Services from Tom March
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G'day & welcome to
ozline.com / TomMarch.com
a significant parallel?
Before Ernest Hemingway became famous, he lived and wrote in Paris. When his first wife, Hadley, came from Chicago to be with him, along with all her belongings was a trunk of Hemingway's earliest writings. The trunk was somehow lost in transit. Critics often called this loss a stroke of luck because it forced Hemingway to begin again, to create his mature style in the vibrant atmosphere of Paris in the Twenties.
Tom March moved to Australia in 1998 and began a new career with ozline. He thinks he lost a Zip disk somewhere along the way. Maybe he will be a better content developer because of it. Isn't it pretty to think so?
introductions
Ozline.com is the parent company of the online endeavors of Tom March and his colleagues. If you don't know Tom, you can read about him.
Coming from an instructional design and education perspective, Tom March and ozline.com specialize in contributing "Bright Ideas for Education." To see how we've gone about this since 1998, read the ozline story.
How to Make the Most of What We Do
Read
- The New WWW: Whatever, Whenever, Wherever
- Educational Leadership Vol 63, No 4
A new world of personalized, device-delivered digital content and functionality hovers just over the broadband horizon. The New WWW offering us whatever we want, whenever and wherever we want it may seem like just an extension of our already-technology-enhanced contemporary life. In some ways, it is. But such a wireless stream of media gratification is actually a radical departure from typical human experience. And as tantalizing as this ready access to our hearts' desires may be, it creates great challenges for our children. To counteract the New WWW's potentially harmful impact on youth, educators must use technology to create learning experiences that are real, rich, and relevant.
- Browse all Tom's writings
Use
- Web-and-Flow
After the success of Filamentality, Tom moved to Australia and started ozline.com. One of the first products was a sort of "second generation Fil." Web-and-Flow is an interactive web site that guides educators through designing and developing Web-based activities. This is where you can make Hotlists, Knowledge Hunts, Subject Samplers and WebQuests (among others). Get rapidly and effectively Working the Web for education.
- ClassAct Portals
Looking for a powerful way to support deep learning, passion, and reality while in the context of the time constraints of daily classroom life, Tom came up with the ClassAct Portal. Here teachers choose (probably based on student interest) a topic to explore over the course of the year and from year-to-year. Students contribute to and develop the site over time and then pass it on to the next year's group of students. Classroom learning turns to the Portal when time allows, otherwise it ticks along as a service to the Web. Get a detailed tutorial on setting up your ClassAct Portal.
Learn
- In-Person Workshops and Keynotes
Tom March regularly keynotes at educational conferences and conducts in-person workshops in districts, diocese, regions and schools. Feedback is positive and usually focuses on the strong pedagogical foundation and the friendly and effective strategies Tom has developed over the years.
- Ongoing Consultation
In 2006 Tom March began ongoing professional development and consulting with a small number of schools in Australia. He spends 15 - 20 days over the course of the school year facilitating curriculum design, leading professional development sessions, team-teaching, and conducting research evaluations. Contact Tom if you are interested in this service (Australia only)
- The Cutting Edge-ucator - Online Courses
Custom designed online courses are offered on an as-needed basis. Sometimes these are 4-8 week introductions or advanced WebQuest classes, but they can also be several session follow-ups to in-person workshops or value-added support for others' in-person workshops. Visit the Cutting Edge-catorto learn more.
- Hire Tom March as a consultant
Tom March has enjoyed a diverse professional experience as classroom teacher, software developer, instructional designer, Web developer, author and keynote speaker. As this stage of his career he continues to look for interesting challenges in ongoing efforts that take advantage of his skill set. Contact Tom is you have an interesting proposal.
Participate
- BestWebQuests
This is the only directory of WebQuests personally reviewed by one of the developers of the model. As most Web-using educators know, a lot of what gets called WebQuests aren't really that. A large majority of so-called WebQuests fall short of the critical phase where students contruct new meaning / tranform information into understanding. You won't find thousands of WebQuests at BestWebQuests, but what you do see can serve as good models and inspiration. Also, please submit great WebQuests for consideration.
- aNew3Rs
Students can "Learn to Look" by viewing compelling Web sites together as a class through a data projector. Teachers model analytical skills through shared observations and open discussions or prompted questioning strategies. Where do we find these Real, Rich and Relevant Web sites? We help each other! aNew3Rs.com is a directory of such sites. See what's there and submit your own favorite sites.
- ClassAct Portal
One of the best strategies to promote deep learning, develop a sense of shared service and excite the joy of learning is for teachers and students to work together to create a ClassAct Portal. You might wonder Why ClassAct Portals?. Fair enough. But once you are convinced, get started and join the directory of other classes doing great, passionate work!
- 2nd10
The 2nd 10 is the best comprehensive integration of the strategies Tom's been working on since 1995. Each year has seemed to contribute a new and previously missing piece. WebQuests were a great start in 1995, but a lot has happened since then. Learn about the 2nd 10 Steps to motivated, self-initiated learners and then join the 2nd 10 Blog to stay informed and share successes.
- aChancetoHelp.org
While working with one of his Web design clients in South Africa, Tom March was able to set up a relationship with the Cape Town Refugee Centre. aChancetoHelp.org is the Web interface where students in the developed world can support and befriend students who have escaped war and violence and endeavor to build a new life in South Africa. Classrooms of students can build their own blog-based relationship with refugee students.
Lastly, we invite you to explore tommarch.com. We've tried to put something valuable, humorous or insightful on each page. Let us know how we've done.