Social Media does not have to be filtered or restricted. With an enlightened policy a school, its teachers and administrators can pro-actively embrace Web 2.0 technology and enhance communication and understanding within a school. Infographic inspired by Oneupweb Listen!
Author archives: Derek
Re-arranging the deckchairs
My “multi-tasking”, “threaded”, “distributed”, “distracted” world tends to make concentrated work and thought rare. This year, I’d like to see if I can look up, look inside, take time to breathe, talk to myself, be still and mindful before I jump straight into the vast connected chamber that I work in. Dr Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author …
Web Wednesday Chit Chat and Workshops
I’d like to experiment with hosting and running a set of alternate bi-monthly chit chats and workshops for people that want to share their digital stories and extend their use of the net. These events will take place on the first Wednesday of the month and will collectively be known as WebWed. Chit Chat At …
Testing times for an oEmbed ignoramus
Derek Keats is testing Chisimba, oEmbed and WordPress and I’ve offered to get my hands dirty and assist. I’m officially an oEmbed ignoramus (remember, I’m an ex-history teacher). But I’m also a networked learner. Search engines have allowed me to almost instantly explore an array of unknown fields, modular Word Press Plugins make me feel …
Inform, don’t meform
“Inform them, catch their attention, don’t meform and angst” say the Social Media gurus. Always on the look out for tools that can assist me do the above – and I’ve recently installed two WordPress plugins that offered information possibilities. Twitter Tools Link Within. Twitter Tools is plugin that integrates your WordPress blog and your …
Beyond blindspots and doff Derek
My blog is a small attempt to see better, talk clearly, strain some words and sift it into a pile of useful information. I’ve made a start at filtering on the web. Heaped albums of good photographs onto Flickr, stashed bit of paper to remember useful links and resources on Delicious, highlighted interesting blog posts …
Join the conversation
Vadim Lavrusik’s article – 10 Ways Universities Share Information Using Social Media on Mashable prompted me to explore about how South African Universities, and particularly public affairs or faculties are making use of Social Media. From what I found (and this is not authoritative, my little network does not cover all 23 higher ed institutions …
Wordled & taguled my thesis
I hauled out the old thesis and copied & pasted the text into Wordle. Yishay persuaded me to take it further and submit it to the I wordled my thesis group on Flickr. The thesis seems more accessible as a tag cloud and, when enlarged, it visually summerises the key words and ideas contained in …
Discover Microblogging
Microblogging (the act of broadcasting short, real-time messages) allows people to express themselves in new ways. It offers people a new communication channel to broadcast and share updates about what they are reading, thinking, experiencing, watching and doing. Educationalists that choose to incorporate Microblogs into their courses could refocus Microblogging as a peer to peer …
5 Ways to Open Access
It’s Open Access Week (19 – 23 October 2009), where the ideals of the Open Education Resource (OER) movement are highlighted. The movement believes that the Internet should be used to throw open the locked doors that once hid knowledge. Open Access aims to encourage and enable free sharing of content for the advancement and …