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Author Archives: Kerrie Smith

I have worked at education.au since winning the position of EdNA Online’s Schools Information Officer in November 2000.
In 2006 I became the Communications Officer managing edna’s Collaborative Tools.
From the beginning of 2007 to mid 2008 I was Assistant Manager, edna, Professional Learning and Online Communities. In that position I wrote the Networker (an edna newsletter), and managed various places on edna Groups, edna Lists, and edna Sandpit Groups.

In mid 2008 I became the Education.au Limited Executive Officer with direct responsibility to the CEO.
I am passionate about online communities and their ability to connect people and assist them in their professional development or simply as a complement to their day to day life.

Other places you can find me: http://me.edu.au/p/ksmith and Smik’s Learning Space (often neglected)

I am one of those lucky people whose work and hobbies mesh, and boundaries between them are blurred. In the course of my work I spend a lot of time each year travelling (which I love), giving presentations and leading hands-on workshops on a variety of topics such as making online communities work, getting the most out of RSS and so on.
I have occupied various positions in CEGSA, Computers In Education Group of SA, and won a number of awards both state and national for my work with teachers in ICT.

In my ’spare’ time I review crime and mystery novels for Random House Australia and run an online murder mystery discussion group called oz_mystery_readers. My reviews are published at http://www.reviewers-choice.com/kerrie_smith.htm

Track this side of me at CrimeSpace, Mysteries in Paradise, and LibraryThing

FusED wins IMS GLC Learning Impact Awards

March 18, 2010 – 10:52 am

Education Services Australia Limited was the recipient of two awards at the recent !DEA 2010 Conference, held in Melbourne 10-12 March.
Education Services Australia’s product, FusED, a social networking software, was 1st runner up and also the winner of the People’s Choice Award which was voted by the conference delegates. FusED is the software […]

Posted in Educationau | Comments (0)

Get ImmersED in virtual worlds

March 17, 2010 – 10:49 am

Want to understand virtual worlds and their use for educators from a first person perspective? ImmersED is waiting for you. ImmersED Estate is a virtual island developed by Education Services Australia using the free, open-source, Open Simulator platform and currently hosts the estate on ReactionGrid.
ImmersED offers free access to educational activities designed to take […]

Posted in Educationau, virtual environments | Comments (0)

Snapshot of School Education in Australia

March 16, 2010 – 12:27 pm

The number of schools in Australia has declined over the last 10 years, with a decrease in the number of government schools, and an increase in Catholic and independent. Statistically the decline is quite small really - only 0.6%.
On the other hand schools have actually become larger, which synchronises with what we know anecdotally, that […]

Posted in Educationau, Australian education | Comments (0)

At CoSN Day 2

March 3, 2010 – 3:02 am

Today’s conference began again bright and early at 8 am and already I’ve been to 2 sessions and the trade show, and now I’m waiting for the 3rd session.
The first presentation on Interactive Technologies was actually about how one school system installed 1200 Promethean interactive whiteboards, one in every classroom, over the summer holidays […]

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At CoSN for Day 1

March 2, 2010 – 5:36 am

This morning I listened to really a inspiring Keynote by Larry Keeley called Finding the Future First. The conference theme is innovation, ingenuity, and insight. Larry took us through the basics of innovation and some thinking about what we need to get innovation in education, which is typically sluggish to adopt and adapt.
Among the points […]

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Harnessing Web 2.0 - CoSN 2010 -International Symposium

March 1, 2010 – 9:51 am

Such a lot to write about from today’s symposium here in Washington D.C.
The theme was Harnessing Web 2.0 for Global Understanding in Education.
This morning’s opening address was given by Francesc Pedro from the OECD.
His topic was Rethinking Schooling in a Globally Connected World: What it Means for Our Economy and Our Future.
According to Francesc […]

Posted in Educationau, web 2.0, CoSN, Education Services Australia | Comments (0)

End of an era

February 26, 2010 – 9:05 am

Today Education.au merges with the Curriculum Corporation and on Monday March 1 a new company Education Services Australia is born.

The Chair of the new company is Dr. Tom Stubbs (the former chair of Education.au) and the new CEO is Susan Mann, the current CEO of Curriculum Corporation.
Today Education.au is “celebrating” its demise, and farewelling its […]

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21st Century Learning Spaces - Networking Event

February 24, 2010 – 12:41 pm

To find out what 21st century learning spaces will mean for educators, make sure you don’t miss Education.au’s upcoming networking event in Melbourne.
A new environment of schooling has been emerging over the last decade of the 20th century and it has been accelerating in the 21st century, stimulated by a new economy, new technologies […]

Posted in Educationau, 21C Learning | Comments (0)

Special Guest in Middle Years Bookclub

February 23, 2010 – 4:38 pm

Middle Years Book Club (MYBC) allows students 10-14 years to share their love of reading. Students are invited to share what they are reading, post book reviews and participate in discussions and celebrations.
From 22 February -5 March George Ivanoff is answering questions in a MYBC forum. He has already made his first forum posting and […]

Posted in Educationau, OzProjects, online projects | Comments (1)

No school is an island

February 18, 2010 – 9:02 am

A chance remark in a phone conversation the other day has had me thinking about this concept.
You are probably familiar with this quotation from John Donne
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main …
Teachers would be the first to acknowledge […]

Posted in Educationau, Australian education | Comments (6)