Popplet

Popplet is a very cool online tool for collecting and presenting info and pictures. Check it out:

Quadblogging

Quadblogging is a setup where you sign up and join a quad of 4  classes from around the world, in order to view and comment on each other’s blogs. Is a good way to get students engaged in blogging. More info http://quadblogging.net/

Pic-Lits

Pic-lits is a cool free online poetry-maker application. Beautiful words and pictures - try it!

Exploring Google Calendar

I set up a Google Calendar today, with the aim of sharing my summer plans with family. It's just a draft at this stage, but I can see the benefit of being able to share calendars with people, and having different calendars for different purposes. My next trick is to see how easy it is to embed in different types of sites, eg for a class shared calendar.

Geo-cube

Science, Geography and Geology teachers - this site is cool! You have a neat animated dice which you use to navigate the main topics, and then each topic leads you to some other photos and info. A good tool for engaging small people!

 

Facebook helps schools set up Social Media Policies

Facebook has teamed up with  Edutopia to produce guidelines for schools which will help them setting up robust Social Media Policies. The guide, available via the Facebook in Education page, offers a step-by-step process for schools to create formal social media policies. Here is a quick look:

1. Examine your school culture: When setting out on this journey, it is important to understand the prevailing beliefs about social media in your community. How are social media products currently being used by students? By teachers? By administrators and parents? How can they be leveraged for better communication? What are the fears around social media in school? Are there any “bright spots” where social media is already being used successfully?
2. Organize a team: This team should include educators who use social media in the classroom and those who do not. A district that I worked with recently chose to have a teacher and administrative representative from each grade level in the district, along with their heads of instruction and technology, school attorney, and two student representatives. You have to find a combination that works. This team should be open and transparent in all their conversations and decision making, and be clear about their shared goal. Establish a website or Web page for the posting of notes, resources, and minutes from the meetings.
3. Research phase: Your team should begin by evaluating the current policies that are already in place in your school or district. Many districts already have policies in place that cover the acceptable-use basics — so they only need to add guidelines to help crystallize learning opportunities. Because the social media landscape changes quickly, this is often the best approach. Next, the team will want to examine the social media policies and/or guidelines from other institutions. You will want to involve your school attorney in the draft process to make sure that you are within your current local and state policies.
4. Draft your document and incorporate feedback: Now your team will take all the information you’ve gathered and create a document. This can be the most challenging part of the process, and you can expect many drafts and revisions. One district that I worked with posted their drafts to a school wiki, where anyone on the team could contribute. There were also opportunities for other teachers, administrators, and students to make comments or bring up other items for consideration. Schedule meetings to talk to school staff, administrators, parents, and community members face-to-face.
5. Make sure the school attorney and school board see the draft: Your school attorney will ensure that you are not violating any current policies, laws, or ordinances. Your school board might want to review your document, and if you are changing policy, they will want to discuss and take a vote.
6. Introduction to the school community: Now that all stakeholders have signed off on your policy or guidelines, it’s time to roll it out to your greater community. Every member of your team should be tasked with talking to specific groups and/or schools. Take the time to educate your students, faculty, staff, parents, and community about what the document means to them. If you have been open and transparent from the beginning, this will be an easy step.
7. Review periodically: Your new policy or guidelines should be a living document and should be revisited often. Social media products change. Your culture will change. Policies will change. Your team needs to look at your document at least annually to determine whether it is working and whether any adjustments need to be made.

Readers: Do you have any suggestions for additions to this guide?

Learn it in 5

This site has lots of  short instructional videos for teachers. As they say on their home page:
"Learn it in 5 is a powerful library of how-to videos, produced by technology teachers, for the purpose of helping teachers and students create classroom strategies for today's 21st century's digital classroom. These step-by-step how-to videos walk teachers through Web 2.0 technology, demonstrating how to use Web 2.0 applications like blogs, social networks, podcasts, interactive videos, wikis, slide sharing and much more."



Sunaeon solar system online simulator

This website shows the solar system, and it's animated so your students can easily see what is going on with orbits etc. They can also click on planets to find out more about them.

 

http://www.sunaeon.com/#/solarsystem/

 

Blogs by NZ teachers

This page on the Interface is a collection of blogs by NZ teachers. Well worth a look for anyone keeping up with what is going on in NZ education, or planning to start a blog themselves.

Top Online Tools for Teachers

Top online tools for teachers from Desiree Caskey

 

Top online tools for teachers — Presentation Transcript

Top Online Tools for Teaching Presented by Desireé Caskey slideshare.net/caskeyd emergingt.blogspot.com

1.    Edmodo: Social network specifically for education• Evernote: Organizational tool to create notes from any device or computer• Dropbox: Store your files online - start with 2GB free...up to 16 GB for teachers• TED: Ideas worth Spreading• Google Tools: Online suite of tools too numerous to detail• Remind 101: Text your students or athletes reminders...they can’t text you back.• Weebly: Super easy way to build classroom web pages• VoiceThread: Online story creator...combines images and videos with narration• BrainFlips: A site to create online flashcards. Great for reviewing for a test.• SoundCloud or Audioboo: Create audio podcasts
 
2. Edmodo promotes anytime, anyplace learning. Functionally, it allows teachers topost messages, discuss classroom topics, assign and grade classwork, share contentand materials, and network and exchange ideas with their peers - but in reality, it isso much more.
3. Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device orplatform you find most convenient, and makes everything accessible and searchable at any time,from anywhere. Use Evernote to capture your ideas, snapshots, voice memos, things you see online,and just about anything else that you want to remember.
4. Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhereand share them easily. Never email yourself a file again! You can access Dropboxfrom any platform or device that has Internet access. Carry your files with youeverywhere.
5. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences formedto disseminate ideas by some of the most innovative and brilliant minds on theplanet. Each year, the information gets more and more fascinating.
6. Google Apps incorporates a variety of productivity and creation tools...all under one account. These tools also work together to provide a richer end product. Email,calendar, word processing, spreadsheets, drawing, web site design and more are all part of this free package for education.
7. Remind101 is a website that provides a safe way for teachers to text message oremail students and parents. Teachers never see students phone numbers. Students never see theirs. This simple to use tool keeps teachers, parents and students connected in a private, secure way.
8. Weebly - Simply simple website creation. This brilliant web building tool designedfor non-techies offers a step-by-step website developing process that allows you tocreate a professional looking website with little effort.
9. A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images,documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via awebcam).
10. With BrainFlips, you can search for or create your own flash cards.You can work through the flashcards in three different modes; introduction, traditional or challenge mode.You can create flash card decks for any topic...timed, with pictures, videos or audio recordings as well.
11. Soundcloud is an audio recording tool.You can create audio recordings and savethem to a channel for playback.You can share your recordings in a number of ways; link, embed, email...are just a few ways, or just leave them on SoundCloud.

Registered Teacher Criteria and eLearning

Kill two birds with one stone .. using eLearning tools can support your meeting of the Registered Teacher Criteria .. remember that booklet full of criteria that you have to show that you meet next time your teaching certificate needs updating? Well using eLearning tools can help you meet these criteria. This wiki has lots of useful ideas and links.

Enabling elearning on TKI

Compulsory reading for those working in schools embarking on elearning journey...
http://www.elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/e-Learning-Planning-Framework2/Teachers/Teaching-and-learning

Voki

Voki allows you to make an 'avatar' - a pretend you which you can use on your social networking pages instead of your own photo. It also talks, and you can type or record the message. You can also create classroom tasks using Voki - have your avatar say the instructions instead of having students read them. Students may also enjoy submitting their work as a voki!

Diigo

Leigh Hynes writes about the usefulness of diigo social bookmarking: ""Diigo" social bookmarking is amazing for sharing resources. You can make a group and share with them as you find stuff on the net and so can they. You can make lists so they can be curriculum orientated or general school stuff, you can tag them so they are easy to search for. If you use Chrome as a browser, the diigo tool just sits on the browser and is so easy to use. You can get a daily or weekly or monthly record of what has been added to your library. Highly recommended."

Cool Tools for Teachers

Lenva Shearing has put together a comprehensive collection of online tools at http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Home. Well worth a look.

Wallwisher

Jigsaw Planet

Make your own jigsaw puzzles online at http://www.jigsawplanet.com/. You can upload your own photos, turn them into a jigsaw puzzle, and then embed them into your own website!