Educational Technology Guy

Visualy - create, share, and browse infographics

2012-01-27T13:07:00.002-05:00

Visually is a free service that allows users to create, share, and browse infographics and visualizations. Infographics can be used to share stories, visualize data, and explore and explain things. Visually has a huge collection of some of the best ones available, giving educators and students a great place to find some great resources.

Visually is also creating a tool to easily and quickly create your own infographics. You can sign up for more info at their site.

A search for "education" returned hundreds of infographics. One I found interesting was "Anatomy of a Doctor", which described the characteristics of doctors, education required, stress, etc.

I think having students analyze and comment on, or even create infographics, is a great project.

Thanks for Teaching Us - nice tribute to teachers

2012-01-27T09:23:00.001-05:00

Thanks for Teaching Us is a nice tribute to teachers. The site lets people submit short stories about how a teacher impacted their life. It's a nice read, especially with all of the attacks on teachers happening lately. Reading these stories can make a dark day brighter for a teacher.

Share it with everyone!

Google Plus now open to Teens, with safety features

2012-01-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

Google+, Google's social network, is now open for teens. I've been using it for quite a while and really like it. You can post more that on Twitter, have great conversations, have video conferencing, easily choose who to share posts with , and you don't have all the bloat and apps that Facebook has.

Google has changed the age requirements for Google+ so that any Google Account user can join. That means it is now open to anyone 13 years or older.

Google has set some default settings for teens to increase safety and privacy, including setting it so that only people in the teens circles can send notifications and comment on posts. It also sets it so that if a teen has a hangout going and someone outside their circles joins the hangout, the teen will be removed but given a chance to rejoin. This gives them a chance to make sure the new, unknown person is safe to have in the hangout and wanted.

Google also has a Google+ Teen Safety Guide and Google+ Safety Center for parents and teens that has safety tips and more information about Google+

Related:

Google+ - more reasons it's great for educators

Google+ and Google Pages - great for education

Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook - a nice comparison

Quixey - search engine for apps

2012-01-27T08:30:00.000-05:00

There are literally millions of apps out there for Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, Chrome, Firefox, Facebook,web apps, etc. How do you find what you want or need for the platform you are using?

Quixey is the answer. It is a search engine for finding apps. You enter a search for what you want to do, such as "take notes", "record messages", "detect lies", etc. and then it brings you back results.

The results are listed with the app logo, logos for what platforms it's available on, and a short description of the app. You can also click on the platform links on the left to narrow your search by platform. Under each app name is a link with the number of editions. Click on that and it opens up with a list of each platform, cost, link to the app, and user review ranking.

This is a great tool for educators and students to use when looking for apps. Enter what you want to do, and your are off. The sorting by platform makes it very useful, especially if you are looking for apps that work on more than one platform.

Google announces new Google in Education resources

2012-01-27T08:25:00.000-05:00

I am a huge user of Google's Resources for Educators and think that they are excellent for education. Read more on Why I Use Google's Products as an Educator.

Google recently announced the creation of “Google in Education: A New and Open World for Learning” which gathers all of Google's resources and lessons learned into one place for educators. It is a booklet, that will be updated continually as a resource for educators. The booklet has data and examples of how Google's resources have helped in education.

Google also revamped their education website, google.com/edu, so that it has everything in one place and they have a Google+ page that has news, tips, updates and more about Google's educational tools and products.

The site has examples of how Google resources are being used by educators and the benefits of using these resources, lesson plans, and a listing of all of Google's tools. It also has professional development and training resources for integrating Google's tools into your classroom and school. The student section has information on Google's many educational programs and scholarship opportunities, along with tips on using Google's tools.

The resources were developed with feedback and information from educators who actually use them in their schools.

These three resources, the booklet, the site and the Google+ page, are all excellent resources for educators that are using, or are looking to use, Google's many tools in their classrooms.