Thursday, December 3, 2015

OOh's for Queensland Mick


Image above: NSW Globe, just one of the great sites used by Mick Law in his AGTA Roadshow presentation.

Related links to Spatialworlds
GeogSplace (a teaching blog for Year 12 geography)
Geogaction (geography professional learning blog)
Spatialworlds website
GeogSpace

Australian Geography Teachers' Association website
manning@chariot.net.au


Ooh's and Wow's at AGTA Roadshows

Last week I had the pleasure to participate in the AGTA Roadshows in Canberra, Newcastle and Sydney. The roadshow programme was not only a great way to make contact with hundreds of teachers in NSW and ACT to talk geography but also to work with some real stars in geographical education. Grant Kleeman, John Butler, Susan Caldis and Mick Law took part in the roadshow with me and certainly enthused those who attended. I must say, the one who got the most ooh's and wow's is Mick Law from Contour Education when he shared his amazing knowledge and experience in using spatial technology in the classroom. The next few Spatialworlds blog postings will share a few of the resources Mick presented.

QSET

This posting  showcases Mick's new Queensland Spatial Educators’ Toolkit (QSET), a one-stop shop of achievable, engaging and curriculum related sites for teachers to use. The toolkit is an excellent spatial technology resource for the Australian Curriculum: Geography




The Queensland Spatial Educators’ Toolkit (QSET) is now available to download as an interactive pdf for Primary (P-6) and Lower secondary (7-10) educators. The toolkit provides educators with over 130 ideas for incorporating free spatial technologies into their classroom teaching and learning. QSET is designed to make it as easy as possible for teachers to incorporate spatial technologies into their classroom teaching and learning.

The resource does refer to some Queensland-specific tools but most of the over 130 freely available 'learning experiences' (Queensland education jargon) tools that can be used at all year levels by any teacher in the country. Each year level of the Australian Curriculum: Geography is addressed from F-10.


For further information regarding QSET please contact Mick Law from the Queensland Spatial Information Council on  07 3406 2807 or via email spatialeducation@qld.gov.au

This is really a great resource for teachers, and although a little Queensland focussed in parts, it really is the best thing produced in Australia for ages as an entry level and curriculum connected resource for teachers to use spatial technology in the classroom. Congratulations to Mick, he is indeed the man in Oz for spatial technology in the classroom. Keep the ooh's and wow's going Mick - in 2015 it is not easy to get those reactions when presenting as technology (including spatial technology) has become such a common part of our everyday life. Back in 2005, or even 2010 you could get an ooh's for some pretty basic spatial technology but not now!!

It is certainly worth visiting Mick's other Contour Education blog resources at:
http://preservicespatialtech.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.contoureducation.com/links
http://www.contoureducation.com/resources

Mick is available to work in schools and with partnerships/clusters of schools  and certainly does some great work supporting teachers to master the spatial technology learning curve.

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