The Virtual Classroom

Episode 25: Computer in my Pocket

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:04:22 +0000

Learning with cellphones is a hot topic in many schools at the moment. Phones are usually banned, but a few brave schools are looking for ways to leverage this powerful mobile technology. In this episode we chat to two teachers with a great deal of experience with cellphones for education - Liz Kolb from Ann Arbor, USA and Toni Twiss from Hamilton, New Zealand. Liz and Toni have been doing research into this area and have some great insights to share.

This episode was also the first where we used a live audio stream to the web and had a live backchannel going as we recorded the podcast. Thanks to those people who joined us in this live feed, and we will definitely be doing it again.

There are lots of links for this episode! Take some time and check them out… you’ll be amazed!

tonitwiss.com/mobile - Toni’s Blog
www.efellows.org.nz

www.cellphonesinlearning.com - Liz’s Blog

Whew! That ought to keep you busy for a while! Don’t forget to leave a comment and mention how you are using mobile technology in your classroom.

Episode 24: From the Front

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 08:58:24 +0000

This episode is a compilation of live interviews conducted at the Second Leading a Digital School conference in Sydney, Australia. This conference is held every year and focuses on providing school leaders - principals, administrators, head teachers, IT managers and librarians - with the skills and mindsets needed to lead our schools into the 21st century.

The conference has a broad focus across a number of areas, but the sensible integration of technology is a strong theme. For this podcast, I wandered around the conference and spoke with delegates, presenters and vendors for a snapshot of some of the ideas and thoughts they took away from the event.

Some links for this episode:

Comments and questions welcome!

Episode 23: ‘Cos I’m Free

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:21:16 +0000

Pia Waugh is the president of Linux Australia, so-owner of Waugh Partners, and a leader of the OLPC project in Australia. She is passionate and knowledgeable about the use of Open Source technologies in schools and business.

In this episode Pia shares some insights into Open Source software, how it can be leveraged for use in education and talks about the One Laptop Per Child project. If you believe that software should be free, not just free as in beer, but free as in speech, you’ll enjoy this episode…

Pia’s Links

As Pia mentions in the podcast, she wants to spread the word about Open Source. If you’d like her to speak to your organisation about the use of Open Source software, drop her an email. Details in the podcast.

Episode 22: Moodlemania

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:35:35 +0000

Moodle is an amazingly competent and powerful open source learning management system used by schools, colleges and universities all over the world. It is based on the theory of social constructivism, which essentially means that people learn better in groups than they do on their own. Moodle has a powerful set of tools to support this mode of learning, and as more teachers come into contact with Moodle it becomes increasingly important to understand how to use these tools well to engage and direct student learning.

In this episode we are joined by three highly experiences Moodle users who share some insights with us. Talia Carbis, Darrel Branson and Julian Ridden each work intensively with Moodle in three different settings and in different ways.

Links for this episode…

Julian’s Blog - http://moodleman.edublogs.org
Talia’s Blog - http://teachingtalia.com
Darrel’s Blog - http://www.smsn.vic.edu.au/ictguy
The Official Moodle Website - http://www.moodle.org
Free Moodle Trial - http://ninehub.com
Julian’s Moodle sandpit site - http://playpen.riverview.nsw.edu.au
Riverview Moodle: http://quantum.riverview.nsw.edu.au
Sunraysia Mallee Schools Network - http://need2learn.net
Darrel and Tony’s podcast - http://edtechcrew.net

Comments welcome!

Episode 21: Teaching Tech

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:28:10 +0000

As more and more teachers start to understand the role that technology plays as a core component of a 21st century curriculum, the need grows for teachers to learn about how to best integrate the use of new technologies in their classrooms. Recognising this, many schools are now employing ICT savvy teachers as technology integration specialists whose role is to work with classroom teachers and show them what’s available, teach them how to use it, and help them make it work effectively with their students.

Kim Cofino from Thailand and Susan Sedro from Singapore are two such teachers. In their jobs they get to work with other teachers at their schools and assist them to successfully integrate technology in authentic and meaningful ways. Both American educators, they work at large international schools in Asia where technology integration is taken seriously and done well, and in this podcast we get to hear some of the success stories and wise advice that Kim and Susan have learned as they fulfill their demanding roles.

Links for this episode…

About CST10 - Mandatory technology skills from the NSW Board of Studies
Possible Interview Questions for Teachers - from Jeff Utecht’s blog
Work with the Willing - Post from Kim’s blog
The Perfect Match - Another post from Kim’s blog
Projects at ISB - And you thought YOU were busy!
Always Learning - Kim’s Blog
Adventures in Education - Susan’s Blog

As always, your comments are more than welcome!

Nominated for an Edublog Award!

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:25:41 +0000

Thank you to whoever nominated the Virtual Staffroom for an Edublog Award in the Best Use of Educational Audio category. It’s truly an honour to be nominated! Thanks!

Episode 20: The Kiwi Connection

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:25:51 +0000

Jane Nicholls, Chrissy Hellier, Allanah King and Simon Evans are leading educators from New Zealand who live and breathe collaborative technologies. In this episode I get to chat with them about topics as diverse as podcasting, Skype, Twitter and Second Life, and have a lot of fun in the process. Simon had a bit of trouble with Skype and only managed to make a couple of cameo appearances, but the rest of us had a great chat as we flitted from topic to topic. Although these Kiwis know how to have a laugh, there is still plenty of educational wisdom in this podcast.

Appleby Podcasts - Allanah’s class podcasting
Skype - For internet telephony, if you can make it work
Twitter - For building community, once you finally “get it”
Second Life - A place to do the caramel dance and land naked in fires

Also, you might like to check out the blogs of Allanah, Chrissy, Jane and Simon.

Not much else to add about this one, but I think you’ll like it. Don’t forget to leave a comment!

Episode 19: Beyond the Filters

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 13:04:08 +0000

In this episode of Virtual Staffroom, podcaster and teacher Chris Betcher gets interviewed by Texan librarian Carolyn Foote. Carolyn and Chris discuss a range of issues including different techniques for recording podcasts, dealing with the restrictions of policies and filters, the use of Skype as a powerful tool for cross-cultural learning, and pretty much anything else that came to mind!

Carolyn asked if we could record this chat for a librarian’s research project she was working on about the use of Skype for educational purposes, and we agreed to have the chat and release it on the Virtual Staffroom as well.

Skype - Free VOIP Internet telephony
Audacity - Free and Open Source multitrack audio recorder
GarageBand - Apple’s amazing multitrack audio and podcast editor
Levelator - Make your recordings sound their very best
Operator11 - Multi camera video shoots
Women of Web 2.0 - An excellent educational webcasting project
iSight - Apple’s built-in webcam tool
The Plague of Plagiarism - Chris’s blog post about plagiarism
The Economist - Article about debating mentioned by Carolyn

Thanks to Carolyn for suggesting this chat and helping us to have such a fun (and hopefully useful) conversation.

Leave us a comment!

Episode 18: The Learning Trail

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:20:56 +0000

Anne Wade is research project manager at Montreal’s Concordia University, and her focus is on a project known as ePearl - the Electronic Portfolio Encouraging Active Reflective Learning. ePearl is a web-based tool that enables students to gather, present and reflect upon their class work, creating a trail of digital assets that follows them through their school life.

In this episode Anne presents an overview of the system and gives some insight into the background of this project.

Links from this episode…

ePearl Overview - for an explanation of what the system does
ePortfolio Information - More background on ePortfolios
CSLP/CEAP - the homepage for the project
Demo site - Go have a look for yourself

Login details for the demo site as follows:

Student environment:
Early elementary - Level 1 : Usernames: student1a, student1b, student1c
Late elementary - Level 2: Usernames: student2a, student2b, student2c
Secondary - Level 3: Usernames: student3a, student3b, student3c

Teacher environment:
Level1: Usernames: teacher1a, teacher1b, teacher1c
Level 2: Usernames:teacher2a, teacher2b, teacher2c
Level3: Usernames:teacher3a, teacher3b, teacher3c

Password is always - 123

Enjoy.

Episode 17: I Like Chinese

chris@virtualstaffroom.net (Chris Betcher) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 07:42:34 +0000

A small school in country Australia might seem an unusual place to find students learning to speak Chinese, but not for Jess McCulloch’s students. Jess is an extremely enthusiastic Chinese language teacher who is turning to technology to help engage and excite her students about the language. In this episode Jess talks about some of the cool tools she is using, and planning to use, in her classroom.

Jess is also looking to set up her website as a place for language teachers to be able to network and connect, so if you are a language teacher (or know one) take a look over at www.technolote.com.

Some links from this episode…

Technolote.com - Jess’s main website
TechnoChinese - The class blogs for Jess’s classes
So Damn Hard! - Great article about learning Chinese
ChinesePod - Learn how to say all sorts of useful things!
Skype - Free communication tool for connecting classrooms
Langwitches - Silvia Tolisano’s site for language teaching
Voicethread - Digital storytelling for Web 2.0
Rudd at APEC - Kevin Rudd’s address to the Chinese delegates at APEC

Comments welcome, in any language, in the comment box below.

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