Useful links

   by  Ken Whytock 

• Where Reference Fits in the Modern Library “The library today is still a trusted institution, but the public is coming to us with different expectations. Clinging to an outdated reference mission has left many libraries struggling to meet these new expectations.”

• Games, apps and social networking | Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner A guide to games, apps and social networking from eSafety @eSafetyOffice

• Excellent Resources to Help You Integrate Mindfulness in Your Instruction ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning “The purpose of this post is to provide you with some very good resources to help you learn more about mindfulness and explore the different ways you can use it both in your own instruction and in your life in general.”

• Digital Technologies – Rationale and Aims – Victorian Curriculum “The curriculum has been designed to provide practical opportunities for students to explore the capacity of information systems to systematically and innovatively transform data into digital solutions through the application of computational, design and systems thinking. The curriculum also encourages students to be discerning decision makers by considering different ways of managing the interactions between digital systems, people, data and processes (information systems) and weighing up the possible benefits and potential risks for society and the environment.”

• Uses For Old Books | POPSUGAR Australia Smart Living A lot of ideas for using old books to create some interesting/artisitc/lovely items

• ISTE | 5 myths of online student privacy

• How Annotation Reshapes Student Reading

• 6 Things to Consider Before Starting Your Makerspace | EdSurge News “One educator’s advice after installing makerspaces in several dozen schools. He has developed a process that helps you think through your makerspace and how it fits into the culture and curriculum of your school. Skipping this process, or one like it, will almost certainly result in tension, missed teaching opportunities, and overspending.”

• Growing Learning Communities Through School Libraries and Makerspaces-Creating, Constructing, Collaborating, Contributing | The Unquiet Librarian “The slides in this post are from a 2014 presentation (given by the Unquiet Librarian) about the possibilities for makerspaces and school libraries. All the links referenced in the session are live and accessible via the SlideShare post.”

• The Daring Librarian: Makerspace Starter Kit A post on the The Daring Librarian Blog that offers all sorts of advice about creating a space in the library for creating/making. It ranges from ideas about the what has worked, to the how to get started and resources that can be bought/onbtained.

• Writing Worksheet Wednesday: Fighting | e.a. deverell: creative writing blog “CONFLICT is great for the plot in general, but nothing’s better than a good fight scene to increase tension and provide the perfect opportunity for a TRY/FAIL CYCLE. This worksheet will help you brainstorm some ideas for your fight scene, whether it’s verbal, physical or something in between.”

• Student-Centered Learning: It Starts With the Teacher | Edutopia Student-centered classrooms include students in planning, implementation, and assessments. Involving the learners in these decisions will place more work on them, which can be a good thing. Teachers must become comfortable with changing their leadership style from directive to consultative — from “Do as I say” to “Based on your needs, let’s co-develop and implement a plan of action.” This first of three posts on student-centered classrooms starts with the educator. As the authority, teachers decide if they will “share” power by empowering learners”

• Teachers Find Many Reasons to Use Picture Books with Middle and High School Students | School Library Journal A good argument of using picture books with all ages. “A big part of this is awareness and knowing how a picture book might connect to the bigger picture we want students to get.” “Picture books are the first format we abandon as early readers moving into chapter books for a variety of reasons, the most tragic reason of all being that someone would tell us that picture books are inappropriate for us to be reading at some point in our lives.”

• Whole-School Marking: What? Why? How? | @TeacherToolkit One teacher discusses marking and feed back at their school. “At present and on a whole-school level, marking is our current focus for the term ahead. Last week, we launched part one of a three-part Learning Policy that we are introducing to all teachers across the school.” Some good infographics and links. The learning policy was also interesting to read.

• Digital vs Digitized Learning | BYOT Network “As teachers begin to shift toward greater personalized learning experiences for students, their initial steps build upon what they already know from face-to-face instruction. However, the greatest potential of learning with technology tools is that teachers and students can transform the traditional learning environment, processes, and products. Just providing teachers with an organizational tool, such as an LMS, will not lead to transformative practices. Teachers need on-going support if they are to truly transform their classrooms into ecosystems for digital age learning”

• Social Media FOR Schools: Developing Shareable Content for Schools | Langwitches Blog An astute post by Sylvia Rosenthal Tolisano (langwitches) “While social media in schools deals primarily with policies around how to use (or not use) social media in the classroom with students, social media for schools is about storytelling and getting their stakeholders (teachers, students, administrators, parents, community) to spread these stories.”

• Change Our Approach to Teaching Technology: Lives May Depend on It | EdCircuit

• Oh! The places you’ll go Motion Graphic – YouTube “Uploaded on 20 Oct 2011. Short video offers a great way to expeprience “Oh! The Places You’ll Go” story by Dr Seuss.”

• Three Ways To Reframe A Problem To Find An Innovative Solution | Fast Company | Business + Innovation Reframing a problem helps you see it as an opportunity, and Tina Seelig offers three techniques for finding innovative solutions.

• Global Digital Citizenship—in 15 Minutes! (Solution Fluency) “By focusing on Global Digital Citizenship every day for 15 minutes, you can instil in your students a strong basis for Internet-savvy skills for the 21st Century. This is the first in a series of templates for lesson plans on the 21st Century Fluencies. You take this lesson in parts; one part each day. You can spread this out over a couple of weeks time or however you wish. The premise for our 15 minutes comes in the form of flipped videos or material that students will examine at home, or at the very least to be highlighted and watched in class for 15 minutes or less. So it all begins with your PBL plan. We here at the Global Digital Citizen Foundation believe that PBL is one of the best ways to get students engaged in their own learning. PBL is the name—Solution Fluency is the game.”

• eSafety Homepage | Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner “Enhancing online safety site is managed by the Office of the Children’s eSafety Commissioner. This department seeks to protect Australian children when they experience cyberbullying by administering a complaints scheme and deals with complaints about prohibited online content.”

• 15 Essential Apps For The Organized Teacher “There is no single way to effectively organize a classroom. The big idea behind organization is systematic accessibility. When there is a clear system that allows the parts of that system to be accessible to those who need it, that’s organization. Organization is a subjective idea, what works for one teacher may not work for another. The variety of apps here allow teachers to store files, manage class rosters, share student work, and consolidate everything into a single, synced calendar for all parents.”

• How To Prepare Students For 21st Century Survival The post discusses 7 survival skills for the 21st century and how they might be purposefully applied in a classroom. They are: 1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving. 2. Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence. 3. Agility and Adaptability. 4. Initiative and Entrepreneurship. 5. Effective Oral and Written Communication. 6. Accessing and Analysing Information. 7. Curiosity and Imagination

• Coding for All Means Coding for Girls, Too | EdTech Magazine Although written about getting girls to take on coding it also offers me ides about getting some of the reluctant boys (preconcieved idea based around – I can’t do maths – so therefore i can’s understand coding)

• Forget GarageBand, SoundTrap is a music app for everyone “Soundtrap is a browser-based music creation program that harnesses the same simple but powerful approach and combines it with an HTML5 interface and video features that make it easy to collaborate with other musicians wherever they are. It is a competitor for GarageBand. It continues Sweden’s track record for music startups – Spotify, SoundCloud and Tidal all started life there – the company is based in Stockholm. ” There is a free plan that gives you access to 480 loops and allows you to create up to 5 projects with 125 instruments. There’s also a 30-day free trial of the paid plans.

• 3 Classroom Tools to Measure Student Learning | Edutopia “Formative assessment is vital to teachers in any classroom environment. Teachers have been formatively assessing students for years, because they need to know what students know in order to help them understand what they do not know. Many classrooms are moving to 21st century with technology initiatives. Suggested here are three tech tools will help teachers engage students while simultaneously gauging their understanding of concepts: Kahoot!, Formative and Padlet”

• Research: Early School Start Times Hurt Students, Hinder Performance — THE Journal An analysis of some recent research. “Compared to other efforts to improve the health and learning of students, such as running smaller classrooms, changing the start time is a comparatively cost-effective approach, the researchers asserted. “The synchronization of education to adolescent biology enables immediate advances in educational attainment and can be achieved with a relatively simple step that does not require new teaching methods, new testing or large additional expenditure.The research was published in the latest issue of Learning, Media and Technology.”

• Is Plagiarism Down? Depends on How You Define and Measure It | EdSurge News An interesting discussion about what may be going on today. “Does the Internet encourage plagiarism? It’s certainly not a stretch to imagine a harried student copying and pasting from Wikipedia, Quora or any one of the countless number of information resources and term paper databases. But a study published in the Journal of Academic Ethics suggests otherwise, finding that instances of academic plagiarism actually decreased. Plagiarism may indeed be on the decline. But without a shared understanding of its definition, it can be hard to ascertain the validity of studies like Ison’s. In the absence of clear expectations, students may be writing their own honor codes. “

• Digiteen – Digitween – Flat Connections “Digiteen and Digitween Global Projects. Students take action while connecting and collaborating. The Digiteen Project, and Digitween Project are an exciting, challenging and unique experience that allow young people (and their teachers) to study and explore digital citizenship and how to be a responsible and reliable online learner. They are global hands-on projects for upper elementary, middle and high school students, (typically Grade 4-12, 8-18 year old). These projects study digital citizenship and promote effective and responsible online choices as well as immersing students into an online educational community for learning and collaborating.

• Embracing the 9 Themes of Digital Citizenship | EdTech Magazine

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.