[Firstly, it is brilliant .. I'm back in Australia in April 2011 .... ]

The April 2011 Australia Tour is now over ... but there may be another in Oct/Nov 2011 ... contact Sybasigns for details.

Adelaide 13th - 15th April 2011 | Sydney 18th - 20th April 2011 | Brisbane 27th - 29th April | 

I ran some workshops last May 2010 in Sydney also organised by Sybasigns and I really enjoyed working with the librarians and teachers ... they were all so demanding, questioning ... very keen to learn, participate and share ... learning shouldn't be this much fun ;-)

So, you can guess, I'm looking foward to a repeat of that.

Below is a brief outline of the individual daily workshops repeated in each city ... plus a city-focussed post.

You have the opportunity NOW to modify what we do ... scroll down to the posting related to your city and click on "Comments" and pound your keyboard. 

• say 'hello' to everyone
• introduce yourself .. let me know what you do, what age students you work with
• let us know what you expect during the day
• what would you like to happen
• any specifric skills you'd like use to cover
• ... where the best affordable place to eat in the city is (sorry this is just my own request)!

Really looking forward to meeting you.

OH, almost forgot, if you want to know more about myself have a look at http://shambles.net/shamblesguruBIO

In Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane there are three one-day workshops repeated .... 9:00-5:00

Day 1  : Blogging and Podcasting

In this workshop I used to spend a lot of time in setting up and configuring a Blog .. i.e. the mechanics ... well now we are going to set one up in lightening time so we can focus more on why you would want one and how they would support teaching and learning.
I'll be spending more time on finding and embedding different social media in a Blog (e.g. pictures, audio files, powerpoints, videos, word documents etc)  ... what do you think?
Will also dedicate time to microblogging ... in particular Twitter

The afternoon session is dedicated to Podcasting but might more correctly be dedicated to the use of audio in teaching and learning  ... I'll be looking for a brave volunteer to interview.

WHAT to Bring: 
a) a flash (thumb) drive with a variety of different files on it .. e.g. several pictures, a word document, a pdf document, a PowerPoint, audio/music file, a video ... whatever you can find, don't worry if you cannot get all
b) headphones or the earbuds from your portable music player 

Day 2 : Everything Google and Social Networks / Social Media

Actually it will not be "everything" but we will get through a lot ... including, of course, "search" and some aspects of information fluency relating to teaching and learning..
We'll cover Google Apps and particularly focus on the collaborative aspects.

Which other Google Apps/Tools we cover is going to be up to you ... because we cannot cover all
| Google Earth | Google Labs | Google Experimental Search | Google Trends |
| Google Sets | Google Maps | Google Images | Google Groups | Google Sites |
| Google Translate | Google News | Google Scholar | Google Browser (Chrome) |
| Google Shopping | Google Videos | Google Finance | Google Real Time |
| Google (e)Books | Google Calendar | Google Reader | Google Blog Search |
| Google Profiles | Google Alerts | Google Directory | Google Mobile |
| Google Virtual Keyboards | Google Goggles | Google Recipies | Google Knol |
| Google Moderator | Google Librarian Central | iGoogle | Google Educators Tools |
| Google Geo Education | Google Notebook | Google Custom Search Engine |
| Google Sketchup | Google Picasa | Google Latitude | Google Street View |
    ... do you have a preference?

We will also cover places to find free digital resources .. images, music, videos .... and hopefully have time to look at the "creative commons" scheme for copyrighting resources.

In the afternoon we'll be looking at online social networks ... including Facebook of course ... and also tools that can support classroom collaboration and communities.
Ending the day with online 3D virtual worlds, including Second Life. 

If you are attending this session then please sign up (before you arrive) for a Google Account if you don't have one already https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

This is NOT a day about PowerPoint [ppt] but about alternatives to [ppt] ... ways of combating 'Death by [ppt]' or 'PowerPointlessness'

We'll explore lots of tools especially a number that allow students to collaborate as a group on projects. 

Bring with you (on a flash drive) ) a PowerPoint presentation that you have made previously so as to learn about extracting the content to use in other places ... I hope to harness all the work you may have already done producing [ppt]s in the past.

PowerPoint presentations are often about telling stories and I did consider changing the name of this session to "Digital Storytelling"  .... there will certainly be an overlap

The final session of the day will be all about screencasting ... recording your computer screen and your voice at the same time ... this used to be expensive and difficult to do ... now it is free and you'll be surprised how easy. (see example in a post below)

WHAT to Bring: 
a) a flash (thumb) drive with a PowerPoint presentation .. it will be fine if it is a BAD [ppt]
b) headphones or the earbuds from your portable music player 

ICT/Tech Skills
One challenge for me is to determin the skill level and capability of workshop participants who I'm meeting for the first time.  I thought about putting together a long questionnaire but dropped this idea and have gone with assuming the following ... that you are comfortable:
1) using a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox or Chrome
2) using either Microsoft Windows or Apple OS to great folders, move files around
3) using a word processor
Anything else will be a bonus ... in fact I suspect many of you will be well past this level ... and I'll be modifying what we do in real time as your experiences and skills become clear in the group. 

email
You will need access to your email account during these workshops ... both send and receive emails ... make sure you remember your username and password so that you can sign on. 

Which Computer Operating System?
I understand most of the workshop attendees use Microsoft Windows machines so I'll also use this as my primary demo environment ... although I will also be using a Mac and an iPad and a mobile phone.

Laptop
The initial recommendation was to use the machines that are available in the training centre ... to reduce the risk of time wasting due to tech hiccups .. sound advice.
Personally I'm very happy if you bring your laptop, I'd want to (hope Sybasigns are not reading this) ... but please try and arrive a little earlier so you can set up and get connected to the internet. If you have your own internet connection using a 3G mobile card/device then please bring that.

Flash Drive (Thumb drive)
Bring one ! 

Smart Phone
If you have a smart phone e.g. iPhone, HTC, Android then please bring them.  
If your phone has a camera and you already have the skills to take a photo and email it somewhere .. then also bring those skills. 

iPad
If you have an Apple iPad or other tablet device then bring it. 

Headphones
Bring a pair of headphones ... they do not have to be elaborate ... just the earbuds from your portable music player will be enough. 

Lunch and Drinks
I understand that tea/coffeee/lunches are all being provided ... it is adviseable not to take liquids into the same room as the computers.

Timing
As a guide .. 90 min sessions

9:00 Session 1
10:30 Break
11:00 Session 2
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Session 3
3:00 Break
3:30 Session 4
5:00 END 

Venues

Sybasigns
The initiators and organisers of these workshops is Sybasigns http://www.sybasigns.com ... if it was not for their work then we would not be here at all
...  and the names you should know are Phyl and Jodie ... just did a search for them on Google and they are obviously shy ... couldn't find anything.  ;-)

If you are attending the Adelaide workshops then this is where you introduce yourself ... who you are, what you do, age of students you work with, curriculum areas that interest you most ... maybe give an idea of your own tech skills and capability.

This is also the place to let us know any specific hopes you have for what the workshop(s) will address.
... feel free to ramble about whatever interests you ;-) 

If you are attending the Sydney workshops then this is where you introduce yourself ... who you are, what you do, age of students you work with, curriculum areas that interest you most ... maybe give an idea of your own tech skills and capability.

This is also the place to let us know any specific hopes you have for what the workshop(s) will address.
... feel free to ramble about whatever interests you ;-) 

If you are attending the Sydney workshops then this is where you introduce yourself ... who you are, what you do, age of students you work with, curriculum areas that interest you most ... maybe give an idea of your own tech skills and capability.

This is also the place to let us know any specific hopes you have for what the workshop(s) will address.
... feel free to ramble about whatever interests you ;-) 

I've been invited to visit Southport School on the Gold Coast to facilitate a session on the last day of term as part of the school's teacher professional development programme.

I've had discussions with Kathryn about what would be most helpful and relevant to your own needs and a draft programme is slowly coming together ... but not yet fixed.

You have an opportunity now to infuence what we do  .... please feel free to click on the "COMMENT" button below and introduce yourself and leave any views you have about what you would like to see covered.

Look forward to meeting you all on the 21st ... and, 'yes', on the last day of term we will not be going over time.

I'll be posting some relevant materials below in this Blog over the period leading up to the workshops ... as examples of what you should be able to do after attending  ... so please try and revisit immediately before you attend ... 

Have fun

Chris

This is an example of a screencast I did for a librarian's conference in Macau.

Screencasts will be covered in day 3 of the workshops.

I received a direct Twitter message today from Roisin O'Reilly in Sydney, NSW, Australia about the PLANE Project.
Roisin is the Program Manager, PLANE (DERNSW)
Follow Roisin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/RoshOR

Quoting from the project website http://plane.edu.au

"The PLANE project will develop a suite of on-line learning experiences to achieve the objectives and outcomes of the three key result areas.
A key feature of the project will be its utilisation of two environments for the delivery of the online experiences: 

> a 21st century immersive learning environment- a "digital virtual world" for experiential learning, problem based simulation learning, collaboration and communication.
> an online rich multi-media environment"

If you a teacher and live in NSW then this looks like a project to keep an eye on to support your own continuing professional development

Sydney Region TL Network Blog

http://sydneyregionteacherlibrarians.wordpress.com/

I’m experimenting with a new Web 2 service that allows you to set up interview questions online in a web browser … and invite others to answer questions using their webcams. http://intervue.me

So thought I’d ask a few questions that would help in my visit to Australia in April  to run workshops in Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, details at http://australiaworkshops.com

Try it out ….  by going  to http://intervue.me/i/236

This may be a useful service to use with students … feel free to also comment on that if you’d like.

Have fun

Shamblesguru

(Chris Smith)

I've had several Podcast series ... which can be accessed at http://shambles.net/podcasting/ ... but I admit they they have been neglected  recently ... one of the dangers of setting up a series ... 'Podcast Neglect'

I'm presently working with an author who is writing a book called "The Relationship Manifesto" ... this will be a limited podcast series over about 15 weeks ... our conversation is about each chapter of the book as it is being written ... full details can be seen at http://relationshipmanifesto.posterous.com/ where you can listen to the episodes posted so far.
Or you can listen using this player ... 

A screencast done during a workshop in Sydney, April 2011 … about the backchannel tool used to make collaborative notes during the workshop … the tool is “Shambelspad” http://shamblespad.com.

For more information about these collaborative tools visit http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/ict/etherpad/

http://www.screenr.com/hZ5