Google posted the details for their Doodle 4 Google contest. According to Google, "Students in grades K-12 are invited to take part in the 2015 Doodle 4 Google contest". Teachers can find all the details under the "How it Works" tab. Make sure and check the site out before introducing the contest to your students. The contest is open from October 19th till December 7th.
Along with the rules and entry form, Doodle 4 Google also list the wonderful prizes up for grabs. Click here for a list of prizes (hint: $30,000 scholarship). Google has assembled an all-star group of judges to select the winner. Some of the judges are Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Dr Cagle ( Astronaut), and Stephen Curry (NBA Player). Make sure you check out the "Classroom Activities" tab when you visit. In this tab, teachers will find inspirational videos and grade band specific lesson plans to use with their students. Here's video one of the three part series of inspirational videos geared towards students:
Classroom is coming, Classroom is coming, Classroom is coming! I am getting set to ride around my district like Paul Revere announcing the arrival of Google Classroom
If you aren't too familiar with Google Classroom, it is Google's venture into a Learning Management System/Content Management System, an LMS or CMS for short. I got an early preview over the summer and I have been showing it off to anyone who will listen, and even some who didn't want to hear about it. For some reason the awesomeness of Google Classroom was lost on my six year old, but eventually she will come around.
For those teachers I have shown it too, the constant question is when does Classroom come to me? I finally have an answer. It will be here this week! Let's all throw our hands in the air and celebrate like Kermit the Frog!
Yay!!!!
I am not 100% sure when it will be out for everyone... I have a feeling that Google will be releasing it like a thief in the night... You won't know when it will appear. That being said, there are a few things I wanted to share with you before you get your access.
Classroom Important Things to Know
You can easily manage a contact list of students.
Administrators can easily deploy documentation to teachers.
Student's can easily turn in assignments within their Google Drive.
It will clean up your Google Drive.
You can leverage the power of Google Forms easily to grade and deliver quizzes.
Managing a Contact List of Students
When your Classroom access is enabled you can navigate to classroom.google.com and create your class. There is a "+" button at the top of the screen that will allow you to create your class. You can make as many as you want and enable students to join. When you click on the "+" sign at the top of the page you will get an option to create or join a class. When students join, it is an easy process to select their names and send them an email. Also, within the Classroom you have an easy to access list of all of your students! Once students get enrolled, click on the students tab and all your hopes and dreams can come true!
Administrators Can Deploy Documentation to Teachers
Teachers can do this for students as well, but I thought it would be good to throw the administrators of a school a little tech bone... This is by far my favorite feature of Classroom. Let's pretend I am a school level admin and I have a specific format I want my lesson plans done in. I can now go into my Google Drive, create a template, and using Google Classroom I can deploy that document out to everyone. All I have to do is create a class, have teachers enroll as students, create the assignment for them, and then they will have a copy within their Google Drive. There is also a handy Turn In button in the top of the Google Doc you assign to them. This will enable you to make sure things get done on time!
The Turn In Button
I mentioned this in the previous section, but the upper right hand corner just got cooler. We've had the big, beautiful, share button for some time now, but Google is cranking up the heat with the Turn In button. When a teacher sets an assignment in Classroom it automagically(yes, I spelled that correctly) creates a file in the Drive account of each student. The student can access the assignment there, follow instructions, and then click Turn In when finished. Boom goes the dynamite!
The Turn In Button live, in nature.
Google Drive Cleanup When a student is placed into a Google Classroom they are automagically(I will make this a word) given a file corresponding with Classroom that is placed inside of their Google Drive. When a teacher creates an assignment it goes in that file. There will also be a corresponding file in the Drive of each teacher. No more wondering where shared files went.
Forms and Flubaroo
Now, this has been around for a while, but I really think Google Classroom will make this process easier. Teachers are presently able to go into Google Forms and create self-grading quizzes using the Flubaroo add-on. It really is a great tool. I think the key thing here for teachers is the ability to easily create class based groups and share forms with an entire class with one click. Instead of attaching from Google Drive when creating an assignment, insert a link to the Google Form.
I have spoken to a Googler recently and one thing I asked for was easier integration with Google Forms and Classroom. I think that is the one thing missing from Classroom at this early stage.
With a little bit of work on the front end, you can save a great amount of time on the back end!
So all in all, I am very excited about Google Classroom! I think it simplifies many processes with working with students in Google Drive. That said, I do see a few weaknesses in the early stages. Like I said, I will be happy when they bring over the ability to embed forms into Google Classroom. Also, I would like the ability to assign things to groups instead of just single students. I think that would be great.
So those are some initial thoughts on Google Classroom. Let me know what you think about it all. I'd love to have some dialogue!
Alright middle and high school teachers, Google is back with this year's science fair! All of you sciencey types out there need to take a look at this. Information can be found by checking out @google's Tweet: https://twitter.com/google/status/433636426870059008
What are you waiting for? Go do something awedome!
Keeping up with the latest emerging technology is harder than keeping up with the Jones family three blocks down. Every conference I attend focuses on what is new, hot, and emerging in the field of instructional technology. Sometimes the seasoned professionals at these conferences forget that the majority of their audience has little to no experience with true integration of technology in the classroom. In my seven years of technology leadership, I discovered that the 20-60-20 rule applies the majority of the time when training people. The bottom 20 percent could care less what you say, the top 20 percent will immediately jump on board the bus, and 60 percent (most of your audience) is on the fence. The goal is to convert the 60 percent towards the top 20 percent.
Let's grab the Member's Only jacket, acid washed jeans, your latest mixed tape, and journey back a few years to some old school basic tips that may just grab a hold of the 60 percent. We are going to cover my three favorite tips for converting people to the world of technology integration. Start with screen capturing, ease into my favorite SMART Notebook move, and then finish with the best Google search tip of all time.
Screen Capture:
Visual reference points are desired by most students and teachers when it comes to effective written directions. Screen capturing software allows users to grab anything on their screen and save it as an image. Most computers have built-in screen capture software, but my all time favorite is Gadwin PrintScreen. Gadwin is free and provides multiple capturing options such as full screen, window, or rectangular. Instead of telling your students to click on the sideways, slanted looking I, give them a cool screen capture as a visual reference (see below).
SMART Notebook Screen Shade:
This simple tool packs a lot of power, and helps the teacher to build excitement about the lesson. Screen Shade covers the screen in Notebook, and allows the teacher to reveal certain parts of the screen when they are ready for the audience to see it.
Directions from SMART (Notice the Screen Capture being used in the directions)
YouTube Video with directions and more examples (2:59 in length)
Using quotes in Google Search:
If you want to search for an exact phrase or word in Google Search, go ahead and put quotes around your phrase or word (e.g., "Win the lottery") You can reduce the number of search results by the millions. This will help you research lessons more efficiently, and create more accurate guides to help your students research curriculum topics.
Abraham Lincoln without quotes 92 million, with quotes 41 million
Repairing my VCR without quotes 3 million, with quotes 10,000
Flux Capacitor without quotes 3.1 million, with quotes 1.1 million
Thanks to Jaki Day for sharing this link on Facebook... I may have missed it otherwise... 14 ways Google gets it right even after 15 years
Click the picture below to get to the full article:
The Next Web, www.thenextweb.com, offered up a great synopsis of how Google is still getting things right after 15 years. Everyone knows that I am a Google guy, but looking at this story though an impartial eye I see where Google has done a good job of nailing it. Here are a couple of points I want to touch on where I think all organizations could benefit.
3. Constant Questioning
I equate this to more self-evaluation... Are you being effective? Could you do something better? Do you take your attitude/ego out of the equation and ask yourself these questions on a daily basis? It seems when attitude/ego are part of things we have difficulty questioning ourselves. If we want to be effective as educators, it would not hurt to remove a bit of ourselves from what we are doing to make sure we are reaching our students.
7. Acceptance of Failure
Does anyone remember Google Wave, Google Answers, Video Player, or Web Accelerator? Me either, but Google invested a large amount of money into these services over the years. For some reason or another, these ideas did not take hold with consumers at large. Even though Google had a few ideas that did not take, does that make them failures? I'd say Google is as far from being a failure as any company can be.
The difference between Google and other entities is Google moved on past their failures. As educators we are all going to have ideas that don't germinate for some reason or another. We need to work to get past those times where things aren't going our way and figure out what we can learn from those situations.
10. Work-Life Balance
I am as guilty of this as anyone else... As educators we all love our jobs and we are constantly looking for ways to be better at what we do. Sometimes for the benefit of those that love us we need to step back and examine our priorities. Google encourages their employees to look at themselves as more than Google employees. We all need to look at ourselves as more than the jobs we do.
12. Simplicity
In the transition from teaching children to adults, the idea of simplicity of design has become firmly established. Why say something in five words when you only need four? I don't think I am there yet, but I am learning how I can say things a bit better in order to more effectively communicate my message.
As educators we should always be examining ways we can, "get it right," as mentioned in this article. Google as a company has set the bar for us, but I think we can replicate what they have done. Thoughts?
