Apps, Extensions, and Add-ons...OH MY!

We had a great training session yesterday at the high school, getting to know Drive and how to navigate through the Chrome store. Here are some commonly used terms, with examples of each: 

• Apps - There are 1000s of apps that you can download from the Chrome Web Store (make sure you are signed into Google through the Chrome browser). After you find the app you'd like to try, simply click on the app and it will appear in a new window. Click the Free button in the upper right and the app will be stored in your chrome://apps/ account. To locate this, make sure your Bookmarks Bar is displayed. In the top Chrome menu, go to View, then ensure there is a checkbox next to 'Always Show Bookmarks Bar'. Your app store is the multi-colored, 9-squares box (marked Apps) in the very left side of the Bookmarks Bar.  Note - these are not stored on your local machine, so you can access your apps, extensions and add-ons from any device, as long as you are signed into Google. A couple to try: CK12.org, curriculum, and Newsela, news articles at various Lexile that also engages readers to think critically.
• Extensions -While in the Chrome Web Store, you'll notice that if you scroll down in the left side search column, you can search for Extensions as well. Extensions are browser-based and can interact with any web page you visit (of course, while using the Chrome browser). Extensions will live next to your address bar, and you'll notice a little icon representing that extension will appear. For example, I have the Evernote app which allows me to go to Evernote quickly and look at my Notebooks and Notes. However, I also have the Evernote extension, which is represented by a little elephant icon that lives next to my address bar in my Chrome browser. Any time I am on a website and I want to 'clip' something from it and save it to my Evernote account, I simply click on the Evernote elephant icon (the extension) and a menu pops up asking me what I'd like to clip. The Evernote Web Clipper Extension can be found here: 
• Add-ons - Your Google Drive account comes with powerful apps built-in - Sheets, Docs, Forms, Draw. Within each of these productivity apps, you have the ability to further increase the function of these apps with what's called add-ons. To view available add-ons for any Drive app, open up any of these and then go to the pull-down menu 'Add-ons' and 'Get Add-ons'. Some of the most used add-ons in Sheets is Flubaroo (which allows you to create the answer key for Google Forms, creating an automatically graded quiz!), Doctopus is another Sheets add-on that gives teachers the ability to mass-copy, share, monitor progress and manage feedback for student projects in Google Drive. Goobric is an add-on that goes hand-in-hand with Doctopus, giving you the ability to create your own rubric for grading of your student's Drive files. EasyBib is an add-on for Google Docs which gives students suggested citations based on MLA, APA or *shudder* Chicago Style writing. 

In summation, just get out to the Chrome Apps store and start exploring! 

Using Remind in other ways: an infograph

Turning your videos into gradable quizzes with EdPuzzle

(Yet) Another free application for teachers- hooray! Sign up here. 

I was recently introduced to this handy tool at the Central MN Tech Meeting at the Sartell district offices last week. Teachers at area districts use this quizzing site to create multiple choice quizzes built in to classroom videos, lecture videos (flipping classroom), or chapter reviews for upcoming tests. Results are student-specific (if you'd like) and data is captured on your teacher dashboard. Note: EdPuzzle includes searchable videos from YouTube, Khan, National Geographic, TeacherTube, TED and more. 

Students can join your classroom by going to edpuzzle.com and signing up as a new student (can login with Google) and then entering in the classroom code located in the upper right area of your 'My Classroom' dashboard. 

You can create test questions by type and multiple choice, or insert your voice to coach students at different points during the video. 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I've created a quick Pilgrim quiz using a pre-loaded video and added my own questions. This is for elementary only:)

Heidi's Cheesy Pilgrim Quiz

Infographics with Easel.ly

Easel.ly is a really neat site for creating infographs on any subject. You can use the templates as a starting point, or start from scratch. 

Infographs are visual and text combined in a creative way to tell a story, relate data, report statistics, etc.

Easel.ly is a fun tool to turn loose for your students on their next assignment. They can sign up with their Google account at Easel.ly, create their infograph, share with you, and then you can bring each project up on the classroom screen while the student presents the materials/subject they've researched. Just an idea. 

Ideas on using Easel.ly in variety of classroom settings, either created by teachers or students: http://www.easel.ly/blog/category/common-core-standards/ 

Give it a try- if nothing else, have students tackle an infograph on their own as extra credit and see what transpires!

A chicken in every pot, and a blog in every classroom...?

Not really.
Failed quotes aside,  if you are interested in setting up a blog for your classroom, I can help so be sure to let me know. Or, if you'd like to just read some tips and tricks here and try it out for yourself, DO!

Some of the teachers at Pioneer and Healy have already started implementing a class blog to post assignments, weekly vocab/spelling words, test reminders and practice sheets, videos, tutorial links, and more.

A quick how-to:

1. From your Gmail, click on the small tile box in the upper right corner near your profile. This connects to your Drive and related apps. Scroll down to 'More' and click Blogger. Alternatively, https://www.blogger.com/start and you'll be taken to the Blogger start up menu. 
2. Blogger is pretty intuitive. After naming the blog, and guided through the various set up steps, you're ready to publish your first post. Your blog URL will show in the address bar once you View blog. Invite students to view your blog by sending them this URL, or letting them know that it is also linked-to on your school web-page. Hint, hint. 
3. When creating new posts, find the Labels tab on the right side menu. Depending on the content of your post, you should create various Labels for the post so users can easily search your blog with these keywords. You can add as many Labels as you'd like. For example, if I write a post about Online Classroom Behavior, I may want to add the following Labels so my users can search for this post if they ever need: online behavior, digital citizenship, bullying. 

As students (and you) get accustomed to using the blog, you may want to open it up for student comments and discussions, using these online discussions as part of class participation points. Be sure to send notification to parents (elementary especially), letting them know how their child will be participating in this online platform, and invite them to view the blog as well. Maybe even invite parents to post too:)

I've referenced back to a really good article that talks about the benefits, uses, and best practices when using blogs in education. It's a couple years old, but I haven't found a better article that talks about the what, why, and how so thoroughly, especially in regard to digital citizenship and resources to help in these teachable moments (i.e. students posting inappropriate comments, cyberbullying, digital footprint, etc). Find the full article here. 

As always, if you need any help getting this set up for your class, please let me know.  Or, if you have a classroom blog and would like to share it, please post that here as well!

Classroom Technology - simplified?

A fun read from U.S. News and World Report: What if the key to boosting student engagement was as simple as swapping out desks and chairs and rearranging the layout of a classroom? The study is rooted in higher education; however, the basic idea may be applicable in K12 settings too. 

Edudemic's 70 Best Apps for Education (free and paid)

Just a reference guide. No need to panic: we won't be implementing all 70:)
http://www.edudemic.com/70-best-apps-teachers-students/ 

Sometimes it's helpful to see what's out there and the vast capabilities for educators. 

And a visual....

Sometimes student engagement has nothing to do with technology

We talk about the power of technology to engage students, to meet them where they are. Many times, engaging our students has little to do with technology, and more to do with our ability to build relationships, empathy, and being storytellers. From the best of TED Talks 2014: the magic of teaching and learning

Remind (formerly Remind101) for one-way student/parent communication

Remind is an app and download that allows teachers to communicate with their students (and parents) via text messages from your phone, computer, or iPad. 

Many teachers at #ISD 484 are already using this app and finding success in posting test reminders, practice locations, meeting times, and other announcements. Worth noting: this is a one-way communication tool. Students cannot respond to messages you send. 

The app is always free for teachers: https://www.remind.com/ and takes just a few minutes to get set up. 

To get started, download the Remind application onto your smartphone; the app is free in both the iTunes and Google Play. After creating an account, you can post a short code for students to use when registering. It is important to note that students are not required to download the app on their side. Instead, the messages come to their device – smartphone or otherwise – as standard text messages. Once students send the code to the number provided (which the application generates automatically), the system immediately responds to each participant requesting a name or avatar to facilitate the development of the course roster on the application. After the set up process is complete, the app is ready for use. - See more at: http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/using-remind-app-online-classroom/#sthash.y0jh6yrO.dpuf 

Google Classroom isn't a gradebook. Not even close. And that's okay.

Truly. Google Classroom does many tasks and makes life easier, but it's not everything. 

If you don't want to use Google Classroom with the point system that's lined up on the drop-down menu on the assignment, you can certainly key in the points you want to make possible. 

Using the points in Classroom is nice way for students to instantly see their comprehension of the material based on the score you give them when you Return work from the assignment folder. 

However, if you find the point system in Classroom arbitrary and redundant as you have to put the grade in Synergy as well, Alice Keeler has an idea for that. Thanks Alice! 

She marks the assignment with a 1 if she's read it, telling the students ahead of time that 1 means I've looked at it an you can find your actual grade in Synergy (students receive email notification through Classroom when a teacher Returns their work). If the assignment is still marked at 0, the teacher hasn't reviewed the work yet, the student hasn't gotten notification, so don't bother checking Synergy yet. 

http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2014/09/13/google-classroom-grading-with-zero-or-one/ 

Good times with Google Classroom

A number of teachers are using Google Classroom to post syllabi, assignments, announcements, worksheets, create and monitor discussions, as well as grading and handing back assignments - all within their online Google Classroom. Side note: Google Classroom is just one of many LMS or CMS (learning management or classroom/content management) systems out there, not unlike Schoology, Edmodo, D2L, Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, Haiku...you get the idea. 

How does this one work? 

Because it's yet another fabulous product from Google (albeit still in its infancy), Classroom integrates with Drive seamlessly. Meaning: when you create a class, a folder is automatically stored on your Drive. AND when you invite students to your class (either by email or generated code), a class folder arrives on their Drive doorstep as well. Voila!

Here is a pretty good overview of Drive. 

Let me know if you'd like to set up a time to go through the steps in detail. 

A quick word on inviting students: when you create your class (classroom.google.com), each class has a unique code on the left. Instead of searching through the Student stream directory, simply project this code in your classroom (or write it up on the board) and have them go to classroom.google.com, hit the + sign in upper right, choose Join and enter in your class code. Each class you set up with have a different code. I'd suggest setting up a new class for each period, but that's because I'm a highly unorganized person and the more steps I can take toward being pseudo-systemized, the better. 

Chromebooks: coming to a classroom near you

With the soon-to-be rollout of Chromebooks in the carts (thank you Sheila and family for making the high school your residence over the weekend to get everything ready!), here are some great resources to better acquaint yourself if you are new to the devices:

What makes a Chromebook so special? 

Also, we are looking forward to the after-school overview sessions of Drive, Calendar and Chromebooks December 1st and 2nd. Be sure to reply Yes/No/Maybe to the invite that was sent out last week. 

Infuse Learning for formative (and summative) assessments - easy and free. And good, too...

I have mentioned Infuse Learning in a former entry, but wanted to call out the Build Quiz feature.

You can use Infuse Learning for simple classroom Q&A for instant results, or build your own quizzes with multiple question-type options.

Again, students do not need to log in to create an account. They simply go to student.infuselearing.com and enter the classroom code in the upper left corner of your teacher page.

Here’s a pretty good/quick tutorial on the capabilities of this easy-to-use teacher and student interface

Saf(er) YouTube for your classroom

Sounds like some teachers would love to use YouTube in class, but fear (or are annoyed by) the pop-up ads and trailers: a completely valid concern.

Enter AdBlock Plus.

This is a Chrome Extension (meaning it will rest on your Chrome browser search bar with a little ABP stop sign icon), and pretty much do what it says: block ads. You can also use this to block ads from your Facebook feed and sidebar.

This may kick your YouTube over to safety mode, which will disallow some of the videos that are actually safe. To turn safety mode off in YouTube, just scroll down to any YouTube page and find the Safety radio button and click Off.

Turning on 'Kid Mode' on your classroom iPads

Keep students focused on the app at had by engaging ‘Guided Access’ on their iPads. This allows you to control the time they need to spend on the app, or have it passcode locked so that they can’t leave the app and wander onto another app that may look more interesting (also know as shiny-object syndrome).

Go into Settings (General Settings) then Accessibility then scroll down a bit to Guided Access and select. Slide the button over to ‘On’ and you’ll be prompted with a variety of options. You can choose a passcode in order to allow them to leave the app (not recommended as iPads are shared and passcodes are not) or set the sound for when the Guided Access time is up. You can also turn on Accessibility Shortcut, which will display this information when you activate Guided Access from any app.

Now, start an app. Once in the app, triple-click the Home button on the iPad (in a rather gingerly fashion). A menu will pop at the bottom with timer and passcode options. Set the time limit and you’re good-to-go.

Why blog? Reasons you may want to try one on for your classroom

As you may know, I've used Kidblogs, Edublogs, and now Google Blogger (the one you are currently viewing). Set up is easy and students and teachers can begin posting immediately. I like Blogger as it's yet another Google product that is easy to use and allows students (and teachers) to easily access through existing Drive. In Blogger, you can also close the group so it's not searchable on the internet, nor accessible to those without permissions. Pretty slick. It’s a great way to start teaching (or solidify) digital citizenship and internet safety skills in a safe, closed environment.

But that’s the boring part.

The cool reasons:

1. You can post your lessons, assignments, project parameters/deadlines and students always have a place to go to find that information.
2. You can communicate with students that might not otherwise speak up in class. Example: post a video and grade students based on their discussions/posts/comments.
3. Students can use the blog to start their writing process, brainstorming with their classmates.
4. Require students to use proper English, punctuation and actual words (‘you’ not ‘U’; ‘for’ not ’4′).

I love this quote from Ms. Yollis (and the rest of her post here):

The inspiration for the blog came from my feelings about Open House. I always love that night because it brings parents and their children together to share about what they are learning. Parents are always so excited and the students so proud to share. Having the classroom blog is like having Open House all year long. Students share what they are learning and then return to comment. Parents have regular opportunities to participate in the learning through commenting.

Her classroom blog: http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/

Please let us know if you have a classroom blog, which site you use, and how students use it!

A note on Evernote - organizing and e-portfolio creation

One of the best organizing pieces of software (magic) is Evernote. It’s a download for Mac or PC, but also an app. The software and app (Chrome too) allows you to organize your notes, subjects, students, and classes. You can create Notebooks and then create Notes within those Notebooks. The Evernote Web Clipper is an extension that allows you to, well, clip from the web. The widget rests on your bookmark bar (works the best in Chrome) and allows you to highlight text or the entire page and save to any Notebook, create tags for more efficient filing, and share. It’s really pretty rad.

Another use for Evernote? Student e-portfolios! Students can create an account and save their best work! Scan pictures of art projects, save their research papers, scan documents, organize, and share.

Here are some more creative ways to use this powerful (and free) bit of magic for Stephens Schools in Georgia:

http://www.stephens.k12.ga.us/apps 

Digital collaboration with Padlet, Glogster EDU, and Blendspace

More made up words for new apps...

But these are pretty cool, so they match up to their groovy names nicely.

Reading.org does a really nice overview of Padlet  (formerly Wallwisher) in the classroom; if you have time to read it, please do. Basically, Padlet is a virtual board with sticky notes that can be easily moved, shared and embedded.  Students can pull in text, images, and video to create their project. Teachers can also use this to share resources with students, and privacy settings make it a safe place for feedback and post moderation. Yes – Padlet is available in Chrome Apps

Here are 5 swell ways to use Padlet (from Education World) [book reviews, group thank you wall, topic summary, open Q&A wall, opinion forum]

More ideas from Guilford Schools on using digital storyboards like Glogster EDU and Padlet

Glogster EDU is similar to Padlet in that it’s also a digital whiteboard. Students and teachers can create Glogs and bring digital resources like video, text, with fun backgrounds, options, all with ability to collaborate within teams and share your finished project. Glogster has a digital library to use for images or ideas and inspiration. iPad app available.

Another contender is Blendspace. Another interactive digital sharing board, this was formerly called EdCanvas. Again, free and up and running in 5 minutes and on your way to creative interactive lessons.  Basically, an easy way to blend some digital content with your lesson, including quizzes and videos alongside your lessons. This app plays nicely with Chrome and is available in the Chrome App store. Review from a fanatic here!

Think of all three as a big digital tagboard for students and teachers to create and share  projects and lessons.  Students can present these, or turn them in digitally too, saving them to their student folder on your Google Drive (yes, we WILL have training on that too:)

Formative assessment tools

Formative assessment. Yawn.

However, many tools make this a (dare I say) fun mid-quarter activity.

One very easy, quick assessment tool that requires no set up is Infuse Learning. This is a site that a teacher logs into and students log into the student site. Students enter the teacher code located in the top left corner and you’re good to go. It’s basically that easy. Questions aren’t sent to the student’s device; rather, this tool is used for those quick, did-you-get-it assessments. Teachers can choose a variety of question types (even Draw the answer) and responses are sent to the teachers site, not shared with the class.

Another easy set up is Poll Everywhere. This app turns any device into a response system.

Socrative allows you to create tests, quizzes, or quick questions and exit tickets (great for displaying on Promethean board) to gauge student understanding of the immediate material being discussed, or you can also create more comprehensive quizzes. It also provides full reporting on individual student results, able to be downloaded to .xls or shared.

Geddit From the Edudemic review: “Have you ever asked students for a show of hands to assess their understanding of a concept, and then realized the obvious flaw in such a process – that the student who does not want to be embarrassed will raise his hand despite not understanding anything.” Geddit provides real-time data from students in a 1:1 classroom. This can be any web device. Once students sign up, you can generate a code that they enter in order to become a member of your class.

Kahoot is a gameshow-type app that allows you to assess learning in a gameshow format. Really. Just create an account, create your quizzes (or find other quizzes created by other Kahootians (not a real word) that follows your same subject matter. Then, students just go to kahoot.it, enter in a code you generate, and, “Voila!”  The gameshow is up and running. Questions are displayed on your computer (and, hopefully, board). From my understanding, many teachers are already using this software – be sure to share your successes/failures in using Kahoot!

Google Forms – I know, I know- it sounds downright odious and awful. In reality, Google Forms is perhaps the most life-changing app in Google Drive. Forms allows you to create your own assessment questions, quickly and easily. Answers are then automatically synced to Google Sheets to analyze all the collected data. I will have an a.m. training on this mind-blowing app very soon.

That’s the short list of ways to assess where your students are landing with their learning. Please use this forum to share any successes or failures you have experienced in using different apps and software for formative assessments.

Capturing short video for lecture or class projects

What fun to turn the table (turn the desk?) and allow your student to ‘teach’ a lesson using intuitive video-capture software.

One great tool to capture screenshots, screencasts and quick video is Snagit, an app and extension in (YES!) Google Chrome. Get it here. This is a free download and allows you to capture images from your desktop, record activity on your desktop, and easily share with the rest of the interested world. And the best part is that videos are saved to your Google Drive!

Some ways to use:

Get students to share their feedback on a story or project. This is great practice as it also them to think about their ‘speech’, map out what they are going to say, and deliver it to an authentic audience such as a class blog.

Use Snagit to capture algebraic (or other) equations as you write them out. This allows student to watch the steps many times in an asynchronous setting.

Get students to teach something to their peers. Assign a chapter or character to study and have students capture a short video of themselves, talking about the material.

Have them record what they’ve learned – students can share videos in class or upload to a class blog or YouTube channel.

Embed their video into their digital project (think Glogster or Padlet – more on that later).

Other really easy, fun capture software is Screenr and Screencast-0-matic. Both are great to record your lecture, up to 15 minutes for Screencast.  Let us know if you’ve used video capture software in the past and successes/failures and other feedback or additional resources.