A few months ago, I was asked to present at the Google Fest being held at Southeast Missouri State University next week. I have been using Google Sites for years, so I was eager to volunteer to do that one (and it's an application not as many are familiar with).
However, recently (just this month), Google announced a HUGE upgrade coming for Sites! I don't have access to it (early adopters are only Super Administrators for schools or Google for Work and I'm not one of those fancy peeps), but let me tell you. It. Looks. Awesome. Drag and drop. Responsive layouts. Don't take my word for it. Check out this video:
Yeah, I am psyched! Of course, I have to give a session using the old Google Sites next week, but I'm sure it will be fine. It's still pretty easy to use.
And, as my mastery project for my Google Chrome Classroom certification, I created a 6-part tutorial on the current Google Sites, showing how to create a student portfolio using the application. You can log in with your Google account to access if you'd like to take a peek! It's self-paced and includes "test yourself" questions along the way. Sophia is pretty cool if you've never used it.
Are you having as much fun learning this summer as I am!? :)
Today, I went to Support Services and picked up the new Chromebooks that our faculty have been given for the next school year. There's "talk" that we might go 1-to-1 eventually with student devices, and I suppose the first step would be to get teachers familiar with the devices first. That's a good plan.
Our devices are HP Chromebook 11 G4, according to the box. Here's a short YouTube video that shows what they gave us. Apparently, it's a pretty inexpensive device ($199). Mine had about 9 GB of free storage (the specs say 16 GB, but I guess that OS must be hefty as I saw 8.9 GB free when I saved my first photo to the device).
They do start up quickly. That's pretty nice. As a computer teacher in a lab with very nice HP computers, super huge monitors, and a mouse, there's some getting used to. We haven't had any training on Chromebooks as we were told we didn't need it because they were so easy, but I did feel compelled to do some internet searching to feel a little more in the know (for the record, I would at least offer a training because a one or two hour getting to know you for people would actually be nice even if just for peace of mind).
First, our devices have USB ports and an SD card reader. So, that's nice. I imagine you can hook up a mouse if you really want one. I haven't tried yet.
Second, it's not a touch screen. I don't know why I expected it to be, but it is not.
Third, we weren't really told how to get it going.... but I figured I'd have to be on the school network to officially sign in (maybe you don't have to be, though, but it did automatically connect here at school). The biggest concern I have for most users is how well this works OFF the internet. I know, I know. It's made for cloud computing and "everywhere" has wi-fi (that's a lie... ask my daughter who went over on her data and can only check SnapChat on wi-fi until her plan resets). But, if I am in my car or a waiting room (or, a kid on a school bus), can I at least type a document? That's important. So, to test, I disabled the network, clicked Google Docs, and... oh, I got an error.
So, I did my research. Here's what it told me. A few things to note about using Drive offline.
Drive will only work offline in a Chrome browser window.
You can use Drive offline on multiple computers, but you need to enable it on each computer individually.
If you share computers with another person, you may not want to sync to that computer as it could give both people access to the files.
If you are using Google Drive within a Google Apps for Education domain, your domain administrator will have to enable the option for users to use Google Drive offline.
Next, I reconnected to the internet, went into Google Drive, clicked the Gear and went to Settings. It had an Offline button that was not clicked, so I clicked it and a Google Docs Offline extension was added to Chrome.
I disconnected again, clicked Google Docs and yay! It allowed me to see files and create a new file. What I don't know is if I have to keep this window open until I have Wi-Fi again to be able to update it or if I can close it. So, I like to live dangerously. It's closed. Crossing my fingers.
I opened Drive up on my actual computer. Nothing. I refreshed. Nothing. I opened Google Drive on the device. Nothing. I searched for the file. It was there. I double clicked it and it opened and I guess THEN it finally synced. My desktop computer finally saw it. So, you do have to open the document for it to sync. Lesson learned.
Other random things... I didn't know how to "right click" since I had no mouse. I learned it's hold Alt while clicking OR use two fingers on the touch pad. Pretty sure I wouldn't have guessed that. I think it was in some card in the box that I didn't really read very carefully. Additionally, when you save something it goes to the Downloads folder. To get to that, you go to Files from the Launcher. I didn't know what it would be called and had to figure that one out, too.
But, that's my first impression! I figured I'd share in case others were just unboxing and had similar questions. For those of you who use Chromebooks and have been for awhile, give me your tips. I love to learn! :)
Our district technology facilitator posted a summer workshop that included a "breakout box" the other day. So, I Googled it, as I often do. I learned about BreakoutEDU, which is apparently a big deal thing that somehow wasn't on my radar.
Essentially, you purchase locks and boxes or bags or something to put the locks on and send your students on a classroom mission to find clues (hopefully related to your lesson) to unlock the boxes (to decipher the lock codes, alphabetic, numeric, etc.). It's like those "Escape the Room" activities but in reverse.
Of course, that costs some money to buy all the stuff. And, you want locks you can reprogram with various "new" codes, so not just any lock will do. The setup sounds a bit time consuming. But, it sounds like a highly engaging activity. I plan to attend a PD this summer and participate in one.
However, that lead me to the DIGITAL version of BreakoutEDU. And, wow! That really intrigued me being that I'm in a lab and it can all be done basically through Google (Docs, Slides, Maps, Forms, etc.), which means FREE. So, I found this site loaded with some digital breakouts.
It. Is. Cool. I tried my first one yesterday, but I was only able to figure out 3 of the 4 codes. I was so frustrated. So, I wrote it down and came back to it today. And, I solved it! Woo hoo! It was quite the feeling of accomplishment. And, they emailed me a badge. Yay.
So, my Web Design 2 kiddos finished their final exam a little while ago and I let them try it, as a class, to earn phone time the rest of the hour today (we have long block finals). They are working pretty hard right now and have 26 minutes left of class, so hopefully they solve soon. Waiting on two more codes!
I totally plan to try to create some digital breakouts this summer to use in the fall. They had some great and super useful ideas on the one I tried (like using a Google Sheet with conditional formatting... genius). And, they have a website that gives you tips for creating digital breakouts, too. I think having them work in teams would be most ideal as some will struggle and others will excel. Now, I just have to figure out what units of instruction to try to tie this to.
Oh, and they have figured out 3 of the 4 now.... it's getting real in here! :) Happy Thursday, friends!
EDITED: So, they finally figured it out (it took them teaming up to do it) with 10 minutes to spare in class. And, I tried another one today that really stumped me on one of the clues, but finally accomplished it! I think the students are really going to enjoy this next school year!
I get envious sometimes of all the cool "class activities" surrounding App Smashing and the cool teacher who use Ryan Read's App Dice. I don't have classroom iPads to do those cool things. But, I do have a big room full of Windows computers. Why can't I have fun, too?!?!
So, I decided to start Googling. Windows smashing. The Google results weren't quite what I was looking for, but the first thing I clicked on was quite amusing and my first hour class got a kick out of it... check it out. Apparently, there's a fast food window smashing "alleged gas leak so you should bust out the windows" prank happening. Classic.
But, I digress.
I started thinking about how I use various websites, since it would be more of a website-smashing instead of "app smash" in my classroom. I need in-browser things to smash together. So, what are some fun items we can smash in the browser?
To record a "webcam" video from the browser, try Clipchamp. It has easy share options to upload straight to Vimeo, YouTube, Facebook or Google Drive. Then, you can embed it onto a webpage or blog post. Or, you can download it and use it in an editing app or program.
To record the screen, I like the Google Chrome plugin called Screencastify. The lite is limited to 10 minutes and you can even add a webcam.
A fun way to create a cartoon image of yourself is using Bitmoji. They have a Chrome plugin (and it works great with Gmail, too... I constantly put them at the bottom of e-mails) and apps at Google Play and iTunes.
How about putting it all together in Blogger or Microsoft Sway? You can embed videos into both! (NOTE: Blogger uses Google logins and obviously you'll need a Microsoft login for Sway, but Sway is pretty neat if you've never tried it).
I love Tellagami, but it's an Apple app, so naturally I can't use it in my classroom. I'd love to know if someone knows a program like that for the browser!
I'd love your feedback! Certainly, I know it's important not to use tech for the sake of using tech, but the use of app dice is intriguing to me and I think would help students become more creative in applying knowledge in a way to help reinforce their learning in other classes or with specific concepts.
Well, it's getting near the end of the school year and our days are numbered. And, that means I don't have sufficient time for the project we did last semester in Advanced Computer Apps for our PowerPoint unit... so, I made a new one!
This is my example (made up today) for my "Personal Kiosk" Project. It's a timed PowerPoint with specific "rules" and requirements. It shouldn't look like a traditional PowerPoint and not a bunch of bulleted lists. They must:
Teach me something “star quality” about yourself
Give me some FACTS (if you are a video game star, it could be all about that… or a mix of things)
Tell a personal story through fast-moving imagery
Keep me entertained
Make it professional (think “infographic” and visual and less “text” and PowerPoint-y)
The scoring guide, if you wish to use or adapt for your own classroom, is here. I will have my students drop theirs into a Google Drive folder for grading (and I am old school and have a USB drive we'll float around). They must export it as a movie file so it plays automatically. I hope you enjoy!
As we are nearing the end of the presidential term and entering election season, it's fun to see the various takes people have made on the "Obama" Hope poster. I found it quite amusing and then it served as inspiration for my next class project!
I actually started by watching a tutorial on how to do this from Blue Lightning TV, but it didn't use our version of PS, utilize shapes, and wasn't clear on clipping adjustments, and I wanted to incorporate that into the project. So, I developed my own resource adapted from theirs. I figured I'd share it with you! I really enjoyed their tutorial. I didn't really use the Channel Mixer or the Gradient Map adjustment features in Photoshop before, so I was psyched to learn something new.
I'm going to have the students follow the steps (and/or watch the video tutorial I created) to recreate it using their own image of themselves. Then, my early finishers will have the option to parody the poster for a character of their choosing. Like this!
What do you think? It's actually a pretty quick, short project. So, if you are headed into Spring Break with a day or two to kill, maybe give it a shot! Or, perhaps district testing is happening soon and you need filler. Enjoy!
Last year, I was watching an episode of Celebrity Apprentice and got inspired to create a Photoshop project for my class.
The whole task is from about the 5 minute mark to the 31 minute mark (if you want to see which team wins) or the 43 minute mark (if you want to see the Board Room to see who goes home). My students enjoyed getting to watch the thought process and pitches and I liked that it gave me a little more "business" in my Photoshop class.
The students enjoyed it when we did it last year and, though we didn't do it last semester, I decided to bring it back this semester. It's sometimes difficult to do cooperative activities in computer classes so this is another effort to incorporate.
I changed a few things around this time. Here's the general process:
I talk about the project and my inspiration and show them clips from the show.
They pick groups (I let them pick by putting a sign up sheet on the wall with assigned group names and then a certain number of lines underneath, so anyone without a group could easily just add themselves to a line and not feel totally left out).
Day 1: They decide a leader and a recorder. Groups do a brainstorming session and the recorded writes down info. They all sign their names to the sheet and record the product and a shared hashtag that they will all use. They write that down and I pick up those papers to review and return the next day.
Day 2: The group leader sets up a Google Slides project and shares to all group members and me. The leader sets up the first slide, which is the title (includes the product, hashtag, and group member names) and the second slide, which is the "logo brainstorming" slide. All group members then locate and copy/paste logos for this company/product from online. They must source the image in a comment. Then, all group members collectively decide which one to use. All group members will use the same product logo. The leader adds the chosen logo to the title slide. All group members create two slides with their first names at the top for their finished projects. Then, they all set up the basic page setup (10"x8") and put their logo on the page (removing the background if it has one). Finally, they start obtaining images for the first project OR they can work on finding the perfect font and adding their slogan and hashtag.
Day 3: All group members will update their class portfolio to embed the group Slides presentation and to discuss their project so far (what they picked and why, etc.). Then, they continue working.
After that, they continue working on the project with the last 5-7 minutes daily being group feedback time. Group members walk around to provide feedback. They are collectively in charge of ensuring all group members have the requirements, the logo, a slogan and the shared hashtag, and that the project is set up correctly.
As they finish an ad design, they are to save it for the web and post to their class portfolio AND to the Google Slide. (My students write a reflection for their projects on the class portfolio site)
Eventually, each student will have 2 or 3 designs. I grade the best 2. And, the group will present their group slideshow and discuss (using Photoshop terms) how they created the design.
Here is one of last year's projects (it doesn't have the logo and feedback portion... that's new, but this one was used to show my kids examples of good and not great... and we also did a short fonts unit before this project because you could obviously see font issues on a few of these ads):
