August 2008 Issue

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 14:06.

This edition of InSite includes some great ICT projects and competitions that encourage real, rich and relevant learning in our classrooms and details of upcoming conferences to inspire teachers.

Articles

Insite Logo

Land Yachts Sailing Again- a great ICT opportunity for Primary students!

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 04:54.

land yacht image

Following our terrific success last year with the new oz-teachers’ project – Land Yachts – we are sailing again...

Please visit http://www.oz-teachernet.edu.au/projects/yachts/ to read general information about the project. This will, in turn, direct you to the page where you can register your school to take part. Please note that to see the registration details, you need to be logged in to the oz-teachers’ site.

The project is a Technology/Science project open to students in Years 4-7 and also welcomes pre-service teachers to take part. In 2007, we had 477 children, 18 teachers and about 120 student teachers all building small wheeled vehicles and testing out some fundamental principles of physics, motion and material properties along the way. The blogging and comments were the heart of the project as participants were able to share their designs as they progressed. The scanned plans, images and video made the project come alive.

We are expecting some international schools this year to add to the participants and the dates have been altered to accommodate them. Last year, it was an engaging and worthwhile experience. 2008 will be repeating the experience.

We start ‘sailing’ on September 15 and ‘finish’ in mid-November. Register today!

Please forward this invitation to others who may be interested in taking part. Any particular questions should be directed to Margaret Lloyd, mm.lloyd@qut.edu.au

Great Event For Girls and ICT in Brisbane

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 04:50.

technology image “Technology Takes You Anywhere” is an annual event aimed at increasing girls’ interest, confidence and competence in the use of information & communication technology (ICT). The organizing committee aims to increase girls’ awareness that ICT offers a diverse range of pathways to challenging, rewarding, future-based careers. Our event seeks to portray that ICT is fun, people-oriented and….can take you anywhere!

In 2008, the event will take place on Friday 22nd August at Brisbane North Institute of TAFE (BNIT) with students from both Moreton and Brisbane Regions. The morning session will cater for Year 5 – Year 7 schoolgirls whilst the afternoon session will target Year 8 – Year 10 students.

Girls will participate in hands-on workshops, interactive presentations and a MyMultimedia session with the older girls participating in a role model panel. A variety of speakers from education and industry spheres have volunteered their time for what promises to be an inspiring ICT experience.

Details of the event and registrations are available on www.learningplace.com.au/ea/gicts/ttya <http://www.learningplace.com.au/ea/gicts/ttya>

Great Competition with Ed Queensland

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Tue, 05/08/2008 - 20:04.

Image bank 'Get the Picture' competition

Win a digital camera and photography workshop for your class!

The Image bank Get the Picture competition
has been created in recognition of the value of the photographic and
artistic work of Queensland students and teachers.

The competition aims to encourage the creativity and innovation of students and teachers
and to provide enriched Image bank content that will be available,
copyright cleared for educational use by all staff and student users of
Education Queensland's CX resource centre.

for more details contact

Project Contacts

Linda Pitt: linda.pitt@deta.qld.gov.au

Hazel Orr: horr1@eq.edu.au

or the website

http://eq2.janison.com/eq/moreinfo.asp?guid={FE9188A0-D78E-4822-95B8-842F21F62DC3}

Queensland School's Web Challenge

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 30/04/2008 - 11:14.

The Queensland Schools Web Challenge for 2008 is up and running!

Why not be involved and win great prizes!

QSITE is once again hosting the Queensland Schools Web Challenge which is annual website competition for studentsThe theme for 2008 is ’Regional Australia’

Entries are due on Friday 5 September 2008.

The Queensland Schools Web Challenge is an exciting opportunity for students to:
Interact with local communities
Explore the Internet as a tool for communication and research
Participate in the design and publishing of a web page or web site
... and win prizes.
Students are to choose their own interpretation of the theme, form a team and create a website!
The categories for teams for 2008 are:
Junior Category (Years 5 – 8)
Middle Secondary (Years 9 - 10)
Open Category (Years 11 – 12, QUT*)

* The competition has been expanded to allow 1st year education students at QUT to participate which is an exciting challenge for Year 11 and 12 students. Please note this is a trial for 2008.
The categories have also been restructured for 2008 to provide a better balance in terms of the number of entries received in each category and the standard of entries submitted.

The categories and entries received will be reviewed during judging.

This year, a number of teachers who have experience in competing in the Web Challenge have offered to be mentors for first time participants. If you need advice or help, you can contact any of the mentors via email. The mentors for 2008 are:

Justin Graham (Fraser Coast Anglican College): jgraham@fcac.qld.edu.au
Heather Burn (Moreton Bay College): burnh@mbc.qld.edu.au
Nathan Hutchings (Forest Lake College): nhutchings@flc.qld.edu.au
Janet Sawbridge (MacGregor State School): jsawb1@eq.edu.au

These email addresses are also listed on the website.

For further information, see http://www.qsite.edu.au/webchallenge08 , or contact Kym Coleman K.Coleman@iggs.qld.edu.au.

ACEC Conference -Canberra 29 September

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 05:11.

Don't forget the ACEC Conference this year!

What is ACEC 2008?

The Australian Computers in Education Conference 2008 (ACEC'08) is
the biennial conference of the Australian Council for Computers in
Education (ACCE).

The conference
will be held at the National Convention Centre on 29 September to 2
October 2008 in Canberra, ACT, Australia. This coincides with term
holidays in the majority of Australian States and Territories.

Great keynote speakers!

For more information visit the website

http://www.acec2008.info/default2.asp?orgid=1&suborgid=12

Brisbane Chapter

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Tue, 05/08/2008 - 19:56.

don't miss out on this great PD opportunity! Thursday 28th August

Topic: Starting From Scratch

Synopsis: Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own animated stories, animations, games, music, and interactive art - and share your creations on the web. Scratch builds on the tradition of Logo and LEGO/Logo, but takes advantage of new computational ideas to make it easier to get started with programming and extend the range of what kids can create and learn. Scratch's easy to use drag-and-drop interface makes it ideal for students (8 years and older) in both primary and secondary schools to design, create, and invent using the new technologies now available to them. This flexible design methodology is simple enough for Year 4's through to upper primary students to use to liven up their animated stories whilst at the same time being powerful enough to be used in both Year 10 computer courses and in the senior ITS and IPT courses.
No matter whether you are a primary or high school teacher, come along and join in QSITE's latest in-service offering and find out just how much fun and how simple Scratch is to work with in the classroom. During the workshop, participants will be able to choose from a series of hands-on projects as they begin to Scratch the surface of the wonderful interactive world of programming.

Presenter: Doug Carey
Where: Moreton Bay College, 450 Wondall Rd, Manly West
Time: 3:30pm - 5pm
Date: Thursday, 28th August 2008
Audience: Primary or Secondary teachers
No. of attendees: limited to first 25 registrations.
QSITE members - free. Non Members $30 (you will be emailed an invoice
by the QSITE executive officer)
To register, email your name and QSITE membership status to Clive Gordon,
gordonc@mbc.qld.edu.au by Thursday, 21 August.

Rockhampton Branch

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Tue, 05/08/2008 - 19:42.

Have you ever heard of Comic Blogs? Rockhampton Branch is planning an afternoon workshop soon to reveal all! They are also planning for another IWB users support group which will be great. Their next branch meeting is 28th August so be there!

Contact Gary Holmes for more details

Gary Holmes [holmesgj@bigpond.com]

FNQ Chapter

Submitted by ThomasPaula on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 12:54.

Far North Queenslanders your next meeting is August 26th
Proposed Workshop for Cairns: Fun and Free Free for members and looking at all the free “stuff” that’s out there.