Feb29th.net is a global blogging project that aims to cross all age groups and continents. As soon as Feb 29th 2012 begins in Tonga, the Feb29th.net will open up for posts for one day only. The blog will capture posts from all over our planet until midnight in the Western Pacific. The result will not only be a celebration of technology, but a celebration of audience and purpose… who will be the youngest author? Who will be the oldest? Which country will top the most posts? Will there be any marriage proposals?

The aim is to allow any visitor on 29th Feb to post on the special blog at www.feb29th.net; posts will be moderated on the day, as this will also be open to pupils in educational establishments across the globe. Get involved in this exciting blogging project by visiting the site and following things on Twitter and Facebook too.

Quadblogging is a great way of getting your children involved in writing and responding to writing by others around the world. If you haven’t heard of it before, read this description, taken from the Quadblogging blog:

‘Imagine four schools that had a partnership/agreement that would mean that for a four week cycle, each school’s blog would be the focus for one week out of four. Each school in the Quad would spend some time visiting the blog of the school for that week, leave comments etc. After that week, another one of the four schools would be the focus and this would be repeated for the four week cycle and then repeated. It wouldn’t take the pupils long to work out that during their week, they would get a boost in visitor numbers and comments. This would give a real focus to have posts online ready for this bulge in visits. During the other three weeks, pupils get to visit and comment on other blogs in their quad. Pupils being pupils, they would also venture out of the quads and visit other blogs that are linked.’

Here’s a video explanation, created by schools who have taken part in quadblogging in the past:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The next ’round’ of quadblogging starts in January 2012 and schools are being invited to sign up now. Complete the form on the site to get involved!

Here are five great new resources that I’ve found online this week:

1) Quadblogging  - David Mitchell has set up Quadblogging as a way of encouraging pupils to publish online and comment on each other’s work. Lots of schools have already signed up and you can too! It’s a great idea and you can find out more about it in the Youtube video here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2) Worldometers (shared by Dominic Tremblay) – This site shows lots of statistics about the world, which change in real-time. It’s fascinating (but slightly scary) to see some of the numbers rising so rapidly and it would be great for looking at data handling or geography / environmental work.

3) Plot Device – This video was featured on Tom Barrett’s blog. It’s a fantastic story, covering a range of genres, which could be used in a huge variety of ways in the classroom. Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

4) Animaps (shared by Malcolm Wilson) – This site lets you create animated maps for free. Could you use it to report on a school trip somewhere, to retell a historical event or to tell a story about a fantastic journey?

5) Comix – Danny Nicholson wrote a blog post about this great comic creation tool, which is aimed at younger children. The rest of the site has lots of other tools which could be used in the classroom too.

If you’ve found something useful recently, please consider sharing it in the comments. Thank you

BETT, the ‘world’s largest educational technology event’ took place last week and I was very lucky to be able to spend a few days there. Here are some of the things that I discovered:

• Anithings – A ‘creativity tool’ which lets children create animations by simply dragging objects around on screen. It costs £250 for a site licence, but there is a 10% discount during January.

• Interactive Resources – This company makes the (extremely useful) Maths Packs, Teaching materials and Primary Games which can be used on interactive whiteboard and / or individual computers. During BETT, I was given a quick tour of the new online version of their site, allowing teachers (and pupils) to access the resources online at home and school. Teachers can also filter all of the resources by subject / topic and allocate activities to students who can try them when they next log in.
• Story Stage – I watched a demo of this software from Scholastic and was really impressed at the ability to connect multiple mice to the same computer, allowing children to work collaboratively. Why doesn’t all software allow multiple users like Story Stage?

• Smart – It was nice to hear about the release of Smart Notebook 10.6 (available now) which brings compatibility with Windows 7 and Snow Leopard on the Mac. It also has a ‘transparent’ tool which makes the Smart Notebook interface disappear, as well as a number of new Maths tools.
• 2Simple – I managed to get a final copy of 2Create a SuperStory, as well as trials of 2Assess ICT and the Online Tools. I’m really impressed with the potential of the online tools, allowing children to use creative software at home and school and save their work to an online storage area. Anthony Evans showed me 2Design&Make (built into the online tools) to make some fantastic 3D models.

• Linkbun.ch – Allows you to share lots of links with one small link which can then be shared via email / Twitter etc. Thanks to @ianyorston for sharing this gem.
• Stupflix – This looks a little like Animoto (as both allow you to combine audio / photos / video) but Stupeflix seems to have more customisation options. Shared by @digitalmaverick.

• Dabbleboard – An online collaborative whiteboard. I’ve used Dabbleboard at home once or twice, but never in the classroom. @bevevans22 talked about this during a Teachmeet Takeover session and I can definitely see it being a valuable addition to a lesson.
• Scratch – Scratch is a programming language which I’ve always thought was a bit complicated. However, @mberry gave us all an entertaining 7 minute demonstration of the program and made it all look incredibly easy. Downloading and trying Scratch is now high up on my ‘to do’ list.

• Newseum - @digitalmaverick mentioned this during his Teachmeet Takeover session about Glogster. The Front pages section lets you view the front pages of a huge collection of newspapers from around the world.
• Class blogging - Oliver Quinlan gave a really inspiring presentation about his class blogs and how time is given for the children to respond to each others’ blog posts. We regularly post items on our school website / blog but children rarely have time to add their own thoughts… something that is sure to change now!

Did you go to BETT? What did you discover?

Following part 1 and part 2 of my ‘Favourite blogs for teachers’ posts, here is another collection of useful blogs to follow. Don’t forget to subscribe to their RSS feeds to get the latest updates.

• Technostories – This blog is a fantastic source of inspiration for using ICT in your classroom. Created by Bev Evans who also runs the wonderful Communication4All site.
• Inspiring Creative Technology – Simon Haughton shares his teaching experiences, including many brilliant ICT ideas.

• Digital-Teacher – Simon Widdowson posts regularly about lots of school-related issues. Some of these include his explorations of various online tools as his school attempts to set up their own virtual learning environment.
• Steps in Teaching and Learning – This blog, created by Kevin McLaughlin, is another valuable source of information for teachers, particularly those with an interest in ICT.
• Bits & Bobs – Nicola Stables is a regular blogger who shares her teaching ideas and experiences with this wonderful blog.

• I Learn Technology - Kelly Tenkely is a technology teacher who shares useful ideas and teaching links on this fantastic blog.
• Adventures in Learning – EBD35 only started blogging recently and has written some interesting posts already about the use of the Nintendo Wii to support learning in the classroom.

Many thanks to Steph Westwood (who has started her own blog recently) for suggesting some of these via Twitter.

Image – keyboard ~ blur