CAP Chatter June 2009

Welcome to another edition of CAP Chatter. This is a “new look” CAP Chatter which will be available via the email distribution list and also from the front page of the CAP website. For the next few editions CAP Chatter will be distributed in HTML version and also plain text version via email. The advantage of HTML version is that we are able to include a range of media including pictures and other media. If anyone has any feedback on this new version please feel free to email CAP.

News
It has been a busy month in the CAP networks with a range of activities and educational opportunities occurring for our students, teachers, parents and school communities. In the South Coast network there have been a number of highly successful Digital Story Telling workshops with stories made from these workshops being featured shortly on the CAP website.

In the Riverina teachers have been busy with a number of network initiatives including IWB training, Weaving Technology and a visit from Dr Marcia Tate (USA) working with a number of CAP schools.

Pictured here is Dr Marcia Tate and network initiative coordinator Crystal McGuigan.

In the New England network a number of workshops have been delivered including Smart and Sassy for school SASS staff and Literacy for Parents workshops.

In the Western network there has been a highly successful Brains Alive Camp involving the small schools surrounding Mudgee featuring John Joseph. Students also were involved in technology training focusing on Kahootz and iPod Touches. Pictured here is Kym Knight and some of the participating students. Finally around 100 staff from the Dubbo School of Distance Education participated in a FiSH workshop.

For further information on these workshops and other network news please contact the CAP consultants.

Finally a weather station has been installed at the Lake Cowal Conservation Centre (LCCC) as part of a joint project between CAP, the LCCC and West Wyalong HS. The data from this station will form part of upcoming CAP student projects. To view live data from this station click here.      

Online Projects
Collie’s Clicks – Stage 2 Australian Fauna Study
The final number of classes registered for Collie’s Clicks was 219! Currently there are two weeks left of clues with the final clue being posted on Wednesday 1st July at 10.00am. To support Collie’s Clicks this term there has been two video conferences hosted by Karen Player at the Australian Museum. These conferences have been complimentary activities for this Collie project and have provided students with further knowledge on Australian fauna. They have been highly successful with over 1000 students participating in the last video conference live. At the conclusion of these conference students and teachers are then able to watch these again from the Collie’s Clicks website. Once again thanks to Karen Player and her team at the Australian Museum and David Foley and his team at DART. This term we had 4S from the Australian International School, Saigon participating in Collie's Clicks their picture is below:

Collie’s Helpers – Stage 1 Workers in the Community – Term 3 - REGISTRATIONS OPEN!
This year Collie has explored the coldest continent in the world, Antarctica, he has travelled around Australia taking photos of different animals and now he is ready to visit a community just like yours. Collie has been to visit 10 different workers in your community and found out their roles and responsibilities. Can you discover which workers they were? You will need to research a number of helpers in your community and then try to work out which helpers Collie has visited. To register your class for Collie's Helpers click here or register from the front page of the CAP website.

Maths on the Net (MoTN)
Another successful term for Maths on the Net. There are over 50 classes registered for the stage 3 Coffee Shop Web Challenge! There were also a number of classes involved in the fortnightly challenges for stage 2 and 3. Information for term 3 will be shortly available via the CAP website. For further information about MoTN please visit their website and or email MoTN.

Professional Learning
CAP is offering a number of valuable professional learning opportunities early in term 3 including:

For further information and to register please visit the CAP Professional Learning Calendar.

Registrations for the Biennial Equity Conference 2009 (innovate-educate-celebrate) hosted by NSW Priority Schools Programs have now opened. This conference will be held in Sydney from the 10-11 Sept 2009. For further information please visit the conference website.

DART Connections Events
Upcoming DART Connections events include:

• Women in Physics - Christine Charles – Powerhouse Museum – Wed 8th July

• Live the Dream - Jason McCartney – Premier’s Sporting Challenge – Tues 28th July

• Range of events being offered by the Australian Museum

For further information and to register please visit DART.

Educational Links / Activities / Blogs / Wikis / Podcasts / Books / Articles
In the last month a delicious account (social bookmarking) has been created for CAP which all CAP consultants have access to. We will be able to share with each other and with you all our favorite educational websites. Usernames you might like to add to your delicious accounts are:
NSWCAP
stacey.kelly1
toni.withers
jaemieb
gregalchin
If you would like to know more about social bookmarking and also delicious check these sites out   
Delicious Website
Commoncraft - Social Bookmarking Movie in Plain English

Bournda Environmental Education Centre (BEEC) - operated by the NSW DET and is located within Bournda National Park. They offer a range of educational programs linked to NSW BOS syllabus requirements catering for primary and secondary students. To view their current brochure click here.

Habitat Heroes - Habitat Heroes is an interactive website for lower primary age students in which they learn as they play about global environmental issues.

Smeebu – an online website which has practise NAPLAN tests and other activities for year 3 and 5 students.

Story Circle - Digital Storytelling Around the World – book published by Wiley focusing on digital story telling from an international perspective.

Studystack – Free online service which allows you to import data/information and create flashcards, hangman games, crossword puzzles, matching activities, word searches, and or word scrambles. These can be printed, used online and or exported to mobile devices.

Cool Tools for Schools Wiki– a devoted wikispace that has a range of web 2.0 tools categorised for educators.

Question Time – an interactive, online website hosted by the National Library of Australia. This site allows students in real time to ask questions of librarians to assist them with assignments and so forth. It is designed for students of all ages.

Web 2.0 in Education- website designed to provide teachers with a directory of free web 2.0 tools along with some suggestions as to how they may be used in the classroom.

Cool Cat Teacher Blog – a blog by an American teacher Vicki Davis, has a range of teaching ideas, thoughts about education and tools that can be used in the classroom.

Vision 2020 Movie – Has anyone watched “Shift Happens” by Karl Fisch? If so Karl has created another movie Vision 2020 which talks about his thoughts on the future of education and schooling.

Sir Ken Robinson Creativity Podcast – Sir Ken Robinson is a British creativity and educational expert. He has recently visited Australia and was interviewed by ABC radio. He believes we are all born with creative capacities however school systems often discourages creativity by favouring academic measurement.

CogDogRoo – wikispace which has information regarding Digital Story Telling. Has a list of 50 tools that can be used for students/teachers/parents to produce digital stories.  

Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre (MACICT) - is located at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. It is a collaborative agreement negotiated between the NSW Department of Education (DET) and Macquarie University to provide schools with access to innovative technologies. They have a range of programs and projects available regarding technology for students and teachers.
One such project is called Taffkids which is a current global wiki project between schools in Wales and Australia. This is a private wikispace however feel free to request membership and include your name, school and year level. For further information contact Anne-Maree Moore.