Google Site: https://sites.google.com/site/testsitejunkiemonkey/

In this GAIN assignment, we had to create a Google Site. I have to say, this was the most confusing and frustrating assignment. I struggled with the layouts and putting links and gadgets in particular places. When I previewed the examples that we were given, it looks like if you could master the tools and application, you could make a very useful and interactive site. I don’t think it is the application that made it difficult but just my experience with it made it difficult to master in just one assignment.

I was able to make a few links and add a video, a calendar and a link to my blog. So I am not a complete loss at it but would definitely have to play with it some more. I was not able to change the background but once again, if I worked at it some more, I might be able to create something more creative. I was able to change the color of my text which I suppose is a start in itself. I could see this being a good site to have for parents and students to go to for homework assignments, upcoming news events and videos and other media pertinent to our class.  All and all a good site but only as good as what is put into it.

Link to Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pXDOeC-A2t6phtkCoy8eBPPPMx9ldJxY_AS1mdkgzXw/viewform?usp=send_form

Link to Spreadsheet:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T_4RvCE6WvUQ-uofme16YCgK8tyNrUGChj4puXRET30&authuser=0

In this GAIN assignment, I worked with Google Forms. Above are the links to the test itself and the spreadsheet. I created the form and gave my children the test. It worked well although the grading was difficult to work with. The problem was the equation that I saw in the link did not work well so I had to create several different ones to come up with the average. I am sure that playing with it, I can get it to work better.

Google Forms is a good tool for meeting certain common core standards as well. Students are to present information, findings and evidence for specific purposes and to specific audiences. The use of forms would help to gather the information and make surveys more easily accessible. Short research projects or sustained projects over a long period of time could benefit from the use of forms in which students can use the information to support certain ideas or trends.

All and all a good app that I look forward to using more in the future.

This TECH entry assignment was to review several apps from a list of apps that were provided. One section is apps for literacy and the other section is iPad apps for particular disciplines or subjects.

For the iPad literacy, I selected three apps to review.

The first was Dictionary. This app works just as it states, like a dictionary. The user types in a particular word, don’t worry if you can’t spell it correctly, it will give you suggestions close to how it was spelled. Once a word is selected, it will give you however many definitions of the word, how to use it in a sentence, pronunciation and has a link to Thesaurus for words similar to it. All and all a good app for iPads in the classroom to aid students in understanding what they are reading or to provide a tool for writing papers or reports.

The second app was called Drawing Pad. This app would be geared toward more the younger age but is a good drawing tool. The menu is all picture based allowing students to navigate through the app with ease. You can then save any drawing and send/share through email or text message.

The final app was called Puppet Pals. This is an interactive app that allows you to use characters to create a movie in which your voice can be recorded for it. The free version only comes with a few characters and a wild west theme but you can purchase many other characters or create your own backgrounds or characters. This app would be good for story plots.

For iPad Disciplines, I have three apps that I reviewed.

SpellBoard is an app that is used for spelling. You can customize your spelling lists and then allow the student to participate in various activities with the vocabulary presented. This would reinforce spelling techniques in which the student can then take a spelling quiz to grade progress and practice.

The Stories(Read Me) is a story app that allows students to read books or have books read to them. I was unable to get to in-depth with it and the questions I have would be how wide the selection of books and level of reading the books would cover. But for reading purposes, this app has a lot of potential to be a good tool to reinforce reading and listening skills and how to reinforce ideas and plots found in stories.

The final app I reviewed was Stack the Continents. This was a Geography app that allows the user to play interactive games while testing their knowledge of geography principles. This could be a great app. I was unable to see or grasp anyway to customize the game and I am not sure if you could tailor the game to a specific region but still a good game that has potential.

For this Gain assignment, I had to create a spreadsheet with certain parameters included in the assignment. My spreadsheet is at the link https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R2VhmQYVOwRPht5TLyESQYp5ZCB18veu_8zVqBASRVY/edit?usp=sharing

I have worked a little with Excel, and from what I have seen here, it is very similar. One thing I noticed that is different is that to format a cell in Excel, you simply right click the cell but here you have to go to one of the buttons up top or the drop down menu. Not any more difficult but different and took some time to get used to. The spreadsheet itself was tough to come up with a suitable template. Once I came up with the mess I have, I struggled to find a way to calculate averages. I have no doubt that spreadsheets are an easy way to calculate grades but would have to play with this some more and look at other templates of previous successful experiences to really get a handle on this program.

Spreadsheets would work well with Common Core standards for students to represent and generate measurement data. It could also aid in performing operations in math such as scientific notation (although I am not at that level yet).

In conclusion, Numbers is a suitable substitute for Excel and as with every Google application, it can be shared with ease.

In this TECH assignment, I will be discussing several points that were part of our assignment.

The iWorks app that I decided to to compare was iNumbers. iNumbers is a iPad application that is very similar to Microsoft Excel which I have used before. The format is similar as well as the organization of the columns and rows.You can also format cells as well as change colors and alignments. It has built in formulas which are very similar Microsoft Excel as well. The movement of the app differs from Excel in that iPads have a touch screen system and Excel typically has a mouse movement system. You can delete unnecessary rows and columns by dragging which is different from Excel. One bonus of iNumbers is the ability to create charts within the document to reflect the numerical data presented The iPad supports Numbers allowing for an easier use with tablet platforms allowing for a mobile use of the application unlike Excel. Because the application was created for iPads, the tools and movement works well within the tablet format.

iThought is a mind mapping tool application that can be downloaded to the Apple platforms. As stated, it is a mind-mapping tool that has various applications within the education system. Part of the process of writing papers includes mapping out thoughts, ideas and finding links to thought to create a thoughtful format to a paper. iThought could provide a suitable tool for accomplishing this. iThought could also provide a tool to map out processes in scientific thought and allow students see links within ecosystem processes and plant and animal life cycles.

Safari is the internet application found most common with Apple products. It is the replacement to Internet Explorer. Many of the features and format is similar to most internet explorer devices. Unfortunately, Apple products do not support Adobe Flash functions. The Rover application is an attempt to replace or replicate flash supported sites. Many educational sites have interactive functions supported by Flash that are unable to be used in Apple products. What Rover does is provide an interactive “video” of the site allowing for interaction. This ability though uses a lot of bandwidth making it impractical for school settings. The finger movement functions also are different leaving a learning curve for use within the site. Safari provides a suitable alternative for internet browsing but on a large scale school setting, Rover does not seem to be a suitable alternative to flash interactive sites.

GAIN Presentations

In this GAIN entry, I am going to compare the Google Presentations application to the Microsoft Word Powerpoint that I primarily use. Google Presentations has done a very good job at using the same functions and format of Powerpoint. For someone who has only used Powerpoint and has never used Presentations, there was very little of a “learning curve” in operating. Many features in adding text, graphics and transitions remained the same in Presentations. There was some difference in the where and how functions, but once again it was more just the presentation of the tools or menus that was hard to learn. The main feature of Presentations that beats out Powerpoint is the ability to collaborate on a particular presentation. Where Powerpoint (and every Microsoft product), if it needs to be shared it is saved and sent to someone else with no ability to add notes or edit other than just simply changing it. Presentation, like Google Docs has the ability to add notes and comments that others can view and work with. You can also share presentations to others which then they can have the ability to simply view, add comments or have complete rights to edit. This feature would be useful for education as students could share presentations and the teacher would have access to all presentations instead of working with saving them on drives and sending them.

Presentations and Powerpoint both can be used to satisfy Common Core standards. Anchor Standard 5 for Speaking and Learning states that students need to make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information which can be accomplished with Presentations/Powerpoint. The collaboration features of Presentation and Google Docs would satisfy many of the Writing Standards to include standard 11-12 which states students are to update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback. Also Anchor Standard 10 in Writing Standards states to write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes and audience.

So in conclusion, Google Presentation would be a suitable substitute and a cheaper price than Microsoft PowerPoint. With the added benefit of collaboration as with all Google products through the Cloud, Presentations would make a suitable product for school systems.

The link to my presentation in which I played with some of the features is:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zVhJC2IIFgvTmLli17wZLHYs0JRlr7YT6rVC96FSWvg/present?slide=id.p

GAIN Drawings

In this GAIN entry, I will be discussing the use of Google Drawing. Google Drawing is similar to Microsoft Paint but as with every other Google application, its strength is in the fact that it can be shared, collaborated and links to the Cloud to allow access within a classroom setting. Drawing is similar to paint as the primary application of the application seems to fit in the geometry area. You can make certain graphs and charts for Google Docs but I would assume that spreadsheet would be a better fi for such application. Drawings as the ability to create shapes which would allow students hands on ability to interact. Common Core standard for Seventh Grade include the ability to draw (with technology), geometric shapes with given conditions.

The lesson plan provided in the assignment I looked at was for the elementary school project. You are to create a drawing and then have the students create the same drawing using their Google Drawing application. This would be an interactive way to develop understanding of shapes and the names of shapes. But for once, I probably would have a more hands on, tangible approach such as create drawings with pen, paper and cut-outs. I am sure drawing is a great tool and I have seen some of the drawings people create in art and geometry. My concern would be that if you were not well versed in Drawing or Paint, the software can take some time to get used to. This time could be better used to implement what you are trying to learn instead of attempting to operate the software.

The lesson plan is still good and would satisfy the requirement to teach shapes to children through technology. I like the ability to use Google Drawing instead of a Microsoft Paint but still I would be hesitant simply from my own struggles with the software.

TECH Assignment on Compartive Uses of Technology in the Classroom

OK, this is me...waving the white flag. There seems to be a debate (at least in our class assignments) about iPads vs. Android vs. Windows based technology in classrooms. I am sure it’s a great debate but for the sake of this entry, we are going to assume we live in a one-choice only word where Apple is king and Taco Bell is the only restaurant available.

So this begs the question, how will iPads be used in classrooms and what will it replace or how will it scope the future classroom of the 21st century?

First, lets be clear, iPads or technology in general is not going away. For too long, the education system has fought the use of technology as an unnecessary evil that fights for the attention and time of its students who need to be in front of pen and paper. Technology is sticking around and as we have seen through our class studies, the education system is embracing it and attempting to shape how it is used in the classrooms. You can bet that any state you visit in the United States today has at least one iPad pilot program going on in one of their schools. New Zealand is about to become the first county to have an iPad in all students hands. Apple has even developed mass configuration apps which allow educators the ability to configure apps in several iPads at once through the Apple Configurator.

In a blog dated back to March 23, 2012 by a NPR news station titled Here and Now, their focus was on a Boston Area high school called Burlington High School. This school decided to move away from the purchase of textbooks and started a iPad program. The program was funded with money normally set aside for textbooks and construction and upkeep of computer labs. Interviews with the students found that the applications of such a change made a wider impact than simply replacing textbooks. Students commented on the note taking applications for classroom lecture, the ability to have sheet music sent for band music in upcoming musicals and having the internet right at your fingers for instant research into difficult subjects or topics. Where teachers worried about the distraction, the use of technology appeared to put a spark back in the learning process as students became more hands on.

Another study of students with technology was posted in a blog by Sam Gliksman on Jan 24, 2011. This survey also was of high school students and its focus was more on the ease of iPads in the classroom. Where this study found a weakness was in the preference of laptops over iPads. iPads were found to be very difficult to use with word processing software. Laptops with keyboards were more preferred by 74% of students who took the survey.  Also, the school that the survey was completed had a iPad program that required many students sharing each iPad. This was found to be difficult as a lot of personal data is saved in each tablet without the ability to have several separate user accounts. Apps saved data from previous users not allowing for accurate tracking or personalization of the tablet for maximum benefits. It would appear through that struggle that when looking at developing a iPad program, individualized tablets for each student would be beneficial.

As mentioned before, the use of iPads in the education system boasts an economic advantage over the traditional textbook format. No longer would education systems have to purchase 4 to 8 textbooks per student each time they upgraded to the newest edition. Online textbooks have been found to be up to 50% cheaper or more. Another advantage to iPads is the ability to develop and have at your fingertips an elaborate instructional infrastructure. The use of apps and ability of multimedia creativity allow teachers to bring to life lessons and put to practice lessons with more than just pencil to paper learning.  

Another application that has probably not been tapped into very in depth within the education system is the ability to use technology within special needs realms. One iPad app called Verbally has been attempting to use technology for specific purposes. It is a speech assisted app that allows students to speak through the app that have significant promise. Textbook learning with paper, pencil and reading are long a thing in the past as students can become immersed in 3D worlds, interactive movement, color, video and audio stimulus to create an educational process that is tailored to all types of students.

So in conclusion, technology is here to stay. Not only that but it has been found to be advantageous over several “old-school” methods. The days of 400 pound backpacks loaded with textbooks and notepads can be replaced with one light-weight tablet. Educational interaction can replace one dimensional paper lessons as students can be become both consumers and producers of the educational process. Schools are learning from one another as success stories and failures are learned from and improved. It is time to embrace it.

    

This TECH entry is in response to the chapter found in the Google Apps textbook labeled “Documents”. One of the first requirements in this assignment is to compare the Google Docs to word processing applications that I have used in the past. One of the only word processing applications that I have used most frequently is Microsoft Word. Word is used exclusively in military computer systems and I have only dealt with Microsoft Office in my many jobs on the civilian side. That being said, I was curious on how Google Docs worked and if it would be a suitable replacement to the expensive Microsoft Word application. I actually typed this entire blog entry using Google Docs just to use the application more and to test in a real time scenario. Google Docs operates very much like Microsoft Word. The tool bar on top is extremely easy to use and almost identical to many of the Word systems. The shortcuts that are common in Microsoft word for underlying, making print bold and italicized are the same for Google Docs. In fact in only took a couple of minutes of familiarization to use Google Docs for someone who has only dealt with Microsoft Word. The textbook and from what I have dealt with in class highlights the idea that one of Google Docs greatest strengths is the ability to share a document through the Cloud. This feature would support the Common Core Standard for Writing 6 in which emphasizes the use of writing technology to “produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others”(pg 42). The idea of not only producing a document but being able to interact and collaborate with it with other students is one of Google Docs bragging points. Google Docs has many tools to aid during the revision processes of document writing to include adding comments to a document. The ability to add comments from others help support Common Core standards found in Grade 6 in which students develop and strengthen their writing skills with the guidance and support of peers and adults(pg 64). Another benefit of Google Docs over its competitors is the price. Microsoft Office is very expensive and to use in a larger platform with many computers having access will only increase price as each computer will have to be licensed to have access. Google Docs only requires access to the internet as the software is free.

    For all Google Docs is praised for, one thing I have found using this software is that it runs solely online.In order to create a document you have to have access to the internet. Even as I typed this, I was booted off four times as my internet signal strength was not sufficient. Microsoft Word can be operated completely offline which is an asset when working on a document in a location that may not have internet access. There may be ways to work offline and as I am new to the software I may simply be ignorant of such methods.

    I used the document that was already shared for the class to see the idea of collaborative editing. I really like the comments feature when sharing a document. Students can submit a paper in and as the teacher, you can make comments that will help guide the student in specific ways. Google Docs is a well laid out program that could have many advantages over traditional writing formats and software programs.I think I could become a big fan of the program!

This TECH entry is in response to the scenario presented in our assignment on tablets in the school. My presentation is to explain the options that have been presented and to give some pros and cons of each option.

As the assignment stated, the principal is inclined to not consider the smaller sized platforms and I would tend to agree with them. Although the smaller platforms are more convenient for transportation, the smaller screens do not give a feasible working area for many of the applications or provide a wide enough area for comfortable reading. The large screens are compared to a three ring binder size and are not conducive to hold in one hand for elementary school children. The screen size would be ideal but at the expense of losing portability for students and risking damage as students transport them. I would lean towards the medium size platforms. The screen size is ideal at around 6” to 7” in diameter for reading applications and educational applications. They remain small enough for comfortable transportation and can be held securely in the hands of an elementary student.

In making the decision of what operating system to use, the main question that needs to be answered is how the educators intend to use the systems. Apple systems have a wide variety of educational apps that are interactive and easy to use. The variety is much more diverse allowing for more flexibility in what you are wanting to use in the classroom. If the primary function of the units is books, iBooks is a decent program. It offers a well organized folder system and can easily store pdf and doc files with ease. The selection of books might not be as strong as some of the competitors though. One weakness of the Apple system is the inability to use Flash. Although there are ways around it that can work sporadically, many media videos and interactive files are problematic when operating on the Apple system.

Android systems operate out of the Kindle, Nook and generic Android systems. There are a significant amount of apps available on the systems but there can be issues with crossover from each system and even between software revisions. Where Android does well is in the book media department. The Kindle and Nook systems offer a very wide market of books in digital format. One weakness of the Kindle system is that many of the systems do not have page numbers and some systems are difficult to organize books.

Windows based systems such as Surface are advantageous over other systems in that they can connect to common PC systems such as Microsoft Office platforms. They have a decent amount of apps and books and the system can support flash media. However, they can be pricey when compared to other options.

In regards to connectivity the options we have are cellular based and WiFi. Most systems have built in WiFi capabilities as the source of base connectivity of the unit. Cellular options allow for units to stay connected to a telecommunications tower and can be beneficial in places where WiFi is not available. However, cellular service requires the units be set up for use and usually include a contracted price that can be expensive. The units would have to be retrofitted to accommodate cellular connection as well.

One of the requirements for this week in GAIN is to comment on a blog from the list provided. I looked at thethinkingstick.com blog on a recent post dated April 29th, 2015. The title of the blog entry was titled Institutes and Conferences. The thought in the entry was that as the school year was winding down, there was some reflection on how stressful the end of school year can be with the many comprehensive testing requirements. But with summer rolling in, it would be good to review upcoming conferences for teachers for the summer. Teachers stay pretty busy through the school year with very little opportunity for continuing education as the school year progresses. We can take advantage of the summers as opportunities to continue to develop our skillsets and to foster new ideas and experiences with other teachers within the profession. These conferences can spark new creative ideas and give educators a recharge and refueling to study plans and ideas they can take back into the classroom environment. The blogger on this site gives several ideas that will hopefully foster discussion among teachers you work with to take advantage of the summer and register for a conference near you.

Hi! My name is Josh and this is my first "blog". I am looking forward to learning how to integrate technology in the classrooms in a way that benefits the students and maximizes the educational opportunities teachers have in a limited time.