Dodging Bullets in Presentations

An excellent presentation on how presentations should be like.

Teach like the great conductors

Very inspiring TED Talk. It serves as a reminder that every educator is a leader in the classroom. We should all teach like great conductors.

LMS + Facebook = Social LMS?

I was toying with the idea of a mash up platform of a LMS and Social Network like Facebook.

The reason: Create a best of both world system for students to learn and play. The school LMS and Facebook are two of the top websites students visit everyday, however for different purposes. The LMS is somehow controlled, structured, formal and disengaging to a certain extent. While the latter, addictive, fun, informal and engaging. I guess it would be interesting to have a one-stop system to create a self-directed and collaborative learning environment.

Ning comes pretty close.  Sclipo looks interesting.

What do you guys think?

Baseline ICT Standards (Singapore): Where is Web 2.0 for Primary level?

This afternoon I attended a briefing at MOE HQ on Pupils’ Attainment of Baseline ICT Standards. The highlight of the briefing was the demonstration of the Online Assessment Tool which is task based and automated. Pretty impressive stuff.

However what made me a little upset was the glaring absence of Web 2.0 for Primary level Skills areas in the revised standards.

Frankly, I was quite puzzled by this first ICT Focus:

Pupils will use the Internet for email and searches.

and this Skills Area:

Learning with Communication Tools: Online Communication: Send a message. Send an attachment.

While Secondary and Tertiary levels placed some emphasis on Web 2.0, I can’t say the same for Primary level (except for the brief mention of ‘Digital portfolio’ and ‘blog’ as ‘Suggested Evidence’).

I can’t help but ask myself: Is Web 2.0 deemed too early for Primary level?

I will probably slap myself first if the answer is a yes.

As what Deputy Director. Professional Development & Consultancy, Mr. Sin Kim Ho pointed out, the Baseline Standards will be evolving.

I guess evolving is just too slow. It needs an immediate transformation.

Note: Primary level pupils in Singapore are between 7 years old (Primary 1) to 12 years old (Primary 6).

Must have tools for new lab PCs?

– This post was originally posted back on 26 September 2008. –

Good news: My school is getting new PCs to replace old ones in a lab.

Bad news: I am going to write a request for funds proposal for it

Something new: I am working with my Edtech to come up with a list of tools/applications/software/hardware to be installed in the new PCs.

Target pupils: Primary 1 to 6 (7 years old to 12 years old)

Subjects: English, Mathematics, Science and Mother Tongue (Chinese, Malay and Tamil languages)

Objectives: E-Learning and Project Work

Any suggestion is most welcomed!

Updates:

List of tools/applications considered to be installed

1. Audacity

2. VLC media player

3. Video Codecs e.g. Xvid

4. A new lab management software. Recommendation needed.

5. A more robust web filtering application to block undesirable websites which the ministry/school network is unable to filter. Recommendation needed.

6. Firefox

7. FreeMind

8. Infraview or GIMP

9. Microsoft Office 2007 (Competition purpose)

10. Other Open Source applicatons

Recommendations by educators:

1. Jeff Utecht

Google Earth
Firefox default browser
jingproject
OpenOffice or MS OFfice

2. Tod Baker

Language teachers find software like Audacity helpful for recording voice and sound. I prefer to use GarageBand for serious work and Journler for on-the-fly work.

3. Sue Waters

Well my friend has been radical in his school – remove all standard MS software & told staff they’ll need to learn Web 2.0 tools

List of hardware considered to be purchased

1. IWB

2. Headsets

3. Better Webcams

4. Creative Vado

What is Dropbox?

育焕 recommended me Dropbox a couple of months ago through Facebook. At first I was a little skeptical of the idea of cloud storage. Now I almost can’t live without it!

It’s really useful when you need to synchronise files with a few machines. For example, I can save a document on my laptop, print it from my desktop, view it on my iPhone, and edit it on any PC or Mac where there is Internet access. Watch this Commoncraft video!

Click here to sign up (and help me earn bonus space ).

The Piano Stairs

My thoughts  (questions) after watching this interesting video:

1. What do walking stairs and learning a boring and tough subject have in common?

2. Have you ever thought of making dull lessons fun with novelty?

3. How long can novelty last before it turns dull?

4. How does the fun theory apply to education?

Youth stuck on video games

From The Straits Times 5 October 2009:

Read Dr Ashley‘s Stuck on gaming?

I share the same sentiments with Dr Ashley. While game addiction is a serious cyber wellness issue, we shouldn’t ignore the value of gaming in informal learning.

New cyber-bullying weapon: Mobile phones

From Mypaper 5 October 2009:

In fact it is not something new. It has only become more dominant.

Teens and Social Media

I guess that applies to my upper primary students too. Great video. Only let off is the jerky music.