Why Schools Are Turning To Google Apps

Here's a great article from Mashable! on why school districts are using Google Apps on student laptops to boost academic performance.

Why Schools Are Turning To Google Apps

Article: Visual Learning In Autism

Here is a recent article I read in the publication Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists.  The article describes how the Monarch Center for Autism, in Cleveland, OH, supports children with autism through the use of interactive whiteboards, touch screen computers, video modeling and web-based programs.

Interactive Classroom Resource - Tripco E-Learning

What is it: Triptico E-Learning is a simple website with a growing library of GREAT interactive classroom resources and tools.  You can submit your comments about a resource and the developer will attempt to make some modifications based on your feedback.  I've seen resources change quite a bit!  When I first started looking at this site it only had a handful of tools.  It has grown pretty fast.

Tripco's tools are very modern looking and BIG.  Most of them are customizable to fit your classroom. There are spinners, scoreboards, and a name selector. I like the "Find Ten!" resource.   Try the demo activity.

Need Student Response Devices? Try "Poll Everywhere"

What is it: Poll Everywhere is a free resource that allows you to create multiple choice or free form text questions that participants can reply to via their cell phone.  They can text in the answer or send it from their Twitter account.  Poll Everywhere will update your results live on your blog or in your class PowerPoint! Turn a cell phone into a Student Response Device!  Subscription accounts are available for an audience larger than 30 participants. But with that small student to teacher ratio, who needs more than 30, right?!  Give it a try! Here's my question below.

Replace your audience response systems with Poll Everywhere

5 Ways Classrooms Can Use Video Conferencing

Need some ideas for that webcam in your classroom collecting dust?  I personally like #5.  Also read about a 12 year old who recently spoke at the TED Conference. 

5 Ways Classrooms Can Use Video Conferencing

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Wis Web Interactive Website for IWB

What is it:  Wis Web is simple interactive website for secondary math classes that focuses on the use of applets to allow students to explore problems, discover concepts and construct 3D objects.  With a background in teaching 8th Grade math , I would have to say that the applet called "Building Houses with Side Views" is one of my favorite. 

How to integrate it into the classroom:  How could you not integrate this into your interactive classrooms. Setting up learning stations, with your IWB as the "main stage", would be a great way to keep ALL of your students engaged in their learning. It covers measurement, geometry, algebra, number sense and more.  What I really love about this site is that the design of the applets is large and simple.

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Shared Whiteboard Space on Google Docs

What is it:  I am an avid fan of Google Docs and they now have a new feature! Google Docs now has the option to create a "shared whiteboard space" called Google Drawing.  Google Drawing allows for the collaboration process to happen, on a blank drawing space, in real time.  If you are familiar with Google Docs, the privacy settings are the same as other documents.  You, as the creator, are allowed to adjust these settings and it is up to you to decide who has access to view or edit the document. The Google Drawing can be published to a blog or site and it will be updated in real time!

How to integrate it into the classroom:  This is a wonderful tool for those who have an interactive whiteboard! This will allow multiple classrooms to interact with each other using one document in real time.  Each class can provide input and the other classes can see it happen. Students can work different math problems or answer questions that are provided by the other class.  Involve Skype and the possibilities are endless!

Google For Teachers Guide

What is it: Google For Teachers is a 33 page guide to help teachers and administrators, go beyond the obvious with various Google Tools.  I add the administrator group to this because I have been on some campuses where there is a push by the leaders to integrate technology in the classroom. While at the same time those leaders are dissemination information to everyone with an overhead projector or the old PowerPoint. Teachers, we need your help to get everyone on board!

How to integrate it into the classroom: In this guide there are 21 ideas and directions on how to use Google Tools and Gadgets such as Google Books, Google Maps, Google News, and Google Forms. Did you know that you can create an interactive map that students can collaborate on at the same time?  They can even create their own placemarks with descriptions and personalized icons! The Google for Teachers Guide also shows teachers how to create an assessment that student can take online from the classroom blog using Google Forms. Thank you to Free Technology for Teachers for this resource.

Study Island and Promethean Integration

What is it: Study Island is an educational state standards based program. Teachers are able to create learning experiences for your students that target specific state standards.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Study Island has now created a way to integrate your classroom response devices such as ActiVotes and ActivExpressions into their program. What makes this different from using the Promethean software is that you do not need to run ActivStudio or ActivInspire to conduct classroom voting. Everything is done through Study Island! Similar features available with Promethean's Learner Response System are also available on Study Island.  You start and stop the voting as well as view class results!

Google Public Data Explorer

What is it: Google Public Data Explorer is a Google Labs project, so that means their testing it out, that is available to anyone. With the Google Public Data Explorer you have access to large data sets of public information such as Unemployment, Population, and Retail Sales. What great is that you can view them in a as various interactive graphs or charts that you customize. For example, I want to see a line graph that compares the unemployment rate of Texas, California and Florida.

How to integrate it into the classroom: Students and teachers can create incredible visualizations, of the data sets, that can be explored and discussed with one another.  At the elementary level, students can begin to explore the parts of an effective graph.  At the secondary level, students can synthesize the information into vivid discussions.
Once you've used the Google Public Data Explorer to create an awesome visualization of a set of data, you can link or embed them into your blog or web page.  Embeds and links are updated automatically! Real time data.  That's powerful! Some visualizations can be animated to show change over time.  Imagine the types of projects that students can create.