Leopold Primary School TPL

I have created a new blog about Integrating Technology in the Primary Classroom.
Visit it now at http://primarytech.globalteacher.org.au

Check out the page on the left for a list of some useful Interactive Whiteboard websites. There are lots of free games, activities and other resources available on the Internet. Leave a comment if you have any more to add!

Matt Limb recently conducted a workshop for staff on using a video camera and editing with Ulead VideoStudio. VideoStudio is an easy to use video editing and disc authoring software for creating professional-looking videos and slide shows which you can share in any format (DVD, mobile, YouTube etc).

Check out the notes here

camera-selection                    video-studio-11

This video by Nokia was played at the Geelong eLearning conference and gives an interesting insight into how technology has impacted on our society over time. It talks about the “fourth screen” which means devices such as mobiles and pocket PCs now allow us to communicate and access information “anywhere and anytime”. This has an impact on the way we are teaching our students as they are growing up in this “fourth screen era” and will be adults working and living in this technological environment. We need to prepare students for the world in which they are and will be living in. Check it out!

On Friday 5th September, a group of teachers from L.P.S. went the the Geelong eLearing Conference at Grovedale College.

Andrew Douch opened the conference with a look into podcasting and how eLearning can be used to increase student engagement and performance. We then attended four workshops which we chose from the many on offer. Some popular ones with L.P.S staff were animation, Inspriation, podcasting, blogs, IWBs, Garageband and mobile phones/iMovie.

Here is a short movie Kelly Jordan and I made at the animation workshop using Stop Motion , Audacity and Windows Movie Maker. It was a lot of fun and something we’d love to try in the classroom!

birds-finding-a-nest

(If it won’t open the first time, try again!)

Last week, our Grade Three and Four teachers had a fantastic Professional Development day about ipod Touches and Podcasting.

We were recently successful in a DEECD Emerging Technology Trial Grant and purchased 8 ipod Touches that we are going to trial in the Grade Three and Four area. 

We were lucky enough to have Andrew Douch present a Podcasting workshop for us. Andrew is a teacher from Wanganui Park Secondary College Shepparton. He has won a number of educational awards for his work with emerging technologies. Andrew is a science teacher who started making biology podcasts which have proved to be a huge success. His podcasts are now downloaded by thousands of people across the world on itunes. Andrew was very inspirational and it was great to hear his ideas on how technology can enhance teaching and learning.

If you would like to know more about Andrew Douch, his website is http://andrewdouch.com.au or blog http://andrewdouch.wordpress.com/ (some really interesting posts here!).

You can also watch an online conference Andrew did on podcasting a few months ago on Knowledge Bank at http://knowledgebank.globalteacher.org/au/category/podcasting/

John Pearce has a number of great tutorial notes on his blog http://johnp.wordpress.com/tutorials/

We used them for recent workshops at Leopold Primary on how to create a blog with Global Teacher and how to create digital stories with Microsoft Photo Story 3. There are also tutorial notes on the blog covering Wikispaces, Audacity, flickr etc. Check them out!

Erin Willet recently ran a PD for our staff on how to use Outlook Express as a better way to access Edumail. Read the notes here… i-t-workshop-outlook-express

This 8 minute video from Teacher Tube is worth a watch! It’s an eye opening look at the way the world is changing so quickly with globalisation and advances in technology. It aims to make teachers think about what they need to do to prepare students for the 21st Century. An interesting point is that the technologies, careers, problems and lifestyles that our students will face in the 21st Century are unknown to us now, yet we need to provide students with the technological and global awareness as well as the thinking skills to try to prepare them for this unknown.

Worksheets and newsletters that you make in Microsoft Word can look effective with just a few simple tips.

Recently we conducted a workshop for staff at Leopold P.S. on this. Access the notes here…

making-worksheets-and-newsletters-in-word