:-

• Back channel used for leadership meeting – Todays Meet
• How social media was used during the Royal Wedding
• How social media was used during the time of Osam Bin Laden’s death
• Veronica: Is an online code of conduct different to an offline code of conduct?
• Roland Gesthuizen: Can you be a digital citizen but only work off line such as with email / sms? Can you be a digital citizen but not chat / engage with others .. say just surf.
• Angie: From what I have seen, maybe the online behaviour (or misbehaviour) can have some really big ramifications e.g. the recent bullying boy incident – Casey?
• Moderator (Carole McCulloch): to me a digital citizen SHOULD be able to use the online tools effectively to communicate, collaborate, network
• jjash: you still have to be a citizen for consuming as for producing
• Angie: receptive and passive – still a citizen but only ‘swimming’ up to the ankles rather than diving in the deep end to create, advocate, etc online
• Wikipedia’s definition of digital citizen

The participants’ definition of a digital citizen

• Mel Cashen: Does this mean Civics and Citizenship in our curriculums should include digital citizenship?
• Moderator (Carole McCulloch): I love that term ‘discruptive technology’ it puts the ownership of learning squarely int he hands of the individual
• Digital citizenship course
• Angie: Important in P-12 that ALL teachers (KLA’s) see it as their responsibility – and not jsut pigeon hole this vital area to a few minutes of ICT or pastoral care time.
• Veronica: What is the difference in our topic between a trait and skill?  Both are learnt?
• Moderator (Carole McCulloch): trait is inherent, skill is learned IMHO
• jjash: if you wouldnt say it face to face dont say it online
• Nine elements of digital citizenship
• Good online safety presentation
• Digiteen flat classroom project
• jjash: I think it is develeoping and changing as younger students use ICt and we have cases to look at with examles of good and poor use.
• Join the Australia Series facebook group

Here is a link to the recording