Education in the Cloud with Web 2.0 tools

Create classroom or competition polls with Mentimeter

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:12:36 PST

The dream of most technology savvy teacher have a dream that some day they can use those awesome and easy to use "Clickers" in their classrooms. I am jealous of anybody who has them and want to congratulate them. However, there are other alternatives to having clickers to get instant feedback from your students. One of them that my good friend Matt Runyon has been blogging about is Socrative, which I am a huge fan of and hope that company succeeds, because it saves a bunch of hardware costs.

While not as advanced and with as many options as Socrative and "Clickers" there is yet another awesome instant response system available for free call "Mentimeter."

What can you do with Mentimeter?

You can easily create polls and surveys that visibly show the results to your classroom.
You can create multiple choice questions with many choices.
Questions can be answered with any mobile device if it has internet capabilities.
No registration is required.

What are some disadvantages of Mentimeter?

So far it only allows for multiple choice, but that really is OK because the site is set up as a polling site.
Some sites, for money allow you to just text the answer. This site doesn't, but then those other sites charge money and Mentimeter does not.

Here is an example of what the public would see as voting occurred. Why don't you give it a test try by typing in the address at the bottom of the page and see the results add up. You can also get there quicker at this moment by clicking the link to my poll. http://vot.rs/11540 . It doesn't matter what you answer, just have fun watching the poll.

Tutorial

1. Go to www.mentimeter.com

2. Right away you get to type in your question.

3. Type in your different choices and answers.

4. Choose how you want your graph to visually look to your audience.

5. Off to your right hand side you will see a "To presentation" button. Click it.

6. Give your audience/students the address at the bottom of your graph.

7. Off to the right hand side you will see four faded icons. "Edit" allows you to edit your poll. The "Fullscreen" icon will display to your audience just the graph and make it look a little less than a website and more like a presentation.

8. The "Share" button will will give you an link to your poll and presentation. You can also get your embed code so that you can embed your results inside of your blog or website like I did at the top.

9. The "Settings" button will allow you to "reset" your poll. This is nice for those planning on using it in class as you can reset the results for each class period of the day. You can also use the "Close Poll" option to finish the poll.

10. When your audience/students go to the link that you provided them they will chose an answer and then click the "Submit" answer button.

11. I tested the ability to take the quiz again and you can see that it wouldn't let me do so.

12. Here is what the presentation view would look like. The nice thing is that you don't have to refresh your screen to see the results. They are live and in real time. It is awesome. Good luck and have fun using Mentimeter.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Print Selection

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:26:35 PST

About a month ago I was asked how to do a "Print Selection" inside of Google Chrome. You know, the ability to print just a specific paragraph or sentence out of the whole online artical that you are reading. So going out and doing some research, I came across "Print Friendly," which is a nice little Google Chrome extension that allows you to cut out the parts of an artical. This extension is great for getting rid of ads and other unwanted material from the artical that you are reading. Even though "Print Friendly" is nice, it can take some time deleting all of the stuff you don't want, instead of just highlighting and printing the parts that you do want. I even came across another extension called the "IE Multi Tabs" which converts the page you are looking to an internet explorer page. Once viewed in "IE Multi Tabs" you can then highlight what you want, right click on the selection and then print it off. Even though this is easy to do, I am a big fan of making life even easier.

Well thanks to reader Yuri Dolgov, I know another way that you can just print the selection of text that you do want. Believe it or not, it is called the "Print Selection" extension. I can't believe I didn't see this extension the first time I went around looking.

Here is how you go about installing and using the "Print Selection" extension.

Tutorial

1. Make sure you are in the Google Chrome browser.

2. Click on the "wrench" icon.

3. Choose the "Options" option.

4. Click the "Extensions" tab under the "Options" section found on the left side.

5. Click the "Get more extensions" link.

6. In the search box type in "Print Selection," and then hit enter.

. Find the "Print Selection" extension and then click the "Add to Chrome" button.

8. A box will pop up, click the "Install" button.

9. Once it is installed, just go to a website, highlight the text, and then right click on the text and you should see a "Print Selection" option. Click the option and that will take you to the standard Google Chrome print screen.

Well happy printing and enjoy using Google Chrome.

Create a virtual world of educational ideas using Edistorm's Sticky Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:54:57 PST

There are many websites that have virtual sticky notes that can help your students and class brainstorm and share ideas with their classmates. Edistorm has done a fantastic job, going the extra mile to make virtual sticky notes even more awesome.

What are some advantages of using Edistorm?

Students can vote on ideas.
Easily shared with others.
Live chat while brainstorming.
You can add video and images to your sticky notes.
Many templates to choose from.
You can export your document to PDF and get reports.

What are some disadvantages to the Edistorm?

I didn't find a "Zoom" out option and because the size of your sticky board I think that it would be nice to have.

Here is an introduction to the site via Youtube.

Tutorial

1. Go to www.edistorm.com

2. Click on the "Sign Up" link at the top if you are new or the "Login" button.

3. If you are just registering, fill in the information and then click the "Sign Up" button.

4. Once you are signed up, click the "Create New Storm" button.

5. Give your storm a name, choose a template to work with, decide how many votes each student will get for the choices that will be made, and then give your "Storm" a description.

6. There are many templates to choose from. Select the one that works best for your project you are working on.

7. You can send an email out to anybody you want to invite to your "Storm," but since most students don't have email, just give them the link to your storm. Also you can use URL shorteners that are more user friendly and easier to type. Click the "Create" button to get started.

8. To the left you will see your sticky notes and colors. Just start typing and then click the "Add Idea" button. You can change to color of the note as well by clicking the colored squares. Remember that your students will also be allowed to create their own sticky notes as you discuss your project.

9. You can also click the "Image" icon or the "Movie" icon so that you can upload images or link to Youtube videos.

10. Just past the Youtube URL into the Movie box and click the "Add Video" button.

11. Now your whole plan is bigger than your monitor so to the right of your screen you will see the whole plan. Just drag the square around to the section that you want to detail.

12. Dow at the bottom left you will see your "Legend." Just click on each word of the legend and you will be able to change the color name to any name that you want. I did that for the color yellow, which I named "Sports."

13. If you want to share your sticky note board now you can click the "Invite Users" button.

14. You can change the email message here, add email addresses to the list, or get your "Storm's" URL.

15. At the bottom right of your screen you can also open up a chat window and virtually discuss the notes together.

16. This is kind of what the sticky notes look like. You and your students can vote on the ideas by either dragging the "green dots" onto a sticky note or you can just click the box with the number in it.

17. On your sticky note you can click the "Comment" button and comment on each other's posts.

18. One of the nice things you can do with Edistorm is print off and save your "Storm." Just click the "Reports" link at the bottom left corner of the program and you can then choose which type of report you would like.

That is all there is to using Edistorm. Here is my link so that you can play with my "Storm" and give it a try.

http://www.edistorm.com/key/aa2b9be68817

Create Educational Interactive Timelines with TimeRime

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:35:24 PST

How cool would it be for History, Language Arts, Art and Science teachers to have their students create a timeline that can be both informative and interactive. TimeRime allows for this to occur in the 21st century skills classroom.

Here is an example:

What are the advantages of using TimeRime?

You can embed your timeline in a blog or webpage.
You can add text, video, and images to the time line.
It can have tons of events that span a large time frame.

Tutorial

1. Go to www.timerime.com

2. Click the "Login or register" button at the top.

3. Fill in the registration for or enter your registered information. If you are just registering, note that you will need to confirm your email address.

4. Once you are logged in click the "Make a new timeline" button.

5. Fill in the form with your information about your future timeline. Make sure you decide whether you want the timeline to be public or private. When you are done, click the "Save" button.

6. Now add the information for your first event. To make your timeline more interactive add an image to it by clicking the "Add Image" button.

7. Here is where you can upload your photos that are relevant to the subject. Once your picture or pictures are uploaded click the "X" button to close the screen.

8. Add even more interactivity by adding a Youtube video to your timeline. Once you click the "Youtube" button, you will see a new popup box. Here is where you will paste your Youtube embed code. Click the "Insert" button when you are done.

9. Once you are done adding all of your content then click the "Save and new" button which will open up a new dialogue box so that you can add your next event. After you have entered all of your events click the "Save" button on the last even form.

10. Your timeline will now show up and look something like the example I embedded into this blog post. To embed your blog, just click the "< >" symbol above your timeline. This is the universal symbol for HTML code.

11. Choose some of the "Sizes" options and then click the "Generate code." Click on the code and it will highlight. Right click and copy and then paste it into your blog or website.

Well that is all there is to using Timerime and all of that is for free, so enjoy your experience.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Boomerang extension

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:31:42 PST

There are certain emails that I need to send out as reminders to some of my staff and sometimes I forget to send them. Not that they really want to read all that I send anyway, but some of my emails are important; of course I believe that they are all important. Also there are times that I want to send an email out, but know that if I send it too early, the recipient might forget and when I decide to wait to send it out, I forget. So what is the solution? Microsoft Outlook allowed the user to assign a date as to when a particular message would be sent. I looked all over Googles help sites and couldn't find any indication that they were working on a Gmail alternative. Therefore I turned to Chrome Extensions to see if I could find a solution and the result was favorable.

Today I would like to high light an excellent Google Chrome extension called: Boomerang.

What is Boomerang?

Boomerang allows you to pick a date and time to send messages. It is very simple to use. It adds an extra button to your Gmail that says Boomerang. Click on it and it will ask you when you would like the message sent, date and time.
This extension also allows you to receive a message back if you don't hear a response from somebody after an allocated time frame.

Tutorial

1. Make sure you are in the Google Chrome browser.

2. Click on the "wrench" icon.

3. Choose the "Options" option.

4. Click the "Extensions" tab under the "Options" section found on the left side.

5. Click the "Get more extensions" link.

6. Type in the search box the word "Boomerang."

7. Click the "Add to Chrome" button next to the "Boomerange for Gmail" extension.

8. Click the "Install" Button.

--*

9. Now you have Boomerang installed.

Tutorial on how to use Boomerang.

1. Click the "Compose" button from within Gmail to compose a new message.

2. You will now see three new features added to your "Compose" message pages.

"Send Later" button
A "Boomerang" drop down menu next to your login/logout at the top right corner.
A check box with a couple of options.

3. The "Send Later" button is the most important and useful to me. It allows you to choose the time at which you would want your message to be sent. You have many options to choose from or you can just manually add a very specific time and date. Once you have chosen, just hit the confirm button. If you send out "Reminder messages" that are always the same and you send them out on regular intervals, then you can click the "Schedule recurring message" option.

4. The "Boomerang" drop down isn't really useful and is more of a sales pitch.

5. The "Boomerang this message" option lets you tell your message to message you if you never heard back from the person you sent your message to. Kind of cool.

6. Well that is all there is to using Boomerang, another useful Chrome extension.

Using Socrative to help students practice writing.

noreply@blogger.com (Matthew R) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:23:32 PST

The Common CORE of academic standards is coming down the pike. Students need to practice their writing skills in all classes in order to meet these new literacy standards. One way to do this is by using Socrative. A teacher can put one short answer question in a quiz and have students take the quiz. The question needs to be one that takes at least a couple of sentences to answer.

We are trying something in our science department. A couple of times a week we'll ask the students a question that takes some writing skill to answer. The question can have something to do with what we have studied that day or it may have something to do with an article or a textbook passage the students may have read. We'll have the students answer the question in Socrative. After the students finish, it is easy to get the results from Socrative and have an electronic record (or print record) of what the students have done.

Here is how it can be done:

1. Log in to Socrative with your e-mail address and password

2. You will need to scroll down and click "Manage Quizzes"

3. I have a quiz already entered ("Bike Pressure Quiz").

4. If you click "Edit Quiz" you can change, add, or delete questions.

6. After saving the quiz, you would click "Start Quiz"

7. Choose the quiz you want the students to take.

8. Click the "Student Paced Quiz" option and make sure the students enter the correct room number (mine is 8371)

9. Your screen will look like this while the students are taking the quiz. There isn't a real need to click the "Live Results" tab since the students are taking a short answer quiz and not a multiple choice.

10. When the students are finished (or when time is up), click "End Activity"

11. You will be given options for your report. If you want to give the students more time, click "Cancel."

12. Your report will be in an Excel spreadsheet. The original report is shown below. You will need to do some tweaking to make it look the way you want.

13. You will need to increase the row height in order to see the entire answer for each student. You may also need to adjust the column width.

14. Here is what a final report for that question may look like:

You can then either save the files in a folder as the students do these, or you can print them out. Happy writing!

Credit to Gregg Lunt for coming up with the idea.

Make typing in links easier for students using URL shorteners.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:28:52 PST

How many of you have seen links like this: https://docs.google.com/a/snowflake.k12.az.us/present/view?id=0AV_Pgq_ZxwvSZGR3d3FxNnRfMjJnN3Jtc2pnaw&hl=en_US

URLs like the example above are extremely long and I have known teachers, administrators and other staff try and have other people type URLs like this in the the address bar. For those who have tried that before, you will know that unless your eyes are perfect, you can type well, and you are close enough to the projector screen or white board to see the whole URL string, this can be a big royal pain and can cause frustration from your students.

It is much better to see something like this:

Google's version: http://goo.gl/FuQhI
Tiny URL's version: http://tinyurl.com/32reason
CiteBites version: http://pages.citebite.com/j1n4m6r6o8pqa
So, geniuses out there came up with a great idea. Lets take the long address/URL and generate shortened links, and I am very grateful to them for these awesome strategies and techniques.

There are three URL shorteners that I use. Each one has a specific feature that I like so I use them as specific situations arrive.

Google URL shortener

I use the Google Url shortener when I use cites like Twitter or Facebook. It make is really easy to track how many times that link was clicked on as well as shortens up my posts.

Tutorial

1. Highlight the URL from the web page that you want to have shortened.

2. Right click on it and click on the "Copy" option.

3. Go to http://goo.gl . If this is the first time using Google URL shortener you will need to log in to a Gmail account.

4. Right click in the box that says "Paste your long URL here:" and then click your "Paste" option, and then click on the "Shorten" button. You will now see a link to the right of the button that is much shorter. Copy it and paste it where you would like.

5. If you so desire you can log in later and see how many people clicked on your link.

TinyURL

I use TinyURL.com when I need my students to type in the address. An example would be for me to display the TinyURL to the class in a lab and they are all typing in that address. I choose TinyURL for this because you can give your URL a name that is easier for them to copy down, like this: http://tinyurl.com/32reason

Tutorial

1. Once again copy the long url address to the blog or website you want your students to go to.

2. Paste the URL into the "Enter a long URL to make tiny:" box. Before click on the "Make TinyURL!" button, also give your URL a specific name. Not it has to be completely unique from what anybody in the world has already done, so if it comes up and says that it is already take, just add the number "1" after it. When you are ready click the "Make TinyURL!" button.

3. This will take you to another page where you can copy the address.

CiteBite

Now CiteBite.com is really cool, because you can give a URL and actually state where on the website you want your students to go, so that they don't have to go hunting for the information. Great time saver! The disadvantage is it doesn't shorten the URL as much as I would like, but if I want my students to go to a specific part of a specific website, then I use CiteBite.com.

Tutorial

1. This time you need to copy and paste two things. First you need a quote from the specific part of the page you want your students to go to. It doesn't have to be long, just unique from everything else on the page. In this case if I want my students to go to the section on Presentation Makers, I would copy the words Presentation Makers.

2. Go to citebite.com and paste the quote into the "Quote" box.

3. Now go back and get your longer address from the website and copy and paste it into the "Source URL" box. Then click the "Make Citebite" button.

4. You can now copy the link and paste it to whomever you want or on the board where your students can copy it to their computer. Again, this link will take my students to the Presentation makers portion of my blog or website.

Please share these tools with your students and staff as they can potentially save you all a bunch of time and frustration. These tips and tricks only take seconds as well.

Educational Videos for Free as well as other Visuals for Education

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:36:28 PST

There are many free sites that will allow you and your students to watch educational videos for free. Youtube is one of my favorites and I have already blogged about Watch, Know, Learn. Here is another place for you to find educational videos, PBS Learning Media.

What is PBS Learning Media?

A website dedicated to bringing educators and their students media resources that can be used in the classroom. Even though this blog will demonstrate access to their videos, this site is chalk full of many different types of resources which include, audio, video, interactive sites, documents and images.

What are some of the advantages over other video sites?

Videos can be found by National Standard, grade level, and subject.
The sorting is great.
Has other resources besides videos. Much of the content comes with links to additional material that can go along with the video.

What are some disadvantages to using the site?

Some of the video quality is low.
They force you to register after viewing three resources.

Tutorial

1. Go to: http://az.pbslearningmedia.org

2. When you first get there you may notice at the top, this message. Go ahead and sign up if you want. I did.

3. Click on the subject for which you want to find a video or some other educational resource.

4. Click on the grade levels to narrow your browsing. The number next to the grade level indicates the number of resources that you can find for any particular resource.

5. You can also be more specific about the subject, media type, resource type, and language. For this tutorial I chose "Earth and Space Science" and "Video." Go ahead and play with the other settings to narrow your results even more.

6. As you narrow results you will notice the media, in this case the videos that show up to the right of your screen.

7. Go ahead and select the media you would like to see. You can play the video here, share it, and save it as one of your favorites.

8. If you scroll down below your media you will notice that you can find supported materials, see the standards that fit this video and you can view and add comments.

9. Just click the "Signup" button to register so that you can view more than three different videos and images.

Create dynamic charts with Chartle

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:57:54 PST

Schools still rely heavily on using spreadsheet programs such as Excel to create data charts. Excel is an awesome program, but there are web 2.0 tools out there that skip all of the "stuff" that you don't need. These web 2.0 tools let you set up your data in a matter of seconds and then will allow you to create all sorts of data charts using that information.

Today I would like to highlight an awesome web 2.0, cloud computing tool that allows the user to create awesome data charts. This tool is Chartle.net.

What does Chartle allow you to do?

Create dynamic sets of charts based upon numeric variables.
Create multiple types of charts:

Bar, Pie, Line, Plots and Diagrams, Business, Dynamic, Ven Diagrams, Concept maps, charts from US and World maps.

Embed and share your map by email or on your blog and website.

What are the advantages of using this Chartle.net?

So far it is completely free. It says that it is in Beta stage so eventually they might charge or have a free version, but right now there aren't any strings attached.
You don't have to register to use this site. Just start adding your data and create your dynamic chart.
Extremely Easy to use that I believe even an elementary student can use it without too much guidance.

Below is a sample of a chart that I created in just over a minute.

Tutorial

1. Go to the website www.chartle.net

2. Click the "Create" link.

3. Now choose which type of chart you would like to make. There are quite a few.

4. In this tutorial I chose the "Pie" chart.

5. After you choose the chart type tab, click on the more specific type of chart.

6. Give your chart a title and change the color and size of the text you would like to use.

7. Decide how big you want the chart to be, by changing the width and height.

8. Choose where you would like your legend to appear in relation to your data and chart.

9. Decide whether you want the chart to be in 3D or not, by selecting the check box.

10. Now notice that as you play with these variables you will see the chart change to reflect your choices.

11. Now click the Data tab, once you have set your chart up.

12. From this screen you can Add parts to your chart, remove unwanted chart parts, enter you data under each section of your chart, change the chart colors. Again, to your right you will see your chart change as you change the variables.

13. To change the color, just click on the color bar and you will get this box. From here you can change and choose your colors.

14. Once you are all done with your chart, click the "Publish, Share or Embed" button.

15. Here is where you will claim your chart, by giving it a title, your name, and the charts description. Push the "Publish" button when you are done.

16. From the next window, you can share your chart on places like email, twitter, and facebook. You can copy the embed code like I did and embed it into your website or blog. You can also generate a permanent link to this chart.

Well that is all there is to create a very easy and dynamic chart full of data that your students collect during their science, math and other classes that require chart making.

If Chartle.net isn't quite what you are looking for give some of these other chart making tools a try.

Use VLC player as an awesome, free video player

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:25:30 PST

Sometimes computers just don't want to play DVDs and Windows XP especially gives you an error saying something about "codec." I used to try and find the right "codecs" and that would take forever. Now I just use VLC open source video player.

What can VLC do?

Play DVDs, and other media files
Capture videos
Convert some times of videos and sound to other formats

Install tutorial

1. Go to www.videolan.org

2. Click the "Download VLC" button.

3. Navigate to the area in which you would like to download the file, and then click the "Save" button.

4. If you are in Firefox or Google Chrome the download might end up at the bottom of your screen. If step 5 doesn't start automatically, click here to get the installation started.

5. Click the "Run" button.

6. Click the "Next" button.

7. Click "Next" again.

8. Click "Next" again or select and deselect options. I just leave it as the default.

9. Click the "Install" button.

10. The next thing you will see is a progress bar showing the install's progress.

11. Now if you left the settings alone, as you installed it, your DVDs should open up automatically. If it doesn't start up automatically, just go to your start menu and select "All Programs" and then find the VideoLan folder and select the "VLC Media Player" option.

12. Under the "Media" menu you can see all of the different options that you have to choose from to play the correct file type.

Create study guides using Brainflip Flash Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:01:04 PST

The lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy is "Remembering." Even though an educational goal should be for educators to get to the "Creating" level of the scale, memorization has it's place. Students do need vocabulary words and the understanding of using those words to be able to effectively move up the levels of Bloom's. So teachers have come up with all sorts of ways to help their students remember vocabulary words. I remember Mr. Turley, my 8th Grade Science teacher help us remember the different bones in the body by coming up with some weird mental images such as the "Femur" is remembered by an image of a "feeble" old man, and he would walk around like that making us laugh and such a trick worked. Today, I can still remember what a "Femur" is just by that imagery. Well, that happened in the 80's and technology has come a long way to helping us remember our vocabulary words. One of the methods is for a teacher to create digital flash cards that can be used by students at home, school or on the bus. I have a whole list of digital flash card makers that you can take a look at. I already highlighted "StudyStack" as an excellent example of flash card makers.

Well here is another good one you might want to try. It is called BrainFlips.

What is BrainFlips?

A site that easily lets you create flash cards using text, images, video, and sound.

What are some of the advantages and highlights of BrainFlips?

Add text, images, video and sound to each card.
You can study the cards in three different styles.
You can create as many sets of cards that you would like for free.
You can embed them into your class site so that they don't have to go to the BrainFlips site to use your flash cards. Below is an example of an embedded flashcard set.

What are some disadvantages to using BrainFlips?

You can't pull in images, sound, and video from a URL which I really like to be able to do.
It only has the three modes of study. Some sites turn the vocab words into study games.

Tutorial

1. Go to www.brainflips.com and log in. You can log in using your Facebook account or you can click the "Not a Member Sign up" button.

2. If you are signing up using Facebook just click the needed Check boxes and then click the "Register" button.

3. Once you are signed in and registered click the "Make Flashcards" tab at the top.

4. The first time you try to create a flashcard set you might get this. Just click the "Do not show again" check box and then the "Back to Builder" button.

5. Give your Deck a name and description so that you, your students, and others can find the right flash card set.

6. Click in the "Question" box and type your vocab word or definition.

7. To the right of the Question box you will see an Answer box and just above that you can decide whether you want just a "text" answer or if you want your answer to be "Multiple Choice."

8. Type your answer into the "Answer" box and make checks in the boxes that apply with your idea of a good question.

9. If you want to add a picture, video, or sound to your question, just click the appropriate icons found above you "Question" box.

10. Navigate to your picture, video, or sound file and then double click on it.

11. Once you are done with your first question you will click on the "Add Card" button to add another flash card. You can also remove unwanted cards here.

12. Once you are done with your flashcards click the "Study Flashcards" tab at the top.

13. There are three methods of study. Your students will choose the most appropriate.

14. Introduction mode just flips through the cards.

15. Traditional Mode lets your student click on whether or not they got the answer right. If they click that they know the answer, then that card will not continue to show up.

16. The Advance Mode forces the student to type in the correct answer.

17. To embed the flash cards you need to click the "Embed" button down below your deck and then copy the code and paste it into your HTML code on your site.

Well that is all there is too working with BrainFlips. This really is an easy method of creating flash cards that will give your students a little more reinforcement while studying their vocabulary words.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Email notifications for Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:32:50 PST

If your district is like our district and has moved away from using MS Outlook, and onto Gmail or Google Apps for Education, then you may feel a little frustrated with some of the features that Outlook has that you miss and wish you had with Gmail. Well the good news is that so far I have been 100% successful in finding a way to do the same thing in Gmail, that I could do in Outlook. I want to make a note though that Gmail is different, so the steps to accomplish the same task may be different. If you install Google Chrome as your web browser then you can add a whole bunch of functionality to your Gmail.

One of the functions that many of my staff have missed was the ability to receive desktop notifications when you get an email; you know like getting a pop-up or a sound letting you know that "you got mail." I personally don't really like hearing a noise when I get mail. I get so much during the day that this can be annoying. However, I just found a Google Chrome extension that has some really neat options on how and when you get a desktop notification. I know that there are quite a few extensions out there that accomplish what this extension does, but so far this is the most user friendly and easiest to use that I have come across.

It is called, "Checker Plus for Gmail."

What does this Google Chrome extension accomplish?

Makes a sound when you have mail. You can customize the sound.
Will check more than one email account.
Pops up a snippet of the email message.
Archive, read, and delete mail without having to switch back to your email screen.
Opens up "Mail to.." links from web pages.

Many of you might have trouble getting rid of Outlook, because when you click on a person's email address found on a website Windows tries to sent a message using Outlook instead of Gmail.

What are some disadvantages?

So far I haven't found any, I will list them here if I do.

Tutorial

1. Make sure you are in the Google Chrome browser.

2. Click on the "wrench" icon.

3. Choose the "Options" option.

4. Click the "Extensions" tab under the "Options" section found on the left side.

5. Click the "Get more extensions" link.

6. In the search box type in ? "Checker Plus for Gmail."

7. Click the "Add to Google Chrome" button.

8. Click the "Install" button.

9. Once you have installed the extension, you will see a new icon next to your wrench. Left click on it to see your messages.

10. From this screen you can "Mark it as read," "Delete" it, mark it as "Spam," or "Archive," it. Next to each message you will see a few icons that will allow you to "Star" it, "Open" it, or "Reply" to the message. All without having to open up your Gmail.

11. The easiest way to "configure" the settings of this extension is to "right" click on the icon and the click on the "Options" option.

12. Under the "Notifications" tab you can change the sound, decide how long to view a popped up message, if you are away from your computer for more than a given time you can have a voice speak to you telling you the "Email subject" and "Hear the message."

13. Under the "General" tab you can add other options like the "Mailto" links and the ability to compose a message right within the extension.

14. There are a few other settings to explore under the "Accounts" and "Button" tab, but I didn't feel the need to discuss those simply because I don't know that I would actually use them, but you might and just need to explore these other options.

Well that is all there is to Google Chrome's "Checker Plus for Gmail" extension. Let me know if there is any other options you would like me to explore to make your Gmail reading experience smoother.

Create and edit art, music, audio, and visual affects with Aviary's suite of tools

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:09:45 PST

Now that many districts are headed toward the "Cloud Computing" phenomena, educators need to rethink the idea of "installing" software. Districts everywhere are saving money by having other websites host their data. It saves on man power and equipment. The problem some educators are finding though is that for the last 17 years they have been installing software to help them perform great and wonderful educational tasks, but they are not having that same ability that they once had to install software. Cloud computing is awesome for many reasons, one of them being that students, teachers, and parents can access school assignments from anywhere in the world, and this only happens if their "document" isn't located on a single drive.

I was recently approached by a teacher who asked why a certain graphics program wouldn't work on her iMacs. The answer was that the program is formatted for a PC. The consideration is to then go and buy software that is compatible with the iMac. I suggested that instead she uses some simple web 2.0, cloud hosted sites that allow student to have the ability to create and edit music, graphics, photos, drawings, visual and sound effects.

Today I would like to highlight an awesome tool that does all of these things and more called "Aviary."

Before I get in too much depth with what Aviary does, I would like to mention that it can be seamlessly incorporated with the Google Apps for Education suite. If you are a district that already uses Google Apps, then talk to your system administrator about installing the Aviary for Education suite right onto your Google apps. Advantages of this are that your documents that you create are found in your Google Docs folders, which make it very easy to access.

What is Aviary?

Aviary is a suite of creative tools that allows you to draw, manipulate photos, create music, create sound affects, contains screen captures software, and can even help create podcasts.
Here is a really short show and tell video showing off some of the tools you can use.

What are the advantages of using Aviary to other web 2.0 tools?

I like the fact that you have so many tools available on one website.
You can embed much of your work.
It can integrates with your Google Apps.
The tools that it has are pretty high end for an internet site.
As far as I know, there isn't any cost associated with any part of the site.

What are some disadvantages of the site?

Because of the high end tools, there is a learning curve. You really need play and use the software to learn all the cool things you can do with it. This of course, in my opinion really isn't a disadvantage. Of course I look at all technology like that.

Tutorial

1. There are really two ways to get to the Aviary suite. One is to go to http://advanced.aviary.com/tools and if you have the tool integrated with your Google Apps you can go to your "More" option and click on the "Aviary" link.

2. Once you are in to Aviary you will notice a different look depending on which version you are using. Don't worry about which one because I haven't seen any difference between Aviary for Google Docs or just the plain Aviary, yet the intro pages look different.

Google Docs integration View.

Regular Aviary Site View.

Normally I would give a tutorial about the site, but because there are so many tools and so much that has to do with each tool, I will just post a few Youtube videos that will give you an idea about what each web 2.0 tool can do. I do want to say one more thing and that is these tools really are worth taking a look at and find engaging and interactive methods that you and your students can use them in the classroom.

Aviary Image Editor

Aviary Music Creator

Aviary Audio Editor

Aviary Vector Editor

Aviary Effects Editor (Not a tutorial, but this will show you a nice final project.)

Create Concept Maps and Diagrams with Cacoo

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:28:20 PST

Concept mapping is a great way to get students generating ideas as a class, group, or individual. As they prepare ideas for research papers or other reports educators often have their student create outlines, diagrams, and charts so that they can have a visual as to where the student or class want to go with their topic.

Today I would like to highlight a new tool, at least it is new to me, called Cacoo.

What is Cacoo?

Cacoo is a web cloud resource that allows the user to create diagrams, mind maps, network charts, electricity diagrams, and much much more.

What are the highlights of Cacoo?

Color code parts of your diagram.
Add your own images and web links.
Has a huge library of stencils for you to use.
Collaborate in real time with others. You can have more than one student working on the same diagram at the same time.
Share it out with other people.
Create 25 different diagrams before you have to consider payment options.
Its free to a certain usability

What are some disadvantages of Cacoo?

Well they are in it to make money as they should be and if you like what you see then you should consider payment.
You can only create 25 diagrams before paying.
As a free customer you can only save it as a PNG file.
You can't embed your diagram into a web page or blog, you can however share a public link to the diagram.

Here is an idea of what the map can look like. Note that you can get a lot fancier with this program.

Tutorial

1. Go to www.cacoo.com

2. Click the "Sign in" button.

3. Create a new account or login with another service like "Facebook."

4. Fill in the information and then click the "Create" button.

5. Once you have completed your registration click the "Create new diagram" button. This will open up a new page.

6. One the right site of the screen you will see some of the options you can choose from to start your diagram.

7. Play around with the stencil folder section and the shape section until you find the right style of stencil you want to use. There are many awesome ways to build a diagram. Once you choose a shape just drag it onto your sheet.

8. To rotate the shape to different angles and to resize it, just use the "handles." "Handles" are the little squares and the green dot.

9. To write inside the bubble shape, just double click the center of it. You will now see a box next to your shape. You can change the font size and color and manipulate the text in other ways.

10. Use the "line" tool at the top to draw lines from each of your shapes.

11. After you select the line tool, hover your mouse over the first shape and you will see a bunch of circles appear. Click and hold on one of them and then draw a line to the next shape. You should see that shape as well appear with circles. Let go of the mouse button as you hover over one of those circles. The two objects should now be linked.

12. If you want to add your own image to the diagram just use the image button next to the line button.

13. If your concept map gets to big, just zoom out a little bit using the zoom tool.

14. After you are done with your concept map, click the "Export" button to save it as a PNG file.

15. If you want to invite somebody to view your map, just click the "Share" button and type in the user's email address. That user will now be able to edit the map with you.

16. Make sure that before you leave the site you "Save" your diagram. This is also the place where you can grab a public link to sent to others, so that they can see your completed work.

Cacoo truly is a great tool for educators who use concept mapping as a brainstorming tool in their classrooms. Click this link to see other concept mapping web 2.0 tools.

Create Collaborative Drawings with Dabbleboard.com

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:44:18 PST

My children love to draw. Young students love to draw. Believe it or not I have seen Jr. High and High School students who love to draw as part of an assignment. It is part of human nature for people to want to demonstrate their creative side by drawing. What is more fun than just creating art? How about creating art with other people? There are online tools out there in cybersapce that allow you to collaboratively draw and create art together in real time. A big part of web 2.0 tools and cloud computing is the ability to collaborate and create a piece of work together and then share it with others.

Today I would like to highlight Dabbleboard.com.

What is Dabbleboard?

An educational tool that allows multiple people to draw at the same time.

What are some benefits and exciting features?

Your students don't need a login, just the address to your drawing board.
You can embed the drawing, save it, and share it publicly with others.
The basic kit is free and the basic kit has many options.
If you embed your drawing it is automatically updated to where others can see.
Insert documents and images from your computer or the web.
Your drawings can be multiple pages.
It has shape recognition so that you can draw that perfect circle, square, or triangle.

Ideas for using it in class:

Use it as another means of concept mapping.
Have your students give instructions on how to perform some skill.
Let your students collaborate together as they diagram cells, volcano types, wave types, etc...

What are some disadvantages of the site?

In this case it is what it is. You don't get all of the bells and whistles that you might get when using PhotoShop or some other programs like Paint that you might expect. But for the K-12 education this could be useful in many projects you might have them working on.
There aren't many pre-set shapes for the free version.
There isn't more than one font.

Here is a different tutorial using the actual software provided by Dabbleboard.

Create a virtual cork board/sticky note page for K-8 students.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:54:41 PST

Virtual cork boards and sticky note web pages are starting to become a pretty big hit for educators. For those who have never heard of such a thing it is simply this: You create a place (in seconds) where you, your students, colleagues, and parents can post information. Most of them can be private or public. Most of them can be embeded into other websites and blogs. Posting is in real time so as soon as a student posts it shows up on your pages. Some allow you to moderate your posts so that you can verify that they are appropriate before they go live.

What are the advantages and/or purpose of using one? you might ask. Well, many of you might be using KWL charts in the front of the classroom, this could be an alternative. Have you ever given a sticky note to all your students, had them write some information on the note and then post it in some location in the classroom? If this is you and the mess, time, and organization of it makes it seem like such things aren't worth doing, then using a virtual cork board/sticky note might be a cool and unique way for students to virtually interact with the lesson.

I have listed on my web 2.0 page, a list of several different sites worth taking a look at that allow you in minutes to create a virtually cork board. The one I would like to highlight today is called, "PrimaryWall."

What can you do with PrimaryWall?

Create an unlimited amount of notes to post on the wall.
Change the background to multiple templates.
Change the fonts.
Sort all the notes.
Set passwords to the wall so that only members of your class can access it.
You can set the name of the link.
Your students can view the notes and ask questions at a later time.
Share it by sending out a link or embedding it into your blog like I just did. Feel free to play with it. Add a note for me. NOTE: You can't see the last note, because I had to shrink the size of my wall to fit on this screen. You can also click this link to see the full sized version. http://weirba.primarywall.com/1

What are some disadvantages to using PrimaryWall?

It won't let me add my own background.
Some sites allow for videos and images to be posted. This site does not, at least as of today it doesn't.

Tutorial below the wall.

Tutorial

1. Go to: www.primarywall.com.

2. If you want to change the background and have the ability to name your links you should register. The cool thing is that you don't have to have your students register to use the wall.

3. Once you have registered and received an email with a verification link, you will get an opportunity to create a password for your wall.

4. Once you are ready you can click the "Create new wall" button to get started.

5. At the top right you will see your setting options. Click on the background to change it.

6. Here are the different background to choose from.

7. The font setting allows you to change your text to these font styles.

8. The security settings allow you to decide who gets to see your wall. I would just keep it to everybody. This way they don't have to login to interact with your wall. I would never put personal information on a public site anyway so I wouldn't care if everybody saw an educational wall. Not to mention somebody just surfing the web could win the lottery if they could accidentally find your particular wall.

9. Notice by the way that after you create a wall you will see the address to your particular wall in the address bar. This is one way to share it with everybody.

10. The "share" setting will give you a shortened, random link to your wall. I would prefer using the one I mentioned above. If you would like to embed your wall into a website you can copy the embed code here as well.

11. Click the "Add a Note" button to start adding notes to your wall.

12. Just fill in the information you want posted. "Your name or nickname" is where your students when they add a note put their name, so that you can see who has participated. They can leave it blank if you don't mind the note being anonymous.

13. When you are done setting up your wall give the link to your students so that they can get to your wall and have them start answering questions. Below is a graphic that lets you kind of see what a wall could look like.

Well you are on your way to creating possibly your first virtual cork board/post it note wall.

Last Weeks tools Highlights 3

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:55:54 PST

Student Presentations Using Glogster

If you haven't ever heard of Glogster yet, you ought to take a look. With Glogster you can create extremely dynamic posters that can contain video, images, and text. This would be another way that students can present material they learned in class and an alternative to PowerPoint.

Google Chrome: Download Settings

A few of you expressed an irritation with Google Chrome and the way it downloads. The default is that your downloads go to you download folder, which makes sense, but what if you want to choose where your file goes. Click this tutorial to find out how to change the Google Chrome's download settings.

Google Chrome: Print Selection

I sent out a tutorial a week ago on how to print parts of web sites. This didn't appeal to everybody because they still want to just highlight a single paragraph and then print the highlighted selection. This tutorial teaches you how you can do that.

Create Animated maps with Animaps

If you teach history (historical anything) or geography then this idea might be great for you. With Animaps you can create a dynamic animated map that can contain videos, images, and text. An idea would be for you to have your students create a map of their summer vacation or have them create maps of areas visited by pioneers and the paths that they took. This tutorial will introduce you to Animaps and it will demonstrate what the final product could look like.

Watch Free Educational Videos

Now that Arizona no longer subscribes to Discovery Streaming some of you have asked where you can now go to find educational videos. My initial response was Youtube. I found a site however that has categorized Youtube videos by subject and grade level so that you can find the right video for your students a little faster. Also using this site eliminates ads and related videos so that all your students see is the video.

Create Educational Posters with Glogster

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:28:24 PST

I am a big supporter of teachers who give choices to students on how they will present material in class. I find that too many in the education community are still telling their kids that they have to draw, PowerPoint, or build a model that will demonstrate what they learned. Some people, like myself, are still drawing stick figures and so when a teacher assigns them an assignment where they have to draw, they might feel a little intimidated or a lack of desire because they know they won't do well. I say that with the understanding that it really is OK for a student who doesn't draw well to still be made to draw because that is how they get better and grow. But, if a teacher is not assessing a student's ability to draw, why not give the students many different options to present their material to the class and the teacher. There are so many presentation alternatives than just using specific methods like PowerPoint, even though PowerPoint is a great solution. I have compiled 17 alternatives to PowerPoint on the Web 2.0 tab at the top of this blog.

The presentation method I would like to highlight today is Glogster.

What is Glogster?

Glogster is web site that allows you to create an online poster. On the poster you can manipulate text and titles, add cool backgrounds, and add videos. After you create your poster you can then share it or embed it.

What are some disadvantages to using Glogster?

You do need to register before using it. There is a bit of a learning curve, that can be overcome with a little practice. I had a few problems uploading large pictures from my computer, but didn't have any problems using pictures from the web.

Here is an example of a students Glogster Poster. If you are interested in learning a little bit on how to use the site there is a tutorial below.

Tutorial

1. Go to the website www.glogster.com

2. Register to use the site. Note that you can use your Facebook account.

3. Once you are registered, log in to the site.

4. When you first login you will get a title box. Enter the information. You can lie if you want. I did. I don't really believe in giving out personal information online unless it is to somebody I really trust.

5. Click the "Post New Glog." button.

6. Decide whether or not you want your glog to be Portrait or Landscape style.

7. Click the "Add Content" button.

8. Play with the "Text" tab to develop titles or text boxes. There are many different styles and templates.

9. The "Graphics" tab has many different types of clip art. Once you decide which one you want click on the "Use it" button.

10. On the "Image" tab you can choose from many types of images and frames for those images.

11. On the "Wall" tab allows you to upload or use images for your poster's background.

12. Add audio to your Glog by using the "Audio" tab.

13. Finally the "Video" tab allows you to embed many different video sharing sites' videos.

14. When you click on any of the objects, a square will appear around the object. Going from left to right on the top of the following picture you have: "Text" which allows you to change your text box style. The next one brings your image to the front of another image and the next one over does the opposite. The third button will create a "clone" of your object. The last button deletes the object. Going towards the bottom now you have the color changer, the next one down will allow you to link to external data. The ABC button lets you change the font stile and size. The last button gives you options for shadowing your object. Also you have the "handles" around the square and those allow you to change the angle of your object and resize your object.

15. Once you are done with your poster click the "Preview" button to see what your Glog looks like and then if you are satisfied click the "Save and Share" button.

16. You will now be asked to give it a title and internet tag it. Decide whether you want it to be public or private. Click the "Save and Share" button once you are done.

17. This page will let you share it to Facebook or Twitter as well as give you a link that you can email to people.

Let your students use Glogster the next time they have to give a report. The will love it.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Changing how Chrome Downloads

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:31:18 PST

A concern has come up in our district, as we push the use of Google Chrome, and that is many teachers just don't like how Chrome downloads files; and I agree.

By default Google Chrome downloads files from the internet to the "Download" folder. In Internet Explorer give you a choice as to where you want to download files. I do like Internet Explorer's way of downloading. No problem though. In one minute you can change some settings so that Chrome asks you where you want your files to go.

Tutorial

1. Click on the "Wrench" icon found on the top right corner of Google Chrome.

2. Click on the "Options" option.

3. On the left hand side of Chrome click the "Under the Hood" option.

4. Find the section that says "Downloads." Make sure the "Check" box "Ask where to save each file before downloading" is checked.

5. If you don't mind Chrome downloading to a specific folder every time but want to change the location just click the "Change" button and change the location and then click the "OK" button.

6. Now when you click a "Download" link on a web site, Google Chrome will now ask you to where you want to down the file.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Print Selection

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:52:25 PST

markkfinn read my blog post "Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Print Friendly" and asked if there was a way to just select part of the page to print from the internet. I thought back to the good old days when I used Internet Explorer and you could just highlight a certain paragraph or two and then right click on it and then say print and then click on the "selection" option. My initial find was "Print Friendly" and it works great.

Print Friendly comes close to that except that it creates a copy of the whole page and then you select the parts you don't want and get rid of it and then print.

So the question, if I understand it correctly was "How do you get Chrome to do the same thing?"

Well I found an answer and I have already blogged about part of it, I just didn't think of this option until the question was posed.

1. Install the Google Chrome Extension "IE Tabs Multi."

If you need help on installing this extension, read the following tutorial. IE Tabs Multi

2. Once the extension has been installed go to the desired web page from which you would like to print a part of.

3. At the top right of your Chrome browser you should see the "IE Tabs Multi" button. Click on it.

4. You will notice that your tab at the top has changed to the "IE Tabs Multi" icon.

5. You will also notice that you now have another Address bar that looks a little different.

6. These changes prove that your are now using Internet Explorer within the Google Chrome browser.

7. Now just select the text you want to print. Right click on the text and then click the "Print" options.

8. This will now pop open printer dialogue box. Make sure you choose the "Selection" option/radio button, and then click "Print."

If all went well it should have just printed the selected portions of the screen.

Create an animated map with Animaps

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:28:14 PST

Have you ever wanted to show off a route that you might have taken to Europe to your students? Have you wanted to demonstrate how bird migrations work with specific species? How about showing your students the historical routes that the Pilgrims took?

Well with Animaps you can do all of that. It is an incredible tool that will allow you to create maps that demonstrate routes, show territories, and then will animate the movements pretty much however you would like to see. Here is an example from Animaps that I made in just a matter of a few minutes to give you an idea. To see a really really good one that Animaps made click this link.

What can you do with Animaps?

Create multiple maps with multiple routes.
Add pictures youtube videos to your map.
Create a time line.
Change icons.
Embed it into a website or blog.

What are some disadvantages to Animaps?

Overall it is a robust program and fairly easy to use. I had trouble making the time that my images show up at the exact moment that was on the route. Given time to "play" with the program though, this shouldn't be an issue.

Tutorial

www.animaps.com

Normally I give a detailed tutorial on using the site, but Animap's tutorial is excellent on their website, so I encourage those who are interested in creating an animated map to go there.

Basic Tutorial

Advanced Tutorial

Watch Free Educational Videos at Watch, Know, Learn

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:25:12 PST

For the last 10 years, or more, Arizonan teachers have been lucky enough to use Discovery Education Streaming in their classrooms. Well recently the Arizona Department of Education did not renew the contract with Discovery Education. This has been a great loss felt across the educational community in this state. Well I am all for understanding budget cuts and am one of those who will find another way to "skin a cat." (No disrespect to cat lovers.)

For those who are feeling this loss and are looking for great video content for their classrooms there are many video sites out there. One of the largest that everybody already knows is Youtube. You can spend some serious and entertaining time trying to find the video right for you. I have other video education sites listed on my Web 2.0 page list as well. There is one site though that allows you to search for just Educational videos that have already been labelled by grade level and by topic. That site is: www.watchknowlearn.org.

What can you do with Watch Know Learn?

Browse about 3200 educational videos that come from Youtube, SchoolTube, and TeacherTube.
Browse Videos by age groups.
Browse Videos by content.
The site has a great search tool.
You don't have to worry about inappropriate comments and/or videos.
These videos have been recommended by educators.

Why should I use Watch Know Learn instead of Youtube, SchoolTube, or TeacherTube?

You may not want to. Those are all great sites to use.
This site filters a lot of the distractions that you might find on the other sites.
The videos are all in educational categories.
Videos come from all three of those sites anyway so in essence you are searching videos found on those three sites on one site.

What are some disadvantages?

I find the site a little slower than I would like. I could have been just my internet speed today though.

Tutorial on using the site

1. There really isn't much to know except that to change the age level of your search use the "Age Filter" by dragging the number line bar around.

2. Use the search tool to find specific content.

3. If you want to tell the search from which video site it should pull its videos from click the drop down arrow under the search bar.

4. You can also find videos by just browsing for them using the category list. Just click on the + symbol to expand the category to sub categories.

That is all there is to it. I know it is not as awesome as the Discovery Streaming set-up was, but these videos are free and this site has hundreds of excellent videos suggested by educators like yourself.

Last Weeks tools Highlights 2

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 08:23:17 PST

Here is a list of the Tips and Tricks on using technology in the classroom that I picked up last week.

Google Chrome Extensions

There are three Extensions for Chrome that I think could be of value to you. Instructions on installing extensions are on the blog.

Internet Explorer inside of Chrome

Many people find that using Chrome can be a problem with certain website that they use in the classroom. In our district sites such as AR and Galileo have been known to have problems on certain parts of the pages.. This cool extension should allow you these sites from within Google Chrome.

Print Friendly

Chrome doesn't let you highlight sections of a page and then just print the highlighted portion. This can be a problem for those who used that feature in Internet Explorer. The Print Friendly extension removes ads, pictures, comments, and just about anything else that you might want to get rid of. Try it out. This will truly save paper and ink costs because you will only print out the portion that you need.

Education Safe Youtube Options

Showing YouTube in class can sometimes be a little risky because sometimes the related videos aren't always appropriate and the comments can be inappropriate as well. With YouTube Options you have the ability to completely remove unwanted sections from your videos, like the advertisements. This is probably the coolest extension I have found so far.

Create Dynamic Presentations with Prezi

Prezi is another method that students can use to present class material. It puts a 3rd dimension to the presentation. I was in one of our district's teacher's classroom at our Jr. High school and she showed me how Prezi can be used with students. After seeing what her students have done, I thought that I need to let the rest of you know about it. It is awesome. To see what Prezi does just go to the link and you will see two examples; one at the top and one at the bottom.

Create a Word Cloud with Tagul

Word clouds can be fun to make with your students. Word clouds highlight the important parts of your writing, by making the more common words larger than the least common words. If you click on the link there is an example of what a word cloud is.

Let me know if there are specific ideas that you want me to explore or other issues with Chrome and Google Apps.

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks: Education Safe Youtube

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:44:21 PST

First of all, if your school doesn't allow Youtube to be part of it's education, they are behind the times. Now I am not advocating opening up Youtube for students unless you are using a filter designed to work with Youtube's education package, which is great. I am advocating that teachers be allowed to show videos during class. There is just too many wonderful educational videos on Youtube to allow the garbage that is also found there to be the reason that teachers cannot use it.

That being said, I completely understand the administrator's worry about projecting a video in front of the class and having comments that use vulgar language or related videos that show disgusting images be seen by students. Many districts allow teachers to download videos after hours and then use a media player to play them the next day. The problem with that is students can now use video creation as a means of being assessed for certain classes. As a teacher I think it would take more time than I want want to take to download them all.

Another solution has been for teachers to use sites like ViewPure.com, which is a good method of creating a safe Youtube viewing experience. On sites like this, the teacher copies and pastes the url into the viewpure website and then they can watch the video safely. Sure it is a good program, but what if there was just a simpler way to filter out the comments and related videos option. Well guess what? There is.

Today I would like to introduce another awesome extension for Google Chrome, called "Youtube Options for Google Chrome."

What does it do?

You can literally customize your Youtube viewing page. You can take away the comments, the ads, the heading, and the related videos.
You can tell the extension at what video quality you want to see, so that you don't have to manually change it later.
These are just some of the features I like, but it is much more customizable than what I just stated. Lets play with it and see.

What are some drawback to using it?

So far I haven't found one. I am actually a new user of this tool but I will change this statement if I or somebody else come up with a flaw.

Youtube Options for Google Chrome Tutorial

1. Make sure you are in the Google Chrome browser.

2. Click on the "wrench" icon.

3. Choose the "Options" option.

4. Click the "Extensions" tab under the "Options" section found on the left side.

5. Click the "Get more extensions" link.

6. In the search box type in ?YouTube Options for Google Chrome."

7. Click the "Add to Chrome" button.

8. Click the "Install" Button.

9. After you first install the extension you will see the Extension Options page. On the left hand side you will see "Video, Layout, and Sites." These are the sections that you can edit.

10. In the "Video" tab you can change these options. Just read each section and change it to your preferences.

11. You will be able to change the following parts of Youtube in the "Layout" view.

12. Finally in the "Sites" section you can specify which other video sharing sites you want this extension to try and change for you.

13. If you ever want to change the options after you have closed this page just go back to steps 1-4 and then find the "YouTube Options for Google Chrome" on your "Extensions" page and click the "Options" link.

Again this is truly a needed extension for the Google Chrome user who plans on showing Youtube videos in class.

Create a Word Cloud with Tagul

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Weir) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:43:19 PST

Word Clouds or Tag Clouds were developed so that people viewing web pages would have a visual on the important items, links, or categories found on the web page they were browsing. The bigger the word in the cloud the more prominent, important, common the word is. As people began to see word clouds more often, educators who love using technology began to envision techniques of utilizing tag clouds in their classrooms. Now there is a growing trend among writing teacher or teacher who have their students keep blogs, to use word cloud generators.

So what can you do with a Tag Cloud?

Educators are now having students take their essay, research paper, or short story, copy the text into a tag cloud generator and then they could have a visual idea of how often they use the word "the," "and," or "because." This could then help a student understand that certain words might be use too often.
Here is a link to a Presentation on uses of word cloud generators in education. They use a program called "Wordle," but the results and uses are about the same as Tagul.
Share and embed the word cloud.
Each word also ends up being a Google Search so that if you click on the word it will Google search it for you.
Change font, color, size, and shape of the cloud.

What are some disadvantages of using Tagul?

Like any graphical interface and assignment, students have the tendency to have too much fun instead of just getting the assignment done. But hey, I am a guy who loves to have fun too, so this might not be a problem for everybody.

Here is an example of a word cloud I made out of Tagul. This Tagul has all of the web 2.0 tools listed thus far on Education in the Cloud with Web 2.0 tools.

Tutorial on using Tagul

1. Go to: www.tagul.com

2. Register. The nice thing is that you can register using facebook and other programs or you can simply create your own user name and password. To create a new registration just click the "Sign up" button.

3. Once you are signed up, go ahead and sign in.

4. Click the "Create new" link.

5. In the first box, delete all the text inside and copy and paste or just type the new text. Remember that the more often a word is in the text the larger it is. So if you want a large title then just type the word in a few extra times.

6. If you want to filter out the common words like "the," and "it" you sure can so just add the words that you don't want and click the "Plus" icon. You can filter out a bunch of English words by clicking the "Select" language button and then selecting "English."

7. Click the "Appearance" tab so that you can select the shape you want. Here you can also adjust using the "Angle" and "Aspect ratio" buttons. You can also change the angle at which your words will appear in the cloud. Just play with the relative size and density section until you get the desire results.

8. Click the colors and animations tab now and in this section you can play with the colours and the speed and colour at which your words will fly out.

9. Click the "Fonts" tab to select the different font you want for your words.

10. Once you have played with all of the settings click the "Visualize" tab at the top right. This will show you what your cloud is looking like.

11. Once you are satisfied with your cloud click the "Grab and Share" tab toward the bottom.

12. From here you can tell Tagul what size you want your image to be and what type of graphic image you want. You can also print it from this screen.

13. To embed it onto your web page, click the "Place on a web page" tab. It will open another box in which you can change the size of the image. Once you are done click the "Copy to Clipboard" button and then head on over to your web page and paste it in to your web sites HTML code.

I think students would really enjoy seeing their work turn into something like this. It would give their presentation another method of visualizing their work.