Hi
there Skwirkers,
18
thousand likes on Facebook! This was the news from our General
Manager as we finished work last week. The whole team at Skwirk HQ is delighted
that we’ve had such a warm welcome from the education community via social
media – don’t forget that you can also find us on Twitter and YouTube.
Skwirk
2.0 news – open beta coming soon!
After
an amazing level of interest in the new site we have been bringing teachers and
schools online for closed beta testing of Skwirk 2.0. The responses continue to
be very positive and we’ve had some schools give us wonderfully nuanced
feedback – a special shout-out to the Early Years staff at Mount Pleasant
Primary School in Ballarat for putting their feedback into a Word document
complete with screenshots! You guys rock!
We
are currently working with our development and web-hosting team to move from
closed to open beta within the next two weeks. This
means that new users will be get immediate access to the new site. We
will continue to migrate existing schools to the new site on a state-by-state
basis over the next few months.
Skwirk
included on resources list for CapThat! captioning website
Two
evenings a week your fearless Education Content Manager heads off to learn
Australian Sign Language (Auslan). So far I can do little more than introduce
myself and give basic directions, but a huge part of the class has been
learning about the need take make educational resources accessible for students
of all ages who are Deaf, hard of hearing, or have English as a Second
Language.
CapThat! is a website run
by Media Access Australia, who focus on ensuring people with a range of
disabilities have access to all kinds of media content. We recently provided
Media Access Australia with access to the Skwirk site and were delighted that
they swiftly included the site on their list of educational resources.
Skwirk
Surveys and winner of July’s prize draw
The
online survey is still providing us with outstanding feedback on both the
current and new site. Some of the comments we’ve received in the past month
include:
“It's one of the best resources I have
used so far and has been an excellent tool to use for my Japan cultural study.
It's been fantastic!!! Absolutely love it”
“The kids love the animations and videos
while I have really benefited from the text, photos and images”
“The students love the animations,
videos and photo. It helped them engage further in the unit of work by helping
in visualising Australia in history.”
If
you are currently trialling the Skwirk site and want an additional two weeks
free access, please take the time to complete the survey when you get the
appropriate email. All teachers who complete the survey also go into the
running for our monthly prize draw. We’ll announce July’s winner in the next
blog entry.
Website
of the week – World
Without Oil
Waaaay
back in 2007, an ambitious project unfolded online – simulate the first eight
months of a global oil shock to see what kind of response the online community
could create. Participants registered their location and were given regular
updates as to how the sudden shortage would affect their home city, state or
country.
The
response was vast – the website (which now serves as an online archive) has 1500
blog entries, videos, voicemails and images – and the impact was long-lasting.
A huge number of participants interviewed 12 months after the project stated
that their way of life had been changed as a result of playing this ‘serious
game’, ranging from new commuting patterns to starting vege gardens. The site
has a HUGE section
for teachers with lessons about how oil impacts every part of our lives.
I
have so much respect for the team at Edmodo – they have built a really solid social network for
use in schools that pairs a clean, familiar interface with a healthy dose of
respect for the issues teachers face when communicating online with students.
And (for the moment) it’s still free!
The app keeps all the key features of the
site and puts them squarely in the hands of your smartphone-happy students. And
HUGE props for launching an Android app side-by-side with the iOS version!
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