Classroom Blog Repository

I want to share a great initiative getting off the ground in educational cyberland.

It's called Classroom Blog Repository and it's pretty awesome.

Some, only scratching the surface of the site, may look at it and say it's just a collection of links to classroom blogs - but it is SO much more than that. It is a platform from which teachers can draw inspiration, view best blogging practice in action, connect with like-minded educators, and connect their classes with like-minded students. It is an opportunity to showcase student work and receive feedback from others around the world, and an opportunity for students to learn about giving useful, academic feedback, and engage in cyber-savvy discussion about how to improve their own work.

There's no cost involved, and every blog is manually entered by the creators, who touch base with you afterwards to make sure you know your blog entry has gone live. Submitting your class blog URL, in my mind, is the ideal next-step for an educator who has got the hang of posting meaningful, relevant content - and now wants to broaden their audience.

Some interesting notes - while some educators still use Blogger/Blogspot (like I do), many are using Global2 (attached to vic.edu.au). Many choose to include photos of students, featuring identifying data (school logo, etc.), which I don't. Many have students contributing but not moderating (also my practice). The entries act as an excellent tool to encourage reflection!

Click through and have a look sometime!

iii2015 - Introducing Adobe Slate

Recently, I attended the IGNITE, INNOVATE, INTEGRATE ICT Conference for 2015 at Kingswood PS. It was an AMAZING day (hence the inception of this blog, among other new innovations in my teaching life) so I'm going to spread out the new things I learned about over a couple of posts. Enjoy!

Dr Tim Kitchen presented about flipped learning and how Adobe software can help with both teacher-based presentations and student-centered tasks. A few of the programs we use at school already - Adobe Voice, for example, which has been installed on the Macs in the Media Studio and in the Senior Lab. Some were new, though, and we are already using one to great effect in the classroom!

I recently surveyed the parents in our class about what they would like to see more of on the blog, and the top answer was 'Photos!' I've used Flickr feeds in the past, but as this is not accessible from student laptops and the lab desktops, I was searching for a quick, free, drag-and-drop app or program or Web 2.0 tool that we could all use easily to make a weekly presentation of what we've been doing. Enter Adobe Slate!

We've been using it on my iPad, as my class already take photos of their work in literacy and there are always a few photos there to begin with. It's encouraging me to take HEAPS more photos of my class, too, so there are plenty to choose from each week. You can enter text, set photos as a grid or by themselves as part of a 'glideshow', embed links, and heaps more. Here is my first attempt:

You do need an Adobe Education Exchange ID to operate it, but it's free to sign up, and they host the final product for you so it is easy to embed and share. More about Adobe Education Exchange in a future post!