Google's Docs, Earth, and SketchUp: Cool Tools and Possible Projects

Presenter: Rushton Hurley
Description: You've heard about Google's free tools; now see how Google Earth, Google SketchUp, and Google Docs can be used for global project-based learning - from a Google Certified Teacher. This session will include descriptions of projects teachers may join and attendees will receive free resources. This one draws a crowd, so come early (and get some bonus info!)
My Notes:

• As in the previous presentation by Cindy Lane (also a Google certified teacher), Rushton touted the benefits of creating a self-grading quiz using Forms in Google docs. To see an example of a survey created using Google forms, click here.
• Rushton founded an organization called "Next Vista". They have a website with educational resources and are a collaborative body that collects and shared educational videos. To sign up, visit http://nextvista.org/conference. Once you're at the Next Vista website, click "Lightbulbs" to access student videos.
• Rushton has also put links to all of the online resources he referenced in his FETC presentation on a webpage titled, "Free Tools Out the Wazoo" (click link to visit).
• Presentation tip: Did you know that if you're using a mouse with a scroll wheel, you can hold down the Ctrl key and scroll with the wheel to zoom in and out on any webpage. Try it - it's pretty cool!
• Google Lit Trips - is a website where Google Earth is used to show the journey taken in literary works - a different way to read great literature. Click here to visit the site.
• Google has a free download called Sketchup - which allows you to draw and share 3D models. It's like CAD, but free. Here's an idea - have a contest and have your students draw 3D models of your school, vote on the best one, and then add it to Google Earth. Click here for more information about Sketchup.
• Google has another app called Google Books. You can search for books, read previews, and also select full view to see the books that are available in full. Click here for more information about Google Books.
• Everyone knows how to search using Google, but have you tried an advanced search using Google. Click "Advanced Search" and you can search for specific file types (like .pdf), specific domain types (like .edu), etc. Click here to go to YouTube to watch a quick tutorial of Google's advanced search tools.
• Have you ever wondered how to download a video from YouTube so that you could take it with you and do other things with it? Now there's a website that convert a file for you so that it will be in a format that you can use - it's Zamzar, free online file conversion. In step 1 you type in the URL for a video, in step 2 you select the format you want, and in step 3 you enter your email address. Zamzar will email you in 30 minutes with the converted file. Click here to learn more about Zamzar.
• As more and more of us educators create podcasts, we need sources for "podsafe" music. here are 2 great websites for podsafe (i.e. "copyright friendly") audio. Visit http://www.freeplaymusic.com and http://podsafeaudio.com.
• Have you heard of Creative Commons? Creative Commons provides free tools that let authors, scientists, artists, and educators easily mark their creative work with the freedoms they want it to carry. For more information, click here.
• If you're looking for a cool and fast way to look at your photos and videos, you might want to consider downloading "Cool Iris", a full screen 3-D wall that works with Flickr. Click here for more information about Cool Iris.
• One of the coolest applications that Rushton shared, in my humble opinion, was Tag Galaxy. It's hard to describe, so click here to watch a screencast that explains Tag Galaxy. Once you've watched the screencast, go to www.taggalaxy.com to use this exciting web application. Keep in mind, as the screencast suggested, always do your search prior to showing it to you students to ensure that there are no inappropriate images.
• We know that our teens are using MySpace and FaceBook, but are they creating projects? An online project place is Fresh Brain, an exploratory technology platform for teens. Click here to visit Fresh Brain and learn more.

Score! Winning Strategies to Conquer Information Overload

Presenter: Kathy Schrock



Description: Keeping up with the collaborative sharing of information on the web, which grows exponentially each day, has become a problem. How does an educator keep up with blogs, micro-blogs, social networks and email in order to learn from others and contribute their expertise in a timely and meaningful fashion?



My Notes:

• In 2009, workers will spend 40% of their time managng their Inbox. To help with this, use email filters. Set up "rules", create folders or labels for items that can be filed. Use your archive folders and manage your sent items.

Hardware to help you:

• "Netbooks" - tiny laptop, great for traveling, great for accessing the Internet and checking email.


• Smart Phone - like the iPhone - lots of applications


• For email only, try the Peek. The device is only $49.95 and the service is only $19.95 per month. Click here to learn more about Peek.


• For your favorite Internet content and Pandora radio, get a Chumby. Chumby is a device that collects and displays all of your favorite Internet content and streams Pandora Internet radio. Click here to learn more about Chumby.


• Use your cell phone's camera to take pictures of charts, whiteboards, etc. in workshops.

Software and Web apps to help you:

• RSS and News Readers - you set it up and they will go out and collect all of the news you read into one place. A popular reader is Google Reader.


• iGoogle - set up your Google homepage with gadgets that deliver customized content on your browser homepage.


• Google Alert - set up an alert so that you're notified each time your name or your institution's name is searched/mentioned.


• Ning - a social network site that allows you to create your own social network with forums, and much more. Several teachers are using this as a collaborative tool. You create your network, and then invite people to join it. Click here to learn more about Ning.


• Classroom 2.0 - a social network of educators interested in Web 2.0 tools and their application in the classroom.


• Microblogging - Twitter is the most popular right now. In 140 characters or less, you can post updates and information, and follow others who are "Twittering". For example, click here for Oprah Winfrey's Twitter.


• Online Bookmarking, for example, Firefox's "Foxmarks".


• Social Bookmarking - see who linked to you and then get their links. Two popular ones are Del.icio.us and Diig.


• Online task lists - for example, "Remember the Milk", which works with Twitter, Blackberry, iPhone, and Google Calendar. Click here for more information about Remember the Milk.


• Collaborative documents - Google Docs.


• Cloud Storage - remember "cloud computing". Here's a website where you can access 10GB of storage space called "Glide". Click here for more information about Glide.


• Thinkature - working together in real time. Click here for more information about Thinkature.

Kathy also recommended the book, "Drinking from the Fire Hose".

For more information about Kathy Schrock's presentation, click here. There are links to everything that she mentioned, plus some new links. Enjoy!

FETC 2010

Are you interested in presenting at the next Florida Educational Technology Conference? The call for presentations is open now. Deadline for submissions is June 12, 2009. Click here to visit the website where you can apply to present.

Creating a Personal Learning Network with Web 2.0 Tools

Presenters: Michelle Bourgeois with Colleen Glaude and Katie Morrow

Description: how do educators keep current with the ever-changing world of technology? How can Web 2.0 tools be used to communicate and collaborate with peers across the hall and around the world? This session will focus on some of the newest tools teachers are using to support their own professioal learning goals.

My Notes:
The presenters have everything that they presented at this session on a website. They made a great analogy where they compared grouping the Web 2.0 tools into different courses of a meal. For example, the "Appetizer" is a microblog like Twitter and Plurk, where you communicate in 140 characters or less. Next comes the main dish or entree, which would be a Blog, or Del.icio.us, or iChat. For a side dish, help yourself to some podcasts or webinars, wiki's or nings. Finally, for dessert, enjoy some Flickr, or Second Life.

Click here to visit their website, Creating a Personal Learning Network with Web 2.0 Tools, to get all of the juicy details!

Google Docs Can Cure Classroom Headaches

Presenter: Cindy Lane, a Google Certified Teacher

Description: Let Google Docs cure classroom collaboration problems. The presenter will model presentations, spreadsheets and documents for attendees in real time. Encourage students to write, assess and design their own without the need of a flash drive, disc, or home directory.

My Notes:

Did you know that there are 46 Google Apps? Cindy is a Google Certified Teacher and shared that she went to the "mothership" in Sunnyview, California, where she was trained in all things Google.

Have you heard of "Cloud Computing"? Cloud computing is the notion that one does not need to lug around a laptop or a storage device anymore. We can upload our files and pictures to the web - where they go up "in the clouds". We have no idea where they are stored physically on the globe, but we can log in to our account and access all of our stuff from any computer with Internet access.

Google Docs includes 3 types of documents: spreadsheets, word processing documents and presentations. These are like Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Click the play button to watch an overview of Google Docs from Common Craft at YouTube.


BTW, YouTube is owned by Google. So is Blogger.

Google Docs is the answer for collaborating on projects. For example, since you can have 10 people at a time collaborating on a document, start a document with the prompt, "I am unique because", and then have each student add 3 things.

With presentations, 10 people may also collaborate at a time. Here's an idea - start a presentation with a theme, such as a snow picture and 6 words. Invite students to participate and have them add to the presentation.

You can even create assessments using Google Docs. Here is a video about how you can create a quiz in Google Docs using "Forms":


More ideas for using Google docs:

• Upload existing files into Google Docs (note that there are size limitations)
• Publish documents and give students the URL for the document. They don't have to have a Google account to see your document.
• Check out Google Apps for Educators
• Do you know any Google Certified Teachers? They will come to your school and conduct a "Google Learning Institute".
• Check out Google Docs for Teachers
  

Fun Video

Check this funny video out. Caution - it contains lively and sort of loud music.

21st Century Skills for Administrators

Presented by Sally House, Broward County

Description: "How do administrators become technology leaders? Attendees in this session will learn about tools, resources, and professional development that can empower administrators to support 21st century teaching and learning".

My Notes:

• Technology is included in Florida's Accomplished Practice #12.
• To have successful technology integration at your school, you need 2 key elements: student skill outcomes and a support system. Administrators need to understand the support systems for student skills. Sally House stressed balanced assessments, model classroms, and project-based learning. In Broward, they also model inquiry based learning all professional development.
• Information technology skills are very important to today's students - most of the jobs they will have as adults haven't even been invented yet. Broward County changed their pupil progression plan to include information literacy skills. This is for middle and high schools only.


• Use National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for IC T Literacy. Click this link for more information on NETS. NETS*A, for administrators, are brand new and will be unveiled at the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) in June 2009.
  
• Use the Partnership for 21st Century Skills - this is a great website and resource. Use their definition of "21st Century Skills". It's important when talking to your faculty to develop a common language. Click here to go to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. (FYI - Florida has NOT partnered as a state with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills).


• Do you know what a "Word Cloud" is? You type (or paste) in a "bunch" of text, and then Wordle will make a word cloud for you. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. The picture on this post is a "word cloud" that relates to Project STRIVE. Click here to visit Wordle to make your own word cloud.
• Broward County also has a project called "Project GLIDES". It's a technology initiative where their IT department changed the standard, pulled back the desktop computers, leased laptops and put them on mobile carts in the schools, at a 1:6 ratio. Teachers participated in professional development activities centered around project-based learning. Each GLIDES classroom is a digital classroom containing a SmartBoard, LCD projector, sound system, DVD tuner and document camera (no TV). Click here for more information about GLIDES.
• GREAT IDEA: The principal carries around a digital camera all day long. He takes pictures of kids at work around the school, then uses Comic Life to put together a graphic novel styled "newsletter", which he emails out every Monday morning. Students, parents and teachers love it!
• Another GREAT IDEA: Principal interns are using a blog to communicate about AYP and a wiki to share information about 21st Century Skills.