Tech Tuesday Archive 12

Sit back, kick back and indulge in all the tech greatness in this week's email!  As always, I'm available after school today, room 121, for panther college credit, to go over google apps, classroom, Twitter, kaizena, doctopus/goobrics or anything you have questions about.  No question too big or too small.  Come by and say hi!  Also a big welcome to our Oaklyn colleagues - I hope these tech emails give you some helpful advice.

Tech Tips:

1.  On Saturday, I attended EdcampNJ, and it was really awesome. If you follow me on Twitter, my feed was lit up as I tried to quote all the great stuff people were dishing out. Teachers and administrators alike had a great day together.  If you've never heard of an Edcamp, check out this page from Edcamp Philly:http://www.edcampphilly.org/about/  While not entirely tech related, there is a lot of tech encouraged.  I'm already registered for another in South Jersey in March - I would love if some of you would join me! http://www.edcampsouthjersey.com/  Also, special ed teachers, I heard of one specifically devoted to special ed, and you may want to check it out:http://edcampaccessnj.org/

2.  http://www.teachercast.net/  This is a phenomenal resource that I've used a few times.  The creator, Jeff Bradbury, did a presentation on Saturday and he lives and breathes this stuff.  Check his blog and video resources if you want almost any kind of How-to for educational tech stuff.

3.  Twitter PSA - Do you know the difference between a tweet and a direct message?? A direct message is NOT public, like a text to that individual.  Everything else you write on Twitter is completely and utterly PUBLIC.  Apparently the Twitter CFO still needs this lesson... http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattlynley/a-top-twitter-executive-just-had-a-massive-direct-message-fa#.vwM5lDQvp

4.  I mentioned last week the #hourofcode.  The tech department and I have discussed trying to host this global initiative during Computer Science Education Week, December 8-14.  Click the link and watch the video: http://hourofcode.com/us  I've also attached an information sheet about the initiative.  We would love to get as much participation as possible.  

Lastly, the tech department has graciously put together some of their own tips for all of you.  See below for a message from Chad Meyers and avail yourself of the google group they have created for us.

If I don't see you, I hope you all have a chance for some relaxing time with your loved ones this week.  Even I will shut down and stop tweeting for a few days

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Hi all!

This week IT is carving a small space out of Dan's Tech Tuesday for a few updates.

For those of you with short attention spans:

    1. Chrome opens a new program for every new tab. Try closing some of them if you are experiencing slowness. Use SHIFT+ESC while in Chrome to see what is eating up your system resources.

    2. We're pushing out a Chrome browser update this week. You will need to restart in-district and you should receive it.

    3. Have questions? Ask questions, get answers, and discuss anything technical with Colls IT in our Google Group "Ask IT"-

               http://goo.gl/Q1Xw1Y

First in this list is a power tip for the Chrome browser and Chromebooks. Chrome opens a separate process for each running window, tab, extension, and plugin for stability and security reasons. The downside to this functionality is increased memory usage. If your computer seems slow, you may just have too many Chrome windows/tabs open. Try closing some to speed up your browsing. You can see all of the resources Chrome is using by selecting a browser window and then holding SHIFT and pressing ESC. You can even close them right from this new window by selecting the process and clicking "End Process."

Second to note-- A Chrome browser update will be pushed down to your laptops over the next week or so. There are security fixes and a battery life update in the newer version, which were much needed. Please be patient if your computer takes a little longer to boot up while it installs this necessary update.

Finally, the IT Department is happy to invite you to our Google Group "Ask IT!" Please feel free to ask any IT or tech-related questions that may be outside of the scope of curriculum-use. We hope you take the opportunity to learn from and participate in any discussions that crop up, but even if you don't, the information gathered will benefit you in the form of a FAQ we'll be posting once we have enough info.

Here's the link:

https://groups.google.com/a/collsk12.org/forum/#!forum/ask-it

... And a shorter version:

http://goo.gl/Q1Xw1Y

Thanks and have a great Thanksgiving!

~Chad Meyers

IT Dept, Collingswood Public Schools

Tech Tuesday Archive 8

First, a welcome to all of the elementary folks.  I'm Dan at the high school, and I hope you find these emails useful.  If you are having an issue with utilizing applications of technology in your room, please give me a shout.  If I don't have the answer I will try to find it for you.  I'd also be interested in what types of applications you are using at the K-5 level vs. what we are using over here at the 6-12 level.  

I'll be sending out a survey next week regarding technology use and how to best help all of you out.  Please consider taking a few minutes to fill out the form.  I'm just trying to gauge how to best improve Tech Tuesdays and in turn give you the best feedback I can.

I will be available after school for general questions and I would still love to show people doctopus/goobric and kaizena for online grading.  HOWEVER -  I will be in the third floor hallway supervising my juniors as they decorate their hall.  Don't worry - Multitasking is "in" and we can still get plenty accomplished.   

Tech Tips:

-Padlet - Install "padlet mini" from the chrome web store.  This is a cool app for brainstorming/collaborating.  You can drag and drop little post-it like notes and jot ideas down.  You can add pictures and weblinks as well.  I had my kids each create a wall describing an analogy between an animal cell and something of their choosing (a school, citizens bank park, a shopping mall etc).  

-ClassDojo - many of you may use this app already.  I think it's great.  I used it last year but stopped this year only because it fell under the category of "There's only so much time...".  I think it would  be a great app to use if you are dedicated to using it every day.  Its a behavioral tracking application - many students last year were excited to receive "Dojo points" and though I only scratched the surface, the parent interface seemed extremely useful.  For those that have been using it or are interested I would encourage you to read both of the following articles.  The New York Times wrote a not so favorable article a couple days ago.  I know, you're all shocked - negative press for the teaching profession.  Can you imagine?? If you read the article, please also read the response from Classdojo, especially point #3 - Everybody I have talked to about using Classdojo has emphasized the positive reinforcement aspect of it.  But, I suppose it is an important reminder that with increased use of technology, there will be another thing to criticize, so take precautions and use common sense.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/technology/privacy-concerns-for-classdojo-and-other-tracking-apps-for-schoolchildren.html?_r=0

https://www.classdojo.com/nyt

-Twitter - For those on Twitter - please check out the lists below.  The first is a list of Educational Twitter Chats that occur every week.  If you've never participated in one, I highly recommend it.  Within 15 minutes you have the chance to share a few thoughts, meet contacts from around the country and get some positive feedback.  One I would highly recommend is #BFC530 - known as the breakfast club, they chat every morning at 5:30am (yes, am) for 15 minutes - it's short and quick and there are a ton of great people to meet there.  The second link includes a pretty exhaustive list of educational hashtags.  Once you start joining some of these talks and you build up your contacts, you have a group of people to bounce ideas off of - referred to in the Twittersphere as your PLN (Personal Learning Network).  December will bring my Twitter contest - if you haven't joined yet, get on it!

http://goo.gl/SCGTRb  

http://cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html

-#Hourofcode - http://csedweek.org/ - Check this out and let me know if interested.  Just learned of this and I'm curious.

That's it for today - Have a fantastic rest of the week everybody

Tech Tuesday Archive 7

Hello all -

So while I was mumbling under my breath yesterday afternoon in frustration over the state of our internet connection, I was really unsure of what to offer all of my colleagues in terms of any technology tips today.  By its very nature, technology is utterly, often mind-numbingly, frustrating.  Murphy's Law reigns supreme, especially when you have a perfect lesson planned that is dependent on technology.  But this is not new - My first years teaching saw many times in which the bulb went out on the overhead projector at just the wrong time.  Mr Gillespie has told me of all the times his hammer and chisel went missing and he couldn't give his students their notes.  But he just kept at it, having his kids put their slates away for the day and doing his best to keep them engaged.  I heard Mr. Eboch talking about how many carrier pigeons he went through his first year to try to get his report cards delivered - it sounded maddening!

So the best advice I can offer you today is to keep the faith.  Take it from a Red Sox fan from the Pre-"Red Sox Nation" era, things will get better (Hopefully in less than 86 years).  It will improve.  Things always do.

-A relevant tip that I thought should be reiterated: Chromebooks work offline!  If your class needs to type something or create a presentation, they can still do so without being online.  Just tell the kids to go to the wifi icon on the bottom right of the screen, hit "connected to colls-wireless" and then hit the blank wifi icon that pops up.  This takes their Chromebook offline and they can open google docs to complete work, uploading later when they have a stronger connection.  This has the side benefit of improving the wifi for you because they are no longer using it!

- I've been reminded over the last week that while our kids are "digital natives" they are not yet fully "digital citizens".  What I mean is that a common misconception is that because our kids are constantly glued to their phones, people think that they know how to properly use them for productive purposes.  Alas, snapchatting and tweeting that "I'm so bored #bored" is not the most productive use of their globally connected digital devices.  All kidding aside, even if you think you don't know very much about technology, you still have skills to help our kids become more proficient in their use of tech.  Writing a proper email, not copying things directly off the internet, using scrutiny in what they believe... these are skills we as adults take for granted, but that kids today need as much help as ever to improve at.  

-Shout out to Ms. Maguire for teaching a lesson on proper email etiquette with her students.  This is a perfect example of what I'm referring to in the above point.

So - I'm not throwing any new offerings out there for Tech Tuesday today - I know people are struggling just to keep up right now.  I will be here after school in room 121 to help with: Google docs, Classroom, Twitter, or anything you need help with.  As a reminder I have preps during E, F and H and when I'm not doing student council stuff (emails to follow...) I'm more than happy to help you, even if it is to tell you to breath deeply and count to 10.  My cell number is below if you don't have it and you want to send a quick question.

Have an awesome rest of the day everybody,

Dan

P.S. To my middle school colleagues - I should have clarified last week why I was including you.  Also, for those that don't know me, I'm Dan, I teach science and I'd love to help you use more technology.  While Matt is still running tech tuesdays for you guys at some point that will stop and I wanted to make sure that there was still a forum for you to try to get help and tips for more tech use.  In addition, we as the high school often keep to ourselves and vice versa and I thought it would be good to cross those imaginary lines in the library once in a while.  Hopefully you find my tips useful and I welcome any feedback you may have.

Tech Tuesday Archive 6

I realized after writing my email last week that in my sleep deprived stupor, I never formally announced the birth of my and Kathy's son, Finn Thomas Whalen.  In the world of Facebook and texting I just figured everybody knew the details.  Mom and baby are doing well.  So well, in fact, that they hang out all night together!  So as a proud papa, I'm including my (most recent) favorite picture of the little guy.  

So, what's new for technology this week?  Today, I'll be doing a tech Tuesday on 2 assessment tools to help with grading work that is submitted to you electronically.  I mentioned the first to my science colleagues yesterday - Doctopus and Goobric.  It takes a little work to start using but once you are set up it makes grading work that you have on your computer very simple, using rubrics.  English teachers, especially, if you like using Rubrics, and you are using chromebooks, you will benefit from this tool.  As usual if you have other concerns please come by and ask and I'll do my best to help you out.  

The second tool is called Kaizena and its really cool.  If you tire from constantly writing comments on students' work, this is a nice change of pace.  Kaizena allows your students to submit their work directly to you electronically and allows you the ability to add voice comments that the students can then review later.  

Tech Tips:

-Twitter challenge! Yes, I'd like to get more of you on Twitter.  I'm not giving up! Starting after Thanksgiving through Christmas break, I'm going to run a contest for anybody who sends out a tweet.  Winner gets a gift card somewhere.  I promise.  Those of you who were close to joining Twitter, but never did, or those that still would like to, please see me at a tech Tuesday or another time that you have free.  It is easy and takes very little time and I would argue it has the potential to provide the best professional development you can get.

-Thank you to Jeanine Motta - great resource for free videos, check it out:  http://www.watchknowlearn.org/

- Great new extension I discovered this morning: Search the chrome web store for "OneTab": If you have tons of tabs open, it will collapse them into 1 without losing anything and free up a lot of memory for you.  Good stuff.

Lastly, just wanted to say hey to the middle school - I'm including you in this message in case it proves helpful.  I have to touch base with Mr. Saul but wanted to start including you in what I'm sending out right now.  

If you are coming today, we will probably meet across the hall from my classroom as there is another meeting in my classroom today.  

Thanks for listening, have a great day and enjoy the 4 day break