Author: Michael Chalk

More email tips – using the gmail “labs” settings

Michael Chalk1 Commenthow to, Uncategorized

It’s always challenging to learn your way into a new software tool.You know how the old application behaves – its shortcuts and folders. The new application might confound your expectations, with different models of behaviour^^. At PRACE, we are now using the google-owned gmail to send and receive messages in-house**. And while using the PRACE gmail account to send messages, you may be interested in the more experimental side of things. Did you know you can set up a default text styling, for example?That you can have your text looking a particular way in Read More …

Photos from the E-showcase12

Michael Chalk3 CommentsUncategorized

Here are a few images from the very successful and superbly organised day at William Angliss Conference centre on 22 June 2012. I’m quite impressed with the features of the photo uploader and photoshow tool at the Learn Local NING,  I’ll grab the Embed code and see if I can share the Photoshow here. Find more photos like this on Learn Local e-learning networkWell, it’s worked: though as with all trials, there are a few hiccups. I’m not sure why the images autoplay in reverse order, and the captions have Read More …

e-showcase: follow from your desk

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

If you didn’t make it to the e-learning showcase today, you can follow the twitter feed using the “hashtag” #eshow12Ie: via this linkhttps://twitter.com/search/#eshow12 (I think)Michael Or, failing that, try this one: http://visibletweets.com/#query=%23eshow12&animation=2A very novel tool for displaying all the tweets with a particular hashtag!Thanks Michael and Leo Here’s a sample:  I know how you feel, Dale. If there was a second ipad to win, you’d deserve to win it as much as me…. JK

How to manage your contacts in the gmail

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

A few people around PRACE were asking about how to create groups of contacts in the google-based PRACE email system. (Also known as gmail.) So Michael’s written a help guide for managing email contacts. You can create a list of people, for example language and literacy teachers, and then use a shortcut to send a message to all these teachers in one go. Here’s the help file. It’s in PDF format (Link), and it’s in the google docs system – meaning you’ll need your PRACE login to get a copy. Read More …

Get a load of Stephen Fry (madly linguistic podgram)

Michael ChalkLeave a commentprofessional development

I’m listening to Stephen Fry’s podgram on my android phone. And he’s so delightful, as he explores the innards of his linguistic perspective, that i feel the urge to share. But i didn’t take notes, so now i don’t recall anything that he said. Think maybe i need to work on my auditory memory. Oh i’ve just realised from the wikipedia page, that it dates back to 2008. Link to the episode on his webble site, including all kinds of subscribing options. Link to the audio file here:

“Advanced wikispaces skills” session challenges presenters!

Michael Chalk4 CommentsUncategorized

Jill and michael ran a session on the advanced aspects of wikispaces. Clearly nobody feels “advanced”, because we were alone in the session. However, we thought that some skills were worth demonstrating anyway. So we went ahead, intending to record the presentation for possible future value, and also to share some tips & strategies with each other. Here’s the menu we started with: The large menu was designed to give people a choice (too much for one session) ..so we decided to focus on only 3 of the skills. Okay Read More …

More voice-overs for PageTurners (via Soundcloud)

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy, technology

So, as well as embedding voice-overs into the PageTurners website, i thought there must be a way that other people could embed the stories in their own sites as well. Sure enough, these days there are a few different ways to do this. One i’m trying out now is via Soundcloud. Woo-hoo! It works. But does it work in the land of iPad? Okay, back to editing the audio originals. Ned Kelly next, by Anne Dunn.

For Blended Learning, just add ingredients and press ‘Blend’

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

This month we had the opportunity to spend some time with some North West Region e-leaders to explore a number of simple techniques to use Powerpoint in the classroom as an interactive teaching tool. We were inspired by Rob Lewis from the British Council (previously blogged here) to have a go, and to work out what techniques he was using to speed up the production process so that we (humble educators) can, with little effort, become producers of e-learning resources. Ha! Is it really that simple? Let’s review some of Read More …

Face-to-face networking

Michael Chalk1 CommentUncategorized

In spite of our need to keep in touch via various communication technologies (telephone, web conferencing etc), it’s always great to get together in the same room at the same time. Face to face. And there are so many people in ACE e-learning doing great work across the North-West region of Melbourne. On the first of May, we were joined by some wonderful educators and managers from: Glenroy Neighbourhood Learning Centre,  North Melbourne language and literacy, Meadow Heights Learning Shop, Djerriwarrh Employment and Education Services, Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre (CNLC),  Read More …