A year and a bit ago, I had to move from my computer lab into a new classroom space. While my first visions were of a variation on the same theme, desks and desktops, I was given an option for laptops instead of desktops and this changed every thing. The classroom I had been presented with was a high ceiling (A frame style) rectangular box. In reality a normal classroom. However I was given the opportunity to design it to suit my needs and I wanted and needed a agile and flexible learning environment that is students centric. It need to be able to change quickly (agile) and fit into a variety of setting (flexible) with students workspaces. So with this in mind, here is the design I came up with: around the outside of the room is a 60cm deep continuous bench with power and networking. The bench is at the same level as the other furniture. In hind sight I would have made the corners at stool height rather than chair height to allow students to stand and when focusing at the front see over the other students. Instead of desks I had 4 1.2m wide x 2.0m long tables with a semi-circular return that can be folded up or down made. The tables are on lockable wheels and are at the same hieght as the side bench. All the chairs are on wheels and are adjustable hieght, I also has 75cm & 85cm Swiss balls for students to sit on. At 4 stations around the outside of the room are whiteboards for the students to use. There is no teacher whiteboard but there is a IWB with a short throw projector Across the front of the room and around the room are individually switched spot lights (I used a 100w mini parcan) which illuminate the front of the classroom or the areas adjacent to each of the whiteboards. The windows have a full black out blind allowing the room to be blacked out when required. The blinds roll up and down easily for natural light. There is NO teachers desk only a podium (a platform large enough for a laptop on a single metal pole and again on wheels) for the laptop to sit on and an umbilical for audio and visual send and also network connection for video conferencing. The classroom is designed to work in a number of different "mode" and switch bewteen modes takes about 2 minutes. Here are some of the different learning modes: This is project mode- the tables are lit by the spotlights. Each table has its own whiteboard to work on. The tables are butted hard against the bench with the returns up so the students can sit around the end of the table. Boardroom mode - returns folded down, all four tables in together to make the board room table. Students work at the table with discussions, presentations and debates, then move out to the side benches for individual work or working in small groups at the whiteboards. Then move back to present and discuss. I am experimenting with the arrangement of the tables, but these two are the one  I use the most. the classroom is great, and I regularly rearrange the room between classes, the students never know what the room will be like and as a result never know what to expect or what is going to happen this time in the class.

Well no not really, but this is a great alternative and its free. Its called Growly Notes and is made by Growly Bird Software - http://growlybird.com/GrowlyBird/Notes.html source: http://growlybird.com/GrowlyBird/Notes_files/small_logo.jpg Growly Notes is an organisational note taking tool that allows you to create and organise your notes, containing text, images, web links, and video clips. You have the ability to insert , images, movies, audio clips, PDF files, tables, lists, web and file links, and drawings you create in Notes. Notebooks, thats what they called the folders are organized into sections (the larger tabs on the left in the image above), each contains pages (unlimited number). This is potentially a great tool for the student who is using their mac for school work. They are able to keep all of their notes, resources and materials in one easy location, just like one note, but for free. Seriously cool. A site worth visiting is Alternativeto.net This site give you alternative software options for the propriotory versions. A good site and useful.

This on the wire post has a single theme and is examining the Language translation technologies. These resources will suit IT students and particularly ITGS students, but of course the Language students will also find this useful to. Google Translate This is a great place to start. As the video suggests this is a free online translation application. I would watch the video its useful as a starting point. Then explore the different google resources including: Start here  - http://translate.google.com/# This is the translate starting page Google translate toolkits basic - http://translate.google.com/support/toolkit/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=147809 Google translate help - http://www.google.com/support/translate/?hl=en Google translate toolkit http://translate.google.com/toolkit Video introduction - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7W2NJFdoIg (embedded below) Video How to Google translate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FijOWfO3Frk (embedded below) A second more detailed video showing specific features including non roman letter languages and web pages - How to video. Lingenio A second approach is demonstrated by LINGENIO. This is a proprietary application that does language translation. The website provides interesting insights into how translation software operates. Have a  look at these resources: Technology link page  - http://www.lingenio.de/English/Language-Technology/language-technology.htm How machine translation works - http://www.lingenio.de/English/Language-Technology/machine-translation.htm The technology behind translate - http://www.lingenio.de/English/Language-Technology/translate-technology.htm Facebook Facebook also offers a translation tool, but this uses people instead of machines. This is a useful comparison tool, but also raises issues of accuracy, reliability, privacy, integrity etc. These issues are also raised by machine translation tools as well but from a slightly different aspect. Facebook translation tool - http://www.facebook.com/translations/ Iphone, IPad etc Also worth looking at (if you have an iPod touch, iPhone or iPad 2) is Word lens. This is a purchase application that has considerable potential Word Lens Application on iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/word-lens/id383463868?mt=8 introductory video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs

This week has been an great one as Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy and the educational origami wiki have both had positive write ups. The first was from the guru of technology Richard Byrne in his Free technology for teachers Blog (a blog I subscribe to and thoroughly enjoy) - http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/04/hotts-higher-order-thinkingtechnology.html Richard is amazing, the quantity of high quality resources he finds and shares is brilliant. So I am very pleased by the write up. The second mention is Educational Origami - edorigami.wikispaces.com as the featured wiki for the week on wikispaces’s blog  - http://blog.wikispaces.com/2011/04/featured-wiki-educational-origami.html I am pleased with this interview style write up, and deeply honoured to have my wiki picked from the hundreds of thousands of wikis hosted by these guys. I love wikispaces its a great tool and one I make huge use of.

Its an interesting thought and one worth considering? There is obviously a direct power cost that we see each and every time we use our personal digital devices, be they connected directly to mains electricity or using store energy, charged from the mains. But there are also hidden energy cost that we should consider. The cost of searching, spam and alike This infographic is food for thought: source: http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/earth-day-infographic-sm.jpg

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing a podcast with Chris Betcher, Deon Scanlon, Allanah King and Amanda Marrinan. The topic of conversation was iOs applications  and Education. It was a great deal of fun and I got some great applications to try out. Chris has done a great write up of the podcast and conversations and the podcast is fun as well. Here are the URL’s: Chris’s podcasts the virtual classroom - http://virtualstaffroom.net/ Podcast write up - http://virtualstaffroom.net/2011/04/vsr42-ios-app-smackdown/#more-374 The podcast - iOS Smackdown podcast Looking forward to working with Chris in Whangarei at the end of the May.

This is an interesting infographic - Is social media ruining students?. It addresses social media and education posing as it does some interesting challenges for us as educator. If you have a look at the stats for facebook it adds weigh to the comments expressed in the image. Consider these as you read below: (source: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics ) More than 500 million active users 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day Average user has 130 friends People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook Also read the facebook fact sheet - http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet source: http://images.onlineeducation.net.s3.amazonaws.com/Social-Media-and-Students.jpg So is Social Media good or bad? Or is it just a medium which we as teachers can use (exploit)?

I have been sent two article recently that have caught my attention. The first called Some startling statistics by Robyn Jackson - http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html looks at some statistics fro reading and they are worth considering: 1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. 57 percent of new books are not read to completion. 70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance. 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit. (Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com) There are more check the rest of the article out - http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html Many would ask what has caused this and I would suspect as probably most people would the availability and ease of access to other forms of media. In fact the article continues stating - Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines. (Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker) This does not paint a pretty picture for the publishing industry and books. So what is going to happen. Enter article number two This one from the Huffington Post discussing Al Gore’s App/Book on the ipad called Our Choice - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/28/al-gore-our-choice-app-push-pop-press_n_854783.html One of the opening comments in the article is "Al Gore’s ‘Our Choice’ App Reinvents Books, Reading" It does, seemlessly embedding text, imagery, video, interactive elements, audio into an ebook. I bought the book, not only because it is interesting, but also because this is a blue print of what books will be. When we consider the traits we seen in the Millennial generation - preference for media, viewing images first then text, predominantly visual (this is a human trait rather than just a millennial one), liking non linear approach to reading and learning (hyperlinking), speed of access (and impatience) portability, and convergence of entertainment and learning. This style of publishing has obvious value and merit. Al Gore\’s Our Choice Guided tour Al Gore’s Our Choice Guided Tour from Push Pop Press on Vimeo.

Its hard to imagine a sports team taking to the field or court dressed in anything other than a uniform. The officials and referees wouldn’t allow it. Uniforms in sports team build a sense of unity and identity. To wear a uniform is a privilege that is earned and uniforms are worn with pride. Uniforms are also a way of showing everyone in the team has the same value and worth, its not a contest for who has the best looking clothes. Wearing a uniform means everyone is working towards the same goal, they are united in purpose and are identifable. Each person may have a different role, but each of these different roles and tasks is focused towards the same outcome. In a sports team the value of a uniform is evident, so evident it is seldom if ever discussed. All of this is given for a sports team, but when it comes to schools and school uniforms the same concepts of unity, purpose, pride, team work and identity which are enhanced by a uniform are not applied. I struggle to think of a school that would not want teamwork, share purpose, focus and unity, but many schools elect not to take the uniform option or take a uniform so lacks that it becomes irrelevant. The clothes, we wear are a reflection of ourselves or who we would like to be. Judgements are often made at that first moment and a re heavily influenced by body language and of course appearance. The selection of clothes and personal appearance are driven by internal factors and also those external influencing force like peer pressure and group expectation. The way we dress reflects on the way we work and interact. Pride in one’s appearance usually reflect pride in oneself. The effect of uniform and appearance can easily been seen in the classroom. Classes where the expectation of neat appearance and uniform worn correctly usually run smoothly. Students know that the expectations of behaviour are set before they are able to walk in the classroom. The discussions comparing dress styles, values and labels are removed. The distractions of skirt length, buttons undone and torn clothing are gone. The student entering the classroom knows from the onset that they are focused on the task at hand and that task is learning. Businesses tried for a while, and some still do, having casual clothing days and studies indicated conclusively that on casual days productivity fell. How are schools different? The advantages of the discipline of uniform, I believe, outwiegh the freedom of expression that maybe lost. Wearing a uniform does not stifle expression, the best sports stars still shine even though they are wearing a uniform. The same applied to schools. Wearing a uniform doesn’t stop a student shining, rather it means to shine they do it by their actions and outcomes rather than the superficial focus on clothing.

At the innovate conference in Sydney in march I did a casual interview where I was asked a couple of questions and videoed as I replied. It was a little daunting, but quite fun http://www.schooltube.com/video/8340ef6e57b934375208/Inspire-Innovate-Vox-Pops-Andrew-Churches

The Mid Year ITGS examination had a number of questions on Databases and DBMS. Its an interesting section and one that the students find challenging. Teaching databases can be done by a theory session - this tends to be dry or by practical activities. My students have been constructing a multi table relation database using Open Office Base as the tool. Its free product and uses SQL to develop queries. The students constructed 2 tables, the first is a contact database and the second is the 2010 sales figures. The students set up a relationship between the primary key in the customer contact table and the primary key in the second table. They then went manually through the process of entering data into the fields (columns). The next stage was writing queries. The students quickly got bored with data entry in columns, but once the tables where completed and they started write the queries they became keener and keener - The logical flow of SQL and the easy success as they experienced made the process fun. The next stage for the students is to create a form for data entry and then to develop reports to produce and outcome in a usable texted based format. To help the students, we read out the SQL text to explain the task that they are undertaking: for example: SELECT Customername, Address, July_Sales, AUgust_Sales FROM CustomerDetails, Sales WHERE Country = ‘Germany’ So this section would be Show in the report (SELECT) the following fields customers name, their address, and the sales for July and August FROM tables CustomerDetails and Sales for all customers who are in germany. Getting the students to read out what the query means is a great way of insuring they understand the process. All in all the Logical structure of SQL, linked with the practical nature of the task makes this a fun way for the students to learn  about: fields records tables relationships queries SQL structured queries language Forms Reports

Infographics are a very powerful tool for learning. While we do have learning preferences -  Visual, Auditory, Read/Write or Kinesthetic - our dominant sense is visual. Further we process images faster, some estimate 60,000x faster than text.  Infographics when they are well designed effectively carry a message to us and our students that is easy to interpret and more engaging than a body of text or a table of figures. Here is an infographic on Data that I stumbled across recently. This will be useful in my IT classes but it also frames the amazing growth in data and devices to use and access this. The graphic is (of course) out of date - anything published is immediately out of date. For example the statistics on you tube are inaccurate. Here is the latest update on youtube uploads - http://technewscast.com/technology/tech-buzz/youtube-two-days’-worth-of-video-uploaded-every-minute/ I plan to use both of these graphics with my ITGS class. The inaccuracies in the data infographic will be useful and illustrate the changes that have occurred, but the message behind it is still valid and very useful. Having the students consider the data and then challenge it is a critical element of not only digital citizenship, but also higher order thinking - Analysis and evaluation source: http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/YT-48-hours-3-billion-infographic-r4.png source: http://mozy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/physical-storage-vs-digital-storage.png The

On Friday I had the privilege to present the opening keynote and then 2 workshops in Whangarei at the Whangarei elearning Cluster’s Vision Day. The topic of my keynote and  presentations was digital citizenship. In the keynote I outline the digital citizenship model we have developed and for the workshops I developed an analysis tool that looks at the policies and acceptable use agreements that the schools have. The analysis tool attempts to look at the holistic approach to digital citizenship and questions involvement from all three sides to the triangle - students, the school and the community. I would appreciate any feedback. AUA analysis tool The tool attempts to be holistic and cover the cyber safety elements from a variety of angles and approaches. It should raise questions and provoke thought. The major sections are: Purpose of your policy and matching this to your AUA Suitability to the audience (Including readability) Implementation of the policy and AUA Support resources Access and filtering Monitoring and consequences Review and evaluation Community involvement Each section has a series of questions that question and challenge Senior School digital citizenship guidelines

I have been working on Digital Citizenship guidelines for the younger students. In so many of the example of Acceptable use agreements we see online the language ised is considerably beyond the vocabulary and understanding of some of the younger students. I have also been trying to crystalise the "essence" of the agreement into a simple series of statements or guidelines. At the Vision day last week in Whangarei, Morningside School shared with the workshop their school philosophy. Be Safe Be Kind Be Sensible I like these and they fit with each of the three aspects of digital citizenship we use for the middle school. Here is the latest attempt - I have run it through the Lexile readability analyser  and SMOG tools SMOG = 12.4 Lexile = 710L Digital Citizenship Guidelines Junior School Looking after me. I will only go on the computer when I have permission. I will only go to pages I am allowed to go to. I will only share pictures and stories about myself when my teacher tells me to. I will talk to my parents and teacher about all of my online friends. I will tell my teacher or parents if anyone is unkind to me on the computer. Looking after others. I will only say nice things about people. I will ask before I share a picture or story about a person. I will only go to places that are nice and I will tell my parents or teacher if I go to a place that is nasty, unkind or rude. Looking after stuff. I will not download movies, games or music. I will check that the information I get on the web is correct. I wont leave rude or unkind messages on other people spaces.

Just a couple of quick updates in this On the Wire Post. 1. Commoncraft videos - http://www.commoncraft.com - There are two new videos that are going to be useful in the classroom. The first is called "Social Media in the Workplace"  The video has the following blurb which nicely summarises its use: This video takes a look at how social media sites like blogs, Twitter and Facebook are changing how companies think about external communication. It includes points on: How social media sites are making organizations rethink external communication How one company confronts a crisis - and learns how social media can help The role of empowering employees to participate The role of policies and guidelines in social media participation source: http://www.commoncraft.com/social-media-workplace-video The second video explains the technology behind "BitTorrent". Just like the previous video it has a outline of the teaching points: This video teaches the basics of how BitTorrent’s technology works to make downloads faster when more people are involved. It includes points on: How files are shared on the web and what makes BitTorrent different The BitTorrent application and how it’s used How trackers, peers and hosts work together to deliver "pieces" of files How anyone can use BitTorrent to share or download files Source: http://www.commoncraft.com/bittorrent-video 2. Educause - 7 things you should know about modern learning commons - This is a paper looking at modern learning commons as a concept. It is a little different from the usual educause publications, but Teaching and learning technologies are not just about the tools but also about the space. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7071.pdf This reminds me of Ian Jukes, Ted Kelly and Ted McCain’s Book - "Teaching the Digital Generation - No more cookie cutter schools‘ Agile and flexible learning spaces which can quickly be adapted into a wide variety of r=arrangements are going to be increasingly important as we adapt our teaching and learning spaces to suit the "digital generation" To check out all the resources - http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/ELI%207%20Things%20You%20Should%20Know/33438 7 Things You Should Know About the Modern Learning Commons

In this on the wire update I am looking at a couple of brilliant  resources for video. 1. Mediastorm - African Air - http://mediastorm.com/publication/african-air This is a seven minute mini documentary that looks at africa in its diversity from the air. the air part of this mostly from a powered paraglider. Its stunning and the mixture of still, moving images and interview show africa in its diversity and beauty. Its a great piece for stimulus material for humanities and the social sciences etc. The other material produced by media storm is well worth looking at. There is a disclaimer weith this that some of the content is challenging and needs to be checked by the teacher prior to showing to students. The themes are very valid but orientated to an adult audience. - http://mediastorm.com/pub/projects source: http://mediastorm.com/sites/default/themes/mediastorm/logo.png 2. Commoncraft Show - Computer Viruses and threats in plain english - http://www.commoncraft.com/virus-video Another paper styled video from Lee leFever and the crew at Commoncraft.  As their blurb suggests this video examines the threats to computer etc. "This video explains computer viruses by comparing them to human viruses and focuses on the role of prevention in being protected.  Major points include: A basic look at computer viruses as computer programs that can spread like a disease and can be prevented by anti-virus software. An introduction to worms, how they cause damage in networks and can be prevented by software updates. An introduciton to trojans, how they trick people into downloading a virus and how awareness is important for prevention." Source: http://www.commoncraft.com/virus-video 3. Resources about Youtube - Youtube has announced that it has a creative commons licience for material hosted on the site. This is great news for many of our students who will download and reuse content frequently. So here are some resources to help understand this and also youtube itself Creative Commons and Youtube - https://creativecommons.org/tag/youtube Youtube key events timeline -http://www.youtube.com/t/press_timeline Youtube press kit videos - http://www.youtube.com/t/press_b_roll Youtube statistics - http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics Consider these facts froim the Youtube statistics page Traffic More than 13 million hours of video were uploaded during 2010, and 35 hours of video are uploaded every minute. The equivalent of 150,000+ full-length films in cinemas each week More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the 3 major US networks created in 60 years 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US YouTube is localised in 25 countries across 43 languages YouTube’s demographic is broad: 18-54 years old YouTube reached over 700 billion playbacks in 2010 Have a look at CITIZENTUBE which is youtube’s news channel - http://www.citizentube.com/

The last couple of weeks have been busy as we have written the mid year reports. We have a new reporting format that looks at the students contribution to learning and this has made report writing more intense than usual. Like any form of change its uncomfortable, but it is probably worth it. Probably, well the proof of the reports is in the feedback to the parents. It does however raise questions for me on the value of reports themselves. Most schools report on their students every semester of may be twice a semester. This limits the value of the report in terms of feedback, once a semester or term is hardly timely, and there for of little value. Most comments are word count limited - how can you express a students progress in 60 words or less - you might as well use twitter Most comments are written under time constraints and pressure. This limitation hampers effective reporting As a formal statement and summary of the terms/semesters work reports are a useful tool for summary, but a poor tool for behavior or attitude change. Reports are often out of date, once they are written by the teacher, proofed by what ever method the school uses and then delivered, the time between writing and delivery is often a period of weeks. The information is outdated. Many schools are moving to an online reporting tool for assessment data, where parents can log in and access their son ordaughters grades and attainment. This is more timely, but is limited to a number, letter or percentage grade, or in the case of achievements standards Not achieved, achieved, merit and excellence. This is more timely, but lacks the depth and detail. So what is a happy medium. In a perfect world it would be a combination of the two. An attainment grade and a timely, current and appropriate comment which relates to the students learning at the time. This would be updated to show progress within the lesson and unit. Essentially, it would combine formative and summative assessment to show progress, learning, development and finally  achievement. That would be in a perfect world. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. The time pressure and constrains on teachers, the burden of administration, moderation and assessment mean that such utopian ideals are unrealistic. Such reporting systems would be of huge benefit to the learner and parents alike, we know from John Hattie’s research in Visible learning, that feedback has one of the highest effects on learning outcomes for the students. This feedback needs to be timely and appropriate. To help engage our parents in their children’s learning we must provide them with suitable feedback too. A synopsis of the terms or semesters work has little value for this. So what would I want if I was King for a day? source: http://www.projects-abroad.com.au/_photos/_global/photo-galleries/en-uk/sri-lanka/_global/large/teaching-volunteer.jpg A reporting system, online, that staff entered regular (weekly, fortnightly or in some cases daily)  learning summaries. The summaries would be both formative and summative, Timely and appropriate. A reduction in teaching time to facilitate teachers to report. A reduction in the administrative burden A focus on formative assessment in the class. Balancing responcibility for learning between the student, teacher and the home. We have all seen the extremes of parental involvement ranging from the almost in your pocket parents to the one that are so distant that they are completely disengaged. Similarly we the students who are spread along the engagement spectrum, some responcible for their own learning and some divorcing all responcibility and blaming the teacher, school and anyone else in the vicinity. I would want to see mechanisms in place where parent, students and teachers have an appropriate balance each understanding their roles, and their limitations.

This infographic is from the outset interesting, but its also challenging. It raises some questions that some would prefer not to answer. Should we be teaching hand writing? Is text language acceptable in class or examinations? Is our written language changing - is it evolution or devolution?  Should this technology be allowed in schools? How important is the pencil or pen any more? Are kids to dependent on technology? Consider these comments: In 1815, it was reported at a principal’s meeting that students depended too much on paper. They no longer knew how to write on a slate without getting dust all over themselves. What would happen when they ran out of paper The National Association of Teachers reported in 1907 that students depended too much on ink and no longer knew how to use a knife to sharpen a pencil. According to the Rural American Teacher in 1928, students depended too much on store bought ink. They did not know how to make their own. What would happen when they ran out? They wouldn’t be able to write until their next trip to the settlement. In 1950, it was observed that ball point pens would be the ruin of education. Students were using these devices and then just throwing them away. The values of thrift and frugality were being discarded. Businesses and banks would never allow such expensive luxuries.. In 1988 it was declared that there was no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improved teaching & learning and that most schools would be better off if they just threw their computers into dumpsters. (Source - Ian Juke and Lee Crockett - Literacy isn’t enough) source: http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Generation-Text-Final.jpg

These two videos are quite thought provoking in different ways. The first is project based learning explained, by the common cvraft show - http://youtu.be/LMCZvGesRz8. Isn’t this how we should be teaching? The second is from TED - Mike Matas: A next-generation digital book - http://www.ted.com/talks/mike_matas.html Traditional publishing company will need to adapt if they are to remain competitive and viable. What will this mean for education?

The Rugby World Cup has a lot to answer for. I was speaking to my ITGS  students about why we had changed the order of our units to do health and IT first and politics and Government and IT next term. I said to them that doing Politics and Government next term was more appropriate for timing of major events later in the year. There instant reply was a rather perplexed look about why the Rubgy World Cup  had anything to do with Politics and Government. They had forgotten the election later in the year. Groan But the RWC has had another effect (other than forgetting general elections). To cope with this event the length of terms have been changed. The first 3 terms are now longer and T4 is shorter. The effect of this is very noticable on students and staff. There is a general tiredness evident in all. For primary students this is very noticeable, there is an increase in sickness as the younger students are worn out. I know of doctors who are advising parents to keep younger students at home to rest. While there is always a drop off in performance in the last weeks of term, it seems to me to be more pronounced with the longer term. I have noticed and my colleagues from other schools (secondary) have noted an increase in secondary student absenteeism. Student and staff are tired and in some cases plain exhausted. The level of stress across the board is high, I would pick that blood pressure is also elevated too. As a education professional, I like most teachers have fielded comments (some times tongue in cheek and some times serious) about the number of "holidays" teachers recieve. This morning I started my "to do" list for holiday work, I got upto 14 items and as I drove to school added mentally a few more. If I asked a person in business to define a holiday, it would not be an opportunity to catch up on the pressing work I haven’t had time to complete at work. I think for us as teachers holidays are defined as "extended non contact periods at a variable locations" Will teachers and students return to school rested and recovered? I hope so. Will they have a break? Perhaps Has the change in term length had an effect? an impact? Oh Yes, is it a good one? Oh NO! The RWC has a lot to answer for……. perhaps we need to consider how we arrange our terms and consider when breaks are and for how long. Do we need to, in our industrial and communications based society, stick to the agricultural holiday model that sees a long summer break, originally to allow students to help with the harvest?

If you have the chance I would recommend that you read an excellent book on education and exercise called "Spark - the revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain" by John Ratey. source: http://www.johnratey.com/newsite/images/spark.jpg In the book he recalls a school district that changed how it measured effort in Physical education. Instead of measuring the times students took to complete the run they used heart rate monitors to measure the students heart rate during exercise. What they found was very interesting. Many of the most able students, who completed the run easily and quickly had not applied themselves, there heart rates showed that they had not pushed themselves rather had "cruised" however some of the less able students even those who had come in with the slowest times had committed themselves one hundred percent with their heart rates showing a sustained high level of activity approaching their maximum capacity. The lesson is obvious. High achievement does not equate to high effort in every case. Measuring effort is in most cases subjective. Few areas of learning would have the quantitative tools to be able to measure effort like physical education does here. For many students the tasks we set will pose a genuine challenge and thusly will require an comparable effort to achieve at the highest levels. But for some students the challenge we present them is a poor match for their abilities and they invest little and still achieve highly. For other students the challenges posed by assessment are huge and even to reach a minimum level they struggle. Too often we will see high achievement matched with high effort grades when reporting, when in reality for some students this inaccurate. Similarly the mediocre achievement matched with acceptable effort and poor effort for poor scores. This is not always the case, the teachers who know their students well will be able to reflect on the level of effort the student applies. For me this raises several points: The importance of differentiated curriculum that allow teachers to set suitable tasks for students of different needs and abilities. One size does not fit all, aiming for the middle misses the students who are at either end of the spectrum, the talented and the challenged. The importance of separating "effort", contribution to learning by the student from attainment. The critical importance of the relationship between teacher and student, too often hampered by large class size and assessment/curriculum pressures. The timeliness of reports - a end of term or end of semester report is of little value in reflecting on and modifying the attitude and behaviour of students. I would love to have an educational version of the polar heart rate monitor, the effort monitor to be able to truly grasp and quantify how much effort my students apply and to be able to justly reward them for this. And also to be able to change the level of challenge to suit them. In adventure and outdoor education, we have the concept of play (exploration and experimentation), Adventure, Peak Adventure and Misadventure. It is a theory that matches challenge and personal skill level. source: http://wilderdom.com/images/PriestAdventureExperienceParadigm.gif Exploration & Experimentation Adventure Peak Adventure Misadventure Devastation & Disaster The optimal learning area is Adventure and peak adventure where challenge and skill levels are well matched. (http://wilderdom.com/philosophy/PriestAdventureExperienceParadigm.html) We also see this in the work of Vygotsky in the Zones of Proximal Development (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development) In the classroom, just like learning in the outdoors, we need to aim for the zones of adventure and peak adventure, where risk and challenge are matched well to personal skill and ability. In this zone the students effort will be high or even maximal and their achievement will match their effort. Differentiation of task, understanding your student and flexibility of curriculum are key to this.

This is an excellent video clip that explains the different elements of Creative Commons. One of the best parts of this is the author is a Kiwi. http://youtu.be/AeTlXtEOplA Produced by Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand with support from InternetNZ. To find out more about Creative Commons in New Zealand visit us at creativecommons.org.nz

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46035000/jpg/_46035770_003576582-1.jpg The closure of the news of the world is a salient lesson for all who publish. While the lessons are easy to see for the newspaper companies and others in the media industry, they are equally relevant for all publishers. The demise of the news of the world was not due to lack of interest from its audience, they appeared to lap up the revelations the paper revealed. No the demise of the the news of the world was from those who were not the audience but influenced the people who paid the bills. They were the sixty million people in the United Kingdom who didn’t buy the news of the world. They were the people who would be buying the advertisers products. The news of the world pampered to its audience at the expense of others. It probed, prodded and hacked its way into areas that should have remained sacrosanct. It was appalling, unethical and completely inappropriate. But the demise of this British institution provides a saleint example for all of us. Anyone with internet access is potentially a publisher. There are few restrictions on what you can say, unless you reside in repressive regime. No one is going to question the validity of your comments, the accuracy of your opinions or the suitability of your sources before you press the publish button. Because you can does not mean you should. As bloggers, tweets, wiki editors, photosharers etc, we must always consider what we are publishing. We must consider why we are publishing it, the context and content we are about to publish. Whom our audience is and how the content of our post may be interpreted. The tongue in cheek post, the humorous image, the satirical comment should be considered. The revelation you are about to reveal thought through. The consequences considered. If, having considered these, you decide to present to the world you thoughts, opinions and creations great. But like the classic comment about emails send in haste repent at you leisure, post in haste and repent at your leisure. Consider to the tenents of digital citizenship respect and protect yourself respect and protect others respect and protect intellectual property Atleast the news of the world is useful for something other than wrapping fish and chips in. source: http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080324041955/uncyclopedia/images/d/df/Fish_and_Chips_in_Newspaper.jpg

This on the wire upadte looks at cartoons, there is something here for pretty much everyone - even physics 1. Physics.org Marvin and Mills cartoons - http://www.physics.org/marvinandmilo.asp As well as being a useful resource site for Physics, Physics.org also has a great set of Marvin and Milo cartoons that explain in a fun way Physics Source: http://www.physics.org/UploadDocs/Feature/images/70-musical-tea-700.jpg 2. Plasq.com Comic Life - Plasq is the company that produces comic life. This is without a doubt the best comic creation tools on the market. I love this and make regular use of it in my classes. It is available for windows and mac with versions for the ipad and ipod touch (comic touch). The site liciences are very good value for money and well worth considering. source: http://plasq.com/images/product-comiclife2-fp.jpg 3. Comicstrip CS - yourcomicstrip.com This is another excellent comic creation tool developed for the ipad, iphone and ipod touch. An excellent portable comic creation tool. This allows you to create single page comics with 7 different styles of layouts using images from the pictures on your i-device. 4. Comic Creator - http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/comic/ This is a web 2.0 tool hosted on the read, write, think website - simple and useful a good online tool. I like using comics and cartoon creation tools with my students as its a visual approach to learning, it provides variety and is engaging. I have used these tools to provide methods for science experiments, to summarise video clips and movies, to present how to documents or timelines and to storyboard videos. The uses are numerous. For further resources link to my wiki - http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Comic+Tools