In the week that I was away the class looked at Gaming and Licencing. The first website that I had a look at was Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org.au/). It is an international, non-profit organisation that provides free licences and toolds that copyright owners can use to allow others to share, reuse and remix their material legally. At first glance I thought it was merely a site that permitted users to search for licences that can be shared, which in itself is great tool for students to use. It is very easy to navigate through and is linked to commonly used search engines. However I think a more powerful application of this is the information it gives educators and in turn students on the legalities of licences. The site states that it reinforces how licences can be used from what people can do with them, as opposed to what people can't do with them. Personally, I think this is a very smart approach to take with students as by using positive messages encourages compliance by students. Just think back to telling students "Don't run" and most students end up running, however by telling them "Please walk", there is no negative tone and compliance with the instruction is often higher. Further more there are great resources for educators in the form of fact sheets.
The other site that I had a browse over was QUIA (http://www.quia.com/). To make use of this site, one has to register, though there is a 30 day free trial available. In the activities section, you can create your own activity or search through other people's activities. I made up my own word jumble on Australian Government. It was incrediably easy to use and there is such an array of activities at your fingertips. It would also be great for students to use during or after a unit of work. It would be a great activity for them to test each others knowledge. You could quite easy have each student work on a different type of activity for variety.
