Interesting stuff I’ve found

This is a bit of a list of interesting things I’ve found in the past day or so. I hadn’t realised there was such a community of people interested in technology in education or tech-eds as I just read. I know I could (indeed should, and probably will) bookmark this stuff on del.icio.us, but one of the reasons I started this blog was to log my research because I know that I just won’t go back and look it all up on del.icio.us.

• Human: for fellow teachers
• Learn 4 Life
• ICT in my classroom
• Tania Kennedy at UTS
• Teaching with Technology: Practical ideas for using Web2.0 in the Primary Classroom

Also, after having spent some time looking at edublogs (reading other peoples’ blogs), I’m loving the look of the pages. This is because edublogs is powered by WordPress, and therefore is themeable/skinable. So, my next task (once I’ve read those blogs a bit and got some more ideas) will be to transport my blog over there.

I am really glad I shifted my blog to edublogs. There are so many interesting blogs hosted here, the interface is so much more user-friendly, and I got to choose a theme for my blog. I might not stick with it, but for now it’s better than the standard theme. I guess that’s something I can tick off the blog-checklist.

Wow. I’d like to say that I’m speechless, because that’s how powerful this should be… but I’m not speechless I’m so amazed that the words are just zooming out of me!

I stumbled across a link to Dave Truss’ “Do not go quietly into the classroom” and I LOVE it

His slideshow “Brave New World-Wide-Web” makes it really obvious just how useful and empowering web2.0 really can be for education.

I will keep this slideshow “up my sleeve” for next year. It might be parents, community members, students, or colleagues or maybe all of them, but I just have a feeling that this is a resource that will make my life easier when I start doing some exciting Web2.0 stuff.

I’ve been wandering around edublogs becomming more and more enthused about blogging, and about the possibilities for my teaching next year. On my journey I came across this post from tilgnas:

Blog Design Checklist
Check this list to make sure you included all the items. To get an “A,” your blog must have all these features.

-Pick a theme – you can’t use the default (the original theme).
-Your theme choice must have at least one sidebar.
-You must create a new title for your blog.
-You must have a quote under your blog’s title (or in a widget).
-You must have all the required widgets (you decide the order, add more if you want to):
o Pages
o Links
o Recent Posts
o Archives
o Recent Comments
o RSS 1
o Meta
- You must create and upload an avatar. Go to the LMSResources wiki (http://lmsresources.pbwiki.com) and click on the “For Fun and Learning” page for links to avatar sites.
-Your blogroll must have at least two links:
o a link to Beginnings (http://lmsilgunas.edublogs.org)
o a link to LMS Resources (http://lmsresources.pbwiki.com/)
- You must have erased all the default items.
- You must add your first post.
- Leave respectful, thoughtful comments for the people in your group.

I think this may come in handy if I use blogs in my teaching next year, and if I don’t at least it’s something that I can aspire to with my own blog

Also, I found Dave Truss’ post on Blog Rules which may be handy.