eLearning4schools.net

Truetube provides a safe, pre-moderated platform for 12-25 year olds to use the internet and advances in streaming video technology, to encourage them to think, discuss and engage with moral and ethical issues that matter for this generation, inspiring them to become involved in changing the world that we all inhabit for the better.

Truetube kick-starts each new topic for debate by providing a wealth of short films, information and statistics which offer a range of polarised views on the same issue and are deliberately chosen to start a debate, inspire involvement and promote further research. It also enables users to make and upload their own films and comments made in response to what they have viewed.

For more information see About Truetube

Even better for us teachers is that they have ready made resources and how to get the best out of Truetube for a number of subject areas including English, Citizenship, Religious Education and Geography.

This is a great site to provoke discussion and act as a focus for an activity where an end product can be produced.

LibriVox

LibriVox provides free audio books and files of literary classics which are in the public domain.

Rather than famous actors lending their vocal talents to the readings, the audio books here are read out by volunteers.

All of the audio books are literary classics and are out of copyright so they can be downloaded and listened to free of charge.

You will not find any Dan Brown or John Grisham but classics like Jane Austen’s Emma and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are all here.

At present there are nearly 650 audio titles to choose from.

Selecting Listen on the homepage leads to the catalogue. Titles can be searched by author or title or you can simply browse through the whole catalogue.

Once a title has been selected, there is a brief description of the work along with links to further information about the author. Scrolling down the page reveals the file format available for download; right click to save to your hard drive and you are away.

The list of titles is not as long as I would like, but it is growing all the time and the quality of the recordings is generally very good.

We are all excited here at eLearning4schools.net. Today we have launched a new site to allow all those interested in forming a community to discuss and share ideas for the classroom in terms of eLearning. Its FREE so click here and sign up.

The human body is an amazing piece of architecture. Man has been studying anatomy since at least 1600BC, when the ancient Egyptians first began to map the way our bodies work.

Whether you are studying anatomy, cramming for an exam, or just have a curiosity to find out more about what makes you tick, WinkingSkull is an amazing website.

Navigate through each region of the body by clicking the links in the navigation panel on the left. Every part of the body is covered, literally from head to toe, and beautifully illustrated with interactive diagrams that peel away the layers of our anatomy for all to see. You can click the labels on and off so you know exactly what you are looking at.

If you register, which is free, you can even use the site’s extensive self-testing exercises, which ask you to place the labels on the diagrams in an allotted amount of time. Skilled labellers could rank among the website’s most brainy users. Take a look at WinkingSkull.com and have a play around.

I saw this video yesterday and thought I would share it with you it really made me think about how technology should be used more creatively within the curriculum and how schools really need to be focusing on how to develop a clear strategy for eLearning.

This video is a must-see for every parent and teacher. Education guru Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity which is so often being pushed out of the exam led approach to the curriculum in the UK. It certainly made me think about how I could encourage creativity within my classroom.

Today I got back from a 3 day training course near Leeds all about Authentic Leadership. Basically the course gave you bags of time and the tools to explore your own leadership style.

Now I am not usually one for these touchy feely types of course normally prefer a hands on type of course. However, this course together with a recent Nuero Lingusitic Programming diploma that I have completed have really help me focus. Why am I telling you this!??!?

Well the answer is that it became so obvious and clear why eLearning in our schools barely scrathes the surface of what is possible. The reason is the lack of vision from the schools of what they want to achieve with eLearning. Having a clear vision is vital, what is eLearning going to look like? What is it going to deliver? What are the students and teachers going to be doing? How does eLearning help with communication? How does it help bring the world into the classroom? How will impact the school? How will the environment need to change?

I have been in so many schools where they are taking bite size chunks and just skirting around the edges and the reason they are doing this is because they do not know what they are aiming for and what they want the impact to be.

However, I have also been in schools that have the most amazing vision and ambitions but does not seem to get anywhere. So why is this? Well they have a vision but it does not fit with the values and beliefs of the leader and the other stakeholders who need to bring the vision to life. The vision just does not reflect the people or what they believe to be important the result is they have little enthusiasm to achieve the vision. The same thing then tends to happen as with no vision at all, and that is playing around at implementing eLearning with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

In education the thing the vast majority of us do not have enough of is time to reflect. I found this course gave me some useful tools but above all it gave me time to reflect and really look at what I wanted to achieve and how I could ensure it was achieved.

To finish I would like to encourage all of you who are looking at implementing a small or a large project to take time out to reflect and really think about the vision and what you want to achieve and make this relevant to your own values and beliefs as well as to those of others in the organisation.

It has also made us think at eLearning4schools how we can actually help schools develop their own eLearning vision so keep an eye out for some new services coming soon!

Bring your digital photos to life with Photo Story 3 for Windows. Create a photo slideshow of your life’s most memorable moments. You can capture your memories just the way you want them - with the a single click, you can touch-up, crop or rotate pictures. It’s that easy. Then, add stunning special effects, sountracks and personalize your stories with titles and captions. The file size makes it easy to send your photo stories in an e-mail or take them with you on a Window Mobile based portable device. Start sharing your stories today.

This is a great tool and easy to use. You could use it to allow students to present information in a new way. For example:

- English - develop a modern day interpretation from a scene in Hamlet.
- Geography - produce a show detailing a field trip with findings.
- Science - a show to talk through an experimentation.
- History - a show to give a summary of the causes of an event in history and the consequences.
- Food Technology - details of how food hygiene in the kitchen.
- Economics - theory explained in pictures.
- Religious Education - an overview of a religion that details important facts.

Below are some examples of what can be done with Photo Story. If you search on Google Videos or YouTube you can find lots more examples of what is possible.

Here is a video tutorial that explains how to use Photo Story 3:

Click Here for another Video Tutorial for Photo Story 3. And you can download it free over at Microsoft!