See what you think. I will try to be optimistic!

Take a poke around HERE and see how the thoughts are going.

Some interesting statements about ICT - here is an excerpt from Findings > Survey:

• All the groups felt the least important areas for further investigation were: How might technologies help the education system respond to significant society changing events, eg pandemics, climate change, cyberterrorism, economic failure? How might the balance between state and commercial delivery of education change in the context of technological development?
• Over half of all adults from all backgrounds felt that the role of technology was to make learning fun and motivate students.

Hi Geoff
My name is Steve Massiah and I asked Barbara Bodkin to forward me your contact information. I am a retired principal out of Toronto and as you can see below I am currently an elementary school principal at an international school in Thailand. We have a last minute vacancy for a computer teacher or possibly Elementary School IT Coordinator (depending upon the person’s experience).

I taught in the OISE AQ program for fourteen years and remembered at times coming across teachers without positions who were upgrading their credentials. If you are aware of any computer teachers who might be interested in such a posting I would greatly appreciate you forwarding them this email.

The computer teacher is expected to :

• In consultation with the teachers create learning opportunities that allow the students to use technology in an authentic way by integrating activities into the units of inquiry.
• Assist teachers in finding ways that will enhance their teaching by integrating technology
• Model for teachers the use of technology in their classrooms
• Find sites that will help them with a particular topic
• Team-teach units that integrate technology
• Conduct workshops to further develop teacher’s knowledge
• Have input into the software and hardware purchases
• Be a liaison with the technical department
• Teach IT classes to students depending upon grade assignment
• (grade 3 – 5)

Ruamrudee is one of the top international schools in Thailand and offers a very competitive package. Air fare, housing stipend, health insurance etc. are all part of the package.
 
Geoff thank you in advance for any connections you will be able to provide.

Sincerely

Stephen W. Massiah
Elementary School Principal
Email: smassiah@rism.ac.th

Ruamrudee International School
6 Ramkhamhaeng, 184, Minburi
Bangkok, Thailand
(overseas phone) 66 2518 0320 9 ext. 255
(local phone) 02518 0320 9 ext. 255
(overseas fax) 66 2518 0844
(local fax) 02518 0844

Cottenham Village College in Cambridge now runs its entire online teaching, learning and home community – 1,500-1,600 users - on an open source system currently costing just £6 a month for server space. Yes, the technology will have to be ramped up as demand increases, but in the course of just one year, it has saved around £40,000 on hardware, software licences and other e-mail costs alone by using Google Apps for communications and collaborative work.

Couple this with the Formal/Informal ideas being tossed around then add the ways some people are creatively incorporating new technologies in learning and I think we live in very interesting times!

Has any subject actually REMOVED anything? Can each keep growing in a finite day? 

Here is a different perspective being tried.

It may be of interest if you want to try and keep up (catch up?) - do I hear "to dream the impossible dream . . . "?

Here is the May edition of the BECTA report.

A short version of the contents:

    Networking and wireless
    Multimedia (including Analysis: Handheld games consoles in education)
    Hardware (including robots in education)
    Software and internet (including ICT to improve parental engagement: towards online reporting

Students using a virtual (and safe) world to help them learn.

Web worlds 'useful' for children

A taste:

Having considered the evidence I believe we need to move from a discussion about the
media ‘causing’ harm to one which focuses on children and young people, what they
bring to technology and how we can use our understanding of how they develop to
empower them to manage risks and make the digital world safer.

Enjoy! Safer Children in a Digital World

Geoff

This struck me as pertinent to comments I have seen here so thought I would share it.

Governments tend to "borrow" ideas from each other, change the language a little then claim it as the next "direction" to show progress or "needed change" - that has been true since the early 1900's if the literature is accurate. So here is a news article about something that just might happen here - this is a sample of the language within it:

. . education has been taken over by an "Orwellian language" which has started to control the way we think and act.

It implies there is an exact specification for the finished product.

. . this matters because the language we use shapes the answers to the question: "what is education for?"

Nor is this simply about a neglect of certain types of traditional academic learning. Equally overlooked is the value of practical, hands-on learning or of creativity.