small steps » web 2.0

New apps

bmcallis — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:17:13 +0000

Just stumbled on a few new applications that are pretty cool.

1. kickyoutube – great way to convert and download youtube videos.

2. wakoopa – way to track how long you spend online and what you are doing online.

3. jing – a free screen capture tool that seems pretty awesome at first look and play!! For both mac and P.C.

Always good to be able to play around with a few new things in the holidays!!

google presentations

bmcallis — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:45:48 +0000

It is an early call as I have only just stumbled over it, but I think I have a new favourite presentation program (over powerpoint, slideshare, sliderocket). The “Google presentation” program allows viewers of the presentation to interact with the presenter and other viewers as the presentation is going on. Their is a panel on the right hand side of the presentation where viewers can discuss what is happening and ask questions of the presenter. I am keen to try this one out with one of my classes and see how they take to it and if it helps some of the quieter students ask questions and become part of the conversation.

I have started a presentation on Web 2.0 tools for PDHPE to test it out. Not finished yet but will keep updating it as I go.

HSC PDHPE Wiki progress

bmcallis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:38:24 +0000

The wiki that has been built for this years HSC PDHPE class has just started getting a real workout from not only students from Magdalene, but also other schools around the state. (I monitor the site using a tool called ‘sitemeter‘ that tells me who is visiting and the town/city they are from. This provides some good feedback on how worthwhile the project has been and whether it is useful and worth pursuing).

One of the more contentious aspects I have recently added to the wiki is the summary notes for each of the Cores and Options that we do.

I read about a teacher a while back who was getting exceptional results with his HSC chemistry class year after year and one of the strategies that he outlined as important was giving the students his summary notes for the course and having students improve them. This to me is effective as it provides the crucial information in a simple and structured manner and allows students a base of quality information to work from.

Some may argue that this is almost cheating and you are doing all the work for the students. I would argue that as a teacher our job is to provide high quality information to our students for them to have the best chance of doing well. Especially in the HSC which is a high pressure, high stakes exam I see it as our responsibility to provide simple, structured, quality information to our students. Just as a text books provides information so do the summary notes.

The other part Iike about the summary notes is that it encourages students to critique the information presented as it has not been verified as the textbooks have and I make it very clear to students to expect mistakes in the summary notes and to try and improve them and add accuracy to the information. This teaches students to be critical of the information they receive and to validate it from other reliable sources.

What I’d like to see

bmcallis — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:20:06 +0000

The faculty room is a great blog which is is a collaborative effort of a number of prominent bloggers who regularly contribute to questions put forward to them. You get to see a range of opinions on issues affecting education such as ’should homework be banned’ as linked to above.

I would love to see a similar forum in operation at our school level where teachers could debate key issues that are relevant to us. I think this would provide a great opportunity for teachers to learn more abut each others view points and could be a great professional learning tool for both experienced teachers and beginning teachers.

I would also like to see it on a broader scale for PDHPE. Again, a panel of experienced PDHPE educators including policy makers debating key issues affecting the subject area and the opportunity for all PDHPE teachers to get in and contribute to the debate. A great learning opportunity for all involved.

PDHPE Teachers using web 2.0

bmcallis — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:47:09 +0000

I have been enjoying my journey on the web 2.0 path, but have really looked forward to finding other teachers using the technologies in meaningful and relevant ways in the PDHPE learning area. I was very excited to come across Ben Jones’s work, who is leading the way in how to implement these technologies for both personal professional development and also in the classroom to enhance student learning. Check out this great video Ben created about using a wii remote to create an intereactive whiteboard at a cost of $55.

I am sure there are lots of other PDHPE Teachers doing great work also but my searching has not uncovered them as yet. I am sure I will come across more and more teachers utilising these tools over the next few years and then I think the real benefits of web 2.0 will come through with a larger range of teachers with common goals using and sharing with one another. Exciting times ahead!!

Web 2.0 for teachers

bmcallis — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:21:53 +0000

Image from http://prblog.typepad.com

While I can see the huge potential for learning using web 2.0 with students I am thinking at the moment that the benefits are even greater for teachers. The ability to develop professional learning networks in a really simple, time efficient manner has so many benefits which include the sharing of ideas and resources and tapping into the wisdom of the many experienced teachers out there.

From my experience teaching is a fairly ‘closed’ profession in that we don’t regularly share ideas between faculties and schools and a lot of great ideas are confined to a very small group of people within a school or faculty. If we could open up this information to a wider audience and get more people sharing their ideas then the benefits of this could be huge. The one’s to benefit most could be new teachers who get to see the ideas and thoughs of experienced teachers and who would have the potential to reach out to others outside their school environment for advice or information.

I would particularly like to see more experienced teachers, lectures and policy developers in the area of PDHPE share their knowledge and philosophies on teaching. While there is not a lot out there at the moment in our area I think this may change a lot over the next 5-10 years.

Web 2.0 nice and easy

bmcallis — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 11:19:39 +0000

Getting across complex ideas in a simple manner is a something good teachers always seem to be able to do and I just happened to stumble on some really good videos on youtube that do that with a few web 2.0 tools. The videos are made by lee lefever and the ones I found particularly useful were on blogs, RSS & social bookmarking (del.icio.us). I think the videos will be beneficial when introducing students to these as they do a good job of explaining the uses and benefits of each tool over traditional ways of doing things. (The RSS and Social bookmarking vidoes can be found in the sidebar after clicking on the above link- I have also included them in posts below).

del.icio.us

bmcallis — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 08:36:05 +0000

del.icio.us/bmcallis
This is a great site which has great potential for sharing information and resources and is designed to encourage networking and collaboration. It is basically an online bookmarking site where you can save all the internet links you have found useful and it allows you to apply ‘tags’ to help organise all the different links you find.The part I like best is that you are able to search for and view other people’s links and share links with them. You are able to add people to your network which gives you quick and easy access to their bookmarks by placing them in your sidebar.Over time, if you link up with a group of teachers from your subject area you can share resources in a really simple and effective way. I have stumbled on lots of great sits through checking what people in my network are looking at. Would be great to see lots more PDHPE teachers using this!!!