Resource Guidance
Middle Years History & Social Sciences
ResourceLink is committed to providing support to all BCE teachers who are keen to embed digital technologies into their classrooms. Here are some simple and practical ideas to kickstart you in 2016....
All roads lead (back) to the catalogue
Firstly, don't forget our catalogue, full of resources from traditional print materials, through multimedia, to websites. Log on required
# 1 kickstarter: Exploring content
National Museum of Australia
The 'Engage & Learn' section is extensive and clearly set out
Scootle
BCE provides access to Scootle's resources which support the Australian Curriculum
ABC Splash
Bright, appealing easy-to-use interface, ABC Splash offers a multitude of resources
# 2 kickstarter: Digging deeper for interactivity
A little gamification
There are a lot of highly interactive activities here ranging over a number of topics & year levels.
Lots here for History topics in the middle years.
Collaborate online LIVE!
An easy-to-use online collaborative site like Padlet can offer a fun activity in the classroom. This is an example of what it looks like.
Allows for export to excel for further collaboration and analysis of post discussions.
Storyboard
History is really just story. Students can be inventive, creative and learn about bias and truth, using a platform like Storyboard.
Multimedia platform, available through iOS and Windows devices.
# 3 kickstarter: Online delivery & collaboration
Use your LMS!
The best place to start is with your own school's Learning Management System. It's safe, secure and familiar to students. Often its features, such as blog spaces, forum boards, & wikis are over-looked and under-utilised.
Something like Facebook, maybe?
If you have older students, Edmodo is an excellent option for collaboration, interaction and discussion. Here is the website, but because it's private, you need to create your own log on to see its features.
Curating made easy
While Pinterest is the most popular visually appealing curation site, it is now a requirement that all users log into the site to access content. So Pearltrees is another option that might suit better. The links to each site are curation examples produced by the ResourceLink team.
#4 kickstarter: Share & network
Connect with your peers...
Clearly, there would be limits to your image posts, but with careful framing, you could share your classroom successes with your colleagues. It's the biggest growing social media site, so it might be worth investigating.
...& cross-post
It's even more effective when social networks are linked, so your audience reach is bigger, and your work is reduced.
...using Hashtags
A clever #hashtag can serve in a number of ways, e.g. increase reach and connections, and add value to your posts. They are also good fun! Remember, ResourceLink staff are keen to support your efforts. #letuslibrarianthatforyou
Produced by the ResourceLink Team
All images are used to promote resources for non-commercial, education promotion only.
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