Martin Pluss

Sep 14 2009

13 Years of Web Use

My Facebook Status ATM:

Been reflecting on my time on the web since 1996. Don’t know what I used to do with my evenings prior to this – well there was a fair bit of TV and a few other things. I am finding that I am not doing too much in depth reading, research and writing. Maybe this is something I need to monitor before some long term rot sets in.

cheers Martin

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Sep 09 2009

eBooks and eReaders

Published by Martin Pluss under Web 2.0

Hi all,

I have been keeping and eye on the implications of this Boston article for a number of years when Sony Reader and Kindle started up.

I think Macquarie University has taken a step by step approach. The new library at that is being built has no books ( well very few) on shelves for the students. They are brought up from the depths on a conveyor belt upon request.

Here is a little little collection of links I have on eBooks and eReaders that I just grabbed from my Delicious:

ASUS enters market

Dual Screen reader

Amazon’s Kindle being Challenged

2010 Year of eBook Reader

Kindle not ready for Australia

A Forum on Kindle in Australia -

In sum - Australia has a few online transfer issues before eBooks can become more mainstream in our libraries. I can envisage in a few years students reading articles and newspapers this way in the Libraries.

cheers Martin

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Aug 06 2009

me.edu.au

Published by Martin Pluss under Web 2.0

Hi all,

Just came across myself in this.

Featuring me.edu.au users Simon Brown, Jess McCulloch and Martin Pluss – this video provides an overview of the free me.edu.au professional networking site for Australian educators managed by Education.au on behalf of DEEWR.

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Jul 31 2009

Working with Google Sites for 180 students

Published by Martin Pluss under Web 2.0

Hi all,

We have been working with the Google Sites for a project and thought I would record my experience here for my records and those who might be interested.

We have an Assessment Task for 180 students where they are required to create a webpage. My initial thoughts were to get into the cloud so the students can work at home and at school on the activity. Lets say the subject is Geography and the school’s initials are MP.

I am aware I can get the Google apps for the school domain name and I started that process but won’t get in ready in time for the task . So I have pressed on with this evolving solution to get things up and running. This appoach can work for those who don’t has the capacity to set up Google Apps for their school.

The breakdown is like this. For example

So I opted for and managed to get these names:

mp_8a.geography
mp_8b.geography
mp_8c.geography1
mp_8d.geography
mp_8e.geography1
mp_8f.geography

Note for the C and E class I had to get a digit to get the name and be close to the others for consistency and ease for the students.

My next obstacle came when I realised I could not create 25 sites for each account name so I had to create six accounts for each class allowing five sites for each account. So I ended up with this combination of 36 six accounts with six for each class with five students in each:

mp_8a.geography…. mp_8a1.geography…. mp_8a2.geography…. mp_8a3.geography….etc
mp_8b.geography….

I have made each account private and each teacher can use the student logon. I have also created a separate teacher account and might add them to each site as a collaborator and they can graze each account and site more easily.

The next step is to get the spreadsheet organised with the account names and allocating the students five at a time to each account.

A work in progress which I am enjoying and learning a lot about Google.

Cheers Martin

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Jun 10 2009