There’s Facebook, facebook and more facebook. Between the movie about facebook - The social Network - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network and times man of the year http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2036683,00.html Facebook and its Developer/creator Mark Zuckerberg are getting huge publicity. Not that it really needs it with over 1/2 a billion people on the network - http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics I love facebook and I know I am not alone on that. It never ceases to amaze me how encompassing and enveloping facebook is. My friend and colleague Doug just posted (on facebook) this brilliant article on facebook making connections - called visualizing friendships and with it this stunning image. The bright spots are the key areas of use and the lines show the linkages between them. source: http://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/visualizing-friendships/469716398919 So is the world larger or smaller?

In this installmentof on the wire we have some neat sites and applications for you. We have…….. 1. Image grab - http://paul.glagla.free.fr/imagegrab_en.htm - This is a tool that allows you to grab images from video streams. It will do most formats except encrypted DVD’s. A useful tool for lesson preparation where the students are view video material and required to comment and evaluate. 2. Cheatsheet - http://devcheatsheet.com/ This is a useful site for those with a more technical focus. The site provides a variety of "cheatsheets" for programming languages, Software etc. Useful - particularly for ITGS projects 3. A quickstart guide to iMovie09 - http://www.scribd.com/doc/35390885/Quickstart-Guide-to-iMovie-09 This was originally posted by Wes Fryer (Great blog worth following - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/) Great resource for Mac users who of course get iMovie Free. It is fair to say that I am struggling a bit with Movie maker at the moment, but as a development alternative (it is not great at capture, but good for editing) is Avid Videospin- http://www.videospin.com/redesign/default.asp - Its free and stable 4. Sound bible - http://soundbible.com/ - is a free music source - great for teaching students about ethical use of music etc as well a good source of clips - also worth a look - http://freemusicarchive.org/ 5. Lovely Charts - http://lovelycharts.com/ This is a online tool for developing charts - a good tool for wireframing as well 6. Kerpoof - http://www.kerpoof.com/ This is a mac and Pc - Its a website owned by Disney that allows you to create artworks. Here is what they say about: Make artwork (even if you aren’t good at drawing!) Make an animated movie (really! it’s easy!) Earn Koins which you can trade for fun things in the Kerpoof Store Make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug Tell a story Make a drawing Vote on the movies, stories, and drawings that other people have made

I love my iPad and one of the current projects that we have on is writing a book about the iPad and education. My focus is the middle and senior school end of the education spectrum. What make sit more challenging is writing the book about the iPad on the iPad. When I first set it up I installed keynote and pages. I thought that Numbers, the spreadsheet tool would be a poor investment and of limited value.  Pages, I have made a great deal of use of. The little word processor may lack the full spectrum of functions that its big brother on the mac has, or that Open Office writer and Microsoft Word have, but for simple text entry, image placement, formatting and alike … its great. A very good and complete tool for most users. http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/pages.html "Pages - the most beautiful word processor ever designed for a mobile device." - Apple I have to say I do agree with that comment Keynote, on the other hand I have not used. Its got some great parts but if I am doing a presentation I do actually need a little more. In some ways the layout and interface is better than the big brother, but it is missing hyperlinks and video embedding (well so it seems to me). For small groups, mobile development of presentations etc, its good - http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/keynote.html Numbers was the one tool I shunned. I thought, incorrectly, that this would be of limited worth. I was wrong. Its great, it hassome much potential. If you are doing a huge spreadsheet this is NOT the tool for you, but for everything else this is a amazing little piece of software. Its full of surprises, neat tricks and good planning. Its easy to use, presentable and FUN, yes FUN. http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/numbers.html If I was to rate the products on a 1-5 scale (you can do this on numbers using a star system) with 1 as poor, 3 as I expected and 5 exceptional, my ratings would go as follows Keynote - rating 2-3 a little disappointing Pages - rating - 3 Solid, reliable but nothing extra ordinary Numbers - rating - 5 - exceeded expectations and has the extra ordinary.

In this on the wire update we are looking at a range of interesting websites for Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy - digital citizenship and creativity, professional developments and twitter 1. Sixty Symbols - http://www.sixtysymbols.com/index.html this is a physics and astronomy, plus a little bit of mathematics site. In the site are a collection of videos that explain the symbols of of physics etc. Here is an example video - Pi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-pS7Is4P8&feature=player_embedded 2. Fotopedia - http://www.fotopedia.com/ Fotopedia is a collaborative photo encyclopedia. This is an interesting site with some brilliant photography. You are asked to (as a member) vote on images. The materials uploaded and placed on the site is licienced according to the owners wishes, so please check out if its in creative commons or all rights reserved, and respect this. http://www.fotopedia.com/help/guidelines 3. Ask Sir Ken Robinson - This is a sereis of short video clips from Sir ken Robinson in responce to a series of questions posed to him via twitter. Introduction - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zeQbzRFSMM Question 1 the value of degrees and diplomas - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RWrjIStHgo Question 2 Assessing creativity - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pHXH5fmCCs 4. The complete list of iPad Tips, Tricks and tutorials - http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14529/the-complete-list-of-ipad-tips-tricks-and-tutorials This is a good post and well worth reading, given that you have an iPad. 5. Teacher training Videos - http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/twitter1/index.html this is a training guide for that ubiquitous tool twitter. Developed using camtasia (this is a great tool - http:/www.techsmith.com) this is a useful and appropriate training resource for teachers and students alike. and finally from my Friend Doug Johnson - A dozen ways to teach ethical and safe technology use - http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2010/12/26/a-dozen-ways-to-teach-ethical-and-safe-technology-use.html I am looking forward to the Book Doug. 1. Articulate personal values when using technology. 2. Stress the consideration and application of principles rather than relying on a detailed set of rules. 3. Model ethical behaviors. 4. Build student trust. 5. Encourage discussion of ethical issues. 6. Accept the fact students will make mistakes. 7. Allow students personal use of the Internet. 8. Reinforce ethical behaviors and react to the misuse of technology. 9. Create environments that help students avoid temptations. 10. Assess children’s understanding of ethical concepts. 11. Educate our students and ourselves. 12. Educate your parents about ethical technology use. source: http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/12/25-funny-t-shirts-for-designers-and-developers/

Well I have had a great start to the new year, and its been a virtually technology free one too. The family spent a week camping at Waipu Cottages and we had a great time. In this update of on the wire there are resources for the arts, Audio Books, Biology, Science & physics 1. Books Should be Free - http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/ I have long been a fan of Audio books, whether as a family traveling for long distances or for students going to and from school on a bus, audio books are a great opportunity to listen and be entertained. Almost every student I know has a MP3 player of some shape and form, and providing them with an auditory version of a text book is an excellent learning process for the dow time they have on buses. It also appeals to the Auditory learner. Also worth looking at http://www.librivox.org 2. eSkeletons - http://www.eskeletons.org/ This is from the University of Texas Department of Anthropology. This is a useful biology site that compares the skeletal structure of 13 different primate species, looks at their comparative anatomy and the taxonomic tree. Good science and senior biology resources. from the same department are the following sites: eLucy - http://www.elucy.org/ eFossils - http://www.efossils.org/ 3. Exploratorium - Science of Music - http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/index.html This is a online music resource funded by the national Science Foundation that allows you to create, compose, play listen and experiment with music. What a great way to bring science and the arts together. A resource for the arts, science and physics. Another site worth looking at is the online drum machine - Monkey Machine - http://www.rinki.net/pekka/monkey/# 4. Online Museums for the arts - Almost every museum is gaining an online presence, it makes them more accessable and more relevant. Here are three to look at: MoMA - Museum of Modern Art - New York - http://www.moma.org/ IMA Indianapolis Museum of Art - http://www.imamuseum.org/ SmartHistory - Art History Conversation - http://smarthistory.org/ and finally a series of interactives from the council on foreign relationships - http://www.cfr.org/publication/interactives.html - this is a powerful series of resources for the social sciences. Have a look at the following crisis guides: The Korean Peninsula - http://www.cfr.org/publication/11954/crisis_guide.html Darfur - http://www.cfr.org/publication/13129/crisis_guide.html Israeli - Palestinian Conflict - http://www.cfr.org/publication/13850/crisis_guide.html Pakistan - http://www.cfr.org/publication/23111/crisis_guide.html

In this update of on the wire we have a number of useful sites for you viewing pleasure - these include sites for science, the environment, videos, chemistry, health & biology, mathematics and humanities 1. ChemEd DL - Chemistry Education Digital Library - http://www.chemeddl.org/ This is a digital repository for chemistry education resources. This is another site funded in part by the National Science Foundation. A useful resource for science and particularly chemistry. 360 Models- http://www.chemeddl.org/resources/models360/index.php Periodic table - http://www.chemeddl.org/resources/ptl/index.html 2. Medical Animation Library - http://www.pennmedicine.org/health_info/animationplayer/ This site has a wealth of medical animations that are very useful to the biology and health classes. Most are suited to the senior end of the school given the depth of information and the topics covered. 3. Yummy Maths - http://www.yummymath.com/index.php This site is about making Mathematics relevant. It has resources for Algebra, Geometry, probability and much more. 4. Conceptua Math - http://www.conceptuamath.com/fractions.html - this site has some useful resources for teaching fractions. Also worth looking at is http://algebra.mrmeyer.com/ dy/dan - Algebra supplement - this is brilliant. 5. When the water ends - http://www.mediastorm.com/clients/when-the-water-ends-for-yale360 A media storm production for Yale Environment 360. A powerful video on climate change in East Africa and finally  another from MediaStorm http://www.mediastorm.com/ a 12 minute video - UNDESIRED -  that examines and discusses the cultural pressure to have a son in India - moving, scary and frightening - http://www.mediastorm.com/publication/undesired In India, all women must confront the cultural pressure to bear a son. The consequences of this preference is a disregard for the lives of women and girls. From birth until death they face a constant threat of violence. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/undesired

Its been a while but with the impending demise or sale of Delicious by Yahoo! I have created another starter sheet, this one is for Diigo - another social networking tool. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/starter+sheet+-+Diigo.pdf This starter sheet has an overview of the use of the tool and some of the key features it has. It also examines how this tool may be used in the classroom. In this example its a brief examination of how it could be used in a humanities classroom. Comments, suggestions and corrections are always appreciated

Over the last three weeks I have had the privilage of speaking to principals and teachers in Canada, America and New Zealand. One of the core topics has been digital citizenship  and I have come to the conclusion that its the same everywhere.  While the legilastion may be different the issues facing the schools, teachers, parents and students are the same. Everyone is grappling with the same issues. Faced with the amazing digital world we live in where everything is available and apparently free, where access is so easy and ubiquitous and available on everything from the computer to the cellphone to the refrigerator; where in a seemingly anonymous medium you can release that frustration, anger and pent up emotions. Its no wonder why everyone is struggling and this virtual struggle parellels the same ethical and moral struggle in the real world too. The questions are the same the world over. What do you do?  how do you deal with….. what do you tell the students? How do you get community buy in into the concept? What we have found is that rules are too inflexible and concequently out of date and irrelevant quickly. You can not ban cell phones, it simply doesn’t work. While you can at school block and filter the internet to some degree, this shifts the time of inappropriate use from school to home. While that might mean that its not the schools problem, its diverting the issue rather than addressing it. In my opinion the school has failed if this is there approach on a holistic level. Critically, we must instil in our students and understanding of the reasons behind our approaches to digital (and real world) citizenship. For them to accept the guidelines we have they must buy into them and so too must the parents and the community. The guidelines too must be age specific and reflect the moral and ethical development of the individuals. As teachers we must be development psychologists, motivators and ethicists  as well educators. Middle School Senior School Real world looking after yourself Respect yourself Protect yourself Respect yourself Protect yourself looking after others Respect others Protect others Respect others Protect others looking after property Respect Intellectual Property Protect Intellectual Property Respect & Protect the environment The AUA or acceptable use agreements we have developed are available at: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Digital+Citizen+AUA

One of the critical skills for the 21st Century is Information Fluency . A critical aspect of this is validating information. Students (and adults) frequently take information collected from the internet as being accurate and appropriate. They have little understanding of how search engines work (google is a popularity engine in many ways). Here are some interesting resources that can be used to assist students. DHMO.org - http://www.dhmo.org/ This is a favourite partly because it shows partial truth about DiHydrogen Mono-oxide - here is the wikipedia write up - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHMO and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax Save the Mountain Walrus - http://mountainwalrus.webs.com/ this is suitable for the younger students The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/ Help save this endangered species fromextinction. Not quite as good as DHMO but pretty cool. Wikipedia write up and background - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest_tree_octopus and another interesting related article http://www.inklingmagazine.com/articles/tentacled-tree-hugger-gets-legs-up-on-twelve-year-olds/

In this update of on the wire resources we have materials for google earth in the classroom, visualisation, graphics and DTP,  SERC and more 1. How to teach with Google Earth - http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/google_earth/how.html - This is a useful resource for using Google earth in schools. Published by the Science Education resource Center at Carleton  College is a well resourced and structured resource. Havbe a look at these resources on the same site: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/pedagogies.html Teaching Methods a good resource on pedagogy http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/search.html?q1=sercvocabs__72%3A2 Learning resources search page 2. Many Eyes - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/ - This is a data visualisation tool produced by the IBM. Visualising data is a powerful tool for analysis and evaluation. Its easier to see the trends when they are displayed as a graph rather than a field of numbers. create a visualization - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/page/create_visualization.html Data Sets - http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/datasets 3. MyStudiyo - QuizRevolution - http://www.mystudiyo.com/ This is a web based quiz development tool that allows you to embed a test into your blog or website. While it is a lower order thinking based tool, its useful. 4. Cloud Canvas - http://www.cloud-canvas.com/index.php/ This is a web based tool that allows the user to develop Raster  and vector graphics as well as some basic desktop publishing features as well. Useful and adaptable and finally the finnish school of the future. This is a blog post from Terry Freedman - http://www.ictineducation.org/home-page/2010/11/7/finnish-school-of-the-future.html Watch the video that goes with it. Future School of Finland