Better the devil we know?

It's been a busy month - I've been in Canberra over the election weekend studying at the uni down there- yes- a grad certificate in education- am I mad? most possibly - however I have entered the great university wiki site - ie the current students intranet - the place to locate assignments, upload lecture notes, pay fees, log-on to detail other course participants. It certainly cuts down on the paper trail and Australia Post employees by the not having to wait at the letterbox for course notes. However the downside is that a problem with internet connection and or uni intranet server issues and that assignment is being penalised at a certain percentage per day. The pressure is on!

Now about Canberra the nation's great capital- love Friday night shopping- what a great way to finish the week - imagine trawling the city then going up for a well deserved drink and your asian fusion nestled above the shop- ie up a flight of questionable stairs with the exterior of the shop awning decorated with lanterns. The thirty pages of menu (representing your most commonly named asian nations) only to decide springs rolls, fish cakes, beef, chicken and rice and wash down with the most expensive glass of reisling? Who could resist? and all within easy walking distance from your bodgy hotel- which really looked better in the internet photos then in real life.
Imagine a hotel on Parramatta Rd with single glazing windows -(well we don't have to imagine it's called Formula One) and a kitchen but no mini-bar? Why have the kitchen at all if there's no stock for that late night needed 'coke' to wash down that asian thirst brought on by walking to the city in sub-zero temperatures and rewarded with a burst of msg? BTW the sub zero temp exposure was greatly reduced on the way back due to the frequency of cabs available in the city region. Sydney just can't compete when it comes to taxi's in Canberra! What a bonus!!

Now when is the Australian Electoral Commission going to invest in the use of the great Wiki so that we don't have to line up endlessly every three years to vote? Surely that is an important policy agenda!

You say it's your birthday?

Happy Birthday to Me!! Yes, it was mine..last week! A great excuse to exercise some 'retail therapy' and indulge in lunches with friends and family over the course of a week.(love it, love it!!)
Not only am I a huge fan of the birthday celebration (and making it last as long as it can) it seems I've brainwashed my son who also has started to follow my legacy.

It began like this- 'Mum can we have balloons?
'Of course' I replied, 'we always have balloons for birthday celebrations.'
'Can we put up the 'Happy birthday' banner?'
'Yes, of course.'
'Mum......can we make cakes?'
'Yes we can do that after school tomorrow when you come home.'
'Oh and by the way Mum, I've invited my friends to your party!!
............Pause from me........'uhm you've what?'
'Well since our family is in Greece I've invited my friends from school to your party', and then he listed their names.

Oh yes- my son (he's 6) did the facebook equivalent of social networking for 6 year olds and told all the boys in his kindy class to come over after school for mum's 'Happy Birthday'

Needless to say at the school gate at afternoon pick-up I was surrounded by 6 year olds wishing me happy birthday and informing me (and their respective parents' that they were coming over for my birthday?

It was chaos! Parents in a panic over missed invitations and lack of presents, kids in a panic thinking they were about to miss out on the 'party of the week!' and we know no-one wants to be a social pariah- especially when you're 6!! It was like the snow ball effect of twitter out of control!!

After reassuring parents that there was indeed no party....and placating kindy boys the same - yes they were unconvinced- I came up with a solution - A play date party the following week for 'Mums Birthday'.....and yes a great success (at my house..the park was washed out due to inclement weather?)..complete with balloons, cake and birthday banners!!
Peace reigns once again in Kindy Waratah!! but take it from me, be careful what you wish for!!

Course Reflection - The end? or is it just the beginning?

I've finally made it to the end of the e-learning web 2.0 course. A great example of learning anywhere, anytime- and sometimes it seems 'not enough time' or 'too much time' - depending on how sleep deprived I've been.

I have found it both interesting and at times challenging but with persistence have acquired both new knowledge and skills and got to share the experience with colleagues (over coffee)and students who unknowingly were used as my lab mice.

Though-out the course I have signed up (thank goodness my last name isn't common-actually in the white pages all listed are related- insert wiki new page[]chuckle) and navigated many applications, and quite enjoyed it, some of which I would find useful to use in the classroom.

I like the idea that continues to be highlighted in that E-learning is boundless, occuring anywhere, anytime. Our students are already engaging in this type of learning (school time / home time) whether they realise it or not, from their use of social networking sites, video/music sites and other applications, and it certainly makes sense to harness this as an avenue for engaging them.

It adds to the handy toolkit of teaching and learning strategies. The role of the teacher always has been to facilitate though 'meaningful activities'.
The 'meaningful' activities are the key- its not just about 'doing the activity' but about 'doing the right activity' to suit the individual student with enough variation to achieve the outcomes.
This is where the revised Blooms taxonomy model comes into the equation- allowing options so students can choose their own 'learning adventure.'

The tools highlighted in this course, together with a teacher acting as facilitator, can provide a 'e-framework' for students- ie using a medium that 'engages' (many are quite savvy with) and one in which they are not afraid to attempt new challenges. Using some of these applications can provide a non-confronting learning environment.

By harnessing these web 2.0 tools e.g. google docs,wikis, journals, blogs, vodcasts/podcasts etc students are provided an opportunity for collaborative learning, questioning, discussing, reflecting, analysing and creating-and we know just 'how' creative they can be (perhaps not always in the most appropriate way?) and the beauty is, that they don't even realise that they are working up the ladder of higher order thinking skills.

In evaluating e-tasks, students will do this throughout their journey sharing their experiences through discussion and probably more so, because they can see visually their own 'instant' results, and that of their classroom colleagues', both as part of a 'work-in-progress' activity and as a completed task.

I'm not saying that these are the only tools that a teacher needs in their 'bag of tricks' and that they should replace all other tools in their kit, but we as educators need to continue to update our own resources and evaluate our own lesson strategies and incorporate 'new and improved model' activities to best meet the needs of our students.

Only in doing our own reflection and evaluation are we are following 'best practice' pedagogy. We have already made the commitment to 'life long learning' and this is another stepping stone in our own journey.

N.B. Blog comment on http://peterfindlay.blogspot.com/ course reflection

Module 10: Wiki I will, Wiki I won't!

Before I start, last Saturdays Herald Spectrum article ' Geeks, Tweets and bums on seats' (Elissa Blake-July 10, 2010) gave a refreshing insight on how the arts sector has successfully harnessed twitter to bring performance artists closer to their audience. The 'instant' reviews given on twitter have provided 'instant' feedback to the artists and given that twitter requires a connection between users it has been viewed as successful in building creative communities.
Check out the article it's certainly worthwhile a read to broaden general negative perspectives on using twitter.
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/geeks-tweets-and-bums-on-seats-20100709-103g8.html

I have used many a wiki with junior classes on a range of topics from conflict and Australian Prime Ministers to confirmation and beyond. A good tool for writing information reports and other text types and having the page links, complete with web links makes it a little more interactive for students then a straight word document. (A bit like a web page) Everyone is familiar with wikipedia and despite the fact that we, as educators seem to 'harp' on the fact that anyone can edit the material, perhaps we should focus more on teaching students to cross reference their data with other sources to determine reliability and authenticity. The very idea of wikipedia mirrors the movement from web 1.0 to web 2.0 in that the more users there are the better an application/ operating platform will be and the sharing of information allows greater freedom in who delivers the content.

Living with the in-laws has opened up many a surprise package. I decided to start a wiki on the bathroom cabinet. When you share something as intimate as a bathroom the contents are on display for all to see. This is where the surprise package really starts.

Page one- Introduction - 'Open the glass fronted hinged door slowly to reveal bathroom toiletry contents. It could almost be a slow moving Alfred Hitchcock scenario in a close up frame with accompanying suspenseful music.
The camera slowly pans the bottom shelf and we see assorted toothbrushes, razors and shaving cream. Insert [] brackets around toothpaste to start a new page: Colgate sensitive for the clean with the brightest beam, soft and kind to your gums, the complete shine.
The camera pans slowly upward and we see aftershave, perfume - [Armani] new page: always in style...'a soft feminine fragrance that reflects the individuality of the modern women. Insert picture to highlight.


Now the highlight of this anecdotal example comes when the camera pans to the top shelf. Starting from the left we pass cotton buds, hairbrushes and then wait for it....don't forget [] insert new page....Callington in-flight cabin insecticide spray. Isn't that just what every bathroom cabinet contains? Well this house certainly does - perhaps something was omitted from the hand-luggage of the summer time fun Greece jet-setters.

We're almost moving from Alfred Hitchcock now to James bond. Imagine circa 1960 Sean Connery: (and appropriate web links to highlight)...he's shot the bad guys, grabbed the girl, high-jacked the plane and just before take-off...'wait...let me just use my callington's spray to rid the aircraft of any post passenger infections......he sprays,...the mist prevails and Sean being Sean sneaks in for a 1960's kiss behind the thickening mist....end scene...end wiki.
Now there's a wiki grand finale!!

Module 9 - Scootle- Something for everyone!

'Did you know Mum that God is watching you? and he made everything!'
This statement accompanied the bath time ritual for my six year old.
' yes-apparently so' I replied.
In my head I suddenly thought, 'did God really see me reverse into my neighbour's parked car the other night as I was negotiating up hill reverse handbrake usage issues of the 'you parked too close to me in the dark kind?
If he did see me, he sure helps out in strange ways.....so that's why my in-laws didn't rush out onto the front balcony to see what was the commotion? (God made CSI- Miami!)and you know..God did make that rule....less then 5km/h = no damage -at least not to their car- thanks be to God...my new bumper well that's a different story..)

'and Mum did you know... that Jesus died?'
(Obviously my school fees are going towards something...)
'Yes and that's why we have Easter' I replied.
Which of course led onto the next question ' so does Jesus die every year' closely followed by 'why did Jesus go to heaven with God if he wasn't really dead?
Good question!
So I headed off to look up scootle (an educational website full of interactive learning objects a.k.a. games amongst other stuff) to see what 'in the name of Jesus' was in the resource list to deal with such questions.

I am a great fan of 'Scootle' a fab resource! Yes I have used a number of the learning objects previously with my juniors and look forward to trying a few out on my 9 Commerce class for their next topic 'starting a business' (run a funky cafe/fish shop/ muffin bakery etc)

Anyway the top of my Scootle pick! is 'I Think - Is there a Creator?' Please check it out on the Scootle site - its great! A short film with voice-overs by 5-7 years olds discussing who/what is the Creator and what s/he created. Accompanied by slide show of appropriate paintings and drawings. Fantastic!

I tried to help you out with viewing but alas....no....(see below)

N.B. Jane's helpdesk: I tried to upload it however this resulted in an error.
Why? because google videos is discontinuing uploads to blogger.
Did you know that? That's why there is an error message when you try?
How do you get around it? Join you-tube - upload your video then copy the embed code and paste in the edit html window in your blog!
Yes it does work however my Scootle pick is still under copyright- educational bodies excepted therefore it's not my content and I don't have permission to upload it to you-tube or blogger in a public forum!! (See J.M. - I have learned something!)

Anyway with the in-laws and other family members jaunting around sunny Greece what better way to check out their travelling adventures then with facebook . Wait until those photos are published...
While at home - what teenager hasn't joined?
As a parent- be careful- join facebook yourself and be friends with your kids so you can check out their pages and who their friends are- be cyber savvy and smart.
In the classroom? I don't see there's a place for it. Create a blog, journal or forum to track diaries/opinions - more collaborative and topical.

Twitter - if you got the time and the inclination why not? It's like subscribing to a news paper but you're only interested in the sport section. Well you'd receive updates on headlines, horoscope and new recipes, employment and housing etc...I don't want all that! It would be better if the sport columnist had a RSS feed and you subscribe to that to just get that update. Personally for me -twitter- I can't be bothered and quite frankly too time poor to sift through the distinct possibility of way too much info!

Module 8- RSS feeds -Bright Light City - Adventures of the Hills kind!

'Bright light city 'gonna' set my soul, 'gonna' set my soul on fire!!
My thoughts as I travelled into the neon lights of the suburb of salvation! The sun set, the street lights came on and I was mesmerised by the highlighted arrows pointing to an array of options - The Hillsong Convention Centre this way, The Adventist Church/Hospital turn right, The Christian School turn left, Destiny Church up ahead, The Hills Community Christian Church this way- I was on the righteous path - (a.k.a. visiting friends in their new home in the hills district)

So I wondered - what brought the church going masses out this way?
Was it the bright lights, the social interaction, the happy sing-song carefree worship all round family entertainment on a Saturday night/Sunday morning or was it really the food and the wine that drew the crowds?

I decided to compare Saturday night options via RSS feeds. The righteous path - Brian and Bobbie Houston from Hillsong vs The Barmans' righteous Saturday night.

A 'Hills Saturday night' according to Brain and Bobbie 'Hillsong Conference planning meeting: So much new innovation, holy moments, powerful elements.. People coming from all corners!' (edited) and 'Hillsong Music has always been an expression from the heart and soul of this House. The songs that have come from this church and been sung all over the world are a testimony to God’s grace in our church'
vs the Barman's music review site reviewing the Saturday night Hitmen 30th Birthday Bash at the Sandringham Hotel -' There was singing in the crowd (JK doing his walk amongst the masses and true believers (edit)), dancing on tables (JK again, although not as spectacularly tonight as when he was carried on tabletop through a teary-eyed audience at a packed Annandale Hotel), and the obligatory Elvis cover (“Suspicious Minds”, performed with now not so little brother Sammy Kannis) while the band powered on.'

Lets look at the common links: paying punters, true believers, singing from the crowds, dancing, tears, celebration, food, wine (?)......and I know where I was on that particular Saturday night!

Back in the classroom and RSS reviewing, I can see some good uses for both teachers (like Dr O'Shea and his Cardinal Pell update) and student use especially feeds for current affairs and economic and business news. It would be good to review the use or continued need for a RSS subscription after teaching a particular unit as a delicious tag to the site might suffice.
For teaching staff- lets review staff development- wouldn't it be good if online newsletters provided a RSS subscription (e.g. e-teaching newsletter) so that only interested/ relevant parties need subscribe and be notified when new posts are published.

So now the question? What RSS feeds do you subscribe to?

Module 7 - Delicious - The great souvlaki tag!

When I first saw the title 'delicious' I wondered about the great merger between Web 2.0 and food? Similarly I too pondered a similar thought about great mergers the last time I went to Church. Let me elaborate.

It was a compulsory Sunday Liturgy for my son's school. The church holding around 600 was standing room only and the cast overflowed down the stairs and into the streets - to listen to the dolcit tones of the grecian chants through the loudspeakers- just so you wouldn't miss anything. (The neighbours must just love Sundays- that and the parking issues..)

Now for the great merger....as the loudspeaker chanting commenced prior to 9am, and the congregation filtered up the main steps and 'muscled' their way into prime positions near windows and doors, there were papou's 'muscling' in to set up their souvlaki stands complete with barbeques alongside of the church to cater for the hungry church-going masses- and further up the street there were stands with home-made yia yia's kourumbethes, sweets and of course bread.

By 11am the crowds flocked - and rightly so - who wouldn't go to church when you can purchase lunch at the same time - the queues both in the church for communion rivaled that for the souvlaki stands outside. I'm not just talking buy one souvlaki to eat now as a reward for good Sunday behaviour, instead church folk were buying enough to take home and feed the whole family complete with bread rolls/ packets of pita to match!!
And now wait for it - the priests came outside with the collection plates, down the stairs, (yes the crowd parted) through the queues and up the souvlaki line - 'if you've got money for souvlaki- you've certainly got money for the church plate-and who's going to argue with the serious bearded men in black? The great merger- win, win for everyone!

Imagine the delicious tags for the barbeque kings and their sharing of favourite sites - any computer, any time? the best way to cook souvlaki? the use of homegrown lemons and oregano from the garden vs supermarket- check out my similar interests - greek dancing, bazooki music, ERT greek channel and best tips for growing tomatoes in the front garden...priceless....

In the classroom, delicious (it's a bookmarking site) would be great for students to use to share favourite sites especially when researching. We all know it takes time to trawl and find student friendly sites using appropriate language and if the teacher can start this off using specific tags and the students can then share with each other- a great collaborative way to research and share resources. The students still have to synthesize the information and structure their writing to match requested criteria.

Similarly from a teaching perspective, we share ideas, books, DVD's, workshop notes etc so now with the increased use of internet sites to assist in lesson preparation to engage and challenge students- this is another way to share resources with colleagues and vise versa and save time doing it!

Don't forget you can always tag a few 'fav' recipe sites- remember the great merger- who can work on an empty stomach?