Apologies if you have received more than one copy of the notice for this newsletter
To subscribe to the newsletter visit http://groups.google.com/group/shambles-newsletter
click to subscribe to the newsletter RSS feed.
or follow the hashtag: #shamblesnews

Shamblesguru (Chris Smith) http://shamblesguru.com
csmith@csmith.info

Shambles between 10,000 and 18,000 visitors a day ...

Will Shambles.net make the half million visitors a month?

This was the question I asked in the last newsletter ... well is is now unlikely that Shambles will make the half million. Back in April Google change the algorithm that determines the ranking/positioning of websites. (codename 'Panda')

I used to say Shambles got between 10,000 and 18,000 visitors a day ... but now that Google has a different perspective I'm going to have to say ... between 9,000 and 14,000 a day ... drat those mathematicians.

To find out more about this Google spring clean visit http://selnd.com/jJK9wj

Shamblesguru's Daily Newspaper http://paper.li/shamblesguru

Please use the Facebook button to spread the word about this newsletter ... many thanks

Life in Second Life (3D Virtual World) moves forward in much the same way as in the real world ... new initiatives and builds keep appearing. But the trend for educators to investigate other platforms to populate continues ... in particular worlds built on OpenSIM

On my own "to-do"list is to build the Virtual World on a Thumb drive "SIM on a Stick" ... so I can carry it around to quickly demo a 3D virtual world on any machine. I need to lock myself away in a quiet room for a couple of hours. (YouTube Video)

I was also interested to see the Facebook initiative that allows any Facebook users the ability to create an instant region in OpenSIM.

Hypergrid Adventurers Club http://becunningandfulloftricks.com/hypergrid-adventurers-club
Are you an Adventurer? ... Looking  for a friendly group of fellow travelers and pioneers interested in exploring Virtual Worlds?
Join the Hypergrid Adventurers Club and let your journey begin!

The launch of ShamblesPad ... a collaborative writing tool designed to be used as a "Backchannel" tool built on Etherpad.

Back in 2010 Google purchased Etherpad and immediately closed them down, two weeks later in response to the outcry from previous users they announced that they were going to make the software open and available to the world for free. The Etherpad Foundation have further developed the software with the tagline "Collaborate on documents in really real time"
In 2011 I (shamblesguru) arranged to the software to be hosted on a server ... be badged as "ShamblesPAD" and made available for free to the world.

Should your own school be considering setting up Etherpad then I'd recommend getting a quote from NixTECH to help set up and also provide hosting if not installing on the schools server.

National Curriculum online (England & Wales) http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk
The National Curriculum website contains the statutory programmes of study and attainment targets for key stages 1-4 in England. It also includes exemplification of national standards in foundation subjects. 

INK (Student) Magazine (Hong Kong)
10 ways to survive I.B. page1 page2

International Middle Years Curriculum (imyc) internationalmiddleyearscurriculum.com
The IMYC is a curriculum that focuses foremost on student learning. It provides a rigorous, structured yet flexible teaching framework for 11 to 14 year olds to improve their learning and inspire and engage them throughout an often precarious learning and developmental period.
This is achieved through a range of themes to which subjects contribute interdependently providing a coherent and relevant learning experience.
Fieldwork Education tel: +44 (0)20-7531-9696

IB in the Linkedin Social Network www.linkedin.com or http://linkd.in/mbbgry
The IB Group in Linkedin is quite an active group ... some recent discussions have included:
- Who is here from a a school that is authorised to offer all three IB programmes?
- Does your IB school have a smart board?
- I am looking for a presenter to take a 2/3 day prof dev session
- Has anyone used ManageBac
- I am looking for a teacher librarian
- Survey into the use of ICT in Teaching and Learning in MYP schools
- Which one do you prefer.. Cambridge, IGCSE program or IB, MYP Program?

(IB) Asia Pacific Regional Workshops & Conference www.ibo.org/ibap/workshops
IB Asia-Pacific Events organizes a programme of internationally recognized workshops and conferences that promote the sharing of knowledge and information amongst IB Schools offering Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme. These events create opportunities for professional development and networking for teachers and coordinators from around the region.

I spent most of April in Australia running workshops in Adelaide, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane all organised by Sybasigns whose main office is in Sydney.
...and what a brilliant time, I do love working with Australia educators ... so demanding and wanting more ... and I'm not just saying that because there may be Australians reading this.

Modelling .. collaboration, communication and critical thinking in all sessions, this was lifelong learning (from k to grey) in real time ... and I was just one of the many 'learners' ... it is simply the age we live in.

A few reflections (not all educational) ....
- experienced working in a training centre in a converted church in Adelaide.
- learnt about an App written by a student (see below)
- experienced an ANZAC Day parade
- added to my Australia Edtech area on Shambles
- got my new iPad2
- worked in commercial training centres in Sydney and Brisbane Training Choice
- worked in one of the top boys schools in Australia The Southport School
- discovered that some of Southport Prep staff had hidden backgrounds
- walked along the Gold Coast beach
- tried (unsuccessfully) to break ShamblesPad (see above)
- had a dead laptop resurrected by Brisbane technical staff
- had everything embarrassing recorded by a 'Twitter' addict (you know who you are)
- learnt about impressive website Plana written by one of the teachers (Jason)
- enjoyed Australia wine and bought 20 stubbie coolers from Crazy Clarkes
- had hundreds of brilliant interactions with teachers, teacher librarians, librarians & leaders

During one of the workshops I ran in Brisbane (Australia) last month I was fortunate to meet Insool (Lee) McMillan, Co-ordinator of IT at Citipointe Christian College.
Lee showed me an iPhone/iPad App that had been made by one of her students ... and, of course, I could not resist downloading it from the Apple App store immediately.

WOW! .. I was so impressed, not just with the App but with how the school is adopting mobile technology not for the sake of technology but for how it enriches the learning experience.

Lee has written more about this initiative and KINDLY agreed to
let me share that HERE .. do not miss it ... she is also happy for others interested in the project to contact her "InsoolL at brisbane.coc.edu.au"

Everything MOBILE & 1:1   (tablets, apps, idevices,netbooks)
This section on Shambles is in response to the rapid growth of mobil use in teaching and learning.
Mobil areas on Shambles: 
| Mobile Learning |
| Apps for phones and tablets | Creating your own Apps | 
| Mobile, PDA, Handheld | Mobile Phones in Education |
| 1:1 (iDevice) Initiatives | iPod | iPad | Android | Kindle | Non-Apple iDevices |
| Laptop Policies | AUP | Games on Mobile Phones | Instant Messaging |
Teacher Communities supporting mobile: 
| Education Apps Review (IEAR) Ning | Diigo iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch Users Group |
| ESF (Hong Kong) 1:1 Laptop Schools Ning | Mobile Learning in Education Linkedin |
| iPod & iPad User Group k-12 (wiki) | iPad K-12 Linkedin |
| iPhone, Android, iPad, Tablet & Mobile Application Development Linkedin | 
Social Network Hashtags: 
#edapp #iear #mlearning #iPodinEd #edtech
Mobile Devices in Curriculum Areas:
| English on Mobile Devices | Mathematics on Mobile Devices | Science on Mobile Devices | 
| Modern Foreign Languages on Mobile Devices | Special Ed Needs and Mobile Devices |
| Music on Mobile Devices |

Webinar:  Mobile Motivation: Real World Learning with Mobile Devices http://bit.ly/k3phTG 
One of the weekly webinars I try and attend (Saturdays) is the "Classroom 2.0 Live" Series; last Saturday it was all about "Mobile" .. here is a recording.

Lanryd : the Social Conference Directory http://lanyrd.com/
This is a new(ish) website ... a "MUST VISIT" if you speak at, attend or organise conferences, workshops, events ... do not miss this !
What kind of events can you add?
Pretty much anything with at least one speaker. We call them conferences but you can add workshops, unconferences, evening events with talks, conventions and so forth. The site is geared towards knowledge sharing events with sessions and participants of some sort.

WORLDDIDAC Asia 2011 www.worlddidacasia.com/ newsletter
26 – 28 October 2011 Bangkok Thailand
Worlddidac Asia 2011 connects 120 leading brands of educational materials and technologies from 25 countries with 12,000 educators, purchasing executives, and academics from across ASEAN.

The Reform Symposium Conference http://reformsymposium.com/ hashtag: #rscon3
ONLINE: July 29-31, 2011
"Participants can attend this free online conference from the comfort of their homes or anywhere that has Internet access. We have some of the best speakers that often present in major educational conferences worldwide.
This amazing conference provides educators new or currently active on social networks the opportunity to connect with educators and professionals in the field of education worldwide.
Over 4100 educators from 80 different countries attended our last conference. This year we will focus on interactive presentations that help teachers create engaging and motivating lessons, build relationships with students, engage parents, integrate technology effectively, and much more."

Australia & New Zealand CPD Events Listings http://plana.net.au/?page_id=994
If you are an educator in Australia or New Zealand then this new(ish) website, PLANA, should help you find workshops, conferences and other continuing professional development events. Certainly one to add to you list of sources ... or subscribe to the RSS feed.

TechEx 2011 Conference http://bit.ly/bA08U0 hashtag #TechEx2011
TechEx 2011 is alive and well ... 13th and 14th October 2011 at Bangkok Patana School.
This conference is the fifth in a series of similar conferences which have been hosted at International schools in Bangkok by RIS, NIST and Patana.
It is designed primarily for the average classroom teacher who would like to learn more about using ICT to support teaching or the teacher who has a teaching idea worth sharing.

Teaching Science and Mathematics Using Toys and hands-on Activities
http://web.ssruic.com/
4-7 July 2011: Pattaya, Thailand
Downloads Flier (jpg) page1 page2

The Australian Series www.learncentral.org/group/45972/australia-series
Hashtag: #australiaseries
This is an event series in Elluminate (webinar platform) that is held at Australia-friendly times and is largely organized by and for Australian educators/professionals.  Of course, the added bonus is that the series will likely provide benefit to educators all around the world .

The 2011 Global Education Conference www.globaleducationconference.com
November 14 - 18, 2011, online and free. Sessions will be held in multiple time zones and multiple languages over the five days.
All sessions are held in the Elluminate webinar platform.
The 2010 Global Education Conference had 15,028 unique logins and presentations from 62 countries.
Archives of the 2010 conf are at www.globaleducationconference.com/recordings.html .. if you look at this list then you will go "wow"
There is a Ning

Barcamp Chiangmai http://www.barcampchiangmai.org/ hashtag: #barcampcm4
Saturday 21st May 2011 9:00am-5:30
I love their tagline ; There is no audience, only participants. 
You can see a video of the 2010 BarCamp in C-M at http://t.co/jhhsZmX ... the interesting item here is that this particular video will play on any device ... including iDevices, Games stations ... anything. Now how was that done?

FOBISSEA Schools Courses www.fobissea.org/prof_dev.php
Courses organised by the FOBISSEA Professional Development Centre
FOBISSEA: Federation of British International Schools in S.E.Asia & East Asia

EARCOS Weekend Workshops www.earcos.org/ww_workshops.html
One of the advantages of an EARCOS membership is access to a programme of weekend workshops across the region.

Conferences and Events in Australia www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/events
Listed at Edna.

Science Thailand 2011 http://sites.google.com/site/scithai2012/
20-22 July 2012, Bangkok, Thailand
The Future of Science Education
...... where the latest research and best practice in science education come together, presented by educators from around the world. 

Spotlight on Solutions, ISTE Webinars http://bit.ly/6NL6v3
Spotlight on Solutions is a, free webinar series spotlighting the products and services of the ISTE 100 corporate members. The webinars will highlight products offered by their corporate members, demonstrating how they can benefit your district, school, or classroom.
Topics coming up .... Digital Storytelling, School of the Future, Building Teacher Leaders, Digital Citizenship, Critical Thinking and Web Literacy, Project-Based Learning.

21st Century Learning (Hong Kong) Conference .... hashtag: #21CLHK
Ning Social Network http://21clearninghk.ning.com        Website http://21c-learning.hk
16 to 18 Feb 2012 venue: Hong Kong International School

Shanghai Learning 2.011 Conference www.learning2conf.org/ hashtag #learn2cn
8-10 September 2011
Shanghai Community International School's Pudong Upper School Campus
The Learning 2.011 conference is an educational conference focusing on technology & change in the classroom. It is not a conference focused on teaching a set of tools to use in the classroom, although there are certainly tools and techniques taught. It is instead a conference about how we can change our classrooms to improve learning.
The conference cohorts are organized to explore together how a pair of ideas, tools or techniques can help our students learn more quickly, with more depth and more retention.
Learning 2.011 is a conference about how we can make our students valuable participants in the world of 2021 and beyond.
Chris McAnally, Director of Technology, Shanghai Community International School

  Web 2.0 Workshops in Singapore
www.synergyst.com and http://singaporeworkshops.com
June 2011 in Singapore
Each workshop is a mixture of Web 2.0 tools, pedagogy and classroom management ... using whole group work and also individual hands-on.
Brochure from www.synergyst.com/forms/ICTforTeach&Learn.pdf

In house programmes are also possible in individual schools and organisations ... for details contact Cheng Fun at Synergyst in Singapore chengfun@synergyst.com

  Web 2.0 Workshops in Australia download (pdf) brochure
www.australiaworkshops.com | www.sybasigns.com.au/seminars.htm
I've just returned from running workshops in Australia ... Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane ... and also one a session with the staff at Southport School on the Gold Coast.
Each workshop was a mixture of Web 2.0 tools, pedagogy and classroom management ... using whole group work and also individual hands-on.
It was a brilliant tour, working with Australia teachers, teacher-librarians and librarians has been a pleasure ... I may be returning in Oct/Nov 2011

For a list of workshops from Chris Smith visit
www.shambles.net/csmith/workshops

Shanghai Librarians Network Symposium schoollibrarysymposium.wikispaces.com
Saturday 5 November 2011
The hosting school this year is Western International School of Shanghai, and registration for the symposium will start at the end of May.

The Relationship Manifesto http://relationshipmanifesto.posterous.com/
I'm working with an author, Stephen Whitehead, who is writing a book called "The Relationship Manifesto"
This probably has no relevance to k-12 education but has been an interesting experience interviewing him on a weekly basic as he writes the book ... the outcome of which is a
"This book is unique and awakening, but it is also honest and candid about love, sex, romance and relationships in the modern age. We still yearn for a traditional partnership, but the fact is we are no longer living in a traditional world. 
Not only are our lives different, our expectations of what life has to offer us are vastly different from previous generations. At the same time our quest for love remains as constant as it always has."
So the content here is not relevant to k-12 .. but the process could be.
Also subscribable (free of course) in iTunes.

2011 IASL Conference www.iasl-online.org/events/conf/2011
7 to 11 August 2011 Kingston, Jamaica
Theme: School Libraries: Empowering the 21st Century Learner

Sixth Triennial ECIS Librarians' Conference
http://www.entas.com.tr/tr-tr/Entas.asp?menuID=6
13-15 May 2011 Enka Schools in Istanbul Turkey

Google Librarian Newsletter http://groups.google.com/group/librarian-newsletter?hl=en
The title says it all ...

Digitize the Textbook http://mashable.com/2011/05/10/digital-textbook-companies
6 Companies Aiming to Digitize the Textbook Industry

Free email account with address username@internationallibrarian.info
www.internationallibrarian.info/
Would you like a free email account with the domain name @internationallibrarian.info
If yes then just send me an email with your first name / last name / and the username you would like and I shall create it for you. The actual email engine being used for this is Google's gmail .. so very reliable, confidential and trustworthy.
After I've created the account for you then just log in at http://mail.google.com/hosted/internationallibrarian.info to send and read email ........ ONLY for librarians and library staff.

Dr Ross Todd Keynote http://bit.ly/ktZnox

  Do you know of any International Schools for Sale?
Do you know of any International Schools that may be 'up for sale' now or in the future?
If so then please pass this invitation to the appropriate person ... with a request to contact me csmith@csmith.info ... I will then pass the details on to the potential purchasers in complete confidence.

PLANA : Prof. Learning Access Network Australasia http://plana.net.au/
PLANA is a new Professional Learning access portal for educators across Australia and New Zealand. Its calendar (CELF) has five filters that enable a quick and easy method for finding PL.
With over 1 200 events from more than 90 providers, it is the best way to find the PL opportunities you desire.
Organisations and presenters can also create a profile, enabling promotion of their services to educators and event planners alike.
PLANA's web address is http://plana.net.au. You can also get regular event updates via @planaman on Twitter.

Outrageous parent stories http://bit.ly/kfPIh2
At the Forum on TES

The TED-Ed Brain Trust  http://education.ted.com
The TED team has some fundamental questions regarding TED's potential in the realm of Education.

Information Fluency Community Newsletter www.facebook.com/informationfluency
Dozens of Search Challenges are available on our Internet Search Challenge Blog, many of them unsolved. These free resources are excellent for introducing the need for fluency in searching and evaluation online information.
Also see the Online Teacher Toolkit: Information Fluency Learning games and resources

Academic (A3) Wall Calendar 2011-2012 www.shambles.net/calendar
Shambles produced this calendar each year and it is well received ... it is in Word (.doc) format so you can download and add your own events .. hopefully this will save you some time.

ISC Research www.iscresearch.com/newsletter
These guys continue to develop their online and offline systems mapping the world's English-medium international schools. They research and analyse developments in the market and have the most comprehensive and up-to-date schools database. They have a range of services for suppliers, organisations, parents and heads of school.

INK Student Magazine (Hong Kong) : http://www.wis.edu.hk/ink-magazine
INK Student Magazine is a student run initiative to promote Student Voice, Student Welfare and to add an essence of innovation and creativity within the student community.
The idea for a permanent student magazine came to Matthew Tam (West Island School) as he headed the Student Olympic Magazine for Beijing 2008
They are looking for Sponsorship .. Can YOU Help? email: inkmags@gmail.com

Websites that review international schools: www.shambles.net/pages/staff/findschool
There are several websites that allow teachers, parents and students to rate their own schools (see url above).
A opportunity for teachers and parents is "International School Reviews" www.isreviews.com which is built by a teacher based in Bangkok.
Quote: "We encourage teachers & parents to write reviews and share their experiences and opinions. This site is particularly helpful for teachers looking for international school jobs and parents deciding which school is best for their children. If your school is not mentioned, please let us know so we can add it. With so many choices, now more than ever we need to support each other and stay informed."

Generation Y: www.shambles.net/pages/students/students

Race to Nowhere Trailer http://bit.ly/l1DquR

Teacher Vodcasting and Flipped Classroom Network
http://blendedclassroom.blogspot.com and http://vodcasting.ning.com
How to use vodcasting to flip your classroom.
This is the brainchild of Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams who are pioneers in the field of using vodcasts in the classroom.
They have devised a new method of teaching called Pre-Vodcasting and the Flipped Classroom. In this model, students watch vodcasts at home and class time is spent in engaging hands-on activities and directed problem solving.

Google Chromebook www.google.com/chromebook
I'm now going to be looking to see which are the first schools to adopt the new Google Laptops .. the Chromebook ...announced this week by Google.
More info at http://www.google.com/support/chromeos/bin/answer.py?answer=183061
Schools to be able to rent chromebooks (laptops) for US$20/month/student ... http://bit.ly/iAbWPK

The Tech Director NING http://techdirector.ning.com

USA National Education Technology Plan (NETP) http://bit.ly/igR2HF
The 'US' National Education Technology Plan (NETP) is set to transform the traditional classroom settings into a space as exciting for students as the Internet.
 “Our challenge is to make the classroom and other formal learning experiences as challenging, interesting and engaging to students as the technological space in which they spend the rest of their lives.”

International Technology in Education Mark (ITEM) www.naace.co.uk/item
The International Technology in Education Mark (ITEM) is a whole-school Technology accreditation for schools throughout the world launched in 2010.
Accredited by Naace, the professional association for educators interested in advancing education through ICT, and an ISTE affiliate, ITEM uses a self-review framework which integrates with the NETS standards to produce a unique accreditation scheme suitable for international schools.
It enables schools to self-review their Technology provision across all areas of the school by setting out a structure of elements, strands and aspects to facilitate self-evaluation, benchmarking and action planning.
Who is ITEM intended for? ... ITEM is intended for schools worldwide where no whole-school accreditation scheme already exists that celebrates and confirms the role that Technology plays in establishing a 21st century learning institution.
How do I get started? .. Simple! Register here . You will then receive the framework, which is free for you to use.
Help and contacts ... There are two sets of frequently asked questions, one geared around the needs of schools and the other around the needs of service providers. Please email chris.stott@naace.co.uk for other queries.

Showcase http://www.shambles.net/ict/
| Animoto | Diigo | Dilicious | Dropbox | Evernote | Etherpad (Shamblespad) |
| Facebook | Glogster | Google | LiveBinders | Photo Story 3 | Posterous |
| Prezi | Skype | SlideRocket | Yahoo | YouTube | VoiceThread | Wallwisher | Wordle | 

Global Education News www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/news
"Global Education News"is a monthly communication updating readers about global issues, current global education events and new materials.

The Global Education Collaborative Ning http://globaleducation.ning.com
Helping Teachers and Students Reach the World

International Education Week (USA) http://iew.state.gov/
The dates for IEW 2011 are November 14th - 18th.
The dates for IEW 2012 are November 12th - 16th.

Life in a Day http://www.youtube.com/lifeinaday
Remember back in July 2010 when people from all over the world participated in YouTube's Life in a Day experiment. If not, let us refresh your memory. The experiment took place on July 24th and more than 80,000 videos were submitted. The point of the experiment was to capture a glimpse of participants' lives on a single day throughout the planet.
Subsequently, thousands of videos poured in from 197 countries, and have made history by culminating in the world's biggest user-generated film to date. YouTube has put together a Life in a Day channel and you can also explore many of the individual videos in the gallery.

Global Teacher and Global Student, Global2 http://global2.vic.edu.au/
This is mainly relevant to Australia teachers.
Like the previous spaces Global Teacher and Global Student, Global2 is an Edublogs campus site, in fact one of the largest in the world, and offers all of the advantages of Edublogs Wordpress based blogs but with the support of and integration with DEECD tools.
Global2 will enable DEECD teachers and students to collaborate online with the world. If you are an existing Global Teacher user (formerly http://globalteacher.org.au/) then access to your blogs continues with all Global Teacher sites being redirected to the new url: http://global2.vic.edu.au

Environmentally conscious documentary produced by Luc Besson, and narrated by Glenn Close. Shot in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days,
Home presents the many wonders of planet Earth from an entirely aerial perspective. As such, we are afforded the unique opportunity to witness our changing environment from an entirely new vantage point. In our 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has hopelessly upset Mother Nature's delicate balance.
Some experts claim that we have less than ten years to change our patterns of consumption and reverse the trend before the damage is irreversible.
Produced to inspire action and encourage thoughtful debate,
Home poses the prospect that unless we act quickly, we risk losing the only home we may ever have.
Over 16,000,000 views HOME official website http://www.home-2009.com