In response to the changing nature of the Internet, TKI will now link to selected social software (Web 2.0) sites. Social software allows users to contribute content and to collaborate with others using blogs, wikis, and other tools. These sites will have the head and shoulders icon to show that they contain user-contributed content. While all sites are still subject to rigorous quality-assurance processes, teachers are advised to evaluate this category of sites carefully for relevance and accuracy, and to consider any privacy and security issues before using them with students.

Get a picture of the national ICT PD programme’s impact on teachers, teaching, and learning in New Zealand, by reading this report on the 2004–2006 cohort of ICT PD cluster teachers. It supplements and makes comparisons with the evaluations of the first four ICT PD cluster programmes.

What sort of impact has the TELA scheme had on teachers’ work? These evaluation reports present findings from national focus groups, questionnaires, and case studies.
TELA: Laptops for Teachers Evaluation Final Report Years 7 & 8
TELA: Laptops for Teachers Evaluation Final Report Years 9–13

Book a virtual field trip now from the calendar of events on the LEARNZ website to support your long-term plan. These exciting and innovative projects support many specific subject and cross-curricular opportunities for both primary and secondary schools.

Do you use e-learning in innovative ways and want to improve your understanding of what works for learners? Watch for the opening of applications for 2009 e-fellows, expected early August. Successful applicants receive individual, specialised support from researchers to develop their inquiry project, this year focusing on innovative e-learning practice in literacy.

See for yourself the brand new look of the NetSafe site, cleverly reorganised to ensure that every user can find the resources they need to keep safe using the Internet, and how to deal with issues that affect its use.

Become an expert in the safety of your own computer – browse through this search result on TeacherTube. It lists all the videos in the ‘Plain English’ series made by Common Craft. For example, wikis, blogs, and RSS – all explained in a simple and engaging format.

Sign up to this newsletter and get the updates on new learning objects and digital resources, and resources of specific interest. The newsletters share effective approaches for implementing digital content, and provide links to research, readings, and sites of interest.

Check out the digital resources on the Matapihi site. Take yourself back to a time when computers were the size of washing machines and mobile telephones were the size of bricks.

Year 9 students are given the opportunity to participate in an authentic voting experience. Students vote for real candidates, on a real ballot paper, and compare the results from the nationwide Kids Voting 2008 election with the results of the real election.

New Zealand schools now get free access to the National Library's Discover – Te Kohinga Taonga collection of art and music via the Internet

Watch gruesome online safety issues embodied in these new video clips about keeping safe online. These short videos are a series of episodes created by NetSafe, which use family characters to front up to online nasties such as malware and viruses, and then advise how to keep safe.

Applications are open for the Ministry of Education’s ICT PD cluster programme 2009–2011. Fifteen new clusters of schools are expected to be contracted to carry out professional and school ICT development programmes in 2009–2011. Visit the Ministry of Education website for eligibility and selection information, and an overview of the project. The deadline for applications is 18th July 2008.

Explore The New Zealand Curriculum online and link to a range of resources and support materials. The revised curriculum will become mandatory from February 2010. Schools are encouraged to begin working towards its implementation. Check out the new section Strategies for Getting Started, and add comments to share your expertise and experiences.

Step into the shoes of someone else – help your intermediate and secondary students see the world from a different point of view with these simulation games. Each school term brings a new Frontline game set in a conflict zone, where teams face decisions that save lives, and assist those impacted by conflict.

Check out this great resource – New Zealand e-Learning facilitator Rochelle Jensen developed this site to make it easy for New Zealand teachers to locate pedagogically-sound, active, online collaborative projects for use in their classrooms.

Bookmark this – a blog created by New Zealand e-Learning facilitator Fiona Grant to explore team blogging and the possibilities for learning and teaching of English in New Zealand schools. With over 30 teachers registered as authors, this is a chance to learn some blogging tips and share your own with the community.

Walk the talk using the Cybercitizenship Pathway. This resource provides teachers across the curriculum areas, from early childhood level through to school year 13, with a progression of cybercitizenship attributes, appropriate learning objectives, suggested activities, and recommended resources.

Explore the excellent resources that New Zealand teacher Andrew Churches has provided as an 'update' to Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. He cleverly matches ICT tools to key terms. Check out his handy rubrics too.

This collection of excellent digital learning objects and resources for New Zealand teachers has now been refined to make it easier to find and use the material. One of the changes is that if you have lost your password, it is now possible to have the log-in sent to your school email address.

Seemingly credible and looking to be extremely informative, this site actually contains a hornet’s nest of fictional and downright ridiculous information carefully placed in amongst real facts. It was set up by teachers to train students (and good for teacher professional development too) to be discerning about the information they find on the Internet. Supported by teachers notes.

Although this website requires paid registration to publish podcasts, it is free to look at the already published and moderated work, providing access to good examples of students’ work in podcasting.

The K12 Online Conference is an annual conference for teachers by teachers interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. The conference material remains available online after its completion, providing many valuable resources for teachers using ICT.

Secondary students are asked to create a two-minute video about any aspect of privacy – entries can be group or individual. The competition closes 25 July and the winners will be announced during Privacy Awareness Week (24–30 August 2008).

View Solid Energy’s trailer of their documentary about relocating native land snails from the Stockton opencast mine area in the Buller region. From this web page you can request a free DVD copy of the documentary, and view the 2007 Environmental Report.

Encourage your students to stretch the boundaries of their imagination by conceptualising, modelling, and generating a design using any software within three hours. Students will be evaluated on how they articulate and communicate their ideas towards a solution, based on industry expectations and requirements. The challenge takes place 24 July.

This is New Zealand’s largest photographic competition for students. Open to all primary, intermediate, and secondary school students, it offers an incredible array of prizes, including a study scholarship and work experience for senior students. Themes are ‘Our people at work and play’ and ‘The science of farming’. Entries are free and close 25 July 2008.

Le@rning Federation survey
Please participate in the Le@rning Federation survey on the implementation of digital content. This survey is part of the longitudinal research programme being undertaken by Dr Peter Freebody, Sydney University. The survey takes about 10–15 minutes. Contact Helen Cooper for further information.

• Sector personnel, Ministry personnel, regional advisers or cluster facilitators
• School principals
• School leaders (deputy/assistant principals; heads of departments/faculty; ICT champions; teacher-librarians)
• Teachers with classroom responsibilities and/or programme responsibilities