High Techpectations

Breakthrough Learning @Google: Day 1 Video

Get a taste of the Breakthrough Learning education summit that was held at Google at the end of October. I had the great privilege of attending this historic event and I'm glad to see that the ideas discussed are shared this way with the general public. As a friend noted afterwards, this stuff needs to go viral in the way TEDTalks have.

I've been involved peripherally with Google's education efforts since 2006 as a blogger for the Infinite Thinking Machine and as a Google Certified Teacher. It's been exciting to watch their education initiatives develop, and this event was significant as it indicates that Google plans to continue its role in conversations about education at a national level. The fact that both CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founder Sergey Brin addressed this audience was not lost on me, and I can't wait to see what develops as a result of this two day convening of people influential in the world of education.

I love education conferences in general, and could soak up the ideas of others forever, so I enjoyed 99% of the speakers at Breakthrough Learning. I was particularly struck by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who apparently really knows education through his involvement with the California State Board of Education and KIPP. He's clearly a brilliant guy who understands that there aren't quick fixes to our nation's educational woes. I also loved NYC principal Jason Levy's story of turning around his school with computers and Google Apps. As one of the few practitioners represented in the speaker line up, his presentation was truly compelling.

Here's the official Google video from day 1. More to come!

 

Also, check out Esther Wojcicki and Jason Levy in these videos:

 

Educational Technology - Google News

Educational Technology - Google News.

Did you know that you can create your own custom Google news page? I've known this for awhile, but I just discovered a feature that I didn't know about... the ability to create your own custom search in Google News and make it public for others. You can search this directory of custom news sections and rate them. Some are created by Google; others are created by Google News users.

Here's how to find these helpful sections: 

• First, login to your Google account. If you don't have one, sign up here (you don't have to have Gmail, but Gmail comes with a Google account) and go to Google News.

• In the right hand corner, click on Add a Section.  

• Search for existing sections or click on the large blue banner entitled Create a Custom Section.  Input search terms and view the potential results on the right hand side of the page.

• If you want to make your custom section public, click on the box that allows you to publish to the directory and then click on Create. 

• You should see something that looks like this and the custom news section should appear in your news navigation on the left hand side of the page.  

I've created ones on digital textbooks and educational technology. Add them to your Google News Page and rate them!

  
 

Official Google Blog: Sesame Street comes to Google: Improving our education system at the Breakthrough Learning forum

Official Google Blog: Sesame Street comes to Google: Improving our education system at the Breakthrough Learning forum.

Here's my unofficial live blog of the event. Email me (elemenous@gmail.com) if you're interested in blogging along with me or add your comments for me to approve. The forum starts at 4 PM PST today!

Breakthrough Learning: +1 Learner: How personal learning networks can transform individual teacher practice

Cross posted at: Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age

Imagine a learning community for educators, a place where teachers can connect to the world. Teachers can pose questions and receive just in time help and advice from virtual colleagues. Links to interesting web sites are exchanged. Practitioners connect with researchers at universities. Up to the minute news is disseminated and absorbed. Multimedia is viewed and critiqued by audiences beyond the walls of a single school. 

Such a community isn't that far fetched. In fact, many do exist on the Internet today, thanks to the powerful digital technologies of the information age. Educators are also creating their own customized personalized learning networks using a variety of tools. To the detriment of their students, millions of educators worldwide are missing out because they don't embrace new media, haven't realized its potential, or are simply denied access to the Internet's riches for various reasons. How can we help teachers foster breakthrough learning? How do we guide teachers through a process that empowers them to take ownership of their own professional development and deepen their impact on their classrooms? Encouraging teachers to develop their own personal learning networks can be one part of the solution.

I can pinpoint two pivotal experiences that mark the start of my own personal learning network journey. The first came in 2005 when a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator introduced  a term completely foreign to me: RSS or Real Simple Syndication. Because of RSS, I started following news sources and weblogs of experts, even venturing into blogging myself as a method of recording my professional ideas and resources. Information efficiently arrived in my newsreader; no longer did I have to chase it down by visiting individual sites.

A second defining moment happened a year later while on vacation. I was sitting in a Paris hotel room, uploading photos from my laptop computer to Flickr, a photo sharing site. I unexpectedly received an instant message from Portland, Oregon principal Tim Lauer. I had met Tim two years prior at a workshop he led at the National Educational Computing Conference . Tim indicated in his IM that he had noticed that I was in Paris as he saw my very recently uploaded photos on Flickr. In fact, he had just visited Paris himself and had wanted to visit a historic paint store, but had missed the opportunity. He sent me a link to an NPR piece on the Sennelier shop, and asked me to find it and take pictures if I had the chance. Fortuitously, the shop was only two blocks away from my hotel. I trotted over took a few pictures and emailed them to Tim. Thus, began our collegial friendship which continues on. Not only did I glean a bit about the rich history of this paint shop that day, but perhaps more importantly, I realized that communication, resource sharing and collegiality could extend way beyond my classroom walls in Chicago. I was no longer limited by traditional means. 

Since then, I've continued to explore both informal and formal networked professional development opportunities. I've always been curious about getting ideas from those with different experiences and perspectives. My arsenal of learning tools has grown to include Web 2.0 applications such as Delicious and Diigo for sharing bookmarks, Google Docs for sharing and storing documents online, and Twitter for connecting to people from many education related fields. 

Social networks also have supported my professional development. Facebook keeps me current with the work of organizations such as Edutopia, PBS Teachers, and Curriki . I often refer to Classroom 2.0, a web site developed using the Ning platform, when looking for concrete examples of technology infused projects, and for when I have questions related to educational technology. Inspired by the success of this site, I even created my own Ning on the topic of global education, bringing together educators interested in global projects. 

Online meeting spaces are currently intriguing me. One network that has proven to be invaluable is EdTechTalk, a collaborative web casting community. Educators volunteer to host weekly live online interviews with a wide variety of guests. Listeners participate via a back channel chat room, asking questions, suggesting resources, and sharing experiences. All sessions are recorded and archived in a podcast format for those unable to attend. I am also interested in the delivery of online professional development and have recently started using a meeting tool called Elluminate while participating in webinars run by Steve Hargadon and sponsored by several entities at the Future of Education. 

Note that none of the tools I've mentioned thus far costs me a cent. More importantly, I can engage with tools and content when my schedule allows. I choose to develop professionally using the tools that matter to me because I believe that educators must continue to evolve and refine their work. I must practice what I preach. 

To demonstrate the power of a personal learning network, I recently used Twitter to pose a link to a survey for my online colleagues on the potential of digital technologies to transform teaching and learning. If you're not quite convinced on these potential transformational effects, take a look at the stories submitted from over 60 educators around the world. Change is indeed happening; we just need to get more educators on board. Our next step in this area should be to contemplate how to effectively help educators to customize their own professional development on a large scale. 

Here is the survey I created using a form in Google Docs and here are the results. (Also, check out this word cloud based on survey responses.) One comment in particular sums this up for me. In an excerpt of a survey comment, Keith Hamon of Macon, Georgia writes:

"Technology has enabled global networks which have put me at the center of my learning. This is one of the neat tricks of the shift from hierarchical structures to network structures. As a student in an old-school hierarchy, I was at the bottom of the food chain with all the other students, with teachers a bit higher up, and then department chairs, deans, and so on...but in a personal learning network, I am at the center...This gives me great power to pursue the learning that is important to me, to create my own educational program. I am my own universe - ity. But here's the real magic: so is everyone else. In a network, we are all in the center, all empowered to work the network—adding value and taking value—to meet our goals."

Now, if we can do this for ourselves, imagine how we can do this for our students.

Official Google Blog: This Week in Search

Official Google Blog: This Week in Search.

I just noticed a new feature in the official Google blog focused on Search. It looks like Google will be posting the latest and greatest on search on a weekly basis is this space. They suggest subscribing to the label (tag) in your newsreader to follow this. Clicking on the label "This Week in Search" will aggregate all posts that are labeled as such; you can subscribe to this strand in Google Reader or whatever newsreader you currently use. 

I'm looking forward to this, especially in light of the curriculum I recently co-wrote with Kathleen Ferenz and Cheryl Davis. I bet the information here is based on the work of Dan Russell, who researches user experience at Google.

Breakthrough Learning @Google

I want to bring your attention to an exciting event that's happening at Google at the end of October. Google, the MacArthur Foundation, Common Sense Media, and the Joan Ganz Cooney Foundation are convening an education summit, calling for participants "to create and act upon a breakthrough strategy for scaling-up effective models of teaching and learning for children."

While the summit is open to invited guests, there will be plenty of opportunities for public participation as the event will be webcasted. People can also leave comments in the community blog, engage with participants and panelists via Twitter, and pose questions using Google Moderator. For details, please visit the link posted below.

I'll be present at this event along with fellow Google Certified Teachers Cheryl Davis and Kathleen Ferenz. I'm excited to learn from the many illustrious speakers scheduled to present, particularly keynoter Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone. I'm anticipating great conversations among participants and will share tidbits as appropriate. And, I have to admit, I'm really thrilled to have the opportunity to visit the Googleplex in Mountain View.

I've written a guest post for the Breakthrough Learning in a Digital Age blog on transforming teacher practices; look for it to be posted here in the next few weeks. The results of an informal survey given to those in my personal learning network will be made available then. 

For further information, including the agenda and web cast info, please visit: http://www.google.com/events/digitalage/.

Google Webinar: Teaching Search in the Classroom

Google WebEx Enterprise Site.

I'll be participating in a webinar tonight on the new search curriculum for students developed by Dan Russell, Cheryl Davis, Kathleen Ferenz and myself. Here's the event description and I hope you can join us!

Web search can be a remarkable research tool for students - and we've heard from educators that they could use some help to teach better search skills in their classroom. Working with Google Certified Teachers, we produced an initial set of nine search education lessons. From developing criteria to click on the right results to succeeding with the most challenging searches, the lessons they created will help students, and you, get the most of Google search in the classroom. We encourage you to check out the lessons online at: www.google.com/educators/searchlessons

Drawing on their vast experience with search education, Googler Dan Russell, along with Google Certified Teachers Kathleen Ferenz, Cheryl Davis and Lucy Gray will discuss how to teach search in the classroom. Having developed Google's Search Education Lessons, they will discuss how you can customize the contents to the needs of your class and how guide your in-class discussions

Google Custom Search Refines Research Skills

Google Custom Search Refines Research Skills.

I was recently interviewed by Converge magazine on Google's Custom Search tool which lets you basically roll your own search engine. Hopefully, this will give you a few ideas on how to incorporate this little known product!

Official Google Blog: Google heads to grade school: New resources for K-12 teachers and students

Official Google Blog: Google heads to grade school: New resources for K-12 teachers and students.

Because of all the NECC hoopla, I completely missed the mention of Google's presence at the conference. Here's a post that details their Google Apps Education Edition initiative and mentions the Google search curriculum that Kathleen Ferenz, Cheryl Davis, and I worked on recently. Based on the work of Google search guru Dan Russell, we developed 9 practical lessons for teachers to use with their students. The idea is to use these lessons in any subject as often as needed in order to help students develop a search mindset. There is an art to searching well, and hopefully these lessons will help you and your students develop the necessary skills!

Please let me know if you have questions or feedback regarding this project!

Explore Google Search

Explore Google Search.

 

Google has launched a new section on their web site focused on Search features. Brief videos explain several of Search's features, including how to efficiently find public data, sport scores, weather reports and stock quotes. Did you know that the Search box also can serve as a calculator, dictionary, unit converter and flight tracker, too? There's more on this web site including interviews with Google Search engineers and user search stories.

Whenever I do workshops, it always surprises me how many people don't know about Search features! This should help, so spread the word!

Expanding Your NECC 2009 Experience

 

Cross Posted at the Infinite Thinking Machine

View and edit NECC 2009 Washington, DC in a larger map. Please add your recommendations!

It's that time of year again... The International Society for Technology in Education will celebrate its 30th birthday in a few weeks by hosting the National Educational Computing Conference in Washington, D.C. For me, it's a particularly exciting time to be visiting our nation's capital in light of our new president and a renewed focus on improving education.

NECC 2009 promises to be professionally rejuvenating event for anyone interested in educational technology. It is a potentially overwhelming conference with nearly 13,000 attendees and approximately 500 vendors presenting their wares. For the record, educational technology has never been about the tools for me (although I do revel in the cool factor of many technologies), but about leveraging learning for kids. That said, I hope that educators from a wide variety of backgrounds and interests will attend for similar reasons. I would actually like to see the excitement about educational technology filter down more to those who aren't necessarily techie geeks like myself.

For the past few years, I've posted a blog entry highlighting a few tips and tricks for making the most of your NECC experience. Review my ideas for 2007 and for 2008; I still stand by that general advice. Pick an area of focus, spend time planning before you get to Washington with that theme in mind, and give yourself plenty of time to digest everything. Bring your laptop for taking notes and accessing additional content; I suspect more people will be using iPhones for this purpose, however. Finally, get connected with other educators through the plethora of events that are scheduled. For the second year, ISTE has an online community for conference conversation. Networking isn't just for job seekers or administrators anymore!

If you are not able to attend in person, you should be able to participate virtually as well. Some presenters may elect to post their materials online and to stream video feeds of their presentations. At Edubloggercon, an informal "unconference" to be held Saturday, June 27 as a precursor to NECC, many sessions will also be broadcast via tools such as Ustream. Finally, similar sessions called NECC Unplugged will be taking place in the Blogger's Café during the actual conference at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

In addition to all this, people will be blogging, posting pictures, and twittering away about conference happenings. You can find this stuff by searching various sources using tags (keyword labels) such as NECC, NECC2009, and NECC09. For instance, search Twitter using #NECC and you'll find a steady microblogging stream. I recommend searching Technorati for blog posts and Flickr for photos in a similar manner.

Finally, I like to make the most of any travel experience by doing a little research ahead of time. I usually do a cursory search in iTunes for content related to my destination that I can put on my iPod or iPhone. For instance, I purchased the audiobook of A Cricket in Times Square for my daughter when we traveled to New York City prior to NECC 2005. In 2006, I traveled to Europe with other Apple Distinguished Educators on a project and I brought along a Passport to Europe episode on Berlin and a No Reservations episode on Paris (this show isn't necessarily for kids, by the way). In addition to these items, there are tons of free podcasts available in iTunes if you do a search for your particular destination.

I've taken the liberty of putting together a few Washington DC related resources. I have not reviewed all of these; I just explored and plucked ones that look potentially interesting. If you have any additional recommendations, please add them to the comments. Enjoy and see you in DC. I'll be in the Google booth from time to time and presenting as part of Larry Anderson's Podcasting and Podcatching for the Absolute Beginner panel. Stop by and say hello!

Washington DC and NECC Resources

Lucy's NECC Calendar - Each year, I use the NECC conference planner to plot any sessions interesting to me. I'm focusing on math, science and interactive whiteboards this year.

Lucy's NECC '09 Map - Join this Google Map and add your info and recommendations.

NECC Ning - NECC's online community; attendees and virtual attendees are welcome to join.

GovFresh - one stop shopping for multimedia produced by the U.S. governent. Everything is aggregated in one place; web 2.0 at its finest!

Apps for your iPhone:

• iTransDC Metro - (99 cents)
• iMetroMap DC (99 cents)
• Dubbele.com (99 cents)
• Washington DC Public (free)
• Washington Post's Going Out Guide (free)
• Washington DC Travel Guide (99 cents)
• Washington DC - GPS Tour (99 cents)
• U.S Historical Documents (99 cents)
• iCongress (99 cents)
• politicoTrack ($9.99)
• Presidents Match Game (99 cents)
• USA Presidents (free)

Podcasts:

• Cityscapes - Washington DC
• Tourcaster - Washington DC City Guide
• Mobile Tours
• Cultural Tourism DC: Audio Journeys
• Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Podcasts
• ARTSEDGE: The Kennedy Center's Jazz in DC
• The International Spy Museum SpyCast
• US Holocaust Memorial Museum iTunes U Page
• Smithsonian Podcasts
• LearnOutLoud's US Presidents Podcast
• The Washington Post Video Podcast
• Washington Week Video Podcast
• President Obama's Weekly Address

TV Shows and Movies:

• Smithsonian Channel ($1.99 per episode to purchase)
• Anthony Bourdrain's No Reservations - Washington DC ($1.99 per episode to purchase)
• All the President's Men ($9.99 to purchase, $2.99 to rent)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington ($14.99 to purchase only)

YouTube Channels:

• Smithsonian Channel
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Newseum
• Library of Congress
• C-SPAN
• The White House

Google Presentation for River Forest Teachers

I have a standard Google For Education presentation that I customize for individual audiences. WIth each version, I've added photos particular to the region where I'm presenting.  With this one, I've eliminated slides on Calendar, Blogger and iGoogle as I generally try to cover too much territory. This time I stuck with the apps that I think have the most significant implications for teaching. The idea here is for me to explain the various tools and initiatives available, and let teachers think of the pedagogical possibilities. They are the experts in their own classrooms; I think they have the imaginations to make the connections. Enjoy!

River Forest Google Presentation - Upload a Document to Scribd

Happy Birthday, Google

Google is 10 years old! At the Google Teacher Academy in Chicago, Cristin Frodella informed us that the company is giving away 10 million dollars to people with ideas designed to change the world on a large scale. I think that represents why I am continually impressed with Google; idealism is not dead. I get a similar feeling when I watch TEDTalk videos.

Here is Google's official birthday page and there are a few things worth checking out besides the 10 million dollar project. There's a great timeline of Google's history (wish there was a timeline tool in their stable of apps by the way). There's a 10 Years Out section where Google employees, aka Googlers, post ideas on the future of the company in the official Google blog. Also, regular Joes can submit videos on their favorite tips and tricks for using Google in How I Use Google. I like this simple idea and think students could contribute to this. I'd also love to see this concept applied outside of Google, maybe in the Classroom 2.0  ning... how I use Ning? How I use digital videos in the classroom? How I use social boomarking etc.? Hmmm.

Mapping Historical Presidential Sites

We're in the midst of one of the greatest teachable moments in recent history, the 2008 Presidential Campaign. It's a great opportunity for helping our kids to understand our politicial history and the electoral process.

Over the summer, I started building a wiki to house resources and projects related to the election. The purpose of this site is bipartisan in nature, and simply to serve as an aggregator for resources and collaborative projects. I'd love to see stuff added from other countries, so that all students could compare and contrast political systems. I hoped that people in my personal learning network would jump on board and that this site would become a hotbed of activity... there's still time to make this happen, so let me know if you'd like access to the wiki and I'll send you an invitation.

In the meantime, I was inspired to make a new Google Map of historical presidential sites after seeing this article in the Chicago Sun-Times. My plan is for teachers, and hopefully students, from around the country to mark their own local presidential historical sites on this map. Part of my work time is spent at North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School, and I'm planning on having students there mark important places in the life of Barack Obama. Last spring before election matters really heated up, I was shocked to learn that many of our students did not know that he lives blocks away from our school. Hopefully, this map activity will give them a greater awareness of presidential history in Illinois.

To edit this map, you probably will need a Google Account. Click on the map below, and look for a button in the right-hand corner labeled Edit. Once you select that button, you'll see tools pop up in the left-hand corner of the map. Next, use the search box to find a particular location. Many historical sites already have listings and should pop up as red tear drop markers. For instance, try searching for "John  F. Kennedy Library MA". Click on the link to the library in the left-hand side of your page, and a placemark will pop up on your map. Next, select your placemark and click on the Save to My Maps link. If you already have maps in your My Maps collection, you can then select which map you want the placemark to appear on. Click on Save. Ta da! If you have questions on how to do this, please let me know. I'm looking forward to seeing more additions from you and your students.

View Larger Map

iSummit 2009 - Nashville

I'm in Nashville through Saturday at iSummit, a conference for private and charter school educators at schools with 1 to 1 laptop deployments. I'm really excited to be here as it's my first time visiting Tennessee!

Below are my presos which I've posted in Slideshare. Please feel free to contribute to my Google Maps/Earth teacher meme project and to join our group in Diigo where I will be bookmarking relevant links. Also, consider joining the Google in Education group as well.

View Larger Map

| View | Upload your own

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Audio of Videoconference with Kevin Jarrett

Download kevin.mp3

Fellow GCT Kevin Jarrett offered to be my official workshop guinea pig and participated in a videoconference for my workshop on Monday. He did an outstanding job explaining Second Life (none of the participants had heard of this before) and about how he and others use Google tools. His explanations were clear, consise and compelling and I'm glad I recorded the conference. I used Conference Recorder, an add-on to iChat, and I ended up recording my blank window (I was sitting off to the side listening) instead of Kevin while he was talking. So the video is really not useful, but I still captured the audio. I'd love to have others address similar questions here in the comments. For instance, what advice would you give to a teacher new to Google tools or any other Web 2.0 technology? How do you encourage them to jump in?

 

Add Yourself

Here's another workshop activity in which you are welcome to jump in. I'm planning on demoing Google Maps at a workshop in Paris, Illinois on Monday. Take a look at the map, click the edit button, select the blue placemark tool, and add yourself to the map. Make sure you indicate who you are in the placemark text field and be careful not to overwite someone else's placemark!

View Larger Map

Survey Results Gadgets

Keep taking the survey listed above! Take a look at some of the gadgets I've created with the survey data thus far on favorite colors. A couple of observations. I had to add a count function to count responses, which was a little tedious. Secondly, navigating my spreadsheet becomes unbearably slow once I put in a couple of charts or gadgets. And finally, I can't figure out a way to edit the colors so that they match my labels. I'm also wondering what the difference is between a regular chart and a gadget. Maybe gadgets automatically update as more  data is fed into the spreadsheet? You'd think a regular chart would do that as well. I'll figure it out as more people take the survey, I suppose!

Take My Survey!

I'm collecting data on people's favorite things for a demo during a workshop. Specifically, I'll be showing how you can design a questionnaire, gather responses, and graph the data in various ways. You can also embed surveys in a blog post like I've done below.  Be a sport and answer a few questions for me!

We Have a Winner!

The winning doodle in the Doodle4Google contest is posted on Google's home page today! Click the graphic below to find out more about the winning artwork.

Also, another announcement appeared in the Official Google blog stating that Google Sites is now open to the general public. It has been previously released in the last month and bundled with Google Apps after being purchased from Jott awhile ago. Google Sites reminds me very much of Wikispaces, only other Google products are more tightly integrated.

Google via kwout

Official Google Blog: Your vote matters

Link: Official Google Blog: Your vote matters.

Take a minute to peek at the impressive results of the Doodle 4 Google project. Kids really turned out some creative, thoughtful and fun doodles, answering the open-ended question, "What if....?". The best submissions are posted and for the next six days, the general public can vote for their favorite doodle in each category. The final winner's doodle will be posted on Google's homepage on May 22.

Track the Torch in Google Earth and Maps

Check this out!  You can track the Olympic torch via Google Earth and Google Maps. Today it was in Argentina!

Doodle 4 Google Contest: Use Your Noodle !

Link: Doodle 4 Google.

I am a huge Google Doodle fan; I love being surprised by these clever drawings on Google's home page whenever a significant holiday or event is commemorated. Kids in the U.S now have the opportunity to try their hand at incorporating a clever design into the Google logo. The resulting winning doodle will be displayed on Google's home page in May and there are also some exciting prizes. Find out more about the artist behind the famed doodles and contest details using the above link!

NICE Mini-Conference 2008: Google in Education

NICE Mini-Conference 2008: Google in Education

PDF OF PRESENTATION:

Download NICEGoogle.pdf

From: elemenous, 5 hours ago

| View | Upload your own

A slightly modified version of the Kean preso.There are many links to resources within this doc; make sure you click on things to visit them.

SlideShare Link

Friday 5: Year in Review

Hi Readers -

My New Year's resolution is to try and get back in the habit of publishing Friday 5 lists on a consistent basis! Here are a few sites I've collected to ring in the New Year.

See you next year,

Lucy Gray

-----

1) The Condition of Education 2007
http://nces.ed.gov/Pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007064

2) Year in Review 2007 - Special Reports from CNN
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/year.in.review/

3) AFI's Top 10 Movies of 2007
http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/16/afis-top-10-movies-of-2007/

4) 100 Notable Books of the Year - 2007 - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/books/review/notable-books-2007.html

5) Internet TV: 2007 Year in Review | last100
http://www.last100.com/2007/12/17/internet-tv-2007-year-in-review/

6) The 100 Best Songs of 2007: Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007

7) 50 Top 10 Lists of 2007 - TIME
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/0,30576,1686204,00.html

8) Google Zeitgeist 2007
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist.html
http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist2007/

Google publishes lists of the most popular search queries, which give you an indication about the public mind set during 2007. It's scarily fascinating! At the end of each section in this year's zeitgeist is a practical tip on how to refine your searches.

9) Lifehacker Zeitgeist 2007
http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/lifehacker-zeitgeist-2007-335359.php

Mashable and Lifehacker are two of the most practical web sites out there. I highly recommend skimming these sites on a regular basis.

10) Ask Lifehacker: How Can I Create a 2007 Timeline?
http://lifehacker.com/336387/how-can-i-create-a-2007-timeline

11) Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 New and Improved Apps of 2007
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-new-and-improved-apps-of-2007-332617.php

12) Mashable's Best Technology Quotes of 2007
http://mashable.com/2007/12/15/best-technology-quotes-of-2007/

13) Top Web Apps & Sites of 2007 - ReadWriteWeb
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_web_apps_of_2007.php

Google Reader Shared Items

A few weeks ago, people in my Twitter network were talking about the new shared features in the Google's RSS Reader. I didn't have time to play extensively with this, but now have delved into it and I'm considering using Google Reader as my main news aggregator, although I still love NetNewsWire.  I also happen to read a couple of posts today that lamented how this shared feature was completely public and apparently, Google has responded and given users a little more control over their shared feeds.

At any rate, here's what I'm sharing right now!

Custom Search Engine for Macworld Workshop

I've made a custom search engine for my Macworld workshops. Participants will be able to search sites that I have specifically chosen for them related to blogs, wikis, and collaborative docs.

You can volunteer to bookmark sites with Google Marker that you think are relevant to this custom search engine.

 

   

      

                        

 

 

     

 

    Custom Search  

Another Hit: Google Docs in Plain English

Shared Stuff from LucyGray

Link: Shared Stuff from LucyGray.

Two Google treats this week... Docs and Spreadsheets now accomodates presentations and Shared Stuff is a new take on social bookmarking. You can bookmark stuff and also post to del.icio.us, Facebook, Furl etc. Check it out!

Google Books: Create and Search Your Own Library

Link: Google Books.

Check it out! You can create your own personal list of books, complete with reviews, tags, RSS feeds,  and stars in Google Book Search! You can import books by ISBN!  Think of educational implications... annotated bibliographies of recommended books, book lists tagged by teaching units, writing book reviews, running records of books read, browsing lists of other people, etc. Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Here's a link to my library so far. I'm planning on starting with my favorite childhood tomes. Make sure you click on one of the About This Book links as it takes you to an interesting page with links referencing other resources.

Final Google Behind the Scenes Collaborative Video

Gmail: A Behind the Scenes Video

Link: Gmail: A Behind the Scenes Video.

Just noticed this link on my Gmail page... must be new. Looks like fun!

UPDATE:

I've now checked it out, and I love this concept. How easy would this be to adapt for the classroom? What motif, like the red email symbol, would you use to thread through a group video on an educational topic?

Here's the video embed:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Link: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself..

Noticed this link on the Google homepage today...

Friday 5: Getting Ready for NECC 2007

Hi All -

Sorry for the dearth of activity on this listserv, but it's been a busy few weeks. I'm heading across the Midway Plaisance to a new job at the University of Chicago Center for Urban School Improvement, and it's been a stressful time making the decision to leave my current school. I'll be the Lead Technology Coach for the Center, working two days a week at one of four charter schools which are operated under the umbrella of the University. The rest of my time will be devoted to designing and implementing a technology professional development plan for all four charters run by USI. I am going to miss Lab very much, but I'll stay connected as my children will still attend school there. I am really grateful for the opportunity to have taught at Lab. My students and colleagues have been amazing, and I am appreciative of all that I have learned.

Anyway, I'm in the midst of preparing for the National Educational Computing Conference, which starts a week from tomorrow in Atlanta, Georgia. I'll be running a workshop for Apple with Julene Reed of St. George's Schools in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as participating in two panel presentations. I should also be floating around the Apple booth at various times, so stop by and say hello if you are attending the conference.

If you are not able to attend NECC, check out the following resources for following the conference virtually. I'll be publishing the Friday 5 on a more regular basis once life slows down a bit!

Take care,

Lucy Gray

1) NECC 2007 Flickr Group

Check out this link in the next week or so to see images taken by conference attendees. Flickr groups also allow for discussions, so you might catch some comments as well.

2) HitchHikr: NECC 2007

David Warlick has set up a service for aggregating conference information. Visit this page, and you'll see everything related to NECC that's been tagged with the keywords necc, neccprep, and necc2007.

3) NECC Podcasts and Web Casts
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2007/program/podcasting.php
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2007/program/video_on_demand.php

Several sessions have been selected to be podcasted or webcasted. I'm not sure how quickly these files will be published, though. I'm guessing Apple will also publish podcasts in the Conference Connections section of the Apple Learning Interchange, too.

4) NECC Bloggers

Many people have signed up to have links to their blogs posted on the NECC web site. These people, myself included, will be posting thoughts and reactions to the conference.

5) Lucy's Global Stuff
I'll be conducting a workshop on collaborative tools used to foster global awareness. I've created several resources that we will demonstrate. Feel free to jump in and add content, or just follow our progress as we add information.

The Global Education Collaborative Ning Group

The Global Education Collaborative Discussion Group | Google Groups

Flickr: The Global Education Collaborative

The Global Education Collaborative Wiki

Friday 5: TeacherTube

Friday 5 : TeacherTube

Hi All-

TeacherTube  is a new service for educators to upload and view educational content. Here are several videos worth watching!

Have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

-----

1) Did You Know
http://tinyurl.com/3dqmdl

2) Pay Attention
http://tinyurl.com/3y38xj

3) Why Let Our Students Blog?
http://tinyurl.com/ynlvt3

4) Riddle iMovie Step 1
http://tinyurl.com/326nkc

5) Homage to Magritte
http://tinyurl.com/374unv

6) Inspiration Software with Math Instruction
http://tinyurl.com/32oyaq

7) Constitution Day 2006
http://tinyurl.com/2rwo49

8) Poetry and Multimedia
http://tinyurl.com/32vbyz

9) Dinoland
http://tinyurl.com/33cug2

10) Digital Students @ Analog Schools
http://tinyurl.com/32rmmm

11) When I Become A Teacher - This is my all-time favorite. I couldn't find it on TeacherTube, but here it is on YouTube.
http://tinyurl.com/3dtdmz

Google Scavenger Hunt for Middle Schoolers

I'm so excited about a spur of the moment project I started today in my sixth grade computer science class. We just finished group reports in our millennial/computer terms wiki, and our next topic to cover is graphing. For the past two quarters, I've done a rather dry assignment involving temperatures of cities around the world in Google Docs and Spreadsheets. I decided I wanted to explore an Ogle Earth blog posting forwarded by Chris Walsh to the GCT community, and I began by trying out the Google LookUp formula within Google Spreadsheets. Essentially, you enter certain search terms into this formula, data is found by Google, and entered into the specified cell. See this blog posting in the official Google blog for more information and check out the hunt itself. I need to add more complete directions and polish it a bit, but I may post about this over at the Infinite Thinking Machine when the project is finished. So far, my students' reactions have been really positive... they had no idea about the calculator features in Google Search and many said that this alone would help them with their homework. Another thing to note is a suggestion from my colleague, Marty. She thought it would be great to use autofill with this Lookup formula, to say, find statistics for a set of pro baseball players. Unfortunately, autofill doesn't seem to be a feature with Google Spreadsheets yet!

NECC 2007 Workshop Resources

Excuse multiple crossposts -

Julene Reed and I are teaching a workshop at NECC on global collaboration, and I've set up a series of resources to demonstrate during this class. I hope that these resources will live on as people become interested in sharing resources used to teach global awareness concepts. Please consider jumping in and joining any of these groups. Some of them are already seeded with material, but others are just getting started. Feel free to pass this info on to anyone you know that also might be interested.

If you are presenting on a simliar topic at NECC, please think about "crosspollinating" material in these spaces as well.

1) Global Education Ning group
http://globaleducation.ning.com/

2) Global Education Flickr group
http://flickr.com/groups/globaleducation/

3) Global Ed Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/globaleducation

4) Global Education Collaborative Wikispace
http://globaleducationcollaborative.wikispaces.com/

5) I'm tagging any resources I bookmark with the tag globalawareness in Furl and in del.icio.us.

6) Google Calendar for Global Education - enter your NECC global awareness events here, for instance.

If you think of other similar resources we should include, please send me suggestions.  Thanks!!!

earth day - Google Search

Link: earth day - Google Search.

Check out Google's logo for Earth Day today!

ICE COLD mini-conference

I'm presenting two session on Google tools at the Illinois Computing Educators' west suburban chapter's mini-conference on Saturday, April 21. Here is a .pdf of my presentation: 

Download lisle.pdf

Mapping Literary Journeys: Google Lit Trips

There's a new post up at the Infinite Thinking Machine that focuses on the new project of my fellow Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Teacher, Jerome Burg. Jerome has instituted a project called Google Lit Trips, which are essentially guided tours of resources related to books within Google Earth. Check it out and consider making a lit trip of your own to submit to this site!

I have an idea for a collaborative Google Lit Trip that I'll post here later!

Official Google Blog: Coffee Talk in the Teachers' Lounge

Link: Official Google Blog: Coffee Talk in the Teachers' Lounge.

There's been a major "site refresh" at the Google for Educators pages. The latest posts from the Infinite Thinking Machine are visible here, and there's now a Google Group community for all teachers. I especially like the downloadable posters, and am planning on doing a bulletin board using these resources. I also noticed something cool today, and I'm not sure if this is new or what, but any picture I've used in my Blogger blogs appear in Picasa.

Live From New York...

Link: Google For Educators.

I'm sleepless in the city that never sleeps as I'm visiting New York to help with the second Google Teachers Academy. I'm holed up in my cozy little hotel room at the Pod Hotel, which reminds me very much of the hotel in which I stayed in Berlin last summer. I suppose I am just too wound up after a stressful day of travel which included losing my luggage.

Pictures to come....

Lucy's NICE Mini-Conference Resources

NICE Homepage

PDFs of My Two Presos:

Apple Global Awareness:

Download global_awareness.pdf

Google:

Download google.pdf

Essential Links:

Google For Educators
Rethink.Global Awareness

Document containing most links mentioned in both presentations: 

Download NICElinks.doc

Please email me if you have any questions!

Friday 5: Special Mystery Guest: Google SketchUp & Architecture

Hi All -

I am pleased to present our first Friday 5 Special Mystery Guest, Fred
Bartels, Director of Information Technology at Rye Country Day School
in Rye, New York. Fred is an innovator and is constantly exploring new
ideas involving the uses of technology. For more information about him, please visit this link. He has also been instrumental in the development of the
School Computing Wiki.

Various friends and acquaintances will be making similar special
appearances on the Friday 5 during 2007.  If you are interested in
contributing a list of sites devoted to your interests or areas of
expertise, drop me an email and I'll send you additional details.

Enjoy,
Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

Fred's Friday 5:

Google SketchUp is a wonderfully accessible 3-D design program that is available for both Macs and Windows. Even better, there is a free version. With SketchUp, students can easily and quickly develop all kinds of designs. My particular interest is architecture and what follows are 5 of the best websites to support using SketchUp to learn about and create architecture.

1. Google SketchUp's home page and Google SketchUp Pro's home page. On the second URL, under the Education tab, you can find many examples of student work.

http://sketchup.google.com/
http://www.sketchup.com

2. The Google SketchUp Warehouse. A huge and rapidly growing collection of free-to-use SketchUp models submitted by SketchUp users from around the world.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse

3. The Designing with SketchUp Infowiki. A wiki resource for teachers and students interested in SketchUp and architecture.

http://dws.editme.com/

4. An excellent video podcast with clear explanations on how to design with SketchUp.

http://go-2-school.com/podcasts

5. Architecture Week, a great online "magazine" about architecture. They have very good pricing for educators.

http://www.architectureweek.com/

Friday 5: Google Earth

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I just looked through my group archives, and I can’t believe I have never compiled a Friday 5 devoted to Google Earth. It is such an amazing application, and once you’ve experienced it, I think you’ll agree that it has great implications for enhancing teaching and learning.

A couple of projects have occupied me during the last couple of weeks. I’ve been playing with Google Earth and I have even started collaborative projects using Google Earth files. Inspired by a fellow Apple Distinguished Educator who collected holiday greetings in audio format and podcasted them for the ADE group, Ken Tuley and I came up with the idea of posting New Year’s resolutions from around the world using Google Earth. Several ADEs created a file of a Google Earth place mark indicating where they currently live or work, and put New Year’s resolutions into the description field of the place mark. Files were emailed to me and I compiled them, simply by dragging and dropping .kmz files into a folder. I then emailed the main file back to all participants. It was great fun to “fly” around the world, seeing people’s homes and gathering inspiration from various New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve started another similar project, and this one is geared for all teachers and students. Participants again will create a place mark indicating their home, workplace, or other special location. In the description field, they are supposed to write a paragraph or two about their favorite teacher and/or learning experience. I’ll collect these files via email, and put them into one file that will be posted on my blog and in the Google Earth Community. Follow the link below if you’d like to participate… detailed directions are included.

Have a great weekend,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

THE BASICS

1)    Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/

Download the free software here.

2)    Google Earth – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Earth

A little background info on GE.

3)    Google Earth Community: Teacher Meme
http://tinyurl.com/yfnfux

This is the link to my current project. Join the fun!

4)    The Good Earth
http://www.edutopia.org/1661

Read about how teachers are using Google Earth in this Edutopia article.

NEXT STEPS

5)   Google Earth Education Community
http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/dherring/ge/googleearth.htm

6)   Juicy Geography’s Google Earth for Teachers
http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm

5)    Tom Barrett’s Classroom Google Earth Wiki
http://classroomgoogleearth.wikispaces.com/

Lots of great resources can be found here and if you feel inspired, you can add your school’s location to a collection of files from other schools.

6)    Google Earth Users Guide
http://googlearthusersguide.blogspot.com/

7)    Google Earth Wikipedia Layer
http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2006-12-10-n72.html

This is a blog post about a relatively new feature in Google Earth.

8)    Virtual Globetrotting
http://virtualglobetrotting.com/

9)    Google Earth Blog
http://www.gearthblog.com/

Click on the links labeled GE to download the file and view in Google Earth.

10)     Google Sightseeing
http://googlesightseeing.com/

11)     Official Google Blog: The Illuminated Continent
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/09/illuminated-continent.html

National Geographic naturally has content viewable in Google Earth.

DEEP CUTS

12)     GeoGreeting
http://www.geogreeting.com/

Send a fun message to a friend using satellite images. Thanks to Charlene Chausis for this link!

13)     Geography 2.0: Virtual Globes: Google Earth Education Initiative
http://geography2.blogspot.com/2005/12/google-earth-education-initiative.html

Get a free copy of Google Earth Pro for your school. Follow the instructions posted in this blog.

14)     Google SketchUp
http://sketchup.google.com/

Create 3-D models in SketchUp and import them into Google Earth.  You thought Google Earth was mind blowing? Wait until you try this!

15)     Google 3D Warehouse
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/

Store and share SketchUp files here. Check out Fred Bartel’s collection of designs for 21st Century schools:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/search?q=21st+century+school&btnG=Search
and his Designing with SketchUp Infowiki : http://dws.editme.com/.

A Couple of Fun Things for Kids

Before I lose my mind and forget about these things, I thought I'd post a couple of fun things to do with kids.

My students this week showed me Line Rider, an interactive Flash game in which a user draws a path and when a play button is clicked,  a little person on a sled slides down this path, sometimes with disastrous results. These scenes can even be downloaded and sent to a mobile phone.  It turns out people really are into creating elaborate scenes and pathways as evidenced in this related collection at Squidoo. (Squidoo, by the way, is interesting, too. I discovered it via Typepad, I think, and you can essentially build a web page called a lens. You can add various web resources such as video and links to provide support for your topic. RSS feeds to Squidoo pages are available so that you can track comments and such about a page.) At any rate, I am contemplating how Line Rider and similar games could be incorporated into educational settings. I know from a computer science stand point that it would be great to have kids program such a game, but from a simulation perspective, how can such games be used in the classroom?

After discovering the joys of Line Rider, another student directed me to Ski Battle at Addictinggames.com. One of his classmates said that he thought Addictinggames.com had inappropriate stuff, but I haven't seen anything yet beyond the usual annoying banner ad. Ski Battle is very similar to Line Rider and you can add holiday music, snowflakes and animated characters. Ski Battle also gives you the code for your creations so you can embed a scence in your web site. Also, at Addictinggames.com, I noticed a Christmas e-card maker that may interest some kids.

Finally, as I was researching online video stuff for tomorrow's Friday 5, I browsed the Google Earth Blog and noticed this post about tracking Santa and a related game in Google Earth. The GE Santa tracker piece is not new, but apparently Sketch Up has been incorporated this. Sounds like fun and I am planning to try this with my kids. Too bad Santa won't let me open my Christmas present until the big day... a brand new iMac! Tracking Santa would look so much better on a big screen!

ContraCostaTimes.com | 12/02/2006 | Google woos teachers in software push

Link: ContraCostaTimes.com | 12/02/2006 | Google woos teachers in software push.

I was interviewed for this article awhile ago, and it appeared today in a California newspaper. There's just a brief quote from me.

Maybe I am hopelessly naive, but I honestly have never thought of Apple or Google as purposely trying to reach future markets by reaching out the education world. Are we really that cynical? Is it not possible for business to also have altruistic motives?

Global Warming Student Speakout - Top 50 Ideas

This list of 50 ideas to stop global warming is the culmination of a joint project between  Google and Global SchoolNet. Using Google Docs and Spreadsheets, students from around the world brainstormed ideas and the best were selected for the Google for Educators web site. An ad featuring one of the ideas will also be published in USA Today. My sixth grade students participated in this project, and we learned a great deal about our environment while figuring out how to use spreadsheets collaboratively!

read more | digg story

Friday 5: Calendars

Friday 5: Calendars

Hi All –

Practical sites seem to be very helpful to Friday 5 readers, so I am continuing with that theme. This week, learn all about online calendars as a way to organize your life and communicate with parents and students. Along with my flashcards and notetaking lists, your students can get organized digitally!

Take care,

Lucy Gray
elemenous@gmail.com

To subscribe to this list, visit http://groups.google.com/group/friday5  or send me an email.

1)    Airset
http://www.airset.com/AirSet.jsp#app.Home

Apparently, Airset’s calendars can by synced with Outlook.

2)    Google Calendar
http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlecalendar/new.html

Check out the many features of Google Calendar which is shareable and customizable.

3)    Yahoo! Calendar
http://calendar.yahoo.com/

Not to be outdone, Yahoo also provides free online calendars.

4)    Listible’s 33 Resources on Best Online Calendars
http://www.listible.com/list/best-online-calendars

5)    Apple – Mac OS X – iCal – Library
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/ical/library/

I am a big fan of Apple’s iCal application and here are dozens of calendars that you can import into iCal on your computer. See the links below for additional ways you can iCal.

6)    How to Subscribe to a Google Calendar using iCal
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/13/howto-subscribe-to-a-google-calendar-using-ical/

7)    iCal World
http://www.icalworld.com/edu.html

8)    iCalShare
http://www.icalshare.com/

9)    Online Advent Calendar
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar/

I added this site just for fun. I tried to peek at the first day of this calendar, but I couldn’t!

Apple of My Eye #4

It's been a few months since I've posted a referral list to posts that have caught my eye, so here are some headlines I've recently flagged in my newsreader.

1) My curiosity is piqued about how Web 2.0 technologies can be leveraged for students as many tools require registrants to be of a certain age. Two sites have appeared on the blogosphere horizon that might be worth checking out. One is Imbee, which I read about it this press release. The second is Studicious which I read about here. Via Net-Gold Yahoo! Group, there's something for librarians on the Web 2.0 front, too... an online course called Five Weeks to a Social Library.

2) Edtech guru Kathy Schrock gave a very nice closing session keynote at NECC this year, and I particularly liked the PSA projects that she highlighted. I plan on showing these videos to student in the next month or so when we start working on various iMovie projects.

3) I'm glad George Bush has gotten the hang of THE Google. Check out this    from Think Progress via Techmeme. The leader of the free world can't even remember the name of something extraordinary like Google Earth. Any middle schooler can tell you all about Google Earth! I must go look at Bush's ranch on Google Earth now and see if all the brush is cleared.

4) And finally from a blog called Photojojo, there is a reference to Zingfu, a site that offers silly templates for your digital pictures. It's not a completely kid friendly site in my book, though, but maybe I'm just getting old. It's defintely fun for grownups not adept at Photoshop.