This is the first of our posts to feedback and communicate what’s happening and what we will have learnt from the 2008 Interactive Whiteboard Conference at Firbank Grammar School in Brighton, Melbourne.

After Anne, Bec S and I landed in Melbourne this morning, we proceeded to Firbank to the afternoon’s proceedings, which included classroom tours and a walk around the exhibition hall.

Firbank has both Junior (Primary) and Senior (Secondary) schools, and we had the opportunity to tour the small all-girls primary campus.  Each room has had an Activboard for some time, and several teachers we met agree that they now could not live without one in their room.  They are using a variety of personally-produced and commercial resources to support the learning in their classrooms.

One of the great things to see was that the school has fostered a culture of encouraging students to grow as learners - they encourage students to be creative, critical, and to take risks; risk taking is something which is applauded in the school.

We also saw in the software exhibition this afternoon some resources that piqued our interest, including new Maths resources from Origo, Literacy resources from Pearson Education, the comprehensive Swark resource, and 2Simple Software.

The conference keynote and workshops kick off tomorrow morning, so perhaps we can feed back some more after then.

Robert

Our favourite social bookmarking site, Delicious, has a brand new look.  There’s a few new features, and it all looks a bit more modern.  A bit of exploring will see you discover what’s new in the product lineup.

While you’re there, make sure that you check our staff delicious page.  Judy’s forever stocking it up with fantastic new links.

Through scanning across the material I had in my Google Reader (which is #3 in the list), I discovered via Judy O’Connell’s blog heyjude the release in March of survey results which give us a picture into the Top 100 Tools for Learning.

Yes, it’s only a small survey sample, but still worth reading to see what’s out there and what gets used.

Are there any tools on the list that you use with your students.  Are there any towards the top you don’t use?  Maybe you’d like to set yourself the challenge of learning just one new tool (drop it into the Multimedia Monday suggestion box)?

There’s more information about the list in Judy’s blog post.

P.S. Our much-loved tool at St. Michael’s, del.icio.us, came in at #1!

Through the blog Edlib, the CEO Teaching and Learning Resource Unit (based at the Aengus Kavanagh Centre, Mt Druitt) keeps us up to date with the latest journal articles, etc. relating to various topics.  All of the resources are accessible through the TLRU.

Check out the new resources on these topics posted so far in May:

• Literacy
• Special Education
• Professional Learning
• Teaching and Learning
• Religious Education
• Assessment
• Mathematics
• Digital Education
• Refugees
• Numeracy blocks

Also at our professional learning today, we had the opportunity to re-visit a video a few of us attending had already seen.  The TED Conference held each year brings together some of the world’s greatest minds to share ideas on a range of topics.

Sir Ken Robinson considers the question Are Schools Killing Creativity?

All I can say is… just watch it.

At the professional learning a group of us attended today, statistics from a 2006 report came to our attention.

The Conference Board, in 2006, produced Are They Really Ready for Work? Employers’ Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce.  You can still download the report.

I just want to share with you today one part of the 64-page report:

To determine future skill needs, employer respondents were asked to indicate how the importance of the basic knowledge and applied skill areas would change over the next five years…

1. Critical thinking/Problem solving
2. Information Technology application
3. Teamwork/Collaboration
4. Creativity/Innovation
5. Diversity
6. Leadership
7. Oral communications
8. Professionalism/Work ethic
9. Ethics/Social responsibility
10. Written communications

(pp. 48, 49)

How well do you think our classrooms meet this need?

We’ve been using delicious at St. Michael’s for some time now, putting together quite a collection of web resources (mostly from Judy’s hard work and initiative).  Now using delicious is even easier.

Users of other web browsers such as Firefox have had this for a while now; now Internet Explorer users (such as most of the staff and students at St. Michael’s… at least at school) can download and install a delicious sidebar.

The good news and a download link can be found at the delicious blog.

Basically, you can browse your tags and bookmarks, and easily post new bookmarks within the browser; that is, without going to the delicious website.  It makes things much easier to post as you go, and makes delicious a tool you use far more frequently from my experience.  So give it a go.

Last Monday saw the return of Multimedia Monday for 2008.  With a small group in attendance, we were able to tailor things to suit the participants, such as exploring the Internet resources that Judy’s drawn together to support our Term 2 units and uploaded to our grade and staff del.icio.us pages.

I know a number of people have ideas for what they’d like to learn on Multimedia Monday, but we haven’t had any suggestion forms in the box yet, so fill one in this week!

This week, there are two options:

1. Learning the ins and outs of printing to our new colour copier
2. Making a start with using the online application, VoiceThread

VoiceThread is an exciting tool that we’re looking with at the moment with Harlane.  Eager to try her hand with some podcasting in her classroom, we’re now looking at VoiceThread as it’s multimodal, allowing our students to integrate images, voice, sound, text and more.  We’re getting prepared for using it with 5P, so maybe you’d like to try giving it a go too.

Below you’ll find a video from Chris Betcher, teacher and voice behind the podcast The Virtual Staffroom, which provides a short introduction to VoiceThread.

Why have you changed Technoblog to Think :: Learn :: Do?

1. Because it was time
2. Because I wanted to broaden the conversation
3. Because technology is just one part of the conversation around 21st Century learning

Why do we need to have a conversation around 21st Century learning

1. Because we live in the 21st Century
2. Because our students are now children of the 21st Century
3. Because last century’s learning “won’t cut it” anymore

Why won’t last century’s learning “cut it” anymore?

1. Because children have changed
2. Because the world has changed
3. Because it is fast becoming disconnected to those children and their world

I hate paper.

Well, that’s a very strong statement, and probably not 100% true, but when I do start to hate it is when there is more around than what is really necessary.  When you consider how much paper goes through my pigeon hole in the staff room, the notes that leave the office, and the sheets that come across my desk, it’s a lot of paper.  If I don’t need to have it printed on paper, I’d rather have it some other way.  So there’s my problem.

Then I know there’s a problem many of us have at school.  The photocopier.  It’s a frustrating mechnical animal.  Especially the older machine that seems to have been deliberately engineered to cause trouble after the service contract has expired, what with all its jams and misfeeds.

There’s a simple solution to our problems.  Stop photocopying.

There may be some times when it’s useful or even necessary, but are there ways that are more efficient in terms of cost, time, eco-friendliness and learning benefit?

Holy Family at Luddenham is obviously asking a similar question, so when I saw that somewhere there was thinking what I was secretly thinking here (ok, the office staff would say my thinking was not so secret to them), I thought it might be good to blog about it to get it out of my system.

Just don’t expect me to produce and photocopy a survey for people to complete about the topic.  Yes, I can see the irony.  I might email you if I feel so inclined…

Photo credit: Day in the Life by zebble