New Conference and Other Exciting Stuff
Web 2.0 is Good for Learning. Official
Becta has just published research that shows that Web 2.0 tools such as blogs encourage student engagement. Read the summary here.
Blogging in the Park
I originally posted the date of Saturday 29th November as the date for the Creative ICT Blogging Unconference. Entitled Blogging in the Park, the event will take place at Green Park Primary School, Maghull. The conference is now going to be after Christmas and will take place on a weekday - date to be confirmed. An unconference is an informal conference in which the participants set the agenda. I’m hoping that as many Creative Blogs schools as possible can be represented so that people can make contact, discuss collaborative projects, exchange ideas etc. I’m hoping to have a couple of exciting keynotes too. Much more information coming soon, in the meantime, please mark the date in your diary and pre-register your interest by dropping me a line or by visiting the conference wiki. I should be able to offer lifts from Manchester on the day and the event will end in an optional social at a suitable local hostelry.
The event will be a relaxed and enjoyable way to meet fellow edubloggers and learn at the same time. I hope to see you in Maghull.
Don’t let it die
If you haven’t yet registered for the Creative Blogs social network on Ning, then please do so and have a look at some of the interesting blogging related discussion that has gone on there. If you get a moment, add your own six penn’orth too. http://creativeict.ning.com
Stuff from my network
Not all blog related, but it’s all good!
Mapskip This site really appeals to me. Find and tag a location on Google Maps, then write a story about it and upload photos, video etc. Got to be brilliant for adding
local ghost stories, anecdotes about holidays etc. Here’s my story, have a read,
add a comment…
Flickr Toys Loads of great activities using images (upload your own or use Flickr and
Photobucket). Create your own spoof magazine cover, or get each member of your
class to create a trading card of themselves using a set of attributes that you
decide as a group. Loads more activities (great for when you have to cover a
lesson and you’ve nothing prepared) and some great ideas here.
Spelling City I can’t believe I didn’t know about this site: simply upload your spelling list
and play lots of different activities to help the learning process. Brilliant.
Brave New World Superb 5 minute video: one for the technophobes on your staff Definitely worth
a watch at your next staff meeting.
Wordpress PDFs Set of useful Wordpress guides for those that like the printed word.
As usual I have to give a big “shout out” to my Personal Learning Network for introducing me to these resources.
John, thanks for the nice review of MapSkip and for sharing that great story.
We are working continually to make MapSkip better and we are very excited about the possibilities of MapSkip in the classroom - if you and your readers have any specific suggestions to make the site more useful in your work, please let us know!
Oh… and my anti-spam word for this post was Whoa!