To Google or not to Google...

            If history is any indication this will most likely be my final post for a while. My previous attempts at blog writing have shown me that I typically only make entries when it is part of a class that I am taking. Every time I say I’m going to do better, but it never happens. So, maybe if I don’t say it I might actually follow through for a change.

            There were basically 2 topics we discussed this week: WolframAlpha and Google Search. They are both search engines, but they operate in very different ways.

            Nearly everyone is familiar with the phrase “just Google it”. However, I doubt that many are familiar with WolframAlpha. WolframAlpha is a very intuitive search engine. It is self-described as a “computational knowledge engine”. This particular engine returns the most likely answer that you are searching. For example, if you searched “Orlando” then it would only return information about the city in Florida. As opposed to information on Orlando Bloom, the actor. Here is a short video explaining more about WolframAlpha.

            The Google Search omnibox is one of the most powerful, but underestimated tools in all of Google Chrome. Just as an example you can type an algebraic expression into the omnibox and it will solve it for you. Here is a list of just some of the things that you can accomplish with the Google Search omnibox:

1. You can start a timer by typing – timer 5 minutes. You can change the number or the unit to whatever you want.

2. You can type in a mathematical expression. For example, 2(8^3) + 7 and it will give you the answer of 1,031. It is absolutely amazing to me all the math functions that the Google Search omnibox can perform. You can perform unit conversions, you can graph functions,

3. You can check the weather in your area by typing – weather (your zip code).

4. Say you are vacationing somewhere and you are looking for some Mexican Food. All you have to do is search just like you did the weather, just type – Mexican Food (your zip code). This tip works for just about type of business. For example, you can search for an auto mechanic using this same technique.

For techniques 3 and 4 you really don’t even have to type in your zip code. You can just type in the city that you are searching for. So as you can see the Google Search omnibox is a very powerful tool that many people are not aware of its power. Here is a video that shows some more of the amazing things that the Google Search omnibox can do.

            Both of these search engines have their advantages. I am already fairly familiar with Google. I am going to really try using WolframAlpha more often now. I really want to see how much I can really do with it. Here is a video that compares the 2 search engines to each other.

Is social media too social?

This week we tackled the ever controversial topic of social media.  Almost everybody, no matter their profession seems to have an opinion on its use in today’s culture.  Obviously, my main focus will be on how social media affects my ability to teach my students.  Unfortunately, regardless of my opinion I can’t use social media in my classroom.  Many of you may be wondering why.  Well, the answer is because of the clientele that I teach.  All of my students are behaviorally challenged, and a majority of them are adjudicated to a local residential facility.  Due to these situations none of my students are able to carry cell phones.  Even with this policy we still have a few issues with cell phone use in class.  Honestly, I am kind of glad that I don’t have to deal with the cell phone issue a lot.  It just seems to be a whole lot more hassle than it’s worth. Especially, with my students.  I would really like to investigate some of the closed sites like: Schoology, Edmodo, and Google Classroom to see if they would allow me a lot of the same freedoms of social media without many of the outside communication concerns.

Finally, we discussed a couple of resource sharing tools: Pinterest and Symbaloo.  Now, to be honest I was so against Pinterest.  I had the idea that it was just for "artsy craftsy" people.  However, I have since softened my opinion of Pinterest and found it to be a potentially valuable resource.

On the other hand, I am very excited about Symbaloo.  Symbaloo is a website organizer.  There are two different sites for Symbaloo, one is designed for educators.  The links that I have here are to the education version.  At first, I found it a little difficult to set up my first collection of websites, but after I used it a while I got the hang of it.  In Symbaloo these collections are called “webmixes”.  Here is my first attempt at a Symbaloo webmix.
 

If you would like to know more about how to use Symbaloo please check out the following video:

Let's get organized!!!!...

This week we discussed various digital organizational tools. Some of these organizational tools are primarily for educators, but many of them can be used to help you in every-day life. The first tool that we focused on was Google Keep. Admittedly, I went in to Google Keep with a very closed mind, as I already something else that I used. More on that later.

Google Keep is in its simplest terms; digital Post-It notes. However, it is so much more than that. These “notes” are not just stuck to the device in which they were created. Wherever you have the Google Keep web/mobile app, you have access to your notes. You can also share these notes with whomever you choose, and give them access to any note of your choosing. For example, my wife can make me a “honey-do” list and share it with me. After I complete a task, I can check it off, and she can continue to add to it. Here is a video explaining more about Google Keep.

While I did find Google Keep useful, I am still partial to Wunderlist. Here is a video that explains Wunderlist a little better.

Planbook is another organizational tool that we discussed. This tool is primarily only useful to educators as it involves the creating, organizing, and keeping of lesson plans. Planbook is a lesson planning site that only costs $12 a year. You can upload any lesson plan form that you use as a template. You can have multiple classes, easily attach resources, give your administrator viewing access to your plans and add any state/district standards.

A few others that we talked about were Remind, Evernote, and Class Dojo.

We also talked about where to find good quality educational resources. There are a lot of sites out there, but not all of them provide high quality resources. One of my favorite sites is Discovery Education. The main reason that I like this site is because it is from a well-known, and recognized educational organization. This site is not just for science, you can find lessons for any subject and grade level. Along with resources for teachers, there are also resources for parents and students. This includes: homework help, virtual field trips, and a motivation station for parents.

There is another site that provides resources across many disciplines and grade levels, Smithsonian Education. This site is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Institution is the World’s largest museum. Its main purpose is the distribution of knowledge. This site is a tremendous resource for all educators, regardless of content are or grade level.

Finally, there are a couple of other sites that I would like to mention that supply primarily science related resources. The first of which is NASA, I really don’t feel like I need to say a whole lot more about why this site would be beneficial to science teachers. The final site I would like to mention belongs to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Again, the benefits of this site to science educators should be fairly self-explanatory.

Google Drive

This week we did a lot dealing with Google Drive and many ways that you can use it to collaborate with individuals that you are not physically with.  This makes it extremely easy for a group of people to collaborate on a project when it is difficult for them to find a consensual meeting time.  For instance, say you are working with some individuals that are on both coasts, or even in another country.  You can both edit the project in real time, and that can be of tremendous asset to people.  Here is an example of a Google Slide that my class has made collaboratively.  As far as I know no 2 people were in the same room when they did their slide of the presentation, with the exception of my wife and I.  If you are familiar with Microsoft Office, then jumping up to Google Drive will not be that difficult of a leap.  For the most part if you can do it in Office you can do it Drive.  There is one annoying exception that I have found.  

In Office you can write text like this however in Drive your text has to be like this

While I agree that this is a minor issue, it is just one example of a difference between the 2 program suites.  If you would like to know more about how to use Google Drive here is a video tutorial:

          Another great thing about Google Drive is the ability to gather data from all around the world.  For example, I posted a Super Hero Quiz here and I was able to download all of the responses into a Google Sheet and use Flubaroo to grade and analyze my quiz.  Here is an example of the data that you can expect to get from Flubaroo.

        

Granted, this is not as powerful as some, but it gives the instructor a nice quick glance at the relevant data.

What the heck is a Learning Management System?

This week we have been working with Learning Management Systems (LMS), namely Edmodo and Schoology.  Wikipedia defines an LMS as a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic educational technology (also called e-learning) courses or training programs.  Both of these LMSs would of benefit to me since they are standalone sites.  I teach adjudicated youth that are not allowed access to email or any type of social media, this would alleviate that problem.  Of the two listed above my personal preference is Edmodo.  However, let’s start with Schoology first.

The first thing that I noticed was that Schoology’s homepage was very cluttered, and busy.  I was immediately concerned that my students would find it too intimidating and difficult.  The second thing that stood out to me was that I had to choose whether I was going to create a course or a group.  You have to look into the differences between the two because they each have very different capabilities.  With a course you can treat it more like an online class, you can post assignments and assessments.  The members of the course can turn them in directly in Schoology.  A group is basically more like a discussion board.  You can post discussion prompts and the group members can reply to each other.  I really do like a lot of the features that Schoology offers, but I have to go with what I think is best for my students.  Here is a video that gives a quick overview of Schoology.

  Edmodo appears, and is, much more user friendly.  It has more of a Facebook look to it so I feel that students will find it much less intimidating.  As well as the more familiar appearance Edmodo combines the Schoology course and group features into one tool.  Once you have created your group in Edmodo you can post discussion topics, assessments, and assignments all from one location.  For my students this would be a huge help.  I fear that they would become extremely frustrated with having to switch back and forth between the course and groups in Schoology.  If you would like to learn more about Edmodo here is a short video.

These can be tremendous assets in the classroom, but a teacher has to be willing to work with them.  They will be very trying at first, but if you stick with them I believe they can make a huge impact in your classroom.

Is there anybody out there?... (Pink Floyd now)

This week we dove into the world of Personal Learning Networks (PLNs).  The great thing about PLNs is that there is something out there for everybody.  Everything from the latest on String Theory to underwater basket weaving.  Completely different types of string by the way.  We learned about two very different ways to nurture our PLNs, one was by using Twitter, and the other was through a tool called Diigo.

I’m fairly certain that most everyone has heard of Twitter by now, but if you just recently crawled out from under the rock you’ve been living under I will show you a quick video on What is Twitter?.  I hope that really helped to clear some things up for you.  With Twitter the possibilities are nearly endless with what you can follow.  All you have to do is create an account and start searching for your interests.  You can even have multiple accounts, i.e. school, personal interests, family, etc…  If you would like to learn how to sign up for account here is a tutorial to show you how.

The other tool we used this week is called Diigo.  Diigo may be a little more obscure to some people, but it is very powerful tool.  Diigo allows you bookmark websites and then add “tags” to them that will allow you to find them easier later on.  One way that I have used Diigo in the past is I found an article I wanted my students to read.  I bookmarked and tagged the article and then shared it with the group that my students have previously joined.  They were then able to highlight the article from their laptops and add their own annotations as they were reading.  If you would like to know more about Diigo here is a short video explaining it.

Here I go again...(Whitesnake playing in my head)

Well, I’m back at this blogging thing.  This is one of the hardest things for me to do both professionally and personally.  It could very well be an issue of self-confidence.  Maybe, I don’t like to put myself out there because I don’t feel that anyone would really care what I have to say.  I have started my last full length class at Baker University on the path to my Master of Arts in Education.  I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope there’s not a train at the other end.

This week our focus was on finding educational blogs, RSS Feeds, and Feedly.  Our instructor wanted us to find educational blogs that would be relevant and beneficial to us.  Maybe once I am done with my Masters I will actually have time to go back and read more of these blogs for pleasure, and not just as a part of an assignment.  It seems extremely overwhelming to me to keep up to date on some of my favorite blogs, but more on that later.

RSS Feeds are very useful to people that want to keep up on the latest on a particular topic.  RSS stands for Rich Site Summary; some often refer to it as Really Simple Syndication.  If you subscribe to an RSS Feed it will constantly search for any new information that is linked to the particular site that you have subscribed to.  As I previously stated, RSS Feeds really let you stay on top of the latest news about your topic.

            Finally, back to me being overwhelmed with keeping up with my favorite blogs.  Our instructor introduced me to this wonderful tool called, Feedly.  Feedly is a way for you to organize and keep track of your favorite blogs.  Feedly is not just for keeping track of your blogs though.  It allows you to keep track of any frequently updated publication.  These include, but are not limited to Podcasts and YouTube Channels.  Feedly is not just for your favorite web browser, there are apps for Android, Kindle, and iOS.  As of now I am only using it to keep track of blogs for my current course, but I am looking forward to using it to keep track of my personal interests like: Star Wars, Game of Thrones, the Marvel MCU, KC Royals, KC Chiefs, and Sporting KC.  Here is a short video showing you how to get started using Feedly.  This video is created by one of the blogs that I am currently following: Free Tech 4 Teachers.