What’s Facebook got to offer education?

Facebook went public this week.   With a billion users, what an amazing juggernaut this has become! Questions about its efficacy in schools continues to rage though.   Does Facebook have a role in our classrooms?   Should we embrace its power for educational purposes?  Should teachers and students ‘friend’ each other?   Should the power [...]

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The power of TED-Ed!

An amazing array of freely available, quality educational videos, just waiting to be used by educators in our schools, is nothing short of awesome! A new set of videos, launched in March this  year, is TED-Ed.  And, as expected, a viewing of this short video: Introducing TED-Ed: Lessons Worth Sharing, says it much better than words [...]

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Introducing The Brydge on Kickstarter

Up until about three weeks ago, I’d never heard of Kickstarter.com  but, as often happens when you hear of something new, you suddenly start hearing about it from a range of sources! Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects.  If you have an idea, develop it, but don’t have the money to manufacture and [...]

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What’s the big deal about online learning? 10 tips to motivate you to give it a go!

Learning online is becoming increasingly popular.  If you are hesitating though, consider these tips to motivate you to give it a try! Learn at your own pace:  Like the students in our classes, some of us pick up new ideas and skills quickly, others more slowly.   Working online allows you the luxury of being [...]

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The beauty and mystery of mathematics

I’m not a mathematician.   My family though love mathematics, its beauty and the mysteries it unravels. So it’s not surprising that one of them mentioned to me this amazing app which has been developed by IBM.  I’m told that at IBM, a poster, featuring a chronological view of mathematics through the biographies of great mathematicians [...]

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The joy of sharing!

I had a wonderful opportunity last week – presenting at the Casual Relief Teacher’s Conference organized by Teacher Learning Network in conjunction with AEU (Australian Education Union) and VIEU (Victorian Independent Education Union).  With the theme set as Technology in the Classroom, the presentations throughout the day were many and varied. More than just presenting [...]

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instaGrok – a winner for those who loved Wonder Wheel!

The value of social networking is profound!   I’m sure that without it, it would have taken me a while to discover instaGrok. instaGrok – an interactive learning tool provides an expansive array of returns for each search.   Producing a spiral visual graph on the left pane, numerous links are simultaneously generated on the right hand [...]

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Stymied – Vodpod has disappeared!

I’ve learned a hard lesson this week – not one I was really looking to learn though! It has been a few weeks since I last visited Vodpod – one of those sites that I’ve grown to love ’cause it helps me get myself organized.  For the best part of the last couple of years [...]

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New discoveries: Two great vocabulary builder tools!

The wealth of material out there in cyberspace really is quite daunting.   New tools constantly pop up.  The joy of discovering them and then considering how to use them with students is both a challenge and a joy. Just recently I discovered two new Web 2.0 tools.  With no sign up necessary and no cost [...]

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10 tips for teaching online

Last week, I had the opportunity to “attend” an online learning course.   Presented by Max Grarock of the Teacher Learning Network, the course, titled ‘How to teach online’ was full of a host of valuable tips on what to do as well as what not to do when presenting online. The shoe is on the [...]

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