ITmadeSimple! Blog

By the Numbers - Facebook

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 02:15:00 GMT

With the impending Facebook IPO just around the corner (and don't you just love the fact that Facebook makes all its money from us as users yet our access to its shares will be nonexistent - that's another story) a few interesting numbers have been released in the run up to the share listing.

These numbers highlight the size of Facebook and why social networking needs to understood by educators and school communities but more importantly thinking around where it might fit, what tools we could use and how we could use it to enhance learning and interaction. Children are accessing social networks in greater ever numbers, this will be a tool our children will need to know how to use effectively and efficiently with a clear understanding of how to manage the different views into our lives (personal, professional, social).

Something to think about.

Mashable Blog Article "Facebook Now has 901 Million Users" 23rd April 2012

Posting Images Online - taking responsibility

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:55:00 GMT

It has been an interesting few weeks in regards to online and social issues and information.

Recently an historic NSW court ruling in Australia found a jilted male lover responsible for posting private and personal images of his ex partner online (6 images in total). This is only one of a handful of cases where a successful prosecution has been carried out. When talking with older students about cyber safety it interesting to have some very challenging conversations about the responsibilities around online actions. Many students and adults that are confident online users are aware of the social and reputation consequences of inappropriate postings online; however many see no real legal consequences for these decisions and whilst we need to be careful of over legislating rules and regulations we need to ensure that society as a whole sets better expectations around what is acceptable or not.

For me this is where our parenting skills disappear, because they become absent in regards to engaging with their children when they are online or using various forms of technology. All the technological tools available our children means they can quickly and easily become engaged, involved and focused which generally means they are quiet and not annoying parents. For parents many have no interest, understanding or self confidence with the use of technology, games or activities our children are engaged in but this is no excuse. We have to start making time to watch, listen and talk with our children about what they do online. We need to be careful about applying our personal judgements around what our children consider fun and interesting, we do need to provide knowledge and skills so our children make smart and informed decisions and we need to provide clear guidelines about what is acceptable to share online about yourself and others and what is not.

Make time this week to find out 3 things you child likes to do online or with technology that you did not know before.

Ref The Age Article "Man jailed over nude Facebook photos" 22nd April 2012

BeeBot App for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:32:00 GMT

The BeeBot is a great tool for teachers and students in the early years to build and develop programming skills and directional language skills through the use of the direction keypad located on the top of the BeeBot.

Teachers and students now have the opportunity to practice and develop skills virtually before mapping and planning their own activities with the real thing. The BeeBot App has recently been released and offers 12 different levels that grow in complexity. Each level is timed and the faster it is completed the more stars a player gets. The levels are set in a garden setting and will appeal from age 4 upwards.

Whilst this is a free app it would be great to see more levels developed to try, but even better would be the ability for teachers/students to build their own levels and even share what they build with other people. Hopefully these developments are in the pipeline and not just an add on.

BeeBot App: iTunes Link

Updated Cyber Smart Links and Resources

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 11:11:00 GMT

Over the past 10 weeks I have been involved in a large number of Cyber Smart presentations to parents, students and teachers. Over time I have found with the speed at which sites change and information is updated means that emailing links out to participants is sometimes not the most effective method.

This page contains all the current sites and information covered in my presentation as well as large number of other sites that you might find of value. This page will be updated over time so that it remains relevant. If you have any questions or would like to follow up any further information please do not hesitate to contact me: tony@itmadesimple.com

Sites - General Information and Help

Google Online Safety - http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/online-safety/

Australian Government - http://www.netalert.gov.au/home.html

NZ NetSafe - http://www.netsafe.org.nz/keeping_safe.php?sectionID=parents

Childnet International - http://www.childnet-int.org/

ThinkuKnow - http://www.thinkuknow.com/

Cyber Safety Sites for Children and Parents

Parents - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/en/Parents.aspx

Hectors World - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Young%20Kids/Hectors%20World.aspx
A site for young children to explore online safety.

CyberQuoll - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Kids/Fun%20things%20to%20do/Cyberquoll.aspx
This site is for primary aged students.

CyberNetrix - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/cybernetrix/index.html
A site for teenagers to learn how to be smart online.

Super Clubs Plus - http://www.superclubsplus.com.au/
An environment for students to learn about online social networks

CyberBullying

Facts about Cyberbullying
http://www.familysafecomputers.org/bullying.htm

Tips on how to respond - Parents
http://www.adl.org/education/cyberbullying/tips.asp#family

What is CYBERBULLYING?
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

Types of Cyberbullies
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/educators/howdoyouhandleacyberbully.html

Quick Guide to Responding - Parents
http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/parents/guide.html

Texting Glossary features thousands of relevant and up to date terms.
http://www.dtxtrapp.com/glossary.htm

Family Safety resources

Google Family Safety
http://www.google.com.au/familysafety/

FaceBoook Family Safety
https://www.facebook.com/safety

Scams and Tricks via FaceBook - what to avoid
http://facecrooks.com/

Online Privacy
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/reputation.aspx#findout

Google Jargon Busters
http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/jargon/#cookie

Australian Government - Easy guide
http://www.dbcde.gov.au/easyguide/social_networking

Google Privacy Tools
http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacy/tools.html

Chat Acronyms
http://www.netlingo.com/acronyms.php

Digital Reputation Management
Remove content from the web: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=164734

Surf Safely with Browsers

The Facts about Search Engines
http://www.familysafecomputers.org/searchengines.htm

Google Safe Browsing
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/safebrowsing/

Parental Control Toolbar: Free Filtering Tool
http://www.parentalcontrolbar.org/

How to use Parental Controls on IE Explorer
http://www.ehow.com/how_2033277_use-parental-controls.html

KID-FRIENDLY SITES
http://www.bewebaware.ca/english/KidFriendlySearchEngines.aspx

Web Surfing Tips
http://www.commonsense.com/internet-safety-guide/web-surfing.php

SAFETY FIRST - INTERNET EXPLORER @ HOW STUFF WORKS
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-explorer-82.htm

INTERNET EXPLORER VS. FIREFOX: WHICH IS SAFER?
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/secu/article.php/3698606

SAFE SURFING TIPS FOR TEENS
http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/safebasics/internet_safety.html

Google Safe Search
http://www.google.com/safesearch_help.html

Social Media
Parenting with the Digital Generation (Article) - http://mashable.com/2010/05/13/parenting-social-media/

Videos
The following sites have a range of video content that you may be interested in watching and even later watching with your child/ren if you deem it appropriate:

Common Sense Media Advice Videos
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/video/advice

PBS - Growing up online
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Cyber Bullying - a view of this issue from the student view - great for children to watch
http://www.digizen.org/cyberbullying/fullFilm.aspx

Exposed - a view of the issue of sexting and its consequences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovR3FF_6us

ThinkUKnow - make sure you know who you are talking too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBDUX7KPT0&feature=fvwrel

Megan's Story -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKgg35YbC4&feature=relmfu

TalhotBlond
ABC aired an interesting documentary called "Talhotblond " around an online chatting event that will make you think about the conversations we need to have with our children, even other adults about chatting and communicating online.
The website for the documentary can be found here: http://www.talhotblond.com/
* Please note this documentary contains adult content and language and is not suitable for children.

Online Books
Kids and Video Games
http://www.videogamesandkids.com/index.html

Student Links
20 Things I Learned Online
http://www.20thingsilearned.com/en-US

Password Bird
http://www.passwordbird.com

Protecting your PC
Lastly the following are the products I spoke about in regards to having on your computer to avoid viruses. All these products are free and do a very good job when used together, if you have Norton or McAfee or any other commercial product - please do not download the first product called AVG - as this performs the same task.

AVG - this program runs as a virus protection option and will scan email and software loaded onto your computer.
Product Information:: http://free.grisoft.com/
Download software:: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

Spybot - this program checks and removes any malicious software from your browsers, it also helps to scan common locations on your computer for items that should not be there.
Product Information:: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Download software:: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

AdAware - this program also checks your internet browser for malicious software.
Product Information:: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Download software:: http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2007/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5&cdlPid=10837062

Windows Defender
Site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx
Microsoft recently released this free tool that will do many of the functions the programs above provide - this tool is highly recommended. However please note that you must have a valid copy of windows to install this application.

The key with these tools is that you need to scan your computer based on your usage - if the internet is used a lot then scan with Spybot and AdAware every fortnight - if the internet is only used a low or moderate amount then scan once a month. if you are every concerned with anything on the computer then run a scan just to be sure. These products are designed to simply help eliminate viruses and unwanted software on your computer.

One other tool to have a look at is Norton Online Family : http://onlinefamilyinfo.norton.com/ - more information on this product can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnlineFamily.Norton

Or check out the K9 Web Protection tool: http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

Online Safety Video and Resources

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:51:00 GMT

Online Smarts and Online awareness are issues very close to my heart. I have recently found the following video that includes some very interesting statistics about student and parent awareness of online use and applications. These statistics fit very closely with a report recently released about Children's online use titled "Risks and safety for Australian children on the internet" compiled from the AU kids Online Survey (pdf Link).

The report is an interesting one in that it tells a compelling story about the way our children are using the internet and online resources and the what we as parents think about that use. Although the survey is only taken from 400 students I would tend to agree with the percentages published.

This year I would have talked or worked with around 4500 students from grade Perp/Kinder to Year 12 and I always ask questions about online/mobile usage and application. What was reported fits with what I have experienced first hand with students and teachers. For those interested this survey of Australian children is based on the developments and research conducted in Europe with more information available on the EU Kids Online Website.

Back to the video one of the reasons I like this clip is that it presents information and responses to questions that teachers and parents can use with students to start discussions. It is also a great way for students to ask questions of their own online behaviour and that of their friends. This video helps develop awareness of the challenges we all face when going online, the perceptions we have and assumptions we all make about what our children do. The thing I like most about this video is that it states what I have always believed and presented - 'Now is the time to talk to your kids" and if this clip helps start that process then that is simple perfect.

Links from the video clip:

Family Online Safety Institute: http://www.fosi.org/
Family Online Safety Contract: http://goo.gl/URJuv (shortened link to pdf file)
Social Networking sites and our lives: http://goo.gl/rHy4T
Recommendations on Safety Initiatives: http://goo.gl/fxEkF (shortened link to pdf file)
Teen, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites: http://goo.gl/vUem0
The State of K-12 Cyberethics, Cybersafety and Cybersecurity Curriculum in the US: http://goo.gl/JIaRF (shortened link to pdf file)
High-Wire Act: Cyber-safety and the Young: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/jscc/report.htm
Who Needs Parental Controls?: http://www.fosi.org/research/900-who-needs-parental-controls.html
Social Networking, Age and Privacy: http://goo.gl/ee0Vv (shortened link to pdf file)
Who Bullies and Who is Bullied Online?: http://goo.gl/trp04 (shortened link to pdf file)
Uk Children's media literacy: http://goo.gl/p3jm2

If you are after more links and resources please visit and join my Diigo group "Online Smarts".

The First Melbourne TeachMeet #TMMelb

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:45:00 GMT

Today I was lucky enough to attend and provide sponsorship for the first TeachMeet in Melbourne, Victoria. The TeachMeet idea developed originally in the UK to provide organised yet informal style of meeting/catch up for teachers to discuss and talk about technology in education (See wikipedia TeachMeet entry).

The Melbourne event was held at Pascoe Vale Primary School and was extremely well attended. It was great to see so many people there and to catch up with some old friends, new friends and twitter friends. The day had a number of quick presentations to wet people's appetites, unfortunately the technology Gods were against us on the day as we were unable to hear from Henrietta Miller who helped get the TeachMeet Sydney events up and running.

It was great to hear the different short presentations - Jess McCulloch did a great job presenting here talk as a poem (very well done), I talked about the WEE project with SLAV. Linda Amos talked about her app development work without any knowledge about programming, Nathan Jones covered QR Codes, Mitch Hughes discussed Literacy Frameworks, Kylie Taig talked about and demonstrated Augmented Reality, Margo Edgar talked about collaborative spaces (i.e. Ultranet) and Richard Olsen finished off the formal part of the event discussing his latest writing work "How do we change the conversation from tools to pedagogy?".

All in all a good day - the program and links for the presenters can be found here.

The twitter back channel was going great guns and for those that missed it on the day you can see all the tweets via Topsy here.

I also streamed the sessions on the day using uStream, again the Tech Gods seem to conspire against me with some technology tools not wanting to play with me. I have downloaded the stream feeds and cleaned up the audio to enable better quality. The stream feeds can know be found on Vimeo.

Thanks to all those that organised, attended and participated online. I look forward to the next event.

Technology and Rememberance 11/9/2011

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 03:14:00 GMT

It is 10 years since the events in America that changed the world. I can still clearly remember the evening I was working as the Executive Officer for ICTEV (formerly CEGV) and that evening I had completed some work on Databases for the association. I was about to go to bed and decided to check the TV just in case I was missing something - I didn't miss anything. I flicked across the channels and on had a breaking news story of a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Centre buildings and there was discussion around what type of plane it could have been, then without any warning a second plane quickly loomed into the camera view and with then hit the second building; the rest we all know about.

Given it is ten years since this event it happened to be pure coincidence that I have been reading (well listening too) the book "I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59" and today I have come across the part of the book that looks at Google's reaction t 9/11. It is interesting to hear some of the decisions and reactions to how the news was handled through Google. This chapter in the book made me think about the way technology has changed over the last 10 years and how our behavior has changed in times of crisis and need.

For me the idea of capturing our thoughts and reflections of these events through technology is an amazing capability where we can capture first hand our own personal story and events that have an impact on our lives. To me this is a fundamental skill that we should all learn and use and with it the responsibility of being custodians of these stories; for these stories help to teach, inspire and lead.

What stories would you want to capture, what stories have you missed out on capturing.

In remembrance.

An Interview with Dan Pink

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 07:05:00 GMT

I do a podcast called the Ed Tech Crew with a great mate Darrel 'The ICT Guy' Branson and recently we have the opportunity to interview the Internationally acclaimed author Dan Pink (of 'Drive' and 'A Whole New Mind').

It was a great conversation around motivation, education, technology and much more - enjoy.

Episode 171

Cyber Safety Feedback

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:16:00 GMT

It is always great to get feedback as it can help with making your service and support better or just to give you a lift.

Recently I have been running a large number of Online Safety sessions and in the past week I was sent the following from one of the teachers at a school I was running presentations at:

"Hi guys,

<Person> here, I attended the Cyber Safety session tonight.

I felt compelled to email the school and particularly <school contact> to thank her for what I considered to be the most worth-while thing I have done for my children this year.

As much as I consider myself to be fairly internet savvy and had already set ground rules for my girls when it comes to the internet, I took away from the session so much more than I could have imagined.

The session was as terrifying as it was informative.

If I had one criticism of the session it would be that attendance by parents of year 3-6 wasn’t compulsory.

I am so glad it was compulsory for the kids.

It reaffirms for me the wonderful home/school relationship we have with <school name> and I beg you to offer this session every year.

Kindest Regards"

I just wanted to say thank you to both the parent for the feedback and to the school.

Not much more to say really.

Teacher CyberSafety Links

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 03:38:00 GMT

The following are some of the sites I spoke about or eluded too during my recent Teacher Cyber safety presentations.

I hope you found my presentation informative and interesting - fell free to leave a comment and if you have any links, stories and questions please send me an email tony@itmadesimple.com

Sites - General Information and Help

Australian Government - http://www.netalert.gov.au/home.html
NZ NetSafe - http://www.netsafe.org.nz/keeping_safe.php?sectionID=parents
Childnet International - http://www.childnet-int.org/
ThinkuKnow - http://www.thinkuknow.com/

Links to Resources and Information

The follow site is hosted and managed by Diigo – a social bookmarking tool that all teachers should use. A quick video on social bookmarking can be found here: http://goo.gl/DpO8Y

The following Diigo group is one that I have established to share resources and information with any educators interested in this area: http://groups.diigo.com/group/online-smarts

You can also check out my other bookmarks.

Cyber Safety Sites for Children

Hectors World - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Young%20Kids/Hectors%20World.aspx
A site for young children to explore online safety.

CyberQuoll - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Kids/Fun%20things%20to%20do/Cyberquoll.aspx
This site is for primary aged students.

CyberNetrix - http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/cybernetrix/index.html
A site for teenagers to learn how to be smart online.

Super Clubs Plus - http://www.superclubsplus.com.au/
An environment for students to learn about online social networks

CyberBullying

Facts about Cyberbullying http://www.familysafecomputers.org/bullying.htm

What is CYBERBULLYING? http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/what_is_cyberbullying_exactly.html

Types of Cyberbullies http://www.stopcyberbullying.org/educators/howdoyouhandleacyberbully.html

Texting Glossary features thousands of relevant and up to date terms. http://www.dtxtrapp.com/glossary.htm

Videos

The following sites have a range of video content that you may be interested in watching:

PBS - Growing up online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/

Cyber Bullying - a view of this issue from the student view - great for children to watch http://www.digizen.org/cyberbullying/fullFilm.aspx

Exposed - a view of the issue of sexting and its consequences. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ovR3FF_6us

ThinkUKnow - make sure you know who you are talking too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBDUX7KPT0&feature=fvwrel

Megan's Story - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwKgg35YbC4&feature=relmfu

TalHotBlond - http://www.talhotblond.com/

I hope you found my presentation informative and interesting - fell free to leave a comment and if you have any links, stories and questions please send me an email tony@itmadesimple.com

The Game Changer - Dr Joyce Valenza Session 1

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 06:31:00 GMT

Coburg Senior High School on 'The Circle'

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:22:00 GMT

It was great to see the other day a profile piece on the "The Circle" about Coburg Senior High School. The school is a great example of what modern school can look like and Don (the principal), staff and students doing an amazing job. The school and facilities are something else and if you get the chance to visit take the opportunity.

If the clip does not work try this link to the page.

Technology in the Tropics Keynote Links

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:10:00 GMT

In July I was fortunate enough to be involved in the "Technology in the Tropics" conference for teachers in the Cairns area. this event was run by the Queensland ICT Association local regional Chapter (FNQ QSITE). It was great to see such a strong turn out and support for this group especially when we see others associations starting to get smaller.

The following are the links, resources and idea I discussed in my session.

Video

The Power of Words: YouTube Link
EDS Plane: YouTube Link
The Forth Screen: YouTube Link

Links

The Web in 60 seconds
http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/60-seconds

Infographics - By Kathy Schrock
http://vimeo.com/25328216

Building your PLN

Build your network based on the following:

Identify - have a mentor or person that you feel comfortable to ask and support you building your network.
Trust - link with people you trust and respect
Advice - seek advice and support from your network when you need it
Share - share your resources and then as your confidence grows your ideas
Take Risks - use your PLN to take some risks do things that are outside your comfort zone, challenge yourself, keep looking to learn
Explore - start exploring domains of learning or knowledge that are outside your expertise areas - there are so many linkages that can be made
Mentor - Once you have a well established network look to introduce and mentor someone else. We are all experts and highly knowledgeable

Twitter
Process to get started with Twitter:

Following the right people is the most important thing to get right
Lurk
Explore
Post
Use #hastags for events/ideas
Learn to Search Twitter

Twitter: @itmadesimple
Diigo: http://www.diigo.com/user/itmadesimple
Delicious: http://www.delicious.com/itmadesimple
LinkedIn Signal: http://www.linkedin.com/signal/

Searching

People Search - http://www.pandia.com/people/index.html

Noodle Tools - http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/5locate/adviceengine.html

Spezify - http://www.spezify.com/

The Internet Scout Report: http://scout.wisc.edu/Weblog/

Google Custom Search: https://www.google.com/cse/

Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts

Other Alert tools: http://searchengineland.com/how-to-use-free-alerts-for-link-discovery-75422?utm_source=socialflow&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=tweet

Check out Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au/
Help digitise our old newspapers - great classroom activity

50 Search engines to check out http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2008/07/22/50-awesome-search-engines-every-librarian-should-know-about/

Coral Crochet Reef Idea

If you want to get involved with this project please make contact and we will make sure your details are recorded.

Podcasting - leaving a legacy and sharing stories. Ed Tech Crew
http://www.edtechcrew.net

Cloud Computing
http://crenk.com/the-cloud-in-the-classroom/

Copyright - Digital Rights - Digital Preservation

Everything is a Remix Part 1 - http://vimeo.com/14912890
Everything is a Remix Part 2 - http://vimeo.com/19447662
Everything is a Remix Part 3 - http://vimeo.com/25380454

Watch the video from our NZ friends: http://vimeo.com/25684782

Creative Commons License process: http://creativecommons.org/choose/

Data Liberation - http://www.dataliberation.org/

Great quotes for Learning and Change
http://www.flickr.com/groups/858082@N25/

AAMT-MERGA Conference 2011

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:03:00 GMT

I am currently working in Alice Springs helping out at with the online social aspects of a conference for the combined conference of The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) and the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA).

It has been interesting to participate in this event and be part of the mathematical discussion. Part of my role has been to assist in developing the online side of things to engage participants at the event to share their learning as well as provide details and information for others that are not able to attend.

A Netvibes site has been set up to capture and collect a range of resources from the event that will hopefully provide a historical record of this conference and the start of some new developments and directions for AAMT.

If you need any assiatance with with mobile office solutions and productivity through computer technology, we would be only to happy to assist on social networks, small business computing, how to setup a mobile office, and blogging for business. We also advise on strategy for Social Media applications like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Linked-In and YouTube, we are also passionate about global creative collaboration tools. Feel free to contact us for more information.

PTOOSH Winner of the Teaching Generation Now Competition

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 11:41:00 GMT

We would like to congratulate PTOOSH (aka Trish) on winning the prize draw for the Tech Tools for Teachers newsletter competition.

Trish won one of our new 5 in 1 iPad connection kit which will make connecting to here iPad so much easier.

If you are looking to get ideas and resources for your classroom and teaching, check out the Teaching Generation Now website and sign up for the newsletter.