Design a software application for the SMART Table, and you’ll have the chance to win your own SMART Table.
Prizes
The grand prize for the contest is a SMART Table. SMART will also promote the winning application on the SMART website for one year, giving your school the potential to establish a revenue stream.
Click Here to find out more.
Spotted this in my journey through the blogosphere : Plagiarismadvice.org - a website provided by JISC to provide advice on plagiarism. It includes resources for avoiding plagiarism, discussion as to why pupils do plagiarise and how to avoid it. The website also provides guidance on developing information literacy skills in using electronic sources.
November 18th, 2008
Freak
Becta has unveiled the new Next Generation Learning campaign website, as part of its drive to parents, learners and employers to get the most out of technology in education.
The website is a key resource to find out more about the innovative and exciting ways that technology is already being used by some schools and organisations to improve engagement, motivation and results. New on the Next Generation Learning website is a postcode search facility for parents to find out which schools in their area are using technology effectively. These are the schools that are already using technology to a high standard and have received the prestigious ICT Mark. Research indicates that ICT Mark accredited schools are four times more likely to be rated as outstanding in the overall effectiveness category of Ofsted inspection reports. Pupils at ICT Mark schools are also more likely to achieve better results.
For more information go to the Next Generation Learning website at www.nextgenerationlearning.org.uk
Finally Animoto is Free to Educator!
From Animoto… “Since launching our site in August, we’ve heard countless stories about how useful Animoto has been as a tool for educators to use with students. While we never originally thought Animoto would be something that could be used in the classroom, we’ve been both surprised and inspired by hearing how effective Animoto has been. We feel like this is one area we can do our duty to ‘give back’ a little.
If you are interested, we’d like to give you a ‘Classroom Code’ that’ll give each of your students a free All-Access pass (unlimited full-length videos for a whole year) upon signing up with this code. And you can use Animoto with your students however you wish. Keep in mind that videos can be viewed full-screen for classroom presentations.
Students’ Animoto videos can now also be downloaded to your desktop we’ve heard this is often more conducive for class presentations because you can view videos without being dependent on an internet connection and without the “Distractions” of the website.
The only thing we ask is that you keep us posted with the creative ways you find to use Animoto in the classroom. Our goal is to put together a collection that becomes a hub of sorts for teachers who use web 2.0 technology in a clever, innovative and fun way.
Click Here to find out more
Just in case you hadn’t heard, the final release version of Smart Notebook 10 is now available for download.
Click Here to download Smart Notebook 10
“New features include tables, object animations, page themes, shape recognition, page recording, a proper fill tool and fill effects, object alignment
My particular favourite is the magic pen which lets you draw a circle and have it turn into a spotlight!”
To download the software you’ll need a valid serial number for a Smartboard or Airliner tablet.
September 21st, 2007
Freak
I’ve just spotted this through my RSS feed of Teachers TV Documentaries, that there are now three progs about VLEs.
Choosing a VLE
Director of e-learning at Queen Elizabeth School, Mark McNulty provides a frank appraisal of what’s involved in rolling out a new learning platform. programme also looks in detail at the debate around open source, free software and packages provided by the big commercial suppliers
VLES in Action
Discusses how a VLE can make learning an “anytime, anywhere” experience.
A Review of VLE Resources
Update your knowledge about teaching resources; this special edition focuses on learning platforms and associated applications for both primary and secondary schools.
September 17th, 2007
Freak
The digital revolution has allowed ‘ordinary’ people to get usable software for word processing, desktop publishing and graphics to improve their communication on paper. Web 2.0 applications allow ordinary people to create blogs, wikis and websites. But creativity and particularly interactivity has traditionally been the domain of the programmer.
How many times have you looked at some of the polished interactive content generated by publishing companies and wanted a tool to create similar learning content? Things are changing! RM has recently been displaying a content creation tool called ‘Fuse’. The product developed by one of RM’s companies 3T, allows ‘lay users’ to create interactive learning content without the need for expensive programmers and web designers.
The learning materials created by Fuse can work on anything that’s compatible with Adobe’s Flash software – that includes PC and Mac web browsers, most handheld computers and many current models of mobile phones. The implications are exciting but RM is still on its learning journey.
I’ve been doing some research into future classrooms and schools and came across the following site from The KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Institute of the Future. The interactive map shows the significant overlap between technology and physical community spaces, and their interplay with schools. By clicking on an element of the map more detail is displayed with even an invitation to a discussion board. The map is a powerful visualisation of what are very complex issues.
http://www.kwfdn.org/map/map.aspx
