OOo4Kids - Open Office for Kids

taaa daaa!

Finally children have thier own office application suite. Open Office 4 Kids is a lighter version of Open Office, with the folowing specific features:

• Dedicated to 7-12 years
• Specific adaptations to the world of education
• Works everywhere (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows)
• International / Multilingual

Don Tapscott and learning from our kids

Ethan Zuckerman writes in his blog on a presentation from Don Tapscott re: learning from our kids.

"A student, Joe O’Shea, reacted to this presentation, saying that it resonated, and confessing, “I don’t read books.” He explained, “I think I know what’s in books, but I get my information from the web, and I’ve got really good BS detectors. If I need to read in a book, I have Google Books.” Using that site, he approaches books like a website. The dean of the film school reacted, saying, “I don’t know if that’s really exciting or the end of modern society.”"

Really interesting for teachers to try to understand our new students!

Are dinosaur managers and poor teaching holding back Digital Britain?

Interesting article on the results of an expert panel that is looking into the UK IT future. One very interesting note was that:
" if UK kids are technophiles in their spare time, they are technophobes at school "

"A recent report by the CBI blamed poor teaching in schools for contributing to a shortage of graduates in science, technology, engineering and maths. "Scientific potential at the age of 14 is not being fully realised," the report noted.

"If you talk to 12-year-olds they'll say I don't want to work in an office because what they're taught at 12 is [Microsoft] Word and Excel," Clarke added. "They're not taught what this profession is really about so I think that's fundamentally important to get the best kids looking at this profession."

Are dinosaur managers and poor teaching holding back Digital Britain?

Back to School: 10 Terrific Web Apps for Teachers

Back to School: 10 Terrific Web Apps for Teachers
Some of these applications are really useful. My particular favorites are Curriki and edmodo.
I can see many teachers wanting to use docCop to check for plaigiarism.
But they are all worth a check.

How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education | Fast Company

How Web-Savvy Edupunks Are Transforming American Higher Education
This article from Fast Company Magazine is an excellent roundup and review of initiatives in higher education that are using Web 2.0 and Internet technologies to change the education paradigm.

iLearn Technology � Blog Archive � Kideos

Great YouTube alternative for elementary students, categorized by age and subject.
" Kideos is a collection of kid friendly videos. Each video featured on Kideos has been carefully screened by the Kideos Video Advisory Council (made up of a select group of parents and educators). The videos are categorized by age range (from 2 to 10) and by category. Categories include Baby Einstein, Barney, Book Characters, Cartoon Characters, Cute Animals, Disney Channel Programs, Disney Movies, Dr. Seuss, Educational Videos, Fairy Tales, Kids, Mickey Mouse and Friends, Muppets, Nursery Rhymes, Sesame Street, Songs, Teletubbies, Trains and Machines, and Wiggles. If you register with Kideos, you can set it up to only view your own selection of ages and characters. The videos are streamed from You Tube and placed inside a Kideo player ."

http://kideos.com/

Team WhiteBoarding with Twiddla

Painless Team Collaboration for the Web:

"Mark up websites, graphics, and photos, or start brainstorming on a blank canvas. Browse the web with your friends or make that conference call more productive than ever. No plug-ins, downloads, or firewall voodoo - it's all here, ready to go when you are. Browser-agnostic, user-friendly."

50 Open Source Apps Transforming Education

50 Open Source Apps Transforming Education — Datamation.com:

"While some educators have been quick to grasp the potential and promise of open source software, many others have been hesitant to stray from the comfortable zone of commercial applications. Yet that’s changing.

More teachers and institutions are now participating with organizations like SchoolForge, the Open Source Education Foundation, and Open Source Schools. These educators are beginning to see that the open source philosophy has the power to transform education in several key ways."