GAFE: Creating groups from Gmail

Creating mailing groups in Gmail can be a slightly tedious task. Most of us need to make email groups for our classes or for ECA's or for our volunteers, or group projects...you get the idea.  I think we all know how to create our groups through "Contacts", but here is a more efficient way that I think you'll find useful. You can actually create the group directly from your Gmail message. Take a look.

Thank you to The Gooru for another great tip:

How to Create the Schools We Need?

"Anything short of a vision of educational technology use that allows students and teachers to inquire more deeply, research more broadly, connect more intensely, share more widely and create more powerfully, sells short the power of these tools – and more important, sells short the promise of learning and of school for out students." – Lehmann/Chase: Building School 2.0

At our opening PD in August, I spoke a little bit about a book a friend of mine wrote with his colleague. Zac Chase and Chris Lehmann have produced an inspirational guide to building (and sustaining) schools we need in the 21st century.

Chris Lehmann, widely recognized as an ed-tech leader and educational reformer was named "Outstanding Leader of the Year" by ISTE in 2013 and was the recipient of the prestigious "Rising Star" McGraw prize in education, the very next year. His work as principal and founder of Science Leadership Academy (regarded as one of the 10 most amazing schools in the U.S.) has earned him many honours and awards, including being considered one of the 30 most influential people in ed-tech.

Zach Chase is a gifted educator with whom I had the joy of working a few year ago. Zac travels around the world consulting with teachers on the "thoughtful combination of pedagogy and technology for teaching and learning". He currently is a National Fellow at the Institute for Democratic Education in America.

I loved this book and wholeheartedly encourage you to read it. Each chapter ends with a section "From Theory to Practice" giving solid examples of classroom or personal applications of the chapter's topic. This is not a book about technology, but rather it is a broader discussion about education and how we can create learning spaces (...and yes, infused with technology) to teach our children to be problem solvers, life-long learners, and thoughtful citizens.

I'll leave you with another quote from the book:

"The purpose of school is not to train children but to teach them, and that requires the human element. If anything, we need more adults in school, not fewer."

Understanding Google Drive

What is Google Drive and what is it good for? Well many of you may remember when Google Drive was simply called Google Docs, which was a bit of a misnomer, because it is so much more than just docs.  Google drive can store and sync your files (with GAFE we have unlimited storage), but it is also where you can create a doc, spreadsheet, slideshow, survey (Google form), or drawing. The collaborative nature of these tools is why we would choose to create our documents or projects here.

It is important to understand there are 3 platforms for Google Drive. They are:
Google Drive on the web
Google Drive on your computer
Google Drive on your mobile devices

1. Google Drive on the Web, can be accessed through the Google Apps grid from your account, as seen here:

Your Google Drive on the web will look something like this (this one is in list-view):

2. Google Drive on your computer looks a little different. First it needs to be installed locally. Find Google Drive in Launchpad and double-click on the icon. Follow the instructions to install. You will notice a new folder will appear in your Finder window, called Google Drive and looks just like your Documents folder. Files placed here are saved on your hard drive.

You will also notice a small icon up on your menu bar, at the top of your computer, if you are on a Mac (or at the lower right of your screen, on the taskbar, if you are on a PC). This small icon will pulse when you are syncing files. This means, when you save a file to your Google Drive on your computer, it will mirror it or sync with your Google Drive on the web. In this way, Google is backing up your files. If something happens to your computer, you can retrieve all your data from Google Drive on the web. It also means, when you don't have your computer with you, you can also access your files on the web.

3. Google Drive on Mobile devices allows you to access your files on the go. On your Android or iOS device, install the Google Drive app and you can:

– View and share your files

– Upload new files directly from your phone

– Scan documents using the camera on your phone

– Access your files even when you are not connected to the internet

All three platforms work together, to make sure your data is available to you when you need it. From any of the Google Drives you can share files with colleagues or students. All files, MS Office, PDF's, images, video, --- can be saved in Google Drive, but there are also highly collaborative tools, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, which can be created directly in your Drive on the web. These tools allow for as many as 50 collaborators at a time. As the owner of the document (or sheet, or presentation) you decide who can edit and who can only view. All changes to the document are saved automatically, and a Revision History is available if you need to revert back to an earlier version, or to simply monitor who has added what.

So, Google Drive is the place to house all your files, Google or otherwise. 

If you have always backed up your data on an external drive, please continue to do so. It is always a good idea to back up in two places.

Google Chrome

There are many tools to explore with GAFE, and we will get to all of them, but let's begin with Google Chrome, the browser that interfaces with all the Google applications. Many of you have already signed into Chrome and may have already become familiar with its advantages:

• Browsing history, settings, and data, such as bookmarks, apps, extensions, themes are saved to your Google account and can be recovered if your computer is lost or broken. Simply signing into Chrome again will bring them back.

• Changes you make on one computer are automatically and instantaneously reflected on the other computers where you are signed in and have enabled sync.

• You can also sync open tabs, bookmarks, and omnibox data from your computer to your phone or tablet with a Google account. Accessing previous searches and settings across devices can help both teachers and students save valuable time.

• Chrome has the ability to extend its functionality through apps and extensions.

Let's begin with Chrome's menu:

Click on the "hotdogs" (hey, I don't name 'em) in the upper right corner of Chrome.

Here you will find your bookmarks (and where to import and export them), your history, your recent tabs, as well as tabs open on your other devices. Under "Settings" you can customize the appearance, such as font size and style themes, and can personalize your search experience. This is also where you sign in to Chrome if you have not already done so.

Further down the menu is "Help".   Help > Help Center is a great place to get you started, where you can review the basics, learn how to personalize Chrome, find tips for searching the web, and more.

The Omnibox

The green rectangle below is called the "omnibox", it's the familiar place where we type our URL's and where many of us begin our searches. Typing key words here will produce popular search suggestions and auto-complete recently bookmarked sites, but did you know you can do math calculations in the omnibox, or convert currency and measurements? By typing in specific words like Define:, or Filetype: you can filter your searches.

Use the omnibox as a dictionary.

Enter math equations.

You can also use the omnibox to track a package, or check the status of a flight, set a timer, find a sport score. Click here to see more  Google search tips and tricks.

You can quickly add websites to your favourites by clicking on the star shown in figure 1 below.

Tabs

Using tabs (#2) in our browser is not new to us, but here are a few tips I find useful:

1. Dragging a tab to your desktop will automatically open a new window
2. Highlighting and dragging text to a tab will open a search with those words
3. Right-clicking on a tab will allow you to: 
1. Pin your tab so that it will open the next time you open Chrome, 
2. reopen closed tabs
3. bookmark all open tabs at once

Apps

We can add apps and extensions to Chrome. Think of apps as web-based software. To access the Webstore click on the apps button on the right of your browser.

Then Click on the Webstore icon. The other icons you see below are app I have added.

There are a daunting amount of apps available. You can filter your searches to be only apps produced by Google, and that might be a good place to start. They are also divided into categories, and there is one for Education. As you can see in the figure below a description and reviews are available, but feel free to try out different apps to see which work for you. There are some apps that work offline.

The Webstore is also where you will find Extensions. These work directly in Chrome to enhance its capabilities. Here you can see some extensions I've added. An example would be a Youtube ad blocker extension, which will block ads when you play a Youtube video.

You can manage them (turn them on and off) by going to your Chrome hotdog icon and choosing "more tools".

I've created a Google sheet of apps and extension. Please add to this list when you find something you like. As the list grows, I will  divide the list into tabs. Enter only the information you think is needed. I've added a few of my favourites.

Google Search

We've gotten used to "Image search", but you can also search Google using voice. You will notice a microphone in the Google's search window. Clicking on it will activate the tool. (If you go to Google.com, saying the words "Okay Google", will activate the mic.)

Once active, you will notice the mic will turn red while "Listening..." will display.

Speak into your mic and let Google do its magic.

A tool that I think is most important is the "Reading Level" tool. 

1. Type your search (or speak)
2. Click on "Search tools
3. Choose "Reading level" and choose Basic, Intermediate, or Advanced

Next time: Google Drive

Welcome to GAFE!

So as we embark on this exciting move to Google Apps for Education (GAFE), I would like to say how happy I am about the response we have had. Though it may seem we will need to learn a whole new set of skills, really we are moving to a platform that will make so many things so much easier for so many of us and our learners. Some things will need a little adjustment time but for the most part I think the transition will be a smooth one. Remember, Microsoft Office is still available whenever needed, but do try out the different tools available even before training begins.

Stay tuned to this blog to get detailed instructions and help as we learn about the tools available in the Google suite.Click here to learn more: GAFE

ReTweet!

So it's time we revisit Twitter. 

This isn't my first blog entry about it, and though I know I couldn't do my job without it, there are many teachers who are still reluctant to sign on. This week at a faculty meeting I briefly showed a few ways Twitter can be used by educators. Even if you don't use it in your classroom (though the access you have to authors, experts, unfolding world events, etc.  makes it more than classroom worthy), do take advantage of the Personal Learning Network it affords you. On Twitter you have access to thousands of teachers just like you, struggling with the same issues, willing to share everything. Talk about crowd sourcing!  Scholastic posted an article by Kim Greene on:

Why Your Teachers Should Use Twitter

Included are schedules for on-line Twitter chats where teachers meet up regularly to have moderated discussions.

To get you started Edudemic has posted a Teachers' Guide to Twitter and Twitter 101 for Teachers, and because we all learn differently here is a slideshare on Twitter for Teachers.

If you are looking for people to follow, TeachThought (follow them!) has put out this list to get you started: 10 Educators On Twitter You Should Follow (But Probably Don’t), and here's a great list from Mashable: 10 Rockstar Teachers on Twitter.

And finally, for those of you who might want to start a class Twitter, here's  Twitter support on how to have people follow you even if they don't have a Twitter account. The Shortcode you will need for Canada is 21212.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!

Quizzing

So I'm driving in my car one Saturday afternoon, and I'm listening to NPR. TED Radio Hour, RadioLab, and Spark are on one after another...what luck! Even though I am driving from one listening zone to another, I use the NPR app on my phone and plug it into my car radio (now if they would only invent PVR for radio –– would that be PAR?) and I can have uninterrupted listening for as long as my phone battery lasts.
The subject is Learning and Remembering...on one of the shows, can't remember which and my favourite story is about a young science grad who wants to go to medical school. He comes from small town USA and when he gets to Big University Medical School (I don't remember where he got in) he realizes he's ill-prepared for the work load. One month in he has his first test. He studies night and day and feels there is no way he can flub this test. Wrong. As soon as he begins, he realizes his recall just isn't working. He gets a 65.
He is not willing to give up his dream of being a doctor, but he knows he can not work any harder. He studied as hard as he could. It becomes clear he has to study better. This is when he discovers Dr. Bjork's research at the Learning and Forgetting Lab at UCLA.
What he finds out is that reading notes over and over again will help you remember some of what you read, but not for very long. For the truly deeper learning, your brain has to be asked to recall the newly acquired information over and over again. The more time you ask your brain to recall the new information, the better, and the different applications (like real world connections) you use, even better.

So our young med student creates quizzes for himself...he asks fellow students to quiz him (Hello Socrates!) He also learns from Bjork's research that mixing data up or "Interleaving" works best. So rather than "blocking" information to study, mixing things up with previous learned data, or completely different subjects will result in better great recall.



All this leads to the presentations I made to both our ES and HS faculties. Quizzing. I am not talking about "testing" but maybe I'm splitting hairs.  We can test for many things...checking in for understanding, for prior knowledge, exit tickets, formative assessment –– not every quiz need generate a mark. Tests, Dr. Bjork tells us, can also provide an opportunity for learning.
One last thought, testing just to assess knowledge can create fear. We know our prefrontal cortex will shut down when threatened so we need to take the fear out of quizzes. Let's make them fun.

Here are three tools to start you on your way:

Socrative:
Hmm, great name, huh? This a an online tool that lets you shoot a quiz, exit ticket, discussion prompt and more to your students either through their website or to a mobile app. Imagine your students solving a quadratic equation on the bus/car ride home. What's great about Socrative is how spontaneous you can be. Kids don't need to create accounts, so accessing the quiz couldn't be easier. Once your students have answered, an excel spreadsheet report is made for you to download.

Google Forms:

If you've used other online survey tools, like Survey Monkey, you'll be comfortable with Google Forms. You can create questions with multiple choice, text, or paragraph answers. Images and videos can be inserted as well, so if you've been flipping your classroom, or you need to differentiate, you're all set. An option to view a summary of the results gives you graphs that help you analyze the data yourself or share with your students.

Flubaroo: 
Flubaroo is a google sheet add-on that will mark your quizzes for you. This works great with Google Forms and is not complicated to use. At a glance you can see which questions cause the most trouble, and which students are having the most difficulty.

# BestYearEver

Welcome back everyone! 

So for my first post  this school year I couldn't resist Edutopia's offering, "#BestYearEver". There are weeks of downloadable material, from redesigning your classroom to how to remember names, but my two favourites are "7 Questions to Ask Parents at the Beginning of the Year" and "53 Ways to Check for Understanding". Okay, I also like the article on " 5 Ways to Help Your Students Become Better Questioners", especially because  of our focus on visible thinking.

Wishing you all a great start and...you got it...Best Year Ever!

Visible Thinking

Visible thinking: what is it and how do we achieve it? Harvard"s Project Zero, an educational research group has put together a comprehensive site on Visible Thinking, chock full of strategies for changing the culture of your school and incorporating thinking routines into your classroom.

But what digital tools work best to promote visible thinking? Blogging stands out as one of the best tools, where thoughts, discussion, debate, minds being changed, are all evident – sometimes all in one discussion thread. AND the broad reach of online blogging only adds to to the layers and richness of the learning.

Realtime online discussion can also facilitate visible thinking. Tools like PollEverywhere, Socarative, or Padlet, help generate class participation, while also generating formative assessment.

Our friends at Te@chThought understand that formative assessment can take the form of conversation and suggest 5 Tools for Giving Students Narrative Feedback. One tool that is not on the list is Thinglink. This tool allows you to annotate images with text or sound. Look at this beautiful example: Here.

And finally you can't read about "visible thinking", without running into "visible learning".


Digital Story Telling is an effective tool for visible learning. William "Bud" Deihl from Virginia Commonwealth University(VCT) Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) has put together an excellent wikispace on "Making Learning Visible". The page "Digital Story Telling" is of particular interest. I love how Bud has laid it out with guiding questions and 7 elements of DST. My favourite line: "1st, it (digital storytelling) is not about the technology, but considers technologies or approaches as the means to achieve storytelling goals."
Check out the other tabs in the wiki, including Screencasting
UBC has put together a course for using screencasting for visible learning. The course is available free on iTunesU.  Our ES teachers have had great success using ExplainEverything, Showme, and Educreations on iPads, all included in this course.

Welcome back everyone!

Before the break I was working with the Grade 9's on creating presentations. A visit to Slideshare often gives me some great ideas to work with, good and bad. Today I came across David Theriault's, Turning Your Learning Inside Out. David is a HS English teacher (you can follow him on Twitter) and today he has made my job so much easier. In his slide show below, he gives great examples of taking the lesson out of the classroom, or rather, going beyond the 4 walls and making the learning transparent and more meaningful at the same time. Yes, of course he uses social media; it's all about connecting, right? Take a look. I love the "Novel Blackout Poems".

Thank you David!

Turn your learning inside out from David Theriault

The iPad in Education: Uses, Benefits, and Challenges

A survey of 6,057 students and 302 teachers in Quebec has produced an interesting preliminary report.* Karsenti and Fievez asked important questions, but I found myself frustrated reading the results. While questions addressed the use of iPads (or touch pads) by students and teachers, benefits were attributed using a traditional classroom setting and did not allow for the potential of such mobile technologies in a different and emerging learning environment. The questions shouldn't be, "Can we do all the same things better with an iPad?"– but rather, "How can we transform learning with these devices?"
A student may not write better on an iPad, but imagine what would happen to his/her writing after a Skype session with an actual "Lost Boy of Sudan", or a curator at the Charles Dickens Museum, or a graphic novelist. Or perhaps the student's content would improve after following a twitter discussion on a novel, gaining the perspective of readers on a global scale.
Recommendations made in the report wisely include professional development for teachers, but we must be careful to move past mere adaptation and recognize the paradigm has shifted.

* Karsenti, T., & Fievez, A. (2013). The iPad in education: uses, benefits, and challenges – A survey of 6,057 students and 302 teachers in Quebec, Canada. Montreal, QC: CRIFPE.

Learning Spaces

So one thing I keep running into as an educational technologist is the need to re-design the classroom. I am far from the first to notice this and my research shows me there are amazing things being done, from small classroom spaces to beautifully designed schools that have completely broken from the industrial-age prototype, embracing both nature and technology. Score! Technology does not have to mean "indoors". In fact, the the mobility of our new technologies begs it not to be.
Still, considering we are not all moving into new buildings, there are some things we can do to our classrooms. I've put together a Learnist with great info from Edutopia, The Third Teacher+, and I've included a few dream schools to inspire us:   Learning Spaces

Eduslam

Okay, let's get a little more practical. I came across Eduslam on Google Hangouts. Tanya Avrith and Holly Clark have educators from around the world  talking about ideas, tools, apps that can transform the learning going on in your classroom.  Basically it's teachers teaching teachers. Short (about 5 minutes) videos explain a practice that has proven successful. I can talk on and on about emerging technologies, but until I can show how effective they can be in a classroom, they will remain untested. Eduslam has classroom teachers explaining their experiences – where things went wrong, and where things went right – giving valuable insight into procedures you might have wanted to try, but just didn't know enough about.

Some of the topics are: Using Stories in the Math Classroom, Collaborative Writing in Grade 3, The Best way for Seniors to End the Year, Using Twitter in Grade One, App Speed Dating... I knew you'd like that one. Check out Eduslam!

The Digital Future

Huffington Post has published an article by Matthew Lynch about the recently-released New Media Consortium Horizon which details six up-and-coming technologies for K-12 classrooms. The article, "A Digital Future: K-12 Technology by 2018" outlines how things like Mobile Learning, 3-D printing, Learning Analytics, and open content will develop over the next five years. Things can change rapidly in 5 years, but the 6 technologies projected here look like they're here to stay.

Khan Academy Dashboard

Welcome back everyone! For my first entry this year I want to revisit a site we are all familiar with: Khan Academy. This site just keeps getting better. Not everyone is a fan, I know, but let's remember, it's a tool. Use it in any way that helps you, or your students, best. The dashboard allows teachers to see at a glance where their students are struggling, so that individual attention can be applied when necessary. Students also have a dashboard to follow their own progress. I urge you to watch the video below to see how both students and teachers can benefit from Khan Academy.


 

Polleverywhere

This week I have been using Polleverywhere and it occurred to me that I have not written about it yet. "Pollev" can be a wonderful tool in the classroom. How does it work? Questions, either multiple choice or open-ended, are created online and posted. Participants can respond through a variety of options - text messaging, web devices, tweets, or private link. We use iPod Touch devices, much like a clicker response system, but computers or phones, work just as well. What we discovered is how this tool allows participation from learners who normally would not contribute to an oral class exchange. While anonymity is often disparaged online, here is a case for its effectiveness. How many times do we hesitate to add our opinion to a discussion for fear it might be deemed "stupid" by our peers. In a classroom where learning is supposed to be safe and yet where risks should be taken, Pollev might just be the answer.
For some ideas on how to use Polleverywhere check out their blog

Science Podcasts

I love, love, love podcasts. Did I  mention I love podcasts? You can listen to them when you're in the car, while you're exercising, while you're waiting...for anything. There is something for everyone. There is absolutely NOTHING you can't learn if you want to. I am a big NPR fan so all episodes of my favourite shows are available to listen to when I am. RadioLab is right up there at the top of my list and happily it made it on TeachThought's list of 40 Of the Best Science Podcasts for Mobile Learning
(That's not to say you can't listen to them on your computer as well, you can). So if Science is your thing (or even if it's not) check out the list.

New to podcasts and don't know where to begin?  Apple has created a Tips for Podcast Fans page to help get you started. Become a fan!

Twitter and the Law

Can Twitter open a new space for learning?  Should we be using it in the classroom? Maybe, but at the very least we have an obligation to teach our learners the responsibilities of such social media. Everyone should know the possible consequences of not thinking before hitting that "Tweet" button. Lawsuits for libel are not new to media law, but this generation may be. Posting pictures, names, and lies can bring contempt of court charges and more.  In Twitter Users: A Guide to the Law , Brian Wheeler outlines some of the pitfalls Twitter users might fall into in the UK, and a little closer to home Dianne Buckner writes about social media hazards for the CBC News.

Apps by Grade Level

Gary Toews posted this list of useful free educational apps:

Free apps list from Gary Toews

Twitter

C'mon teachers, what are you afraid of? Start using Twitter.
Here is a great list: 10 Ways Students Can Use Twitter for Paper Writing (thank you EmergingEdTech)
Things like, "Reach out to scholars and experts in the field", or "Get real world data" are exactly what I love about Twitter.  It doesn't have to be the shallow musings of navel-gazers. Yes, there is a lot of that, but the unparalleled access one has to people...millions of people, is what makes Twitter so powerful. Scholars, scientists, revellers, rebels, citizens, experts...and the list goes on. Just do it ! (swoosh)