We're turning the corner into August and I know that this will be the last "quiet" week around BMS. Looking back over the past six weeks of TECHsploring, I have to say that I'm proud of us! I've seen lots of insightful tweets, read a variety of educational articles from links you've found, and enjoyed the comaraderie we've shared over the summer months. A special kudos to the Lower School teachers: you all have been doing an especially great job with your iPad explorations led by Lanette--well done!!
This week, we'd like you to explore Twitter chats. A Twitter chat is when a group of people get together at a specific date/time online and have a conversation around a pre-selected topic. For example, one of the most popular Twitter chats is #edchat--a chat for educators. #Edchat occurs every Tuesday at 7pm EST (participants could come from anywhere in the world, so noting the time zone is important!). On Tuesday at 7pm, you can search Twitter for #edchat and see the discussion unfold. Participating is easy--just add #edchat anywhere in your tweet and everyone who is following that hashtag search will see your tweets--even people you don't follow/don't follow you! It might seem a little overwhelming as the tweets just pour in from hundreds of educators, but stick with it. You don't have to read every tweet, and you can reply to anyone at any time. You could also just throw your ideas into the ring and see who replies. You can also save the hashtag search to access it more easily for future chats. It is fast-paced fun!
#Edchat is only one example. Educators make up a huge piece of the Twitter population and they have made chats for just about every group, like #apbio, #artsed, #scichat, #titletalk (for librarians), #engchat, #1stchat (1st grade), #2ndchat (2nd grade), (There is a grade level chat for every grade from Kindergarten-6th), #mathchat, #historychat, #isedchat (Independent School Educators Chat), #midleved (for MS teachers), and even #iPadchat...just to name a few!
One of the educators I follow on Twitter: @cybraryman has two wonderful Twitter chat resources:
click here to learn more about participating in a Twitter chat and click here to see the list of educational Twitter chats and when they "meet."
Twitter chats are a terrific way to connect with other educators and have meaningful discussions/share ideas. You'll notice that long after a chat, people will still tweet links or ideas using the chat hashtag so that everyone who participates in the chat can see it! So, let's try to branch out from our BMS community this week and jump into a Twitter chat.
*Disclaimer: Twitter chats are far more active during the school year, as you would imagine, so I'm not sure which ones are "meeting" this week. Also, some chat groups got started and then lost steam, so they may not be as active as they once were--but you could be the one to get them going again!
I'll be tweeting info about any chats I come across and I hope that you'll take an hour to participate in one yourself. You'll be glad you did!
Monday, July 30, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Week 6: TED Ed
I hope this post finds you sitting someplace cool!
This week's tool to explore is TED Ed. Many of us are familiar with (and fans of!) of the popular TED talks online, and now, TED has expanded upon that thinking to bring us the TED Ed platform! This is a really exciting tool for two reasons: 1. TED is now pairing master teachers with master animators to bring their lessons to life as animated TED talks (great for showing to students or for learning something new!) and 2. TED has developed a tool by which you can make any video on YouTube into an interactive "flipped" lesson.
A "flipped" lesson is one in which the traditional "teaching" or introducing new skills/ideas is done outside the classroom, usually with the help of a teacher-created or recommended video and the "problem-solving" or working through concepts is done during class time. Many of us tried flipping our lessons last year with great success. Even if you have never "flipped," I'm sure that you can imagine the way that this method can change the way that students learn and reinvent class time.
With TED Ed's platform, you can take an existing YouTube video, either one that you've recorded and uploaded on your own or one that already exists on YouTube, and add interactivity to it to better engage your students. The tool is very user-friendly for both students and teachers and ensures that students are engaging with the video you have asked them to watch.
I've made a practice flipped lesson using the TED Ed platform for you to try. So, pretend that you are all my students in TECHsploration 101 and I've asked you to watch this video for homework. Then, you should answer the questions and explore the resources provided with the video. To try the lesson, click here. The video is a TED talk given by an AP Biology teacher who turns his class into a video game. Inspiring!
One note: you will need to create an account on TED Ed in order to complete my lesson and/or make one of your own.
After you complete my lesson, try making one of your own. Then, tweet us the link so we can try it! If you aren't feeling that adventurous, you can try your hand at some of the existing TED Ed lessons--I'm sure you'll learn something new.
As always, have fun and keep TECHsploring!
Don't forget to check in on Edmodo to see what's new with your summer reading group. There's an #isedchat on Twitter this Thursday at 9pm on Now You See It. You should stop in if you can!
Keep this in mind as you use Google Forms
It was recently brought to my attention that it is a violation of Google's Terms of Service to collect any personal information using Google Forms. This includes usernames, passwords and email addresses. Basically, Google prohibits you from asking people to provide you with a username, password or email address on a Google Form. If a Google bot finds that you are in violation of the terms, your form will be locked and all your data frozen. The only way to get it back is to post to a public Google forum to ask for assistance.
You can read CoolCatTeacher's blog post about it here.
The good news is that, as Google Apps for Education users, we don't really have any need to collect personal information from anyone at BMS using a form we have created. Google Apps for Education users have the option, when they create a form, of automatically collecting the person's username and email address, thereby restricting the form to only BMS users. This will work well in nearly all scenarios with students, faculty and staff, as they all have BMS accounts and can sign in to complete your form. Any other questions that you may ask people to answer, such as: voting on a topic, taking a quiz, or signing up for an activity are perfectly acceptable ways of using Google Forms.
The only time that you should be mindful of this rule is if you are collecting information from people outside of BMS using a Google Form, as you will not be able to automatically capture their email addresses. Just be sure not to ask them for their email address in the form and you should be in the clear.
If you have any questions, just ask...you can post a comment below.
You can read CoolCatTeacher's blog post about it here.
The good news is that, as Google Apps for Education users, we don't really have any need to collect personal information from anyone at BMS using a form we have created. Google Apps for Education users have the option, when they create a form, of automatically collecting the person's username and email address, thereby restricting the form to only BMS users. This will work well in nearly all scenarios with students, faculty and staff, as they all have BMS accounts and can sign in to complete your form. Any other questions that you may ask people to answer, such as: voting on a topic, taking a quiz, or signing up for an activity are perfectly acceptable ways of using Google Forms.
The only time that you should be mindful of this rule is if you are collecting information from people outside of BMS using a Google Form, as you will not be able to automatically capture their email addresses. Just be sure not to ask them for their email address in the form and you should be in the clear.
If you have any questions, just ask...you can post a comment below.
Unfortunate news about the Aviary suite
We all seemed to be having so much fun with Aviary this past week, so I am saddened to report that Aviary will cease support for its suite of tools on September 15, 2012. Aviary has decided to shift its focus to its most popular tool: the photo editor. In this shift, Aviary will now offer its photo editor to developers to include or embed in their apps and/or web pages.
You can continue to play with the whole Aviary suite for the rest of the summer, but don't forget to export/download anything you'd like to keep before September 15th!
It looks like, for the time being, we will have to continue to use Garageband (Mac) or Audacity (PC) for our sound editing. Though they are not "cloud" applications, they are still good tools.
For video editing, again, we have non-cloud tools: iMovie (Mac) or Windows Movie Maker (PC). For simple editing, you might also try out YouTube's editing tools. We each have a YouTube account as part of our Google Apps for Education accounts; you can post videos there make them available only to your students with the privacy settings. You can use YouTube's basic video editor to edit the videos as you post them.
Though I'm disappointed that Aviary has decided to cease support of most of its media editing tools, there are alternatives that offer much of the same (if not more) functionality. We have to remember that the web and the tools/apps/sites available on it are always in a state of flux. Things can change and disappear and we don't have control over them. The silver lining is that, in this constant state of flux, new tools/apps/sites are cropping up every minute. The next great one could happen at any moment--keep your eyes open!
You can continue to play with the whole Aviary suite for the rest of the summer, but don't forget to export/download anything you'd like to keep before September 15th!
It looks like, for the time being, we will have to continue to use Garageband (Mac) or Audacity (PC) for our sound editing. Though they are not "cloud" applications, they are still good tools.
For video editing, again, we have non-cloud tools: iMovie (Mac) or Windows Movie Maker (PC). For simple editing, you might also try out YouTube's editing tools. We each have a YouTube account as part of our Google Apps for Education accounts; you can post videos there make them available only to your students with the privacy settings. You can use YouTube's basic video editor to edit the videos as you post them.
Though I'm disappointed that Aviary has decided to cease support of most of its media editing tools, there are alternatives that offer much of the same (if not more) functionality. We have to remember that the web and the tools/apps/sites available on it are always in a state of flux. Things can change and disappear and we don't have control over them. The silver lining is that, in this constant state of flux, new tools/apps/sites are cropping up every minute. The next great one could happen at any moment--keep your eyes open!
Monday, July 16, 2012
Week 5: Aviary Suite
It's hard to believe that we are already halfway through our summer TECHsplorations, and that means, halfway through our summer! Hope you are making the most of yours!
This week's tool is actually a whole suite of applications called the advanced Aviary Suite. Aviary integrates with, you guessed it, our Google Apps for Education accounts, making it easy to get started. Either go to Aviary's website and click "log in with a Google account" or just click "More" in the black bar at the top of your email inbox and choose "Aviary."
Aviary has tools to edit all sorts of multimedia directly in your web browser and store it all in the cloud. You can enhance photos, compose sound tracks, make movies and more!
Try using some of your best summer footage or photos to play around with these tools, and tweet us your best results. Also, tweet us ideas for how you can use this in the classroom or personally. You can also tweet your triumphs and pitfalls to share with others. Additionally, you can share your creations with your colleagues or students directly through Google Drive.
We can't wait to see what you'll create! Have fun!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Week 4: Blogger
So this week's tool is none other than...Blogger (which is the tool that was used to create the very site you are reading!). Though there are many wonderful blogging applications on the web, Blogger is one of the most feature-rich and straightforward, and even better, it's a part of our Google Apps for Education suite (do you see a TECHsploration theme here?), so there is no need to sign up for anything new. The other nice thing about Blogger is that it integrates with the other Google Apps for Education, so you can add "editors" or "posters" to my blog from your BMS address list, and you can make blogs that are totally private to everyone except the people you designate (again, drawing from the address list). You could even make blogs that are viewable only to users with a BMS email address.
This tool could have many applications in the classroom, such as an on-going dialogue with students, a way to share ideas with a group or a way to connect with another school. You might make a blog with all the teachers in your grade or department or committee. If you were with us back in our first year with TECHsplorations, you may have even made a Blogger blog to document your TECHsploring efforts!
At any rate, this week, take a closer look at all that Blogger can do and tweet us some ideas that you have for using this tool. I know that several of you are already using a blog in some way--tweet that out to us! To get to your Blogger account area, just click the "More" button on the black bar across the top of your email inbox, and choose "Blogger" or go to Blogger's website and sign in with your full BMS email address and password. If you get stuck, try reading Blogger's support site.
As always, have fun!
This tool could have many applications in the classroom, such as an on-going dialogue with students, a way to share ideas with a group or a way to connect with another school. You might make a blog with all the teachers in your grade or department or committee. If you were with us back in our first year with TECHsplorations, you may have even made a Blogger blog to document your TECHsploring efforts!
At any rate, this week, take a closer look at all that Blogger can do and tweet us some ideas that you have for using this tool. I know that several of you are already using a blog in some way--tweet that out to us! To get to your Blogger account area, just click the "More" button on the black bar across the top of your email inbox, and choose "Blogger" or go to Blogger's website and sign in with your full BMS email address and password. If you get stuck, try reading Blogger's support site.
As always, have fun!
Monday, July 2, 2012
Week 3: Google Forms
I hope that you are reading this post from the comfort of your air-conditioned, fully-powered home! As many of you know, BMS is still without power. What a storm that was!
The tool to explore this week is one of my favorites: Google Forms. You may have seen Google Forms as you explored last week's tool, Google Drive. Google Forms are a quick and easy (and fun!) way to collect information from people in an organized manner. It functions much like SurveyMonkey.
First, you create a form for people to complete. You can do this by going to Google Drive, clicking the red "Create" button, and then choosing "Form." You can add different types of questions to solicit different types of information, such as multiple choice, select multiple options from a list, or even longer paragraph spaces for longer answers. You can also choose the "theme" for your form to make it match the content you are collecting. Then, you can share your form with others by emailing them the "live" link (don't email them the link to the editing area--they won't be able to complete the form that way). You can also embed the form within a website, as I've done below, or tweet the link to the form! The best part about Google Forms is that when you make a form, Google automatically creates a corresponding spreadsheet that is automatically populated with people's answers as they complete your form. So you can see everyone's responses in an organized grid!
So, give it a try! Tweet your forms and see who responds. You can also set them up to automatically capture the responders BMS email/username so that you know who is completing the form.
If you get stuck, try reading Google's Form Help Site. Tweet or email us your forms, and also tweet ideas you have about how to use this tool in your classroom. There are so many possible applications!
Have fun, stay cool, and complete my form!
The tool to explore this week is one of my favorites: Google Forms. You may have seen Google Forms as you explored last week's tool, Google Drive. Google Forms are a quick and easy (and fun!) way to collect information from people in an organized manner. It functions much like SurveyMonkey.
First, you create a form for people to complete. You can do this by going to Google Drive, clicking the red "Create" button, and then choosing "Form." You can add different types of questions to solicit different types of information, such as multiple choice, select multiple options from a list, or even longer paragraph spaces for longer answers. You can also choose the "theme" for your form to make it match the content you are collecting. Then, you can share your form with others by emailing them the "live" link (don't email them the link to the editing area--they won't be able to complete the form that way). You can also embed the form within a website, as I've done below, or tweet the link to the form! The best part about Google Forms is that when you make a form, Google automatically creates a corresponding spreadsheet that is automatically populated with people's answers as they complete your form. So you can see everyone's responses in an organized grid!
So, give it a try! Tweet your forms and see who responds. You can also set them up to automatically capture the responders BMS email/username so that you know who is completing the form.
If you get stuck, try reading Google's Form Help Site. Tweet or email us your forms, and also tweet ideas you have about how to use this tool in your classroom. There are so many possible applications!
Have fun, stay cool, and complete my form!
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