Monday, March 26, 2012

Our weekly Diigo bookmarks 26 March 2012

Art

Bookmarking

Google
How to
Internet safety
Microsoft
News reports

Reading

Social Sciences
Tablets
Technology
Writing:

Posted from Diigo. The rest of SchoolNetSA group favourite links are here.

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Monday, March 19, 2012

How to shorten those long web addresses using bit.ly

There are many url shortening online programmes around, and I could never quite understand the need for them until I started sharing and networking! For example when using Twitter a long web address will use nearly all your 140 characters! The application I have tended to use is Bit.ly.com, so I thought I would do a quick share on how it all works. Below is a screenshot of the Bit.ly interface.  


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Whenever I start communicating with my PLN using Twitter, the first thing I do is open Bit.ly  So let me explain how it all works. 

1. Open https://bitly.com/ and join as a member. You don’t have to join, but if you do you’ll find a record of everything you have shortened! When Bit.ly starts you’ll get this empty blue box at the top. That s where you will paste your web addresses.

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2. Copy the web address you wish to shorten and paste the long address into the blue piece. It will immediately shorten it to a new short address. From this...
 
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3. ...to this! The new shortened address happens almost immediately! All you do now is copy it and use it!
 
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So, to summarise. Join Bit.ly and it will keep a record of your shortened addresses for you. The shortened address is easier for people to click on and it works especially well with Twitter and Facebook where you have a restricted number of characters.
 
Why not give it a go!
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Friday, March 16, 2012

Have you been to a TeachMeet or iPadMeet in South Africa yet?

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Recently I attended another of Elkanah House's TeachMeets (Elkanah House is a school in Tableview, Cape Town), and I asked Linda Foulkes if I could use her blog post as a guest post. Linda is responsible for the training and testing of Grade 8 to 10 students on the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification. She is a Microsoft Office Expert and ICDL Advanced Trainer. In addition to her role as Staff Trainer and High School ICT Integration support (ICT Department), she also belongs to the Academic Department as Grade 8 Tutor Teacher. Linda absolutely loves spending her time researching social media and relevant technologies with connections on Twitter (@folklind) and Facebook, as well as her blog at http://folklind.wordpress.com; and she enjoys imparting this knowledge as professional development, enhancing teaching experience for teachers/students or simply just to boost efficiency in the workplace. Apart from that Linda is the person who is running with the TeachMeet idea at Elkanah House. 


On Saturday 25 February 2012, Elkanah House hosted its third TeachMeet, as well as its second iPadMeet. The response and attendance to both meets were extremely rewarding. Forty six dedicated people interested in sharing, presenting and soaking in ways to use ICT in the classroom joined the TeachMeet. During second session, fifty four participants, passionate about using the iPad as a classroom device, attended the iPadMeet. The events were run one after the other to allow participants to enjoy both meets or collaborate with others during the short break between events.



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Here is what happened at the Meets?

The meet kicked off with a “welcome housekeeping” presentation, which can be viewed here for those who are not sure how a TeachMeet event is run. Essentially, on signup one would choose one of the following options:
  • Keen Bean – a presenter who shares an idea, lesson, a tool in a timeslIMG_1314ot of 3-5 minutes – presenters receive a gift of jelly beans
  • Enthusiastic Lurker – just there to soak up the environment and enjoy the day!


Di de Villiers from Somerset House seemed to have managed to get a reserved seat! She has attended every Meet we have had so far and always sits on the couch in the same spot…so I decided to reserve it for her!


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Open-mouthed smile

The Keen Beans shared a huge range of resources and the number of presenters doubled since the last meet! A huge thank you to Nicole Masureik of Pinelands High as well as Mnr Maree of Bishops who were unable to attend but contributed by sending a virtual presentation for me to share with the audience. So if you are unable to attend a meet…you are always able to contribute and share with others…video yourself or a presentation and send to me. Well done to those who presented on the day – more information about these presentations, as well as photographs, videos and resources can be found on the TeachMeet wiki – http://elkteachmeet.pbworks.com – continue reading this post to see what was presented!

Presentations
  1. Carolynn Bruton [ex Springfield] – presented twice, once on Organising you iPad and iPhone and then Transferring your Pics between Devices.
    Organising iPad TeachMeet.pdf; Transferring pics.pdf

  2. Fiona Beal [SchoolNet] presented on Google Forms – So Easy to Use:
    See this post on the SchoolNet blog
    See this as a Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/google-forms-so-easy-to-use

  3. Jenny Martin [Somerset House] on Using Triptico in the Primary School Maths Class Word Magnets.pptx;http://www.triptico.co.uk

  4. Karen Stadler [Elkanah House] took us on a wonderful tour through Epic Citadel during the iPadMeet–KStadler_epic.pps – visit Karen’s blog at http://karenstadler.wordpress.com or ipad wiki: http://just-ipadding-along.posterous.com

  5. Nicole Masureik [Pinelands] – presented on Using Screencast-o-matic
    www.screencast-o-matic.com. This video demonstrated the recording of on screen annotations in PowerPoint for Teacher Professional Development.
    Screencasting.mp4

  6. Mnr Maree [Bishops] – took audience through Using Tumblr in the Afrikaans Classroom
    http://bishopsafrikaans.tumblr.com
    tumblr in afrikaans.mp4

  7. Siobhan Louw [Somersert House] – presented her Term Long ICT Project – Planning a Virtual International Holiday
    S Louw TeachMeetFeb2012.pptx

  8. Siobhan Louw [Somersert House] – Shared an App called Boxee during the iPadMeet session
    S Louw boxee.ppsx

  9. Cheryl Douglas [Bishops] – presented on Using OneNote to produce Biology Notes on the Endocrine System
    Endocrine system.one

  10. Fiona Beal – [SchoolNet] – showed us How to make a Protopage
    How to make a protopage

  11. Louise Leigh [Herzlia] – shared her Integrated ICT Tasks in Mathematics – Google Docs Grade 9 Data Handling Research Project
    The Environment – Research Topic and Introduction; Design of a Survey/Questionnaire, Administering a Survey, Organizing Data by making tally tables, Double bar graph, calculating averages, writing a report on results and report features of graphs, writing a conclusion with informed opinion and findings, a Bibliography, and finally to present. ICT Integrated Tasks.pptx; ycling Herzlia 2009-2012.pdf;9-Recycling Double Bar Graph 2012.xlsx; 9-Graph Project 2012.pdf

  12. Peter Schutte [Wynberg Girls] – presented on using Edmodo in the Maths Class
    Edmodo_Teacher_Training_Presentation.pptx; Edmodo__a_student_quick_start_guide.pdf; UsesforEdmodoAllgradelevels.pdf

  13. Gilmour Gordon [Elkanah House] – shared his Music with Audacity, Movies with Sound project with the audience
    [email teachmeet@elkanah.co.za for access to dropbox folder if you would like to view / download this presentation due to size limitations

  14. Alan Goldberg [Digicape] – presented on iBook format / Author, Popplet Lite,and the use of a science iPad app and gadget during the iPadMeet.

  15. Jak Tangkuampien [Elkanah House] presented on Marking with the iPad. 

Without the above Keen Beans as well as the Enthusiastic Lurkers the 2 hour sessions would not be possible. I encourage everyone to continue sharing and collaborating amongst each other, to visit the wiki, interact with others and mail teachmeet@elkanah.co.za should you have something to share at the next meet. 


A special thank you to:


*Christiaan Vlok – Elkanah student for video footage and photos
*Arthur Preston – Elkanah House Senior Primary Principal for twitter backchannel
*Karen Stadler – Elkanah House ICT Integrator for the twitter backchannel
*Gareth Davies – Business of Teaching – for the donation of magazine prizes
*Bongi Damane – Elkanah staff member for organising the refreshments
*Fiona Beal – SchoolNet for her continued support and encouragement

Continue the collaboration on twitter : #elkteachmeet and #SAipaded


Photographs of our Meets
TeachMeet-Photo25feb2012


TeachMeet Photos 25feb2012
 

TeachMeets in other parts of the world!
*Ireland joins TeachMeets – visit the wiki on http://tmbelfast.wikispaces.com/)
*Australia is having a huge one this Friday evening where they are trying to beat a world record for TeachMeets. Check out the ustream here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/sydney-teachmeet
*This Saturday, a big virtual International Teachmeet with 32 presenters from 20 countries (Fiona Beal of SchoolNet is one of the volunteers…go Fiona!) was held. Visit http://teachmeetinternational.wikispaces.com/
*http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf Do you listen to blogtalkradio? Lots of great discussions happening here!


HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON @ AN ELKANAH TEACHMEET OR IPADMEET! 
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