The Virtual Staffroom Podcast

Kathleen McClaskey and Barbara Bray take a special interest in personalised learning, differentiated instruction and the whole concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In this episode we dig into many of these concepts to learn more, including the sharing of some useful apps for personalised learning.

Originally published January 20, 2012

Like most teachers, Brett Moller, Bruce Fuda, Ashley Proud and Carolyn Foote all have to deal with the realities of filters and blocks on their school Internet connection, although they all experience this reality in slightly different ways.. In this episode we talk about web filters, the need to keep kids safe online and try to balance the argument with good old fashioned some common sense.

Originally published January 13, 2012

Michael Graffin is a young relief teacher from near Perth, Western Australia who has never had his own classroom but has still managed to discover the joys of working across the Internet on global projects. In this episode, Michael is joined by one of his collaboration partners Theresa Allen from Chicago, and also Lisa Parisi from New York, as we discuss the wonders of learning using online collaborative projects.

Originally published January 13, 2012

John Warnken is a good guy. He's 58 years old, lives in Florida and is not officially a teacher. However, John has been voluntarily working with students from all over the world to help them improve their English and broaden their view of the world. He's now on a mission to help other seniors do the same. Using the power of Skype, John has spent the last 4 years Skyping into classrooms all over the world working with kids that want to talk with a native English speaker. It's a short podcast, but a great story.

Originally published April 15, 2011

Deon Scanlon, Andrew Churches, Allanah King and Amanda Marrinan are leading Australian and New Zealand educators who use iPads, iPods (and even iPhones) in their work with kids. In this episode we share 48 of our favourite and most useful iOS apps… some fun, some silly, some educational, some serious; but all amazing!

Originally published April 5, 2011

Helen Otway is an assistant principal and Ultranet Coach in Victoria, Australia. She is passionate about ICT, professional development and developing a school culture of continual learning. In this episode we talk about a range of topics including sharing to build  school culture, learning through failure, and developing a more thoughtful approach to teaching and learning through reflective practice.

Originally published April 3, 2011

Apple's iDevices are gaining lots of traction in the education sphere lately, and with good reason. They have many of the characteristics of an almost perfect learning device, so it's no wonder so many schools around the world are trying to work out how they might best fit into the learning process. Rob Newberry, Tyler Sherwood and Brett Moller all work in schools that are exploring ways that the iPad, iPhone and iPad touch can be leveraged for greater learning.

Originally published February 22, 2011

Tim Kong, John Pearce, Britt Gow and Leigh Zeitz get together to chat about science education, but we soon get carried away talking about some of the bigger, broader issues of teaching in general. In the end, we cover a whole lot of different stuff.  This was another podcast organised over Twitter at short notice.

Originally published January 21, 2011

When it comes to blogging with students, Linda Yollis and Kathleen Morris know what they're talking about. In this episode they share some of their wisdom about getting very young students to blog effectively. Some great tips and advice on blogging.  Both Linda and Kathleen had their blogs nominated for the 2010 Edublog Awards, and Linda was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. If you're looking for great advice about student blogging, this is the place!

Originally published January 21, 2011

Melinda Alford is a teacher who cares about design. From the design of her classroom, to the design of her school, to the design of the work she expects from her students, design plays an important role in the things she does.  In this episode we talk to Melinda about her classroom, her school, her city and a bunch of other things.

Originally published December 10, 2010

In this episode I get to have a fun chat with three highly connected educators about the value that being connected brings to them. Chrissy Hellier is a New Zealander working in Bangkok; Amanda Marrinan teaches in Brisbane Australia; and Paul Wood works in Dallas, Texas.

Originally published December 4, 2010

Mark Osborne from Albany Senior High School in NZ joins us to talk about the way his school leverages the power of Open Source software, cloud computing and hosted servers. We are also joined by Australian teachers Roland Gesthuizen and Peter Ruwoldt.

Originally published August 20, 2010

After rustling these guys up on Twitter at short notice, Rob Newberry, David Wees, Linda Pilkington, Britt Gow and Suzie Vesper join us to talk about copyright, iPads and iPods, and pretty much anything else on their minds!

Originally published July 10, 2010

During the recent Australian ITSC Conferences run by Apple Australia, Chris Betcher gave the keynote address called This is Not Amazing.  This podcast is a recording of that keynote.

Originally recorded May 30, 2010

Be Very Afraid is the brainchild of Professor Stephen Heppell, a gathering that brings together students from all over the UK to showcase some incredible ICT related projects. In this episode we hear some Stephen's personal insights about BVA.

Originally published February 24, 2010

Pamela Livingston, Leslie Wison and Ben Jones know an awful lot about implementing successful 1-1 computing rollouts.  In this episode we dig into the core ideas behind a successful 1-1 implementation.

Originally published January 20, 2010

In this episode as we speak with Rob Newberry, James Hollis, Danny Nicholson, Martin Levins and Stuart Walsh, five experienced and opinionated IWB users and try to explore some of the bigger, deeper questions behind the use of IWB technology.

Originally published November 2, 2009

This episode is a roundup of thoughts, ideas and impressions from delegates at the recent IWBNet Leading a Digital School Conference on Australia's Gold Coast.

Originally published September 7, 2009

Bill Kerr and Peter Ruwoldt teach in South Australia and have been using Scratch extensively with their students for quite a while. Peter was very involved in Scratch Day, an annual event to promote Scratch, and he shares some of his insights about this.

Originally published July 15, 2009

Jarrod Robinson, Ben Jones and Shane Roberts are not ones for sticking with the status quo. Our conversation explores some very cool tools being used for integrating technology with PE, such as Bluetooth broadcasting, QR codes and the Wii Remote.

Originally published May 18, 2009

In a bit of a departure from the usual format for the show, in this episode we play a recording of a Skype call between our three Year 5 classrooms at PLC Sydney and Anthony Powell, a communications technician at McMurdo base in Antarctica.

Originally published October 31, 2008

In this episode we chat to two teachers with a great deal of experience with cellphones for education - Liz Kolb from Ann Arbor, USA and Toni Twiss from Hamilton, New Zealand.

Originally published September 28, 2008

This episode is a compilation of live interviews from the Second Leading a Digital School conference in Sydney, Australia.  This conference focuses on providing school leaders with the skills and mindsets needed to lead our schools into the 21st century.

Originally published September 15, 2008

Pia Waugh is the president of Linux Australia, so-owner of Waugh Partners, and a leader of the OLPC project in Australia. She is passionate and knowledgeable about the use of Open Source technologies in schools and business.

Originally published July 16, 2008

In this episode we are joined by three highly experiences Moodle users who share some insights with us. Talia Carbin, Darrel Branson and Julian Ridden each work intensively with Moodle in three different settings and in different ways.

Originally published June 3, 2008

Kim Cofino and Susan Sedro work to assist teachers to successfully integrate technology in authentic and meaningful ways. In this podcast we get to hear some of the wise advice that Kim and Susan have learned as they fulfill this demanding role.

Originally published January 21, 2008

Jane Nicholls, Chrissy Hellier, Allanah King and Simon Evans are leading educators from New Zealand who live and breathe collaborative technologies. In this episode they chat about topics as diverse as podcasting, Skype, Twitter and Second Life.

Originally published November 25, 2007

In this episode Chris Betcher gets interviewed by Texan librarian Carolyn Foote. They discuss a range of issues from dealing with the restrictions of policies and filters, the use of Skype for cross-cultural learning, and anything else that came to mind!

Originally published November 23, 2007

Anne Wade is research project manager at Montreal's Concordia University, and her focus is on a project known as ePearl, a web based tool that enables students to gather, present and reflect upon their work and leave a learning trail as they go.

Originally published November 4, 2007

Jess McCulloch is an extremely enthusiastic Chinese language teacher who is turning to technology to help engage and excite her students about the language. In this episode Jess talks about some of the cool tools she is using in her classroom.

Originally published October 16, 2007

The K12 Online Conference is an innovative approach to professional development for educators.  In this episode we talk with the conveners of the event and discuss the history and philosophy behind it.

Originally published October 12, 2007

This episode comes to you directly from the Fourth National Interactive Whiteboard Conference on the Gold Coast. We wander around the conference interviewing delegates, as well as bringing you part of videoconference session with Ben Hazzard.

Originally published September 4, 2007

As a leading teacher-librarian, Barbara Braxton knows about information literacy. In this episode, we talk with Barbara about the information process, developing "thick questions", and creating tasks that avoid the need to plagiarise.

Originally published August 28, 2007

Edublogs is a well-respected free educational blogging service started two years ago by James Farmer. In this episode we talk to James about the Edublogs service, where it grew from and where it's going, and some great ideas for classroom blogging.

Originally published August 1, 2007

Adrian Bruce is an innovative Australian teacher who freely gives away his work over the Internet. After nearly 10 years of giving his stuff away, his website gets over 2 million hits every month as it distributes his work to students all over the world.

Originally published July 2, 2007

In this episode we talk to Simon O'Carroll and Neil D'Aguair about the Flat Planet Project. These two teachers met via the blogosphere and came up with this effective project for their students that took them much further than they ever expected.

Originally published June 25, 2007

In this episode we talk with Rob Ruberry and Jason Hando, two Australian teachers that have a good deal of experience with such Open Source tools as Joomla, Mambo and Moodle. We discuss the pros and cons of Open Source software generally.

Originally published June 16, 2007

Our guests in this episode are Bruce Fuda and Mark Harriott from Stromlo High School in the ACT.  Their school is developing their own curriculum, has recently restructured itself as a Year 6-10 school, and has also been targeted as an IT-focused school.

Originally published February 19, 2007

In this episode we talk with Janet Barnstable from Oak Park, Illinois and Sharon Peters from Montreal, Quebec. Both Janet and Sharon are leading proponents of collaborative online learning projects.

Originally published December 30, 2006

Paul McMahon talks about the sorts of planning and background issues involved in transitioning a school from a traditional learning environment to one in which students are given laptops as learning tools.

Originally published December 27, 2006

Luc Zwartjes is a geography teacher from Belgium with a deep interest in the use of GIS/GPS. His work is a great example of a passionate teacher working with students on real-world problems using sophisticated technology to create engaging tasks.

Originally published December 7, 2006

In this episode we talk with Bryn Jones and Paul McMahon about a range of ideas and issues around the use of IWBs. We also touch on the value of an IWB enabled classroom as well as a number of new IWB technologies for the future.

Originally published November 26, 2006

In this episode we explore the use of Skype as a communication tool by hosting a group Skypecast with members of the Australian OzTeachers group. Skypecasts enable a large group of people to get together in a virtual chat space and talk in real time.

Originally published November 21, 2006

Interactive Whiteboards are becoming a central component of a 21st Century classroom.   Join John Pearce, Margo Metcalf and Mal Lee as they talk about the best ways to implement an IWB program.

Originally published October 23, 2006

What is Web 2.0 and why is it important?  This episode talks with Michael Cridland, a young Brisbane teacher who is looking at ways to incorporate podcasting and blogging into his classroom.

Originally published October 12, 2006

Our first episode features a conversation with Anne Baird from Wedderburn school in Victoria.  Anne talks about the role of ICTs in today's classrooms, the changing nature of learning and the importance of the teacher's role in learning.

Originally published October 2, 2006