windos7 ..? ick !

Michael ChalkLeave a commenttechnology

This old work laptop was due to have windos re-installed, so Fraser suggested i try the new “windos7” instead of xp. Things i do like about windos7 Windos “Explorer” (file manager) has a new keyboard shortcut for navigating up the file structure (about time); overall the “my computer” experience is greatly improved with breadcrumbs in the title bar (you can search deep inside folders you’ve just visited); the whole thing is more aesthetic.. some of the themes are almost attractive (i don’t believe it!); windos volume control finally gets some Read More …

Book reviewed!! (Digital Literacies by Lankshear & Knobel)

Michael Chalk1 Commentadult literacy, research

Finally! i’ve ploughed my way through Lankshear & Knobel’s “Digital Literacies: concepts, policies and practices.” (2008) Yes i’ve been reading it all year, but the final onslaught took me 4 days of sitting inside, during my holiday from work.. when the springtime sun was shining outside. How do i always manage to forget that academic reading can be horribly difficult!! If you’re out of practice, you need to diligently take notes on every page.. or you may as well not have read it. Anyway, it’s done now, handed over to Read More …

New bloggers on the 23 things project

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

As well as Ancy and Soheir from PRACE, and Megan from Thornbury.. we now have Trish from Thornbury and Deb from Employment Focus joining us on this adventure. What about going to visit their site.. and offer them support with a comment? Oh go on, do! thanks and kind regards, michael Remember all the course learning materials are online at the 23 Things site. image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much: pyjama.

New bloggers on the 23 things project

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, professional development

As well as Ancy and Soheir from PRACE, and Megan from Thornbury.. we now have Trish from Thornbury and Deb from Employment Focus joining us on this adventure. What about going to visit their site.. and offer them support with a comment? Oh go on, do! thanks and kind regards, michael Remember all the course learning materials are online at the 23 Things site. image and photo credits: licensed under creative commons at flickr: Thanks very much: pyjama.

Coming to grips with “Latest Headlines” (aka RSS)

Michael ChalkLeave a commenttechnology

There’s so much to read on the web.. you might want to keep in touch with several sites at once. for example i like to follow the news headlines from The Age, and my favourite radio shows on the ABC. You could visit each site individually.. or you could use an “RSS reader” to keep in touch with the latest updates. Rss readers are becoming increasingly popular. google has a good reader.. which you have access to if you’ve signed up for blogger dot com or any other google service. Read More …

Coming to grips with "Latest Headlines" (aka RSS)

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, how to

There’s so much to read on the web.. you might want to keep in touch with several sites at once. for example i like to follow the news headlines from The Age, and my favourite radio shows on the ABC. You could visit each site individually.. or you could use an “RSS reader” to keep in touch with the latest updates. Rss readers are becoming increasingly popular. google has a good reader.. which you have access to if you’ve signed up for blogger dot com or any other google service. Read More …

Photos and slideshows on the web

Michael ChalkLeave a commentUncategorized

flickr is a terrific site for images. You can search other people’s work, comment on their photos, make contacts.. and share your own photography as well. Suggestion for your own learning: As you browse flickr, think about what makes it a successful site.. and post a reflection in your blog. Add a photo to illustrate. Read more about working with photos on the flexivet 23 Things wiki. Images add an extra dimension to the web, engaging your readers. A good blog post has: some kind of multimedia (eg image, video, Read More …

Photos and slideshows on the web

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, professional development

flickr is a terrific site for images. You can search other people’s work, comment on their photos, make contacts.. and share your own photography as well. Suggestion for your own learning: As you browse flickr, think about what makes it a successful site.. and post a reflection in your blog. Add a photo to illustrate. Read more about working with photos on the flexivet 23 Things wiki. Images add an extra dimension to the web, engaging your readers. A good blog post has: some kind of multimedia (eg image, video, Read More …

Indigenous Australian map.. inspiring & interactive use of google maps

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy, e-learning, innovation

Impressive use of google maps over at the ABC web site. Moira and i were discussing this map of indigenous Australian languages.. so i looked to find some copies online while she looked in the book-on-shelf style atlas. Snap! We got our results at the same time. Since i first viewed the map (large poster print), i’ve loved the way it gives a sense of how geography has shaped cultural and language groupings over many thousands of years. You can almost see the mountains, the desert, the rivers reflected in Read More …

Writings Reclaimed

Michael ChalkLeave a commenttechnology

I decided to bring posts to this blog from other projects, such as: Digital Learning at PRACE Digital Learning at Lalor Living and Learning ACFE Learn Local Communities of Practice the North-West e-mentor projects from ACFE Learn Local iPad for Seniors at PRACE the 23 Things project from ACFE, CAE and PRACE.   Having written nearly all the text in those places, i wanted gather it all together. It was relatively easy to export from Blogger, and then import into WordPress here. Unfortunately, now i’ve discovered several roadblocks, namely: the Read More …

Mark Hopkins’ story translated into many languages

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

You remember Mark Hopkins, the adult learner from PRACE who told his story so well, not only in our publication, but also on the SBS Insight tv program last year? Well, some of the stories from this Resilience collection have been translated into other languages for the EPALE* site, and the first story to be translated was Mark’s. *EPALE: Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe. https://goo.gl/XqROOX

Adult Learners in Conversation – “A Fuller Sense of Self”

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Last night Tricia Bowen spoke about her experience of reconnecting with the adult learners who have shared their stories in this volume. I talked about how great it was to join with Tricia and Lynne in the whole creative and collaborative process of editing. Then Lynne Matheson invited us to launch the video into the world, so we all made rocket-launching sounds, and the champagne flowed. * It was such a good experience filming and editing these stories with Tricia. I would love to hear any feedback, especially related to Read More …

Reading between the Lines – SBS Insight focus on Adult Literacy

Michael ChalkLeave a commentadult literacy

If you think Australia is a highly literate nation, watch this recent episode of Insight from SBS. This powerful and moving episode features Mark Hopkins one of the students from PRACE. I spoke with Mark as part of the “Stories of Resilience” project, and it’s really heartening to hear his voice in this national forum. All these adult learners show real courage and vulnerability, as they describe their experience for people who have no idea of the extent of this hidden problem. Over 40% of Australians experience some level of difficulty Read More …

Dark Side of the Comment Section

Michael ChalkLeave a commentcommunity, technology

If you’re involved with any kind of online facilitation, you may appreciate this article from The Guardian. They’ve done some research into the comment section, finding that much more abuse is directed at female writers than male. (Also, for web designers, some really good layout effects, especially the way they’ve integrated the graphs and the “how would you moderate this comment” bits.) There’s a whole series around this research, articles interviewing people who have experienced the maelstrom of massive online shaming and bullying.. and articles on ideas for making things Read More …

PageTurners has a new online shop

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, adult literacy, community

Just sent out the latest PageTurners newsletter, letting people know that the new shopping-cart style website is up and running!! It’s taken me much time this year to get the site all updated and e-commercey, so i’m very happy that we’ve finally launched. Woot. You can read the newsletter here. Take a look at the site, tell us what you think. Oh, we need a feedback form don’t we. If you’re not subscribed to the PageTurners email list, you can join via the website.

iPad apps especially for Seniors??

Michael ChalkLeave a commentace, technology

I wondered if there are any iPad apps that would be especially useful for people over 55, so i searched the web for  “best apps for ipad for seniors“. Sure enough, there are many many lists: “16 helpful apps for seniors”, “27 bet iPad and iPhone apps for senior citizens”. But are any of them useful.. and how many of these apps are FREE..? Well, some of them are designed to help people by improving things like: Visual accessibility: Silver Surf is a web browser with “large navigation buttons, dynamic text Read More …

Some help files for blogger

Michael ChalkLeave a commenthow to

Here’s a basic intro that Michael made – for low level students really (link: pdf stored in google drive). GCF LearnFree don’t have an intro to blogger, but they do have a great section talking about blogs in general, and an intro to Tumblr instead. Tumblr is much more visual than blogger, which can be text-heavy. Google themselves have a fairly decent help section. Grovo has a few videos showing the basics, including this overview. But they’re a commercial mob, and they’ll want you to pay for more. What good Read More …

Skills you may need (blogging)

Michael ChalkLeave a commenthow to

What are the the basics of blogging? make new blog, with title & web address (URL) hopefully at a time when google is not policing your IP address make new post  add & format text add images make links save draft / publish get people interested in reading your blog post knowledge you may need Ideas for engaging learners with online activities.  Ideas for adapting your already brilliant teaching and learning knowledge into online spaces.  On writing for the web  keep it as visual as possible  make your text very Read More …