Google-less

I was amazed, but not surprised to learn that Google’s array of innovative ideas and services – ‘search’ accounts for almost all it’s revenue. While that might seemingly have little impact on the classroom (everything digital is free) – many teachers are using Google-Docs, Earth, Maps etc. Sadly, this is also proportionately small to those [...]

Professional Development Costs

I was surprised to discover that traveling to ISTE in Denver, costs almost exactly AU$1000 more than traveling to Melbourne to ACEC. While I am not naive and realise that importing off-shore speakers is expensive – and relevant to local issues, I can’t help but think that there culturally, Australia sees overseas conferences in education [...]

How networks change pedagogy

Explaining connected learning is tricky, as many don’t realise just how it transforms they way we learn. That is not to say it makes learning better — unless you learn how to do it well. I’ve seen lots of infographics to explain personal learning networks, but wanted to explain how information and knowledge streams. Not [...]

Feedmill

I like this search engine because it has something that others don’t have. It allows you to search the metaverse more specifically. It seems to lag a bit when you hit the button, but the results are somewhat ‘tune-able’ within ideas of social media and blogs. I already have plenty of sources via RSS that [...]

Diigo Update (weekly)

BitTorrent visualization in processing.js tags: visualization, bittorrent Exemplary Classroom Wikispaces tags: exemplary, classroom, technology, resources, web2.0 50 Blogging Tips for Teachers – Learning and Teaching Centre Wiki tags: teaching, resources, howto, applications, web2.0 The Constructivist Consortium – Events tags: events, necc, iste, stager Tweet, Tweet, des de Sydney! – Espurna tags: twitter One-to-one computing programs [...]

Photoshop turns 20

I admit it. I had Photoshop 1, and still have it running on a black and while Macintosh. I managed to hack out a living, largely based on Photoshop, and though the features have long surpassed my needs, it really represents software that has grown with the worlds demand for eCreativity. Unlike Office Automation tools [...]

Crayons, physics, wipeboards and fun

A colleague showed me this today. It’s called CrayonPhysics, and you can download the demo for nix or spend a measly $20 on a great game, that is going to motivate and engage pre-schoolers upwards. There are endless eCreative applications for it, but one we thought would be really great was to combine this appliction [...]

Who owns the Burbclave?

The cyberpunk novel Snow Crash talks about burbclaves. In it, Neil Stephenson’s imagines a duality of life in the future, the physical and the ‘metaverse’. He describes how the population has abandoned ‘laws’ as such and services are basically run by private enterprises – people live walled gardens with particular forms of security and social [...]

10 things execs dont get about team-teaching

Over the last few weeks, not much has happened to me that hasn’t been crushingly negative. Not least the death of my faithful fur-head Reggie. One thing that has been positive, has been working with Jeff on a Gifted and Talented class in Montana. This leads me to a brief post about mental-borders that need [...]

Is the virus benign?

A diagram that I’m using a lot right now in the professional development of teachers shows a benign virus. Learning for many is informal, online and socially driven. Social adds a benign virus that spreads motivation, collaboration and connected learning in the classroom though the metaverse. For others, especially those who rule what learning is [...]