Color Splash

A great app for making your photos really stand out in presentations!

iTunes description

Developer website

Claiming back dinnertime

Whether this technology exists or not is not the main point of this video clip.
Comment below on ways in which you connect, as a family, at home.

"Clemenger BBDO Sydney executive creative director Paul Nagy said: “I have three daughters, aged four to 13, and I can tell you that the more connected the world is, the more disconnected we are at home. If I’ve got a problem with my iPad, I hand it to my four year-old to fix it for me."

Additional information:

http://mumbrella.com.au/dolmio-creates-pepper-grinder-which-powers-down-wifi-in-order-to-have-a-tech-free-dinner-283891

Online Safety for G1 - 3 - Hectors' World!

Often we are asked how we teach digital safety online.  Digital safety is part of responsible digital citizenship which is included as part of the SFS essential competencies. It is normally covered as part of the RUA (Responsible Use Agreement) and as part of lessons that incorporate the internet.  We also have discrete lessons that deal with this.  It is also a crossover area with school counseling.

This year Ms Park (ES Counselor) and Ms Carpenter (Digital Learning Coach and Counseling Intern) have teamed up to cover this topic.  We are trialling an award winning program from New Zealand called Hector's World.  It follows the animated adventures of Hector the Dolphin and his friends, as they explore some of the exciting opportunities that technology brings, while at the same time, learning about being safe and responsible cyber citizens.

If you like, you can look at the episodes yourself or with your child online at Hector's World.  The site also has some great resources in a specially dedicated area for parents.

The students are really enjoying the episodes and they have been a great launching point for discussions - not just about safety, but about who we can trust.  One of the most important concepts that our students have been learning is that if something happens online that worries or upsets them, they should seek help from a trusted adult.  Other concepts we have covered include learning to recognise when something does not feel right, and the importance of only sharing personal information with people we can trust.

Grade 4/5 students are also visiting some online safety and digital citizenship lessons at present, but these are using a different resource.  More about that to come!

Why Integrate Technology into the Curriculum?: The Reasons Are Many

There's a place for tech in every classroom.

By Edutopia

Edutopia Team

Quite a bit still relevant even from MARCH 16, 2008

Technology is ubiquitous, touching almost every part of our lives, our communities, our homes. Yet most schools lag far behind when it comes to integrating technology into classroom learning.

• The following group of short articles is full of great information.

4 Things You Can Do Right Now To Create A Perfectly Organized Google Drive (Google Guru)

Proper folder structure, naming conventions, color coding, and keeping track of what is shared with you can go a long way when used properly. These 4 tips show the best way to organize your Google Drive for faster navigation so you never lose track of a document again.

1. Folder Structure Comes First

The best starting point is creating a clean universal folder structure. An easy way to do this is to create a folder for each category of document and then make subfolders for each aspect of that category.

An ‘uncategorized’ folder can house all the documents that don’t fit into any of the other folders yet. Scan through the ‘uncategorized’ folder regularly and sort its contents into the appropriate labeled folders if possible.

Within each subfolder, it is a good practice to create folders that are dated by week to keep track of the dates each document is created, that way no folder becomes too full and difficult to sort through.

To create a folder click the red NEW button and then select the option for folder.




2. Add Some Color

Google Drive has an awesome feature that allows you to color code your folders, this can be done in such a way that makes sifting through your drive much faster.

If you made each folder in my drive a different color and then each subfolder a different shade of that same color. The dated weekly folders within each subfolder are the same shade as the subfolder it is contained within. This way, if you're looking at a folder titled “April 6-12” you can instantly tell what types of documents are contained in it simply by glancing at its hue.

To change the color of a folder click the arrow to the right of the folder name on the top bar then select the change color option.






3. Standardize Your Naming Conventions

Date created is a mysteriously absent field in Google Drive, instead you can only view when a document was last updated. Finding a document by it’s creation date is sometimes useful and more intuitive, which should be considered when designing your naming convention.

We think it is best to name every document in the following way “[DateCreated] DocumentName” and then let the folder structure and color coding do the rest. For example a student loan payment receipt created on the 19th of April would be titled “[4.19] Student Loan Payment Receipt” this will be easy to find whether you are searching for the date or the title of the document.

To rename a document, highlight the documents name in Drive and then click the three vertical dots on the right side of the top bar. Then select rename.

4. Shared with you, organized by you

When a document is shared with you, it can be hard to locate because it is not automatically added to your My Drive folder. Make sure to add the file to the appropriate folder in your My Drive. If it does not adhere to your naming conventions, create a folder that fits the naming convention and add the shared file to that folder.

To add a document that is shared with you to your My Drive, highlight the document in the Shared with Me folder and then click the three vertical dots on the right side of the top bar and select Add to My Drive from the dropdown menu.

4 Things You Can Do Right Now To Create A Perfectly Organized Google Drive | The Gooru. (2015, April 21). Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://www.thegooru.com/4-things-you-can-do-right-now-to-create-a-perfectly-organized-google-drive/?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonuq3AZKXonjHpfsX56uQoXa+1lMI/0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASsFnI+SLDwEYGJlv6SgFTbHMMat6w7gKWxc=

Teacher Guides for Technology

These guides come in very handy for every teacher looking to better integrate technology into his/her teaching. They are very simple,developed in a step-by-step process,  illustrated by pictures, diagrams, video tutorials, and examples, and concluded with a webliography containing links to a variety of other websites relevant to the topic under discussion. Pedagogical implications are included in the review of the web tools featured in the guides.

Blogs & Wikis

Teacher's Guide on The Use of Blogs in Teaching

Teacher's Guide on The Use of Wikis in Education

Social Networking

Teacher's Comprehensive Guide on The Use of Social Networking in Education
Teachers' Easy Guide to Social Learning
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Facebook in Education
Educators Guide on The Use of Pinterest in Education
Teacher's Guide to Chat Acronyms and Text Message Short hands
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Skype in Education

iPads

Teacher's Guide on The Use of iPad in Education
A Quick Guide to Teaching with iPad
Teachers Guide to Create eBooks on iPad Using iBook Author
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Google Docs in The iPad
A Free Comprehensive Guide to iPad Apps Evaluation
A Quick Guide on Bloom's Taxonomy iPad Apps


Presentation

Teacher's Guide on The Use of Graphic Organizers in The Classroom
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Evernote in Education
Teacher's Guide on The Use of QR Codes in The Classroom

Google Apps

Teachers Easy Guide to Google Best Services
Teacher's Simple Guide on The Use of Google Forms in The Classroom
Teacher's Definitive Guide to Google Search Skills
The Entire Guide to Google Search Features for Teachers
The Entire Guide to Google Free Tools for Teachers and Students
Teacher's Guide to All Google Tips in EducationTeacher's Guide to The Most Important Web Tools in Education


Teacher FocussedTeacher's Guide to Blended Learning
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Games in EducationTeacher's Guide on how To Evaluate Web Content for Classroom Inclusion
The Ultimate Guide to The 21st Century Critical Thinking Skills for Teachers and Students
Teacher's Guide to The Importance of Learning from Mistakes and Errors
Teacher's Guide to Flipped Classroom
A Simple Guide to All That Teachers Need to Know about Digital Citizenship
Teacher's Guide to Creativity
Teacher's Guide on The Use of Personal Learning Networks in Education
Great Guide to Summer Learning Activities