Showing posts with label Google Apps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google Apps. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Website Wednesday



Ten Reflective Questions to Ask at the End of Class
Provides some basic observations about reflection along with 10 reflective prompt questions you can use with your students or for yourself. Great questions for wrapping up the day, a project or a lesson.
    What educators should know about the human brain..
    Nice collection of articles and infographics on the human brain and the impact in learning.
      5 Free Tools for Creating Whiteboard Videos
      These whiteboard video creation tools are great for those exploring or working with the Flipped Classroom. They are also a great way to create concept videos to share with parents and students as homework helpers. Tool recommendations from FreeTech4Teachers.
        5 Ways to Make Professional Looking Google Documents | Teacher Tech
        This post by Alice Keeler focuses on tips to make you Google documents look more professional. Those tips include invisible tables, fonts, headers, painter, and graphics.
          Google Tools for Science & Math
          Includes Chrome Extensions, Google Doc Add-ons, Graphing & Calculators, and Google Drive Apps connected to Science and Math

          Wednesday, March 25, 2015

          10 Features of Google Keep

          I am a Post-it© note fiend.  I use them for reminders, phone messages and quotes for inspiration.  When Stickies showed up on the Mac computer, I started using those to remember key information.  The sad thing about Stickies is you can't access them from any other computer or device.  As a result, I stopped using them and resorted back to the paper Post-it© notes, but the sticky only lasts so long, especially if you move them frequently.

          Last summer, I came upon a new tool called Google Keep.  I liked it better than stickies because I could access them on any computer, but the features were limited and I couldn't access them on my Apple devices.  Just this week I discovered that Google Keep has an Apple app and I've been taking a fresh look at this tool.  Here's what I like about this tool:

          1.  It's free!  Who doesn't love free resources?

          2.  It's tied to your Google account.  You know what that means?  No additional username and password to remember!  Because we are a GAFE district, students can also use this tool for reminders, notes and checklists.  This becomes the perfect digital agenda for students.

          3.  Color!!!!  I'm all for using a variety of color!  Google Keep allows you to change the color of your notes.  I like to use this as a means of organizing my notes.  For example, red notes relate to my website, green ones are informational reminders, and teal notes relate to the Intel Courses.  Students could use different colors for different classes to help them stay organized.

          4.  You can change notes from a regular note to a checklist with one click.  This is great for projects or daily to-dos, especially for those of us who like to see what we've accomplished and what is left to complete.

          5.  You can add reminders on your notes by clicking the reminder icon (finger with a string tied on it).  Customize your desired date and time on your reminder and you are all set to receive notification reminders.  No more missed deadlines!

          6.  With a simple drag & drop action, you can rearrange your notes and put them in any order that works for you.

          7.  You can search and filter your notes by words, color, sharing, lists, images, and more.

          8.  You can add images and websites to your notes.  This would be great for collecting images and websites for a specific lesson, unit or project.  You could also take a photo at a workshop of a key slide or information being presented and add it to a note.  Students could take a photo of the work for the week if their teacher posts it in the classroom.  This feature would also help students keep track of online photo locations for images they use on a class project.

          9.  You can share notes with other people by clicking on the share icon.  They will receive an email message with a link to the note.  This would be great for sharing project responsibilities or sending out assignments to students.

          10.  There is an app!  Android users have always had a Google Keep app option for their devices, but until recently Apple users had to just use the Chrome web browser on their devices.  Now you can see you notes and receive notifications on the go by installing GoKeep.  App Drawbacks - too many ads and no search or filter option!  Hopefully that will be an upcoming update.  There is an alternative app option called TurboNote for Google Keep.  You still have ads at the bottom of the screen, but they are not popping up over the top of your notes.

          Some additional tidbits:
          • You can download the Google Keep app onto your computer from the Chrome Web Store.
          • There is a Google Keep extension - Category Tabs for Google Keep - that allows you to assign specific categories to your note colors.  However, there are some glitches with filtering the colors.
          • This app runs offline!
          Check out this video for a quick visual tour of this tool!

          Website Wednesday



          This blog post by Kasey Bell focuses on using Google Maps, Street View and Google Earth.

          http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/blogs/edutopia-finley-53ways-check-for-understanding.pdf
          53 ideas for checking student understanding.

          The Key Differences Between Summative And Formative Assessments | Edudemic
          This short article from Edudemic provides a simple definition between summative and formative assessments. They have also included a handy infographic for those of us who are visual learners.

          10 edu-books to inspire and stimulate
          Looking for a book to help you go to the next level as an educator? Matt Miller, author of Ditch the Textbook, offers his top ten list.
            75 Practical Ed Tech Tips Videos
            Educational 'how-to' videos created by Richard Byrne, FreeTech4Teachers, covering a variety of topics such as storyboarding, blogging tools and tips, audio recording tools and more.  (See playlist below)


              Wednesday, December 17, 2014

              Website Wednesday


              • For all those curiosity questions, Wonderopolis will meet your need. Check out the Wonder of
                the Day or explore various wonders from the category listings. Have a specific wonder? Then go to What are You Wondering and type in your question. Great tool for extended learning for learners of all ages!

              • Have a student interested in creating and recording their own music. Throw them at Soundtrap,
                an online music creator. You can connect your own instruments or use the software instruments to create your song recording. Use your computer mic to record your lyrics too. Soundtrap can be used on a variety of devices - Apple, Anrdoid, Linux, Windows and Chromebooks.


              Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.