Padlet-Collaboration Tool

http://padlet.com/

Grades: Grades 6-12

I found this free tool through a Common Sense Media review of the 10 best new applications for educators. (The review is here: http://www.graphite.org/website/padlet.) Anna Taylor and I are using it to collaborate for a project and I'm really inspired by its functionality.

Padlet lets you pin videos, text, links, images, anything that can be added to a board with a simple drag-and-drop system. It enables you to share ideas from many different mediums, including documents, class notes, and completed assignments, in one easy to access place. Since more than one person can contribute to a Padlet wall, its useful for teamwork and group project. I like one educator's suggestion that you can post a prompt, ask each student to contribute, and then once everyone has posted, you can change the setting so everyone's input can be seen.

Anna found this great Padlet mini-tutorial on YouTube which explains some of the features that are especially useful for teachers.

Doctopus: A new Add-on for Google Docs

Reveles, Jana

 

Atwood, Jay, and Jennie Magiera. Drum roll, please! Announcing the newly released doctopus, An add-on for google docs." Web log post. New Visions for Public Schools. New Visions for Public Schools, 8 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.newvisions.org/blog/entry/drum-roll-please-announcing-the-new-improved-doctopus.

 

This blog post discusses a new add-on the Google Docs entitled Doctopus. Doctopus works with Google Spreadsheets to help teachers create rosters, enter rubrics, customize feedback, and share documents. The post goes into some detail about how this add-on can be used. The blog also includes a screencast about the product.

The authors call Doctopus “the educator’s virtual personal assistant”. They seem to be really excited about this product. After reading their blog, I really want to try it out!

Google without Scholar? That's like TV without news channels!

Rene Hohls
WHAT IF GOOGLE KILLED SCHOLAR?
http://www.maxkemman.nl/2013/09/what-if-google-killed-scholar/

September 18, 2013 · by Max Kemman · in Information Retrieval

For those of us who use Google Scholar on a regular basis (and noticed when it was dropped from the "More" drop down menu in Google Search), the idea of searching for anything academically viable without the Scholar option is bleak. Although academic data is findable using Google Search, it is similar to looking for the needle in that haystack - sifting through the pile looking for truly academic information and academic connections such as "cited by" and "related information" which can make any search more efficient.

Google Scholar is a wonderful filter and if used well, it can be a powerful tool and a time-saving one amidst the vast field of hay.

Laptops, Part 2

Torbert, Nancy

Rapp, D. (2011). Libraries, Chromebooks, and Google Apps. Library Journal, 16.

Many schools use Apple products—Macs, iPads, and the iPod touch as technology tools as well as part of the Apple 1:1 program.  Some schools are finding that the program can be too expensive and students are struggling to make their payments on their lease to buy their laptop or iPad. 

As an alternative to Apple’s laptop program, some schools are transitioning to the Google Chromebook available at a lower cost and using Google’s cloud-based applications.  Students don’t have to worry about the applications being out of date, as Google upgrades the applications with new updates.

Not only are school’s using Google apps but some public libraries have also migrated to Google—two examples cited in the article are Palo Alto City Library and the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL)--a large contract with the city of Los Angeles.

Beginning in 2013-2014 our school will phase in Google Apps for Education, beginning with Chromebooks for students who have opted to participate in an Academy that will focus on grade level collaboration among core departments. Teachers have been selected from English, Science and Social Studies.  In the meantime, however, teachers not in the Academy will need to learn Google Apps—sounds like a good use of the learning commons to provide some professional development in the ELC!

Google Apps for Education

Torbert, Nancy

Google Enterprise. (2010, November 19). Google Apps for Education K12 Demo [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAfzcYWh5Gg

An introduction to Google Apps for Education and produced by Google.  The Day in the Life of a K-12 teacher provides an overview of how a teacher can use the Google calendar, documents, forms, spreadsheets and how students can share a document with the teacher through a shared folder.

Although the narration can be condescending at times, the information provided packs a lot of information and “food for thought”. Although created as an overview of a teacher’s day, I can see a lot of applications that the teacher librarian can incorporate into “their day”—for example, the teacher librarian collaborating with a teacher through a shared Google docs folder; forms to create book request, or an equipment check out request form; calendar to share the library calendar and also have faculty share their calendar; or assist teachers to use sites to create a classroom web page.