Being part of something BIG – The Scootle Community

A few months ago, I was selected as an Australian Teacher Champion for the new Scootle Community, run by Education Services Australia.

And as the community goes live this week, I can’t help but feel that I’m part of something BIG …

Introducing … the Community

The Scootle Community is a social network designed exclusively for Australian teachers, helping teachers connect, learn, share, and collaborate with their peers around Australia, and access high quality teaching resources.

I see the Community as a bridge between traditional professional development and social media, making it ideal for teachers who are unfamiliar with social networking to explore, learn, and develop their skills in a supportive learning environment. It’s worth exploring, and sharing with your colleagues …

So what’s it all about?

As members of the Scootle Community social network, educators can:

  • Set up a profile as they would on a social network and join discussion groups, read and write blogs, ask questions and share expertise.
  • Connect with teachers from all over the country, bringing together rich experiences from diverse communities.
  • Find classroom resources from the Scootle website, relevant sections of the Australian Curriculum, and teacher conversations on a topic of interest with a single search.
  • Create a teacher network on the topic of their choice. Users can choose to create a private, invitation-only network, or one that is open to all interested educators on the site.
  • Join teacher networks, enter discussions, create wikis and blog on the things they wonder about or want to share.
  • Interact through live chats and blogs with special guest bloggers on subjects of interest.

How can you get involved?

If you already use the scootle.edu.au resources website, you can use your Scootle login to access the site at community.scootle.edu.au. You can access, the site on your tablet, desktop, or laptop computer, and there are iOS and Android apps in the works.

The Scootle Community is currently available for Government and private school teachers (and pre-service educators) around Australia.

There is, sadly, a catch – NSW and QLD public school teachers can’t YET access Scootle or the Scootle Community. There are discussions going on behind the scenes, but it could be a few months before they can join 🙁

Spreading the Word

Please help spread the word about the #scootlecommunity with your colleagues and PLN. You can download the Scootle Community Posters, and tweet about the network using the #scootlecommunity hashtag.

As Scootle Community Teacher Champions, we are looking forward to working with you as we develop and grow the Scootle Community into a valuable, in-time professional learning and networking resource for Australian teachers.

We hope you will join us.

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