The Electric Educator

The Textbook Evolution Has [Finally] Begun!

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

Apple's announcement that it will begin supporting and encouraging the development of digital interactive textbooks has caused a considerable stir in the educational community. The stir is not just hype as Apple's decision marks an important shift in the publishing industry which has been woefully slow to adapt to and take advantage of emerging technologies.

I am the director of a fully online school. For the past six months I have been researching digital curriculum. I was interested in using digital textbooks instead of the typical self-contained course such as those produced by Florida Virtual School, K12/Aventa, etc. A few publishing companies offered such books, but this is what I discovered:

Few of these digital texts were truly "interactive." They ranged from PDF documents to websites.
No one seemed to have an established pricing model for their ebooks. One company told me that in order to purchase their eBooks I would need to purchase a copy of their traditional textbook and they would throw in the eBook (evidently I was just supposed to store several hundred textbooks in a closet somewhere).
None of the sales reps that I spoke with were knowledgeable about their eBook line. At the 2011 Virtual School Symposium, one of the largest textbook companies didn't even have the foresight to showcase their eBook at the conference or bring a sales rep who could speak about the books.

If left to themselves, the publishing companies would have delayed the move toward digital textbooks at all costs. The similarities between the textbook companies, the music industry, and the newspaper industry is striking. Their lack of innovation and protection of [past] huge profits is disappointing. Here is the result of their "visionary" thinking:

Apple is now the #1 seller of music in the United States. It essentially controls the music industry.
The News industry has seen a drop in everything: subscribers, circulation rates, and advertising revenue. Strong digital competitors like the Huffington Post and the Drudge Report are gaining traction, and significant ad revenue, against traditional outlets.

Apple is poised, once again, to disrupt a bulwark of capitalism. Clearly, Apple's success indicates that innovation and creativity are more valuable than balance sheets and a love of "tradition."

While I'm not thrilled at the proprietary nature of Apple's new textbook initiative, I give them credit for pushing the big textbook publishers into the 21st century. Without Apple's clout, it may have been another 12 years before we saw significant improvements in the textbook publishing model.

My hope is that Apple's investment into textbooks will encourage/force other platforms to develop similar ecosystems. Ultimately, I would love to see an open source platform emerge that would allow textbooks to be traded between devices.

Apple has succeeded in accomplishing more for American business and consumers than the federal government or traditional industries. Apple has its bruises, and I certainly don't want to be a uncritical of a company that makes obscene amounts of money while ignoring unacceptable working conditions in China or being a monopolistic bully in the cell phone market. These faults aside though, I'm grateful that Educators have such a powerful ally in Apple who can move things forward when nothing else can.

iPad vs. Chromebook [Your Thoughts]

2012-01-25T10:00:00.000-06:00

I teach at a school that has a 1:1 iPad program. I am also a Google Certified Teacher and Trainer and have been following the development of the Chromebook closely.

I was fortunate to receive one of the Chrombook Beta devices Google sent to users in early 2011. I am also the owner of a Samsung Chrombook which I use when I am traveling.

Having used both the iPad and the Chrombook extensively, I am torn between the two devices. Each has some awesome features from a beautiful interface and a wonderful app ecosystem (iPad) to powerful collaborative abilities and always available internet connectivity (Chromebook).

Several schools and individuals have asked for my recommendation as they weigh hardware purchases for the coming school year. I'm torn. Which device would you choose?

There are lots of angles to consider these two competing devices on:

Ease of use
Cost
Maintenance
Available Apps
Owned vs. Shared
Portability
Battery life
Connectivity

Please weigh in! If someone asked you which device they should purchase as a 1:1 device, which would you recommend? What was the deciding factor for you?

The iPad Loophole

2012-01-16T12:00:00.000-06:00

This year my school gave iPads to all of our high school students. We were one of the first in the state. It's been an exciting year full of surprises and learning.

During the first semester some of our creative and talented students found an interesting iOS loophole that gave them unfiltered access to the web. The trouble stems from Apps that, instead of storing their help documentation locally on the device, pull in their help documentation from the web. To the average user there is no difference between the two methods, however some students discovered that by clicking through the help files, they could navigate to a Google search page and then to any website on the internet. Some apps featured only small help screens, while others, such as the Google Earth App, featured a full screen web browser.

Facebook accessed through the Google Earth App

Twitter accessed through the Screen Chomp App

Over Christmas break we were forced to remove the following apps, all of which contained this loophole.

Grace to you
Billy Graham
Touch Bible
Logos study bible
Powerone calculator
Loan calculator
Halftone
Doodle buddy
Showme
Google Earth
Screenchomp
italk
Christianity Today
Word reference
lynda.com
PBS
super 8
Words with friends

It's unfortunate that security and safety frequently conflict with creativity and learning.

Note: I understand that many educators are advocates of teaching students to browse the web safely instead of blocking access to social media and other potentially useful tools. While this is a noble goal, the reality of life as we know it includes the fact that the majority of schools block Twitter, Facebook, and other potentially useful sites. This post is note meant to be a discussion of internet freedom, but a report on a potential security loophole in iOS devices.

Comments in Google Docs

2012-01-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

When Google updated the Google Docs framework, many new features were added and/or improved. One such feature was the comment or "discussion" feature.

The old comments looked like this (left). They were flat and very ordinary.

The new comments (Google now calls them "discussions") look like this (left). Comments can now be sent to a specific person by adding in their email address. Profile pictures (if you have setup your Google profile) are also added to the comment.

Comments in a document can be very useful. Here are some ideas on how you can use comments to expand the usefulness of Google docs as well as an overview of some commenting features you may not have been aware of.

InBox Zero in Gmail

2012-01-02T09:00:00.001-06:00

It's January second and all across American people are starting their New Year's resolutions. The gyms are packed, the cupboards are empty of junk food, and storage bins are on sale in all the big box stores!

If getting organized is one of your resolutions, let me give you a hand.

A year ago I began implementing the concept of "Inbox Zero." This concept is proposed by productivity blogger and expert Merlin Mann. He was even invited by Google to come and share his ideas with Googlers at the Googlplex in Mountain View, California. If you haven't watched the video, I would recommend it.

The basic premise of Inbox Zero is as follows:

Each morning, millions of people open up their email to figure out what they need to do today. This is a grave mistake as urgen (but not important) things typically fill up our inboxes. You need to prioritize. You need a plan. Don't be a slave to your inbox!

When an email comes in, it needs to be processed. There are many ways you can process your email. The fewer options you have, the better. I have three options:

Archive
Add to calendar
Add to task list

Gmail makes this very simple to do. Here's how

Back Up Your Google Docs!

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000-06:00

I know that cloud-based applications were supposed to eliminate the need to back up your files. Call me paranoid, but I have begun to back up my Google Docs account.

In the event that someone hacks into my account, causing it to be locked by Google, I could lose access to some very important documents and information. To mitigate this risk, I have begun saving a copy of my documents on a semi-regular basis. Here's how to do it.

Book Review: The War of Art

2011-12-26T12:00:00.000-06:00

Photo by John R. Sowash

I love reading. Every year there are a couple of books on my Christmas list. This year, I received The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

This book was recommended by Seth Godin and Merlin Man, two bloggers/authors that I read regularly and appreciate for their poignant insight.

The War of Art contains principles that I have blogged about previously. You might consider reading my previous post on "Shipping."

The core thesis of this short book is the unlived life:

Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands the Resistance. (introduction)

The "Resistance" is a central theme of this book. Everyone has fought against the resistance, only a few recognize its influence, however. The Resistance is not a secret government agency, it's not a foreign power, or an alien influence. The Resistance is the internal "voice" that does everything possible to keep you from doing what you were born to do.

Seth Godin calls it the "Lizard Brain". Pressfield calls it the Resistance. In either case, there is a constant internal battle within everyone that seeks to prevent you from taking a wild leap of faith, from putting yourself out there, from trying something new. Why? Because it might not work. The Resistance is primarily concerned with maintaining the status quo-- comfort, predictability, safety, security. Anything that could potentially upset that balance must be fought against.

How many times have you had an idea burning within you that you ignored for a variety of reasons:

I don't have time
I don't have enough money
I'm too busy
I'll start tomorrow
I'm not feeling well
I'm too tired

Each of these excuses are from the Resistance. The curious thing, is that all of them are probably true (at least to some extent). The Resistance is smooth, cunning, and subtle. Pressfield suggests that we use the Resistance this way:

"Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North-- meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing...The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it." (pg. 12)

Pressfield is a professional writer (primarily a novelist). The Resistance is constantly trying to distract him from what he does-- write. The principles found in The War of Art extend well beyond authorship, however. Anyone with any ambition, goal, or dreams, is susceptible to the Resistance. To counteract this powerful force, Pressfield suggests the following:

1. Stop being an Amateur and turn Pro.
An Amateur is far to in love with the idea of what he/she does to be effective at it. Turning Pro forces you to approach your work in a detached, business like manner. A close look at any professional athlete will quickly demonstrate that they aren't just "playing around" at what they do-- they take it seriously, and love the game at the same time.

2. Just show up
Showing up and getting to work is 80% of the battle. There are many distractions that keep us from fully "showing up." Research, email, phone calls, coffee breaks, oil changes, and lunch appointments are good things that keep us from our real work.

3. Long Term Commitment
Let's be real. Nothing of significance is accomplished quickly. Anyone who wants to be successful is going to need to make a long-term commitment to showing up and being a pro.

4. Do it because you have to
The true artists gives birth to his/her art because it is a burden on the soul. The artists doesn't paint/write/dance/sing to make money or to be famous, he does it because he must; like a pregnant women must give birth. Frequently an artist produces something that the "market" will not accept. This is not a failure on the part of the artist. He/she did what was within them, if no one else appreciates it, so what. Show up the next day and do the next thing.

Pressfield shares many more helpful principles related to overcoming the resistance and working with your inner Muse. Much more accustom to writing fiction than non-fiction, Pressfield clearly communicates the frustration, toil, and ardor, it takes to be an artist. There is nothing easy about it. There is no 5 step process to follow. Art is War. It comes down to hard work, focus, determination, and dedication. There is no easy way out. The resistance is never beat, it constantly tries to distract, scare, and confuse us unto living ordinary lives.

iOS Apps for Educators

2011-12-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

Next week I will be leading a webinar for some middle school teachers to help them better use their iOS devices as professional learning tools. I have found my iPad and iPod touch to be a valuable organizational and learning tool in my professional life. Rather than relying solely on my own experiences, I would like to ask for your input regarding your favorite professional learning applications. To submit your nominations, please complete the form below. I will post the results following next week's webinar.

(Sorry that the form is cut off. Apparently adjusting the width of a Google form doesn't dynamically scale the form, it just cuts of the remainder! Click here to access the original form)

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Technology without the Tech

2011-12-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

Image: Flicker via Worcester Academy

It's very easy for a school to argue that its technology implementation/integration is one of its strengths. The typical campaign goes something like this:

[School Name] is a leader in educational technology. Each classroom is equipped with a digital projector and interactive whiteboard. In the high school there is a 1:1 laptop program designed to teach students the importance of collaboration and 21st century skills.

This is the wrong way to approach technology in education. The above statement focuses primarily on technology hardware, not application. The measure of a schools success with technology should focus on how the technology is being used to enhance student learning:

[School Name] uses technology to provide students with meaningful learning opportunities. Each faculty member is skilled in leveraging hardware and web resources to challenge students with formative and rewarding learning opportunities that go beyond the walls of the classroom.

If this is the metric that schools were measured against, far fewer of them would be able to list "technology integration" as one of their core strengths.

Skype on the iPad

2011-11-21T12:00:00.000-06:00

For many, Skype has become a essential communication tool. Using Skype on the iPad will not disappoint!

Last week I was collaborating with my friends from the Google Educast, a weekly podcast produced by the EdReach network. We hold semi-regular conference calls to discuss upcoming shows, using Skype as our communication platform. Typically I use my Macbook to connect, but this time I decided to try out my iPad.

The large iPad screen provides ample room to view and respond to instant messages sent via the Skype messenger. The call quality was exceptional despite the WiFi only connection. I was also very impressed by the quality of the microphone. Those on the other end of the line had not trouble hearing me. I tried listening and speaking with and without the use of earbuds without noticing any significant difference. I was very pleased that speaking without the earbuds did not result in any distortion or feedback looping as it frequently does when using other computers.

For voice conferencing I would highly recommend the use of Skype on the iPad. Download the Skype App for free from the iTunes store.

Time, Attention, and Clear Thinking

2011-11-18T12:00:00.001-06:00

In years gone-bye, information was a critical resource that determined success. Today, information is cheap and easily accessible by anyone with a web-enabled computer or mobile device. Access to information is no longer a distinguishing factor. The critical skills that determine success today are time, attention, and clear thinking.

Time

Photo by canardo via Flickr

Everyone has the same number of hours in the day. It doesn't matter if your are Warren Buffet or someone living in a third-world country. You have the same amount of time. What differentiates successful and not-so-successful people is their ability to use their time effectively. Technology makes it possible to leverage the time that we are given to achieve more than was previously possible. Technology also allows us to create and sell products that are independent of time. Consider the story of this independent French developer who is pulling in $200k/year on the development of several games he developed for iOS devices. The time that he spent developing these Apps has was leveraged through the Web economy.

Attention

Photo by Lulu Hoeller via Flickr

While brain capacity varies from person to person, we all have the ability to concentrate our available mental ability on a difficult problem or question that can add potential value to ourselves or other people. The old saying that "if it was easy someone else would have done it by now" is very appropriate. While technology has solved some challenges, it has created many others.

There are many prizes, competitions, and contests which reward focused attention on a difficult problem or idea:

The Netflix Prize: a quest to improve the Netflix recommendation algorithm. Hundreds of teams worked for over two years for a $1 million dollar award which was presented in 2009.
"Project 10 to the 100": a challenge sponsored by Google to come up with solutions to some of the world's most challenging problems (energy, education, housing, environment, health, etc). 16 ideas were chosen and the public voted for the top five ideas, each of which received $2 million to implement the idea.
TED Prize: the core goal of TED is to award creative thinkers and innovators for their work in solving difficult problems or improving life around the world. Each winner is awarded $100,000 and allowed to make one wish, which the well-connected TED attendees excitedly make a reality.

The ability to stay focused and committed to finding a solution to a problem is one thing that separates the good from the great. When solutions are not obvious and require effort to discover, most give up.

Clear Thinking

The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr, is a book about how technology is changing the way that we think, and not for the better.

"When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning...The Net's cacophony of stimuli short-circuits both conscious and unconscious thought, preventing our minds from thinking either deeply or creatively."

Information is no longer a limiting resources. We all have access to far more information than we will ever need. It is very easy to continue the accumulation of information without ever acting on that information in a useful way. If unchecked, the accumulation of information can lead to confusion, information paralysis, and procrastination. No amount of information will lead us to make the perfect decision. Eventually, we must make a decision and move forward.

Having the discipline to turn off the flow of information and think clearly and deeply about the problem at hand in light of available information is the mark of a leader.

*********

I write these things because I struggle with them:

I never have enough time in the day to act on the ideas that I generate.
My mind races from task to task, idea to idea, like a crazed internet surfer clicking on hyperlinks.
I am an information junky and have trouble turning off the tap.

ScreenChamp Finalist!

2011-11-16T12:00:00.001-06:00

I love Google Apps and use them with my students all the time. One day, on a whim, I decided to do a screen capture of the growth of a collaborative story that my 9th grade students wrote using Google Docs. Several months later TechSmith, the makers of Camtasia, Jing and SnagIt, launched the "ScreenChamp" competition in an effort to choose the best screen capture video on the web.

The video of my students (below) is one of 15 finalist! Voting opened yesterday and extends though December 15. I would appreciate your vote and (by extension) a vote for Google Docs in the Classroom!

Link to Vote: http://polldaddy.com/poll/5481955

2011 Virtual School Symposium Recap

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

2011 iNACOL Virtual School Symposium

This week I attended the 2011 Virtual School Symposium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over 1,900 educators interested in online learning were in attendance.

After participating in numerous workshops led by a variety of administrators and educators as well as listening to keynote addresses from Susan Patrick (president of iNACOL) and representatives from the Department of Education, and speaking with vendors I came away with the follow thoughts:

1. K-12 Online learning is in a state of great flux. Very few things that are currently being done or products that are currently being sold will be around in the next 3-5 years.

2. Variety and Flexibility is Limited. Vendors have given large school districts what they asked for-- turn key solution for online programs. The problem is that these solutions are not meeting the needs of smaller programs. Assembling a program from the best offerings of multiple vendors is not currently an option due to the restrictive and proprietary systems that companies have created.

3. Hardware and Software vendors are not working together. Online learning resources are being developed using Java and Flash technologies. Apple and Google, are resistant to support of these products. iOS devices won't run flash and Google's new Chromebook doesn't support client-side Java.

Posing with the Brain Honey Bee!

4. Data is not portable. Lots of data on student achievement, progress, and activity is being collected however very little of this data can/is being used in useful ways. LMS systems collect all kinds of information but teachers and administrators are having a difficult time mining and filtering that data to better understand student needs. Moving data between systems is virtually impossible.

5. The US is behind. Many of the best innovations in education related to online learning are from outside of the United States. Check out the interesting and exciting things being done by Heritage Christian Schools (Canada) and the Sydney Center for Innovation in Learning (Australia).

There is great consensus that online learning will have a significant impact on learning in the next 20 years. Drops in student achievement, graduation rates, and school finance challenges underscore the need for significant change. It's clear, however, the the online learning industry is far from mature.

2011 Virtual School Symposium

2011-11-09T22:51:00.001-06:00

This week I am hanging out in Indianapolis at the Virtual School Symposium sponsored by the International Association for K12 Online Learning (iNACOL).

Today I let an all day pre-conference on Google Apps for Education. It was a lively group and I enjoyed working with Cindy Lane and Andy Crozier, two Google Apps experts!

Tomorrow the conference begins and I have a full slate of sessions on my agenda. Here's my planned scheduled along with a few comments of my own.

For liver conference updates, follow #vss11

Thursday Sessions:

Current Research on Developing Effective Teachers for Online and Blended Learning
Inducting New Hires-Transitioning Brick and Mortar Practitioners for Success in the Online Environment
Online School and Service Learning: A Perfect Blend
The Empowered School Leader
How to Ensure Quality in Your Digital Learning Program
Top Ten Tech Tools to Try Tomorrow!

Friday Sessions:

"Be Careful! What you Measure is What You Get! " Performance Pay and Evaluation System for Online Teachers
How to make personalized learning collaborative
Importance of Fostering Online School Communities
Private Schools- Trends and Projections Related to Technology
The Demographics of Online Learners
Enabling Rapid Growth of Successful Blended Learning Models
Get Your Head in the Clouds! Making the Most of Cloud Computing Tools for Online Learning
Access to and Usage of Virtual Education and Online Learning in Michigan High Schools
Mentoring Program for Online Teachers

Teaching Search on the iPad

2011-11-07T12:00:00.000-06:00

Despite the "magic" of the iPad, it has been difficult to find classroom applications that are easy to implement given the constraints of a 50 minute class period and the unpredictability of 25+ students, wireless connectivity issues, etc. The 1:1 iPad program at my school has required creative thinking and realistic expectations.

One assignment that has great potential is using the iPad (or any other mobile web-connected device) to search the web. Searching is a skill that must students are ill equipped to do effectively. This is how most students search the internet:

1. Type in the exact question you are trying to answer. Typically this is copied directly off of a worksheet or some other class hand out. Little or no thought is given to the construction of the search query. Just type the question in the box.
2. Look at the first 1-4 results. If the answer isn't given in the snippet on the search page, then it probably isn't there. The average student will never scroll through search results and will certainly not visit page 2. Frequently the "answer" that is found is incorrect or inaccurate. Few students actually verify information by looking at a second or third source.
3. If the answer is not found, it's not on the internet.

The method described above is NOT effective. Searching is a critical thinking activity that requires students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information. These are the higher-order thinking skills listed at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy. If searching is a critical thinking activity, why not incorporate it into your classroom? Here are some suggestions.

The presentation below was collaboratively built on the invitation of UK Educator Tom Barrett.

The presentation below was collaboratively built on the invitation of Blogger and EdTech Consultant Benjamin Friesen

Google Moderator in the Classroom

2011-11-04T12:00:00.000-05:00

Mr. Aaron Hammers uses Google Moderator in his
10th Grade Bible class each week.

Google Moderator is a simple crowd-sourcing tool that makes it possible to better understand the thoughts, idea, questions, or motivations of a group, crowd, or audience. One of the best things about Google Moderator is that it is simple. There aren't many buttons to click and it doesn't overwhelm you with features and options.

For a more detailed overview Google Moderator I would encourage you to read my previous post.

This year my school began a 1:1 iPad program in the high school. We provided our staff with a considerable amount of training on how to use the iPad and possible classroom applications. We did not, however, specify exactly how we wanted teachers to use the iPad in the classroom; we left implementation up to them.

We are now into the second quarter of our school year. The newness of the iPad has worn off and many of our original ideas on how to implement the iPad into the classroom have failed due to technical challenges or overall complexity in a classroom setting. Some idea, however, are going very well, engaging students and extending classroom learning. One such idea is the application of Google Moderator in the Bible class or Mr. Aaron Hammers.

Mr. Hammers uses Google Moderator every week in his 10th grade New Testament Survey class. Student post and vote on questions during the first 15 minute of class. Mr. Hammers then spends the remainder of the class period answer the posted questions in order of popularity based on class voting. View the video below for a glimpse of this process and an interview with Mr. Hammers.

iPads in the Classroom Conference Photos

2011-11-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos from the iPads in the Classroom conference sponsored by MACUL.

2011 MACUL iPad Conference

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

This year the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) sponsored one of the nation's only educational technology conferences focused on the iPad. The limited number of registrations were quickly filled and many were place on a waiting list.

I was proud that my school was able to host the pre-conference workshops on the Thursday before the full conference. Our facilities held up well (as did our wireless network) and a lot of learning took place.

I led a 3-hour pre-conference session entitled "Google on the iPad." In this session I outlined which Google tools work brilliantly on the iPad and which ones I would not attempt in a classroom setting due to instability. Friday during the conference I led a 90 minute truncated version of my 3-hour workshop.

There are more and more schools rolling out 1:1 iPad programs or iPad carts throughout the country. Many of them, I fear, are doing so with out really thinking about what their teachers and students will actually do with them. Some things, the iPad does incredibly well (digital media creation). Other things, it is an absolute nightmare at (i.e. getting media off of the iPad to edit elsewhere).

If you are interested in learning more about integrating Google tools (search, docs, calendar, sites, moderator, etc) in an iPad environment, I would encourage you to explore the resources that I created for my presentation.

3 Problems with Chromebooks

2011-10-11T07:12:00.001-05:00

Google's Chromebooks have some great features:

Near-instant start-up time.
Great battery life (8+ hours)
Cloud-based storage that eliminates the needs for data backups.
Seamless integration of Google's web tools.
Flash-enabled
Full size keyboard
Cellular data (with the 3G model)
Price ($20/month with education pricing)
Application deployment in a single click from the Apps Marketplace
Chromebook management through the Google Apps dashboard

These were many of the reasons that I was excited about potentially offering a Chromebook to all of my full time online students. An additional benefit of giving these virtual students Chromebooks is that it greatly reduces the support burden on our IT staff as they only have to support one optimized device, not hundreds of unknown laptops and desktops with all sorts of hardware and software configurations.

As my team gave further thought and consideration to our plans, we identified three potential issues:

1. Printing

2. Adding media from a scanner or digital camera

3. Virtual meeting (webinar) solution

Printing

Google Chrome does not support device drivers therefore a student will be unable to connect their Chromebook to a printer. This issue can resolved through the use of a wireless printer or by activating Google Cloud Print on Windows machine that has a connected printer.

A neat opportunity we discovered is the ability to have off-campus students remotely print documents at school for teachers to receive and grade. With students in countries around the world, this is a neat use for Cloud Print.

Problem Solved.

Adding Media:

Most of the work that our virtual students do can be completed digitally. Papers can be written using Google Docs, presentations can be built in Google Docs Presentation, and quizzes are taken as a computer-scored assessment. One assignment, however, can not be easily completed digitally: math homework.

Showing calculations is a critical part of training a student in mathematics. Using equation editors in Google Docs or MS Office to complete an assignment is not a fun process. We currently recommend that students print out their math worksheets and complete them by hand, showing their work. When complete, students must digitize their work to submit it to their teacher. This is where the problem begins.

To our knowledge, there is no way to scan a document into the Chromebook. Wireless printer/scanners require the installation of special software and drivers to connect to the scanner; drivers that are not supported by the Chromebook. It is theoretically possible to take a digital picture of a document and upload that document using the media card port on the Chrombook. Not all of our students have suitable digital cameras for this, however, and the image quality of a document is not the greatest.

We contemplated setting up a fax-to-PDF solution, however we have students scattered around the world which would require that we setup international fax numbers for each of them. Additionally, fax machines are becoming increasingly scarce.

Problem: Unsolved

Virtual Meeting Solution:

Our digital curriculum is an asynchronous, on-demand model. We currently offer the opportunity for teachers and students to connect virtually through the use of Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate). This tools allows teachers and students to communicate via text and video chat as well as provides an opportunity for teachers to screen-share to help students with challenges they are experiencing.

A little known fact about Chrome OS that is not widely publicized is the lack of support for client-side Java applications. Blackboard Collaborate requires Java support as does Go2Meeting, Vyew, Zoho, and every other virtual meeting solution I have looked at. I even started a lively discussion on Google+ and got lots of great feedback and ideas, without any workable solution.

It appears that Google is banking on the future use of Google+ hangouts to fill this void. The recent addition of screen sharing and public hangout with unlimited viewers would certainly fulfill our needs. Until G+ is rolled out to the Google Apps for Education platform, it's not a workable solution for our current needs.

Problem: Unsolved

Chromebooks have a lots of attractive features and we would love to deploy them to all of our virtual students. Until we can resolve the issues of adding media and virtual meetings, we will have to wait for the product to mature. If you have any suggestions about how to solve the issues above, I would love to hear from you!

Agile Development, Meet Online Learning

2011-09-23T22:15:00.001-05:00

Lately I have been thinking about Agile Software development. In a nutshell, Agile development is a software development philosophy that favors incremental development and response to change over planning, documentation, and final-release software. The originators of this method of development published the "Agile Manifesto" :

We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on
the right, we value the items on the left more.

My brother-in-law and I have had many discussion regarding the merits of Agile development versus traditional requirements based development (frequently referred to as "waterfall" development). For me it was all theory, until recently.

This year I took a position as the director of online learning for a christian school in Michigan. One of the projects that I began was the development of a series of online Bible courses. These were courses that we could not find elsewhere and were forced to develop on our own.

In late spring we hired a company to assist us with the development of our first one semester course. The course was to be modeled off of an existing class that is taught at the school. The teacher of the course agreed to be the subject matter expert and modify his lesson plans for an online environment. The company we hired provided the curriculum designer and technical programming expertise.

Six months later our development continues and we have nothing tangible to review or display for our time, energy, and efforts. The process continues, but the going is slow. Until all of the lessons are written (we are on lesson 20 of 30), the design and technical implementation process can't begin. When the project finishes (and it will), the company will deliver the course to us in its final form.

As an observer and participant in this process, I can't help but wonder if there is a different way to develop courses. Could the principles of Agile development be applied to course design, significantly reducing development time, and lowering overall costs.

[side note: In no way am I insinuating that the company we hired to help us develop this course is doing a poor job. They have a well defined process and I am confident that the final product will be of excellent quality. This post is response to observations I have made about the process of course development in general.]

The Agile Course Development Manifesto:

Assemble a small, focused team: curriculum designer, subject matter expert(s), and customer (school) representative that works together on a daily basis, not in isolation.

Build and release small packages of content (lessons) to be assembled into a larger whole. Each content package will be fully assembled (content, media and assessment) and release on a weekly basis.

The design team works together instead of as individual entities. The SME shares the vision of the lesson and the curriculum designer leverages technology to make it work, on a daily/weekly basis.

As the understanding of the requirements and scope of the course unfold, the team response to correct and modify past lessons to support future lessons. All team members expect that change will happen and view it as part of the process, not as a situation to be avoided.

The typical Agile model of development avoids long lists of requirements to prevent bogging down the process. With course development, a change must be made to this philosophy in order to ensure the usability of the course. Prior to the start of development, a list of required state and national standards should be compiled to help guide the development. General assessment guidelines should also be determined (minimum number of multiple choice questions per unit, number of assessments, types of assessments, etc). True to the Agile philosophy, however, these specification can be modified as necessary throughout the process.

The application of this Agile form of development with the rapid release of course modules would allow the faster deployment of the course to students, even during development. Because long-term projects frequently stall due to poor communication and process bottlenecks, the Agile model has the potential to speed up the process. Faster development means more capacity to develop, which reduces overall costs.

This posts represents my first public announcement of my idea. Undoubtedly there are flaws and weaknesses in my logic for which I would seek your comment and review. If you would be interested in exploring this methodology with me further, please contact me so that we can continue this discussion and see where this idea leads.

10 Ways to Quickly use the iPad in your Classroom

2011-09-21T13:00:00.000-05:00

I put together the first 10 ideas. Click here to open the presentation below and add in your own!

Test Drive: Blogger App

2011-09-16T14:23:00.001-05:00

Blogger, one of the top blogging platforms on the web, has recently been receiving some love from Google. Recent updates include an interface refresh, and new mobile views. Without a mobile app, however, blogging from small screens has has always been difficult.

This month, to the delight of iPhone users all over the world, Google announced the launch of their Blogger App. The App promises to make adding photos and managing multiple blogs easier from mobile devices.

This post is currently being written on an iPad 2. Sadly, the App released by Google is an iPhone app, not a dual iPhone/iPad app. As a result, I am being forced to use my iPad vertically instead of taking advantage of the wider screen.

The image above was taken on my iPhone and inserted into the post from my camera roll. Editing a post from multiple devices is easily accomplished from within the Blogger App. Geotagging is another feature included in the App.

Common blogging essentials are still notably absent from the app such as the ability to insert links or media other than pictures, and rich-text editing.

Thanks, Google, for pushing out a Blogger app. It is a considerable improvement, but there is a long way to go before the mobile interface is truly full-featured.

5 Goals for the School Year

2011-09-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

Every year I pick five professional goals to work on during the school year. This marks my third year of this process:

So, here it goes, my goals for the 2011-2012 school year

1. iPad Coaching
This year my school, Southfield Christian is implementing a 1:1 iPad program in the high school. Staff were given three days of training in the spring before summer vacation and were instructed to play with and use their iPads throughout the summer months.
Because my schedule is somewhat flexible this year, my goal is to work individually with teachers on creating lessons and activities that fully use the capabilities of the iPad. These activities play into my longer-term goal of becoming an Apple Distinguished Educator.

2. Build a Professional Website
This past year opportunities have opened up for me to do some training and consulting work related to educational technology. I've enjoyed the opportunity to visit schools around the country, meet new people, and share my experiences with technology in the classroom. This year my goal is to launch my consulting website where I can highlight my experiences and share the resources that I have created.

3. Google Podcasts
Over the summer I was shocked to learn that the Google tutorial screencasts that I created were the #1 series on the iTunesU Teaching and Education section. I even beat out the Khan Academy! Obviously there is a demand for these brief tutorials so I would like to add to my collection. My goal is to add 15 new tutorials this year. If you have any requests, let me know!

4. Focus my PLN
Over the last few years I have built a very wide-ranging professional learning network. While variety is good, I'm also beginning to feel the need to focus my PLN in terms of subject and quality. At the risk of sounding harsh, there are a lot of talkers but few doers on the web. See my previous post on "Shipping" to better understand where I'm coming from. This year I will be weeding out the "talkers" and those who primarily post outside of my current areas of focus: ipads in education, online learning, and Google Apps for Education.

Flickr via DavidErickson

5. Build a Mobile App
This is the toughest goal on my to-do list. I do not have the required skills to build an mobile app however I am fortunate to have a brother in law who is full time programmer with mobile app experience. I have a couple of ideas for apps which I need to explore in more depth. I'm putting this goal down because unless I do, I will never get it done!

Those are my five goals for the year. I would be delighted to read your goals. Leave me (and everyone else) a comment with a link to your post.

Start Thrashing

2011-08-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

"Travelanche" by
Chiot's Run via Flicker

Exam Cram by zslibrary via Flickr

Everyone thrashes. The question is when do you thrash?

You've had this vacation planned for months. Your travel reservations were made well in advance. Yet despite your careful planning and preparations, you still find yourself up to 3am the night before you leave taking care of last minute details. You're thrashing.

You've known that this exam was coming for the entire semester. You received the study guide three weeks in advance. It's the night before the exam. It's 3am. You're thrashing.

Three months ago your team was asked to write a report for your company. It was a long and challenging process. Next week the report is due and everyone on the team is starting to get nervous. Some of them are arguing that entire sections need to be re-written. You're thrashing.

The concept of thrashing was introduced to me by Seth Godin in his book Linchpin:

Any project worth doing involves invention, inspiration, and at least a little bit of making stuff up. Traditionally, we start with an inkling, adding more and more detail as we approach the ship date. And the closer we get to shipping, the more thrashing occurs. Thrashing is the apparently productive brainstorming and tweaking we do for a project as it develops. Thrashing might mean changing the user interface or rewriting an introductory paragraph. Sometimes thrashing is merely a tweak; other times it involves major surgery.
Thrashing is essential. The question is: when to thrash? (Linchpin, pg. 104)

Thrashing and Shipping are two concepts that are closely connected (Make sure you read my other post on shipping). The closer a project gets to the ship date, the more nervous and involved people become. Your immediate supervisor realizes that when your project/report/widget goes live, it's going to reflect on him. As the due date for your group project approaches, the members of your group who haven't contributed realize that their grade is in this as well.

The late contributions of others can be detrimental to a project. At the 11th hour, major changes can harm the cohesiveness of the project. Despite this fact, the contributors frequently demand that their changes be implemented.

The wise and experienced leader will create an environment which encourages early thrashing. Call an all hands meeting as soon as the project/initiative/task is launched. Invite everyone who will have a stake in the project or whose reputation could be impacted by the project. Make them come.

If they don't come to that first meeting, they forfeit the right to comment/modify/change the project at the last minute. If you want to give input, it has to be given early, not late.

The challenge will come as your ship date approaches. Despite thrashing early, you and your team will still be tempted to make major modifications, changes, and additions at the last minute. It's the nature of the human mind to doubt the quality of something immediately before it is publicly displayed. Resist these urges and be confident in your early planning.

The concept of thrashing early makes complete sense to me. After reading Linchpin I thought back the last project that I was involved in and it perfectly fit Godin's description of thrashing late. At the last minute we made enormous changes to our plans which completely threw off our schedule and put us over budget. We should have thrashed early.

Capacity. Are you Over it?

2011-08-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

As a die-hard Internet user I live and die by the bandwidth of the network that I am using. The capacity of the network determines what I am able to accomplish.

The principle of capacity applies to other areas of life as well:

You can only serve someone else if you aren't overextended.

You can only demonstrate love to someone else if you aren't emotionally drained.

You can only help comfort someone who is overwhelmed if you aren't overwhelmed.

Over Capacity!

One of the reasons I have been thinking so much about my capacity is because I am a person who would prefer to be stretched to the max. I like to test my limits; to see how far I can go. It's the American way after all-- work hard, play hard, leave nothing on the field.

The true ability of a person might be better measured not by the time energy and emotion they expend, but by how much time, energy, and emotion they have left after they accomplish their assigned duties. The person that has something left in the tank has the opportunity to truly impact other peopled who are over capacity.

What I'm suggesting is somewhat heretical because there is an unspoken assumption that if you have extra time energy and emotion left over, you are lazy and should be doing something else. That's typically how I feel. In the end it all depends on how you use your extra capacity. If it's spent in front of the TV or at the bar by yourself, then you probably should be doing more. If you take the opportunity to help and impact someone else, I think that's time well spent.

Are you over capacity?

Flipped Class Workshop Resources

2011-08-03T12:00:00.001-05:00

This week I traveled to Wisconsin to help teachers at University School of Milwaukee flip their classrooms.

In preparation for the event I built out a Google Site with tips, ideas, projects, and examples to help teachers get started in flipping their classrooms.

Please feel free to browse the site and use the resources that I put together.

Shipping

2011-08-01T12:00:00.002-05:00

I recently finished reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. There were a couple of ideas in the book that were very powerful. One of them is the idea of shipping.

"The greatest shortage in our society is an instinct to produce. To create solutions and hustle them out the door. To touch the humanity inside and connect to humans in the marketplace."

Flickr via zyphbear

The concept of "shipping" is simple: an idea is fully realized and release for public consumption, use, or purchase. It's not just a scribble on the back of a napkin or a business plan in a file cabinet, it's a real, live, fully functional thing.

As I have become better connected in my industry (education), I become increasingly skeptical and frustrated by unrealized ideas. It's easy to criticize existing solutions and write about a much better method or idea. It's easy to blog about how this new piece of technology will revolutionize the classroom or how standardized testing is bad for students and should be abolished.

The internet is filled with talkers. The number of doers is far smaller.

A linchpin is someone who has the desire, determination, and drive to see an idea through to the end. Not just to talk about it, not just to criticize the existing establishment, but to actually do something to change it. Linchpins ship.

Shipping is scary, because once you complete something and open it up to public examination, you become the object of evaluation and criticism, and it's always a possibility that your idea will fail.

The most successful companies and individuals who have the ability to overcome obstacles, maintain vision and focus, and push a product, idea, or solution out the door.

I'm evaluating the things that I spend my time doing to make sure that I'm producing something of value, not simply adding to a deluge of words.

Stop Going to School for your Education

2011-07-12T12:00:00.009-05:00

Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn put out an insightful and daring article in Harvard Magazine this past week in which they discussed the possibility of Harvard Business school, of which they are both affiliated, being adversely impacted by the growing popularity of online learning.

The focus on Harvard was meant to demonstrate how even the most respect, well established learning institutions are likely to be impacted by the disruptive innovation of online learning. The part of the article that caught my attention was the claim that more and more people will be learning in-context rather than at a school or university. Cost, flexibility, and specificity are three reasons that potential business students would opt NOT to attend Harvard Business school, or some similar institution.

The cost of education, especially higher education, is rising at a pace that few people can afford. This is true even of prestigious schools such as Harvard. Online learning is much cheaper.

Harvard's program is excellent, but isn't going to flex with your needs. Have a full time job, a family? Full time enrollment probably isn't going to work out to well for you. Online learning allows geographic and time flexibility.

As knowledge increases, the need for specialized training also increases. Just getting an MBA isn't going to cut it anymore. You need to get an MBA with experience with a specific product or type of business. Harvard can't provide industry specific training for everyone. Individual Businesses, with industry specific knowledge are best suited to offer this type of specialized training.

In the future, colleges and universities probably won't be the providers of advanced learning. Instead, businesses and industry organizations may provide cost effective, flexible, and focused training.

Exploring Google+

2011-07-09T16:32:00.000-05:00

This week I've spent a lot of time exploring Google+ and blogging about it on the EdReach network. I'd encourage you to take a look at some of the posts that fellow blogger Chad Kafka and I have written:

First Glimpse: Google+

2011-06-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

I was fortunate enough to be granted an early invitation to the new Google social media experiment called Google+ today. I would recommend that you take a quick look at the Google Blog for a quick overview

I approached Google+ with great skepticism. And for good reason:

Orkut: Fail (in the US anyway).
Google Knol: Fail
Google Wiki Search: Fail
Google Wave: Fail
Google Buzz: meeeh...
Google "+1": meeh...

While Google does a lot of things well, connect people through social networking is NOT one of them. Yet they continue to make an effort.

The launch of Google+ is clearly another attempt to capture at least a portion of the lucrative social media market that Twitter and Facebook are dominating. Part of me even wonders why Google would try to compete.

All of these thoughts were going through my head as I opened up and began playing with Google+ for the first time. Remarkably, I was somewhat impressed by the smoothness, simplicity, and innovative structure of this new social networking platform.

Here is what my home screen looks like:

Google+ Home Screen

The updates that you see in the center of the screen are reminiscent of Facebook status updates or Tweet. Not much to get excited about. It is worth noting that my profile information is actually my Google Profile. It appears that Google+ will be the link between various "social" products such as the Google Talk, +1, Buzz, Picassa Web, and YouTube.

The organization of your network is where it starts to get interesting:

Google+ "Circles"

I created multiple "circles" into which I placed my various contacts. Similar to Google's tagging systems, a contact can be added to as many "circles" as you like. Mousing over a circle allows you to see all of the members of that circle and allows you to view the "stream" from the members of the circle.

Google+ "Spark"

The next innovative thing that I discovered are "sparks". A spark is an interest or passion around which conversations can begin. I quickly added a few: education, educational technology, online learning, and Google Apps for Education. A stream of content was created based on each of these topics. My next task is to figure out how these streams are generated. Much of the content seems to be pulled from large, popular blogs and websites.

The third and final piece of Google+ are "hangouts." This is where things really start to get interesting. Creating a "hangout" allows up to 10 people to simultaneously video chat with one another. The service integrates with Google Talk. I had to install a significant update to the Google Talk client in order to enable this service. In addition to video-conferencing, it appears that there are some new sharing features baked into "hangout." including the ability to watch a YouTube video together or participate in a text-chat. The services are built using Google "shared spaces" lab.

Google+ "Hangout"

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to test the video-conferencing feature as none of my contacts have received invitations to Google+.

After playing around with Google+ for a little while I went over to the Google blog to read their post about the new feature. I was struck by a sense of humility. I noted very little fan-fare or hype related to this major product launch. It appears that Google is also tempering their expectations for their latest social network.

Google Docs and the iPad: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2011-06-23T12:00:00.002-05:00

So, you gave in and bought an iPad. You're excited about your new life of mobile computing. To help you get things done you decided to start (or continue) using Google Docs as your office productivity suite. If this is you, than I'm glad you're reading this post.

The integration of Google Docs on the iPad is less than perfect. There are some things that work really well, some things that work sometimes, and some things that don't work at all. Here's a quick summary:

This spreadsheet is open for public editing. If you would like to add to this feature list (or save a copy for future reference), click here.

It's important to note that when you navigate to docs.google.com on your iPad you will be automatically directed to the mobile version of the site. Here's what it looks like:

Mobile Google Docs on iPad

It is possible to switch to the familiar desktop view. To do so, scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen and look for the following link:

After selecting "Desktop" you will be re-directed to this page:

When using the desktop version, you will randomly be confronted with an error message and be forced to re-load the page. This is the disadvantage of using the desktop version.

One thing that you can do to extend the usability of Google Docs on your iPad is download a third party app such as Quick Office HD. This $15 app greatly extends your ability to move files in and out of Google Docs. Here are a few of the features that you will gain by using Quick Office HD:

Offline Document Editing
Easily transfer files from multiple Google accounts, Dropbox, Mobile Me, Box, SugarSync, or Huddle.
Presentation Creation and Editing (very slick interface, worth the price by itself.)
"Rich Text Editing": bold, italic, underline, paragraph indentation, font, type color, and type size.
Print: requires an AirPrint enabled Printer.
Document Sharing: supports Slideshare, Scribd, and DocStoc
Folder creation and organization

To view an annotated screenshot of the Quick Office HD home screen, click here.
To view an annotated screenshot of the Quick Office HD document editing screen, click here.

That's the good, the bad, and the ugly on Google Docs on the iPad.

There have been rumors about a significant update to the mobile editing version of Google Docs coming soon. I hope they are true.

WebQuest 2.0 Using Google Sites

2011-06-21T12:00:00.001-05:00

When I was a pre-service teacher at Spring Arbor University, one of the projects I had to complete in my educational technology class was a webquest. At the time it was pretty complicated and challenging to create this type of a project. Many of my classmates opted to use PowerPoint to create their Webquest, a program ill-suited for the task.

The basic premise of a webquest is to create a scenario to capture the imagination of students while they embark on a "quest" that involves research and discovery:

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium. [source]

The web 2.0 world is much more friendly to the creation of Webquests than it was when I was in college. My new favorite tool for the creation of web quests and other web-site projects is Google Sites, part of the Google Apps for Education suite.

Google Sites is flexible enough to allow someone like me, with above average knowledge and skill in web-design, to create attractive, dynamic sites, while having a simple user interface that won't overwhelm even the most novice user.

This past year I piloted a web-quest-like project with my 9th grade biology students. They were asked to form groups of four and select an biome to study. Each person within the group took on a different role: botanist, zoologist, ecologist, or environmentalist. Each person was required to research specific things related to their ecosystem.

The culmination of the project was the creation of a Google Site highlighting the various aspects of their ecosystems. I allowed students to take full advantage of Google Apps for education by including custom Google maps, documents, drawings, and presentations into the sites.

A lot of students wanted to include video into their sights. My school blocks YouTube, so we had to get creative. Through the use of a site gadget, some groups iFramed in video from National Geographic, ARKive, and other video sharing sites.

Here is what some of my students had to say about the Biome Webquest:

And here are some of the sites that they created:

A lot of planning, preparation, and research was completed before each group began building their site. To facilitate this, I created several Google Documents which I shared with each group. These documents included research questions which each person was responsible to answer before they could begin building their site. By using the collaborative power of Google Docs, each group was able to simultaneously edit one document. Because their roles were interrelated, students were better able to collaborate because of our ability to work together on the same document.

Here are links to the planning documents that we used:

Project Proposal Template (Includes grading rubric)
Research Template

Once each group had completed their research, I gave them access to the Google Site template that I created. The template contained all of the required pages and standard site structure for the project. After creating a copy of the site, one person shared it with the rest of the group members and they began copying and pasting their research into the appropriate sections.

The students had a great time customizing the look and feel of the site to match their chosen biome. Some of them got a little crazy with the colors!

Google Sites is an excellent platform for a WebQuest. It is easy to use, provides solid structure, but allows for endless customization. My students began using Google Sites with very little formal instruction on how to use the tool.

Please feel free to re-use any of the templates that I have shared here. Most of them can be easily modified for other topics and disciplines. I would love to hear how you have used Google Sites in your classroom.

Google on the iPad

2011-06-17T12:00:00.001-05:00

This past week I had the privilege of training the middle and high school staff at Southfield Christian School on how to integrate Apple's iPad with Google Apps. As part of my training I put together a Google site containing instructions, handouts, and resources. You are welcome to browse and borrow as well!

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Is Apple's iCloud a Google Apps Killer?

2011-06-07T10:00:00.001-05:00

Image: Flickr Via Dakiny

In a word, no. Here's why.

1. Collaboration
While it is nice to be able to edit iWork projects from any of iOS/OS X device, there is no collaborative editing feature. Six people on an assortment of iDevices can't work together.

2. Browser vs. Desktop
Apple continues to develop software that is dependent upon the hardware on which it runs. iLife and iWork will become increasingly more complex and require increasingly more powerful Apple hardware (desktops, laptops, and mobile devices) to run them. This in turn, will requires a significant financial investment.

Google has taken a different approach by placing its focus on the web browser. Web browsers are free and have much less demanding hardware requirements.

Both tactics have their benefits and drawbacks. One isn't superior over the other. Only time will tell which one, if any, will become dominant.

3. User base
Apple's iLife/iWork suite is awesome. I use them all the time. My house has become primarily Mac-centric, however I do also use a Dell Laptop. Most of my extended family is entirely PC as is my school. Microsoft decided that it would launch a Mac version of MS Office which has a considerable user base. I don't foresee Apple doing this....ever.

As a result, Apple will continue to have a relatively small share of the computing market. A very profitable share, but small nonetheless. In today's keynote Steve Jobs happily pointed out the tremendous market penetration of Apple Computers. While it is indeed impressive, Apple can still only claim somewhere between 5-10% of the total personal computer market. The remaining 90-95% is owned by Microsoft.

Getting back to Google...because the market continues to be dominated by Microsoft, it's easier for the majority of consumers to jump on board with Google (which doesn't cost a dime and doesn't require any hardware or software changes) than switch to Mac, as cool as iCloud, iWork, and iLife might be.

I continue to be amazed at the quality of the products that Apple produces. I am eager to give iCloud a try. I'm sure I'll love it. I don't believe, however, that this will have a significant impact on Google nor will I be replacing Google Apps with iCloud.

App Review: Chromie

2011-05-30T12:00:00.007-05:00

Chrome has been my primary browser for nearly three years. I love the omni box, lightening load times, and the tabbed browsing. On my iOS devices, however, I have been forced to use Safari-- until now.

On May 26 the social bookmarking website Diigo announced that they were launching a Chrome-inspired browser for the iPad. Chromy looks and feels a lot like the Chrome browser including tabbed browsing and an omni box.

The announcement by Diigo highlighted some of the key features of Chromy, but did not offer any technical specifications. It is unclear if Chromy simply looks like Chrome or if it is built upon the Chromium open source code.

One of the neat features of Chromy is the ease with which links can be shared through Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, etc. You can also do some basic but previously impossible things such as open a link in a new tab, see what tabs you have open at all times, and save pages for offline use.

Chromy is a free app available from the iTunes App Store.

One of the downsides to using a browser other than Safari on an iOS devices is that all non-browser links (in an email for example) automatically launch in Safari. There is currently now way to remove Safari as the default browser, unless you jailbreak your device.

I am now using Chromy as my primary browser on my iPad. What's your favorite iOS browser?

iMovie on the iPad 2

2011-05-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

I am helping launch an iPad initiative at my school and was excited to get my hands on one a couple of weeks ago. Last week I had the opportunity to try out iMovie for the iPad ($4.99) while taking 45 9th grad students on a field trip to the Detroit Zoo. Throughout our trip I took pictures and video using the integrated camera. All of the editing was completed on the fly using the mobile version of iMovie. Here are the results:

I was very impressed at the ease of editing a movie on the mobile version of iMovie. Adding, trimming, and moving clips is simple. The mobile version of iMovie is limited in terms of transitions and theme, but it is the best mobile video editing app that I have used.

The only thing I don't like about my video is the abrupt ending. Anyone know if it is possible fade out the music in iMovie for the iPad?

4 Keys to Student Success Online: Part 4

2011-05-12T11:00:00.021-05:00

Note: While research regarding best practices for online learning is difficult to obtain due to the relatively infancy of the industry, four key areas of focus critical to program success have been identified. This week I will be posting four keys to student success in online courses. These "best practices" were gleaned through research that I conducted through a wide variety of sources. This is part 4 of 4

Read Part #1 Here
Read Part #2 Here
Read Part #3 Here

4. Student Preparation and Attitude

While teacher quality and mentor support are critical components to helping students succeed in online courses, the attitude and preparation of the student is also a contributing factor. Students will not be naturally successful in an online program. Rice (2006) indicates that “younger students need to be provided guidance in developing characteristics of successful distance students.”

When making the transition from face-to-face to online instruction, most students think that the level of work will decrease and that their level of flexibility and free time will increase. Adjusting takes time and requires careful support. Online students to have a greater sense of autonomy and flexibility, but the work load remains the same. Deadlines still exist.

Assistance is need from mentors and parents to help students create a schedule and work-flow that will allow them to stay on task and on schedule. Being self-motivated and managing time well are critical components to the success of a student. The younger the student, the more guidance, oversight, and accountability is required.

While student attitude and skills are an important component, research continues to point to teacher quality as the most important factor to student success. As mentioned before, a quality teacher can help students without the proper attitude and worth ethics succeed in an online program. As Rice (2006) concludes, the effectiveness of distance education appears to have more to do with who is teaching, who is learning, and how that learning is accomplished and less to do with the medium.

References:

Rice, Kerry Lynn. "A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K-12 context." Journal of Research on Technology in Education 38.4 (2006): 425-448. Web. 29 Apr 2011. .

Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009." Sloan Consortium. The Sloan Consortium, January 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2011

4 Keys to Student Success Online: Part 3

2011-05-11T11:00:00.003-05:00

Note: While research regarding best practices for online learning is difficult to obtain due to the relative infancy of the industry, four key areas of focus critical to program success have been identified. This week I will be posting four keys to student success in online courses. These "best practices" were gleaned through research that I conducted through a wide variety of sources. This is part 3 of 4

Read Part #1 Here

Read part 2 here

3. Mentor Support:

Because students in an online program are typically not physically present at a specific location, an additional layer of student support, called the mentor, is strongly recommended. This adult supervisor assists in keeping track of a students overall progress whereas a teacher focuses on their progress in a particular course. Fride (2001 in Rice 2006) discovered that the amount of engagement by the adult supervisor seemed to influence the amount of and quality of participation by students.

Closely associated with mentor support is the importance of parental support (Rice 2006). Both the parent and the school mentor serve a similar role in being concerned for the overall progress and success of the student. The parent has the additional benefit of being physically present with the student allowing for a higher level of accountability. It is recommended that students have a mentor in addition to parental oversight.

Mentors are also called learning coaches or student advocates and is an important member of the learning team which includes the student, the teaching staff, and the parents. Most commonly the mentor is employed by the school however some schools require students to find their own mentor (a parent or other adult) who is kept appraised of the students progress and is used as the primary contact for the school.

Nearly all online schools have identified the mentor as a critical role on the academic team and offer this service as an amenity included with tuition.

References:

Rice, Kerry Lynn. "A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K-12 context." Journal of Research on Technology in Education 38.4 (2006): 425-448. Web. 29 Apr 2011. .

Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009." Sloan Consortium. The Sloan Consortium, January 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2011.

4 Keys to Student Success Online: Part 2

2011-05-10T11:00:00.002-05:00

Read Part #1 Here

2. Teacher Quality:

While social interaction is important, several research studies point to teacher quality as the single most influential factor to student success (D. Hammond 2000 in Rice 2006).

Rice (2006) indicates that the importance of positive relationships between teachers and students is critical to student retention. The impact of quality teachers reaches beyond the quality or preparation of students in the online program. A good teacher can help a student, who is not particularly well suited for an online class, succeed.

Measuring teacher preparation is challenging however Huges et. al. (2005 in Rice 2006) indicate that a significant correlation between teacher effectiveness and the number of professional development hours they have logged.

Because research clearly indicates that quality teachers are imperative to the success of an online program, considerable care and thought should be given to the hiring of teachers. Additionally, teachers should be highlighted as a unique and differentiating resources.

References:

Rice, Kerry Lynn. "A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K-12 context." Journal of Research on Technology in Education 38.4 (2006): 425-448. Web. 29 Apr 2011. .

Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009." Sloan Consortium. The Sloan Consortium, January 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2011.

4 Keys to Student Success Online: Part 1

2011-05-09T11:00:00.005-05:00

Despite the misconceptions held by the general public regarding online learning, several comparative studies have determined that there is no significant difference in the outcomes of online classrooms when compared to traditional face-to-face classrooms. (Rice 2006). While this is encouraging, it is also clear that not every student is destined to be successful in an online learning environment:

“The undeniable fact is that some students succeed in the virtual educational environment and some fail just as they do in traditional classroom environments. The key lies in understanding the critical components in an educational context that promote and encourage student success, not the media that was used to deliver instruction.” (Rice 2006)

Some students will thrive in an online environment while others will be better served in a face-to-face classroom. The key is determining the attributes of a successful online student.

While research regarding best practices for online learning is difficult to obtain due to the relatively infancy of the industry, four key areas of focus critical to program success have been identified. This week I will be posting four keys to student success in online courses. These "best practices" were gleaned through research that I conducted through a wide variety of sources.

1. Social Interaction:

One of the concerns expressed by both parents and students when confronted with the issue of online learning is the issue of social interaction. One of the common misconceptions is that students in online courses interact with their peers and instructors less because they are not physically present with one another.

Downs and Moller (1999 in Rice 2006) indicate that “students have a real need to make connections with their instructors and their peers and research consistently supports the concept that faculty-to-student and student-to-student interactions are important components in student satisfaction and student retention.”

Vrasidas & Zembylas (2003 in Rice 2006) identified high quality materials and frequent teacher-student interaction as key components to student success.

McLoughlin (2002 in Rice 2006) identified reflective thinking and feedback from peers and mentors as types of interactions which lead to student learning and success.

These three studies indicated that a critical component to any online program is the interaction between instructors and students and between students.

References:

Rice, Kerry Lynn. "A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K-12 context." Journal of Research on Technology in Education 38.4 (2006): 425-448. Web. 29 Apr 2011. .

Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009." Sloan Consortium. The Sloan Consortium, January 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2011.

Check Out EdReach

2011-05-02T11:00:00.006-05:00

I am a contributor to a collaborative blog, edreach.us, designed to encourage positive change in education. EdReach launched in January and it has grown considerably. You can read my post about the purpose of EdReach here.

I contribute a bi-weekly post and am a contributor to the Google Educast show which you can download from the iTunes music store [iTunes link].

Today I contributed a post regarding the state of online education in the United States. I'd encouraged you to take a look at it. While you're there, click through the EdReach site, I'm sure you find something that you you will enjoy.

Do unto others, the best rule for....well...everything!

2011-04-29T11:00:00.012-05:00

Flickr: Originauk Moose

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This familiar proverb of Biblical origins is just as true in the 21st century as it was in the first century:

If you want to have followers, you need to be a follower.

If you want to have friends, you need to be a friend.

If you want people to respond to your tweets, than you should be commenting and helping others.

If you crave comments on your blog, than you should be posting comments on the blogs of others.

If you want a quick response to your emails, than you should promptly respond to the emails of others.

If you want your services to be recommended by others than you should be quick to provide recommendations for others.

If you want high quality service, then you should be providing high quality service.

If you want people to cite your work, than you should be citing the work of others.

10 Tools to Help you Flip Your Classroom

2011-04-27T11:00:00.001-05:00

Two years ago I "flipped" my high school Anatomy & Physiology class. Read my previous post for the full story. I learned by trial and error. I have also found some very helpful resources that I would like to share with you.

1. Camtasia Studio: The leading screen casting software title on the market. Easily zoom, pan, and create call-outs on your screen captures. Accepts multiple audio and video tracks. Retails for $299, educators pricing is $179. See what Camtasia can do by viewing one of my screencasts.

2. Snagit: from the makers of Camtasia (TechSmith), this screen capture tool allows you to quickly capture a still image of all or part of your screen. Also includes a light-weight editor which allows you to annotate your captures. I use snagit to grab images of my screen which I then insert into my presentations. Snagit retails for $49.95, $37.05 for educators.

3. Google Docs: You will be creating lots of presentations and handouts in your flipped classroom. Google Docs lets you do the common word-processing tasks. The benefit of using Google Docs is that your files live in the cloud and are updated in real-time. Presentations can be embedded directly into a blog or wiki page. Any change that you make will automagically be changed for anyone who has access to the file, not matter where it is on the web. Here is a sample presentation that I created using Google Docs Presentation.

4. Wikispaces: After creating your recorded lectures and hand-outs, you will want somewhere to post them sot that your students can access them. Wikispaces is a easy to use wiki interface that allows you to create a website on which you can post videos, handouts, links, and files. Furthermore, your can you the integrated discussion feature to facilitate threaded discussions with your students. Here is the wiki site that I setup for my Anatomy & Physiology class.

The commercial version of wikispaces includes advertising. You can upgrade to a private-label wiki ($50-1,000/year depending on the option you choose), or sign up for the free education label wiki, a great deal!

5. Twitter: The internet has enabled like-minded people, scattered across the globe, quick and easy access to each other. There is a Twitter discussion going in on just about any topic you can imagine, including reverse instruction! If you are not currently using Twitter, I would recommend this overview post. If you are a Twitter user, make sure that you follow the hashtag #flipclass. I have also assembled a list of educators on Twitter who are classroom flippers. Follow them here.

6. The Flipped Class Network: created by the fathers of flip, Jon Bergman and Aaron Sams, the Flipped Class Network is a social community for teachers interested in and currently using the flipped classroom model. This is the place to go for discussion, support, and ideas related to this instructional method.

7. Jing: the cousin of Camtasia Studio (see #1 above), Jing is a light-weight screencasting tool. Download and install Jing on your PC or Mac and then easily record the activity on your screen using video or still-photos. Jing is free as long as your videos are 5 minutes long or less and you are posting them to screencast.com. Jing pro ($14.95/year) is an affordable way to record and share professional looking screencasts.

Jing is not as full-featured as Camtasia or Snagit. It does include some simple annotating tools, but does not include the advanced features of Camtasia such as the zoom and pan.

8. YouTube: This might be obvious, but one of the best places to upload and share your recorded lectures is YouTube. Extremely reliable, universally visited, and easy to use, not posting your videos to YouTube would be a mistake. Consider grouping videos on a topic into a playlist that students can watch in sequence. You can also add videos created by others to your playlist, enriching your video library with minimal effort.

Here are some videos that I created for my biology courses featuring lab demonstrations and instructions. I created a special YouTube account just for these videos. This keeps my personal account account separate from my school account.

9. Blogs to Follow: The flipped classroom community continues to grow. I have assembled a list of bloggers who regularly post about the flipped classroom. You can add these blogs to your RSS reader by clicking here. I will continue to add to this bundle as I come across more noteworthy blogs. If you have a recommendation, please leave a comment with the address to the blog.

10. iTunes: this mega-podcasting platform is a worthwhile location to post your audio and video lectures. Doing so requires a little bit of time, know-how, and perseverance. Unlike YouTube, Apple does not host user content. You must either purchase web space (something that isn't terribly expensive) or use a free media hosting service such as PodOmatic. Check out this post by Tony Vincent for instructions on getting your podcast listed on iTunes.

Surprising data on the growth of K12 online learning

2011-04-25T11:00:00.002-05:00

I have been doing a lot of research on online learning lately. I've read several reports on the state of online learning across the country and around the world. Most of what I have read I had heard anecdotally from other sources. One statistic, however, shocked me:

Although online enrollments have increased by 40% in 2009-2010, two state virtual schools, North Carolina and Florida, account for 96% of the net growth meaning that the total enrollment increases and decreases in other state virtual schools amount to only a 4% increase.

Source: Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, The Evergreen Education Group, 2010.

I am now struggling to evaluate the complete dominance of the online market by FVS and NCVPS. Is this dominance a good thing or is it stifling innovation and competition? Why have FVS and NCVPS been so successful?

An Introduction to the Flipped Classroom

2011-04-22T11:00:00.001-05:00

Last week I was asked to present on the Flipped Classroom at the Troy University e-Colloquium.

Here is the screen cast of my presentation.

If you'd like to click on the live links, use the presentation below.

Challenging Educational Technology

2011-04-20T11:00:00.000-05:00

I'm a big supporter of educational technology. This blog is primarily dedicated to sharing tips, tricks, and ideas on how to successfully use technology to increase student engagement, critical thinking, and mastery of learning objectives.

From time to time I think it is important to examine my assumptions on life, to ensure that I'm not missing something. To this end I have begun to read and follow several critics of educational technology. While at first glance these individuals may seem to be critical of technology in the classroom, or technology in general, a closer examination reveals that they really aren't. Each of them is deeply committed to encouraging critical thinking and evaluation amongst students. Their concerns with educational technology tend have more to do with with mindless and mis-informed application of the technologies as a panacea for educational reform, rather than a problem with the technology itself. This is evidence by the fact that each of them maintain blogs and several are active on Twitter.

Jerrid Kruse

Jerrid Kruse is the author of the blog "Teaching as a Dynamic Activity." A former middle school science teacher, Kruse is now teaching at the college level. He is quick to call out the assumptions that many educators make regarding the use of technology in the classroom. To get a sense of Kruse's philosphy on Ed. Tech. I would recommend this short post.
Kruse is very active on Twitter on regularly posts comments on blogs that he subscribes to. If you are lucky enough to receive a comment from Jerrid, you can be sure that it will be insightful and well reasoned, even if you disagree with it!

Larry Cuban

Larry Cuban is a former high school teacher, school superintendent, and college professor. Now retired, Larry blogs about his research on 1:1 programs and other education topics. Cuban is not anti-technology, but he does not see it as a silver bulletin in solving the problems in the American system of education. In this post, Cuban spells three errors that he has observed:

1. The first error that technology enthusiasts make is to overemphasize the importance of students’ access to technology in schools and underestimate teachers’ influence on students’ learning.
2. The second error technological enthusiasts make is seeing public schools as only about learning. They want schools to socialize the young into the workplace and community, provide for their personal well-being, and produce civic-minded, engaged adults.
3. The third error they make is to indulge in magical thinking. Researchers have failed again and again to show that students using computers in classrooms will improve test scores, lift graduation rates, and reduce dropouts.

Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr is not an educator, but has written several books regarding the impact technology is having on society. I've put one of his books The Shallows, on my reading list for this summer.

John T. Spencer

Recently John T. Spencer put up a nice post regarding the peer pressure of using technology in his classroom. It's definitely worth a read. His primary point is that the use of technology has bred an elitist group of teachers who believe that their technology prowess makes them better than everyone else. You may not agree, but it will get you talking!

Dan Rezac

If you think the iPad (or any other idevice) is the answer to life's questions? You need to read Dan Rezac's post on the "deification of iDevices."

Where do you go to challenge your assumptions and ideas?

Book Review: Wikinomics

2011-04-18T11:00:00.001-05:00

[Note: this post was written in April of 2010. For whatever reason I never finished it. While browsing through my archives I found it and decided it was time to publish!]

For the past several months I've been working my way through Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams. The book was different than I expected and not quite as applicable, yet there were some key ideas that I'd like to share.

The thesis of the book is that industry is changing because information is abundant and cheap and connecting with people is easy. The old system of top-down decision making and closely guarded company secrets is over. The new system is one of collaborative relationships, transparency, and generosity.

I say that Wikinomics was different than I expected because it is written (IMO) to help large existing companies adapt to the demands of the 21st century. It is not written for an individual who is trying to better understand the forces currently shaping society. Despite this, there are several important lessons and principles that I thought were useful.

1. Give people tools to create, remix, and share your products.

2. Be very careful about exploiting the creations of your customers. Figure out a way to give them a piece of the profits.

3. The person who can best help you probably isn't an employee.

4. Figure out what your most valuable contribution is and focus on it while resourcing the the other components to others.

Infograph Your Life

2011-04-04T12:00:00.001-05:00

I like infographics, the cool artistic designs that display statistics. I've blogged about them both here and on the EdReach Network.

Friend and fellow blogger Daniel Rezac sent me a link to Ionz, a neat little tool that will build an infographic representing your life. Answer a few simple questions and Ionz will build an infographic like this:

While it's neat, the information collected isn't all that useful or in depth. For instance, you will be asked to choose your favorite social network (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc), but after answering, no analysis of your use of that social network is performed. I would be interested in seeing stats such as total number of tweets, number of followers, most popular tweet, etc.

Similarly, there is lots of public data about me on the web that could also be included into this infographic. This information can be gleaned from my Google Profile, Blog, and Facebook profile, etc. Utilizing this information would provide a much richer summary of my life on the web.

If you like tools like IonZ, I would recommend that you check these digital footprint sites as well:

Personas (created by an MIT graduate student to show the harshness of web search)
Spezify (builds a search-cloud based on the tearm that you enter)
Digital Footprint Calculator from EMC2 (must be downloaded and installed)

The concept of a digital footprint is a critically important idea that needs to be explained to this generation of students. Few of them realize that what they do on the web will impact them in the future. I highly recommend this short video for an explanation on the impact of one's digital footprint.

Are You an Artist?

2011-04-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Flickr Via Tomroid

Are you an artist or a day-laborer?

A day-laborer does the bare minimum, follows the rules, doesn't go outside of his job description, clocks in on time and clocks out on time.

An artist goes well beyond what is expected, rarely follows the rules (in a good way), extends his role, creates unexpected value, and doesn't keep track of time because he loves what he does.

In his book Linchpin, Seth Godin further describes art as:

A personal act of courage
A personal gift that changes the recipient.
A free gift.
An act of human expression.
Original
The product of emotional labor

April 1, 2011: What Stunt Will Google Pull Off?

2011-03-30T11:02:00.001-05:00

Okay folks, April Fool's day is just around the corner. Google has become notorious for its April 1st shenanigans. Here's a list of their pranks from the past few years:

2000: Google Mental Plex (search using mental telepathy)
2002: Pigeon Rank (the secret to Google's search algorithm is trained pigeons)
2004: Google Copernicus Center (apply for a job at Google's newest office-- on the moon!)
2005: Google Gulp (Google enters the beverage market)
2006: Google Romance (Find your soulmate)
2007 (Google was very ambitions in 2007, creating many April Fools jokes)

Gmail Paper Archive (distrust digital? Google will print all of your emails and archive them)
Google TiSP (wireless internet through your toilet)

2009: Google Chrome 3D (this actually works, kind of)

2010: Google Changes its name to "Topeka"

This is only a partial list. The fine folks at Wikipedia have put together a much more exhaustive list.

What are your predictions for this year? What will Google try to pull off?

Here are a few ideas:

Google Tax-- move over Turbo Tax!
Google Auto-- in a move to compete with Ford, GM integrates Google into all 2012 vehicles.
Google Homework-- A new program that will fill in homework worksheets for students.

Rapportive, A Gmail Plugin

2011-03-30T11:00:00.001-05:00

My Rapportive Profile

I am absolutely enthralled with Rapportive, a Gmail add-on that replaces the typical Adsense sidebar with information about the person you are emailing.

The information that Rapportive pulls is from social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If you have an account on one of these sites Rapportive will display your profile image, latest status update, and links to your blog or other web content that you have created.

There are a lot of people I communicate with regularly that I have never met. Being able to see a picture of them while I am typing up an email to them makes email a little more personal. Give it a try!

Teaching is Hard Work

2011-03-28T11:00:00.002-05:00

Helping students with a lab

If I'm absolutely exhausted at the end of the day I know that I have been truly teaching. Standing in front of a class and lecturing for five hours isn't that big of a deal. Constantly walking around the room, from group to group, student to student and answering specific questions, troubleshooting problems, and mediating student conflict is exhausting.

Truly teaching someone take personal time, attention, and effort. Anyone who says otherwise hasn't truly taught.

What They Should Teach in School

2011-03-25T12:00:00.001-05:00

I'm reading Linchpin by Seth Godin.

Godin argues that only two things should be taught in school:

1. How to solve problems.
2. How to lead. [source]

I tend to agree with him. Learning facts does not set you apart in today's information driven culture. It's what you do with what you know and how you can lead others to use what you know that is important.

Employers are looking for problem solvers and leaders.

Now to figure out how to actually teach these two skills effectively...

The Search for the Killer App

2011-03-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

Everywhere I turn people are recommending and looking for the "killer app" that will make their mobile device more productive, fun, useful, and efficient.

Educators are also looking for the "killer app" that will enable their students to communicate, collaborate, and connect with one another

The search for the "killer app" is like a debate over the greatest athlete or movie; it will always continue, but without any consensus.

At last week's MACUL conference I appreciated this advice from Steve Dembo:

"Instead of looking for the killer app, educators should be asking, what do we want our students be be able to do with their mobile devices. Once you answer that question, you'll know what apps you're looking for."

Here's my short list of things students should be able to do with their mobile devices:

Communicate with their teachers.
Collaborate with other students.
Create things to demonstrate their learning.
Find information

There are a lot of apps that enable these activities. Now that I've got my end goal in mind, I can begin selecting the apps that will best meet these needs.

Google Growing Pains

2011-03-21T12:00:00.001-05:00

There are quite a few people who aren't happy with Google right now. A lot of them are school administrators and teachers. The primary reason are the willy-nilly product updates that take everyone by surprise. The most recent example is the February 15 update to the Google Docs viewer. The backlash against the update reminds me of the crazy Facebookers who complain when Facebook updates their profile designs. The only major difference is that most people use Google Docs to things that are significant. Many of these complaints are well-warranted, especially for classroom teachers who have thousands of documents to sort through.

In Google's defense, they quickly responded to the outcry in several ways:

Users can revert back to the old docs view with a single click (see screen shot at left). This feature will probably be phased out in the future.
Google launches "What New in Google Apps", a site that provides a central location for product update notifications. This is a great resource for system administrators and school technology specialists, allowing them to stay on top of future product updates.
On Tuesday, March 22, 2011, Google will roll out an update to the updated Google Docs view. The updated will address some of the concerns from the original update. Google has already published a detailed user guide for the new interface which can be viewed here (PDF).

What does this situation say about Google's ability to attract schools and corporate customers to their cloud based platform? Apple is destroying all competition in their market because of the polish and finesse that underlies everything that they release. I wouldn't use the words "polish" or "finesse" to describe Google. There are still a lot of inconsistencies within Google Apps:

Gmail has labels, Docs has collections, Picasa has tags. Tags, folders, and collections do the same thing, but the terminology can be very confusing for new users.
Groups created within Gmail cannot be used to share documents, sites, calendars, etc.
Inconsistent menus and toolbars.

While there are fairly minor issues that certainly wouldn't prevent me from encouraging schools or businesses to "Go Google," they do point to the need for Google to work towards a more cohesive design and inter-operability between their products, something I feel that they are currently working on.

While Google is going through some growing pains, Google Apps for Education continues to be the hot tool for schools around the country: Google sessions at various educational technology conferences I attend are always filled to capacity; I am regularly receiving emails and Tweets from educators around the country asking for assistance as their school or district migrates to Google; and the screen casts tutorials that I have posted on YouTube and iTunesU K-12 [iTunes link] continue to receive lots of views and downloads.

Google's "Beta" model has worked well in the past, but it may not now that there are corporate customers to please. Hopefully the complaints and hiccups won't deter Google from doing what they do best- engineering great products that help us communicate, connect, collaborate, and search. Just give us a little more advanced notice before you roll out the "next big thing."

How to Make Free Calls Through Gmail

2011-03-18T12:00:00.002-05:00

Did you know that you can call US based phones within Gmail for free? It's a really neat feature that I have been taking full advantage of! If you have Google Voice, you can also receive calls placed to your Google Voice number within Gmail.

Google will be offering free phone calls within Gmail until the end of 2011. You can also place calls to international numbers for very reasonable rates. This feature is only available for US based Gmail accounts.

Afternoon Update from #macul11

2011-03-17T13:25:00.002-05:00

MACUL 2011 Conference Notes

2011-03-17T09:21:00.002-05:00

I've started a collaborative notes document for keynote and break out sessions from the 2011 MACUL conference (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) . This year the conference is being held in Detroit, Michigan. If you'd like to view the live document, click here.

Insert a Threaded Discussions in A Google Site

2011-03-16T12:00:00.002-05:00

One of my great disappointments with Google Sites is the fact that it doesn't have a threaded discussion feature. I have been told that this feature will be added in the future, but for now, it's only a dream. For classroom teachers this is a problem because discussion forums are a great way to encouraged discussion and debate outside of class.

My initial disappointment gave way to excitement when I discovered the Tal.ki Sites Gadget. This third-party Gadget allows you to embed a threaded discussion into your Google Site.

The downside to Tal.ki is that it does require authentication. The good news is that you can use one of numerous login credentials (Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc) to do so. Chances are good that you and your students already have at least one of these. Google Apps accounts will work as well.

Here's how to embed a Tal.ki forum into your Google Site.

2011 MACUL Conference Selections

2011-03-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

This week marks the 35th annual conference of the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL). I've been in attendance since my junior year of college at the invitation of my college Ed. Tech. professor, Rubin Rubio, a MACUL board member. Ever since that first introduction I have found the MACUL organization to be a wonderful way to connect with brilliant Michigan educators.

This year I need to cut out a little bit early on Friday to help my students submit the final section of our 2011 yearbook. Below you can see the sessions that I plan on attending. There were a couple that I had trouble picking, hence a few overlapping sessions.

If you're attending, perhaps I'll see you in the Social Media Cafe. Stop by and say hello!

Cool Google Spreadsheet Trick

2011-03-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

I think I learned this cool trick from Ron Ho, the Google Spreadsheet PM. It's a lot of fun!

Introduction to Google Apps for Education

2011-03-07T11:00:00.001-06:00

The video below is a basic introduction to Google Apps for Education. It explains the difference between a regular Google account and a Google Apps account. Hopefully this will help clarify some common misunderstandings and emphasize the additional benefits of integrating Google Apps for Education into your school.

If you are interesting in "Going Google" you might find this post on Google Apps Training Resources helpful. You can also browse through the certified trainer directory where you will find great people to help you setup your domain and train your staff on how to effectively use Google Apps in a school setting.

This Week: Google Spreadsheets for Beginners

2011-03-06T09:31:00.000-06:00

This week I am joining forces with Derrick Wlodarz as we lead a session on Google Spreadsheets for Beginners, part of the Google Apps for Education PD Series. The webinar will begin at 8pm EST. To register for the webinar, click here.

Here's a quick outline of what we will be covering:

Spreadsheet/Form Overview of basic menu options

Create a new spreadsheet (Derrick)
Freezing panes
Sorting data
Adding new rows/columns
Creating multiple workbooks (Derrick)

Printing and exporting and sharing spreadsheets (Derrick) 5-10 minutes

Permissions: View/edit/owner
Publish to web
Revision history
live demo

Using Data:

Creating and Using Forms
Creating Charts
Using Widgets
Using Functions
Template Gallery

Resources for further learning

To register for the webinar, click here.

Save time with the Gmail "Canned Response" Lab

2011-03-05T07:06:00.000-06:00

If you find yourself writing the same thing to reply to multiple email messages then you should take advantage of the "canned response" lab from Gmail. Use it to format a pre-written response and then quickly insert it into an email message. For complete instructions, view the video below.

WhyEdReach?

2011-02-24T07:48:00.001-06:00

Today is the official launch of EdReach.us, a collaboration by educators from all over the United States. I am proud to be a contributer to this endeavor through a bi-weekly post and the Google in Education podcast. This week my post on EdReach.us was about Schoology, a cool company I visited at the Illinois ICE conference.

Why EdReach? Do we really need another Educational blog? There are so many others out there- aren’t there enough?

Well, that is true, there are a lot of voices out there. So many voices. So many, it seems that it’s getting harder and harder to hear them, harder to cut through the volume and rate of information, harder to even keep up with well-known colleagues, and harder to be heard.

EdReach.us aims to cut through this.

The EdReach Educational Media Network (EdReach.us) aims to gather these voices together, and create one stream of educational news, blogs, commentary, and interactive media that highlights the innovation, highlights the ideas, highlights the cutting-edge best practices that are happening in the world's schools every day.

There is fabulous and innovative teaching happening in American education, happening all over the world- yet we forget. Lately, these moments seem to get lost under the sea of politics, budgets, and policy. Education news is also in a state of disarray. Go to most news sites and look for the education section- it’s likely you won’t find it. Still. Education isn’t getting the place it deserves in the mainstream media outlets.

There are amazing new tools being used in the classroom every day- gadgets, Web tools, innovative pedagogy. There are companies that are leading the charge with innovative Web tools for teachers. There are devices that are transforming the way teachers teach, and learners learn. There are teachers that do amazing things with students every day. Every day.

EdReach is made up of- not one person- but a network of educators from all over the United States- field reporters- some hosting podcasts in Connecticut, some contributing from San Diego, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan- from all over the country. And it’s expanding.

So, if you want to know what’s happening in innovative Education, if you want to know what innovative education looks like, if you want to see what education can be like for America’s students and students all over the world- keep following and listening to EdReach.us.

EdReach is here to tell those stories.

[Trying] To Start a New Trend

2011-02-21T10:26:00.001-06:00

I'm single handedly trying to start a new trend: conference session trailers/commercials.

The next time you present at a conference, put together a >1 minute video highlighting your session. Epic music is a must!

I've done this twice so far:

Trailer for my 2011 ICE conference session

Trailer for my 2010 MACUL conference session

It's been a busy winter!

2011-02-18T10:25:00.002-06:00

It's been a busy couple of months:

Two 1-hour hands on session for the Wayne County Librarians Association on Google Forms and Google Moderator.
Presentation on the Collaborative STEM Classroom at the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) conference.
Guest lecturer at the University of Detroit, Mercy on "Classroom Technology that Works."
Podcasting and blogging for the EdReach Network
"5 Things" Blog Series
Article on Google Body Browser for the Michigan Science Teachers monthly newsletter.
Two articles for the Southfield Christian School monthly newsletter.
10 podcasts posted to iTunes for my "Google, More than Search" [iTunes link] series on MI Learning.

Coming up in the next couple of months:

Presentation on the Flipped Classroom for the Troy University (Alabama) eColloquium.
Hands on session with Livonia (Michigan) middle school teachers on the collaborative STEM Classroom.
MACUL Conference presentation on iTunesU K-12
Google Sponsored Webinar on Google Spreadsheets for Beginners.
Google Training Workshop at Southfield Christian School

It's been busy, but that's the way I like it!

Classroom Technology that Works!

2011-02-16T10:15:00.001-06:00

The use of technology in the classroom provides a great way to increase student understanding, encourage collaboration, and provide an authentic way for students to share their knowledge with others. Effective use of technology takes carefully planning and execution. This week I was asked to be a guest lecturer in a teaching methods course at the University of Detroit, Mercy where I shared "the Good, the Bad, and the ugly" of classroom tech integration and my suggestions on "classroom technology that works."

5 Technologies to Watch In 2011

2011-02-13T10:00:00.001-06:00

Note: This is the fifth and final installment of my "5 things to watch in 2011" series.

Josef Dunne, Via Flickr

1. HTML5

The development of HTML5 has been underway since 2004. The big revision within HTML5 is the ability to add tags for multimedia which eliminates the need for third party plugins like Flash. This is a huge development for Mac users as they will finally be able to access multimedia content on the iphone, ipod touch and ipad! HTML5 will also enable richer websites. Some notable sites such as YouTube and Facebook are already experimenting with the new coding language.

Ivan Walsh, Via Flickr

2. Cloud Computing

I realize that I'm being a bit redundant as I also identified cloud computing as one of my 5 trends to watch in 2011. Cloud computing is an up and coming trend, but it is also a technology that is in need of improvement. Google Docs and Prezi are great, but are still not on equal footing with perennial favorites like MS Office. Innovations like the now-defunct Google Wave and newly released Chrome OS are helping improve cloud computing and have begun to make it a viable choice. Schools and businesses are migrating to Google Apps, the most viable cloud computing platform on the market while Microsoft is doing its best to stay relevant in this rapidly changing environment.

Mike Saechang, Via Flickr

3. 3G, 4G, 5G?

Cellular data connections are getting faster. That's great. 3G technology has become old news and the telecom giants are rolling out their 4G networks. The speed of existing 3G networks somewhere between 3-14mb/second while 4G promises speeds anywhere from 42mb-1Gb/second. Keep in mind that most of these speed tests do not take into account network congestion, not to mention the fact that the 4G networks are not very large. As mobile data speeds increase, the developing world will become increasingly connected. Cell phones are a lot cheaper than laptops and cellular connections are a lot easier to come by than WiFi networks. The recent events in Egypt have clearly demonstrated the power of the social networks to energize and mobilize large groups of people. As more and more countries are connected to faster data networks, social networking will become even more popular and potentially explosive.

HighTechDad, Via Flickr

4. The Connected Car

We are connected to the network at home, at the office, at school, on planes, trains, and boats, but not in the car. I've always been surprised that auto makers haven't beefed up the connectivity in their cars. Ford did, and they won big time. The Ford Sync system which connects mobile phones to the cars infotainment system has been the hottest selling item of all auto makers. Ford continues to work on the integration of their infotainment system with Apple, Blackberry, and Android smartphones. They are currently working on voice control over smartphone apps, allowing users to Tweet from the car or listen to music via Pandora. It makes sense that cars join everything else on the grid. Maybe oneday my car will be a rolling WiFi hotspot!

The Daring Librarian, via Flickr

5. eReaders/eBooks

I am not going to buy an eReader until the battle over eBook standards is settled. Currently, all of the major eReader companies, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders are waging war to determine who's digital format will become the standard. This situation always happens with new technologies. It happened in the 70's with the Betamax vs. VHS and just recently with BlueRay vs. HD DVD. If you bought a Betamax or HD DVD player, I'm sorry.

I have no doubt that eBooks are here to stay and that the sales of printed books will drop steadily. What is unclear is the standard eBook file format. Amazon developed its own proprietary format called AZW. There is also the traditional PDF format, and ePub and eReader. Google has thrown the weight of its eBook store behind ePub and an all-out battle is now raging against the Amazon Kindle, which does not support ePub.
The battle for format standards will continue throughout 2011. The winner will either be Amazon's AZW or the open source ePub format endorsed by Google. I'm waiting to purchase an eReader until after they figure it all out.

5 Blogs to Read in 2011

2011-02-07T12:00:00.005-06:00

Note: This is the fourth part in my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include:

Five companies to watch in 2011
Five trends to watch in 2011
Five people to follow in 2011
Next Monday: Five technologies to watch in 2011

Here are five blogs that I'm reading in 2011:

The EdReach Network (Collaborative)

I'm excited to announce the launch of a new collaborative blog dedicated to giving education a BIG voice. Spearheaded by Daniel Rezac, the purpose of EdReach is to "To take education forward, by bringing voices together." The contributors to EdReach are a innovative and influential bunch. I am humbled and privileged to be one of them! The regular blog posts that appear on EdReach range from the philosophical and reflective to the practical and specific. In addition to daily posts, EdReach produces several podcasts which are worth the space on your iPod.

The Blended Classroom (Jonathan Bergman)
One of the "founding fathers" of reverse instruction, Jon Bergman has some innovative ideas that are spreading like wildfire around the country. He is currently working on a book along with his partner, Aaron Sams, fleshing out the benefits of flipping the classroom. One thing that I really appreciate about Jon's blog is that not only does he discuss the philosophical and pedagogical reasons for his teaching methods, he also shares practical advice. A lot of his posts are directly related to what's happening in his chemistry classroom. Jon is very responsive to questions via twitter or on his blog. He is definitely someone you should ad to your PLN.

Pursuing Context (Justin Stortz)
I can't say that I have ever read blog posts filled with more care and concern for students than those written by Justin Stortz. A 4th grade teacher, Justin shares moving encounters that he has with his students. When you have a day which causes you to wonder "why did I become a teacher?" make sure you read a few of Justin's posts to reinvigorate yourself.
**Update: Justin moved his blog over to Blogger. I've updated the link.***

I Teach Ag Blog (Danny Silva)
The name of this blog is a little misleading. I haven't read any posts from Danny about the best way to grow corn or to keep your livestock healthy. I have read about a lot of really cool tech applications though! I would classify Danny as a "life-hacker", that is, someone who specializes in finding little tricks and secrets to streamline life and become more efficient. A lot of the posts that Danny puts up are related to ways to use Google's products to make your life easier, like how to automate birthday announcements using Google Calendar and Google Groups. If you like saving time and being more efficient, read Danny's blog!

Learning in Hand (Tony Vincent)

Tony's blog is dedicated to harnessing the power of mobile devices in educational setting. Tony has great resources for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and netbooks. The last post that I read was on the cool gadgets that he picked up in 2010. It's quite a list! Tony has a lot of great resources for educators wishing to integrate mobile devices into their classroom including several podcast series. He is also very responsive to anyone who has questions regarding mobile devices in the classroom. I strongly believe that mobile devices are going to become more prevalent in education therefore this is a blog worth following!

That's my list! Add all five of these blogs to Google Reader by clicking here.

Check back next Monday for the final installment in my series "5 things to watch in 2011".

Collaborative Story Writing with Google Docs

2011-02-04T10:00:00.001-06:00

This past week I started to train my 9th grade students to use Google Docs, part of the Google Apps for Education suite. One of the assignments that we did together was a collaborative class story. Here are the rules:

1. I wrote the first sentence to get things going.
2. Every student adds one sentence to the story.
3. Students were not allowed to change anything that someone else had written (with the exception of spelling)

My class of 18 was in our media center working on individual desktops. I used Camtasia Studio to record the editing as it took place and did the final editing in iMovie.

Be sure to check out the other introductory assignment that I did with my 9th graders-- collaborative data collection with Google Docs Spreadsheets.

Collaborative Data Collection Using Google Apps

2011-02-03T12:00:00.002-06:00

To help familiarize my 9th grade students with Google Docs, I set up a simple collaborative data collection exercise involving M&M's. I gave one small bag to each group of three students. They opened the bag and separated them by color, adding the totals to the spreadsheet that I had prepared in advance for them. Once their data was collected they were allowed to consume their data!

This was the first time most of my students had seen the collaborative capabilities of Google Docs. They were fascinated by the colored squares (representing all of the users currently editing the document) on the spreadsheet. The real-time aspect of Google Docs was a huge hit with them.

Interested in trying this out with your students? Here is a link to the spreadsheet that I created to collect our M&M data. You will need to save a copy in order to edit the document.

On Friday I'll be posting the second project I did with my 9th graders-- collaborative story writing.

5 people to follow in 2011

2011-01-31T12:00:00.002-06:00

Note: This is the third part my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include:

Five companies to watch in 2011
Five trends to watch in 2011
Five technologies to watch in 2011
Five blogs to read in 2011

Here's who I'm paying attention to in 2011.

Adrianna Stone is a High School science teacher in Houston, Texas. I attended her session on "Engaging a Gaggle of Googlers" at the Virtual School Symposium in Glendale, Arizona this past November. Her enthusiasm for teaching and innovative integration of technology in the classroom make her one to keep your eye on. You can follow her on twitter or read her blog.

Nick Provenzano is a high school English teacher in Michigan. He has been working on a really cool idea in his classroom his is calling the "blogger cafe" (check out the pictures of his classroom, you'll be jealous!). Since the inception of this idea Nick has really started networking with educators from around the globe. Nick is the organizer of #edcampdetroit which I will be attending in May.

Peter Webber is the IT director at Southfield Christian School where I teach. Peter was hired full time last year and has accomplished more since his first day than in several previous years. Not only does he have great technical knowledge, he's also easy to talk to and nice to "non-geeks." Peter is helping develop a technology initiative next year that I am really excited about (but not allowed to share!). Peter isn't afraid to try out new things and is willing to adapt on the fly, two things that I really appreciate about him! Follow him on Twitter!

Daniel Rezac is a prolific contributor to the educational community. As a tech coordinator outside of Chicago he has lots of experience and insight into the implementation of technology into classrooms. He posts his thoughts on his personal blog, on the the District30 technology blog, his Tech&Learning blog, and, his new venture, EdReach. Make sure you check out the EdReach site. I'm happy to be a contributor, helping to give education a BIG voice.

Tom Barrett is deputy head teacher at a primary school in Nottingham, England. Tom's passion for education and the integration of technology has led to some amazing accomplishments. I would highly recommend Tom's "Interesting Ways" series in which he has collected scores of ideas for integrating various technologies into the classroom. Tom frequently Tweets out great links and resources and is definitely worth the follow!

Easily follow these five individuals:

Twitter List (follow them all in one click!)
Google Reader Bundle (follow all of the blogs in one click!)

Who are you following in 2011?

First Look: Chrome OS Netbook

2011-01-27T11:42:00.000-06:00

This past Monday I was surprised to find a square box on my doorstep. Inside was a gift from Google-- a brand new CR48 Netbook.

If you are unfamiliar with the CR48 I would recommend reading about the netbook and Chrome OS directly from Google.

I've been using the CR48 off and on for the past few days and am ready to put down my first impressions. First, what I like:

1. Amazingly fast boot-up time.
This was the video that I attached to my application for the Chrome OS pilot program:

This is how fast Chrome OS boots up:

2. Chrome Sync
The first time I logged into Chrome OS with my Google account I was asked if I wished to enable Chrome sync. As soon as I clicked "yes" Chrome OS synced all of my book marks, themes, history, and web apps with my other installations of Chrome (on my laptop and my desktop).

Because Chrome OS is completely cloud based (no local storage), I can't lose any data. If my computer is lost, stolen, or destroyed, all I need to do is log into another Chrome OS computer and everything is right where I left it. Computers are now disposable. Hardware is irrelevant.

3. Track Pad Gestures
The nice, large trackpad on the CR48 netbook recognizes classic "Apple" gestures such as the pinch, two finger scroll, and two finger click (right click). I will admit that I am still getting used to the placement and sensitivity of the trackpad (I seem to regularly swipe the trackpad with my palm while typing), but I'm getting better at it.

4. 3g Integration
I haven't needed to use it yet, but each CR48 comes with integrated 3g wireless service provided by Verizon. Users receive 100mb/month free for two years. That's not much-- enough to check your email on the road a few times a month, but hey, it's free! Additional data can be purchased without a contract. I like the idea that this machine can constantly be connected to the web. Something that is essential considering without the web you can't even log into it!

5. Integrated Browser Controls
There are a few new keys on the CR48 keyboard including a "search" button that opens up a search window as well as back and forward browser controls, refresh, and window toggling.

What I don't like

1. The Chrome Apps Store
The Chrome App store is a joke. Many of the "apps" are simply book marks. Tweetdeck is the only Chrome App that I have installed that is actually an app. The app store is what made Apple's mobile devices so compelling. If Google expects Chrome OS to take off, they will need a more compelling marketplace.

2. Media Transfer
My CR48 came with one USB port and an SD card slot. I plugged a flash drive, my ipod, and my digital camera into the USB drive and nothing happened. It appears that there is currently no way to upload media onto the web via Chrome OS. This is likely a driver compatibility issue that will (hopefully) be resolved in the future.

3. Printing
Because my printer is connected to a Mac, I currently have no way of printing from my CR48. Google Cloud print looks like a great solution, but it currently only works on PC with Windows XP, Vista, or 7 installed.

4. Audio
This is probably a little picky, but the speakers on the CR48 are horrible! The audio is intermittently completely garbled and indistinguishable. When this happens I have to reboot (fortunately that doesn't take long!) to fix it. When the audio is "working" the sound quality is poor.

Those are my initial thoughts. If you have any questions about the CR48 let me know and I'll do my best to answer them!

5 Trends to Watch in 2011

2011-01-24T13:00:00.002-06:00

Note: This is the second of my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include:

Five companies to watch in 2011
Five people to follow in 2011
Five technologies to watch in 2011
Five blogs to read in 201

Reverse Instruction is an innovative instructional strategy that was originally used by chemistry teachers Aaron Sams and Jon Bergman. The basic idea involves have students watch recorded lectures at home and working on homework assignments at school. You can read my experience in "flipping" my Anatomy and Physiology class here. Sams and Bergman are in the process of writing a book on this method of instruction and are being invited to speak all around the country. Look for them at the next education conference that you attend!

Blended Learning is the combination of face to face and online instruction. With school districts facing budget cuts and the maintenance and upkeep of school buildings increasing, it only makes sense that schools leverage technology to reduce costs while improving instruction. At the 2010 Virtual School Symposium sponsored by iNACOL it was clear that blended instruction is quickly becoming a viable instructional option as many states adopt seat-waver initiatives.

Cloud computing is here to stay. Everyone seems to be jumping on board. Microsoft announced the deployment of Office Web Apps as a competitor to Google Apps. Google launched the alpha test of its Chrome OS netbook which lives in the cloud. Every day more and more services are becoming cloud based. The increasing availability of wireless connections through 3G and 4G networks make cloud computing an increasingly viable option. Look for the development of web browsers to continue while the development of operating systems to stagnate.

Media Streaming Media is one element that still has its roots based on physical discs and locally stored files. As broadband service become increasingly common there is no reason for physical media such as DVD's and CD's. Additionally, more and more electronic devices are connected to the web including TV's and DVD/Bluray players. The popularity of services such as Pandora point to the viability of media streaming. Look for services such as Netflix and iTunes to go to a 100% streaming model. Media companies are slowly realizing the demand for streaming services and are opening their vaults to services such as Netflix, but at a hefty price.

Mobile Devices and applications are quickly becoming the dominant form of connectivity in society. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that "the rate at which Americans went online with their handheld on a typical day increased by 73% in the sixteen months between the 2007 and 2009 surveys."Both Apple and Android report strong sales/downloads of applications to mobile devices. Look for mobile devices and applications to dominate the news and innovation cycle of 2011. I am paying close attention to the continued development and application of QR codes, Augmented Reality, and smart phone projection.

Check back next Monday for the second installment of my "5 things" series...

5 Companies to Watch in 2011

2011-01-17T12:00:00.015-06:00

Note: This is the first of my series "5 things to watch in 2011" Future installments will include:

Five people to follow in 2011
Five trends to watch in 2011
Five technologies to watch in 2011
Five blogs to read in 2011

The folks over at Prezi continue to make their presentation product more and more compelling. When I first learned about Prezi I was impressed by the fundamental change it brought to the art of presentations. No longer was I constrained to a linear, one dimensional presentation format. In September Prezi meeting was launched which enables up to 10 people to edit or view a Prezi remotely. January of 2011 saw the launch of an iPad app on which to view presentations.

I have recently been researching curriculum providers for virtual schools. After interviewing many prospective companies I became frustrated with the lack of innovation and impressiveness of their products. Then I stumbled upon FYI Learning Online. This content provider has top-notch content for virtual schools and their crown jewel, Teacher Space, which enables virtual instructors to modify course content on the fly based on the needs of their students. FYI is a recent addition to the marketplace, but I expect that they will become very popular.

Alongside my search for curriculum providers I also began researching content management system (CMS) for virtual schools. While Blackboard dominates the marketplace, BrainHoney is a very impressive CMS geared toward the K-12 market. Built upon an exhaustive open API library, BrainHoney is posed to integrate just about anything you could wish. Better yet, BrainHoney has strategically placed themselves in the online marketplace and have secured an impressive endorsement from Clayton Christenson. Look for BrainHoney to capture a significant share of the K-12 virtual school market.

As a resident of the state of Michigan, I'm proud of the innovative and rock solid products being produced by TechSmith. Their core products Camtasia Studio (screen casting) and Snagit (image capturing) are standard on all of my computers. My podcast series "Google, More than Search" [iTunes link] was created entirely using Camtasia Studio. TechSmith has embraced the educational community by giving away $2.3 million in free software to Michigan schools and sponsoring #edcampdetroit this May.

Learn Boost is a startup company that has developed a gradebook program that has great potential. Unlike many of the gradbook programs I have seen/used LearnBoost is well designed, intuitive to use, and includes some powerful reporting and data analysis features. LearnBoost is also specifically designed to integrate with Google Apps. While I think the product needs a little bit of time to mature, I would certainly keep my eye on this company!

**Disclosure: I was made aware of LearnBoost when I was invited to become a guest blogger (gratis). After researching the company and their product I felt comfortable aligning myself with them. I will be cross-posting some of my post from the Electric Educator on the LearnBoost blog in the future.**

Check back next Monday for the second installment of my "5 things" series...

Reflection: The FedEx Project

2011-01-14T09:03:00.001-06:00

Two ideas have inspired me to try something radically different in my classroom.

The first is Google's 20% time. If you're not familiar with the idea, Google requires (they don't suggest or encourage, they require!) every employee to spend 20% of their working time doing something other than what they were hired to do. Some employees spend their 20% time aiding charitable causes, help organize internal parties and events, or join a local club or organization. A large percentage of Google employees spend their 20% time working on engineering projects that they find interesting or challenging. Since Google only hires employees who love what they do (write great code), that's what a lot of them do in their spare time as well.

What does Google stand to gain from allowing their employees to spend the equivalent of one day a week doing something other than what they are supposed to be doing? While there is no way to quantitatively evaluate the overall benefits of the program, some pretty neat things have come out of the 20% time program:

Gmail
Google News
Moderator
Google Talk
Tasks

Do all 20% projects lead to profitable products? Certainly not, but they do contribute toward positive morale, a culture of innovation, and autonomy for employees.

Autonomy, mastery, and purpose are three concepts that Dan Pink explained with great clarity in his 2009 TED talk. The essence of Pink's talk is that tangible rewards (a paycheck, a grade, a promotion) are only effective at motivating people to a certain point. Ultimately, the most effective motivators are autonomy (the ability to chart your own course), mastery (the ability to become an exert at something), and purpose (the idea that what you are doing serves a purpose larger than yourself). After watching Pink's talk I was inspired to write a blog post about these ideas and possible applications to the classroom. Over a year later, I am now prepared to reflect on my application of Google's 20% time and Pink's vision of motivation in my high school Anatomy & Physiology classroom.

When I hatched this idea, my purpose was to provide my students with an opportunity to pursue their passions, to become independent learners, and to help others. They would choose their project, choose their medium, and share it with the world.

I decided to call this assignment the "FedEx Project" after hearing Dan Pink share about the software company Atlassian and their "FedEx Days." The idea is pretty simple.

Write up a delivery slip
Deliver your project according to the delivery schedule.

This year, students in my Anatomy and Physiology class spent the first half of the semester honing their "FedEx Proposals." Each of them chose a topic that interested them and a method of sharing and demonstrating their learning with the world. I intentionally left the project ambiguous and open-ended. Student could do pretty much anything they wanted as long as it was complex, dynamic, and could be shared with the world. Here are the projects that were created this year:

Adam P. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the physiology of dreams.
Tabitha W. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the physiology of fear.
Corinne W. (10th Grade)-- 5 videos on the importance of the five senses.
Josh M. (10th Grade)-- Prezi on intelligence.
Kristina W. (12th Grade)-- Brochure on becoming an OB/GYN.
Nicole H. (12th Grade)-- Wiki on the emotions of eating.

Overall, I was happy with the final submissions. There are a few things that I can do as a teacher to improve the quality of the projects and the learning of the students:

Provide more structure in the proposal phase. My intention was to leave the project open ended so that students would have freedom to pursue their passions however it has become clear that a complete lack of structure is very overwhelming for high school students. They are not independent learners yet and therefore have trouble outlining their own learning process.
Move up the time line to ensure timely completion of the proposal. This year we spent too much time working on the proposal. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but because of the lack of structure, the student sent nearly an entire quarter trying to wrap their heads around the project. They had never done something like this before and it was a conceptually challenging assignment. They wanted to write papers and make posters, because that's what they were used to.
Provide regular, dedicated "Fedex Days." While this is designed to be a self-directed project, students needed a LOT of guidance. I would recommend roughly 1 day a week dedicated to working on this project. This equals the amount of time that Google provides to their employees for their 20% initiative.

There are also a few teachable moments that anyone trying this idea should be ready to address:

Idea Failure: I had one student who designed a survey that she distributed to her classmates to collect data related to her project. Unfortunately her survey did not measure what she thought it was going to measure and it was essentially useless. While the survey did not contribute to the end process, it was a valuable learning experience. Not all ideas work out and some require more planning than others.
Digital Natives aren't always that digital! None of my students were familiar with the plethora of web 2.0 tools available to them for use in their projects. I introduced them to Prezi, Google Scholar, and Wikis. I was surprise at the anxiety and lack of confidence that most of the students had at using these tools. This was one of the reasons the project timeline got off-track. I had to do a lot of training on the use of these various tools.

This was my second round of FedEx projects and I still don't feel that I have mastered the project from a teaching standpoint. I've made some much needed improvements and think that a third round might prove to be the breakthrough.

Responsibilities of the Edutech Geek

2011-01-05T12:00:00.002-06:00

If you can edit the header.php file in a wordpress template, hunt down the path of an image in html, keep track of hundreds of logins for students and staff, know the difference between between gadgets, widgets, and apps, and are the first one to discover great new web-based tools for the classroom, you are an Edutech Geek.

"With great power comes great responsibility." --Uncle Ben Parker

As Edutech Geeks, we have the responsibility to train, share, and inspire those who are not tech geeks. Many teachers are overwhelmed with technology. Some appear to be allergic to it. Our challenge is to find a way to make the complex simple; to automate the arduous task; to empower staff and students with technology, not to overwhelm them with it. Our goal is not to turn everyone around us into Edutech Geeks.

Today I led my monthly "Tuesday Tech Training" session at Southfield Christian School where I teach. It was an open lab session and teachers wandered in to get help with various issues.

I helped a teacher set up automated comment moderation on her blog.

I solved an "unsolvable" issue related to latin placeholder text in a Wordpress template that no one could find.

I talked with a veteran teacher who is thinking about writing a book about the benefits of blogging.
I shared with great excitement the wonders of Google Body Browser.
Today, at least, I have fulfilled my duty as an Edutech Geek. Tomorrow, I'll try again...

Detroit Public Schools "Technology Infusion"

2011-01-04T18:23:00.000-06:00

The scandal plagued Detroit Public School announced today that they are spending $49 million in Federal grants on a "Technology Infusion." The purchase list includes:

40,000 ASUS Netbook laptop computers
5,000 for teachers
35,000 for students
4,789 HP desktop computers – one for every classroom
4,291 multi-purpose printer/scanners
4,550 document cameras
533 HP desktop computers delivered for use in early childhood education programs
273 SMART Boards purchased for School Improvement Grant schools through Title I funds obtained by Wayne RESA

A district spokeswomen told Michigan Radio that “Each school will be developing its own unique curriculum for the netbooks. And really the sky’s the limit for implementation of the new technology in the classroom.”

I have a few concerns:

Have/will teachers be properly trained to incorporate this technology in pedagogically sound ways?
Have/will students be instructed on more than the simple basics of MS Office and graphic design? Will they be taught about the importance of their digital footprint, proper online behavior, and the power of virtual collaboration?
DPS students are already under performing. How will adding a new layer of complexity (a netbook for every student) improve teaching and learning?

Although I am a great proponent of technology, I am under no allusions that technology alone will solve any problems. People solve problems, not computers. This $49 million could be a great thing or could continue DPS's history of mismanagement, corruption, and general lameness.

10 Google Voice Tricks That Will Rock Your Phone!

2010-12-27T11:25:00.005-06:00

Phones are remnants of the analog world. Google Voice adds your phone into the cloud! If you aren't currently using Google Voice, I would recommend my my previous post for a basic overview of the service. If are a user, here are 10 tips to rock your phone! If you have other creative ways that you have used Google Voice, please leave a comment!

Call from Gmail. Connect your Google Chat account to Google Voice. You will be able to send and receive calls and SMS messages from within Gmail. To do so, login to Google Voice, click "settings" and check the box labeled as "Google Chat"
Block Annoying People. Someone calling that you would prefer not to talk to? Log in to your account, find their latest call, select the "more" pull down and click "block caller". From this point forward, whenever this number calls, they will receive a "number disconnected" message. Brilliant!
Reach Out with Voice! Create a custom calling widget such as the one below. Don't be shy, click and try it out! When you type in your phone number Google will call your phone and connect you to me. Your call will be automatically sent to my voice mail. Note that I have recorded a special message that only those who use this widget to call me will hear.

**Update: It appears that there are some browser compatibility issues with the call widget. I have been unable to view the widget when viewing my blog through Firefox. Chrome, Safari, and Explorer seem to work without issue.***

4. Screen your calls.

5. Custom Greeting.

6. Free Calls!

7. Personal Transcriptionist.

Podcaster!

9. Don't Forget!

10. Never miss a call!

Add your Phone to the Cloud with Google Voice!

2010-12-27T11:16:00.001-06:00

Telephony has been around for a long time, however despite advancements in some areas (cordless phones, cell phones, voicemail etc), some aspects have remained archaic:

We frequently need to call multiple numbers and leave multiple messages before getting locating the person we need to talk with.
Voice mail is tied to each phone number. I have to check my voice mail on each of my phones.
My phone isn't smart. It treats every call equally. If I get a lot of calls, its difficult to sort out what's important from what is annoying.
There is no connection between my phone and my email.
My phone is a physical object therefore if I leave it or forget it, I can't use it.

The engineers at Google noted many of these same things and came up with a solution: Google Voice.

I have been using Google Voice for a year now and have come to love some of the advanced, innovative features that it offers.

In a nutshell, Google Voice helps individuals take control of their telephony by providing a free, US based telephone number which connects all of their phones (work, home, cell, etc). Give out your Google Voice number and it will ring the phone of your choice based on criteria such as the time of day or the caller.

Google Voice can also send you the text of a voice mail message to you via email. You can read the voice mail or play the audio from it. There are lots of times when I don't have time to check my voice mail messages that I have appreciated the ability to quickly scan the transcription to determine if there is an issue that needs my immediate attention.

The transcription of voice to text was pretty rough at first, but it has become remarkably more reliable since its inception. Here's a transcribed message that was sent to me on December 8, 2009:

Early voice mail transcription from Google Voice. Click to view larger image.

This is a voice mail that I received exactly one year later on December 8, 2010.

One year later: click to enlarge.

Still not perfect, but much better. At least you can understand general purpose of the message. Note that the words in grey are those that were unable to be reliably translated.

Logging into your Google Voice account (something I do infrequently) allows you to see a listing of previous calls (received and missed) and voice mails. You can archive or delete messages as you wish. Within your Google Voice account you can also send free sms messages to any phone number.

Here is how I am personally using the Google Voice service:

My business cards, email signature, social media profiles all list my Google Voice number (which happens to spell out my last name!). Any time someone calls this number, the call is relayed to both my cell phone and to Gmail account. I have connected Google Voice to my Gmail account using the recently released "call any number" feature. This enables me to place and received calls using my computer (conserving my cell minutes!). I receive transcripts of voice mails in my email account and on my iPod touch.

I use the recently released Google Voice app on my ipod touch to send sms messages, check my voice mail, and "auto dial" my cell phone. It is not possible to make direct calls on my ipod touch using this app. Instead, when I click "call" the application dials my cell phone and then connects me to the person that I have dialed.

In education, Google Voice has some great potential uses:

Preserve your privacy be creating a Google Voice number to give out to your students and their families. At the end of the year, de-activate the account.
ESL students or students in speech therapy can use Google Voice to practice their diction. The more accurately they pronounce the English words, the more likely the transcription program will correctly transcribe it into text!
Use Google voice to record mp3 files that you can share with students. You could even read books aloud for students who struggle with reading.
Include a "call me" widget in your blog or wiki for students to leave questions for you. Calls can be sent directly to voice mail and you can respond to them as you wish.
Record custom greetings for parents. You could even leave a recorded message each week updating them on classroom events and important dates.

If you're intrigued, I would encourage you to view my other post" "10 Google Voice Tricks that will Rock your Phone."

Google Moderator: Cast Your Vote!

2010-12-25T11:41:00.001-06:00

At their Mountain View, CA campus, Google hosts regular "Tech Talks" in which Googlers or other invited guests speak on various topics for the general benefit of the Google Community. Question and Answer sessions were a bit disorganized so Google engineers Dave S. Young, Taliver Heath,and Colby Ranger decided to spend their 20% time creating a tools to manage questions during these session. The result, was Google Moderator.

The simple web-based application allows users to ask questions and vote on existing questions. The most popular questions move to the top. The product worked so well for the tech talks that Google launched it internally to help organize meetings. Not only can users submit questions, they can also submit ideas or suggestions which are displayed for others to vote up or down. Those who submit questions also have the option of including a short YouTube video. In April of 2008 Moderator was made publicly available.

This is an example of a moderator idea on which users can vote.

This form of interaction is often termed "crowdsourcing." The premise is that the collective intelligence of the group is greater than any one individual and by allowing the group to vote ideas up or down, the cream will rise to the top. The larger the group the more ideas are shared and the more reliable the group decision is.

Vote!

At Google events I have attended Moderator has been used to determine what topics will be covered during the event. I have both submitted and voted on ideas. Interacting with the agenda of a conference in this way is very empowering and provides each attendee with a sense that they are contributing to the direction of the group.

The most public display of Google Moderator came during the 2008 elections when then candidate Obama used Google Moderator in his "Open for Questions" campaign. Over 4.7 million votes were cast.

Moderator on the iPad.

There are a few nice features which make Moderator especially well suited for the classroom including the option choose whether responses can be submitted anonymously and the ability to flag inappropriate suggestions/ideas. If you don't have computers in your classroom (like me) students can access and vote on ideas from home, from the computer lab before or after school, or on their mobile device. Yes, Moderator works on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad!

One thing that I don't like about Moderator is that you must have a Google Account in order to submit or vote on ideas. Even if you setup your series as allowing anonymous submissions, users must be logged in to submit votes or ideas. If you are a Google Apps school, this isn't a big idea as your students will already have accounts that will work however if you are not, managing the logins for a class so that they can use moderator is daunting.

Despite this challenge, there are some great applications for moderator in education. Instead of posting these ideas below, I've created a Moderator "series" in which you can view my ideas, vote on them, ad add your own. We'll see which one is the most popular! Don't be shy, vote and submit ideas!

Click to view and vote on ideas!

STEM Collaboration Webinar Recording

2010-12-23T06:58:00.000-06:00

This week I had the privilege of leading the December installment of the Google Apps for Education professional development webinar. People from around the world joined me for a discussion of the importance of teaching collaborative skills to students as well as five specific projects that can be integrated into STEM classrooms.

Resources related to my presentation can be found on the companion website that I have created to share my links and examples.

If you were unable to join, a full recording of the webinar is available below as well as Q&A transcript. You can view the full list of Google Apps for Education PD webinars by clicking here.

Review: Google Body Browser

2010-12-21T22:25:00.000-06:00

Google's overarching corporate goal is to "organize the world's information." This vision drives all of their product development and is undoubtedly the foundation of their latest addition-- Google Body Browser. Slapped with a Beta tag (it wouldn't be Google if it didn't say Beta!), the Body Browser is a bit rough, but has tremendous potential.

The Google engineers responsible for Body Browser borrowed a few parts from other Google products. Regular users of Google Maps or Google Earth will immediately recognize the navigational interface. Searching for an organ reveals instant results a-la Google Instant technology.

Google Body Browser was revealed at a technology conference (WebGL Camp) on December 15. It was released publicly on December 16 as a Google Lab project.

Navigating and using Google Body Browser is so simple that no explanation is needed. If you're ready to try, make sure you have a web browser that includes WebGL (an HTML element that enables 3D graphics without using Flash or other 3rd party plugins). Browsers that will work include Google Chrome 9, FireFox 4.0/b1. Mac users running OS X 10.6 or later can run Body Browser in Safari after enabling WebGL.

If you don't have the correct browser version, you will see the banner image posted above. If your browser is compatible, you'll jump right into exploring the human body!

As an anatomy and biology teacher I'm excited about using Body Browser in the classroom. It will certainly make learning human anatomy more interesting and interactive. Here are some ideas for using Body Browser in your classroom:

Teach muscle attachments (a difficult concept) with the muscular and skeletal layers turned on.
Teach the importance of anatomical naming conventions by exploring related structures (a good example is the clavical, subclavian muscle, subclavian vein and subclavian artery)
If you have an interactive whiteboard, play "pig" or "horse" as a class, asking each student to name a structure and then challenge the next student to name a different structure.
Compare and contrast the mapping of veins and arteries.

I also have a few suggestions (which I have submitted to Google) to improve Body Browser:

Add layer support similar to that used in Google Earth. Users content can further enhance and extend the visual exploration of the body by providing textual or multimedia information related to specific body features. This would be a great opportunity for companies like WebMD or A.D.A.M. to leverage their existing content.
Include X-ray and CT scan views of the body.
Enable the exploration of the inner brain, not just the external hemispheres.
Enable exploration of the inner heart, not just the external features.

Google Webinar Tomorrow!

2010-12-20T22:22:00.000-06:00

December 21st, 2010 at 7:30 ET I will be leading a webinar on collaborative projects for STEM classrooms using Google Apps for Education. This is a free, 1 hour webinar. Please join the discussion!

To register for the webinar, click here.
For a glimpse at the topics and tools that will be covered, click here.

See you tomorrow night!