Jacinta Gascoigne's Comments

Good to be able to be your friend. I have just started using web 2.0. Trying to establish wikis for my classes and blogs for them as well. I also enjoy working with digital videos, including animation with my classes. I teach straight IT from years 3-12, plus accounting. Am starting to work with podcasts with my grade 6 and year 10 history class (in collaboration with the history teacher.) Would love to keep in contact cos you have done such interesting stuff.

Me too - that's what led me to this site in particular - how wikis can improve and expand education and opportunities. I've been stunned at the resistance expressed from traditional educators.

Hi, Jacinta - thanks for the invite. I've always had the perception of Australia as far more freewheeling than the U.S., so it is a suprise to read about the problems with SN you're having there. I look forward to learning more about it! - Lizzie

I am flattered by the comments and humbled by the interest so many have taken in Australia and my experience.
Many hurdles to jump here as you can now see, however that should not negate, the work of so many in Australia, that is positive, innovative, cutting edge and brilliant.

We have great talents, innovators respected globally and networks created some years ago, leading to the forging of solid working (albeit unpaid most of the time) relationships, friendships and above all, respect for each other, which has lead to trusting, open and collaborative efforts. I will soon share with you a number of projects and case studies that have been of great value to all of us in Australia and in many cases have extended their reach globally.
I am looking forward to the journey ahead with all my new friends. I am looking forward to a learning about your experiences, frustrations, successes and your visions for the future of learning.

Kind Regards

Jacinta Gascoigne

Hi Jacinta. I am shocked to know the barriers being put in Australia for everything that sounds like a Social Network. I share your thoughts about not blaming the SN becuause of the terrifying stories around. Is like banning driving at all because of drunk drivers and people killed in car accidents. There are many success stories about the good of Social Networks in education, philantrophy, etc. Hope to talk to you soon in this community. Best Regards. Jorge Blanco

Hey Jacinta,
Thanks for the add.
I had no idea, until I read your intro, what the situation for using collaborative online tools in Australia was like. Thanks for informing us.

Dear Jacinta,

What a burst/flood/deluge of energy...

You lose me if you don't write in paragraphs but at least I got to the bit where you said you were in Melbourne.

I know somebody who has a housing problem there! Doing a doctorate, totally reliable. transferred to Melbourne from Germany a few months ago, currently living in student hall of residence. About to be joined by wife and child. Wife a teacher, with stunning references, good at mixed ability but also a biologist. Won't have to look long for a job, I imagine.

But the flatsfor rent the husband looks at are not offered to him because the only current income is his scholarship.

Very grateful if by a lucky chance you can come up with a suggestion.

Hi Jacinta - thanks for the invite. Reading your intro I'm humbled by everything you've packed into the last decade. Don't worry too much about social networking. By the time they work out how to stop it the kids will have moved to something else anyway. My two use Myspace to promote their music and most young people I speak to who are 15+ deal effectively with the dark side stuff and get on with the positive. While we do need to look more closely at the use by underage and risk-taking students I think there is more froth than anything else to this issue and the majority use their personal spaces fairly sensibly. Educating parents to undertake a true dialogue with their kids is high on our agenda at the moment because that seems to be the best way to obviate many of the problems that tend to originate at home and suface in school.

Hi Jacinta,
Your Classroom2.0 page is fantastic. I am just now getting on the technology and multiliteracy train. I have a lot of catching up to do before I can introduce my elementary students to blogging and posting etc. What a great way to develop 21st. century skills.

Scheherazade

Scheherazade

Hi Jacinta

I have my hands full too! I need to get on here more often and to practice what I am preaching. But as you can see from my pic my soon to be one year old (the pic is getting seriously out of date) is providing me with lots of fun and distraction.

Alan

Hey there, Jacinta! Thanks for your message...I have noticed that I might be a bit of an Aussie magnet :)! In our fifth grade classroom, we used Google Earth for the students to "restore" the Mayan ruins. They were put in teams of 6-8, and acted as archaeologists who were trying to rebuild the Mayan ruins to their original glory. First, they had to work as a group to research their Mayan city (Tikal, Chichen Itza, Copan, and Uxmal). Then, they each chose a specific building. They conducted more research, taking field notes, about what the building was used for, size (integrated math with relative size and scale), and other characteristics. They used Google Earth to create their temple, cenote, etc. They wrote a short paragraph about their building, and together with their team, mapped their city to combine all of their buildings. The goal was to actually combine the buildings on Google Earth. That was the only limitation of the project - we were unable to actually load them into Google Earth and merge each of the buildings together. Our school's tech director was still working on getting the buildings online in his wiki as an example of the work we did. I'll pass it along if he has more information. What are some of your most successful projects?

Jacinta, thank you for th invitation. Interesting stuff.
Lee Anne

Hi Jacinta! Thanks for the invitation. I am looking forward to knowing you.

Hello.

Hi Jacinta, thank you for the invitacion. I hope to share comments on this social network with you.
I live in Mexico.

J Guadalupe Salcido

Jacinta:

GREAT reading on your page. Thanks for all your sharing and dialogue. You might also want to check out the WeAreTeachers IMAGINE community here in ning (You can go to WeAreTeachers.com and join the IMAGINE community there -- or directly from NING). We are a small start-up company, working on putting together tools to help empower teachers to develop, publish and sell content and services -- so that they can practice their craft on their own terms, and find financial support independent of institutions. We also are encouraging teachers of ALL types (not just traditional K12 teachers), so are beginning to gather an interesting group of music teachers, yoga teachers, etc. We just launched a campaign to engage the community, and are trying to make it fun by letting folks earn WAT$ (points for participation). Hope you'll check it out.

Jacinta, Thank you for the invitation.
From the "spelling" point of viev there is not much difference between Austria and Australia and I think the differences in the approach of E-Learning in education is also not very big.
Looking forward to Your further efforts in successfully integrating the computer in the learning process.
Some useful informations about a big E-Learning prohejct in Austria can be found on
http://elsa.schule.at/elsa-english.htm

Peter Micheuz

PS. Sorry.. forgot to mention my name.

Jim Sprialis

Thank you for the invitation Jacinta. The diverse range of experiences you have is very impressive. I am struck by the way you have initiated much of your own learning and I look forward to accessing and reflecting upon your contributions.