Dynamic PowerTrainer

Dynamic PowerTrainer
"Dynamic PowerTrainer® is a proven eLearning authoring software tool to create, run and manage eLearning content. It's a user-friendly, state-of-the art solution, offering an impressive price/performance ratio."
Download a free trial version

Statins for learning disorders?

UCLA Scientists Use Statins To Overcome Learning Disabilities In Mice
In a surprise twist that recalls the film classic "Flowers for Algernon," but adds a happy ending, UCLA scientists used statins, a popular class of cholesterol drugs, to reverse the attention deficits linked to the leading genetic cause of learning disabilities. The Nov. 8 issue of Current Biology reports the findings, which were studied in mice bred to develop the disease, called neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1).  Article continues

Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon – smokeless version
In the great green room, there is a telephone, and a red balloon, but no ashtray. "Goodnight Moon," the children's classic by Margaret Wise Brown, has gone smoke free.
In a newly revised edition of the book, which has lulled children to sleep for nearly 60 years, the publisher, HarperCollins, has digitally altered the photograph of Clement Hurd, the illustrator, to remove a cigarette from his hand.  Article continues

Teacher standards

Reframing the debate
Letter from SMH today. Now this is 'reframing the debate'Double standards again?Dr Brendan Nelson continues to disparage the literacy of university graduates ("Teachers told: prove you can read and write", November 8). He also frequently criticises numeracy standards among Australian students. At the same time the Government insists that all workers, regardless of education, can readily understand the personal and financial implications of a complex workplace agreement offered by their employer. Am I missing something here?Steve Bright, North Avoca

Filters hinder research

Study: Overzealous filters hinder research
The internet-content filters most commonly used by schools block needed, legitimate content more often than not, according to a study by a university librarian. Her report was presented at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Pittsburgh last week.  Article continues

The value of reading to children

Does reading to children help them learn to read?
“Eric Durbrow pointed me to this article in the Globe and Mail. Its lead sentence offers a surprising claim:
Parents take note: Reading to your preschoolers before bedtime doesn’t mean they are likely to learn much about letters, or even how to read words.”
And my comment has to be that they will learn so much more.  Visit my page on literacy and find the multitude of sites that prove the value of reading to children.  

ITs Now ICTs 2006

IT’s Now ICT’s 2006

Date: 18th April (Pupil-free day for State Schools)  
Time: 8.30 am – 3.15 pm.
Venue: Morayfield State High School, Visentin Rd Morayfield.
 
IT’s Now ICTs! 2006 will happen at Morayfield SHS on Tuesday 18th April 2006. The day will feature a range of ICT activities and workshops for primary and secondary teachers, supported by presentations and trade exhibits promoting the latest in educational hardware and software.
 
In-service opportunities available on the day include:  
 
Use of Wacom Pen Tablets in the classroom
Digital multimedia applications using Macromedia
New technologies such as digital white board
Flash animation and web page making
Visual Communicator and Movie Maker 2
PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Word
Tools to make school administration tasks easier
Web Mail and searching the web.
Learning Place web pages and tools
Curriculum Exchange and Macquarie Net
Robotics and Technology
Concept Mapping Software
PDA Computing in the curriculum and more…
Activities for all ability levels from beginner to advanced.
  
Invitation to Present a Session
 
If you or one of your staff members can present a session on the day, please send a brief synopsis of the topic so it can be added to the program. Session presenters will receive free registration for the day.
 
Please mark this event in your diaries for 2006. More information will be available closer to the date.

Students in a digital age: some implications of ICT for teaching and learning

"...not only have advances in technology changed the way today’s learners communicate and socialise, but have fundamentally impacted the way they approach learning. Already, the fields of technology and education have been all but inextricably linked ..." Read the whole report

Web universities ranking on the web

Lists the world’s top universities by their web presence – research published and how much it is cited. Top 1000 and top 100 for each country are just 2 of the rankings included.

Education Podcast Network

Education Podcast Network
ABOUT EPN
The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century

Reading

For years, studies have shown that the most significant therapy for young offenders is not Outward Bound camps, not psychological counselling, not tough love or family healing, but remedial reading. While no one would deny the importance of all those other approaches to troubled, destructive behaviour, many studies for over 30 years have consistently shown that help with literacy has a more profound and lasting impact on the rehabilitation of antisocial kids than anything else.  Read the whole article

OAses for open access

Oases, the Open Access Toolbar
OAses, a toolbar for Internet Explorer, is designed to make internet searching easier for students, academicians and scientists.  OAses searches many open access resources, free databases, and search engines.

The real Shakespeare

Focus: Is this an impostor I see before me?
Scholars claim they have finally identified the real Shakespeare. But the drama is not over yet. Richard Woods reports The most enigmatic and mysterious drama ever created by William Shakespeare is about to reach its denouement. Or so certain scholars hope.
This tragi-comedy — let’s call it Where Art Thou, Will? — has for years beguiled and bamboozled audiences with a simple theme: who really wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare? The answer, say these scholars, will be revealed in a book to be launched on October 19 at the Globe theatre in London, a replica of the playhouse where Shakespeare once trod the stage.  Article continues

Games in Higher Ed: When Halo 2, Civilization IV, and Xbox 360 Come to Campus
The evolving technologies committee is charged with identifying and monitoring evolving technologies and their impact on higher education institutions. This submission is on gaming in higher education.

UQ is a `hub` for new online teaching facilities
The University of Queensland is one of only seven universities worldwide taking part in an international online collaboration to improve the student learning experience.

UMass first Microsoft IT Showcase School

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst has been designated Microsoft Corp.'s first-ever "Information Technology Showcase School," under a new Microsoft program that aims to highlight IT excellence in higher education. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer made the announcement at the university's W.E.B. Du Bois Library as UMass-Amherst officially opened its new technology center, the Learning Commons....
Article continues

Leigh Blackall critiques how digital literacy, for the use of social software, affects teaching practices in Australian education in Digital literacy: How it affects teaching practices and networked learning futures - a proposal for action research.

Teachers Domain

Teachers' Domain
“is a multimedia digital library for the classroom that provides learning experiences in ways no textbook can.”
RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators
Whether you're just starting out with Weblogs and related technologies or you've dug in pretty hard, this RSS Quick Start Guide for Educators (.pdf) will hopefully help you see the potential for RSS feeds in your classroom.

Playsport

Welcome to PlaySport - an awesome website with all kinds of great activities designed to teach kids games by playing games!
PlaySport allows you to search for activities based on the equipment you have, the skills you want to teach, the complexity of the game or the space you have available.
Teachers, coaches and camp counselors can all benefit from this resource.
PlaySport games encourage fun, free play while helping kids develop the skills needed to participate in all kinds of sports.

Yahoo bans teens from chat rooms

YAHOO will ban under-18s from chat rooms as part of an agreement with the US states of New York and Nebraska designed to prevent predators using the online meeting places.

Yahoo's decision, which includes an undertaking to shut down chat rooms used by predators, marked the first time an internet media company has employed system-wide controls over chat rooms, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and his Nebraska counterpart Jon Bruning said. Article continues

Want to know more about designing interactivity? Visit Interactivity for design suggestions, evaluations and promotional ideas and much more...

Facing the Future develops young people’s capacity and commitment to create thriving, sustainable, and peaceful local and global communities. We do this by equipping teachers and schools with the tools and strategies to help students:
• Understand global issues and sustainability in a way that shows the connections between population, environment, consumption, poverty and conflict
• Develop a global perspective
• Learn critical thinking skills Be inspired to take personal action

School orders students to remove blogs

A Roman Catholic high school has ordered its students to remove their online diaries from the internet, citing a threat from cyberpredators. Article continues