tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40989751464679681692024-03-13T23:58:35.287-07:00LVUSD Ed TechLas Virgenes Unified School District EdTech BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-66797343582105919122014-06-12T15:22:00.000-07:002015-02-17T17:53:13.929-08:00Move Documents from one Google Account to AnotherOur district is implementing Google Apps for Education, and today I trained several teachers on using Drive. Some of the teachers had already been using personal Google accounts to create documents and collaborate with their teams, and they wanted to know how to move those files from the personal Google accounts to their new school accounts.<br />
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You can't simply move the documents or files, but you can transfer the ownership of most files from account to the other. Simply follow these steps:<br />
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<li><span style="line-height: 16px;">Log into your personal Google account at <a href="http://drive.google.com/" target="_blank">drive.google.com</a>.</span></li>
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<li>Check the box next to the item you want to add to your new account.</li>
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<li>Click the Share icon OR go to the <strong>More</strong> menu and select "Share..." <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i1.wp.com/www.coffeenancy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-06-12_19-56-39.png?resize=497%2C238" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i1.wp.com/www.coffeenancy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-06-12_19-56-39.png?resize=497%2C238" /></a></div>
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<li>Add the email address of the new account in the field for "Invite people," then click <strong>Share & save.</strong> (If you have already shared the document with your new account, you can skip this step.)</li>
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<li>You should now see the new account listed in the shared settings. Click the drop-down menu to the right of the name and choose "Is owner."<br /><a href="http://www.coffeenancy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-06-12_20-03-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Change owner" border="0" src="http://www.coffeenancy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-06-12_20-03-01.png" title="" /></a></li>
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<li>Save your changes. Your new account is now the owner of the document, and the original account is an editor.</li>
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<li>(Optional) If you want to remove the document completely from the original account, log into your new account, go to the sharing settings for the document, and stop sharing with your original account.</li>
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If you have a regular Gmail account, be aware that you can't change the ownership of some files, such as images and PDFs. To move these files, follow these steps:<br />
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<li>Proceed as above and follow steps 1-4 to share the item with the new account.</li>
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<li>Log into the new account and located the item in the "Shared with Me" section.</li>
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<li>Click the box next to it and choose File > Make a copy.</li>
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<li>Choose the name you want for the copy.</li>
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This will create a copy of the item in your new account. If you want, you can go back to your original account and delete the item there. Remember that if you make a copy of a file, it will not be shared with the same people as the original. If there are files whose ownership cannot be transferred, but you want to work with them in a different account from the one where they were originally uploaded, it may be easier just to share them with the new account and leave the original file where it was.<br />
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This post cross-posted on <a href="http://www.coffeenancy.com/blog/?p=232">CoffeeNancy.com</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-57834659906862664622014-04-11T06:05:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:01.138-08:00A picture is worth 1,000 words: Google DrawingIf you have already made the switch to Google Apps, you have probably been experimenting with the Big 3: Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. These are all great tools that support creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, but have you ever taken a look at Google Drawing? It's one of the best tools you probably never knew you had. Hidden away from view, it is easily accessed with one click of the Create button in your Google Drive.<br/><br/><img class="alignleft" alt="Google Drive create button" src="https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1hJdDbo8mB-cG_yYyw1uGL7nT2miHERdIk6reaWjmB0U/pub?w=150&h=223" width="150" height="222" /><br/><br/>Working with Google Drawing is easy. You can add shapes (hold down the shift key for perfect circles or squares), arrows, lines, text boxes, and tables. Images can be uploaded from your computer, added via snapshot, or linked from the web. If you need to search for an image, Google Drawing has you covered. Just click Insert > Image, choose Search and you can select from copyright-friendly image results from Google Search, the LIFE Photo Archive, or stock images (these have some restrictions when used outside of Google Drive, so proceed with caution).<br/><br/>Once you have created your drawing, there are many ways you can use it in your classroom. For example, you can make seating charts or create content to use with students, such as KWL charts, math drawings, or virtual manipulatives. Even better, have your students use it to make any number of products, such as word webs, timelines, comic strips, or graphic organizers. In fact, there are so many ways to use Google Drawing, we have added a new page to the <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/lvusd.org/teaching-with-google-apps" target="_blank">LVUSD Teaching with Google Apps</a> website. Want to learn more? Visit the <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/lvusd.org/teaching-with-google-apps/lesson-plans-by-google/drawing" target="_blank">Google Drawing page</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-17545684851930685972014-02-21T06:33:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:01.125-08:00Caption that!We all know that video captions can increase accessibility for English learners and students with hearing difficulties or learning disabilities, but were you aware that captions increase comprehension for all students? If you are making and sharing your own YouTube videos, you should consider taking just a few extra minutes to add captions. It's easy and it will enhance learning for your students. Here's how:<br/><ol><br/> <li>Log in to YouTube.</li><br/> <li>Click on the icon in the upper right to see the YouTube and Google Account menu links. Click on <strong>Video Manager</strong>.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.33.51_PM-2hz17el.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1125" alt="Video Manager screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.33.51_PM-2hz17el.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></li><br/> <li>Click the <strong>dropdown menu</strong> next to the Edit button for the video you would like to caption. Select <strong>Captions</strong>.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.32.34_PM-q64ags.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1126" alt="Captions screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.32.34_PM-q64ags.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></li><br/> <li>At this point, you may see that your video already has automatic captions generated by YouTube's speech recognition technology. You can either edit these or upload a completely new caption file. Follow the appropriate steps below.</li><br/></ol><br/><strong>To edit existing captions</strong> (either automatic or captions you have uploaded previously):<br/><ol><br/> <li>Click on the caption track. The caption track panel will open.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.51.05_PM-1oyr464.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1134" alt="Caption track screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.51.05_PM-1oyr464.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></li><br/> <li>Click inside the caption track panel and edit the text.</li><br/> <li>Scroll to the bottom and <strong>Save </strong>or<strong> Save a copy </strong>(for automatic captions)<strong><strong>.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.57.41_PM-22jmvof.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1127" alt="Caption track screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_1.57.41_PM-22jmvof.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></strong></strong></li><br/></ol><br/>If you want to add new captions, you have two options. You can either type them up first and use them as a script while recording your video (usually my preferred method since I like to have a script anyway) or you can record your video, then listen to it and type up what you said.<br/><br/><strong>To add new captions from a file</strong>:<br/><ol><br/> <li>Make sure you have saved your file as a <strong>.txt file</strong>. On a Mac, you may wish to create the file in TextEdit. On a PC, you would use Notepad.</li><br/> <li>Click the large blue <strong>Add captions</strong> button. Select <strong><strong>Upload a file.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.00_PM-1lpy0vn.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1130" alt="Upload screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.00_PM-1lpy0vn.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></strong></strong></li><br/> <li><strong></strong><br/><p style="display: inline !important;">Set your track language. If you choose to add a track name, it will be displayed when viewers click the cc button below your video; otherwise the track language name (English) will be shown.</p><br/></li><br/> <li>Click <strong>Upload</strong>, browse to the file with your captions, and click <strong>Open. </strong>The text will be automatically synced with your video.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.21_PM-1v1yrzb.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1131" alt="Upload file screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.21_PM-1v1yrzb.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></li><br/></ol><br/><strong>To add new captions by typing up what you said after you have recorded the video</strong>:<br/><ol><br/> <li>Click the large blue <strong>Add captions</strong> button. Select <strong><strong>Transcribe and sync.<br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.00_PM-2-1ddlsoa.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1129" alt="Transcribe screenshot" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Screen_Shot_2014-02-21_at_2.03.00_PM-2-1ddlsoa.png" width="600" height="auto" /></a></strong></strong></li><br/> <li>Set your track language. If you choose to add a track name, it will be displayed when viewers click the cc button below your video; otherwise the track language name (English) will be shown.</li><br/> <li>When you have finished, click <strong>Sync.</strong></li><br/></ol><br/>I strongly encourage you to try adding captions to your videos. It won't take you long and your students will thank you for it (and even they don't say anything, they will still be thankful).<br/><br/> <br/><br/>If you'd like to read more about the benefits of video captions for students, you may want to take a look at these articles:<br/><ul><br/> <li><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131011135355.htm" target="_blank">Video captions increase comprehension</a>, Science Daily</li><br/> <li><a href="http://www.readingrockets.org/article/35793" target="_blank">Captioned media: Literacy support for diverse learners</a>, Reading Rockets</li><br/></ul><br/>Tech note: Screenshots for this post were created using <a href="https://evernote.com/skitch/" target="_blank">Skitch</a>. I chose this application because it creates text with a background shadow that makes it easier to read when the image is small, as it is here.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-11398279662505152602014-02-19T04:13:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:01.071-08:00New tools for old projects!Looking for to jazz up that same old project? Feel like you have been doing the same thing year in and out! Here are two ways to integrate multiple content areas while building creativity and incorporating technology. For the sake of this post we are going to use the 4th grade Mission project as our lesson that needs a new twist. Instead of having students create a model of their Mission using tools like cardboard, pretzels and twigs let them create a 3D model using an app. Sketchup is a free 3D modeling app by Google. It is intuitive, easy to learn and fun! Google offers great training <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=using+Google+sketchup&sm=3">videos</a> that students can access on their own while creating their design. Another great modelling app is <a href="http://minecraftedu.com/page/">MineCraftEdu</a>. You have probably heard of it, as MineCraft it is very popular with students. What you might not have known is that there is a version of the app for educational usage. The education version has a custom mode, which is a customized modification of the game, that allows teachers to make the game more effective and focused. There are also many how to videos available on YouTube for this game but chances are your students already know how to use this one. There are also great resources for teachers starting with <a href="http://minecraftteacher.tumblr.com/">MineCraft Teacher blog</a> that offers a list of other resources or the<a href="http://minecraftedu.com/page/"> MineCraftEdu</a> site. Check out these final products!<br/><br/>Sketchup example:<br/><br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/C8UJxhSWCdw" height="315" width="420" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe><br/><br/> <br/><br/>MineCraftEdu Example:<br/><br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/G-9M4I1HRt8" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe><br/><br/>Of course these apps can be adapted for many other uses, I am sure you can think of one right now! The added benefit is that when using either of these tools kids are using math skills like proportion and scale. They also will need to understand and properly use the X, Y and Z axis. They will be introduced to building and architecture materials and terms, all while playing a game for homework.<br/><br/> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-61179124250289339952014-02-10T05:13:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:01.057-08:00Weblock Ad Blocker for iOSWouldn't it be great if you could let your students browse websites on iPads and iPhones without having to worry they will be distracted by or accidentally click on advertisements? Weblock - AdBlock for iOS is an app that you can install to block ads on iPads, iPhones, or iPods, and it will work no matter what browser or application your students have open. You can use the predefined lists they set up or you can create your own rules to allow or block any website, page, or domain. There is a little bit of set up required, but the app provides good instructions. If you are interested in downloading this app, you will want to act soon. It normally costs $1.99, but it is free for a limited time. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id558818638?mt=8" target="_blank">Get it while you can!</a><br/><br/> <br/><br/><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id558818638?mt=8" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1116" alt="WeBlock logo" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/Weblocklogo-1fhhumh.png" width="250" height="250" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-92230164887627425742014-02-07T07:48:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:01.003-08:00Word Cloud GeneratorsIf you have ever used <a href="http://www.wordle.net" target="_blank">Wordle</a>, you know what a word cloud is. Also called a tag cloud, word clouds are visual representations of word frequency. Word cloud generators work by analyzing text and counting the number of times each word has been used. They then create an image in which the more frequently used words are larger. This allows students to see at a glance which words are the most repeated in the document. Word clouds are wonderful tools for helping students identify main ideas and key topics in a passage. They allow for student creativity in a way that just listing ideas in a graphic organizer does not. Here are a few of my favorite word cloud generators for you to explore. I also recommend that you take a look at slideshare user Gemma Holtam's presentation, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/gholtam/50-ways-to-use-wordle-in-the-classroom" target="_blank">50 Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom</a>. Her suggestions are applicable to any of the word cloud generators below.<br/><br/><strong>Tagul</strong> (<a href="http://www.tagul.com" target="_blank">http://www.tagul.com</a>) allows for many types of customizations (layout shape, fonts, colors, etc.). What makes it really stand out is that if you embed your created image, when you roll over a tag, it animates and can be clicked to a Google search for that term (the default behavior) or to any other website you have assigned. The service is free, but requires registration with a valid email address to use, which may limit some classroom applications. Text may be added by typing in the box or copying and pasting, but can also be uploaded from a spreadsheet or pulled from any website you desire. The commonly used word filter can be customized to remove the basic set of words or just those you want it to remove. Below is an example of the text from the Declaration of Independence; be sure to hover over the tags to see how they move.<br/><br/><object width="600" height="599" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="flashvars" value="id=http://cdn.tagul.com/clouds/258534@4" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="swfversion" value="10" /><param name="expressinstall" value="http://cdn.tagul.com/expressInstall.swf" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="src" value="http://cdn.tagul.com/cloud.swf" /><embed width="600" height="599" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://cdn.tagul.com/cloud.swf" flashvars="id=http://cdn.tagul.com/clouds/258534@4" allowscriptaccess="always" swfversion="10" expressinstall="http://cdn.tagul.com/expressInstall.swf" wmode="transparent" /></object><br/><br/><strong>ABCYa Word Clouds for Kids</strong> (<a href="http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm" target="_blank">http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm</a>) works just like Wordle, but doesn't run on Java, so it runs on all popular browsers. It is easy for young students to use, since it offers enough color and font options to make them happy, but not so many that they are overwhelmed. Text can be added only by typing directly in the box or by copying and pasting; there is a filter (on by default, but you can turn it off) to remove the most common English words. The generated word clouds can be saved to your computer or printed easily. The image below was created using text from an information page for elementary students.<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/antcloud-15e2o0a.jpeg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1105" alt="ABCYa word cloud for kids" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/antcloud-15e2o0a.jpeg" width="600" height="auto" /></a><br/><br/><strong>Tagxedo </strong>(<a href="www.tagxedo.com" target="_blank">www.tagxedo.com</a>) works similarly to Tagul, but doesn't require a login. There are many choices of shapes, and you can upload your own as well, although it is not as easy to do as it is in Tagul. Text can be added by typing in the box or by copying and pasting. You are also supposed to be able to add text from a URL as well, but I have not been able to do so. Saving and printing your image is easy. This site could be a good solution for many who liked Wordle but are now finding that it no longer works for them and don't want to use a site where logins are needed.<br/><div id="silverlightControlHost"><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/LincolnTagxedo-273auuj.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1111" alt="Tagxedo of Abraham Lincoln" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/02/LincolnTagxedo-273auuj.png" width="624" height="901" /></a></div><br/> <br/><br/><strong>Word Sift</strong> (<a href="http://www.wordsift.com" target="_blank">http://www.wordsift.com</a>) is a website maintained by Stanford University ELL Resources, but it is wonderful for all students. It works a little differently than the other word cloud generators, as it identifies the 50 most common words in the text you enter and only incorporates those into the cloud. They appear in alphabetical order, but can be easily sorted in various other ways with the click of a button. The most frequent word is entered into the Visual Thesaurus below the cloud and the resulting word web is shown. The results page also includes sample sentences and images from Google searches of the most frequent words. If you are interested in learning more about this excellent product, I recommend that you visit the site and watch <a href="http://www.wordsift.com/site/videotour/newFeat" target="_blank">this video</a> explaining how it works (4:42 minutes).<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-41664768772544736912014-02-03T06:44:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.989-08:00Pause and Think OnlineTo help kick-off the elementary CyberSmart Week here is a great video you can share with your class!<br/><br/> <br/><br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rgbZAWnOWOo" height="315" width="560" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-21525036379207493862014-01-30T06:48:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.935-08:00Looking for Common Core-aligned lessons? Try CC.BetterLesson!I just ran across a resource I couldn't wait to share with you. It's called <a href="http://cc.betterlesson.com/" target="_blank">CC.BetterLesson</a> and it is a searchable database of over 3,000 Common Core-aligned, classroom-ready lesson plans, complete with resources. Lessons are available for all grade levels from kindergarten to high school.<br/><br/>The lessons have been created by master teachers from all over the country. The site is very well-organized, and you can search by grade level, subject, or even a specific Common Core standard. The lessons and units are easy to follow and often contain reflections by the teacher who created them. These teachers are part of the NEA Master Teacher project and they are sharing their lessons to the CC.BetterLesson site as they teach them. By the 2014-15 school year, CC.BetterLesson estimates they will have 16,000 CC-aligned lessons. Personally, I can't wait.<br/><br/>The site also contains a section for community discussion. There are not many posts yet, but I know that won't be the case for long.<br/><br/>CC.BetterLesson is free to use. After I had looked at several lessons, the site did ask me to register, but the registration is free. When I logged in, I found options to save and schedule lessons, as well as to post on the community discussion board.<br/><br/>Next time you have a few minutes, head over to <a href="http://cc.betterlesson.com/" target="_blank">CC.BetterLesson</a>. You'll be glad you did!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-85829171692053970882014-01-17T08:11:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.906-08:00Managing Mobile Devices in Your ClassroomLast month, I was lucky enough to attend a seminar put on by the <a href="http://www.ber.org" target="_blank">Bureau of Education and Research</a> on using iPads in the classroom. The speaker, Zachary Walker, shared many valuable ideas and resources to help the attendees make the most of their classroom iPads. He also shared some easy to implement classroom management techniques to make sure that the mobile devices in your room have a positive impact on learning.<br/><br/>One of the reasons we like to use iPads and tablets with our students is because these devices are so engaging, but the engagement factor is a double-edged sword. When we want the kids to stay on task, it's usually our friend, but when we are ready to have students pay attention to something else, the siren call of a colorful iPad screen can be a problem. Here are some suggestions from Zachary Walker that you can use to manage your classroom and help your students stay on task while they are using mobile devices:<br/><ul><br/> <li><strong>Dock Your Device</strong>: Have students to put their device face down on the far right corner of the desk. This ensures that they are not distracted by whatever is on the screen or playing with them under the desk while you would like them focused elsewhere.</li><br/> <li><strong>Screens Up (or Apples Up)</strong>: When you say "Screens up," students should immediately hold up their iPads/tablets <em>with the screen facing you.</em> This allows you to do a quick scan of all the devices to make sure students are on an appropriate app or website.</li><br/> <li><strong>Hands Up</strong>: Students should leave their devices face up on the desk and put both hands in the air when you say, "Hands up." You can continue talking while you walk around the room and scan the devices to make sure everybody is on task.</li><br/> <li><strong>Time the activity:</strong> Let the students know before they begin how much time they will have to work on the devices. Use a timer so they can keep track of how long they have. Any timer you can project for them will do. Try typing "2 minute timer" into Google or, for a more entertaining interface, install the free application <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/howler-timer/id428846772?mt=12" target="_blank">Howler Timer</a> on your computer.</li><br/> <li><strong>Noise meter: </strong>Finally, if you have your own iPad, install the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/too-noisy/id499844023?mt=8" target="_blank">Too Noisy app</a>. Put the iPad where students can see it or project using your Elmo or Apple TV. Let the students know that if the noise level gets too high, the mobile devices will have to be put away, and let peer pressure help keep the volume at the level you have set as acceptable.</li><br/></ul><br/>Zachary Walker's website, <a href="http://www.lastbackpack.com" target="_blank">lastbackpack.com</a>, is an excellent resource for mobile learning ideas and lesson plans. I highly recommend checking it out. If you are on Twitter, you can follow him <a href="http://www.twitter.com/lastbackpack" target="_blank">@lastbackpack</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-11516726080495015962014-01-15T10:07:00.000-08:002015-02-17T14:28:47.977-08:00CyberSmart Students<a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Digital_citizenship-27l15al.jpg"><img alt="Students with laptop" class="size-full wp-image-1090" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Digital_citizenship-27l15al.jpg" height="478" width="640" /></a> Image credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/superkimbo/7117746163/">Flickr user superkimbo</a><br />
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<strong>LVUSD's CyberSmart week</strong> will be held February 3-7, 2014. While the activities are aimed at elementary students and their families, we encourage all teachers to spend some time this week talking about cybersafety and digital citizenship. The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) requires schools to "<a href="http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act" target="_blank">provide for educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms, and cyberbullying awareness and response.</a>"<br />
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Elementary teachers should plan on spending about 10 or 15 minutes each day discussing these topics with their students. To make the task easier, the media specialists have created a <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/lvusd.org/elementary-cybersmart-week/" target="_blank">new website</a> containing grade-specific activities and lesson plans for each day. In addition, the website contains pages with teacher and parent resources. Secondary teachers will find that the teacher resources and site source pages contain a wealth of information that they can draw upon. Even after CyberSmart week is over, we will continue to update the site as we find quality resources to share.<br />
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As we have for the past few years, we will be using Woogi World, a virtual educational community created to teach elementary students about cybersafety. Teacher login information will be posted on the CyberSmart Week website as soon as it available.<br />
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Visit the <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/lvusd.org/elementary-cybersmart-week/" target="_blank">LVUSD CyberSmart Week website</a>.<br />
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Click here to access the <a href="http://kidscomputerlab.org/LVUSDTeacherGuidetoCyberSafety%20output/story.html" rel="nofollow">LVUSD's Teacher Guide to Cyber Safety in the Classroom</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-7863626930495388342014-01-13T03:35:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.837-08:00Timeline CreatorsTimelines are a great way for students to conceptualize and understand events. They allow students to visually depict a sequence of events over a period of time. They can also be used for project management where users can collaborate and set due dates and goals. Using a digital timeline creator has many advantages. First there is always the need for more space. I am sure all of you have had that timeline handed in on a piece of paper where the student has run out of space so the events get smaller and smaller and unreadable. Using a digital timeline will alleviate that problem. There is infinite space for students to work with. Digital timelines also allow students the ability to collaborate and share their work via the internet. Students can work from their own home on the same project. They can also add videos, photo's and links to the timeline. Digital timelines are easy to use and easy to update if needed. Teacher's can also comment and grade the timeline online and link them to their website easily. There are many timeline creators to choose from so I have chosen my top three,=. Each one has a different look and feel so they lend themselves to different projects.<br/><br/> <br/><br/>Dipity (<a href="http://dipity.com/" target="_blank">http://dipity.com</a>) offers interactive collaborative timelines that allow users to easily create events. Events may consist of images, embedded video, links, text and mapping features.<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.14.51-AM-24pok9k.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1081" alt="Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 11.14.51 AM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.14.51-AM-24pok9k.png" width="1179" height="489" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/>Timetoast (<a href="http://www.timetoast.com/">http://www.timetoast.com</a>) is a place to create timelines that you can add to your blog or website. You can create historical timelines of important events, or build a timeline of your vacation.<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.15.17-AM-1u6ac83.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1082" alt="Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 11.15.17 AM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.15.17-AM-1u6ac83.png" width="972" height="589" /></a><br/><br/> <br/><br/> <br/><br/>TikiToki (<a href="http://www.tiki-toki.com/">http://www.tiki-toki.com</a>)<b> </b>is a great application for multimedia timeline making . It allows its users to create stunning animated timelines. TikiToKi is very easy to use and above all its basic version is completely free .<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.14.21-AM-1wzafhm.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1083" alt="Screen Shot 2014-01-13 at 11.14.21 AM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2014/01/Screen-Shot-2014-01-13-at-11.14.21-AM-1wzafhm.png" width="1225" height="650" /></a><br/><br/> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-874389345667553132013-12-20T01:23:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.783-08:00Winter Break Is Here!I hope you all have a great Holiday and enjoy the break with your family! What better way to start the new year off than with this inspirational video by one of my favorite people! Enjoy! Have a Happy New Year!<br/><br/> <br/><br/> <br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UI-ZteQ8JGU?list=FLcseLyyFu9wKDnOuhDmYffQ" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-87191486250494756982013-12-16T02:08:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.769-08:00Did you know Santa Believes in Project Based Learning?I am reposting an article from Michael Gorman's Blog 21st Century Educational Technology and Learning. If you don't already follow him I highly recommend it. <a href="http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/">http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/ </a><br/><br/>In this post he shows an example of Project Based Learning and its use by Santa Claus! I thought it was perfect during the hussle and bussle of the last week before break. Enjoy!<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-16-at-9.57.49-AM-29s2tuv.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1071" title="Screen Shot 2013-12-16 at 9.57.49 AM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/12/Screen-Shot-2013-12-16-at-9.57.49-AM-29s2tuv.png" alt="" width="523" height="463" /></a><br/><br/>It all started on a recent visit I had the pleasure of taking to the North Pole. It was actually a once in a lifetime experience, one that I will always remember. While I promised Santa I would not divulge secrets I discovered, he did hand me a manuscript and gave me a wink. I could see the amazing sparkle in his eyes as he waited for me to discover a power he was already aware of. I looked at the cover of this torn and faded, yet delightful looking, old book. I could tell it had been constantly used due to the lack of North Pole magical dust on its soon to be engaging pages. I spent the next few hours looking through a wonderful collection of written journals. This manuscript was entitled “The Santa Projects”. How did he know my yearning to learn more about projects? I then remembered that, of course, I was sitting in front of Santa. He probably had quite a data base of everything I had ever dreamed of or desired from my very first teddy bear. Here was a compilation of all of the important projects ever done at this amazing place… at the top of the world. Here were the projects that Santa had brought to his entire staff in order to engage, motivate, educate, and provide means of collaboration and communication. The first project caught my eye. I couldn’t help but smile as I read each of Santa’s journal entries. Allow me to share one of his projects with you.<br/><br/><strong>The Santa Projects</strong> – Project Name – <strong>Mission Possible…. The Big Delivery</strong><br/><br/><strong>Need To Know</strong> – (<em>An outstanding project is based on a student need to know. It is this desire that promotes engagement and excitement in children. It provides the motivation for learning significant content.)</em> <strong>Santa Notes -</strong> It will be important to communicate with all of the elves and various staff my desire to travel the world in one night delivering toys to all of the good girls and boys. We will have a meeting, record everything in Santa Docs, based on what we will need to know to make this mission possible. As we answer these important questions I will mark them off our collaborative list. I anticipate a few questions such as: Given that the earth is rotating… how many hours do we really have?<br/><br/><strong>The Driving Question</strong> <em>– (The Driving Question is the key to any effective PBL project. This question must be direct and open a student centric understanding of what is to be eventually accomplished and learned. While giving the students a sense of mission, it is proactive and open-ended.)</em> <strong>Santa Notes</strong> – After working with various teams we have decided that a good driving question could be as follows: How can we devise a plan to deliver presents to all the good children in the world in one night? I know this will be exciting for the elves and I am sure the reindeer will be clamoring to get their hoofs into it. I am certain our journey to finding this answer will not only raise more questions, but will also provide the rigor my staff thrives on.<br/><br/><strong>Voice and Choice</strong> – <em>(An effective project must allow for all students to have a voice and a choice. This might allow students to pick an area of study, or may give a selection of various final products to demonstrate learning. This voice and choice allows the project to have individual meaning and relevance to each student.) </em><strong>Santa Notes</strong> – I must allow all of the workers at the North Pole to participate in a meaningful way while holding them accountable to the Driving Question. Who knows what contribution each group and individual might be able to come up with. In fact, I have already heard that my engineers are drawing a picture of a sleigh. Not sure I know why, but maybe I will learn from them.<br/><br/><strong>21st Century Skills</strong> –<em> (Students must be allowed to use skills that are authentic and provide real world opportunities. Teachers must provide learning opportunities and facilitate important skills including collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. It is important to also asses these skills as part of PBL.) </em><strong>Santa Notes</strong> – I plan to utilize team building activities to help facilitate project success. At the North Pole we must realize that in order to pull off this miracle it will involve a collective wisdom from the entire crowd. We will use modern North Pole technology including Santa Docs, Twinkler, and Elfmodo to collaborate. In fact, I noticed the elves are already building a new system “The Magic Net”. It is supposed to connect the North Pole with the entire world of children’s desires. I am not sure why, but I am sure I will learn from them.<br/><br/><strong>Inquiry and Innovation</strong> -<em> A good PBL study will allow students to not just come up with answers… but also discover new and amazing questions. This will allow students to think outside the box as they remix, create, and innovate. It assures a final product that shows the learning that was acquired from the initial Driving Question.)</em> <strong>Santa Notes</strong> – Everyone at the workshop is finding out that there is not an easy answer to our Driving Question. It seems we are getting more questions than answers right now. I have encouraged our staff to use Santapedia and NorthPoleOogle but they say it does not always give the answer… again more questions. I have told everyone to tinker… something they have experience with at the toy shop. They did come up with a new gift they called Tinkertoys which could be a hit. I had to get them back on track. Outside, I have noticed the reindeer jumping from the fir trees and one is even playing with a red light bulb. I know it seems very hectic… but I do feel we might be on to something.<br/><br/><strong>Feedback and Revision</strong> – <em>(Students must be allowed to obtain feedback through critiques from their teacher, peers, real world mentors, and themselves. Through this, students must learn to reflect and revise to create a better product as they travel a road of formative assessment.)</em> <strong>Santa Notes</strong> – I am finding myself encouraging all my workers to reflect and critique themselves and others. This is can be more valuable than always using one of my NPARs (North Pole Assessment Rubrics). In fact, I saw the engineer and elves constantly critiquing each other on what they called OBETB (Operation Big Enough Toy Bag). Perhaps if I do a little check with one of my formative assessment rubrics I will find out what that is all about.<br/><br/><strong>Publicly Present The Product</strong> – (<em>Providing students with a public and authentic audience is crucial in the design of a good PBL learning unit. It brings meaning and provides motivation for a final product that represents the quality and rigor that should be expected. This audience can be face to face or could be virtual using the World Wide Web.) </em><strong>Santa Notes</strong> – I am so excited for the workers here at the North Pole. Tomorrow night they will be presenting their plan for <strong>Mission Possible…. The Big Delivery</strong> to a live audience of the North Pole Geographic Society, Magic Bag Engineers, Animal Aviator Experts, Portable Light Bulb Innovators, The Association of Sleigh Vehicle Workers, and NEXRAD. It will all be available on Santa Vision. Having all of these experts in the audience will ensure that all involved will take great pride in their work while demonstrating what they have learned and have now made possible. I am still puzzled as to why we have invited the Animal Aviator Experts and NEXRAD. Sound like a high flying idea!<br/><br/><strong>And yes, there is an eighth essential element that is covered by BIE. It is quite instrumental to the world of PBL!</strong><br/><br/><strong>Significant Content</strong> – <em>(A PBL final outcome should provide evidence that students learned the required content set forth by curricular standards. While the 21st century skills are important… they should complement and be used as tools for learning this content. The project is the process!)</em> <strong>Santa Notes</strong> – Wow… while everyone has become better communicators, collaborators, and critical thinkers I see that the important concepts needed to make this project a success have become a reality. All of the workers, elves, and animals understand the important North Pole curricular concepts of magical engineering, animal aviation and linguistics, possibility planning, and bottomless bag technology. Most of all, they have discovered the wonderful skill of miracle manicuring. I really do believe in PBL!<br/><br/>As I handed this precious manuscript back to Santa, I thanked him for confirming my belief in how powerful a project can be. Upon my return I continued to learn more about Project Based Learning and discovered the power it has for providing authentic and powerful learning experiences for students. This knowledge just might be the very best gift I ever received from Santa. I’m still smiling as I recall the other projects I read about in the wonderful book on my very special visit. Projects with names like the ones you find below.<br/><ol><br/> <li>I Can Get Down the Chimney… How Do I Get Up?</li><br/> <li>The Big Blizzard… Can We Find a Way to Light the Path?</li><br/> <li>Conquering the 24 Hour Cookies and Milk Dilemma!</li><br/> <li>Reindeer… Keeping their Minds to the Ground!</li><br/></ol><br/><em>I hope you enjoyed this very special message that Santa shared with me. Please take a moment to share this post with other educators across the world. Please accept my present to you, which is another year of postings, by subscribing by email or RSS and follow me on Twitter (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/mjgormans" target="_blank">mjgormans</a>). You will also find a treasure of resources covering 21st century learning, STEM, PBL, and technology integration for the classroom. Again, take a moment to share this blog and even give it a re-tweet so that other educators can experience the magic of PBL. May you find the peace, joy, blessing, and magic of this very special season… and to all a good night! <em><em>Mike Gorman (<a href="http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/</a>)</em></em></em><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-9828804949196116732013-12-03T23:00:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.715-08:00eduCanon: Build and share interactive video lessons<a href="http://educanon.com" target="_blank">eduCanon</a> is a new online environment created by teachers for teachers. Free to use (registration required), members begin with a video they have created or found on YouTube or Vimeo and add questions to it, thereby turning passive viewing into an active experience for students. Users of the free version can add multiple choice questions only, while paid users can also have free response questions. All users can add images to their questions, as well as audio, tables, and web links. Once you have created a video, you assign it to your students.<br/><br/>As students watch the video, they must answer the questions before they can proceed to the next section. Students receive immediate feedback on their answers and can rewind if they wish to review part or all of the video. Dividing the content into smaller components and presenting it in this way increases student engagement and understanding. In addition, <a href="http://educanon.com" target="_blank">eduCanon</a> provides you the opportunity to monitor student progress and proficiency to inform future instruction.<br/><br/><a href="http://educanon.com" target="_blank">eduCanon</a> videos can be used to introduce or review material as part of a flipped classroom experience, but you can also use them in class, or have students use higher-order thinking skills to create their own interactive videos (at present, they will need a teacher account to do so, although the company reports they are working on allowing video creation from student accounts). If you are using a computer, you can use any major browser to build or view eduCanon videos. Students can also watch videos on an iPad.<br/><br/>Here is a video to introduce you to what eduCanon does:<br/><br/><iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UqkODgIdLpI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-31609436795741090962013-12-02T02:19:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.697-08:00SMART Resource Page UpdatedIf you have a SMART board in your classroom, you may have seen the SMART Tech page on this blog. We have just added a new resource for beginners, <a href="http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/las_virgenes_unified/mod/resource/view.php?id=9819">Training Resources from SMART</a>, as well as a few other resources for more advanced users. Whether you are looking for help getting started or want some inspiration to expand the ways you are using your SMART board, you should definitely give it a look.<br/><br/>Click here to visit the <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/smart-tech/">SMART Tech page</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-6518025777498010452013-11-22T06:30:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.643-08:00Backups and UpdatesThis week of giving thanks is also a great time to take care of those backups and updates that you have been putting off. As I write this I am backing up my own laptop to an external hard drive which I try to do once and month and highly recommend. It is always better to be prepared, I believe that is the girl scout or boy scout motto! Of course it is easy to put off updating and backing up since it is time consuming and you can't use your computer or device while it's happening. None the less these are things that need to be done and I am hoping to help make the process a little easier!<br/><br/>Let's start with back-ups: first and foremost back up your gradebooks. To do this go to the pencil icon add/edit, select the Backups tab, select all in the top right corner. You will see all your gradebooks be highlighted grey, now go to the green arrow/book icon at the bottom of the screen and click it. That's it your all done!<br/><br/>Next you can back up your laptop to a flashdrive or a external hard drive. If you have years of lessons plans on your laptop it is worth investing in a external hard drive to protect your content.<br/><br/>You can also use this time to backup your iOs device to either the iCloud or your iTunes account. We add contacts to our phones every week, so make sure you are saving your most recent data.<br/><br/>As for updates, I myself am excited to finally go to Mavericks the newest Mac operating system! Here is a great video of what it new with this update. It is worth a look even if you have already started using Mavericks. I apologize for the ads in both these videos but reputable tubers have built in ads.<br/><br/> <br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1voXbNEUsLM" frameborder="0" width="420" height="315"></iframe><br/><br/>If you haven't already updated your iPhone to iOS 7 nows the time, in fact it is now iOS 7.04 that you should be on! But don't stop at your phone is you have an ipad do that too! Here is a great video on some great features you get with iOS 7<br/><br/><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ABe1s8AaSA4" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe><br/><br/> <br/><br/>That's it! Have a great Thanksgiving break!! Relax, enjoy your family and run those updates and backups!!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-57474762296865671382013-11-18T06:53:00.000-08:002015-02-17T12:30:00.629-08:00AirServer: Project your iPad screenIf you are using iPads in your classroom, whether you only have one for yourself or you have iPads for your students as well, you have probably wished you could display the iPad screen using your projector. AirServer is an inexpensive way for you to do just that. It is a software application that you install on your computer (Mac or PC) so you can send your iPad display to the computer and from there to a projector or interactive whiteboard.<br/><br/>You can model for students and display your content, but you can also quickly and easily share content from students. AirServer supports multiple connections at one time, so you can have more than one student sharing ideas and/or work with the rest of the class.<br/><br/>Other features that you will appreciate include a true full screen display (Reflector, a similar software application, shows a wide border around the display when mirroring content), optional password protection (useful to prevent teachers/students in nearby classrooms from accidentally sending content to your computer), and the ability to easily identify your computer on the network.<br/><br/>AirServer offers a free one-week trial. The application costs $11.99 for 3 licenses or $3.99 each when purchased in groups of 10 or more. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.airserver.com" target="_blank">airserver.com</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-86106875365268025892013-07-26T03:11:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.557-08:00Aeries.NetAeries just released a series of new video tutorials for Aeries.Net! The tutorials show the differences between ABI and .Net and they also highlight features only available in .Net. They go through gradebook, attendance and student demographics. If you have time, watch them, they will be very helpful as we move toward Aeires.Net for next year! You can access the videos through the <a href="http://www.schooltube.com/channel/aeries/">Aeries SchoolTube Channel.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-31044325442620721922013-07-23T02:57:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.542-08:00Blogs vs. WikisAs many of you think ahead for the up coming school year, one thing that teachers who are wanting to explore something new in their classrooms is an online tool that their students can use. We hear the buzz words of different tech tools all the time, and blogs and wikis come up often. What's great about both of them is that they are simple tools to use and have longevity of use...a project could last as short or long as you want them. So what are the differences? Which one should you use? Rather than explain it to you through written text, try checking out the videos below and see how they are demonstrated. Also, why reinvent the wheel, right?<br/><br/> <br/><br/> <br/><br/><center><iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NjwUHXoi8lM" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe></center><center><strong>What is a Blog?</strong></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center><a href="http://mambotube.com/watch_video.php?v=1RH3735O6O9O"><strong>What is a Wiki?</strong></a></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center></center><center><strong>Also, check out this blog post on "<a href="http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/12/5-ways-you-can-use-wikis-with-students.html#.Uemn0mRAQhE"> 5 Ways You Can Use Wikis With Students</a>"</strong></center><br/><h3></h3><br/> <br/><br/> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-77383992699429277442013-07-11T02:48:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.488-08:00Model Schools After GlowI just got back from the Model Schools Conference in Washington DC. I was so lucky to have had the opportunity to share this experience with 98 teachers in our district. It was so inspiring to spend time with teachers from my own district as well as meet and share ideas with educators across the country. For me the motivation started with the straight-talking keynote speaker, Dr. Susan Szachowicz, as she shared the Brockton High School success story. The school transformed from a low performing urban school to one of the best high schools in the state. The reason for this rise in achievement is credited to implementing high standards and expectations, monitoring student progress while changing the school culture. Another point that Dr. Szachowicz made was how important training teachers is to the process as schools move toward the Common Core. This need for training was echoed through out the conference, which resonated for me. As a media specialist I feel our role is to <em>make everyone else effective</em>. Which means to find the tools that best suit your needs and supply the training needed for you to use them. During the conference I attended the sessions that were connected to technology integration, 1:1 devices, The Common Core, and digital textbooks, not a big surprise! My head is still spinning from all the new tools and ideas that I was introduced too. As I go through and research the tools that were shared with me I will be using the Edtech blog to showcase the ones I think we could all benefit from.<br/><br/>The first new tool I want to share is <a href="http://www.flipsnack.com/">FlipSnack</a>. This is an online flipbook creator. You upload the PDF’s and it creates a flipbook that can be shared with your students. Students can also use this tool to create flipbook reports or other research projects. It is very easy to use and the possibilities are endless! Here is great FlipSnack example: <a href="http://www.flipsnack.com/flipsnackedu/f7ujqcnh">http://www.flipsnack.com/flipsnackedu/f7ujqcnh</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-5525492047337184442013-06-26T08:22:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.475-08:00Self-Paced LearningWhile your relaxing this summer you may want to take the time to add some new tools to your toolkit. The media specialists have created two self-paced classes that are topical and can be accessed at your leisure. The first course was designed in our Moodle LMS environment. It is a Common Core Resources course that gives you the latest news about Common Core with tools for creating lessons and rubrics. To access this class click on this link: <a href="http://moodle.ito.lacoe.edu/las_virgenes_unified/course/view.php?id=518">Common Core Standards Training</a><br/><br/>The next class was developed using iTunes U. This is a relatively new tool that allows course managers to create online courses. I have created the Flipped Classroom. To access this course you will need to download the iTunesU app on your phone or device. Once the app is downloaded select the Catalog Button at the top right of the app then select Enroll and add the code, FML-7W8-MHA.. The course will give you an outline and within each outline there are a series of posts with resources to view and use. Hope you find these useful! Enjoy!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-35392188047877086182013-06-19T07:27:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.396-08:00Knowmia TeachI came across a great free app today called Knowmia Teach. This is a lesson planning and recording tool for teachers. It is great for those of you that are incorporating the "flipped classroom" into you classroom. You can create short video lessons and share them with your students. It also houses your lessons so you are creating your own video lesson library. You can access this tool through the free app or their website <a href="http://www.knowmia.com/teachers">Knowmia.com</a>.<br/><br/>This tutorial is a good place to get started the app is really robust so you definitely want to utilize the tools provided on the website and through the app.<br/><br/> <br/><br/> <br/><br/> <br/><br/><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iONPTVOWpc0" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-28393643814485155122013-06-07T01:37:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.352-08:00Summer Learning Fun<span style="font-size: 13px;">After participating in a Twitter chat last night (</span><a style="font-size: 13px;" href="http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_tom_murray/utilizing_twitter_chats_professional_development">find out more about this here</a><span style="font-size: 13px;">) I was inspired to write a post about sharing out some of what the educators on the chat looked forward to exploring this summer. Thank you to everyone that contributed on Tuesday's #ntchat and my awesome teammates Karen Lagola and Brittany Sherman for some of these ideas.</span><br/><br/>*Disclaimer. This is not designed to be a task list. Summer is a great time for slowing down, learning at a comfortable pace without a deadline. Take what you like and leave the rest.<br/><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-06-at-5.21.36-PM-212ilo5.png"><img class="alignright wp-image-992" title="Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 5.21.36 PM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-06-at-5.21.36-PM-212ilo5.png" alt="" width="103" height="148" /></a><br/><h4><strong>Books: </strong></h4><br/><address><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Like-PIRATE-Engagement-ebook/dp/B009V9RQNU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370547814&sr=1-1&keywords=teach+like+a+pirate">“Teach Like a Pirate”</a> Yargh! - Increasing student engagement and teacher creativity</address><address><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Fulfil-Your-Potential-ebook/dp/B000FCKPHG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370547716&sr=1-1&keywords=carol+dweck">“Mindset” The New Psychology of Success”</a> -Understand fixed and growth mindset</address><address><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374275637">“Thinking, Fast and Slow</a> – Explain and harness the two ways we think</address> <br/><h4><strong>Productivity Tools:</strong></h4><br/><address>Tools to Curate Content (for ease, use with web extension or bookmarklet):</address><br/><ul><br/> <li><a style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.kleinspiration.com/2012/06/coming-soon-educlipper-its-like.html">EduClipper</a><span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19px;"> (The Pinterest of Education)</span></li><br/> <li><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://wondertechedu.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-evernote-is-must-have-for-educators.html">Evernote</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> –Create and share notes/websites/pictures etc. on all devices. </span></li><br/> <li><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.claco.com/about">Claco</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> – Collaborate and share resources. View my </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.claco.com/jpeyrot">resources</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span></li><br/></ul><br/><h4></h4><br/><h4><strong>Design/Make Your Own:</strong></h4><br/><address>-Create your own infographic: <a href="http://piktochart.com/">Piktochart</a>, <a href="http://visual.ly/">Visual.ly</a>, <a href="http://infogr.am/">Infogr.am</a></address><address>-Story Creation App’s: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puppet-pals-hd/id342076546?mt=8">Puppet Pals</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videoscribe-hd/id505464331?mt=8">Video Scribe</a>, <a style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal;" href="storybird.com">Storybird</a></address><img class="alignright wp-image-989" title="Screen Shot 2013-06-06 at 5.05.58 PM" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-06-06-at-5.05.58-PM-1qkwxp3-300x201.png" alt="" width="180" height="121" /><br/><h4></h4><br/><h4></h4><br/><h4><strong>Online Skeeball:</strong></h4><br/>Using only your Chrome browser and your Smartphone <span style="font-size: 13px;">play </span><span style="font-size: 13px;">Skeeball aka </span><a style="font-size: 13px;" href="http://chrome.com/campaigns/rollit">Rollit</a><span style="font-size: 13px;"> on your own or with three friends.</span><br/><br/> <br/><br/><strong style="font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.02em; line-height: 19px;">Check out a Free Education Unconference Near You:</strong><br/><br/><address><a href="http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/">EdCamps</a> – Happening all over the U.S.</address><address> </address><br/><h4><strong style="font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: -0.02em; line-height: 19px;">Grow as a Twitter User:</strong></h4><br/><ul><br/> <li><address><span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19px;">Take a </span><a style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; line-height: 19px;" href="https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169519">tour of Twitter</a></address></li><br/> <li><address><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Twitter </span><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.teachthought.com/social-media/60-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom-by-category/">in your classroom</a></address></li><br/> <li><address><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.guide2digitallearning.com/blog_tom_murray/utilizing_twitter_chats_professional_development">Chats on Twitter for professional development</a><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> - Chats happening at different times throughout the week on different subjects. </span></address></li><br/> <li><address><a style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;" href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-complete-guide-to-twitter-hashtags-in-education/">Hashtags in education</a></address></li><br/></ul><br/><h4></h4><br/><h4>May your summer plans turn out better than you imagine!</h4><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-70551571044712050282013-05-20T07:49:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.298-08:00Preparing Your Computer For Aeries.NetAs we transition to Aeries.NET from Aeries.abi we are trying to anticipate some of the issues that will arise. One of the issues we’ve discovered is compatibility with internet browsers. Aeries has provided a list of operating systems that are compatible with the new Aeries.Net, seen at the bottom of this post. You can test out whether or not your computer will be able to access Aeries.Net without problems by trying out the demo site. Go to this blog post to find out how to do access this: <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/2013/04/24/aeries-net-demo/">http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/2013/04/24/aeries-net-demo/</a><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Browsers also make a difference. Our department has discovered the best browsers by system as follows:</span><br/><br/><address>Mac users - Chrome or Safari</address><address>PC users - Firefox</address><span style="font-size: 13px;">With any system you will need to download Silverlight to use the Gradebook. [LOOK FOR THE ASTERIK NEXT TO THE OPERATING SYSTEM IN THE LIST BELOW]. There have been several problems with getting Silverlight to work. Here are the troubleshooting steps if once you’ve downloaded it and still can’t access the Gradebook.</span><br/><ol><br/> <li>Shut down and restart your browser</li><br/> <li>Shut down and restart your computer</li><br/> <li>Put in a Helpdesk ticket here: <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org/">http://whd.lvusd.org/</a></li><br/></ol><br/><a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/05/Compatability-Chart-2ejq8kc.png"><img class=" wp-image-981 alignleft" title="Compatability Chart" src="http://blogs.lvusd.org/edtech/files/2013/05/Compatability-Chart-2ejq8kc.png" alt="" width="654" height="489" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4098975146467968169.post-4626237600831562652013-05-03T03:53:00.000-07:002015-02-17T12:30:00.285-08:00It’s Project Season – Find some Inspiration to Update Your Projects<span style="font-size: 13px;">In this blog post access my interdisciplinary end of the year project (U.S. History and English) lesson plan <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SHl-L43vJvEuz6rl9qKVUCxnz2pzIcVB8UqsAkJO6ww/edit?usp=sharing">here</a> and the tech tools I would use to update the project if I were in the classroom today. </span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 13px;">Nearing the end of the year students are ready to make the connections between concepts they’ve been learning all year, and across subjects. I teamed up with my grade level teachers to create interdisciplinary projects. Most of the students were ready to choose their own projects and partners, and I provided project selection oversight based on their needs. We created the project with student input and offered several choices in their mediums. I’m attaching the project directions my colleague and I created, which include objectives, options, rubrics, and daily progress monitoring checks. </span><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 13px;">If I were in the classroom today I would allow my students to create an online project (which I would add to my instructional resources for the following year) using the following content creation tools:</span><br/><p style="text-align: center;"><strong style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal;">For the Presentation Portion</strong><span style="font-size: 13px; font-style: normal;"> (Powerpoint is so old school):</span></p><br/><br/><address><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Online: </span></address><address><a href="http://www.xtranormal.com/">Xtranormal</a> – Turns your words into 3D animated movies.</address><address><a href="http://prezi.com/index/http://prezi.com/index/">Prezi</a> – Non-slide platform that transforms presentations into stories or conversations.</address><address> </address><address><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Apps: </span></address><address><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/videoscribe-hd/id505464331?mt=8">Video Scribe HD</a> A unique way to create engaging animated <em>videos</em> quickly. To see one that I created select the following link: <a href="http://youtu.be/fifWcNfFwyc">http://youtu.be/fifWcNfFwyc</a></address><address><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/storykit/id329374595?mt=8">StoryKit</a> - Create an electronic storybook.</address><address><strong><a href="http://www.haikudeck.com/">Haiku Deck</a> - </strong>a free presentation app for iPad, makes presentations simple, beautiful, and fun.</address><address> </address><br/><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>For the Visual/Poster</strong>:</p><br/><br/><address><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Online: </span></address><address><a href="http://www.glogster.com/">Glogster</a> - Interactive posters loaded with text, graphics, music, videos, and more.</address><address><a href="http://www.thinglink.com/">Thinglink</a> – Interactive photographs</address><address><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Apps: </span></address><address><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phoster/id396306670?mt=8">Phoster:</a> Make your own poster.</address><br/><p align="center"><strong>For Review Games:</strong></p><br/><br/><address><a href="http://www.studystack.com/">Study Stack</a> - Create online flashcards and find flashcards for subjects already made.</address><address><a href="http://www.superteachertools.com/jeopardy/">Jeopardy Game</a> – Online creation of this game</address><address><a href="http://www.superteachertools.com/millionaire/">Who Wants to be a Millionaire </a> - Online creation of this game</address> <br/><p align="center"><strong>For the Quiz Portion</strong>:</p><br/><a href="http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2008/05/top-5-quiz-generators-for-online.html">5 Online Quiz Generators</a><br/><br/><span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://www.lvusd.org">Las Virgenes Unified</a> | <a href="http://whd.lvusd.org">WebHelpDesk</a> | <a href="http://blogs.lvusd.org">EdTech Blog</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0