Shambles: What's New and exciting: shamblesguru

After seven years it's time to revamp the Home page on the Shambles website .... the rest of the site will remain the same ... just the front door getting a new coat of paint.

I started off with the idea of going in a complete Web2.0 direction ... very minimalistic, simple, little more than a search box .... but that hasn't happened.

The page took control of itself and there is more on it than I'd planned for.

One new element is to replace the scrolling school/country names at the top with worldwide times ... this acknowledges that there is a global readership ... and knowing the time zones helps appreciate how others are affected.

Feedback is welcomed .... I've have several suggestions already that I've acted upon ... one suggestion I have yet to implement is a 'text magnifier' as much of the text is small if using high screen resolutions.

So please use the comments below this post for feedback.

Original page is at www.shambles.net
New page is temporarily parked at www.shambles.net/indexnew.htm

I'll be moving the new page to the front in the next couple of days .... the old page will continue and there is a link to the orginal on the new. (wow that sounded complicated)

27 August 2009

Mini Tours of the Shambles Website

I've just done the first ... of what I plan to be a ongoing series of screencasts ... of mini-tours around the Shambles Website ... this first one is about the "Mobile Phones in Education" section.
I'm using a web-based screencasting application to make these ... http://screenr.com/user/shamblesguru
I need to work a little more on the audio volume and the best dimensions for these screencasts ... they are really quick and easy to do, a brilliant application for students.

04 May 2009

Shambles Newsletter: May 2009

Shambles Termly Newsletter: May 2009 ... only 3 a year ... for (international) educators http://tr.im/kpvx

29 April 2009

PLN => PDF

Personal Learning Network (PLN) => Personal Digital Footprint (PDF)

Just before Christmas I locked myself away for a day to quantify and visualise my own Personal learning Network ... it was a day WELL spent ... and has saved me considerable time finding places I knew I'd been before .. but forgotten.

This week I caught on to the idea of a Personal Digital Footprint (PDF) ... and so (yet again) locked myself away and quantified and visualised my PDF.

Now I have this feeling that both of these have the potential to save me time ... but there is a small part of me that thinks I may just have repeated what I did before even though the visualisation is different.

What do you think? ... the page with PLN and PDF is at http://tr.im/jTL3

ummm "pdf" a very confusing acronym.

05 February 2009

Shambles Termly Newsletter : Feb 2009

This is to confirm that the 20th termly "Shambles" Newsletter from The Education Project Asia is now available online.

- designed for International School Communities across S.E.Asia.(now with a worldwide readership)

It can be viewed online at www.shambles.net/newsletter/february2009

Topics this term include:

- New on Shambles : YouTube, TeachersTV, Obama, Periodic Table

- International Schools Island in Second Life

- Second Life Teen Grid (age 13-17)

- International Baccalaureate

- Curriculum

- Plagiarism and Copyright

- Internet Safety

- Conferences / Courses / Workshops

- Librarians and Media Staff

- Mixed Bag

- Media Studies

- Special Needs and Technology

- STOP PRESS Items

==========================

One of the items lists workshops I am running in Singapore 16th 17th and 18th March .... public sessions

Six half day workshops

(W1) Internet Survival Skills for Teachers (inc. RSS, Social Networks, Web 2.0 Start Pages)

(W2) Google Extended (inc. search skills and Google Apps)

(W3) Blogging

(W4) Podcasting

(W5) Beyond PowerPoint (If students are bored with ppt then these options will stimulate)

(W6) Social Networking and Virtual Worlds (inc. Second Life)

Each workshop is a mixture of Web 2.0 tools, pedagogy and classroom management ... using whole group work and also hands-on.

details at http://singaporeworkshops.blogspot.com

Short sessions to enable you to easily get up to speed on these Web 2.0 topics.

==========================

Use of Second Life (or other Virtual Worlds) by Schools Across Asia ...

request for help ...

If you know of a school in Asia that is already using Second Life then I would appreciate it if you could drop me a line.

There is minimal use at the moment (afaik) and I'd like to raise awareness of any ground breaking work so that experiences can be shared more easily.

==========================

Newsletters are archived at http://www.shambles.net/newsletter

where readers can also subscribe to be included in the distribution list (or take themselves off) or use the RSS feed.

I'd be grateful if you would help by forwarding this information to colleagues ... many thanks.

If you have any items that you think would be of interest to schools across the region or you wish to share an event or project then please feel free to send them to me at csmith@csmith.info

The next newsletter will be published 5th May 2009

I hope you continue to find this useful and of practical help working with your students, school, organisation or colleagues.

February 2009 newsletter is available at www.shambles.net/newsletter/february2009

18 October 2008

Personal Learning Network PLN

With growth of the internet, technology and especially with web 2.0 tools it is now easier for each of us to build a unique online Personal Learning Network (PLN).

These networks often grow organically as we ourselves evolve both needs and skills ... with the increase in available information worldwide and easier access there comes a time when it's advisable to pause and reflect.

Not only is this an exercise in time management but also one related
to keeping sane under the rapid growth of information available.

With this all in mind I created a webpage

to identify and visualise my own PLN.

www.shambles.net/csmith/pln

It is critical for us to take control of our own learning ... lifelong learning ... we owe it to ourselves not only as a survival strategy but one that contributes to the quality of our own life and also those whose lives we touch and who, in turn, touch us.

Building this page is also an interesting exercise to reflect on .... it's a web1.0 page with lots of web 2.0 hanging from it.