Blogging for English as a second language (ESL), with “intro to blogger” (visual guide)

Kate M, one of the brilliant English as a second language (ESL) teachers at PRACE is thinking about using a blog to connect with her students. We talked about a few different ways to approach the idea: (NB: You can find these ideas also in a larger document over here at google docs.) Start with a single blog in broadcast mode. Put the teaching and learning activities up and send students to read or listen there. Dale Pobega’s ESL Club is a great example of this. Embed a video into Read More …

Jane Hart’s top100 technologies for teachers

Jane Hart has been researching teachers’ favourite technologies for teaching and learning for the past 5 years (UK). Here’s a slideshow of the world’s top 100 tools for learning (2011). What are your top 5 tools for learning? You have around 15 days to vote in the 2012 poll, via this link here. What do you think of the list? Please add your comment below. Top 100 Tools for Learning 2011 from Jane Hart

Email with students – Help File!!

I wrote before how Chris Mooney was trialling some email activities with her English as a second language (ESL) group. And i’d promised to make an easy-to-read visual guide to creating a google / gmail account. So here it is: Link to the PDF document in google docs  (..where you can download and print a copy – i’ve printed it in booklet form on A3 paper). The guide is licensed creative commons (cc-nc-sa) feedback very welcome.  I tried to embed the file directly here: it works, but then the page Read More …

e-learning conference in Bendigo (join virtually)

You may not be able to attend the Bendigo e-learning LearnLocal conference in person, but you can attend virtually. Happening Tomorrow!!Friday 27 July Via the ACE e-learning network, register for sessions. Whether or not you’ve experienced web conferencing via the connection of “Blackboard Collaborate”, you can always jump in and have a go. Attend a conference from your desk. The main event page here [Link]. (login required, it’s via the ACE e-learning network) Sessions via the network event page. Some great sessions on offer, more information via these links: Panel Session Read More …

WIKIs: setting your Notifications and posting a Discussion

Following on from that exciting ‘Advanced’ WIKI webinar in which nothing seemed to go right, I decided to produce a screencast on the topic of setting your Notifications to receive emails when someone posts a Discussion. Notifications are a powerful feature that makes your wiki interactive: everyone can follow the latest addition of content and discuss these collaboratively. At CNLC when a new member joins the Staffroom I advocate that the Notifications are set so that the new person can join in to group activities effectively. However, we’ve fallen behind Read More …

More email tips – using the gmail “labs” settings

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

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

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

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 …