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.