July 2009 Newsletter for HSS staff.

1. iPod Touch - Apple’s latest touch technology.
ICT News
This mobile device might lend itself well to
enhanced learning in primary schools.
HAMBLEDON
STATE
SCHOOL
JULY 2009
iPod Touch Action Learning Research at Hambledon.
both offered support and are watching our Media to be used on the iPod Touches
Innovative technology will research efforts with interest. can be downloaded from iTunes. iPod
be extensively tested by iPod Touches were first released to Touches handle music, video, TV shows,
the world less than 2 years ago. The 2nd podcasts, audiobooks, games and other
Hambledon staff and generation of this technology (which we will software (called Apps - short for
students during an Action be trialling) was released 9 months ago applications). At present there are over
which makes their use in an educational 50,000 apps available through the iTunes
Learning Research project environment pretty unique. Technology such store and many of them are free!
in semester 2. as this tends to move into schools quite some At present, the action learning research
time after it has been accepted into project is only programmed to run until the
The research will focus on enhanced mainstream society. end of semester 2 in these areas although
learning outcomes, good pedagogy and the Apple markets the devices as “The who knows where we might take it if further
technical issues involved in integrating this Funnest iPod Ever!”. iPod Touch is a funding could be sourced.
mobile technology into a MOE environment. portable media player, personal digital
The Hambledon SS P&C have assistant and WiFi mobile platform that has
enthusiastically offered to fund a trial of iPod been described by some as a wireless
Touch mobile devices. They have donated
$3000 which is enough to purchase 8
computer the size of your hand.
The wireless capabilities of iPod Touch
Contents
devices for use by Prep and SEP students. will not be a focus at this point.
The research in the SEP will focus on It could be considered to be an iPhone Digital Starter Kit Application 2
the ability to use these devices to improve without a phone and camera and is
individualized learning while Prep teachers controlled with the touch of your fingers on DigiC@fe Timetable 2
will discover their potential to improve
learning and collaborative skills with pre-
the screen. It has technology built into it that
allows it to detect when it is tilted and is
Useful MP3 links 3
reading and beginning reading students.
Hambledon SS is excited to have
amazingly robust considering it is a highly
sensitive technical device.
MP3 Tips 3
gained the attention of Education
Queensland and Apple Australia who have
Your ICT Certificate Digital Portfolio is due by 3pm on Friday 31st of July. This is Friday of
Don’t forget! week 3 Term 3.
31 July
You will need to copy your Digital Portfolio onto the 2GB Toshiba USB stick you were given and
place it in Kate Maccoll’s pigeon hole by this date.
You will receive feedback in the following week.

2. Don’t forget! What do you
DigiC@fe want on your
31 July
smorgasbord?
29 July 2009
The DigiC@fe this week will be focused on Is there a particular
last minute coaching/support for people topic you would like
Digital Starter Kit who want to work on their ICT Certificate.
to see used for a
applications due Come along and ask for help or just come DigiC@fe?
and enjoy the good company of others
focused on the same goal as you. Please feel free to let
Kate know and she
As usual, you can expect yummy food!
will try to incorporate
it into the DigiC@fe
Venue – Conference room. program for Term 4.
Time – 3.20 – 5 ish. Feel free to leave
earlier.
What to bring? Your laptop and any of the material you might need as you
! work on your digital portfolio.
We have a number of
Digital Starter kits DigiC@fe - Term 3 topics
available for staff who
can come up with ways
to integrate these devices Strand Topic Date
into their units.
Other ICT Certificate 29 July
If you liked your Nashi SWAT
MP3 you’ll LOVE this
MP4 device. Literacy Editing audio 5 August
files. (will be repeated
It does everything your Using Audacity to term 4)
MP3 does + plays films + edit files.
shows pictures + shows
text.
Numeracy Interactive 19 August
Feel free to include them Numeracy 26 August
on your ICT Certificate
USB stick with your ICT Other iPod Touch 16 September
certificate Digital What is the fuss
Portfolio. about?

3. Useful MP3 Links
Have a look at some of these
great links for MP3 learning.
Tweets can be directed/sent to other Vic Dept Ed - Teacher Resources -
Is Kate a twit? people by including the use of the @ Podcasting
symbol before their twitter ID. The http://www.education.vic.gov.au/
She’s tweeting! conversation thread below reads from teacher/podcasting.htm
bottom to top with the earliest message
This website is a terrific place to go to
at the bottom and the latest one on the
find out more about podcasting and how
Twitter is a free service that allows top. (One tweet has been removed as I teachers are using media files in
people to stay in touch with others received it in the middle of the Victorian schools.
through short messages called “tweets”. conversation and did not have
Tweets are a maximum of 140 permission to reproduce it.) EQ Thinking Digitally - Media
characters long and once posted can be Players
read by other people who choose to http://www.learningplace.com.au/
follow (subscribe to) them. deliver/content.asp?pid=39184
This website has been created as a result
of the EQ Media Player trial. It has
some useful tips to help teachers
understand some of the issues around
media players.
EQ Thinking Digitally - Media
Since privacy is important when Players - Curriculum Examples
http://www.learningplace.com.au/
dealing in this virtual world twitter offers
deliver/content.asp?pid=41272
the option for people to have public or
This page lists some examples of how
protected profiles. Tweets from people Qld Teachers have embedded media
with protected profiles can only be read players into their curriculum.
by authorized followers. Twitter has some very interesting
Tweets can be general ones put out applications for education. It is a very
Lit2Go - MP3 Stories and Poems
into the “twitterverse” for people to interactive format for professional
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/index.htm
read or they can be directed at people learning and also a great Lit2Go is a free online collection of
or groups of people. communication tool between schools stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook)
An example of a general tweet is and their local communities. format.
shown below.
SWiK - Pedagogy + MP3
http://swik.net/pedagogy+mp3
A link to a list of articles about linking
good pedagogy with MP3 devices.
The use of a #hashtag in a tweet
can be a useful way to create a
message that is likely to be picked yup Librivox
http://librivox.org/
by specific groups of people. For
If you are interested in knowing LibriVox provides free audiobooks from
example Education Queensland has an
the public domain.
extremely active Twitter PLN Professional more about Twitter a company called
Learning Network called #eqelearn. The Common Craft Show has produced
Podiobooks
EQ staff particularly interested in a simple video to explain how it works
http://www.podiobooks.com/
eLearning follow #eqelearn tweets with which can be found by Googling A site with free audiobooks.
interest. “Twitter in plain english” or you can just
use this link http://idek.net/Lbt which will
Learn Out Loud
take you straight there.
http://www.learnoutloud.com/
You will need to search carefully for free
files on this site.
http://delicious.com/HambledonSS
Don’t forget our “delicious” staff favourites list for DigiC@fe
and good digital pedagogy links.