ICT Education and Learning

Disasters: Flight, Freeze or Fight.

2012-05-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Disasters… belonging to Christchurch N.Z. means you know a little bit about earthquakes. Since September 4th 2010, at the time of writing we have had 10379 earthquakes, and as I wrote this another (3.9M and 5km deep) shook the house.. the biggest in a while. ( See http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/ for details.). So we decided to look into disasters in our school a little more. Click on the image above for the banner for our unit or here (to download get a free registration here). My I.C.T teaching and learning site in2edu.com has a rich inquiry topic based on this topic here.

Track goals across a number of people, staff following a personal learning plan.

2011-10-23T15:51:00.001-07:00

https://goalbookapp.com/

Great site for following a pupils personal learning plan. Not sure how long it will stay free, as it is in beta stage right now.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/oXs6V9

ICT Competencies for Teachers

2011-08-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a continuum we are developing for our school. Is it too much? What do you think? Do you have other models?

Boys: Statistics Point to need for Educational Change

2011-08-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

This video adds to the many other voices that are saying we need to do something for boys. As a part-time youth pastor, I deal a lot with teen and young adult guys and would echo many of the comments within this video.

Musings about Finland's Education and Learning Success

2011-08-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

Twenty years ago, Finland was under the international educational average in testing and had large gaps between affluent and poor schools. Today, it tops the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), a test of fifteen year olds covering literacy, maths and science. Finland is a small country of five million, with industry comprising of services 65%, manufacturing and refining 31.4% and rates reasonably well in innovation indexes also. It is a strong welfare state with high taxes, a high respect for education by Finnish parents and society in general with surveys demonstrating Finns trust public schools more than any other public institution, except the police.

Recently, I spent a couple of weeks, on and off, looking at videos, reading blogs and investigating various websites that had information to convey about the successes of the Finland education system. The most prominent feature of Finnish students’ performance in PISA, is its constant high level of results combined with small variance. Finland stands out with its weak performers, scoring in all domains, 66 to 91 score points above the mean for the lowest 5 % of students. Their top 5 % surpassed the OECD mean of its group only by just 31 to 47 score points. It was interesting teasing out the factors that I think have combined to produce their high international results. My perspective is from the context of New Zealand education, a country that has also scored highly on these same international tests.

Society Statistics

Family statistics 2010 66% married couples, 22% co-habitating couples, 12% one-parent families
Crime statistics Generally, on the low side in most categories
Child poverty statistics 4% child poverty in Finland. Very low compared to other countries.
Current % of government (public) debt to GDP is 48-50%
Median age 41 years (the oldest of most European countries)
Low infant mortality, high productivity and relatively high taxes
Happiness index 5th on table, Happy Life Years 9th on table (see World Database of Happiness)
Judged to be the world's least corrupt country (Transparency International)

Finland's Education History

In the 1960's, a 9 year plan was adopted with the goal of "education for all". Significant teacher training was carried out, especially to accommodate whole age cohort teaching (a Finnish teacher in the primary area will teach the same children from 7- 16.) The system was government centralized with a detailed curriculum prescription. By 1985 municipal and school level freedom was allowed around a core curriculum. The Education Law of 1999, established a new evaluation policy with sample based NBE-implemented evaluations in key subjects, obligatory for the sampled schools but also available by fee for others for internal use. This lead to local ﬂexibility and diversity with a strong emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy concurrent to provide wide-range education for all.
Finland, possibly has a narrower focus in the breadth of its curriculum than other countries. PISA examinations are similar in contract to the style of the curriculum that FInland focuses on which may also give its pupils an advantage in the PISA exams.

Notable Features
Philosophy as I summarize

No pupil should be left behind
Equity
Trust
Free education, including university and polytechnic

Education Statistics

Typical class size 18-20
Teachers work about 40% less class hours than US teachers do. Average 570 teaching hours a year for teachers in Finland (1,100 hours in the US)
27 % of students having received some form of special support for their learning during basic education.
School year 190 days
Average spending on education compared to other OECD countries.
Zero illiteracy
Homework is minimal with an emphasis on extra-curricula
Pupils spend the fewest hours in the classroom
Finland has more than 4,000 comprehensive schools, 750 upper-secondary schools, 20 universities, and a great many other educational institutions.
99 percent of students now successfully complete compulsory basic education, and about 90 percent complete upper secondary school
Two-thirds of these graduates enroll in universities or professionally oriented polytechnic schools.
More than 50 percent of the Finnish adult population participates in adult education
programs.
Comprehensive network of libraries

The Flavour of Education in Finland

Informal atmosphere in the schools.
No formal exams and ranking of schools. The outcomes of all Finnish nine-year comprehensive schools are followed by sample-based surveys. The results are published only on the system level. Formal examination grade 9 (leaving high school) the National Board of Education makes occasional assessments in other subjects and at other grade levels in representative samples of schools and pupils and, lately, longitudinal assessments in key subject. There is no separate school inspection and inspection visits to school are no longer held. Self-evaluation and external examination are emphasized. Emphasis on formative assessment.
In Finnish culture, significant political conflicts and sudden changes in educational policy have been rare
Teachers and schools are autonomous from state education system. Devolution of power.
Teachers are trusted to do their best as true professionals of education. They are entrusted with considerable pedagogical independence in the classroom, and schools have likewise enjoyed significant autonomy in organizing their work within the national curriculum.
Finnish teachers set high standards.
Flexible, school-based and teacher-planned curriculum along with student-centred instruction, counseling, and remedial teaching.
Schools coordinate with social service providers.
Teachers all require a masters degree with thousands turned down for training each year, 10-15% of those who apply are accepted. They see teaching as a life-long career. The teaching force is 100% unionized.
Starts with preschool (kindergarten), school starts at seven. The emphasis is on, "play". In 2006, 63 % of three-year-olds were in day-care, one of the lowest rates in Western Europe.
Finnish high schools have two clearly separate streams with both academically oriented general upper secondary schools and vocational institution. Most young children will stay with the same teachers for their entire education, up until 16 when they go to high school.
Free daily school meals
Right to attend closest school with school based curricula
Performance based funding for universities and polytechnics based on: Effectiveness (job placement and further studies); Processes (dropping out, % ratio of qualification certifications holders to entrants); Staff (formal teaching qualifications and staff development).
Emphasis on broad knowledge within a depth of curriculum rather than a wide curriculum. Equal value to all aspects of individual growth and learning: personality, morality, creativity, knowledge and skills.
The phonetic character of Finnish language makes decoding easy, leading to easier literacy success.
Finland emphasizes research and development (around 4% of GDP).
Each family gets three free books on birth of child…. for parents and child.

The Gotchas
Cost: the teasing out the figures of the Finnish education finances may enable others to see the split between education department costs and school costs (frontline). It will also be important to see how education budgets integrate with funding from other areas such as Social Services. Secondly, Finland is a homogenous society. It has not had significant migrant or multi-cultural change over last twenty years. However, recent immigrants have become part of Finland's current success and Finland certainly out-performs other homogenous societies.

Off the top of My Head

Relationships, however, are the deal-breaker in the success game. Relationships have driven a systematic reformation of the Finnish education philosophy. It started with leadership and co-operation between professionals to change a failing education system and the ongoing change has had a lack of political interference to derail it. Relationships also drive the start a pupil has in education, from the play in pre-schools to formal "primary" schooling (ages 7 to 16). Having the same teacher, who gets to know their pupils intimately (what happens with the personality conflicts I wonder?) over the eight years they teach them, means that relationships become core to the child-teacher-parent partnership. Relationships between parents, teachers and pupils show a general trust and professionalism.

Possibly, due their tough environment and limited natural resources (except for large forest reserves), Finns have made a priority of investing in education. It seems they still have a strong family emphasis that must contribute to the stable and measured start that their children get to schooling. Finally, the lack of formal testing allows schools to develop programmes of learning that balance competition, equity and child-centred needs within the values they wish to emphasize, time is spent on learning and not on testing. For those in management who worry about this… just look at Finland's results and see that it works.

Resourcing and relationships summarize the keys of success in Finland. It would be interesting to explore further how, with an average OECD spend on education, Finland has free education, pays teachers well, provides free meals, gives teachers excellent non-contact time and has class sizes of 18-20. Although it is a state with high taxes, Finland does seem to have a stable government debt to GDP ratio of 50% at this point in time.

Sources - Check out more

LMS Moving Ahead

2011-05-30T03:30:00.000-07:00

Moodle, Ultranet, KnowledgeNet, Desire2Learn, Canvas are all names of Learning Management Systems. Not a definitive list, but a list of those with market presence in N.Z. with the last two being my outsiders that are new on the scene but interesting enough to keep a watch out for. We are currently running Ultranet in our school, a package that has achieved a very quick number of schools since it introduction in 20. Ultranet is very simple to learn. We have had a lot of success with being able to get teachers up to speed with a couple of days of PD and they are away. Task setting and handing in files is great as is the uSpace (portfolio, buddies and social areas). The questions is with Ultranet is how will it develop as a product. Areas such as quizzes, blogs and wikis have limited features and the ability to assess and track a class within the system is limited also. If we could just create using gardening techniques our own hybrid that combined the best of Ultranet with say Canvas or Desire2learn and Moodle.

Thematic Inquiry Unit- Me, Myself and I

2011-04-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here is our new Me, Myself and I integrated inquiry unit. It contains a series of ideas, resources and internet links around the topic of Me, Myself and I. You can check out the rest of our topics- inquiry units here.

Social Media Influence

2011-04-04T12:04:00.001-07:00

URL: http://klout.com/

Interesting tool to rate yourself in cyberspace.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/f8IN9o

Best Reference Sites

2011-02-01T23:40:00.001-08:00

Always look for 3 sites to cross-check information, especially if you do not use one of the commercial encyclopaedias. Be fair in your use (quote and reference your sources) and look for released information that you can use.

Creative Commons Search (Images and Information)
Te Ara NZ Encyclopaedia
Wikipedia (Check your information against other sites as it is a Wiki)
Britannica K8 Online Encyclopaedia (your teacher has passwords)
All other Epic Databases (your teacher has passwords)
Google Search choosing good key words

For those with a mac you can put searching in the fast lane by working out how to use Alfred (a freeware software search engine installed on your harddrive or downloadable here)

Lost in the Woods (iPad versus Android)

2011-01-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

I am penning these thoughts, as an educator, in response to a tweet (see image). Not sure if it is blatant advertising. But it is certainly annoying.

The Honeycomb is to be found somewhere in the branches or stumps of one of the trees, the iPad second generation has been rumored to be loose in the same forest, a unicorn galloping through the woods with renewed energy. I love the speculation and the hopefulness of both sides. Sides, because, this battle seems to be heating up, and as a consequence the mist rises, in the forest and over the glazed eyes of the devotees. Yet, if you peer through the mist in the trees only the iPad generation 1 is actually here, and it seems to be staying.

First of all disclosure. I am an ICT Facilitator in a private school, running Apple products. I own an iPhone. We use, I use, these products for their ease of use, just-works, lower cost of ownership (debatable I know) and well I found them in the school I got the job in. I come from another line of products like these Acorn RiscPC's which for many would be totally unknown. We are just launching a one to one laptop programme and I was hoping that iPads or something better would form the basis of this, but had to reluctantly stay with laptops as they still meet our requirements better. We want to edit video, create in 3D, use Scratch, use Flash etc, so while Apple IPads are being used in some schools I feel they are still more suited at this stage for the consumption side. (See iPad posts )

So this takes us back to the above tweet. A tweet about the "Spring" Toshiba tablet.. "looks awesome" (agree) but "powerful classroom tool"..... how do we know this?... we haven't even seen it yet! How many products have been announced and not made it to production, or made it and been a disappointment when compared to the experience an iPad gives. Don't get me wrong.. I don't own an iPad yet.... I am waiting for them to get better still. I held out on the iPhone for 3 generations due to cost and then went shopping, looked at all others (pre Android) and on cost for all round features decided the iPhone was the best value. (It still seems that way in N.Z. even with Android phones out). But we need as educators to be evaluating products with passion for learning, not passion for gadgets or passion for gadgets that replace religion! (Please don't check this statement with my wife)

My take. The pre launch look into Honeycomb looks great. Competition for the iPad is needed and Honeycomb looks to have the buzz. However, it is wait and see for we need products that deliver the learning tools needed, with the ease of use and simple maintenance that the iPad currently has. To me the debate is not about closed ecosystem verses open. There are already calls to make the fragmented Android world more "restricted" due to the difficulties in updating the OS and in searching through fragmented and un-curated Android App Stores (not that there isn't garbage in Apples App store). And we do need price drops on the gear (Apple!), but we have yet to see what pricing is going to be for any other tablet competitors.

My hope. Genuine competitors to the iPad emerge forcing Apple to respond and we all live happily ever after.

My call. As educators we need to take a step back and be less fanatical in our technology evangelism and more focused on as we espouse "using them as tools". Some seem to be wanting to trim trees with invisible secateurs rather than a chainsaw.

Meanwhile in a jungle nearby.....

(See also Motorola Xoom)

22frames.com - Captioned and subtitled videos from across the Internet

2011-01-05T19:45:00.001-08:00

URL: http://www.22frames.com/

Short videos with captions and subtitles. Great for those older who need reading support or for ESOL.

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/e0IWqa

Connecting Blogs to Social Networks

2010-04-30T21:49:00.001-07:00

A great way to link your blog entries to say Twitter without lifting a finger. twitterfeed.com

Wazza
Another Post From My iPhone

iPad 12 Education Apps. iPad Post 2

2010-04-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

A quick look at the state of play of Keynote indicates some varying opinions. In this post (VGA Presenting), Steven indicates some good success with Keynote. Alternatively, in this post (iPad Misses the Mark), Chris points out the frustrations of moving Keynote files between his desktop and iPad and some missing features he laments. In a 1:1 implementation Keynote will be very important to synthesise and present information. It is one of the key apps our pupils use at school for their learning. I wonder if the problems faced are version based? Here is a list of our most commonly used apps with a note as to whether there is a good alternative.

iPad Game Changer? iPad Post 1

2010-04-09T22:25:00.001-07:00

We are looking at one to one computing devices for our school programme for 2011. In this post http://www.in2edu.com/blog/index.php?id=255508204184561761 we have outlined some of the decision making to be carried out in a mindmap. Over the next few months we will be trialling the iPad as one of the possible devices our pupils could use. Of course in N.Z. the iPad has not yet been released. Up until the keynote of iPhone Os4 and the release of new features on it (especially multitasking) I was thinking that it would be a no show. We also have a few flash enabled websites such as Mathletics that we use as well so the jury is still out. The main factor it boils down to is providing the best tool that matches the learning to take place. Could an iPad in combination with a few pods of laptops for higher end use (video editing, music recording etc.) do the job? Other devices include netbooks and laptops.
Being an Apple based school we enjoy the great software and hardware we use, but still need to be open to alternatives.
So, follow this blog as we make our decisions and explore the options.

Wazza
Another Post From My iPhone

Location:Plunket St,Christchurch,New Zealand

Planning for 1 to 1 Devices

2010-04-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

We are looking to do a 1 to 1 computing program in our school. Currently, we are intending to start with our Year 5 classes and each year roll out the 1 to 1 to a new set of pupils and teachers. This will allow us to gradually build up expertise, systems and infrastructure. Here is the one to one planning mindmap that I have put together so far.... any thoughts? I am also trying to put together a best list of links for research... here is what I have so far.... http://delicious.com/medburybookmarks/bundle:One%20to%20One%20Computing

How big is the Internet

2010-02-05T23:49:00.000-08:00

This image from onlineinternet says quite a lot!
Created by Online Education

Portraits and Prints Review

2009-12-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

Just recently posted from the authors of Chronosync (backups for Macs) is a range of programs that they have just updated for Snow Leopard. They (econtechnologies.com) have decided to release Portraits and Prints, Imagecaster (webcam solution) and Daychaser (calendar tool) applications as freeware, deciding to instead focus on their backup business. I will be reviewing Chronosync and the other freeware in upcoming blog entries, in the meantime here is a quick look at Portraits and Prints.
Overview
This program allows you to take images from folders or directly from iPhoto and manipulate them further by simple graphical adjustments, putting them into templates (catalogues) and printing them.

System Requirements
A Macintosh computer running Mac OS 10.3 ("Panther") or later, a minimum 400 MHz G3, and a color printer. It is a universal application.
First Look
If you have a general familiarity to Macs it is fairly easy to get started when you open the program. Within a few minutes you can have a page of identical or different photos entered into a template ready to print, pdf or publish to disc.
Similar Programs
Comic Life - amazing comic layouts, commercial software with significantly more options.
iPhoto- Supplied with iLife package on new Macs. More graphical manipulations, less catalogue templates.
Education Suggestions
Create simple photo captioned sequences.
Publish a visual report.
Create invitations or simple photocards.
Create a photoboard of a class activity or trip.
Create visual poetry.
Best Tips
You can add multiple photos using command+click in the finder dialogue.
Drag n drop a template to change photos in an existing template to a new or updated template.
Add plain text to photos by dragging in (the hard to see) blue dot handles on the speech bubble.
Hot
Simple and Free.
Red Eye - works quickly on a basic "turn my eyeball black" scheme.
Good range of basic templates.
Not So Hot
Can't paste other titles or images (layer) from other programs to enhance presentation, unless you do this on the template itself.
Can only crop in oblong/rectangular/square shapes, otherwise you use the built in bitmap masks or create your own extra masks available in template mode only.

Final Word
Taking in the balance this softwares status of "freeware" verses our Not So Hot comments we award this software three stars. Worth placing in your collection for specific photo printing purposes!

iCal, To-Dos and iPhone Syncing

2009-12-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

I have just spent half a day, a number of dollars and found the solution was already on my iPhone. The desire I had was to sync my iCal to-dos that are scattered over a number of different calendars with my iPhone. At this stage the iPhone calendar or mail will not sync your to-do's. A number of solutions proposed the use of google docs to sync to-dos, but the problem with these is that the tasks in in Google are just one list, not categorised like I need. I searched Googled, bought a new To-Do app (Toodledo - which has a nicer interface than my final choice).
After virtually giving up having a solution that really suited me I was trolling through the 13th page of a Google term search and then followed a link to the Appigo site... hmmmm I thought to myself ... this software looks familiar and realised I already had it (but had not got into using it as lack of synchronisation with my laptop iCal put me off).The winning combination came from ToDo 3.2 (www.appigo.com) combined with a free utility Appigo Sync /www.appigo.com/appigo-sync). To Do is a list manager and does a pretty good job of this as you can see from the screen shots. But the winner for me, was the two minute install of the sync utility (easy to follow videos or screenshots) and I was away. The sync utility basically runs a server program that pulls the data from iCal and pushes it to "ToDo". Done and dusted. You have to run the sync from within ToDo itself on the iPhone (it doesn't happen when you connect the iPhone) and need a wireless connection to do it over.

Science Conference Christchurch

2009-04-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

Had a good hour taking a workshop with the NZASE Christchurch conference. Created a few new resources for this, including a key competencies poster. It was interesting to see an emphasis in literacy in science coming through, although I think we will need to watch to see that that this emphasis does not take away from the "creation of scientists." Thanks to Simon Briscoe from Promethean who helped out with a portable board and tips on using science and IWB's.
Start with the conference overview handout here, to locate all the resources discussed or mentioned.

New Delicious Collection

2008-09-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

We have moved all our collection of bookmarks to a collection based at delicious. This online cloud of bookmarks has allowed our teachers in the school who all know the username and password, to collaborate together to help extend and develop the top educational bookmarks.
We will be closing our bookmarks sitebar educational favorites server within a month as this new collection will be far better, quicker and simpler to use. Any feedback welcome so test the new collection out.

ActivBoard and SmartBoard Reflections

2008-09-06T07:04:00.000-07:00

As the ICT Facilitator in our school, I tend to extensively test technologies we are intending to implement within the school. Over the last year we have been putting in interactive whiteboards and now have two SmartBoards and four Promethean ActivBoards. I was also fortunate recently to win a competition for some ActivVotes so we have interactive voting technology now.
Feedback on the brands: Our Learning Support team felt that with their pupils that the hands on touch was a key factor for them so they chose SmartBoard technology. We have decided to put Promethean ActivBoards in all the other classes. The deciding factors were: sophistication of the ActivBoard software, resources available, and on ground educational support from Promethean consultants.
Having said that, I reckon in the future that the interesting thing will be the ability to incorporate multi- gesture technology in the boards, and wonder who will lead the race in this.
Implementation: We have a portable board that is loaned to teachers on the condition that:

They use it as much as possible for a term
That they join our on-site team of those with boards and attend a couple of training sessions
That they will then get their own board in their room if they show good use and integration (i.e. not just as a fancy whiteboard!)
That they share some of their ideas with the staff to motivate and inspire others.
Comments: Important to get collaboration going. I have developed a web bookmarking system based on Delicious and other technologies to capture our best sites for IWB use. We also are working on a collaborative collection of all created flipcharts through using a common sharepoint.
What Next: Looking into senior pupils authoring for junior classes following the concept of interviewing their client (the teacher), ascertaining learning needs, presenting an outline/plan of what they think they will design, designing presenting and evaluating how it went through interviewing the teacher again or observing a session where it is used.

Why Mac? Apple Ramble

2008-09-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

“So, if you had 120 computers in your business, what tech support would you have?“ I asked. The sun was streaming down as I talked to a business acquaintance, while watching our boys playing tennis. It was nothing to do with sunstroke, but more like a thunderbolt (slightly poetic licence!), when I realised just how little work is involved in running 120 odd

macs, that range in age from 1-6 years old, over two operating systems (OS 9 and OS X) and a mix of portables and desktops. His answer, “I would need 1-2 full time technicians“. Off course, other questions immediately arise, like; “Is he purchasing the Windows systems from the same supplier on the same day (checking that they are using all the same specifications in terms of parts)“, is he using ghosting/ drive imaging software to make installation and troubleshooting easier?“ etc. However, I teach 70% of my time which leaves 30% to:
• help users (teachers and pupils in my school) who have invariably created some of their own problems or just need a helping hand to the next stage of their learning.
• cover technical issues
• administrate the network
and it was only just recently that we decided to bring in a part-time technician for 2-4 hours total, a couple of part-mornings a week.
When someone talks about Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) , I have realised over the last 5 years that this is very different in a Mac world compared to the windows world I had left to take up the ICT Facilitators position in the school. It still amazes me when after creating a disc image of the latest operating systems, I can then use one image apply it to all machines in the school, including some that are 6 years old and it just works. I use Carbon Copy Cloner and Netrestore (Apple) for these tasks and to restore a machine, or image a new machine, I hold down 'N' on powering a machine and away we go after choosing an image and popping in my password. Because of the smaller hard drives in some of the older machines I tend leave off the bigger applications like Garageband, but it is great to be able to get such a long life cycle out of this gear.
I also use Apples Remote Desktop 3 to carry out any post installation checking, machine specific installing, minor updates and spying on pupils (lol), still is fun to take control of their machine when they don't know. Remote Desktop is also great for sharing out a screen on a projector to share work in progress or new ideas, or if you don't have a projector to share screens with other pupils, which I had to do recently when the bulb in my projector blew.
So, with lower cost of maintenance TCO, but still able to carry out high level multimedia use (aka iMovie, Garageband) which is harder with a thin client system (lower again TCO), and a great range of software on board free with each machine, I reckon these Macs are great. Oh.. and less crashes, no virus problems (although we have had one incident of a Word macro virus, which can spread but not actually do anything else on a Mac), and no spyware problems on a operating system that just keeps working..

ICT Equip & Room Booking System

2008-09-06T02:08:00.000-07:00

I looked at a number of systems, from paper to iCal and beyond. Looking for a cheap solution I came across MRBS a SQL solution and we have adapted it so that we can loan out materials, rooms, areas and I.C.T. equipment. We just use one log in via web-browser (pupils and staff book under this) and it is great for booking classrooms, ICT Suite, ICT gear and allocating halls and fields. It will take a bit of setting up but it is brilliant for the FREE cost!

iPhotoBuddy

2008-09-06T01:59:00.000-07:00

Overview
iPhoto Buddy 1.2.6 is a Mac OS X application that allows you to easily create, manage, and switch between multiple iPhoto Libraries. The advantages of splitting your One Huge Photo Library into multiple, smaller ones include improved iPhoto performance, increased flexibility in organizing your digital photo collection, and a consistency with most other Mac applications that allow their respective data to be stored in as many documents (in this case, “Libraries“) as you like.

Runs well under Rosetta. Tested on MacbookPro, Intel (1 GB Ram), 10.4.8, 2Ghz.
Similar Programs

iPhotoManager is the best competitor and has a freeware version and registered version (US $19.95) Universal.
iPhotoLibrarian is a simple script that changes location of library.

System Requirements
Required: iPhoto Buddy requires a Macintosh computer running OS X 10.2.4 or later, and iPhoto 2 or later. iPhoto Buddy is fully compatible with iLife '04, iLife '05, and iLife '06.(Universal Version not available)
First Look
iPhotoBuddy LargeiPhoto Buddy installs from a simple disc image drag and drop to applications. On running it picks up your default library and from there you can create new folders or add other libraries from elsewhere (a collection someone else has). You simply select the library you wish to launch by double clicking on it or selecting and clicking on the iphoto icon. It gives you details on the library collections and displays a view of the folders/albums in the selected library.
Education Application
For any user who is handling a lot of digital photos (art pictures, science experiments, school trips) and juggling with personal photos etc, this program provides and easy way to seperate out libraries to manage them more easily. It can help in the sharing of libraries, although permission issues will need to be worked through.
Best Tips
Use iPhoto Buddy to store your libraries on other media. i.e. Firewire HDD, network sharepoint.
Hot
* Free software that is simple and easy to use and does the job really well
* Simpler navigation and information from the display window than iPhotoManager
* Able to password lock a library
* Able to put a personal thumbnail on the libraries
Not Hot (Feature Suggestions)
* Ability to merge libraries would be great. (available in registered iPhotomanager)
* Ability to create a merged library from different albums
* Ability to create a shortcut of the library you wish to quickly launch (available in registered iPhotomanager)
* If you decide you need to swap a library while using programs (say Keynote) you will need to save, quit ad re-open the file.
Final Word
Free and does an excellent job.. so no arguments. If some of the features available in the registered version of iPhotomanager appeal then fork up some money, otherwise I think that iPhotoBuddy has a simpler ease of use. It is reliable and works well.
If you would like to make any comments on this feature or have suggestions or workarounds, feel free to leave a comment.

Promethean ActivBoard Browsing

2008-09-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have just put together this method of browsing across this method of setting up your browser in activboard and to use links with the web in fullscreen or near fullscreen mode as you wish. It also provides and efficient way to use links within your school collaboratively.
1. Setup a delicious account (I researched a number and found this the best, especially with the Firefox delicious addon and the simple proxy addon to make using proxies easier in Firefox) (Be careful at this stage uploading large collections into delicious as I can't seem to download them as backup yet - have 5000 links)
2. Download and use Fluid http://fluidapp.com/ which allows you to create a specific browser just for your bookmarks that can point to your "starter" site. It also has awesome fullscreen and minimum browser toolbars. (Make sure you choose under preferences...> advanced..> Allow browsing to all URLs to keep within your created browser )
3. Place a shortcut to the "Browser to your site" in the dock and I reckon you could not go simpler for a collaborative effort of organising, rating and using bookmarks or favourites (favorties) in your school
4. Enjoy

What next- I am going to setup one pointing to a blank page on startup and use this as the default browser from within my flipcharts as it will provide better use of screen.

I have attached a copy of our Medbury browser that you can use as a sample (does not allow access to all our links but enough to give you an idea)

Interested in feedback....