Hoot.Me switches Facebook into study mode

Hoot.Me. The startup “switches Facebook into study mode” by allowing anyone to create study chat rooms, invite friends to them and join existing rooms that are displayed in a study newsfeed. The “smart” chat rooms can handle math symbols and youtube video embeds, and through a partnership with TokBox, they also provide group video chats.

Read more at Mashable

How online education is revolutionising education

Thank you onlineeducation.net    read more

Did my first talk on cyber safety to 30 primary school parents

Great night at Wattle Park PS. Lots of interest on one of society’s hot topics. I’ve resisted doing these talks for quite sometime only because there’s too much drama associated with the topic. I’ve chosen a strange day to say this when The Age blasts out  ‘Facebook gossip pages vilify students’. Certainly when these events occur it does affect many but I remain steadfast in that the social networking space is a liberating, empowering environment with great equity. The session at Wattle Park did have a positive tone which based on the feedback was well received.

Whilst an anti-social act is just that, with the offender needing to understand the effect of their actions, our kids are largely innocent victims. They have not had the generational mentoring I had on matters of social etiquette. My parents taught me not to speak with my mouthful, I don’t ever recall a conversation about tagging photos.

Gotta share the musical

Facebook opened up to schoo teachers in NSW

Now Victoria, can we do the same here?

I love the president of the NSW Secondary Principals’ Council’s rationale; Christine Cawsey, said the move to give teachers access to social networking sites would be a ”very positive step”. ”We all have to live in the real world, and our new real world is a world of responsible use of social media.”

And should teachers ‘friend’ students online – have a read

Read more: Article in today’s Age

How schools can use Facebook to build an online community

great read for those schools looking for some guidance; how many schools do you know of that are on Facebook?

You may be intereseted to read ‘Why schools are spooked by social media’

Thanks Mashable

Using video to reinvent education

Salman Khan talks about how and why he created the remarkable Khan Academy, a carefully structured series of educational videos offering complete curricula in math and, now, other subjects. He shows the power of interactive exercises, and calls for teachers to consider flipping the traditional classroom script — give students video lectures to watch at home, and do “homework” in the classroom with the teacher available to help.

Skype Launches a Dedicated Network for Teachers

Teachers already use Skype to connect with other classrooms around the globe, bring in guest speakers without asking them to travel, and take virtual field trips. Now, Skype is making it easier for them to do so.

Read the full story at Mashable

Students face up to the pros and cons of Facebook

Interesting article regarding the impacts of Facebook on study in The Age. On the subject, I’d love some help completing research into uncovering if Facebook is costing year 12 students end of year points. Early results suggest up to 40% of last year’s year 12′s believe Facebook cost them – something. Survey at http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=HCONLL_d74fee28

Also check out a study by Monash University ‘Teenagers, Legal Risks & Social Networking Sites‘

Term 4 check list

Next week is the start of Term 4 in Victoria and the start of term is a good time to do a little website updating and maintenance:

• Update your Event Calendar with all of Term 4′s events, projects and important dates.
• Remember to hit Publish at the start of October, this will push your Event Calendar over to display October as the current month.
• Update your principal message with what’s happening in Term 4, what students, teachers and parents can look forward to.
• Get your parents subscribing to the Newsletter Alert System so they receive an email alert every time you upload the latest newsletter to your website.
• Delete Term 1 & 2 newsletters from your site and media galley.  It makes the site faster to load and there’s less to navigate through in the media gallery.
• Change your photo gallery to pics of your latest school event.
• Upload all your enrolment information (uniform lists, absentee forms, canteen pricelists, enrolment packs, etc) on to your site for your new families.

If there’s anything we’ve missed, don’t hesitate to let us know?  We are big believers in sharing website tips and tricks!