Prep Banter: March 2013

Saturday 16 March 2013

Evernote

Evernote is an Internet based note (and other) taking program that works cross platforms (pc/phone/tablet)

Wednesday 13 March 2013

schoolnet - Fiona Beal is a fantastic educator and her blog and tips on this site are well worth watching. Her courses are designed to be short and fun and I ALWAYS learn something. The schoolnet site also gives lots of practical examples of how to integrate technology in a meaningful way.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

iPADS PILOT

iPADS PROJECT

After much investigation around the best deals, we have finalised the arrangements as follows:

Staff will have a choice of entering into a 24 month contract for either –

32Gb 4th Gen Wifi and Cellular with 2Gb Data Bundle – R449
64Gb 4th Gen Wifi and Cellular with 2Gb Data Bundle – R499

There is a once off connection fee of R105.

The following form part of the agreement between yourself and the school:

The school will pay each participant a monthly allowance of R200 for the duration of the contract. This allowance will be subject to tax.

Digicape, the provider, is offering a 15% discount on any iPad accessories purchased at the time of taking out the contract.
You are the owner of the iPad.
Accessories, apps, etc, will be for your own account.
Maintenance of the iPad – such as is required – is the responsibility of the user.
There will not be dedicated technical support at the Prep – this will be reviewed when appropriate.
We are not considering extending the number of Wi-Fi points or other hardware in the near future.
In taking up this offer you will join a professional development team to investigate the use of iPads and the extent to which they could transform teaching and learning in the Prep classroom.

We are very excited about the possibilities that iPads in education present and look forward to your interaction and feedback.

Yours sincerely

GREG BROWN

HEADMASTER

Please note the following logistics: Curtley is the Digicape Vodacom representative. It would be advisable to make contact with him or Gaynor before going to Digicape, so that they can confirm the model and to ensure stock availability. Curtley is at the following address: Digicape, Shop 1, Roeland Square, Roeland Street, Cape Town. Curtley and Gaynor are contactable on 0860105155

Please bring with you identification and proof of employment at Bishops.

Tech Help

Blogging Instructional Videos

Getting started Guide

How to publish a post

Managing comments on your blog

Internet resources: It doesn't have to be an app!

There are heaps and heaps of great Internet resources out there. Many are tools that help up plan and deliver our lessons. These are some of my favourites:

stixy - on-line bulletin board

thinglink - makes your images interactive

slideshare - upload and share your slide show

schoolnet - Fiona Beal is a fantastic educator and her blog and tips on this site are well worth watching. Her courses are designed to be short and fun and I ALWAYS learn something.

MSO Learn

MSO Learn is a guide to instruments of the orchestra.

Glogster

Glogster allows users to create free interactive posters, or Glogs. A "Glog", short for "graphics blog", is an interactive multimedia image

Explain Everything

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design tool that lets you annotate, animate, and narrate explanations and presentations. It's not free but it's reasonably priced and it's fabulous!

SlideShare

SlideShare is fabulous for sharing presentations, documents, PDFs, videos and webinars- all available via a standard internet browser

ClassDojo

ClassDojo is a classroom tool to help teachers manage behaviour in their classrooms

iBeat - the Metronome

iBeat - the Metronome is a fun app to help understand a Metronome

Monday 11 March 2013

K9 Web Protection Browser

K9 Web Protection Browser is a free safe browser. For families with small children, you are able to disable Safari and make K9 Web Protection Browser your default browser.