Group items tagged

Some nice advice on using the many features of Google Drive with your students.

Google Sites is a free and easy way to create and share webpages. Looks easy to use (wiki-type) and has privacy controls.

A very short blog entry and video tutorial. Links include one to how to set Google Forms to close at a certain time, so you could make a timed test.

"In the original 2004 article I stated: "The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application" (Conclusion section, � 1). I find Verhagen�s (2006) critique falls at precisely this point. The core of what I wrote in the initial article is still valid: that learning is a network phenomenon, influenced (aided) by socialization and technology. Two years is a lifetime in the educational technology space. Two years ago, web 2.0 was just at the beginning of the hype cycle. Blogs, wikis, and RSS�now prominent terms at most educational conferences�were still the sandbox of learning technology geeks. Podcasting was not yet prominent. YouTube didn't exist. Google had not released its suite of web-based tools. Google Earth was not yet on the desktops of children and executives alike�each thrilled to view their house, school, or business in satellite images. Learning Management Systems still held the starting point of most elearning initiatives. Moodle was not yet prominent, and the term PLEs (personal learning environments) did not exist. In two years, our small space of educational technology evolved�perhaps exploded is a more accurate term."

Great source of copyright-free images to use in class projects. Organized by decade from 1860s-1970s when LIFE magazine was published.

This is a great digital images project using photos of graffiti on Flickr, and a spreadsheet of questions on Google Forms. Students sign in to select images that will support the ideas they write about. Thanks to Webhead Sasa! Also included are links to posts that Sasa's students made and responses from Rita Z's student sin Argentina. Nice example of collaborative Web 2.0. (Caution, some graffiti have adult language and themes!)

A video how-to. Image-based quizzes are good for more advanced students as well as beginners.

"Description: Stay organised as a staff or as a class with media rich collaborative virtual sticky notes. Add text images, files, links, Google Documents and more. You can add due dates and see changes being made by others in real-time. Be organised on the go with the Android and iOS apps." A number of teachers swear by this app.

Easily create images, write on maps, place markers, draw shapes, share,and export to Google Earth. A great way to give student presentations some real backgrounds.

R. Byrne shows us a neat way to use a set of pictures/digital images arranged with the tool PicMonkey to create a collage which you can then upload to Google Drive, Instagram, Facebook, Dropbox, etc., and use with student projects and activities. A nice look.

R. Byrne: "Scribble Maps provides a variety of base layer maps on which you can draw freehand, add placemarks, add image overlays, and type across the map. Compared to creating a custom map on Google Maps, Scribble Maps is much easier for students to learn how to use. Scribble Maps also provides far more default placemark icons than Google's My Maps tool. Scribble Maps will work in the web browser on your laptop, Chromebook, iPad, or Android tablet."

A list by Gary Toews on useful education apps recommended by the U.S. STaRT Education Dept. K-9 + Teacher. Includes the usual, such as Google Earth, Calculator, etc., but also some imaginative ones, such as the National Film Board and Image Searcher.

"Knowmia Teach http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teach/id527216211?mt=8 Free; Designed specifically for teachers; Integrates directly into Knowmia.com (publish a lesson with the push of a single button); Organize lessons with steps/slides; Draw using shapes, multiple pens (with your finger), text tools, laser pointer and much more; Animate graphic elements on the screen by using two fingers (moving, scaling and rotating them); Integrate videos as part of a lesson (coming soon); The only iPad tool to allow face recording while capturing a lesson (coming soon); Imports images, drawings, and Adobe Acrobat files (coming soon); Integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.net and Gmail for transferring files (coming soon)" $2.99 Great tool for the iPad; see more info at the iTunes store.

An intro to explaining Prezi, its features and tools, how it works, and how it differs from PowerPoint. Stannard suggests that Prezi is a good brainstorm tool that will let us collect thoughts, images, and video, and then join them in a path that organizes them.

"When you first look at Webjets, you might think, "Oh, it's like Padlet." And in some ways, you'd be right: In Webjets, users create boards where they gather items on cards, placing these on a desktop that feels like a bulletin board. "But with Webjets, these cards work even harder than they do on Padlet, and they come in a variety of formats: A card can contain an image, an embedded video, a live Google Doc, an attached file, or a table containing a variety of elements organized into columns. Probably the best feature is that cards can be collected into folders, where the items are listed along the left, and the selected item appears in a larger window on the right. You can keep multiple folders on one board, and all cards can be collapsed or expanded, making it easy to neatly collect large amounts of resources all in one place. "Webjets would be an excellent, flexible tool for any kind of group project or curation task, whether it's done by you or your students." T/h J. Gonzalez

R. Byrne gives us some good tools to use in class with ideas for use with students. The cultural studies uses are unlimited, but also history and politics play a role. Visualize data sets, build a tour or gallery of images, etc.

Some of these may be gone tomorrow, but they are of interest: Padlet for posting introductions, Xtranormal (animated shorts), PollDaddy, Google Forms (for gathering info), Fotobabble (to record explanatory messages to go with scanned docs or images), Remind101 (to send messages to partents or to a group), Screenr for explanatory screencasts, Audioboo to record message to share on a website, and Smore to create colorful flyers. D. Borgeson uses these with his third grade (9 yrs old) class.

Pretty cool for kids. The site is kid-save and pulls up images, including videos and games when words are input. A Google site.

"In addition to YouTube videos, pictures, and voice recordings Metta also provides options for including content from Pinterest and Twitter to use in your final presentation. Metta also allows you to insert a quiz into your projects. This means that people viewing your Metta projects can watch a short video clip then answer questions about it before moving onto the next part of the presentation. Applications for Education You could have students create Metta projects in which they create book trailers using video clips, images, and their voices. Students could use Metta to create a digital collage of media around a current events topic that they're studying. Metta might also be used by students to create a showcase of their best digital works of the semester. "