Google Sites,
8th Grade Physical Science Web page
Let me start off by saying of all of the Google apps that I have used in this class, this by far was the most difficult for me. All of the other apps seemed to me to be very intuitive and the Atomic Learning was very easy to follow. This was not the case for me on this assignment. First of all the Atomic Learning tutorial seemed to be working with a different version of Sites. For the most part I could follow along, but there where some major differences. In managing the Side Bar, the Atomic Learning had a link on the bottom of their page that allowed them to make changes that I could never duplicate. I also tried to use the templates and never could find a way to make changes in the side bar. This was by far the most difficult part for me.
When it came to adding pages or making changes on the Home Page that was very easy. I particularly liked the variety of pages that could be added. It became very easy to add or adjust the website and link more pages. Also to be able to link my Google Calendar to the Home page was very convenient. (The Calendar that is currently linked is my personal, I will need to create one just for the class.) I was able to insert a form that will allow me to register that everyone has accessed the page. This was particularly easy to do and I could see this becoming a regular part of my Homework. To have a short form that insures the students have accessed the homework assignment would be very handy.
I was able to see the revision history and it showed me all of the work that I had done on the web page, but I was unable to view the previous ones as I had been in the other applications. Was I doing something wrong or is this just the way that it is?
On the whole it was a little more "painful" that I thought it would be considering how easy the other Google apps had been. But I have had a lot less experience working with Web sites so I think this added to my difficulty. Compared to how hard I had previously imagined website building to be this was fairly easy. At least I was able to do it in a couple of days where I would have thought that building any type of web page would have taken a lot longer.
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Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
iPad Disciplines
I really think that I spent too much time on the Disciplines Apps and did not have enough time on the other, but it was worth it.
I was very impressed with the Algebra app. I had time to look at the Word Problems section as well as the variable equations. It would be very useful as a remedial tool or an introduction tool. As a remedial tool it would allow a student to go back and review a topic. The test were very good, I felt that this was the best feature. The videos were short and too the point. The reason that it would not replace teaching is because what I saw didn't tie into the other aspects or deal with the concepts surrounding the problem. Each topic seemed to be designed to completely stand on its own, and I don't think this is really what you want in an Algebra Class. But to aide the struggling student it would be great. Also if you were trying to flip the class, these could be a very handy tool to give to the students. The videos are certainly better than doing them yourself, and then in class the teacher could review and build the bridges and the tie-ins. Having the test are a quick evaluation tool at the end to measure the immediate effectiveness. If a student is struggling with this format it would become immediately clear. I didn't see if there was a way to export or send the results of the test to an email address, but if there were it would speed up the process.
The Macaw-Hill Mathematica was for a much lower grad, but still very useful. It was like having flash cards on steroids. It would be great if this type of program was not as necessary as it is, but the reality is most kids either don't know how to do flash cards or if they have them there is no one to help them use it. This program would give the students the opportunity to work on the quick addition and multiplication tables on a regular basis. This is a skill that is getting less and less focus in elementary school as the standards are changing and state testing for other concepts are driving teachers to ignore the multiplication tables. By using this type of program it would allow the upper elementary teacher a chance to encourage the students to master this.
The Pocket -CAS is very nice graphing calculator. But as these generally cost around $100 it woudl help offset the cost of the tablet. This app could replace the graphing calculator. It had all of the functions that is required for all the classes that I know of. It would take a littel getting used to, but it woudl be nice not to have to carry both.
Graph-Book and Sketch pad were for geometry class. To be honest Graph-Book is a toy, it is nice to look at and play with, but until you get into college and upper Math classes it it not really that useful. It could be used for transformation, but that is about all that I know of for High School. It would be nice to have to show the students the possibilities, but that is about all. Sketch-Pad on the other hand is a very useful tool. It would be very helpful to illustrate concepts and allow the student to go deeper in some areas of interest.
I really think that I spent too much time on the Disciplines Apps and did not have enough time on the other, but it was worth it.
I was very impressed with the Algebra app. I had time to look at the Word Problems section as well as the variable equations. It would be very useful as a remedial tool or an introduction tool. As a remedial tool it would allow a student to go back and review a topic. The test were very good, I felt that this was the best feature. The videos were short and too the point. The reason that it would not replace teaching is because what I saw didn't tie into the other aspects or deal with the concepts surrounding the problem. Each topic seemed to be designed to completely stand on its own, and I don't think this is really what you want in an Algebra Class. But to aide the struggling student it would be great. Also if you were trying to flip the class, these could be a very handy tool to give to the students. The videos are certainly better than doing them yourself, and then in class the teacher could review and build the bridges and the tie-ins. Having the test are a quick evaluation tool at the end to measure the immediate effectiveness. If a student is struggling with this format it would become immediately clear. I didn't see if there was a way to export or send the results of the test to an email address, but if there were it would speed up the process.
The Macaw-Hill Mathematica was for a much lower grad, but still very useful. It was like having flash cards on steroids. It would be great if this type of program was not as necessary as it is, but the reality is most kids either don't know how to do flash cards or if they have them there is no one to help them use it. This program would give the students the opportunity to work on the quick addition and multiplication tables on a regular basis. This is a skill that is getting less and less focus in elementary school as the standards are changing and state testing for other concepts are driving teachers to ignore the multiplication tables. By using this type of program it would allow the upper elementary teacher a chance to encourage the students to master this.
The Pocket -CAS is very nice graphing calculator. But as these generally cost around $100 it woudl help offset the cost of the tablet. This app could replace the graphing calculator. It had all of the functions that is required for all the classes that I know of. It would take a littel getting used to, but it woudl be nice not to have to carry both.
Graph-Book and Sketch pad were for geometry class. To be honest Graph-Book is a toy, it is nice to look at and play with, but until you get into college and upper Math classes it it not really that useful. It could be used for transformation, but that is about all that I know of for High School. It would be nice to have to show the students the possibilities, but that is about all. Sketch-Pad on the other hand is a very useful tool. It would be very helpful to illustrate concepts and allow the student to go deeper in some areas of interest.
My experience in using Google Drawings was pretty simple and easy. It is very similar to Microsoft Word, with the same type of funcitons. Everything is very well labeled and very intuitive. the inserting drawing fuction was a little different, but certainly didn't need any training to use. I haven't used Microsoft Word for drawing too much, but from what I saw and can remember it was very much the same. Probably the greatest advantage of Google Drawing, outside of the collaborative aspect, was its feel. Microsoft Word is definitely a word processing program with drawing capablities, while drawing felt like a drawing program with word processing capabilities.
Certainly if I were going to primarily make a drawing document it would be very helpful just using the drawing function. Below is the drawing I did, it was also very easy to insert it into the blog. It was even easier to insert it in a document. It was a very easy and useful program to have.
What a wonderful lesson plan, and what a great assignment for a chemistry or physical science class. Right off I can see me using this idea in my class. What a better way for the student to show that they understand a concept than to represent it graphically. Already I am trying to decide just how I want to use this either on a particular assignment or allow them to choose their own. Either way it is very exciting way to show the students alternative ways to think about science. Also using the Google Documents would allow it to be a group assignment. The great thing about still have the revision history function would allow a teacher to option of seeing the work that different students put into the program. I did have one question, does the revision history also save the chat dialogue. If it did it woudl be very useful to konw and to have.
(Dr. Krug you said that we are to take a look at these lesson plans, do I also have permission to download them and use them in my class. I would like to have both the middle school and the High School plans if that were possible.)
Google Drawing, as one of the videos put it, real time collaborative drawing is its strength. Whether you are talking about using this as a group project for a class and the students are collaborating together, or as monitoring a classroom assignment in geometry from a teachers desk I this is a powerful tool. It would be very easy to build a graphic organizer on line and then by giving the students access allow them to fill it out. Also they would have the ability to make their own graphic organizer or modify the one that was given. I think that allowing them this option or making them do their own would improve the assignment. This would be especially useful if at the same time the teacher could monitor their progress. Also it would allow for differentiated teaching. If a teacher made up a geometry worksheet with Drawings the students could work on it at their own pace. If the file is shared then again it would allow the teacher to keep a constant monitor on the class. It would be a great way of keeping a group of students on task without having to walk around the class. (One of the first things a studnet learns is that the teacher can't see across the room very well, this could surprise a lot of kids.)
Certainly if I were going to primarily make a drawing document it would be very helpful just using the drawing function. Below is the drawing I did, it was also very easy to insert it into the blog. It was even easier to insert it in a document. It was a very easy and useful program to have.
What a wonderful lesson plan, and what a great assignment for a chemistry or physical science class. Right off I can see me using this idea in my class. What a better way for the student to show that they understand a concept than to represent it graphically. Already I am trying to decide just how I want to use this either on a particular assignment or allow them to choose their own. Either way it is very exciting way to show the students alternative ways to think about science. Also using the Google Documents would allow it to be a group assignment. The great thing about still have the revision history function would allow a teacher to option of seeing the work that different students put into the program. I did have one question, does the revision history also save the chat dialogue. If it did it woudl be very useful to konw and to have.
(Dr. Krug you said that we are to take a look at these lesson plans, do I also have permission to download them and use them in my class. I would like to have both the middle school and the High School plans if that were possible.)
Google Drawing, as one of the videos put it, real time collaborative drawing is its strength. Whether you are talking about using this as a group project for a class and the students are collaborating together, or as monitoring a classroom assignment in geometry from a teachers desk I this is a powerful tool. It would be very easy to build a graphic organizer on line and then by giving the students access allow them to fill it out. Also they would have the ability to make their own graphic organizer or modify the one that was given. I think that allowing them this option or making them do their own would improve the assignment. This would be especially useful if at the same time the teacher could monitor their progress. Also it would allow for differentiated teaching. If a teacher made up a geometry worksheet with Drawings the students could work on it at their own pace. If the file is shared then again it would allow the teacher to keep a constant monitor on the class. It would be a great way of keeping a group of students on task without having to walk around the class. (One of the first things a studnet learns is that the teacher can't see across the room very well, this could surprise a lot of kids.)
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Preparation
Out of the Preparation section I was able to look at the Grammar Express and the Dictionary app and was very impressed with both of them. The Grammar Express app would be very useful to either a class or to individual students. If used as a class it would allow the teacher to evaluate the students understanding of the different parts of speech. I could easily see a teacher assigning these lessons and tests to a group and then monitoring their accuracy. If a student missed more than a certain percentage then the teacher could adjust a lesson if too many students missed it or remedial work if only a few. And this would be the other use for this App, the individual student. A student or several students could be given certain parts of speech depending on the deficiency. Or just as a matter of review a teacher could assign aspects of the application for different students. Differentiated work is, for me, one of the most difficult things to do in a class. There are always those students who pick up different aspects at different rates. This application could give an English teacher a very powerful tool to help individualize the lessons and still monitor the students progress. This was the most important aspect to me, the ability to monitor their progress. I did not find a function that would all the results to be exported as perhaps an email to the teacher, but it would not too difficult for a teacher to still go back and check what was missed on the test. And using the ability to review would allow the instructor to see if there was a consistent problem. I really only had time to review the verb portion of the application, so I am assuming the other parts of speech section are the basically the same.
I am not a English teacher, but it seemed that it was aimed at the Middle grades, perhaps 5th - 9th grade. I would hope that by 9th grade a student would definitely know the grammar rules that were covered by Grammar Express, but if they didn't then this would be great tool for a self-study to help that student get caught up. The fact that after the test the student not only gets to see the mistake, but also a short explanation would add to its effectiveness.
Dictionary is an excellent reference tool. I would say that it is like having a full size dictionary sitting right next to you, but it is much better. To be honest it is like having the smartest kid in your class sitting right next to you and he/she doesn't mind helping you out. Being a terrible speller the fact that it starts showing the choices of words as soon as you start typing is a huge help. This is the first way that Dictionary is a step above. It does not force you to do a search with the exact spelling of the word. The memory of recently searched words and the pronunciations for all of the words could be very useful. The thesaurus is a huge added bonus to the program. It does what any dictionary should do, with some very important pluses. The word of the day rounds out the application and make is it a very useful tool. Certainly better than just using the internet for a word search.
I did not get to look at the Photoshop app as much as I would like to, but from what I saw it was effective. It is certainly not as powerful as the complete Photoshop application, it is correctly named Photoshop express. If a student needed to do major photo editing I don't think that I would recommend this application, but for a tablet it seemed to have all of the normal functions. There was the crop function as well as flip or rotate the picture. There were some effects also available, borders, tint contrast and black and white. There were some special effects built into the program as well. With this program is is possible to change the appearance of the picture itself. It also allows for importing pictures as well as taking the picture with the device.
There is one more important aspect of this review that I would like to point out. I did some searching that the cost of this application is $3.99. Compare this to the cost of Adobe Photoshop Element 11 which is more than $100. It is certainly true that the $100 program will do more than the $4 application, but for 99.9% of the people that use tablets the Photoshop Express will do more than enough of photo editing. It could make a very nice edition to a students presentation.
I really enjoyed the Story Kit app. It gave the choice of creating a new story or editing an existing story. I think that the students would love to write their own stories using there own pictures or drawings, their choice. Also to add the sound to it so that it would be an audio book would be great. I could see this being used as an assignment or as a reward for a younger student. From what I saw it seemed very easy to create the story. The kids could either act out the pictures or draw them, either one would add to the kids enjoyment. I did not notice if there was a print function, but I would imagine that there would be. It wouldn't be critical, but if iPad is part of a classroom set then to print out the picture would be helpful. I did see on the video that there is some difficulty in recording. It was not insurmountable, but it would definitely take some teachers assistance. I could see this being a huge determent for some teachers using this function. But even if you didn't use this part of the application young students would certainly enjoy writing their own "books". The ability of edit an existing book would also allow for some creativity for a group of students.
Out of the Preparation section I was able to look at the Grammar Express and the Dictionary app and was very impressed with both of them. The Grammar Express app would be very useful to either a class or to individual students. If used as a class it would allow the teacher to evaluate the students understanding of the different parts of speech. I could easily see a teacher assigning these lessons and tests to a group and then monitoring their accuracy. If a student missed more than a certain percentage then the teacher could adjust a lesson if too many students missed it or remedial work if only a few. And this would be the other use for this App, the individual student. A student or several students could be given certain parts of speech depending on the deficiency. Or just as a matter of review a teacher could assign aspects of the application for different students. Differentiated work is, for me, one of the most difficult things to do in a class. There are always those students who pick up different aspects at different rates. This application could give an English teacher a very powerful tool to help individualize the lessons and still monitor the students progress. This was the most important aspect to me, the ability to monitor their progress. I did not find a function that would all the results to be exported as perhaps an email to the teacher, but it would not too difficult for a teacher to still go back and check what was missed on the test. And using the ability to review would allow the instructor to see if there was a consistent problem. I really only had time to review the verb portion of the application, so I am assuming the other parts of speech section are the basically the same.
I am not a English teacher, but it seemed that it was aimed at the Middle grades, perhaps 5th - 9th grade. I would hope that by 9th grade a student would definitely know the grammar rules that were covered by Grammar Express, but if they didn't then this would be great tool for a self-study to help that student get caught up. The fact that after the test the student not only gets to see the mistake, but also a short explanation would add to its effectiveness.
Dictionary is an excellent reference tool. I would say that it is like having a full size dictionary sitting right next to you, but it is much better. To be honest it is like having the smartest kid in your class sitting right next to you and he/she doesn't mind helping you out. Being a terrible speller the fact that it starts showing the choices of words as soon as you start typing is a huge help. This is the first way that Dictionary is a step above. It does not force you to do a search with the exact spelling of the word. The memory of recently searched words and the pronunciations for all of the words could be very useful. The thesaurus is a huge added bonus to the program. It does what any dictionary should do, with some very important pluses. The word of the day rounds out the application and make is it a very useful tool. Certainly better than just using the internet for a word search.
I did not get to look at the Photoshop app as much as I would like to, but from what I saw it was effective. It is certainly not as powerful as the complete Photoshop application, it is correctly named Photoshop express. If a student needed to do major photo editing I don't think that I would recommend this application, but for a tablet it seemed to have all of the normal functions. There was the crop function as well as flip or rotate the picture. There were some effects also available, borders, tint contrast and black and white. There were some special effects built into the program as well. With this program is is possible to change the appearance of the picture itself. It also allows for importing pictures as well as taking the picture with the device.
There is one more important aspect of this review that I would like to point out. I did some searching that the cost of this application is $3.99. Compare this to the cost of Adobe Photoshop Element 11 which is more than $100. It is certainly true that the $100 program will do more than the $4 application, but for 99.9% of the people that use tablets the Photoshop Express will do more than enough of photo editing. It could make a very nice edition to a students presentation.
I really enjoyed the Story Kit app. It gave the choice of creating a new story or editing an existing story. I think that the students would love to write their own stories using there own pictures or drawings, their choice. Also to add the sound to it so that it would be an audio book would be great. I could see this being used as an assignment or as a reward for a younger student. From what I saw it seemed very easy to create the story. The kids could either act out the pictures or draw them, either one would add to the kids enjoyment. I did not notice if there was a print function, but I would imagine that there would be. It wouldn't be critical, but if iPad is part of a classroom set then to print out the picture would be helpful. I did see on the video that there is some difficulty in recording. It was not insurmountable, but it would definitely take some teachers assistance. I could see this being a huge determent for some teachers using this function. But even if you didn't use this part of the application young students would certainly enjoy writing their own "books". The ability of edit an existing book would also allow for some creativity for a group of students.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
I am currently a Dropbox user so after opening an account on Box I immediately wanted to find out the difference between the two. My first thought is that there would be no difference other than the name. I looked at a couple of different sights and was surprised. Small Net builder did a comparison and I found out that for just having access to files they are basically the same thing. Box's strength is in network building and collaboration. Which is very important in today's school environment. University of Berkley also did an interesting comparison in a one page document. It was very handy to see that there really is a big difference between the two types of Cloud Storage.
I was able to get my Box to work on my iPad. As you suggested I had to go to the Browser and log into Box that way. Through the app I was unable to find any keys that would allow it to upload a file. But in the browser there were a lot more options, including the option of creating a Google Document straight from Box. Then I could share it through Box much the same as through Google Documents. I am not sure at this time I can see the advantages over simply using Google Documents, but I was successful in the assignment.
Compare Safari and Rover apps, noting similarities and differences as you find them. Which do you prefer?
First to compare the two applications, as I saw them they are not really comparable as much as they are compatible. Is I saw in the videos the Rover program simply expanded the capabilities of the Safari App. I will admit I was very impressed with the Safari App though. The search function within the web page was very nice. There have been a lot of times that I have been lead to a webpage by the promise of a quote or a reference to a subject, only to find it is a PDF with 100 pages and it took forever to find the reference. I would have loved to have this search function.
The Reader function was also very nice. It would be very helpful to show on a projector screen in class and remove the advertisements. The Reading List could be incredible useful in a classroom setting. If there was a subject that you wanted your students to research, but as a teacher I wanted to limit the sites they could visit the Reading List would be very handy. It would allow them the ability to view at their own pace, but they could not have access to the whole World Wide Web. I could imagine the link through iCloud could have its uses, but I don't see this being as useful as the other benefits of the Safari App.
The information about the Rover App was very useful in that Bandwidth is a major problem in our school. (As a side note a couple of years ago at Maryville Christian School there were some teachers that were using either Rover and Puffin programs. Every time they were on the School's system it would crash. Our IT person blamed the Apple Computers for the crash and even though he could not prove it, the Apples were banned from the system. The crashes stopped and the IT person felt justified. I am wondering now if this video on the Rover would explain the crashes.) Anyway in light of the video's it would seem that if our school used iPad's or any of the OS systems that use safari we would need to plan on not using the Rover application.
The question would be whether it would be worth using the Safari's app or not. There are a lot of great tools with the Safari, but I am afraid what we would be giving up by not having the flash player to view the animations would be too great of cost. Now on the other hand as the IT people at our school are actively trying to widen the Bandwidth even as I type it might be worthwhile in the future.
First to compare the two applications, as I saw them they are not really comparable as much as they are compatible. Is I saw in the videos the Rover program simply expanded the capabilities of the Safari App. I will admit I was very impressed with the Safari App though. The search function within the web page was very nice. There have been a lot of times that I have been lead to a webpage by the promise of a quote or a reference to a subject, only to find it is a PDF with 100 pages and it took forever to find the reference. I would have loved to have this search function.
The Reader function was also very nice. It would be very helpful to show on a projector screen in class and remove the advertisements. The Reading List could be incredible useful in a classroom setting. If there was a subject that you wanted your students to research, but as a teacher I wanted to limit the sites they could visit the Reading List would be very handy. It would allow them the ability to view at their own pace, but they could not have access to the whole World Wide Web. I could imagine the link through iCloud could have its uses, but I don't see this being as useful as the other benefits of the Safari App.
The information about the Rover App was very useful in that Bandwidth is a major problem in our school. (As a side note a couple of years ago at Maryville Christian School there were some teachers that were using either Rover and Puffin programs. Every time they were on the School's system it would crash. Our IT person blamed the Apple Computers for the crash and even though he could not prove it, the Apples were banned from the system. The crashes stopped and the IT person felt justified. I am wondering now if this video on the Rover would explain the crashes.) Anyway in light of the video's it would seem that if our school used iPad's or any of the OS systems that use safari we would need to plan on not using the Rover application.
The question would be whether it would be worth using the Safari's app or not. There are a lot of great tools with the Safari, but I am afraid what we would be giving up by not having the flash player to view the animations would be too great of cost. Now on the other hand as the IT people at our school are actively trying to widen the Bandwidth even as I type it might be worthwhile in the future.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Compare iBooks and Kindle apps, noting similarities and differences as you find them. Which do you prefer?
There two main difference between the iBooks and the Kindle apps that I noticed. One difference is the folder system of the iBooks. It gave a lot of freedom and flexibility of the program to arrange the books in various categories quickly and easily. I could see a huge advantage for this in a school setting where a student at the very least would need to group all of their school books together separate from their private collection. Also it could be used to separate the books by subject. I assume that there is no practical limit as to how many categories you can have. I looked and could find no coresponding function on the kindle. The Kindle just had books and papers which are the base of the iBook. If someone had large collection this would be very important.
The other big difference that I noted was the option in the Kindle of keeping the books on the device or in the cloud memory. If the iBook had that featured it wasn't mentioned. I could see that there could be instances where this also could be valuable. There are still places where internet and or cellular services are very difficult and it would be convient to have some of the books loaded in the device, but not have to have all of your library there.
Other differences that I saw just from watching the two videos were the choices that were present in the Kindle for page animation and differences that could be accessed in viewing the books. On the whole though for a school setting I felt that the iBook with the folder system would be the better choice. If I were choosing for my personal use it would be a more difficult choice and I would need some more investigation.
There two main difference between the iBooks and the Kindle apps that I noticed. One difference is the folder system of the iBooks. It gave a lot of freedom and flexibility of the program to arrange the books in various categories quickly and easily. I could see a huge advantage for this in a school setting where a student at the very least would need to group all of their school books together separate from their private collection. Also it could be used to separate the books by subject. I assume that there is no practical limit as to how many categories you can have. I looked and could find no coresponding function on the kindle. The Kindle just had books and papers which are the base of the iBook. If someone had large collection this would be very important.
The other big difference that I noted was the option in the Kindle of keeping the books on the device or in the cloud memory. If the iBook had that featured it wasn't mentioned. I could see that there could be instances where this also could be valuable. There are still places where internet and or cellular services are very difficult and it would be convient to have some of the books loaded in the device, but not have to have all of your library there.
Other differences that I saw just from watching the two videos were the choices that were present in the Kindle for page animation and differences that could be accessed in viewing the books. On the whole though for a school setting I felt that the iBook with the folder system would be the better choice. If I were choosing for my personal use it would be a more difficult choice and I would need some more investigation.
Comparison of Pages and Word
The first comparison in which they are exactly the same entering the data. I realize that this is one of the most obvious, but I would say that it is very important. In both application at least 80% of the document is keying the information into the application. Since both are done the same way I felt it necessary to mention this. In both applications there are chooses about the font size, the type of font layout and orientation. They might be in different places, but it is basically the same. Both applications give a wide range of templates to choose from. Both applications allow for the inserting of different options images and graphs. I dare say in the most important similarity if two average document were turned in to a class one done with iWorks Pages and the other with Microsoft Word few if any teachers could not identify which one came from which. This is the most important aspect in the final analysis. Whether one is done with an iPad or a PC it would make no difference. Keying in on the screen or a keypad really is a mater of choice. If anything just taping the screen to make a selection really seems a little easier. (That is unless you have big fingers like me and seem to hit the wrong one too often.)
There are differences though that need to be noted. The first difference that I noted was the absence of a mouse. To highlight and select data was quite a bit different. Certainly not difficult to learn with Pages, but different due to the iPad. To me the iWorks pages was not as intuitive. Knowing the different options to be found under the paintbrush depending on what was clicked would not have occurred to me without some instruction. I really missed the tabs, but I think I can understand why they would not be there. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try and choose one option with my finger if I were using MS Word on a tablet. It seems at times that it is difficult to pick the correct option such as line spacing with a mouse. It would truly be impossible with my finger.
It was very clear to see the iPad/Tablet influence when it came to seeing how to scroll through the pages of the Pop-up options. There was no scrolling down instead it was sliding to different windows across the side. Uploading the Pages document seemed to be quite a bit different. Again not impossible to learn, but I believe it would take a while to learn that web address by heart.
The first comparison in which they are exactly the same entering the data. I realize that this is one of the most obvious, but I would say that it is very important. In both application at least 80% of the document is keying the information into the application. Since both are done the same way I felt it necessary to mention this. In both applications there are chooses about the font size, the type of font layout and orientation. They might be in different places, but it is basically the same. Both applications give a wide range of templates to choose from. Both applications allow for the inserting of different options images and graphs. I dare say in the most important similarity if two average document were turned in to a class one done with iWorks Pages and the other with Microsoft Word few if any teachers could not identify which one came from which. This is the most important aspect in the final analysis. Whether one is done with an iPad or a PC it would make no difference. Keying in on the screen or a keypad really is a mater of choice. If anything just taping the screen to make a selection really seems a little easier. (That is unless you have big fingers like me and seem to hit the wrong one too often.)
There are differences though that need to be noted. The first difference that I noted was the absence of a mouse. To highlight and select data was quite a bit different. Certainly not difficult to learn with Pages, but different due to the iPad. To me the iWorks pages was not as intuitive. Knowing the different options to be found under the paintbrush depending on what was clicked would not have occurred to me without some instruction. I really missed the tabs, but I think I can understand why they would not be there. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to try and choose one option with my finger if I were using MS Word on a tablet. It seems at times that it is difficult to pick the correct option such as line spacing with a mouse. It would truly be impossible with my finger.
It was very clear to see the iPad/Tablet influence when it came to seeing how to scroll through the pages of the Pop-up options. There was no scrolling down instead it was sliding to different windows across the side. Uploading the Pages document seemed to be quite a bit different. Again not impossible to learn, but I believe it would take a while to learn that web address by heart.
Using Google Forms
Let me start out by saying wow!. I used the forms to do a quick form even before class last week. I was all text and survey so I could not the self checker. I was so amazed and pleased as to the ease in making the test form. It literally took less than 20 minutes to type it out. It was for the most part the same effort to type out a test that was going to be printed out and copied. It was the same work, except once I had finished typing it out, it was ready to go. I did not have to make sure the printer was working and then make sure the copier was working and then waste 100 sheets of paper that I was going to have to keep up with and then through away. I am very excited about the possibilities. In order to complete the performance record, using the self-checker, I went ahead and put one of my Physical Science test into a form. It is a fairly long test and it worked great. Also it was very easy. I simply cut and paste the questions and the answers to the form and it was ready to go. I was able to get the test ready in less than 1 hour. This is a tool I can really use and I believe that our administration will also get behind. I have taught at the same school for 5 years and every single year around about late March early April the copier warnings start coming out. (We are running ahead of our budgeted copier amounts, we have to cut back.) Then by May 1st we get the news that we have exceeded our our budgeted copies. This will not erase the need for a copy machine, I do believe that this could seriously impact a teachers copy amount.
Besides the pragmatics of the Forms I believe that for a while the kids will like it more. I do think that they will eventually get used to it, but at first it will be new and sort of exciting. Plus I think it will help our school move to getting tablets for all of the students.
As far as meeting the Common Core Standards, I can see how Google Forms could certainly help the students gather and present their finding and research. I also believe that it is a vital tool that the kids need as they go off to college, as it would be invaluable at that level. But the real power of the forms in my opinion is for the teachers who will take the time to learn and use this. This should be such a time saver and make one of the most dreaded part of every teachers life a little easier, grading test. Now if only they could develop one of these programs that will grade essays as well. Until then at least we can have this part for grading short answer and multiple choice.
Below is the link to my Physical Science Test
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17SOpzBnQUF6jmJr4ju3SNUf1FgWGmFhzqB3Jtg4B-po/viewform
This is the response spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuZ-0IwuOlQQdGJUcVVVVUJ3eDI0aHNqWUktT1F4NVE#gid=0
This was my first attempt at a Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yyY7z_fIFiiPIuQpQa6Ex-tsx3GqOuMN9YMMduCxiJs/viewform
Let me start out by saying wow!. I used the forms to do a quick form even before class last week. I was all text and survey so I could not the self checker. I was so amazed and pleased as to the ease in making the test form. It literally took less than 20 minutes to type it out. It was for the most part the same effort to type out a test that was going to be printed out and copied. It was the same work, except once I had finished typing it out, it was ready to go. I did not have to make sure the printer was working and then make sure the copier was working and then waste 100 sheets of paper that I was going to have to keep up with and then through away. I am very excited about the possibilities. In order to complete the performance record, using the self-checker, I went ahead and put one of my Physical Science test into a form. It is a fairly long test and it worked great. Also it was very easy. I simply cut and paste the questions and the answers to the form and it was ready to go. I was able to get the test ready in less than 1 hour. This is a tool I can really use and I believe that our administration will also get behind. I have taught at the same school for 5 years and every single year around about late March early April the copier warnings start coming out. (We are running ahead of our budgeted copier amounts, we have to cut back.) Then by May 1st we get the news that we have exceeded our our budgeted copies. This will not erase the need for a copy machine, I do believe that this could seriously impact a teachers copy amount.
Besides the pragmatics of the Forms I believe that for a while the kids will like it more. I do think that they will eventually get used to it, but at first it will be new and sort of exciting. Plus I think it will help our school move to getting tablets for all of the students.
As far as meeting the Common Core Standards, I can see how Google Forms could certainly help the students gather and present their finding and research. I also believe that it is a vital tool that the kids need as they go off to college, as it would be invaluable at that level. But the real power of the forms in my opinion is for the teachers who will take the time to learn and use this. This should be such a time saver and make one of the most dreaded part of every teachers life a little easier, grading test. Now if only they could develop one of these programs that will grade essays as well. Until then at least we can have this part for grading short answer and multiple choice.
Below is the link to my Physical Science Test
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17SOpzBnQUF6jmJr4ju3SNUf1FgWGmFhzqB3Jtg4B-po/viewform
This is the response spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuZ-0IwuOlQQdGJUcVVVVUJ3eDI0aHNqWUktT1F4NVE#gid=0
This was my first attempt at a Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yyY7z_fIFiiPIuQpQa6Ex-tsx3GqOuMN9YMMduCxiJs/viewform
Monday, May 27, 2013
Tablet Usage
The three main uses for the Tablets are as an ereader, produtivity device and the apps. As I have reviewed the articles concerning the Android Tablets, namely Nook and Kindle they for the most part only focused on the e reader aspect. They did not deal with the question of; are the tablets primarily going to be textbooks or are they going to be a part of the class. The Blog "Sassy Librarian", "eReader Madness" http://awrinkleintech.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/ereader-madness/ is an article comparing Nook vs Kindle to choose which tablet would work the best for books. She chooses Nook because easier to clean easier to maintain, she is just looking for eBooks. There is the same consideration in the article Knack for Nook,http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/02/a_knack_for_nook_e-devices_hel.html . Students are given Barnes and Nobles as e readers, the decisive factor being the 5 tablet per license cost. Ironically it was mentioned that many of the students so enjoyed the tablets that their parents bought the I pads for Christmas. Even the article "Apple iPad vs Kindle DX: Which is Better for Education?" http://www.pcworld.com/article/188239/apple_ipad_vs_kindle_dx_which_is_better_for_education.html was a comparison between the Apple iPad and the Kindle DX as to which one would be the better ereader. (In that author's opinion it was the Kindle DX.) While certainly as a textbook is a very important reason for a school to purchase tablet. The cost savings can be significant and making the student bear the replacement cost if damaged just like books certainly helps out the beleaguered public school. But this ignore the other main categories of uses for these hand held devices.
The other uses can be linked together and consider the tablet as an integral part of the education experience. These use treat the hand held device as a computer. Using the functions of productivity and applications to enhance learning, not just to enhance the textbook. The articles about how the i Pads are changing Schools http://www.ipadinschools.com/338/ipad-changing-schools/ and i Pads for High School http://www.ipadinschools.com/ipad-apps-for-high-school/ both highlight this use of the tablet. I thought the best example of this was Stephanie Chasteen"s blog http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPad_v_Netbook.html in which she also makes a comparison. Not between an iPad and a Nook or another Tablet, but between an iPad and a notebook. I felt this article above all others highlighted the this type of use. Not only giving the students a cheaper or fancier textbook, but giving them a computer with which to enhance their education.
We must be careful though and not get the idea that i Pads in schools are going to cure cancer as the article "Why use i Pads for learning?" http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPads_in_Schools.html seems to believe. This article does list many good reasons to use iPads but I don't believe the adoption of i Pads will lead to a mass departure of IT personal in schools. I agree that it will lead to more personalized learning as well as many of the other 11 valid reasons to use tablets. But I'm not sure it will do quite all that the articles seems to promise. I was very interested in the i Pad only Algebra class http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/06/02/new-jersey-district-plans-ipad-only-algebra-course/ . I definitely want to investigate this more as I can definitely see this being a very fruitful use, especially as it is a combination of advanced textbook with the advanced tablet use. Along with the uses the i Pad academy http://ipadacademy.com/ seemed a very useful tool and resource for getting the maximum value for the tablet.
I want to be careful and note that this use of productivity and application were not totally ignored by the Androids. One article I found touched on that use for the Kindle Fire was Christopher Dawson's article speaking of EC2 and the cloud browsing http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/the-kindle-fire-will-enable-the-next-generation-of-11-education-apps/4699 . This too is an important aspect of education, the students must have access to the web, but again there are a great deal more that can and must be done with the tablets.
The three main uses for the Tablets are as an ereader, produtivity device and the apps. As I have reviewed the articles concerning the Android Tablets, namely Nook and Kindle they for the most part only focused on the e reader aspect. They did not deal with the question of; are the tablets primarily going to be textbooks or are they going to be a part of the class. The Blog "Sassy Librarian", "eReader Madness" http://awrinkleintech.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/ereader-madness/ is an article comparing Nook vs Kindle to choose which tablet would work the best for books. She chooses Nook because easier to clean easier to maintain, she is just looking for eBooks. There is the same consideration in the article Knack for Nook,http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/02/a_knack_for_nook_e-devices_hel.html . Students are given Barnes and Nobles as e readers, the decisive factor being the 5 tablet per license cost. Ironically it was mentioned that many of the students so enjoyed the tablets that their parents bought the I pads for Christmas. Even the article "Apple iPad vs Kindle DX: Which is Better for Education?" http://www.pcworld.com/article/188239/apple_ipad_vs_kindle_dx_which_is_better_for_education.html was a comparison between the Apple iPad and the Kindle DX as to which one would be the better ereader. (In that author's opinion it was the Kindle DX.) While certainly as a textbook is a very important reason for a school to purchase tablet. The cost savings can be significant and making the student bear the replacement cost if damaged just like books certainly helps out the beleaguered public school. But this ignore the other main categories of uses for these hand held devices.
The other uses can be linked together and consider the tablet as an integral part of the education experience. These use treat the hand held device as a computer. Using the functions of productivity and applications to enhance learning, not just to enhance the textbook. The articles about how the i Pads are changing Schools http://www.ipadinschools.com/338/ipad-changing-schools/ and i Pads for High School http://www.ipadinschools.com/ipad-apps-for-high-school/ both highlight this use of the tablet. I thought the best example of this was Stephanie Chasteen"s blog http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPad_v_Netbook.html in which she also makes a comparison. Not between an iPad and a Nook or another Tablet, but between an iPad and a notebook. I felt this article above all others highlighted the this type of use. Not only giving the students a cheaper or fancier textbook, but giving them a computer with which to enhance their education.
We must be careful though and not get the idea that i Pads in schools are going to cure cancer as the article "Why use i Pads for learning?" http://www.ipadineducation.co.uk/iPad_in_Education/iPads_in_Schools.html seems to believe. This article does list many good reasons to use iPads but I don't believe the adoption of i Pads will lead to a mass departure of IT personal in schools. I agree that it will lead to more personalized learning as well as many of the other 11 valid reasons to use tablets. But I'm not sure it will do quite all that the articles seems to promise. I was very interested in the i Pad only Algebra class http://www.eclassroomnews.com/2011/06/02/new-jersey-district-plans-ipad-only-algebra-course/ . I definitely want to investigate this more as I can definitely see this being a very fruitful use, especially as it is a combination of advanced textbook with the advanced tablet use. Along with the uses the i Pad academy http://ipadacademy.com/ seemed a very useful tool and resource for getting the maximum value for the tablet.
I want to be careful and note that this use of productivity and application were not totally ignored by the Androids. One article I found touched on that use for the Kindle Fire was Christopher Dawson's article speaking of EC2 and the cloud browsing http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/the-kindle-fire-will-enable-the-next-generation-of-11-education-apps/4699 . This too is an important aspect of education, the students must have access to the web, but again there are a great deal more that can and must be done with the tablets.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Comparison of Tablets for schools based on their Uses
Apps
A quick and simple assessment based on the gross number of applications available for tablet uses could lead to a very wrong and dangerous assessment. If someone, like me, simply looked at the number noted that while there are 700,000 iTune applications and compared this to 580,000 android applications it would seem that in this category the systems are very close with Apple having a slight advantage. This would be erroneous. First of all recognizing that the it is not a simple comparison between iTune and Android, but a comparison between Itune, Amazon Android, Barnes and Noble Android and Google Play Android. This fact begins to widen the gap on the shear number of apps. Furthermore taking the redundancy of applications for each system in the Android App market. Also distinctly changes the count. So instead of 700,000 to 500,000 as a comparison in reality it would be more like 700,000 to a distinctly fewer number. Therefore the Apple iOS has a distinct advantage in this category.
Books
In the consideration of Books in the choices of operating system the first and most obvious consideration would of course seem to be number and availability of books. If a tablet is going to be used in schools its access and ability to display books would be crucial. While each of the Android Suppliers have some different advantages in this regard to Apple iOS, the fact that Ipads can offer books from all 4 major suppliers nullify their advantage.
Google's lack of folder system is a serious drawback. A obstacle of Apple is the fact that the Mac system is unable to display any of the books market, even Itunes. But as the scope of this comparison
does not include Mac books it is not considered in the evaluation.
Internet/Cellular service
First dealing with the question of Cellular vs Internet, while I am sure that there are some schools that have a problem with WiFi, I am equally sure these are the minority. Also since WiFi is much easier to monitor and control the site that the students can connect to it is most advisable for a school to just plan on WiFi whenever possible. If the question was for an individual that needed constant access then the cellular service would be more important. If this is important given the above situation then Apple seems to have an advantage. If it is just about WiFi then the Android systems have the advantage over the iOS because of the limitations of Ipads to run Flash. While there is a way around this, the reality is, the more complicated it is for a teacher to use or teach with it the less likely it is to be used.
Magazines/Newspapers
None of the systems have an advantage or at a disadvantage.
Movies/TV/Video
In this category it seems that the Androids systems have a slight advantage, but this is not very important issue for school use.
Music
Google and Itunes have the advantage in this category, but this is not a very important factor for a school system.
Software
As was mentioned in the article this category applies primarily to Microsoft Windows tablets. The fact that they use a system that is generally familiar to the majority of teachers is very important. But the Google Documents, that are so similar to the Windows Office production system does a lot to nullify this advantage. So this is not the silver bullet that it once could have been.
After comparing these uses the overall winner seems to be the Apple iOS, or Minis'.
Apps
A quick and simple assessment based on the gross number of applications available for tablet uses could lead to a very wrong and dangerous assessment. If someone, like me, simply looked at the number noted that while there are 700,000 iTune applications and compared this to 580,000 android applications it would seem that in this category the systems are very close with Apple having a slight advantage. This would be erroneous. First of all recognizing that the it is not a simple comparison between iTune and Android, but a comparison between Itune, Amazon Android, Barnes and Noble Android and Google Play Android. This fact begins to widen the gap on the shear number of apps. Furthermore taking the redundancy of applications for each system in the Android App market. Also distinctly changes the count. So instead of 700,000 to 500,000 as a comparison in reality it would be more like 700,000 to a distinctly fewer number. Therefore the Apple iOS has a distinct advantage in this category.
Books
In the consideration of Books in the choices of operating system the first and most obvious consideration would of course seem to be number and availability of books. If a tablet is going to be used in schools its access and ability to display books would be crucial. While each of the Android Suppliers have some different advantages in this regard to Apple iOS, the fact that Ipads can offer books from all 4 major suppliers nullify their advantage.
Google's lack of folder system is a serious drawback. A obstacle of Apple is the fact that the Mac system is unable to display any of the books market, even Itunes. But as the scope of this comparison
does not include Mac books it is not considered in the evaluation.
Internet/Cellular service
First dealing with the question of Cellular vs Internet, while I am sure that there are some schools that have a problem with WiFi, I am equally sure these are the minority. Also since WiFi is much easier to monitor and control the site that the students can connect to it is most advisable for a school to just plan on WiFi whenever possible. If the question was for an individual that needed constant access then the cellular service would be more important. If this is important given the above situation then Apple seems to have an advantage. If it is just about WiFi then the Android systems have the advantage over the iOS because of the limitations of Ipads to run Flash. While there is a way around this, the reality is, the more complicated it is for a teacher to use or teach with it the less likely it is to be used.
Magazines/Newspapers
None of the systems have an advantage or at a disadvantage.
Movies/TV/Video
In this category it seems that the Androids systems have a slight advantage, but this is not very important issue for school use.
Music
Google and Itunes have the advantage in this category, but this is not a very important factor for a school system.
Software
As was mentioned in the article this category applies primarily to Microsoft Windows tablets. The fact that they use a system that is generally familiar to the majority of teachers is very important. But the Google Documents, that are so similar to the Windows Office production system does a lot to nullify this advantage. So this is not the silver bullet that it once could have been.
After comparing these uses the overall winner seems to be the Apple iOS, or Minis'.
Google Spreadsheets
As I began my attempt to work with Google Spreadsheet again I was impressed with the ability to use and upload my Excel spreadsheets that I already have. This is a very useful tool, I don't see Microsoft ever becoming as generous as allowing me to quickly import a Google spreadsheet. Not only could I import from Microsoft Excel it was surprising to be able to export to Excel as well. As nice as this was I even enjoyed the template gallery more. I practiced using the Spreadsheet Template with the current assignment. It literally took less than 10 minutes. It was very nice. I did not feel that this would satisfy the assignment I also did the assignment without a template. I included links to both if you would like to see both attempts. I did also like the Keyboard Shortcut page, and the ability of open this in a new window. I can see this being very useful for instructions and beginners. Now to the actual working on my Google Spreadsheet.
The entering of the information into the cell was exactly like Excel. Navigation and Formatting of the cell was easy and very intuitive. For some reason I had a great deal of trouble getting my formulas to work at first. I had to try for quite a long time, I even tried writing them in Excel and cutting and pasting. Nothing seemed to work, I would enter the formula and then hit enter and all I could see was the formula. I finally got so frustrated with it I went away and closed the computer out. When I came back to the spreadsheet suddenly all of the formulas that I had entered earlier worked fine. I am not sure if closing it out was a necessary step or it was just at this time. For the remainder of the time I worked on the program it worked fine. As I have come to expect from all of the other Google programs Spreadsheet is very easy and simple to use.
While I did know about the shortcut keys in Excel I generally didn't use them, but I found that Google Spreadsheets really, really likes them. This took a little getting used to. There were a couple of times that I tried to use the right click button on the mouse and got mixed results, but the Shortcut Keys worked very well every time.
It is difficult to pinpoint the easiest part of Spreadsheet, because there were so many different easy parts. Getting it started and entering the information was very simple. Entering the comments into the cells was very easy and a very handy program. I had a little trouble figuring out how to merge cells. Also the templates were not where Atomic Learning said they would be when I opened Google Drive. I had to do a search in Google to find them, and once I did I was impressed with the options. The one function I wanted to find, but was unable was the ability to set up a range so that it would write a text. That is I wanted it to evaluate the grade and assign the correct letter grade, but I did not find this function. I am not even sure this is a possiblity.
I do see though how Google Spreadsheets would aide in meeting the Common Core Standards of giving the students the tools necessary to present and manipulate their data. Then through the actions necessary of producing a Spreadsheet they would develop not only a deeper understanding of the Math concepts but hopefully a greater understanding of how valuable the skills are.
As I began my attempt to work with Google Spreadsheet again I was impressed with the ability to use and upload my Excel spreadsheets that I already have. This is a very useful tool, I don't see Microsoft ever becoming as generous as allowing me to quickly import a Google spreadsheet. Not only could I import from Microsoft Excel it was surprising to be able to export to Excel as well. As nice as this was I even enjoyed the template gallery more. I practiced using the Spreadsheet Template with the current assignment. It literally took less than 10 minutes. It was very nice. I did not feel that this would satisfy the assignment I also did the assignment without a template. I included links to both if you would like to see both attempts. I did also like the Keyboard Shortcut page, and the ability of open this in a new window. I can see this being very useful for instructions and beginners. Now to the actual working on my Google Spreadsheet.
The entering of the information into the cell was exactly like Excel. Navigation and Formatting of the cell was easy and very intuitive. For some reason I had a great deal of trouble getting my formulas to work at first. I had to try for quite a long time, I even tried writing them in Excel and cutting and pasting. Nothing seemed to work, I would enter the formula and then hit enter and all I could see was the formula. I finally got so frustrated with it I went away and closed the computer out. When I came back to the spreadsheet suddenly all of the formulas that I had entered earlier worked fine. I am not sure if closing it out was a necessary step or it was just at this time. For the remainder of the time I worked on the program it worked fine. As I have come to expect from all of the other Google programs Spreadsheet is very easy and simple to use.
While I did know about the shortcut keys in Excel I generally didn't use them, but I found that Google Spreadsheets really, really likes them. This took a little getting used to. There were a couple of times that I tried to use the right click button on the mouse and got mixed results, but the Shortcut Keys worked very well every time.
It is difficult to pinpoint the easiest part of Spreadsheet, because there were so many different easy parts. Getting it started and entering the information was very simple. Entering the comments into the cells was very easy and a very handy program. I had a little trouble figuring out how to merge cells. Also the templates were not where Atomic Learning said they would be when I opened Google Drive. I had to do a search in Google to find them, and once I did I was impressed with the options. The one function I wanted to find, but was unable was the ability to set up a range so that it would write a text. That is I wanted it to evaluate the grade and assign the correct letter grade, but I did not find this function. I am not even sure this is a possiblity.
I do see though how Google Spreadsheets would aide in meeting the Common Core Standards of giving the students the tools necessary to present and manipulate their data. Then through the actions necessary of producing a Spreadsheet they would develop not only a deeper understanding of the Math concepts but hopefully a greater understanding of how valuable the skills are.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Recommendation for Mobile Devices for school.
As we, my partner and I have discussed our options for the school we certainly concur with the principles decision to avoid the small screens. Instead it is our opinion that the Medium Screens would be the best choice. The screens are large enough, at least for young eyes, and the lighter weight would be advisable for long periods of work sessions. One consideration would seem to be the size or the input screens. But considering the ease in which most students today handle the small screens for texting it is our belief that they would have no problems with medium size screens.
This leaves the discussion as to which operating system would be best for our school. The first one we discussed was the iOS. The first and the most obvious positive that was mentioned is the familiarity of the system to the students. My partner felt that the majority of the students would already have a good working knowledge of this system as well as it is frankly more prestigious. While I completely agree with the second point I am not as confident about the first. I know that there a great many students that have used the Ipad and Ipod, but perhaps not that many more than have a familiarity of the other systems. Another advantage of the iOS system is in the number of apps. The Apple store has a great number of apps available and adding to the number all the time. One final advantage is with audio. Apple was the first to bring audio so that you could download single songs and Apple Store still has a huge assortment of Podcasts and Music. (I know this might not seem important to a school, but there are a great many Podcasts that are very convenient for education.)
Now for the Android system there are also several advantages. One of the first that we discussed was the relative price, it is much more affordable than the other systems. This could be very important as the need comes up to expand or replace mobile device. Another advantage is with the apps. While there is not any one store with the number of apps that Apple has, when you consider Google Play, Barnes and Noble and Amazon together you get pretty close. Also when you add the number of books available the Android has an edge. there is also the issue of newer apps requiring newer operating systems. This is not an issue for Androids, but it is for iOS. A final advantage is the ability of running Flash. This is very helpful when working on the Internet.
The final system is the Microsoft operating system. It greatest advantage is in running programs. Is is made to run the Microsoft Office suite, at least the windows 8 version. Microsoft office is the standard of production software in education. This one advantage leads to two other advantages that are closely related to this. One is that Microsoft Windows could very well be the production program that the students will be using after their education experience. And the other is that this is certainly the system that the teachers are the most familiar with. Microsoft also claims that it can run Android apps, if this is true than this would certainly be an important aspect.
There are of course negatives for each. The greatest negative that we, my partner and I discussed for the iOS as was referred to earlier is the cost. Another negative is the lack of books in general. With the Android system it would not be as quickly accepted by the students. It might seem as second class. Finally with the Microsoft's System the lack or apps as well as the cost would definitely factor into our recommendation as negatives.
Over all we would recommend a medium sized tablet with the Android operating system. Finally as regard to using cellular service we would definitely not recommend this. Cellular as one might imagine is using the same waves as cell phones. It is basically connecting the Mobile Device just like it was a cell phone. You don't need to make a phone call, but it is very similar. It would be an advantage if the mobile devices were to be taken to a great variety of places. but as they will be used at school and we already have a wi-fi service they are unnecessary. And as they add an expense they are certainly unadvisedly.
So we would recommend the medium sized tablet with an Android os without cellular connectivity.
Google Presentation
I have had to deal quite a bit with Microsoft PowerPoint and had a little experience with Prezi so I will try and compare Google Presentations with both. The first thing that I noticed about the Presentations was its ease of use. It is a fairly simple program to use, having all of the tools laid out on the one page with the pull down taps was very familiar. It is very similar to older versions of Microsoft Word. the most current versions have different taps that honestly I don't like. It didn't seem to have some of the bells and whistles that PowerPoint has such as the timing functions and the audio editing abilities but for the average presentation these are not used. It is very difficult to compare with Prezi. They are both Web based applications, Prezi is also free in its base setting. Prezi is much more dynamic. It is most more difficult to use and even more difficult to change the templates.
There several aspects that I found most interesting and really quite surprising. The fist Issue that I really like was the ability to upload and convert PowerPoint. I already have several PowerPoint and it was nice to know that it I wouldn't have to redo them, in truth I wouldn't of course. I was not able to upload and convert a Prezi, I didn't think I would be able to, but I just wanted to try.
I also like the Snapshot Background. It was very quick and easy to use as well as getting images off the Internet. Inserting video from the web was extremely easy. Of all the functions that I used and compare to PowerPoint this was by far the biggest difference.
It was nice to see that it is possible to download them as PPTX files so that it is possible to access to them even if there is no access to the web.
Another function that I thought was interesting, even though I am not sure how I would ever use it is the Slide Links. I am not sure if I see the advantage of going to a particular slide unless the presentation was set up like a flow chart dealing with a problem. If a student works a problem correctly hit this link and if it the answer is wrong go to this slide.
On the whole I was very impressed with google Presentations. Also the ease with which it can be used would certainly fit the Common Core Standards. It is one thing to say that 5th graders are to develop their presentation skills, but there needs to be a program easy enough to use that allows this. Google Presentation is a free easily accessible program that certainly meet that standard.
It was nice to see that it is possible to download them as PPTX files so that it is possible to access to them even if there is no access to the web.
Another function that I thought was interesting, even though I am not sure how I would ever use it is the Slide Links. I am not sure if I see the advantage of going to a particular slide unless the presentation was set up like a flow chart dealing with a problem. If a student works a problem correctly hit this link and if it the answer is wrong go to this slide.
On the whole I was very impressed with google Presentations. Also the ease with which it can be used would certainly fit the Common Core Standards. It is one thing to say that 5th graders are to develop their presentation skills, but there needs to be a program easy enough to use that allows this. Google Presentation is a free easily accessible program that certainly meet that standard.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The experience of creating a document in Google Documents
Creating a shared document was a great deal easier than I would have imagined. In the very first Dr. Krug mentioned the ability of Google Documents to share between users as well as examine versions. After hearing him talk about this I immediately shared this with other teachers at my school and we tried this out for ourselves. Without any guidance or instructions we were able to figure out how this works and actually create a shared document. This was done in the space of an lunch period. This is a testimony of the user friendliness of the program. My time in class on Thursday working with my lab partner did nothing to change this opinion, instead it just reinforced that feeling.
Also the comment and view functions seem to be tailor made for a school. The students who are collaborating together would all have the right and ability of editing the document. The teacher could comment on the document, but not actually change the student's work, and the other students in the class could be given the ablity to view the document without making comments.
It was very exciting to see what would happen if two or more people were working on the document at the same time. With the different colors employed, it looked like a chat in real time. Therefore each student could see what the other student was writing as it was being written and could comment on this.
We didn't try this, but I will need to check and see if one student can interfere with another student as they are writing. If so this could be a problem, but it did not seem possible.
Creating a shared document was a great deal easier than I would have imagined. In the very first Dr. Krug mentioned the ability of Google Documents to share between users as well as examine versions. After hearing him talk about this I immediately shared this with other teachers at my school and we tried this out for ourselves. Without any guidance or instructions we were able to figure out how this works and actually create a shared document. This was done in the space of an lunch period. This is a testimony of the user friendliness of the program. My time in class on Thursday working with my lab partner did nothing to change this opinion, instead it just reinforced that feeling.
Also the comment and view functions seem to be tailor made for a school. The students who are collaborating together would all have the right and ability of editing the document. The teacher could comment on the document, but not actually change the student's work, and the other students in the class could be given the ablity to view the document without making comments.
It was very exciting to see what would happen if two or more people were working on the document at the same time. With the different colors employed, it looked like a chat in real time. Therefore each student could see what the other student was writing as it was being written and could comment on this.
We didn't try this, but I will need to check and see if one student can interfere with another student as they are writing. If so this could be a problem, but it did not seem possible.
Gmail and Google Calendar
The three features of Google Calendar that I found most enticing are:
This is in my opinion the single most important factor for the Calendar. I have witnessed many different programs introduced at my school and ease of navigating is by far the most important. The program is only as useful as it is easy to use.
The next two features are why the teachers at my school should learn to use Google Calendars. A huge and persistent problem that our school like all school faces is lack of communication. It is all well and good to say that we just need to communicate better, but between parents and teachers, teachers and students, teachers and administration, teachers and athletics and between teachers and teachers there is a great deal of miscommunication. Teachers planning too many tests on the same day, teachers planning field trips on the same day as the baseball team leaves early for a ball game. Multiple Calendars would do so much to address this huge and ongoing problem. This function joined with the ability to share calendars could elevate so much of this confusion. Not only could I build my own personal, and school calendars, through calendar sharing I could incorporate the Basketball schedule, if I had basketball players as well as quickly view other teachers.
In our school we have students from a variety of grades and with Google calendars parents could incorporate the calendars of their children in different grades into one calendar. As a parent of multiple children I am very excited about this power. With a click of a button I can toogle between viewing the calendar of one of my children to another, as well as building a composite calendar is wonderful advancement. I am sure that this is possible with other calendars, but I don;t know of any that are free and everyone has access to.
Becuase of my familiarity of Gmail and mail handling in general it was more difficult to decide on the three features of Gmail that I found most exciting. But I choose:
I have had a Gmail account for several years and I used it as a "decoy" account. It was an address that I would use to give to a website to make sure that they never contacted me. I had another "real" address that I would use for my contacts. I can see now that there is a lot more to Gmail than I first imagined. I enjoyed the tasks feature and the ability to quickly and easily prioritize my email.
One other function that I did not mention that is very convenient is the chat function. Because of the ease of following one strand it transforms an email exchange into a chat. Even if the "chat" is performed over the course of several days.
The three features of Google Calendar that I found most enticing are:
- Ease of adding and editing events
- Multiple calendars
- Ease in sharing calendars
This is in my opinion the single most important factor for the Calendar. I have witnessed many different programs introduced at my school and ease of navigating is by far the most important. The program is only as useful as it is easy to use.
The next two features are why the teachers at my school should learn to use Google Calendars. A huge and persistent problem that our school like all school faces is lack of communication. It is all well and good to say that we just need to communicate better, but between parents and teachers, teachers and students, teachers and administration, teachers and athletics and between teachers and teachers there is a great deal of miscommunication. Teachers planning too many tests on the same day, teachers planning field trips on the same day as the baseball team leaves early for a ball game. Multiple Calendars would do so much to address this huge and ongoing problem. This function joined with the ability to share calendars could elevate so much of this confusion. Not only could I build my own personal, and school calendars, through calendar sharing I could incorporate the Basketball schedule, if I had basketball players as well as quickly view other teachers.
In our school we have students from a variety of grades and with Google calendars parents could incorporate the calendars of their children in different grades into one calendar. As a parent of multiple children I am very excited about this power. With a click of a button I can toogle between viewing the calendar of one of my children to another, as well as building a composite calendar is wonderful advancement. I am sure that this is possible with other calendars, but I don;t know of any that are free and everyone has access to.
Becuase of my familiarity of Gmail and mail handling in general it was more difficult to decide on the three features of Gmail that I found most exciting. But I choose:
- The Universal availablity
- The task feature
- The ability to link it with my calendar
I have had a Gmail account for several years and I used it as a "decoy" account. It was an address that I would use to give to a website to make sure that they never contacted me. I had another "real" address that I would use for my contacts. I can see now that there is a lot more to Gmail than I first imagined. I enjoyed the tasks feature and the ability to quickly and easily prioritize my email.
One other function that I did not mention that is very convenient is the chat function. Because of the ease of following one strand it transforms an email exchange into a chat. Even if the "chat" is performed over the course of several days.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Google Apps Project for CPED 5005
Google
documents have forced teachers and all educators to come face to face
with a two different realities in students of today. The first of
reality that is faced by all parents and teachers both is that unlike
students of the past, young people today are very mobile. Gone are the
days that you can expect students go home and work on a paper for hours
at a time. With that change in schedule is a change in the period of
time that a student will have working on a single computer. (I myself
have already sit down in front of 5 different computers or workstations
as I have considered this document.) Google apps successfully deals
with this issue. Anywhere that students have access to the web, they
have access to their projects. Also with any tool that they can edit or
create a paper, I can foresee students using this tool with their
smartphones.
Another
reality that Google Documents faces is the concept of communication.
It seems very fitting that in a day and age where students do not feel
the need to communicate face to face, with Google documents they do not
need to collaborate face to face. Google apps more than meets the
Common Core standard of collaboration, because it forces the students to
collaborate through a project. As well as the Common Core instructions
of sharing the document with a teacher, as well as parents or peers,
and receiving feedback. Google Documents allows a student to complete
all of this within the framework of one document. With this tool it is
foreseeable that students will be able to work together to deliver a
single paper, even though the students are at different schools, or in
different countries.
As
to be expected there are drawbacks with everything, and there are with
Google Documents. First of all as a Word Processing program it does not
meet the standards set my Microsoft Word, or Wordperfect, to other
programs that I have experience using. This downfall is not evident
when simply keying in an essay, instead it is clear in many other
aspects. First of all when looking at the Tool Bar there are many
functions that I was unable to find. Things such as the Subscript and
Superscript functions are absent. I did enjoy the equation editor
function. Again it is not as powerful as Microsoft’s but it was a lot
easier to access. Another weakness I consider is that Google Documents
has to rely on the Internet to access, which is obviously difficult for
the ones who do not have Internet access.
Other
than these though I was fairly satisfied the functions were there, they
may be fewer choices, but they were there. For instance when it came
to inserting a page number, Microsoft Word gives levels of choices; top
or bottom; right, middle or left. Google Documents only gives you top
or bottom.
Definitely
the good outweighs the bad, as I have already shown this function to
several teachers at work and creating and sharing a document was much,
much easier than I expected. Also the ability to review the history of
the document was a tremendous help. At this time the common Core
Standard only mentions limits the importance of sharing the information
within the confines of a class or a family. With Google Documents it is
easy to imagine a time when the Common Core Standards will require a
student to collaborate within the world-wide classroom.
Jeff Evans
Monday, May 13, 2013
When I first read your question, how long I have been using computers? I didn't think it would be so dangerous, but as I considered it I suddenly realized that it has been a lot longer than I care to remember. If you considered that I took Basic programming in college in 1980 it has been a very long time. I am assuming that actually you are asking about personal computers, and in that case just for about 22 years. My first computer was an Apple, but for the most part I have used the Windows OS.
The first interesting fact I found on the Mac OS was the Multi-touch Gestures. I knew the function of using one finger, just like a mouse, but the uses of two and three fingers were new. While this function does not have a lot of application on a desktop computer I can certainly see the value of know this with IPADs, at least I assume that it is the same with IPADs.
The next was about versions. First of all with your help I was able to learn what they were and their application then I was learned about how to use them in the Lion OS system. This seems to be a very valuable and useful tool for collaboration work. It would be very helpful to view not only past work, but also who does what when several students are working together.
Finally learning what a Dock is and what the stacks are as well as how to manipulate the stacks was the third fact that I investigated. I have used Mac enough to know that the icons were lined up along the bottom of the screen, but the truth is other than clicking on them that was all that I knew. It would be helpful to be able to do more than this.
The first interesting fact I found on the Mac OS was the Multi-touch Gestures. I knew the function of using one finger, just like a mouse, but the uses of two and three fingers were new. While this function does not have a lot of application on a desktop computer I can certainly see the value of know this with IPADs, at least I assume that it is the same with IPADs.
The next was about versions. First of all with your help I was able to learn what they were and their application then I was learned about how to use them in the Lion OS system. This seems to be a very valuable and useful tool for collaboration work. It would be very helpful to view not only past work, but also who does what when several students are working together.
Finally learning what a Dock is and what the stacks are as well as how to manipulate the stacks was the third fact that I investigated. I have used Mac enough to know that the icons were lined up along the bottom of the screen, but the truth is other than clicking on them that was all that I knew. It would be helpful to be able to do more than this.
My first experience in looking at the blogs was, "watch out, avalanche! There is so much information that suddenly rushed upon me. I looked at three different blogs without really seeing anything. There were no trees just a sudden rush of images and titles. It began to slow down and I was able to stop and look at one of the articles and there was something there. On the blog titled "THETHINKINGSTICK" was an idea that I had never considered, "Does your EQ pass the google test?".
What a great question for an educator and really a lot simpler than the normal way that the hierarchy of questions are asked.
On the whole though one of the most interesting things I noticed about the various blogs was the variety. I would label some blogs advanced. That is the blog had such a great variety of information that, while I am sure that someone could build up a tolerance, on first impression as a novice I just had to immediately back out. On the other hand there seems to be more novice sites. I was able to read view one article, or one part at a time. For me this made it much easier.
On the whole though I find that the blogs are much like doing a Google Search, just how much information do you have time to view. Because no matter how much you look at it there is still so much to look at.
What a great question for an educator and really a lot simpler than the normal way that the hierarchy of questions are asked.
On the whole though one of the most interesting things I noticed about the various blogs was the variety. I would label some blogs advanced. That is the blog had such a great variety of information that, while I am sure that someone could build up a tolerance, on first impression as a novice I just had to immediately back out. On the other hand there seems to be more novice sites. I was able to read view one article, or one part at a time. For me this made it much easier.
On the whole though I find that the blogs are much like doing a Google Search, just how much information do you have time to view. Because no matter how much you look at it there is still so much to look at.
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