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Note: Material posted on this wiki can be read by the general public.

Only EDST102 students can edit this wiki.

 

 

 

Binoculars and sandpits

A strategy for e-learning

by John Fothergill

http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/e_article000925097.cfm?x=bbrBpT6,b3scdv19,w

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http://www.rupert.id.au/EDST102/index.php

 

www.tafevc.com.au/araratcc

 

 

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July 20 2007, 3:06 am Posting by Rupert

 

Hi All,

 

Remember tp take a look at the email distribution lists I was talking about.

 

Here is a list of some of the groups I am subscribed to:

 

 http://www.rupert.id.au/subscriptions.php

 

Here is an example of the type of messages sent to Oz-teacher

 

 

Example message from Oz-teacher

Message: 5 Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 05:52:15 +1000 From: "Susanne Gervay" <gervays@bigpond.com> Subject: [Oz-teachers] U-TUBE in YA novel That's Why I Wrote This Song To: <oz-teachers@rite.ed.qut.edu.au> Message-ID:        <20070714195212.KSEF24129.oaamta03sl.mx.bigpond.com@Suzanne> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Music and the net are the ways young people communicate today. > From my last listing, you'll know that That's Why I Wrote This Song' is > A YA novel heralding a new direction in story where music, film and the > net are integrated and integral to story. So HOT off the PRESS - the song, film journey in PSYCHO DAD in 'That's Why I Wrote This Song' is LIVE on www.youtube.com <http://www.youtube.com/> Just log in and Search: GERVAY It's so exciting. Susanne Gervay www.sgervay.com <http://www.sgervay.com/> 'That's Why I Wrote This Song' by Susanne Gervay lyrics and music by Tory Gervay & video clip by Rachel Guerry to be released by HarperCollins 1st August 2007

 

 

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July 18 2007, 12:21 pm Posting by Rupert

 

On Friday I expect we will return from Melbourne on the 16:05 Ballarat train and be back in Ballarat by 17:30 (5:30pm)

 

 

 

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July 13 2007, 2:11 am Posting by Rupert

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I enjoyed teaching this week.  I hope you enjoyed it as well.  I also know a lot more about Kahootz now than I did at the start of the week.

 

Please feel free to continue to use this Wiki if you want to make public comments about the unit.  If you need to contact me by phone you can ring my work number which is: 5336 5330  or send me an email or use the mail in WebCT.

 

I will put my Mobile number up on WebCT as well for those travelling to Melbourne next Friday.  Please use my office number for general questions, but feel free to ring my mobile if you have any problems making the Train or meeting us at the Museum on Friday 20th.

 

Rupert.

 

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e-Kids-Questions

 

 

Web2.0 Sites 

 

Kahootz Issues & Ideas page 

http://rupertrussell.pbwiki.com/Kahootz%20Issues-Ideas

 

 

Online Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ssKamUjt4UC0YQHIyHNIqA_3d_3d

 

 

Required Reading

 

Comparing asynchronous online discussions and face-to-face discussions in a classroom setting  

 

 

 

 Groups

First Name	Group	WebQuest
Nathan	1	http://nathswiki.pbwiki.com/Web-Quest
Peter	1
Nicole	1
Damien	2	http://damiensmith.pbwiki.com/Web-Quest
Stephen	2
Sarah	2
Melanie	3	http://nickywiki01.pbwiki.com/1
Nicholas	3
Cynthia	4	http://cynf.pbwiki.com/web-quest-extraordinaire%21
Michelle	4
Megan L	4
Christina	5	http://honeysandwich.pbwiki.com/WebQuestHoliday
Maree	5
Megan R	5
Elizabeth	6	http://webquestgroup6.pbwiki.com
Jacqui	6
Joanne	6
Holly	7	http://katiemb.pbwiki.com/Space-Webquest
Katie	7
Linda	7
Belinda	8	http://retski.pbwiki.com/Create-your-own-Monopoly%21
Lauren	8
Loretta	8
Laura	9	http://lozza.pbwiki.com/Working-with-Webquest
Tegan	9

 

 

 

 

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Name	Wiki address
Lauren	http://lozbomb.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Pete	http://pete444.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Nathan	http://nathswiki.pbwiki.com/
Nick	http://nickywiki01.pbwiki.com/
Tegan	http://tegan.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Liz	http://lizzz.pbwiki.com/
Michelle	http://shellbell.pbwiki.com
Megan	http://meeegz.pbwiki.com
Jacqui	http://jacqui.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Holly	http://hollyef.pbwiki.com/
Katie	http://katiemb.pbwiki.com/
Melanie	http://melaniec.pbwiki.com/
Damien	http://damiensmith.pbwiki.com/
Steve	http://stevedinnell.pbwiki.com/
Loretta	http://retski.pbwiki.com/
Belinda	http://bellabellarina.pbwiki.com/
Megan R.	http://cheeseplease.pbwiki.com/
Christina	http://honeysandwich.pbwiki.com/
Maree	http://vegemitesandwich.pbwiki.com/
Laura	http://lozza.pbwiki.com/
Cynthia	http://cynf.pbwiki.com/
Joanne	http://jozza.pbwiki.com/FrontPage
Linda	http://littlewiki.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

 

 

 

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Please fill in your details for the Melbourne e-Kids Melbourne Meeting

 

e-Kids Melbourne Meeting

Name	Year 1st/2nd/3rd/4th	Will you attend on Friday 20th July?	Preferred Method of travel Train/Car/Other
Nicholas	3rd year	No	N/A
Belinda	4th year	Yes	Train, but not from Ballarat
Christina	2nd year	Yes	7:46 Train from Ballarat
Cynthia	3rd year	yes	7:46 Train, from Ballarat
Damien	4th year	yes	Car - from Melbourne
Holly	4th Year	Yes	Train, not from Ballarat
Jacqui	1st Year	Yes	Train, not from Ballarat
Joanne	2nd year	Yes	Train, not from Ballarat
Katie	4th year	yes	Train not from Ballarat
Laura	4th year	NO	N/A
Lauren	4th year	yes	Train, but not from Ballarat
Linda	4th year	No	N/A
Liz	2nd Year	Yes	Train - Not from Ballarat
Loretta	4th Year	No	N/A
Maree	2nd year	yes	Car - from Melbourne, not Ballarat
Megan L	3rd year	Yes	Train - ill get on at B/marsh (yay!! sleep in)
Megan R	2nd Year		7:46 Train, from Ballarat
Michelle	3rd Year	Yes	7:46 Train, from Ballarat
Nathan	3rd year	Yes	Car
Nicole
Peter	3rd year	Yes	Car
Sarah
Stephen	4th year	No	N/A
Tegan	4th year	No	N/A
Melanie	4th year	No	N/A

 

 

The Winter School will run on-campus from 9:00 - 4:00 on Monday to Thursday for all students and on Friday 13th  from 9:00 - 4:00pm for any 4th year students that are unable to attend on Friday 20th in Melbourne.

On Friday the 20th, 1st 2nd & 3rd years will have to catch an early train from Ballarat to get to the Melbourne Museum by 10:00 am (or you can make your own way to Melbourne) 4th years are welcome to attend if they have made arrangements with their supervising teacher to be absent from teaching rounds on that day.

 

People traveling by train from Ballarat should catch the 7:46 am train to Melbourne we will get off at North Melbourne and catch a city loop train to Parliament Station and then walk to the Museum.

 

The Ballarat train timetable is online at: http://www.vline.com.au/pdf/timetables/ballarat.pdf

 

People going by car will have to play for parking which will cost $10:00

 

Melbourne Museum Map is online at: http://melbourne.museum.vic.gov.au/about/map_large.asp

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Rupert.

 

 

 

Hi Rupert, I was just wondering what time the classes run from/to next week? I am sure it was in an email somewhere but i can't find it. Thanks, ........

 

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July 9th Posting by Joanne

Hi, I got the edit!! I think everyone is busy creating their own wiki. Have fun!!

 

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July 9 Posting by Nick

Guess i should post something now!

 

 

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July 9th Posting by Christina

 

Hello... A little nervous!

 

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July 9th Posting by Cynthia

 

I just stole the edit from Mel!

 

Happy Birthday to my son Thomas today, he turns 2!!!

 

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July 9 2007, 2:44 am Posting by Rupert

 

Well today is the big day, I too hope my brain copes :-) It's always a little nerve wracking teaching a new unit for the first time and although I have had a lot of teaching experience at the University of Ballarat this is the first time I have taught a unit at ACU so that's also new.

 

I do believe in the importance of stretching the envelope though and as a teacher it's important to keep trying new things.

 

So here we go!

 

I am looking forward to meeting you all in the morning.

 

Rupert.

 

 

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July 9 2007, 2:42 am Posting by Rupert

 

Hi Linda thanks for the crazy puppy photo it's fantastic!

 

I have just worked out that the trick that Cynthia discovered of Right clicking on the image and changing it's properties to make it smaller does make the image smaller in the Wiki but it does not make the file size smaller.

 

 

You can see this if you look at the original image size by clicking on the reset size button see below:

 

 

 

 

Also if you look at the URL for the image you can see it's /f/IMG_0086.jpg which means that it's full URL is:

 

http://rupertrussell.pbwiki.com/f/IMG_0086.jpg

 

If you look at the above image full size you can see that it's still large at: 1704 x 2272 pixels. Which means that you could blow it up to poster sized print and it would look good. That's great if you want to print it out and put it on your wall but not so good if you just want a 214 x 285 version of the same photo.

 

The size of the original photo is 511KB

 

If I resize this photo to 214 x 285 pixels using IrfanView (which is an 87% reduction in pixel size) I can reduce the file size by 93% to 37KB this means that the Wiki will load a lot faster, take up less space and use less Bandwidth which are all good things.

 

 

This is the smaller version URL: http://rupertrussell.pbwiki.com/f/small-puppy.jpg

 

 

This is one of the things we will be learning how to do today.

 

I will be handing out a set of notes in the morning one of which is my IrfanView notes which are online at: http://www.rupert.id.au/tutorials/irfanview/IrfanView-15.pdf They show the process of resizing an image.

 

Time to do some more work on WebQuests...

 

 

I Just discovered somthing else that is handy.

 

Using Internet Explorer version 7 (I don't know if it works with other versions) you can right click on any image select properties and see it's URL and file size! Very handy.

 

 

 

 

 

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July 8 2007, Posting by Linda

Hey guys...it's been a while since I last visited. I have been pretty flat out at Sovereign Hill with the winter school holiday program and have also been performing in the Christmas in July Theatre Reataurant Show. 12hr+ days....flat out. So time to catch up.

Love the photo taken at the zoo Michelle....here's one I took of my parents new crazy puppy..... Very cute. Thanks Cynthia for the photo resizing tip...very helpful. Looking forward to tomorrow....let's hope my brain copes. xx

 

 

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July 7 2007, 4:30 am Posting by Rupert

 

I have been working on some example Kahootz eXpressions to use next week and I discovered a rather annoying thing about Kahootz. So I though it would be a good idea to work out how to create a 2nd page on this Wiki to list bugs and ideas for improvement for the Kahootz developers. At the end of this unit I will send our ideas to the Kahootz team and hopefully they will improve the next version.

 

So the page is located at: http://rupertrussell.pbwiki.com/Kahootz%2BIssues-Ideas?l=S

 

You can edit it just like you edit this page. If you have forgotten the password it's listed on the EDFD102 WebCT home page.

 

Rupert

 

 

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July 5 2007, 9:44pm Posting by Megan.

 

Hello all just thought I had better add my own info as many of you already have done. I find it a bit strange to be writing one this thing. Its unlike any other internet stuff I am used to. Not much else to say really. Looking forward to Monday!

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July 5 2007, 2:44 am Posting by Rupert

 

Hi Tegan, Well the word WikiWiki is is Hawiian for 'quick'

 

you beat me by half a second! Tegan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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July 4th Posting by Michelle

 

Two more pictures that I really like, taken at the Melbourne Zoo last year.

 

 

 

 

I didn't realise Cynthia, that a colt had to be that old to be broken in. And Cooper is just an ordinary dwarf lop from the pet shop :)

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July 2, 2007,  7:40 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Hi Cynthia, how old is your Colt now?

Looks like he will be fun to ride when he's old enough.  How old does a horse have to be before you can start to break them in?

 

Thanks for posting the first photo.  It would be good if everybody had something to share about themselves here.

 

Just remember that this is a public forum.

 

Rupert.

 

 

June 27, 2007 11:59 PM Posting by Rupert Have a go find a picture and post it to this Wiki.

 

 

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June 21, 2007 Linda

 

will post something that they would like to learn on this Wiki. If we can cover it with the resources and time we have available we will. Otherwise one of us may be able to find some resources or set up a discussion around the particular topic/area you are interested in. 

 

 

 

 

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July 4th  posting by cynthia

 

Hi Rupert

 

My colt is now 18mths old, but won't be broken in to ride until the end of next year when he is 3.  In the meantime he has been taken to some shows and just gets patted in the paddock!!  I have plenty of others to ride though, only yesterday I drove to north of Albury and back picking up 2 more horses!! :-)  Getting to be a bad habit, all this collecting.

 

Hi Michelle

 

I love the pics of your rabbit, he is very cute.  I have never seen a 'house rabbit' before - do you have to get a special type to train them or will any old variety do?

 

Looking forward to seeing everyone, esp the trip to Melb.  Go on the train everyone!

 

 

 

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Posting by Michelle, July 2, 2007

 

 

Ok here is my first pics, the first one is a picture of my bunny Cooper, believe it or not Cooper is actually an indoor house rabbit. Much like a cat he is toilet trained, and comes to me when I call him. Indoor rabbits are really popular in the UK, where it is too cold for them to live outside.

 

The second photo is a 19m high buddha, taken in December 2005, on a trip to Thailand. It is located in the Ayutthaya region, north of Bankok. The heads of the people walking past in the bottom of the photo give you an idea of it's size. There are two different types of Buddha, the stereotypical fat-bellied laughing buddha's we often see have a Chinese origin, the Thai buddha is much slimmer and more solomn. The buddha has long ears which are meant to signify a long life.

 

 

 

 

Another tip is to make sure your image is saved as a JPEG, and not as bitmap (BMP) or something else. Otherwise (as I discovered) it won't upload.

 

 

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July 2, 2007.  

 

Hi Everyone,

This is all so VERY new to me. I am looking forward to improving my skills in ICT throughout this course. I haven't got any pics to put up yet, as Michelle said, I like taking pics but doesn't mean I have any great one's to share as yet.

Rupert, I was also in Barcelona in 2005 and absolutely love Gaudi's work!!! Can't wait for the Sagrada Familiar to be finished so I can go and see it complete!!

Look forward to starting the course next week!

Liz.

 

 

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July 2, 2007,  7:40 am. Posting by Rupert

 

 

Hi Cynthia, how old is your Colt now?

Looks like he will be fun to ride when he's old enough. How old does a horse have to be before you can start to break them in?

 

Thanks for posting the first photo. It would be good if everybody had something to share about themselves here.

 

Just remember that this is a public forum.

 

Rupert.

 

 

 

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June 30, 2007 posting by Michelle

Hmm, Just because I like taking photos doesn't mean I have any good ones to share. But I will have a hunt around and see what I can come up with. Your horse is beautiful Cynthia, and thanks for the tips.

 

 

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June 29, 2007... posting by Cynthia

 

Hi everyone!

 

I have so many fav pics, but here is one of my Arabian colt in full flight (taken last year).

 

 

 

I just found out that you can resize an image (this one was HUGE when I fist put it on the wiki!), by right clicking on the pic and selecting image properties. That is my handy himt of the day!! Make sure that you keep the ratios in proportion though, or it starts to look quite weird :)

 

I am looking forward to learning more about smart boards, and also going to Melb to meet some of the ekids.

 

 

 

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June 27, 2007 11:59 PM Posting by Rupert 

 

Hi All,

 

Well according to the survey results everybody enjoys taking photos.

So I would like to share some photos on this Wiki as a way of introducing ourselves.

 

 

 

1) Make sure that you resize your photo so it's not huge.

 

I have instructions for how to resize images using a free program that you can downlaod called IrfanView

 

2) Edit the Wiki Page

 

3) Click on Insert Image in the toolbar above

 

 

 

4) Browse for your image

 

5) Located the file on your computer

 

6) Select Upload

 

7) Select OK

 

8) Save the Wiki Page

 

 

 

This is me standing on the floor at La Pedrera in Barcelona

I am totally blown away by the work of Antoni Gaudí and I can't beleve how lucky I was

to get to see his work in person when I went to Barcelona in 2005.

 

 

This is a pair of candle sticks that I made a few years back when I had a forge set up at home.

When I was a kid I went to Swan Hill Pioneer village and I spent all my time watching the Blacksmith.

 

 

 

I also enjoy taking experemintal photographs this is one taken driving up Creswick Road

Have a go at uploading one or more photographs that say something about yourself to this Wiki.

 

 

 

This was taken in the Coles carpark.

 

That's enough from me show us some of your favourite photos.

 

 

 

 

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June 28, 2007. Posting by Jacqui

 

 

Hey Guys,

I'm finally worked this thing out...yay, go me!

I'm really looking forward to this unit and i think it'll be interesting to learn about how to include computers into a classroom, and the different activities that the children can do on them.

I think learning more about the Smartboards is good, they seemed really effective at my high school but i do agree with Michelle when she said that many teachers are unsure about them; i think they could really get the children involved in the classes

 

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 June 21, 2007  Linda

 

Hey guys, Woo hoo...my first wiki posting! Looking forward to this class, my ICT skills could do with some boosting. Yay to working with Smartboards.....I had a chance to use one in my last teaching round...very cool and engaging piece of technology.

 

 

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July 20, 2007 1:34 pm. Posting by Rupert 

 

Hi All,

 

Thanks Michelle for letting us know some of what you hope to learn from this unit.

 

I am hoping

 

Through sharing your aspirations about this unit your more likely to finish it feeling satisfied.

 

Rupert.

 

 

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 July 20, 2007 1:34 pm. Posting by Rupert

 

Hi Michelle,

I have booked the room next to the computer lab which has a SMART Board in it for Tuesday July 10, from 9:00 - 1:00 so that we can have a look at how it works and consider ways in which they can be used in teaching & learning.

 

 

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 July 20, 2007 12:45 pm. Posting by Michelle

 

Hi everyone, I would really like to learn more about using smartboards, what their functions are, etc. i am seeing them so often in schools these days and even some of the teachers who have them seem unsure. I think if used well they could be a really fun and effective learning tool.

 

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 July 19, 2007 7:33 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Thanks Tegan for breaking the ice and being the first to post on the topic.

I will be showing you quite a few interesting and useful applications and websites during this unit.

 

One of my favorites is a small free circuit simulator called Crocodile Clips Elementary.

You can download a copy from my website at:

http://www.rupert.id.au/tutorials/crocodile/index.php

 

If you are looking for Math's ideas and resources take a look at my TJ591 page: http://www.rupert.id.au/TJ591/index.php

 

There are some amazing applications on the web as well take a look at: Cut-outs, Nets

 

 

 

 

 

To see what it can do take a look at this animated gif I created.

To use it you drag the Net* with the mouse to close the Net into a Solid shape drag the slider to 100% and to change Nets use the drop down box.

 

 

Also take a look at this site for a selection of math's application

http://www.fi.uu.nl/wisweb/en/

*PS Look up Net in the Maths Dictionary

 

 

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June 18, 2007. 9:03am. Posting by Tegan. I was first!

 

GOOD morning all! I think I am slowly becoming more confident with this thing (even though it's only my second posting)...

 

and I haven't broken it yet - 2 very enthusiastic thumbs up for myself. WebCT is up and running (thanks for the email Rupert).

 

during the unit, I just really want to learn about how I can bring computers into the classroom (other than having students use

 

Word and perhaps powerpoint). I know very little about the products out there that are suitable for primary aged children, and would love to find out more!

 

Tegan.

 

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June 16, 2007 4:00 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Well that's the end of another productive night.

 

I have created a WebCT/Blackboard shell for EDST102.

 

Please log onto WebCT and contribute to the online discussion: WebCT / Blackboard vs the Internet

!

 

 

Please also complete the "Assessment Task" Declaration of Originality: online acceptance of academic honesty

 

Thanks,

 

Rupert.

 

 

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June 16, 2007 1:42 am. Posting by Rupert

 

It's good to see that the email is working and that I am getting feedback.

 

I want to take this Wiki to the next level and use it to start to generate some conversations about what we can get out of this unit.

 

Here is another email I received and my reply:

 

 

Hi Rupert, thanks for your emails the subject looks really interesting. Just letting you know that it is fine to send your emails to my student address, they get forwarded to this address anyway.

 

Hi .......,

 

Thanks for your reply.

It's good to know that people are getting these emails.

Have you had a look at the Wiki yet?

 

I am hoping to get people to post a short comment about what they hope to learn from this unit to the Wiki. That way I will have more to go on when I am planning what I am going to concentrate on in this unit.

Also it will allow people to get a sense of where we are coming from even before we meet for the first time on July 9th.

This is the power of this type of technology. We can start to get benefit before the unit officially starts and continue the conversations after it officially ends as well with luck.

 

That's what I love about the Internet and especially Web 2.0!

PS to make editing the Wiki easy here is a link that will take your to the Wiki in Edit mode .........

Regards,

 

Rupert.

 

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June 16, 2007 12:32 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Today I received confirmation from Jo that she will be coming to give us a talk in Ballarat on Thursday 12, July which is good.

She offered to give a presentation on her use of Kahootz which will be good.

 

I also received another email:

 

 

Rupert,   Thankyou for all the information you have sent regarding EDST102. I am looking forward to starting the unit,

 

Hi, ......,

 

Thanks for your email. I am also looking forward to teaching it. It's already interesting to see how the Wiki is growing.

 

It would be great if you could have a go at posting a short comment about what you hope to learn from this unit to the Wiki.

If you fee like it here is a link that will let you post to the Wiki. .....

 

Regards,

 

Rupert.

 

 

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June 15, 2007 Posting by Michelle

Hi, this unit seems really interesting, looking forward to it. Really hope I don't stuff up using this wiki thing though!

 

 

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June 15, 2007 9:44 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Hi all, It's great to see postings by Tegan & Joanne.

 

It's also good to see people having a go at the survey(s) the data is avaiable in summary from here. Survey 1, EDST102 ICT Skills Survey (ver 2)

 

We have our first response back from the survey I sent to the e-Kids you can see a summary of responses here.

The Country Education Project team will be using this information to help group the e-Kids and you will have access to the survey data from the students in your group for use when planning your projects.

 

Have fun,

Rupert.

 

 

 

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June 14, 2007 9:43pm. Posting by Tegan

 

I think I have figured it out...

 

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June 14, 2007. Posting by Joanne

 

Hi, excited about starting this unit and developing my ICT knowledge! And interacting with the e-kids.

That and I thought I would see if i could add to here...as i discovered it was pretty easy!

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June 14, 2007 3:50 am Posting by Rupert

 

Hi all well I have just sent out an email to all the EDST102 students with the password to edit this Wiki.

So I hope to see some postings by students appearing here soon.

 

In order to keep some semblance of control over this Wiki can you please add the date and your first name to each posting that you make.

 

Also if you insert a horizontal ruler after each posting it will make it easer to read. There is a button to do that on the tool bar. See Below:

 

 

 

 

Don't worry if you make a mistake. If you can't fix it yourself send me an email and I will restore the Wiki to a previous version.

 

So have a go. Let's see what we can make of this. As I said in my email this is the first time I have used a Wiki when teaching a technology unit.

 

 

Rupert.

PS time for bed.

 

PPS Use Internet Explorer to make changes to this Wiki.

(Don't use Opera (which is another browser you probably don't use anyway www.opera.com) as it does not work well) I have not tried Firefox (www.mozilla.com) yet.

 

 

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June 14, 2007 2:53 am. Posting by Rupert

 

Another email

Hi Rupert, Just letting you know that I've received your emails. Looking forward to the course though am finding it a litte daunting as I am not hugely computer literate. Thanks, ....

 

 

My Reply:

 

Hi …...,

Don’t Panic. I have had years of experience teaching a technology subject to first year pre-service teachers at Ballart University. Most felt much like you do at the start. And I know from the results I received from student feedback that 99-100% (depending on the year) felt great about the unit at the end of the semester.

So I know how you feel and I am confident that I have the skills to make teaching ICT fun.

(I will let you in on a little secret though, I have never taught a winter school so working in Block Mode is new to me and a little scary but I believe that as a teacher it’s important to step outside your comfort zone from time to time So we will all be learning something from this experience.)

 

 

 

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June 14, 2007. Posting by Rupert

 

Today I received the following email:

 

 

hey there rupert just letting you know I got the email about edst102....   I was wondering if the outline for the unit was posted anywhere ... I don't really know anything ''about it.   I read your email and had a look at a couple of the links but didn't really understand how ''we are involved with the e-kids program.   sorry if its really obvious but im clueless at the moment. cheers

 

 

This is my reply:

 

Hi .........,

 

As soon as the Unit outline is finished I will post it to WebCT & the website. It's not surprising that you're not clear about the e-Kids project as the details are still being worked out between myself, Karen McLean, Mellita Jones & Louise Kilgour, Jo Tait, & Phil Brown (from the Country Education Project www.cep.org.au).

 

The general idea is that you will be working in pairs with around 5-6 primary aged students who are enrolled in the e-Kids project. (http://www.cep.org.au/currentprojects/eKids.html)

 

The model at the moment (this is subject to change) is that you will be creating 1 or 2 activities for the e-Kids and that your will be mentoring the e-Kids with these and other activities set by Jo Tate. Your contact with the e-Kids students will begin with a face-to-face meeting in Melbourne on July 20. This will take place both at the St Patrick's campus and at the Melbourne Museum. The only problem with this initial meeting date is that 4th years will be on teaching rounds then. I am hoping that most of the 4th years will be able to negotiate to take this day of from there teaching rounds but this may not be possible/practical.

 

After the initial fact-to-face meeting the remaining contact between yourself and your e-Kids group will be by email. It is expected that you will make contact twice a week to provide support, advice and general encouragement. You will not be expected to provide direct answers to students academic questions. Eg you will not be doing there work for them. What you will be doing is offering strategies and general assistance.

At the end of the process you will submit a copy of your activity(s), a log of all email conversations, and a reflective report. The exact details of these assessment requirements are still being negotiated and will be published in the Unit Outline.

 

I hope this provides you with a little more understanding of the project and your involvement with it.

 

As soon as all the details are in place I will publish the Unit Outline.

 

 

Rupert.

 

 

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June 13, 2007. Posting by Rupert

 

Today I subscribed to SurveyMonkey.com I will be using this tool to gather data for the e-Kids project as well as for this Winter School.

 

 

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