Teachers may like to check out the resources listed on the ‘work blog’ – To Err is human… to Aaarrr! is Pirate

And just for a bit of fun here is my ITLPD DoppleMe avatar.

(Thanks Skipz)

As you can see below, the embed code works – now all I have to do is persuade the ‘powers that be’ at work that it is a suitable topic to write about on the work blog. Wish me luck!

Instructions: Click the Play button. Wait for the splash screen to play then use your mouse to click and drag to look in any direction in the video.

This first video is

New Guinea
Immerse yourself in the native traditional song and dance**

and this is

Fiji Coral Reef
Underwater and on deck in the South Pacific.**

There are more demonstration videos and  a city tours GeoImmersive Database. Love the use of Google Maps

Makes you wonder how these could be used in an education setting…

This is just one more example of the great tools available to teachers. Create a free account and have some fun

I am currently making use of a lot of the more well known Web 2.0 tools: iGoogle and the rest of the Google suite have simplified the way I work online; flickr, VoiceThread, SlideShare, del.icio.us etc all allow me to access and share resources with fellow educators; and twitter, ning and another nameless social site (beginning with a ‘d’ and ending with an ‘o’ – ask Sue about this) have given me an entry point to a community of like-minded colleagues.

Of course edublogs is one of my favourites too.

But this post is really about some of the lesser-known but really useful tools I have used in the classroom.

Search Crystal

I’ve blogged about Search Crystal previously (on our brand new CMIS Technology Focus blog) and am repeating it here because it’s great.Check out the tour Create an acount for free, explore and learn a new way of searching.

Kayuda Mind Maps

My Year 11 VET English class used this to create collaborative mind maps and collect information from the web for assignments.Here’s the Try it Now SandboxI don’t know how this one has been missed by so many people – it’s worth waiting for the hampster to be bootstrapped!

Kerpoof

Great fun for everyone. No explanations needed. Create an account and get started – your class will love it.

I’m stopping here so you can go and explore – like Sue I will be featuring more of my favourites. Please share some of yours.

Schools across Australia are invited to host a 2020 School Summit during the three weeks commencing March 17th 2008. Teachers are asked to encourage their students to articulate and communicate their feelings and ideas for the future of Australia.

Interested students who are not at a participating school may submit feedback directly through the Summit website.

CMIS will be posting two separate series of VoiceThreads – one for younger students (middle/ upper primary and early adolescence) and one for older students (Late adolescence).

Both series will consist of 10 separate VoiceThreads, each concentrating on one of the 10 Critical Areas identified for discussion at the Australian 2020 Summit.

We will commence posting the VoiceThreads on Monday March 17th and will continue posting one each working day over the next two weeks. The VoiceThreads will remain available for comment until April 3rd (to allow for comments to be collated and submitted to the Australia 2020 site by the April 4th deadline)

Please feel free to use the introductory VoiceThread below to experiment with creating a VoiceThread account and recording comments.

Australian educational bloggers are invited to embed these VoiceThreads into their own blogs (or link to this one) Here is a sneak preview of the first topic (for older students) and the first topic for younger students.

To learn more about VoiceThread visit their excellent tutorial page.

Teachers please note: VoiceThread Terms of Service require users under the age of 13 to have parental permission to create their own accounts.

Check out the CMIS webpages on Student Safety Online for useful information

This  ‘oldie but a goodie’ was brought to my attention by Reg Whitely