aclJohn's eCPD Finds

Nik adds three more to the first five tasks, published at the end of 2010, in a series to help teachers learn how to use technology with their learners.

The first few tasks were designed to lay the ground work and get teachers started. Nik says that as the series progresses he plans to include more adventurous tasks.

The three tasks include...

• Wallwisher - an online notice board that I've reviewed in the past;

• Jing - a useful free tool that allows users to create and annotate images grabbed from the screen of their computer; and

• Creating a YouTube channel.

I'm sure many will find these tasks useful; find out more at http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2011/01/3-more-tasks-to-teach-yourself-to-teach.html.

Some time ago Nik Peachey had a plan to write a book of tasks to get teachers using technology. In his words...

"As with so many of my plans and ideas, time and circumstances over took me and I never got further than the first 15 tasks. When I went back to do some more I noticed that I was taking so long doing these that some had gone out of date, so to try to get some use from the tasks I've decided to revise them and start publishing them here so anyone can download them and use them either to do teacher training or to develop their own ability to use technology."

Visit http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2010/12/5-tasks-to-teach-yourself-to-teach-with.html to read the full article and/or download the tasks.

As users become more experienced with using computers, mastering the keyboard will both increase navigation speed and help reduce wrist fatigue.

This blog entry looks at some lesser known OS X shortcuts to help users become a "keyboard ninja".

Find out more at http://bit.ly/ev987S.

I came across this slideshare via Twitter. I 'wwilf'*ed from a re-Tweet and ended up on Stephanie Dedhar's Blog http://stephaniededhar.wordpress.com/.

Read her full post at http://stephaniededhar.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/excellent-instructional-design-a-10-tip-beginners-guide/.

* wwilf (what was I looking for)

Paul Eeles, ALP (Association of Learning Providers) Director of Sector Reforms chats exclusively with FE News about the joint ALP, LLUK and IFL development on the new delivery staff framework for Work Based Learning and Skills providers (EG: NVQ Assessors and delivery staff specialising in vocational skills training delivery).

Visit http://www.fenews.co.uk/general/paul-eeles-discusses-the-new-alp-lluk-and-ifl-delivery-staff-framework to access the full article and video clips.

So what sort of things are our colleagues in schools using/trying out?

Sandra Pinto Pires' presentation below gives you some idea...

Also viewable at http://www.slideshare.net/sandrapintopires/12-essential-techy-tools.

What are learners expecting when they continue their learning journey with you?

TES New Teachers...

• is a new website offering...
  • news;
  • advice; and
    
  • inspiration
    

for those who have/are entering the teaching profession.

• has lots of free teaching...
  • tips and articles;
  • resources to download; and
  • tools to help new teachers find a new job.

Visit http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/ to find out more.

The Th!nk Tutorial website is a new online resource that is gathering together computer tutorials and lessons.

Early days but the current content deals with everything from sending out emails and uploading images to the Internet, to operations that are notably more complex such as enabling iTunes or handling Facebook privacy settings.

The contents of the site can be browsed by way of the many tags that are displayed near the bottom on the main page however, there isn't an option for arranging tutorials by difficulty or by software groups etc.

The content of Th!nk Tutorial, is actually quite well-written and detailed. If some steps are taken towards making it more accessible then there is no reason why Th!nk Tutorial shouldn't establish itself as a useful resource for practitioners and learners.

Visit http://thinktutorial.com/ to find out more.

JISC Digital Media has launched two new online tutorials, that follow on from the Internet for Image Searching tutorial <http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/imagesearching/>....

• Internet for Audio Resources <http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/audio> and

• Internet for Video and Moving Images <http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/video>.

The free-to-use tutorials have been designed to assist both practitioners and learners to locate audio and video for use in teaching and learning.

Created as part of the Virtual Training Suite the tutorials were funded by JISC Advance.

Photography is a beautiful form of art with no hard rules.

It's all about creativity and individual style. And that's what makes it so interesting. There are lots of tips and tricks to be learnt, and certainly lots of experiences to be gain before one becomes an expert.

If you are new to photography, Hongkiat has provided five ways to create cool photos to impress colleagues/peers.