Monday 4 October 2010

Singapore Workshops POSTPONED until March 2011


This series of workshops has been postponed until March 2011

In Nov/Dec 2010 I shall again be flying down to Singapore from sleepy Chiangmai, in Thailand, to facilitate a week of workshops.

Details are all below and although they may seem to have an emphasis on the skills aspects it should be noted that throughtout there will be discussions about how these applications and tools relate to teaching and learning.

All sessions have a "hands-on" practical element.

I'm also hoping that we will all benefit from your own experiences ... the good and the not-so-good ... so please arrive with a willingness to not only challenge what I offer but also with a willingness to collaborate.

It will help if you can bring a (USB) 'thumb drive' for saving and storing file ... also feel free to bring your own laptop ... and if you have a 3G dongle to connect to the internet then feel free to bring that as well.
Also bring some headphones or at least some earbuds if you have some ... to listen to audio ... it's much more hygenic to use your own rather than public ones.

What skills are expected of those attending? ... basically that you have used email, can save files on a computer and have some experience using an internet browser (which you have if you are reading this) ... and have a willingness to try new things.

So PLEASE start now by adding your comments for each workshop you attend ... click on the 'comments' button underneath each blog post below.


Download Flier (pdf) | to book contact Synergyst in Sg |

Chris Smith .. in real life
Shamblesguru ... every where else on the 'net

Student Collaboration
29 Nov 2010

Monday 29th Nov 2010 : 9:00 - 5:00 (full day session)
Student Collaboration



Beyond PowerPoint
30 Nov 2010

Tuesday 30th Nov 2010 : 9:00 - 5:00 (full day session)
Beyond PowerPoint


If students are bored with ppt then these alternatives will stimulate.
Are you or your students becoming bored using PowerPoint as the main tool for producing presentations ... are you or your students suffering from "Death by PowerPoint" or "PowerPointlessness"? .... then this session is designed specifically for you (or your students).


We will look at some of the alternatives for spicing up presentations and making them more exciting ... not only using software but also web 2.0 online applications.
The alternatives chosen are mainly free, can be learnt in just a few minutes by teachers with very little experience and make use of the slides you have already produced in your old PowerPoints.


We will also look at ways in which students can build and share their presentations collaboratively. In addition you will be shown where to find free (legal) digital resources for presentations (images, videos and sound files) .... and clarify how to copyright your own resources.
Please note that this is NOT a workshop about PowerPoint although we will be spending time at the beginning covering some of the mistakes students make when presenting and also ensuring we all have at least the basic skills of reducing file sizes and exporting slides.


Please bring a simple PowerPoint presentation with you to this session .... consisting of about 6 slides.


Video & Screencasting in the Classroom
1st Dec.2011

Video in the Classroom
We are in the YouTube, instant 3 min video multimedia era ... and so the ability to produce videos from initial concept to hosting online is a powerful skill to have in the librarian or teacher librarian’s’ toolkit ... providing it is not expensive and not time consuming. (it used to be both)
During this session I’ll assume that everyone is starting from scratch, zero ... but if you do have experience already then that is going to be a real bonus .. so please come prepared to share.
This will be mainly a whole group presentation (with some participation depending on the topic we choose for the video) ... in real time we’ll go through concept, planning, filming (producing), editing and finally uploading to YouTube.
In the time left, we’ll need to decide as a group what to look at next .. e.g.

  • examples of where video might be used in the classroom
  • tips and tricks with YouTube including setting up a playlist
  • other places (than YouTube) to host videos
  • places to find suitable videos online
  • protecting students from undesirable material
  • copyright / creative commons
  • tagging

I will be using a Flip Video Camera (they cost between US$100-US$200) feel free to bring your own if you have one ... also if you already use another brand/model of video camera then please feel free to bring it. If you have never used a video camera before then note to worry ... we will also be catering to the complete beginner.
Everything that we cover will work on both Windows and Apple computers.
If you have time before the session then have a browse around http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/youtube/


Screencasting in the Classroom
A great description of screencasting is at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast
A method of recording anything that happens on your computer screen while adding a voice commentary.

Creating a screencast used to fill everyone with fear (well it did with me!) ... it required expensive software to be downloaded to your computer, you needed a powerful computer otherwise it would crash and then it was not easy to find somewhere to host your screencast/movie.
All that is in the past, we will be using free web applications that are not so demanding on your computers, work just as easily on Windows and Apple and give you free hosting ... and has a very low learning curve ... I’ll be assuming everyone will be starting from ground zero ... if you do have experience then it would be great if you could bring (or have urls) of your results.
... and the key question “Why would you want to create a screencast in the first place?” ... I highly suspect the group will be coming up with lots of examples and suggestions., I have a few myself.

If you have a laptop then please bring it ... Windows or Apple

There is a lot about screencasting at http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/screencast/ but it may be best NOT to look at this before the session but note the url for afterwards.


Just Fun