I've had this poster/image up on a bulletin board in my office for about a year now. I had always intended to share it, as there is lots of great stuff in it to unpack and think about, but lost the bookmark to the original and couldn't find it! (when did the Internet get so big???)

Anyway, here it is in all its glory 4mb jpg glory!

http://elearningargentina.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/informal-learning.jpg

(source Jay Cross, "Internet Time")

Just in case anyone missed it (I would have if my wife hadn't brought her copy home), the latest ETFO magazine ("Voice") had 3 great articles

http://www.etfo.ca/Publications/Voice/Pages/default.aspx

(coincidentally, 2 of the articles were about/by Commun-IT.org members!)

Also of note on the graphic novels idea, OSAPAC has announced that licensing a piece of software to help teachers/students author their own graphic novels/comics this year (http://www.osapac.org)

Scrabulous aside, I often recommend that teachers and administrators setup at least a basic facebook profile. News out of Manitoba today reaffirms that idea...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080506.wlfacebook

Stake your claim to your digital footprint before someone else does! Incidentally, if you aren't the #1 hit on a google search of your name, are you comfortable with the person who is???

I wanted to share something we have been working on (here in Ottawa) for the last little bit to help make tings easier for teachers interested in podcasting/video sharing in a safe environment. Its called "Netcaster". It is essentially a home grown podcast/video streaming server, where teachers can easily host their content/student produced work in a safe (yet still social!) environment.

Rather than over describe it, here is a (too long, I know...) screencast showing how it works. Feedback appreciated as well as any ideas to improve it. I will eventually clean up the code and publish it somewhere (just working out some additional features for a progress bar showing upload of larger files, and hopefully automatic conversion of video to flash video a la Youtube...)

This message come in recently via the COntact from on Commun-IT...

If you are using podcasts in primary grades, perhaps you can assist... 

kaymcc@eircom.net

Hello,
I am an Irish primary teacher, currently doing some research on Podcasting in
Primary Education, for my Master’s degree at Trinity College Dublin.  There
are currently very few, if any, primary schools in Ireland using podcasting as
an educational tool.  

From my reading, and Internet searches, I see that you have been using
podcasting for a number of years and have developed some expertise in the area.
 

In order to help me with my work, I would be most grateful if you would
complete this online survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VtgTBEWcUTepJPf3Jf0EFQ_3d_3d

Many thanks,

Kay McCarthy

If you haven't seen it yet, the latest issue of Leading and Learning magazine (ISTE's quarterly magazine) has a great article on using Elgg (the some open source social networking platform that Commun-IT is built upon) with K-12 students. Well worth the read and good inspiration to how we can embrace these type of tools rather than deny they exist by shutting them out of classroom practices.

Full article text is available online here.

(disclaimer - I'm one of the contributors to the Elgg project, so I am a bit biased about what a great tool it is :-)

Last year, a group of teachers at one of our schools (Brookfield HS) applied for and won a grant from HP that included a cart of tablet pcs. I wanted to share this video that the George Lucas Foundation recent produced that outlines that successes they have seen as a result of their efforts. Amazing stuff.

Hello all,

I'm pleased to let you know the new video "Canadian Kaleidoscope: Brookfield High School" just posted to our website. It will be featured on the homepage for the next week, then accessible in our archives after that. This link will take you directly to the video itself:

http://www.edutopia.org/brookfield-multicultural-technology-video