Connected Learning

I love listening to Stephen Heppell and came across this TED Talks video on Derek’s blog via twitter.  He has great insight into what schools should be doing and he insists that the should astonish pupils so they can then astonish us back, otherwise it will be a dull world

stephen-heppell-possible-futures-5683614

I love listening to Ken Robinson – he makes such sense.   So much, it would appear, that the politicians seem to do exactly the opposite and call it progress.

He espouses diversity and the valuing of the ‘useless’ subject – the ones that won’t help you get a job.  He is strong on the arts as a vital tool for building the individual but shares that the current government won’t include this area in the Ebacc.

It’s a worthwhile 30 minutes spent listening to what he has to say

Learning without Frontiers

What a fantastic site to show side by side an OS map and satellite view.  Both are zoomable and the OS map can also show 1930s and 1940s maps of the areas.

Verbally is an amazing, comprehensive assisted speech solution for the iPad.It look similar to the Kurtzweil system which Stephen Hawking uses

Verbally is an invaluable communication aid for people with apraxia, ALS, stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, or muscular dystrophy.

Just download Verbally from the iTunes app store. Then, just use your finger or stylus to tap your sentence into the text box & tap speak. It’s that easy!

I have frequently read of the distortions that take place for people with dyslexia but had not managed to make sense of this in a visual way.  So it was great to come across this site which shows the different ways that text can appear to dylexics

I think this adds a new dimension to all educators with children who have dyslexia

I came across this blog by Juliet Robertson who is an outdoor learning consultant and she shares some of her experiences – I really liked it

Also on twitter @CreativeSTAR

This article really gives a great insight into how useful a FB page can be for use in schools.  It is pretty much a full set of guidelines and trip ups you might face when initiating this

Dan Meyer made this talk via TEDx and explored our current teaching methods with text books that lead to an impatience for irresolution.  His methods works towards  a patient problem solving student.  Well worth a look

Have you ever looked at handwriting fonts and wondered if there was a better on on the next page – and there wasn’t.  You eventually give up and carry on using Arial or TNR!

Well, now you can create your own font very easily using PilotHandwriting

Check out their video here

Livebinders simply allows you to collect resources as you navigate the internet – pictures, videos, pdfs and websites and then to put them together like you would a ringbinder.  You can add dividers (tabs) to separate out different areas and make sense of all you info.  Finally you can share the address with others or embed your binder into a blog or webpage – pretty good, I think

Had a go with this just now and it seems that the interface is a little clunky – especially with pictures