I snipped this article for my News Bytes blog.

Game’s up: parents monitor offspring’s screens

Half of all adult Australians now play computer games, a report has found, and more than two-thirds of game-playing parents regularly join their children in front of the screen.

But on further reflection, I wonder how many parents read wth their kids… It has been proven that reading with children increases their literacy levels. Are we concerned with current literacy levels?

But then current educational game theory suggests that gaming increases children’s thinking skills. Or are we simply inproving family functionality? “The famiy that plays together stays together”???

So … Happy November!!

Did you celebrate Halloween in your household?

We didn’t even have any trick or treater visit last night – which was sad in a way because they are always so joyful, but the event itself really doesn’t have the impact here in Australia that it does in, say, America. But the thing that caught my eye this Halloween season was a site I discovered and blogged about in Libblog, the blog I write as a librarian. It is a website promoting the giving of books at Halloween as treats. What a great idea. Next year, I’ll be promoting the idea a lot more and will have some book ready here at home. The website is booksfortreats.org

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I found this in an article recently ….

The children of the e-revolution can do many things at once. After years of technological stimulation they can simultaneously surf the internet, text message their mates, listen to music on an iPod and write a blog.
But these digital natives are on a collision course with their technologically illiterate teachers, who speak digital as a second language and print out emails so they can read them.  You can read the whole article. It’s called Where worlds collide and pupils leave teachers behind

And it’s true – in some cases. There is a divide between teachers and their students in terms of technology use. It reminded me of a fairly landmark statement a teacher once made to me. He had just taken on board some advice that he let the students do the teaching when it came to technology – a mentoring process, and I think that is such a pivotal attitude to have in this situation.

Nevertheless I find the material circulating on technology and its uses in teaching to be incredibly stimulating, challenging and exciting. Here is just a sample of the articles I have discovered recently…

It’s not what it is, it’s what it enables. The role of blogs, wikis, and RSS
Let me state the obvious: the real value of blogs and wikis is not the tool itself. It’s what the tool enables. Sadly, many advocates overlook this simple fact.
To continue the over-simplification, it’s the equivalent of viewing a hammer as only a means to hit nails. Obviously that is the task at its most basic. But what does it mean? In the case of the hammer, it means we can build a doghouse, a bookshelf, or a house. Until we look past the task and functionality of a tool – to what the tool enables – we largely miss the beauty of why it’s so useful. and the blog post continues

7 things you should know about podcasting

Sourcing Content to Teach and Learn With
With so many great resources already out there on the net, why re-invent the wheel? There’s stacks of great activities and information waiting for you to link together into a fun learning experience! When sourcing your content, be careful to check the copyright statement of the content before you attempt to use it. And the post continues with a wonderful list of resources which are free.

7 things you should know about blogs

I’ve collected these, among others, at my page of Ed News bytesor you can read them at my blog

Paper is a huge challenge to me – how to control the massive avalanche of paper that comes across my desks at home and at work each day – as we all have!, and ways to store it so that it is accessible when and in the ways I need to access it.

Recently I decided to do some research into just how I could improve the ways I handle paper – how I could say on top of that paper avalanche, efficiently and effectively. I have to say I am proud of the improvements I have made, and the systems I have put into place.

And I have decided to make the information I found available in a series of products. So I have devoted this month to producing them. The first is an article “Paper clutter – you can blitz it in ten easy steps.” I have submitted it to ezinearticles.com and it should be available there within the week. Hope you find it useful, or know of someone it would help. It’s free.