Mark Christie

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Humpty Doo!

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As a young boy my Mother worked in the Paspalis drive-in located in Nightcliff, where the current day Nightcliff Woolworths shopping centre exists. We saw films there until after I had completed high school.

The advent of video tapes and the cost of land began to put an end to drive in theatres. In the current Netflix generation, the notion of video tape contributing to the demise of drive ins may seem far-fetched but it was true.

Cinemas faired better, although the theatre where I watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as a young boy was not the victim of technological advancement, but rather the fury of Cyclone Tracy which destroyed most of Darwin in the wee hours of Christmas Day 1974.

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Education Services Australia (ESA) Cool sites for students and teachers

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ESA build and maintain some great websites. Scootle is probably the best known, but here are some links to other great sites they curate… The Digital Technologies Hub and Student Wellbeing Hub are additions to the stable of websites including the myfuture, Scootle, and SCIS websites which have continued to provide and improve their services. … Read more

Before steam there was…email?

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I visited two great schools last week in our rural area – Howard Springs and Girraween Primary school. My purpose for the visits was simply Service Improvement. Those who are the recipients or deliverers of service know that there is nothing simple about good service.

It’s like trying to grow coriander in the Top End (Northern Territory of Australia) – it’s very difficult due to our humidity, soil and pests – and at the end you get a small handful of leaves you chop up and put on a bowl of noodles… oddly, coriander is a vegetable/herb which garners as many love/hate comments as State of Origin allegiances which is probably appropriate for what I want to share next…

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Home Automation – first step – Go to Bunnings

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With all the hype around home automation, flying cars and robots greeting you in restaurants, I thought I would resist the urge, but then one day I went to Bunnings, that ultimate man-cave where many a dad and husband can be seen wandering the aisles (pc link here). I strayed into the lighting aisle after snapping up a bargain on a desk lamp (with LED globe) for 4 dollars and I thought about a problem I have in Darwin with a dark area between my garage and my back sliding door.

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Upgrading my TAE qualification

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First mistake… Don’t use unexplained acronyms! But I admit I did it on purpose as will be explained. Although search engines help and actually guide people to pages like this… but only if they are familiar with the subject. In the world of teaching and training, there are requirements to hold qualifications and certification. For example when I worked in Singapore as a Senior Lecturer at a polytechnic back in the early 90s, I provided my qualifications and certificates, which didn’t include the need to supply a working with children “certificate”. Working in an education department since 2009 and after the introduction of the “ochre card” for that territory, I duly submitted my application and received my clearance… a step I am now repeating in Victoria so I can work voluntarily with young adults. This is a good thing and although having one of these clearances doesn’t preclude potential abuse, it does place it on the list of things that must be considered – by employers and employees… along with things like providing a safe workplace, guarding against bullying, being inclusive and many other things that may have been practised here in Australia and indeed in Singapore in the 90s, but now have a formalised process and accountability attached to them.

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Spark Tools by Adobe now more Education Friendly!

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Adobe Spark is a set of tools every teacher and student should be aware of. They are free and fun to use. Now they are even easier to use in a school environment because Adobe has integrated them into the administration dashboard (which is something that your IT Services department Adobe expert would know about). … Read more

PowerPoint as an image editor

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Although Photoshop and illustrator are typically the graphics tool of choice, never underestimate the power of PowerPoint. Many schools in Australia have signed up to use the Adobe Creative Cloud, but for those who haven’t there is a very strong chance that your school computers have PowerPoint on them and with the following tips provided … Read more

Adobe Max – View all the workshops, keynotes and more online!

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I would have loved to go to San Diego and be among the 10,000 creative people at the Adobe Max conference. What is sensational is that I could watch the keynote live (okay it was 3am in the morning for me) but laying in bed watching the keynote live and laughing through Jason Levine’s presentation, followed by Bart Simpson was a reasonable second.

Watching these sessions makes me a more knowledgeable person in regards to saying to people I meet in schools… “Do you know you can do this with…?” in respect to the products. I am by no means an expert, but when I see something that I think students will go “Wow” I try to remember and share it.

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