edna.edu.au

edna-for-schools is an edna newsletter published fortnightly during the Australian school year. The newsletter calendar is available at http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/schools_news/pid/210

Theme - Desertification
Diary dates
KLA focus - Career Education
Getting to know edna
Opportunities
Featured sites
News from our sponsors
Recently added resources
Just for fun

Newsletter theme: Desertification

Desert animals
http://url.edna.edu.au/7JDa

Desert habitat
http://url.edna.edu.au/VJyP

Desert plants
http://url.edna.edu.au/UDF6

Desert types
http://url.edna.edu.au/SaQg

Deserts of the world
http://url.edna.edu.au/3vGd

Desert images
http://url.edna.edu.au/g7td%20

Diary dates

Conferences and events in Australia

Growing up in Australia: Data Workshop, 8 July - VIC
http://url.edna.edu.au/ymts

Powerhouse Discover Centre: School holiday program, 8 July - NSW
http://url.edna.edu.au/3yHw

AAEGT 12th National Gifted and Talented Conference 2008, 9 July - TAS
http://url.edna.edu.au/tjCt

Early Years Conference 2008, 15 July - NSW
http://url.edna.edu.au/z9yG

View all conferences and events listed with edna:
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/events

Conferences and Events Overseas
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/events/pid/2015

Early Childhood Events
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/ece/ece_events/

Online Conferences and Events
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/events/pid/2016

KLA focus - Career education

edna has a large collection of evaluated resources related to careers. This theme page can be found at http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/school_theme_pages/pid/2710. Below is a sample of the information available.

Careers education
http://url.edna.edu.au/9s5q

Career opportunities
http://url.edna.edu.au/KNcH

Social, educational & employment skills
http://url.edna.edu.au/fYHu

Getting to know edna

edna workshops
edna's hands-on workshops provide training in the use of online services and collaborative tools. Each one day mini conference includes guest speakers, hands-on sessions and presentations about technologies transforming education. edna workshops also provide opportunities for networking with the edna team and other education professionals. In 2008, the theme for the edna workshops is edna and me. Six workshops have already been held with approximately 350 attendees.
Still to come:

• Hobart, Monday 21 July
• Sydney, Tuesday 29 July - FULL
• Darwin, Tuesday 5 August.

For more details see the edna workshops page: http://www.edna.edu.au/workshops

Internet use by Australian educators
http://www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/home/pid/64
edna and education.au have released findings of comprehensive market research into the use of technology by Australian educators across all sectors of learning. The majority of educators (79 per cent) said the internet had become an essential part of their work, 36 per cent regarded themselves as proficient and/or confident in their use of ICT .

The range of barriers cited are:

• poor infrastructure (41 per cent)
• content blocking (40 per cent)
• limited access (21 per cent)
• limited confidence or expertise (20 per cent)
• lack of relevant resources on the internet (12 per cent).

Opportunities

Gap Year - special session for students at the Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing, 19-20 July - VIC
http://www.mftw.com.au
This event will be of special interest to Careers Advisors and Year 11 and 12 teachers and coordinators. As a part of the inaugural Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing, the University of Melbourne is pleased to present a special session for students on how to make the most of their gap year. For more details on this public event, please see the website http://www.mftw.com.au or for information about group bookings for students available - please contact mailto:mftw@mftw.com.au

Minister challenges young Victorian consumers
http://url.edna.edu.au/jBsE
The Consumer Stuff Challenge Competition is an annual event run by Consumer Affairs Victoria to help young Victorians understand important consumer issues.

National food safety week 2008
http://www.foodsafety.asn.au
The theme for National Food Safety Week 2008 is Food Adventures - New Foods, New Techniques. The week will take place from 9 to 16 November. For those of you wishing to organise activities during this time, a variety of resources will be available. An order form is available by contacting Juliana Madden at the Food Safety Information Council via email: foodsafety@ozemail.com.au.

A walk of art...celebrating Victorian Women's Vote 1908 - 2008
http://url.edna.edu.au/x2hs
A walk of art will be celebrating the significant historical milestone for women gaining the right to vote 100 years ago.

HUSH for homelessness
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/event/hush
HUSH for Homelessness symbolises the 'voiceless' lives that many homeless people lead. To take part, all you need to do is register online and then ask your friends to sponsor you for your silence.

Annual Student Achievement Scholarship & Annual Professional Development Scholarship
http://www.schoolsocialclubs.com.au
This year School Social Clubs will award $4,000 in scholarships to teachers, education support staff and students to encourage them to attempt, excel and achieve in their ongoing education. Teachers, staff and students may request an application pack by calling 1300-792-457. Applications close 15 September 2008.

Featured sites

EnhanceTV Interactive Catalogue
http://www.enhancetv.com.au/catalogue/
EnhanceTV has produced an interactive catalogue designed to be installed on your PC or Macintosh computer. The catalogue allows you to quickly search and browse all the available resources without the need for an internet connection. Updates to the catalogue will be made available from their website each month.

ttn - Ten Network, Tuesdays 11.30am
http://ten.com.au/ten/tv_ttn.html
Chart-topping American band 'The Last Goodnight' dropped into Australia recently, to promote their new album. Jessica went along to one of their special acoustic shows, and discovered the band works hard for their success. A campaign of violence has marred Zimbabwe's election. The violence is being blamed on President Robert Mugabe who has forced his main rival to withdraw from the election after scores of opposition supporters were injured or killed. The program looks at why Robert Mugabe is clinging to power and what his brutal rule has done to the country.

Learning Place - Visual Arts Online Project
The Visual Arts Co-ordinator at Cleveland District State High School has created an online project within the 'Learning Place - Blackboard community'. The aim of this project is for art teachers to share lesson ideas, resources and to communicate about art teaching issues with other art teachers within Queensland. To gain access EQ staff simply need a learning place username and password which can be obtained by contacting the Learning Place - mailto:learningplace@deta.qld.gov.au%20

OzProject - Languages Matter
http://www.ozprojects.edu.au
A new global project has become available on the OzProjects website for students from lower primary to upper secondary years. The Languages Matter project includes links to online resources for a number of languages taught in Australian schools. It also aims to facilitate student understanding of the role of languages in global citizenship. As part of the project students can create and share a Wordle in a language other than English. Students can also learn how people speak in different parts of the world using the World Languages Map. Two forums are also available for students to introduce themselves and talk about their experiences living in or visiting other countries. Please remember that you must be enrolled and logged in to the project to participate fully. For further information and assistance please contact Cecily Wright via email cwright@educationau.edu.au.

News from our sponsors

Film Australia
http://www.filmaust.com.au/
Film Australia publishes a newsletter called Real2Reel and issues media releases regularly. http://www.filmaust.com.au/news/default.asp?content=newsletters and http://www.filmaust.com.au/news/default.asp?content=media_releases
Regular email updates with details of new programs, screenings and other activities are sent to Film Australia Online Members. http://www.filmaust.com.au/membership/default.asp

Natural Resources Conservation League of Victoria
http://www.nrcl.org.au
NRCL excursions promote the importance of sustainable utilisation of natural resources, and provide hands-on encounters with plants, soil, water, and wildlife. All programs are linked to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) and can be varied to meet individual learning requirements. The NRCL website also has activities to support integrated research that can be conducted back in the classroom.

ACEC '08 early bird discounted registration extended
http://www.acec2008.info
The early bird discounted registration for the bi-annual Australian Computers in Education Conference has been extended until 25 July 08.

Recently added resources

Additions to School Education
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/go/schooled/pid/17
This feature at edna allows visitors to check what has been added to the edna repository recently. The link above relates to additions to the school education part of the repository. For additions to the whole repository use http://url.edna.edu.au/wfsU

Australian sites

Literacy Solutions
http://www.literacysolutions.com.au/
Literacy Solutions is an experienced team of literacy consultants who help educators understand how to make their teaching more effective. A range of services are offered which support students, teachers, teacher aides and parents. Literacy Solutions specializes in supporting schools to deliver quality instruction and improve students outcomes, and offer strategies to accelerate at risk students.

Tales of the Todd
http://www.cazr.csiro.au/scienceweek2003/index.htm
Tales of the Todd is an educational resource provided by CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Centre for Arid Zone Research, Alice Springs. The set of activities found on this website is aimed at high school students and gives a daily curriculum over a 2 week period. It provides an introduction to freshwater supplies around the world, and a basic understanding of the function of freshwater systems in central Australia.

International sites

Syria: Refugee Lives - Iraqi Children Speak
http://www.teachers.tv/video/27148
A video from the UK Teacher TV where two children give a personal insight into the lives of children who were forced to leave Iraq and move to Syria in order to flee the continued violence in Iraq.

Just for fun

Wordle
http://wordle.net/
Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. A great brainstorming tool.

The edna for schools newsletter does not seek to be comprehensive or authoritative and views expressed here are not necessarily the views of edna's stakeholders.

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