I’m going to undertake a full evaluation and investigation of YouTube with my children and students to canvass their ideas and views.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/hMLX68MHVtw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

This short video was uploaded directly from my mobile phone. What fantastic opportunities… and I managed to do it without happy-slapping anyone!

What dynamic is at work when schools or LEA’s take unilateral decisions to ban sites like YouTube without even consulting students (or teachers for that matter)?

Toss out a few negative soundbytes based on unbalanced media coverage and harp on about ‘duty of care’ and the decision is soon justified. Often though, there is not even a decision that anyone, in this era of transparency, can challenge or track. Where are the lists of sites published that are banned so that they can become an agenda item on the school council or at a staff meeting? Evaluating real websites for their suitability for task would be a purposeful learning activity for both teachers and students. Identifying, weighing up and avoiding potential risks while enjoying the benefits of a website is a creative challenge that faces everyone. Going through this process as a school community offers ownership of internet use decisions, something that is sadly lacking in many schools.

And what do students thinks about this state of affairs? Nothing! They do not care because it simply confirms to them the increasing irrelevance of their formal education to their everyday life. Whatever!

Suffering from a sort of design hyperactivity, I’ve changed the look of this blog yet again. The designer of this WordPress theme, Fredrik Fahlstad, offers this and other cool designs to the community to use for free. It must have cost him a fair bit of time though to design this template and I think it only fair that I should throw a financial ‘thank-you’ his way. I found a donate button on his blog and sent him 20 quid via paypal. I had never done that before for a free theme design. This particular theme has been downloaded 1308 times so far. If everyone contributed something to their favourite designer (or plugin creator) then that person would probably be even more inclined to continue producing (and supporting) themes and plugins. It seems to go against the grain in education though, paying for something that you can get for free. Shame really…

Dave Winer writing about Google:

I stopped believing in Google fairplay when they added a Blog-This feature to their toolbar, and didn’t use open APIs so users could post with any blogging tool, not just Google’s.

Google is becoming an all-embracing, accepted part of our societal furniture. It buys up companies for fun. Only the other week, I went to access my JotSpot account, only to find that it has joined the Google family. I am assured that this is good for me as the consumer. I’m not convinced.

In 2002, I was concerned that using only Microsoft products with my students would not serve them well. I now have the same worry about Google.

Gareth’s firm rebuttal of Phil Beadle’s article in the TES Guardian lays out the stark realities of not harnessing ICT in teaching. I would love to interview Phil Beadle, not least because of his inspirational teaching, but also to tease out for him how ICT would enhance what he does. After all we are never too good to learn

Phil admits that ICT may be a fantastic tool, but like so many teachers he claims he does not have the time learn how to use it. Well Phil, perhaps you need to find that time, because pupils in your care deserve a 21st century education in which ICT has and will not replace books, pens and pencils, but is just as relevant in a literate society. To not be engaged in the forms of communication that this technology affords means, as an English teacher, you are unable to inform and educate students on how to become a constructive member of today’s society.