SMART Learning Suite and G Suite Integration

Just this past week, the BMCHSD technology department added the NEW SMART Learning Suite Online G Suite Marketplace app to our teacher consoles. It has taken SMART a while to figure out that teachers need these features if they are going to stay relevant. Google Drive integration is a must. So, if you are still one of those few teachers that are still using SMART Notebook, now you have a way to access, edit and share it in Google Drive. It's certainly about time!

Here is a quick tutorial to explain how it works.

Fore"Site"

Google Sites is a free and easy way to create and share Webpages. Student groups, teaches, classes, or teams can create Websites quickly to share documents, videos, calendars, charts, and other information all in one place. Users can upload documents as attachments, search the Website for specific content, and make the site assessable to specific individuals such as a class roster. Since the software is Web-based, users can make changes to their site from any computer with an Internet connection.
Mr. Stein and I used Google Sites to create our very own Long Island Web 2.0 Classroom Website. The graphics are simple, so we spiced it up with Glogster on the homepage. Glogster is a revolutionary way to create a digital poster using flash technology. More information on these types of application will be coming soon. One feature that Google Sites offers that we really like is the built in sitemap, that we find so important to Website navigation. A sitemap is a representation of the architecture of a Website. It is a hierarchical list of Webpages that belong to a site. Google Sites also has templates that allow users to embed videos from YouTube. All you need to create a Google Site is to have a Google account, and it is free to create one.

One of the Coolest Tools on Earth!

Google Earth is a free, downloadable application that combines satellite imagery, maps, 3D terrain and 3D buildings to create a highly realistic virtual globe. Students and teachers can explore geographical content, save their toured places and share places with others.

Teachers and students can create their own virtual tours and share them with others. They can even explore content that is developed by organizations such as NASA. In addition, Google has teamed up with astronomers to bring us Google Sky. Using Google Maps this tool provides a way for teachers and students to explore the universe. Users can find the positions of the planets and constellations on the sky and can even watch the birth of distant galaxies as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Students can use Google Earth to:

• Create tours of their school or community
• Study climate change and the effects of global warming
• Track earthquakes in real-time

Turning a Video Into a Netcast

One cannot step into the W.C. Mepham High School Library these days without seeing a bunch of our students sitting at the banks of computers or laptops recording their narration for a Photo Story project or importing their videos into Movie Maker. So what should our teachers do with these creative, content-driven projects? They could take two days out of their instruction to present these projects in class OR they could do something different, innovative, and very useful! Teachers can post these videos to a blog and have their students watch each others projects for homework and answer thought-provoking questions online. How do they do this? Our teachers use Blogger. What is it? Blogger is a tool that makes it easy to instantly publish blogs to the Internet. Blogs are webpages consisting of frequently updated posts or entries on topics. The newest post appears at the top of the page, followed by recent posts in reverse chronological order. Blogger makes it easy to create rich multi-media posts that include text, links, pictures, and videos. Our students can comment on posts that are teacher-created, but student-directed.

Teachers have already used Blogger in our school to:

• Post their student's Photo Story and Movie Maker projects.
  
• Post resources, lessons, and homework assignments.
• Keep parents up-to-date on class happenings.
  

What Up Docs?

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, we have become a Google Apps School and with membership comes privileges!

Google Docs is a free online word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation editor that allows users to create, store, share, and collaborate on documents with others. If you know how to use other word processors (like Microsoft Word), spreadsheets (like Microsoft excel), and presentation (like Microsoft PowerPoint) programs, you can easily use Google Docs. Instead of emailing files back and forth between collaborators or saving them to flash drives, or saving them to our school's shared server, or burning them to CDs, Google Docs allows people to work on a single version of a document together online. The chat feature on presentations makes it possible to create a "permeable classroom" by bringing experts into a lesson to interact with students online. You can also create web-based surveys and questionnaires to collect information from students, teachers, or parents.

Students can use Google Docs to:

• Work on their documents from any computer—all they need is a Internet connection.
• Get instant feedback on their work from multiple collaborators and their teacher. (They allow only the users they want to have access to their work.)
• Publish their papers and presentations on the Web for an authentic audience.

Thank you to CUE and WestEd for providing some of this helpful information.

Why Use School Email Powered by Google?

As I mention in the last post, every student at W.C. Mepham High School has an email address from the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District that is powered by Google. But why use it, when you already have email addresses from AIM, AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc.? I will tell you why.

1. Keep unwanted messages out of your inbox with Google's powerful spam blocking technology
2. Keep any message you might need down the road, and then find it fast with Google search
3. Send mail, read new messages, and search your archives instantly from your phone
4. 7 GB of space
5. School-approved - We don't block school e-mail!

To sum it: Less spam, plenty of space, and access from anywhere!

We are a Google Apps School!

This September every student at W.C. Mepham High School was given an email address from the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District that is powered by Google, where email is more intuitive, efficient, and useful. This new email address was part of the Google Apps Education Edition. So what is Google Apps Education Edition?

At W.C. Mepham High School, our students have access to the following:

• Email account (username@bmchsd.org) powered by Google - 7 GB of space
• Google Docs — Students can share documents, spreadsheets and presentations online without the inconvenience of attachments
• Google Sites — Student groups, classes or teams can create Websites quickly to share documents, videos, calendars, charts and other information all in one place
• Google Calendar — Share personal, class schedules calendars

The best part of Google Apps is that these tools are available to our students anytime - anywhere there is an Internet accessible computer. Everyone can work together seamlessly and easily.

Students can use Google Apps to:

• Keep organized with Google Calendar
• Collaborate with classmates on a Webpage using Google Sites
• Make a group or individual presentation with Google Docs
  

Hello 2009!

What's in store at the Mepham High School Library in 2009? We're glad you asked. In the next few months we will be posting tips on how to use the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools. We will show you how to use Glogster, ToonDoo, and Wordle. We will also be adding to our Google Tips & Tricks. If there is any specific Web 2.0 tool that you would like to learn how to use, please let us know either by dropping us a line or stopping by the library. We have over a dozen quick tip handouts on various media, such as Movie Maker, Photo Story, Delicious, and many others on the shelf located next to the double doors. Feel free to take as many as you need. Happy 2009!

Image source

I've Gone Google!

They say once you've gone Google you never go back. Well, they don't really say it... but I will. The Google Teacher Academy in New York was AMAZING. The best thing that I learned all day was that since all of our students in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District have email accounts that are powered by Google, we are now considered a Google Apps School. What does this really mean? It means that we have access to Google Web applications for communication and collaboration within our classrooms. Applications such as Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Maps, Google Earth, iGoogle, Google Reader, and so, so, so much more!

Photo courtesy of Lisa Thumann

I'm Going Google!

According to their Website, The Google Teacher Academy is "a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative technologies." 50 innovative educators were selected to attend the GTA NY based on the merits of their online application - and I was one of them! Each applicant was required to produce an original one minute video. My topic was "Classroom Innovation" and the results are posted here on YouTube.

On November 18th I will be headed to Ninth Avenue in New York City and I will return to W.C. Mepham High School a Google Certified Teacher to report back to you!

MANY More Tips and Tricks!

Google can be a great search tool...if you know how to use it correctly. The tips below were taken from a handout that Google created and posted on their Librarian Central teaching tool website. Want a complete copy? Come into the library for more tips!

define: Find Meanings
What it does: defines a word or phrase
What to type: define: plethora
What you'll get: links to definitions of the word "plethora"

site: Site Specific
What it does: searches only particular websites
What to type: global warming site:edu
What you'll get: references to "global warming" found on .edu websites

link: Linked Pages
What it does: searches for webpages that link to a particular website
What to type: link:www.umich.edu
What you'll get: websites that link to the University of Michigan website

1+1: Math Answers (My favorite!)
What it does: basic calculator functions
What to type: 4+7, 30% of 55, 20^2, sqrt(4), etc.
What you'll get: the answer

cm in foot: Conversions
What it does: converts units of measure
What to type: cm in foot, 28C in F, $ in pound, days in fortnight, miles in league, mph in speed of light, etc.
What you'll get: the converted answer

*NEW UPDATE TO GOOGLE*
You can now get your flight status by typing in the name of the airline and flight number (e.g., American 123, ua226) into the search box, and Google will return the most up-to-date information from FlightStats.com.


Images taken from Google

Tips and Tricks!

The information in this post comes from a Google handout that we have in the school library. Come in for a copy today and look for more Google tips in future posts.

If you want better Google results you need to perform better Google searches. Here are some cool modifiers to type in your Google searchbox to refine your searches and get the best results.

" "
Exact Phrase
What it does: searches for an exact phrase
What to type: “one small step for man”
What you’ll get: results that include the exact phrase “one small step for man”

-
Excluded Words
What it does: excludes search results with a particular word or phrase
What to type: bass -fishing
What you’ll get: results about bass that are ot related to fishing

~
Similar Words
What it does: searches for a word and all its synonyms
What to type: ~mobile phone
What you’ll get: results with the word “phone,”as well as “cell,” “cellular,” “wireless,” etc.

OR
Multiple Words

What it does: searches for webpages that include either word
What to type: “vacation” “London” OR “Paris”
What you’ll get: results with the word vacation and either London or Paris

...
Numerical Ranges
What it does: searches for a range of numbers
What to type: Willie Mays 1950…1960
What you’ll get: results about Willie Mays during this time period

Images taken from Google