Cite U Like

The new generation of internet, ‘Web 2.0’ really highlights the direction the net is taking. No longer is it a read only web, where you go to research and find information. Instead the strengths of the web have become its read-write
nature, allowing collaboration between people who are geographically distant. Wikis,
page flakes and google apps are just some of the applications that let you do
this.

Net citizens are finding many ways to take advantage of this collaborative benefit, one such site is http://www.citeulike.org/.

From the site ... CiteULike is a free service to help academics to share, store, and organise the academic papers they are reading.
When you see a paper on the web that interests you, you can click one button and have it added to your personal library. CiteULike automatically extracts the citation details, so there's no need to type them in yourself. It all works
from within your web browser. There's no need to install any special software. Because your library is stored on the server,
you can access it from any computer. You can share your library with others,
and find out who is reading the same papers as you. In turn, this can help you discover literature which is relevant to your field but you may not have known about.

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the $100 laptop

Just listened to a TED talk by Nicholas Negroponte regarding his 1 laptop per child initiative. Makes for interesting listening.

http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=n_negroponte

His motivations and vision are truly inspiring.

Negroponte's initial comments on schooling really sum up the benefits ICTs bring to education ... up to the age of around 5 we learn by interacting with our environment. We then attend a formalised education system where things change and we expect students to start learning by reading a book or being told how to do something. Is this the most effective and truly empowering method of learning?? ICTs are able to provide experiential learning being driven by the learner.

He uses the example of learning to walk. You don't read a book or get told how to walk and then learn to walk. You learn to walk by actually trying it out and interacting with your environment. So what makes us think that a traditional classroom will produce a generation of really creative thinkers. ICTs take off where traditional teaching method stop allowing the student to get into the 'thinking zone' much more easily.

IWB for all schools announced

According to an article in today's SMH ... Under a new initiative all NSW schools will be given an IWB.

The positives:

• The new boards will come with video-conferencing facilities so that students will be able to connect to other schools and join in classes at remote locations.
• There are plans to increase band width to schools

See the complete article in today SMH
http://www.smh.com.au/news/schools/classroom-revolution-as-schools-connected-to-world
/2007/03/16/1173722745511.html

... my question is when will these boards be backlit so you don't have to dodge your shadow??

... who will provide training so they don't just get used as glorified whiteboards?

... do we really need an IWB, can't you get the same benefits by increasing bandwidth, using a webcam and a projector and all at a fraction of the cost.

I smell an election!

Interactive Whiteboards

Just as I was beginning to warm to interactive whiteboards I saw this video … http://www.readme.com.au/flash.html .

I think we are really missing the point with the IWB technology … I don’t think that filling in a cloze passage on an interactive whiteboard (or in front of a computer screen for that matter) is going to improve student literacy more than students using the good old pencil and paper.

… I liked the line about the ‘black line masters that are fully reproducible’ … this just makes me SO excited ;)

There has to be a better way to use IWBs or am I missing something?