Some more tips for going paperless

http://willardeastelementary.edublogs.org/2010/04/22/paperless-earth-day/

I'm a big proponent of going paperless. When I worked as an engineer over 10 years ago, a few of the companies I worked for where going paperless back then. Many schools are going paperless, or as much as possible, now. I've written about tips and resources for going paperless before and here are some more tips.

Paper, we don't need no paper! Tools and tips for going paperless

Tools to go Paperless (in school and at home)


Tips:

- use flat screen monitors on walls as electronic bulletin boards.
- install solar panels on roof to offset increased electricity use.
- 2 monitors for each PC - can have reference on one screen and working document on other instead of printing reference out (or use tablet)
- Use email, chat, and meeting software and other collaborative software
- all markups done electronically
- auto backup of network every day
- all files on network with offsite, fireproof backup (Dropbox, Sugarsync, own network)
- autosave files every 5 min
- battery and generator backups
- limit print outs to absolutely necessary items
- all files saved in two formats - original (such as Word or PPT) and PDF. PDF is readable by every device and operating system using free apps.
- Read-only terminals in certain areas for visitors and reference look up
- network accessible from home/road for personnel - no data on laptops
- all paperwork from outside is scanned into system - original is filed
- all partners, organizations and vendors are encouraged to use electronic communications - email, website forms, etc.
- Student Information are all searchable and connected and linked with all relevant files
- scan legacy files using OCR into PDF files or scan into Evernote to make searchable
- don't print emails!
- all files distributed as PDF's when possible - readable on any system
- Train your employees on going paperless

What tips do you have for going paperless?

Related:

Evernote for Educators

Cloud File Storage, backup and sync

Baldrige Criteria for High Performance of Organizations related to education

The Baldrige programs mission is to improve the competitiveness and performance of  US organizations. It is part of the The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. I've used some of this in my past career as an engineer. I think some of the criteria can be useful in education also.

Baldrige Critera

Customer Driven - in education, our "customers" are the students. We need to make sure that everything we do, and every decision we make is for the benefit of our students.

Visionary Leadership - we need educational leaders with values who can come up with new and innovative ways to address issues in education.

Organization and Personal Learning - Continuous improvement and education - everyone in education needs to be lifelong learners and continue to learn and improve themselves.

Valuing Employees and Partners - educational leaders need make sure that their staff are valued and supported. We also need to make sure we include our community partners.

Agility - rapid change and flexibility - education, like most government, is slow to change. We need to change when needed to better address the needs of our students.

Focus on Future - long term goals, focus, commitments - what is the long term goal of education? Think beyond the next test or next marking period. Start planning long term.

Managing for Innovation - educational leaders need to embrace change, and encourage faculty, students, and community partners to come up with innovative ideas to solve problems and issues.

Managment by Fact - measure, analyze, data - data driven decision making. Decisions have to be made based on research, data, best practices, and what will benefit our students.

Public Responsibility and Citizenship - civic duties - our duty is to our students, their families and the community.

Focus on Results and Creating Value - in education, this is not test scores. It is providing students with the skills and resources they need to be successful in life.

Systems Perspective - look at the big picture.

What do you think?

Baldrige program for Education: http://www.nist.gov/baldrige/enter/education.cfm  

Podio - social work platform - great for education too

Podio is a "social work platform" that allows people to collaborate on projects. The service has already made apps for managing projects, and also provides an easy way to create your own project management apps. It also integrates with Google Docs. You create dedicated work spaces to work on projects and assignments. There are also iPhone and Android apps for Podio.

There's a free student version (https://students.podio.com/) and there are free accounts for anyone.

Some of the features:

• Project Management

  Discover the easy way to run projects. Simple yet fully flexible. Enjoy successfully finished projects.

• Social Intranet

  Share knowledge, see what others are working on, and connect to your co-workers to become a great team.

• Collaboration

  Discover the new way of collaborating across teams and organizations. Work smarter together and create more value

• Product Development

  Boost your development process. Stay on top of customizable workflows. Leverage team power to create great products.

• CRM & Lead Management

  Stay on top of all your business relations. Fully customizable to close more deals and know your customers better.

• Recruiting

  Manage your recruiting process in one place. Get out of spreadsheets and email and enjoy hiring the best candidates.

• Event Management

  All you need to organize great events. Easily keep track of budgets, participants and your team's tasks.

Some of the features of the student version:

6 reasons you'll love to use Podio

• Task Manager

  Hit 'T' anywhere in Podio to create a task. It's as easy as that to create your to-do list

• Simple Surveys

  Easily create survey apps, turn them into powerful web forms and collect your research hassle-free

• Files

  Share all your documents and files in one place, so you can comment and work on them - unlimited storage included

• Workspaces

  Create as many workspaces as you need to work together with your study group, research fellows, or your entire class

• Social

  Think of Facebook just for your professional study and work-related needs

• Mobile

  Use our free mobile apps to easily create new study notes and stay on top of your essays & uni projects on the go
  
  
  
  
  
  

Keys to running Effective Meetings

Meetings are something that all managers and leaders need to be able to plan, organize, run and follow up on. When I was a project engineer, I had to run lots of meetings and had training in effective meetings at a couple different companies. I've attended good meetings, and really bad meetings. In education, many meetings seem to be a complete waste of time, or the entire faculty is at a meeting that only affects a small number. Meetings are expensive - you have to take into consideration the time and salaries during the meeting and the fact that people aren't doing other work. Make your meetings effective - have a clear objective and keep them short and to the point. 

These key points are great for anyone running a meeting. 

Keys to Effective Meetings

1. Define purposes of meeting - why are you meeting? What is the objective of the meeting? Also, does this meeting have to be face-to-face, or can it be virtual, via email, Google Docs, etc. Do we need to meet as a group or could certain people deal with issues?

2. Develop agenda - what are the key points that need to be addressed. Who needs to be at the meeting? What tasks need to be assigned during the meeting? What is the time frame for the meeting?

3. Distribute agenda prior to meeting - this gives attendees a chance to prepare any materials or information prior to the meeting and to be prepared. This also keeps meetings moving faster. The agenda can be emailed, shared as a Google Doc, or posted online.

4. Arrive and start on time - the person running the meeting should be there early and ready to go. Have extra copies of agenda available. Start on time and stick to the schedule.

5. One speaker at a time - follow rules. One person talks at a time, no side conversations.

6. Review agenda and set priorities - what is the top priority to be addressed at the meeting? What needs to be accomplished?

7. Stick to agenda - items not on the agenda should be held to the end or put off to a later meeting.

8. Assign task responsibilities - make sure people know what they are responsible for and where to go for support. Give them resources and help to accomplish their tasks.

9. Establish target dates - when do things need to be done by? When is the next meeting? When will follow ups be done?

10. Summarize agreements - summarize what was accomplished, decided, and agreed upon.

11. Close at or before agreed time - do not run over unless absolutely necessary. Things can be discussed online or at a later meeting.

12. Keep a written record of meeting - assign a secretary and keep notes of the meeting including attendees, agenda, what was discussed, tasks assignments, and follow up information.

13. Edit and distribute minutes promptly - minutes should be distributed within 24-48 hours of a meeting.

14. Encourage completion of tasks - remind persons of task assignments and due dates and offer them help and support.

15. Put unfinished business on agenda for next meeting. - Unfinished business should be addressed at the beginning of next meeting. 

Meetings should not be something people dread attending. They should be where things get discussed, accomplished, and decided. Follow these key points and your meetings will be more effective. 

Differentiation - tools, tips and resources

Differentiation is an important aspect of education. Students learn differently, have different needs, different backgrounds, different skills, different ability levels, different interests and more. As educators, we try to create engaging lesson activities that provide a variety of learning experiences and allow students to demonstrate their learning in different ways.

Differentiation should occur in both how students learn and gain knowledge and skills, and in how they demonstrate and are assessed on what they have learned.  

“In the practice of education, differentiation is defined as working to address the abilities, interests, and needs (both perceived and real) of individuals. Differentiation provides students with opportunities to approach curriculum from their strengths, as varied as these might be.” (Sondergeld and Schultz, 2008).  

Here are some resources, tips, and tools on differentiation:

Digital Differentiation - ideas and tools for differentiating with digital resources

Tools for Differentiation - helping teachers meet the needs of all learners

Differentiating with Web 2.0 Technologies

Great LiveBinder on Differentiation for High Ability Users

Differentiating Using 21st Century Tools

Differentiator - free web app to help teachers differentiate using Blooms Taxonomy

The How's, Why's and Value of Educational Technology (including differentiation)

References:

Sondergeld, T. A., & Schultz, R. A. (2008). Science, standards, and differentiation: It really can be fun! Gifted Child Today,31(1), 34-40. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/203260422?accountid=31683

Google Plus - tips for using in education, facts and data infographic

Google Plus (Google+) is Google's Social Networking service. I love it. You can create circles (groups of people) and only share things with the circles you choose, can have Hangouts (video conferences), share resources, have conversations, and much more. Google+ doesn't have all the ads and games that Facebook does and has a cleaner layout. I think it's a great resource for educators to use with colleagues and with students. You can share resources, have discussions and learn from colleagues. With students, you can post resources, have a Hangout as a help session, and much more.

I've written about Google+ in education many times:

Google+ - More Reasons its great for Education

Google+ and Google+ Pages - great for educators and schools

10 Ways to Use Google Plus in the Classroom

Teaching with Google Plus - tips and resources

Twitter, Google Plus, Facebook - a nice comparison

Google Plus now open to Teens, with safety features


Here is an infographic with some interesting facts and statistics about Google+

Android for Education resources and apps

A colleague asked if I could put together a list of some great Android apps for education and some great Android resources for a presentation he is doing on the Kindle Fire. Here's what I came up with:


Great Android Apps for Education and Resources for Android

Comparison to iPad
Every app I want or need is available on Android. For the most part the functionality and features are the same between Android and iPad versions. Sometimes the iPad version has more features, sometimes the Android version does. In general, there isn’t much difference.

Most of the apps listed below are free.

Evernote - a must have app and service for pretty much everyone - teachers, students, administrators, mom's, dad's, business people, etc. The Android App is excellent and you can sync your notebooks to your phone for offline access. Take notes, clip web sites, upload files, upload and search photos, share notebooks, and much more.
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/evernote-for-education.html

Google - search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Google Plus, Docs, Google Tasks, Blogger, Maps, Google Voice, Voice Search, Translate, Music, goo.gl, YouTube, and much more. They all work great, with Docs having full editing features and Translate even translating spoken word.
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/google-for-educators_22.html

yasp! Easy to use Student Planner for Android
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/yasp-easy-to-use-student-planner-for.html

QuickOffice - access, view, and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel files.Free version comes with phone and can view documents. Pro version adds editing for a fee.

Cloud Storage apps - Dropbox, SugarSync, - access, upload, download all your files and data from your computer to the cloud and your device.
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/cloud-file-storage-sync-backup.html

10 Great, Free Apps for Students for Notetaking and Class Planning
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/02/10-great-free-apps-for-students-for.html

Android Apps related to Bloom’s Taxonomy - great way to find apps
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/android-apps-related-to-blooms-taxonomy.html

Kindle Reader - for all kinds of books


Android also has some great sharing features - you can share web sites and much more from your device to a huge number of apps: http://www.android4schools.com/2012/01/16/sharing-from-the-android-browser/ 



What are your favorite Android Apps for Education?





More:

Android Smartphone and Apps I use as an educator
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/10/android-smartphone-and-apps-i-use-as.html

Android news, resources, app reviews and more
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/11/android-resources-information-news.html

Why I use Google’s apps as an Educator
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-i-use-googles-products-as-educator.html


Android 4 Schools - app reviews, tips and more for using Android in education
http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2011/12/android-4-schools-great-new-site-with.html


11 Awesome Apps to Try on your Android Device
http://www.android4schools.com/2011/12/25/10-apps-to-try-on-your-new-android-device/


101 Best Android Apps in Education
http://101bestandroidapps.com/category/education/

Most Popular Articles for past week - great info and resources

Vacation! We are on vacation from school for next week. I will be posting new articles, but not as often as normal, as we do have plans for some fun and relaxation.

Here are the most popular articles for the past week. There is some great information and some great resources here.

1. Teachers - What people think we do, and what we really do - some humorous pictures

2. 10 great, free apps for Students for Note taking and Class planning

3. Great Resources for New Teachers - advice, tips, support and training

4. Social Media in Education - connect, share, learn, communicate and more

5. STEM Career information resources for educators to share with students

6. Evernote for Schools site - official Evernote web page for using Evernote in Education

7. LibreOffice - a great, free, office suite - gets upgraded 

8. Media Converter - fast, free online audio and video file converter

9. eTextbooks, Textbooks, iPads - what are the costs?

10. Teaching with Google Plus - tips and resources

And here are some older or permanent pages and articles that have been trending this week:


1. 10 Tech Skills Every Student (and teacher) should have

2. 10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

3. Infographic on better searches using Google

4. Google for Educators Resources

5. My Favorite Resources for Educators and Students



Have a great weekend, and if you are off next week, have a great vacation!

pult - make any dumbscreen smart using your smartphone

pult is a free site that allows you to use your smartphone to stream videos from YouTube or Vimeo, photos from Flickr and Picasa, presentations from Slideshare, and your Facebook data, to any web enabled device.

You open up pult on your computer or other device you want to share to, then go to http://pult.io/ on your smartphone's browser and enter the code that your computer or device shows. Hit connect, and off you go.

On your smartphone you select which service to connect to and what to share to your device.

Easy and quick to use.

This could be useful for teachers, students or presenters when making presentations and you can also use it to share things from your smartphone to a larger screen without logging into anything on the larger screened device.

http://pult.io/

Clik - turn your smartphone into a remote control

Click is a very cool site that I'm just starting to play with. Click turns your smartphone into a remote control for any screen with a browser. 

It is very easy to use. You go to ClikThis.com your desktop browser and it generates a unique QR code on the screen. Then, you open the Clik app on your iPhone or Android phone and aim the camera at the QR code on the screen and it will sync the app to the computer and off you go.  

Currently, it is limited to playing YouTube videos, but there are already plans to expand it into controlling other parts of your computer. It's also free. 

(if you need to control your entire desktop or laptop from your mobile device, try out Splashtop Remote.)

Features:

- Take control of any web-enabled screen with your smartphone.
- Stream any of the millions of videos on YouTube onto the screen, controlling the experience right from your smartphone. - You can play, pause, search, browse, create favorites, control the volume – it’s a true remote control. And it goes with you anywhere – so your favorite videos are only a touch away.
- Use multiplayer mode at your next party! Multiplayer mode lets you and your friends all Clik in at the same time, so that you can play and discover videos together
- Bring your videos with you everywhere you go - you're only a ‘Clik’ away from playing them for friends or family.
- Clik can use your WiFi OR your mobile data connection.
- No additional hardware is required!

You can download the iPhone and Android apps here.  http://discover.clikthis.com/

Source: TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/16/clik-universal-remote/




Related:

Splashtop Remote - control you computer from your mobile device. 

QR Codes - what are they, how to make them, how to read them

YouTube EDU - education only YouTube site

Science and Cooking - great resources from Harvard

Science and Cooking is a collaborative program between Harvard scientists and some incredible chefs that I learned about on the Travel Channel last night.

Physicists at Harvard were research soft matter science and decided to create a course that combined science with cooking. Students learn concepts of science while cooking and coming up with some high-tech cooking resources (liked powdered olive oil and sausage flavored powder) that chef use in their restaurants.

The Science and Cooking class at Harvard is a general education course for Harvard undergraduates that is an overview of soft matter physics. Chefs demonstrate recipes that highlight each concept. Students conduct experiments with food and culinary science and present them at a fair at the end of the semester.

This is a great way to combine something everyone knows, cooking, with learning science. And, the students not only learn, but apply what they learn.

There is also a Public Lecture Series by world-class chefs and food experts that are related to the course, but not the content of the course. These lectures could be used by science and food teachers in their classroom as an excellent resource and a way to make science relevant to the students.

Archive of 2011 public lecture series 

Archive of 2010 and 2011 public lecture series (YouTube) 

Archive 2011 and 2010 public lecture series (iTunes)

Sponsors of the public lecture series include: Alicia Foundation, fusionchef by Julabo, Lexus, Mont-Ferrant,
Think Food Group, Whole Foods Market River Street, Cambridge, MA

Related:

Making School Relevant for Students

Science of Cooking - great resource to engage and excite students about science

Easi-Speak Digital Microphone/Recorder - easily record audio

The Easi-Speak Digital Microphone/Recorder, from Learning Resources, is an easy to use wireless microphone that records and stores sound files. It can store up to 4 hours of audio and the files can be transferred to your computer via USB cable and then saved or shared.

It is very easy to use. One button to record and then simply play back and listen through the built in speaker. The battery is sealed and rechargable through the included USB cable and works with PC or Mac computers. Files are uploaded as either WAV or MP3 files and can be saved for digital portfolios, played back for practice, or shared. The built in speaker allows you to instantly play back and review recordings.

So, why would you want one of these? The Easi-Speak Digital Microphone/Recorder can be used for students who don't want to talk in front of the class, to record students practicing speech in language arts, for speech therapy, for practicing public speaking, and to record audio for projects.

It is designed for ages 4+ and up and is portable and easy to use right out of the box.

It has a cover for the USB port that is attached to the microphone by a string so it won't get lost, along with a lanyard so that it won't hit the ground if a student drops it. While it is designed for younger students, it worked well with high school students who used it to record audio for a project they did.

It could also be used by a teacher to record audio in a class for absent students to be able to listen to later.

Durable, easy to use, built-in rechargable battery, and very useful.

Check it out: http://www.learningresources.com/product/teachers/shop+by+category/simple+technology/easi-speak--8482-+usb+recorder.do

Discovery Education Science TechBooks - great resource - more than an e-text

Discovery Education has a lot of great resources for educators, many free (over 30). They also have fee-based services such as DE Streaming with thousands of videos, audio files, images, lesson plans, and much more.

One of their other resources that I have been using lately is the Discovery Education Science Techbook.

The Discovery Education Science Techbook is more than a digital textbook. "It’s a different way of thinking. Thinking outside the box, perhaps. Or more appropriately, thinking outside the book." "The Techbook not only provides awesome content aligned to each state’s standards (there are currently Science Techbooks available for most grades K-8 in 30 states across the U.S.), but includes a model lesson for teachers to use with every concept, assessment questions for each standard, a teacher’s guide, and DVDs for when the Internet is not available. Resources such as the virtual labs, reading passages, video segments, science sleuths, explorations, and interactive glossary, etc., are packaged together to follow the five E model of instruction. Teachers have found an easier and creative way to build lessons using technology resources and content, as well as differentiating their classroom."

It is not just a PDF or other media file with links. It is an entire ecosystem of lesson resources for educators to use in their classroom. It's not free, but neither are print textbooks or iBooks, and the DE Science TechBooks are ready, aligned to standards, and in use in thousands of classrooms around the country.

The DE Science Techbooks feature

• Lively, interactive resources that capture the attention of students
• Custom, in-person professional development builds capacity to ensure effective implementation
• Cost-effective and efficient
• Organized around the teacher-friendly 5E Instructional Model and integrates the nature of science and inquiry into every phase of learning
• Designed around big ideas and essential questions
• Customized to your state standards
• Student resources for ALL learning styles
• Key teacher resources
• Up-to-date content
• Real-time feedback

From Discovery Education's press release:

Unlike traditional textbooks, Discovery Education Science Techbook uses an inquiry-based approach to learning, bringing key science concepts to life for both English and Spanish-speaking students. Other interactive elements available only from Discovery Education include an interactive glossary, videos and photos, and clips from Discovery Channel's award-winning series such as PLANET EARTH, LIFE and MYTHBUSTERS.

Using a real-time assessment component that measures students' progress and recommends individualized resources, the Science Techbook has the ability to address individual student's learning styles and prescribe resources targeted to their performance. 

The Science Techbook is dynamic and updated in real time, providing teachers the opportunity to incorporate up-to-date scientific issues into their curriculum and students the chance to interact with experts on the front lines. Most recently the Science Techbook has featured such events as the tornados that occurred across the southeast U.S. and the tornado and tsunami in Japan. Finally, Discovery Education Science Techbook is a substantially less expensive option per student than textbooks, with additional savings derived from a lack of textbook replacement or inventory costs.

Some of Discovery Education's content, including the TechBooks, is Flash Based (for now) but you can access all of it on an iPad using iSwifter.

Here's a nice ToonDoo-inspired take on the differences between classrooms that are driven by books (digital or otherwise) and those that are driven by inquiry-based instruction from Lance Rougeux at Discovery Education.




Related:

25 Free Resources from Discovery Education

Discovery Education’s Science Techbook: Scientific Explanations in Action

What I Want from a Digital Textbook

TechBook Extravaganza

Apple Announces iBooks2 E-Textbooks - my initial thoughts

What I use with Physics classes instead of textbook

Resources to Replace Textbooks

Free Textbooks - online, download, iPad, Kindle

Twitterview about Adobe Digital School Collection - Friday Feb 24th - Join us!

Adobe Digital School Collection is a great collection of software for K-12 students and educators and is available for Windows and Mac OS.

Included in the bundle is Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and Adobe Acrobat X Pro. The “Elements” versions of the software are easier to use than the “Pro” versions. They have less features than the Pro versions but most of the missing features are very advanced and rarely used in the K-12 arena. The new version of Acrobat can include audio and video in a PDF file making PDF Porftolios easy to create. It can also be used to create web site.

There is going to be a Twitterview about Adobe Digital School Collection, and you are invited!

The Adobe Digital School Collection Twitterview is next Friday, Feb 24, from 10:00 – 10:30 a.m. PST. Meet product evangelist Johann Zimmern and learn more about the Adobe Digital School Collection. Join in and you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $150 Amazon gift certificate (North America residents only)!

Adobe Digital School Collection empowers students to create projects and classroom presentations that include polished photos, compelling movies, and media-rich documents and ePortfolios, and includes the recently announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Adobe Premiere Elements 10 software, as well as Adobe Acrobat X Pro.

If you’re not familiar with Twitterview, the process is simple. Join the discussion on Twitter (@AdobeEDU) and include the hashtag #ADSC when you tweet. If you can’t make it on the 24th, please leave your questions or remarks in the comments section of this post or send @AdobeEDU a Twitter message in advance and we’ll make sure Johann answers it.

Don’t forget: North American residents will automatically be entered for a chance to win a $150 Amazon gift certificate when you join in the conversation.

We hope you’ll join!




Learn more about the Adobe Digital School Collection and how you can use it in your classroom in the links below:

Adobe Announces Digital School Collection - great bundle of software for education 

Adobe Digital School Collection - supporting creativity and digital literacy

Adobe Digital School Collection addresses 21st Century Skills for students

Using Adobe Digital Schools Collection to have students create infographics

Digital Storytelling with Adobe Digital School Collection

Improving Literacy and Digital Literacy with Adobe Digital School Collection

Vonage Mobile - rate chart for VoIP calling and texting app for Android and iPhone

The new Vonage Mobile app for Android and iPhone is a free app that allows you to make VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone calls and text messaging. Vonage has offered home VoIP service for some time. The mobile app does not require you to have a current Vonage account to use.

The Vonage Mobile app is free, and is available for Android 2.1 and Apple iPhone and iPad. As of right now, you can place free VoIP phone calls to any phone in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, but this is a limited time offer. You can make free phone calls and texts to other Vonage Mobile users. If you are using your 3G/4G connection, calls will count against your data usage, but not your minutes.

Here is a chart with calling rates for Vonage Mobile

Disclosure: I was paid to write this article, as well as for the ad on the top of this site