Conference workshop blog

A couple of things that I was asked about during the workshop that might be of general interest:

What is a quick, easy way to locate TLF learning objects in the Resource Centre?

I find that a good way into the learning objects is to use the information on the TLF website to explore what is available in a learning area, then use the title of the learning object to access it through the Resource Centre for detailed exploration. 

For example the Science page shows a list of the Science strands (e.g. Earth and beyond) in the middle of the page (links to other learning areas such as Math/numeracy are in the left margin) and clicking on one of those link takes you to a page displaying the title and target audience for each learning object (or series) in that strand.

A click on the link for any that look interesting gives more detail. Then I can use the title of the learning object/s to quickly locate the one/s I want to explore in more detail in the Resource Centre.

Often learning objects are useful in a range of different contexts and there are so many available, that I personally find the extra information gained in this way before searching is really valuable, and more effective than an immediate key word search in the Resource Centre.

How do students in government schools access the learning objects from home?

Students can access the learning objects (and a wealth of other materials!) through the Student Freeway; further information about accessing it from home is available on the Department web site. 
(hint: dont’ forget to put “schools\” in front of the student’s username).

If you have other questions, feel free to add them as comments!

During this workshop we explored some exemplary samples of learning activities and unit plans that use The Learning Federation (TLF) materials to effectively support student learning, with particular emphasis on global warming and climate change. 

We first considered how librarians might work with teachers to identify the concepts, processes and ideas that they want their students to understand, and then to locate and make available a range of digital materials (including learning objects) that support those needs. We used a unit called What’s climate change got to do with me? as an example with which to work on identifying TLF and other online digital resources that could be used to support the unit.

We used some guidelines for using learning objects  and key questions for planning to use a learning object  that can be used to guide teachers’ planning when they are using TLF learning objects in particular, so that a range of student learning needs are addressed and each student gains maximum benefit from using them. 

This led us to look at some exemplary examples of units of work, (see links in sidebar on right) where teachers have embedded relevant TLF learning objects and other digital resources to effectively support their students’ learning. 

All resources  and links used during the workshop are located here on the blog for you to download, use and share. 

If you have feedback, questions and ideas that weren’t discussed during the workshop, please add a comment here to share those with us, so that the ‘conversation’ can continue beyond the brief hour that we had together