Microsoft Education Community - great, free resource for teachers

The Microsoft Education Community is a great, free resource for teachers. It has free web courses on using Microsoft tools and on best practices for using technology in education. There are discussion groups, resources and training tools available. You can earn badges and certifications through the site also.

The site is easy to navigate and has some excellent resources. The training goes from the basics of using email, to Office 365 to new products like Sway. It also includes 21st Century Learning, Accessibility and more. Teachers share resources here, as well as providing support and feedback to each other. There are even some great virtual field trips.

Check it out!


Related:

Microsoft Education Resources, including Office 365

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Age of Learning launches new mobile app for early learners

Age of Learning just launched their new mobile app, a comprehensive online learning app for children ages 2 through 6+. It’s perfect for parents who are looking for that engaging, educational, and fun app for their little one. Here’s more about the ABCmouse’s Early Learning Academy app:

· Includes 5,000 carefully designed learning activities encompassing reading and language arts, math, science, social studies, art, and music

· Advanced progress tracking lets parents see how their child is progressing

· The app, currently one of the top educations apps, is now available on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon App Stores

· Gives access to ABCmouse.com’s award-winning curriculum (including some new 1st grade content)

The app is now available on both Android & IOS platforms- iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon App Stores. The app itself is an extension of our award winning website and curriculum- ABCMouse.com.

Subscriptions to the site are $7.99/ Per Month; however, they do provide ABCmouse free to Schools, Teachers, Libraries, and Foster Families across the US.

The app is from Age of Learning, and it’s called the “ABCmouse.com- Early Learning Academy.” Here’s more about the app and ABCmouse.com:

· Lesson Builder- lets you guide your child’s educational progress by selecting activities based on your knowledge of your child’s needs and interests.

o ABCMouse is free for teachers, so parents can create a learning path in conjunction with what their child is currently learning in school. Their teacher can even assign learning activities based on knowledge of the student.

· Progress Tracking- In addition to the display of total number of learning activities completed in each category, easy-to-read graphs show progress both by academic level and by curriculum subject.

· Screen time Timer allows parents to set how much time they want their kids to use the app and website, once time is up the child is logged off.

· Includes 5,000 carefully designed learning activities encompassing reading and language arts, math, science, social studies, art, and music’


It looks like a useful app for working with younger students.

Technology I'm using daily as a School District CIO

This past November I started a new chapter in my career and became the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the district I was a teacher in for 10 years. It combines my experience as a teacher and educational technology specialist, as well as my 10 years as an engineer and project manager, into one very exciting, busy, crazy, rewarding job. I am responsible for the IT department, as well as coordinating with the data teams and all technology issues and projects.

In the past, I've written about the technology I used on a daily basis as a teacher. Today, I want to write about the technology I'm using on a daily basis in my job as CIO and how this technology helps keep me organized, informed, and communicating with others. Some of it is the same, some different, and some just used differently.

Evernote - Evernote, an electronic notebook with lots of great features, is my main tool. I have used it for lesson plans, lesson notes, lesson resources as a teacher and travel info, recipes, clippings from web sites, to do lists, personal references, tech resources and instructions and so much more. It is the main app I use for almost everything. 

As CIO, I have created multiple notebooks. They are each named CIO and then the specific notebook title and all stacked under CIO as a main category. I have a note entitled "Priorities" that I update each week. It has a list of the major tasks and projects that I need to work on that week. I don't keep much for details in this note, rather I put the link to other notes that have all of the details on them. 

I also upload files as attachments to Evernote so that I can easily access them anywhere, on any device. Files that I have to edit often are stored on our servers and I can access them remotely via VPN client. 

I also use the Clip to Evernote extension for Chrome (my browser of choice) to clip web articles for future reference. 

Another great feature is the Outlook to Evernote extension. I use Outlook for email, contacts, and calendar, and can export any email or contact from Outlook to Evernote, including attachments. This keeps my email less cluttered and allows me easier access to the emails and files from other devices. 

I use Evernote to take notes in meetings also, either with my smartphone, Chromebook or laptop, or using my Livescribe Sky pen to take handwritten notes (I'm faster that way) and have them synced directly to Evernote. 

I use the Evernote desktop app at home and at work due to the advanced features and local backup of data. I have a premium account (only $45 per year), although many people would be fine with the free account. 

Dropbox - Dropbox is a great file sync, backup, and sharing service that you can use for free. The rest of the files I need to use that are not in Evernote or Google Drive are setup in my Dropbox so that they are synced on my home computer and my smartphone. I can access my files from any web browser also. I never have to worry about losing a flash drive or forgetting to copy or email myself a file.




Google Chrome is my browser of choice. It's fast, secure, easy to use, has great extensions and bookmarklets, and just works great. I have it automatically open up my most used tabs: Gmail, Google Calendar, Blogger, Tweetdeck, and Evernote. I also have bookmarklets for saving pages into my Google Bookmarks, accessing school systems, and much more.

Extensions:
Evernote Clipper - clip web pages and articles into my Evernote notebooks for reference or sharing with students.
Goo.gl URL Shortener - shorten web page URL's for better sharing and tracking of sharing.
Webpage Screenshot - take screenshots of web pages, edit and format them, and save them.
Evernote Clearly - clean up a web page for easier reading and clipping.



Google Apps - I use Google's many apps, including Gmail, Blogger, Calendar, Docs/Drive and Reader for myself and as part of my daily job. We are also going to Google Apps for Education for our students and faculty along with Chromebooks for different groups.




I use Tweetdeck in Chrome browser to access my PLN on Twitter. It is easy to use and has great features like multiple columns and scheduling of tweets. It's a great way for me to connect with other CIO's and Technology Directors for help and advice.





Android Smartphone - with my Android Smartphone, I can access all of my materials and resources, all of the apps and resources listed above and even control my computer with SplasthTop Remote.Android works great with all of the Google resources I use, and the Evernote app for it is awesome. This allows me to access meeting notes, files, and much more anywhere I go. Very handy as I travel the district for meetings and working with staff on technology projects.

Livescribe Sky Smartpen - This job entails a lot of meetings, issues, and challenges. One way I have been able to keep up with things is through my Livescribe Sky WiFi Smartpen. With this smartpen, I'm able to take notes in meetings on paper, which is very efficient, especially with my note taking style, which incorporates sketches, symbols, arrows, and more that don't translate well with a keyboard. The smartpen saves all of my notes and syncs them to Evernote over WiFi. This means that all of my notes are stored inEvernote so that I can access them anywhere. They are even searchable. I can also record audio in important or fast moving meetings to make sure I don't miss anything.





Microsoft Outlook - As a teacher, we all used the web version of Outlook. Administration and office staff use the desktop version of Outlook because we utilize more features. Email management, calendar and meeting schedules, contacts, and more. The full version of Outlook also has the Evernote extension so I can save emails, attachments, and contacts right to Evernote. 

Brookstone Boogie Board -  a paperless notepad. It is small, thin and lightweight. You write on it using the stylus, or even your finger. It has sealed battery that lasts for 50,000 erasures. I figure 50,000 erasures will last about 20 years or so. It only uses power to clear the screen. I use this as my scratch pad on my desk to take quick notes with before adding them to Evernote or doing that task.

I also use some other systems, such as Tack-IT for our Help Desk, and our budget and purchase order system. For hardware, I have an HP desktop workstation, HP laptop, Chromebook (Samsung 303) and my smartphone and Livescribe SkyPen. 

So, that's what I use each day in my role as CIO. These technologies allow me to be organized and easily access all of the data and information that I need to access each day, as well as communicate with my staff and other personnel. 

What technology do you use each day in your job?

Online Tech Tips - free online tech help and tips

Online Tech Tips is a great resource for anyone who uses computers. The site has great information on tricks, tips, updates, and fixes for your computer.

There are tips for Windows, Mac, smartphones, and much more.

The site is well designed and easy to use and the tips are written in a way that most computer users can understand. It has a huge variety of information and resources that are very useful.

The site offers RSS feeds and email subscriptions so that you can keep up with any new tips.

Some recent articles that are very useful include: OTT Explains – Is It Better to Log Into Websites using Facebook, Google or Twitter Accounts? and OTT Guide to Understanding Google Chrome Advanced Features.

This site is great for anyone who uses technology.

Zamzar - free online file conversion - great resource

Zamzar is a free online file conversion service that is very easy to use. You upload your file to their server, select what file format you want it converted to, enter your email, and done. They will send you an email with the link to the converted file.

This is a very useful site in these days of different operating systems and software versions. Students use different software than school and then the files can't be read on the school computers, etc.

The free version can take a little bit of time to convert, but it's free. There are premium fee versions that allow you to have faster conversions and create accounts to manage your files.

Zamzar can convert literally hundreds of file types, including Microsoft Office, PDF, ODP, and much more. It can even convert Apple Keynote files to MS PowerPoint. The conversions include documents, images, music, video, e-book formats, compressed files (like zip), and even some CAD files.

Here's a listing of all the file types.

This is definitely a tool that everyone needs to have.

Why do schools still pay so much for software? Free alternatives to paid software and services.

In this day and age of shrinking school budgets, I still don't understand why schools pay so much for software and services. I use all free services and software for my own use and with my classes and students. I think that schools should look at these free alternatives and seriously consider them. The old arguments of support and IT infrastructure no longer hold since many of these services have their own support and are hosted off site.

Here are some of my suggestions for alternatives to paid services:

1. Operating System - Windows vs. free. Windows licences are expensive. But Windows is entrenched and many IT departments, as well as users, are comfortable using them. However, there are great alternatives. Linux is the first alternative. Linux exits in many different forms and distributions, but the one I have used and find easy to use, is Ubuntu. It is easy to install, use, support and has free software that matches all of the Windows software. There are other alternatives coming soon also. Google Chrome OS and HP webOS are coming to netbooks, laptops and tablets and will be nice alternatives.

2. Email - Microsoft Exchange and Outlook are expensive. Gmail is free. I am a Gmail user so I'll focus on that, even though there are other free email systems out there. Gmail offers easy, free email systems. Gmail has integrated tasks, is accessible anywhere, and integrates nicely with other Google products. Once you have a Gmail account, you also have access to the rest of Google's apps, which I'll talk more about below.

3. Calendar - Microsoft Outlook and Exchange systems have built in calendars, but so do other systems. Google Calendar is free and works well with Gmail and can even by synced to many smartphone calendars.

4. Office Suite - Microsoft Office is expensive to license and use. I use two alternatives: OpenOffice / Libre Office and Google Docs.

OpenOffice and LibreOffice are very similar. LibreOffice was born from the same group that originally created OpenOffice. Both of them look like Office 2003 in terms of menus and icons. They work the same, but can also save and export files in a variety of formats, including MS Office and  PDF. I have used both at home and currently use LibreOffice. I have them set up to automatically load and convert MS Office documents and then save those documents as MS Office file formats so that they work at school where we use MS Office.

I also use Google Docs. This is another free service from Google. Google docs has word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, and drawing apps and everything is done online with no downloads required. The other nice feature is the ability to collaborate with others and work on the same document at the same time.

5. Web Site Hosting - many schools still pay for website hosting (and it's not cheap). Google Sites is a great, free alternative for teachers to use to create classroom and school websites. There is even a template for these types of sites to make it easier to create. Blogger also allows teachers to create free blogs to use with their classes and schools.

6. Graphics Software - I know of many schools that pay a fortune for Photoshop when there are some great, free alternatives out there. GIMP, Aviary, and Picasa are all different graphics editing software and apps that are free. All of them have different features and abilities, so check out each one and see which one best meets your needs.

7. Gradebook Software - Another area that schools spend money on is gradebook software. In some cases this makes sense because the gradebook integrates with their student information system. But, if a school is paying for a stand alone gradebook system, they should look to Engrade instead. Engrade is a web-based, free gradebook that is very powerful, full featured, and easy to use. I used it for many years until our school got a new SIS with an integrated gradebook. Students and parents can even have view access to see their grades at any time.

8. Graphing Calculators - I still see schools and students spending way over $100 for graphing calculators. The reason I hate seeing this is that many of these schools and students have computers and smartphones available and there are free and very inexpensive graphing calculator apps and software out there that they could use instead.

9. PDF Creation - for simple PDFs (and even some more complicated ones) you don't need to spend a lot of money on Acrobat. You can use OpenOffice, LibreOffice, and Google Docs to create your document and then save it as a PDF file. You can also use CutePDF to create PDF files from anything you can print, including web sites. CutePDF installs as a printer so you just select CutePDF instead of a real printer and it converts your print job into a PDF file.

10. Organizing and Notetaking - MS OneNote is great, but it costs money. Evernote is free and does some great things. Organize notes, clip websites, upload photos (and search text in the photo), share notes, and so much more. Access from any computer and any smartphone. Evernote is one of those apps I can't live without.

Google Apps for Education is a great way for schools to get a free, integrated set of tools. Gmail, Google Docs, Calendar, safety and security filtering and systems, Google Sites, Google Groups, Google Talk and much more.


Resources to find free alternatives and free software and apps:

Alternativeto - great site that allows users to plug in the current software they use and find alternative software titles. You can search by price/free also.

Education Technology Guy - lots of free resources here

Free Technology for Teachers - great site with lots of free resources for educators.

Twitter and your PLN - Twitter and Personal Learning Networks are a great way to find out about free resources from other educators.

Tech&Learning Magazine - free educational technology magazine with lots of great resources. Website also has great resources and articles.

THE Journal - another free educational technology magazine with great articles and resources.



What free apps, software, and alternatives do you use and recommend?

mybrainshark - online video presentations

I just learned about a site, myBrainshark.com which is a free technology tool that can be used by teachers and their students. myBrainshark lets users add their voice to PowerPoint presentations to create online videos for free. Attachments, interactivity (such as survey and quiz questions), background audio, photos and more can be incorporated, too. On top of that, it’s easy to track who viewed your presentation.

With myBrainshark.com, users can recap a lecture (using voice to give additional context to slides), provide supplementary information, administer a lesson and quiz, and even create a school project.

Here are some examples of myBrainshark.com presentations, created for free by users:

·         School Project – “Hatshepsut”

·         Instructions to Students – “Book Report Guide to Success”

·         Lecture Notes – “Chapter 8:  Personality Theories”

·         Proposals – “Gifted Education Presentation”

·         Back-to-School Staff Update – “Warren County  School CTE Update”

There is also a a brief myBrainshark demo – available here. 

I tried it out and it was pretty easy to use. What I think would be a great use for this is using it in a class when lecturing. Then, when you post the PowerPoint, your voice is also included. Or, teachers could use this to create online lessons for students. 

SnipSnip.It - Share the Good Parts - video clipping

SnipSnip.it is a web site that allows you to crop videos easily and share them. You enter the YouTube URL for the video and then crop it to show just the part you want. It's easy, no sign up is required, and it is great for teachers who only want a small part of a video to share with their students. Students can also use it to crop videos to use in projects for class.

Aviary Education - safe environment for Aviary for Students

Aviary is one of my favorite web apps. I use the Aviary extension in Google Chrome to take and edit screen shots and I use some of their other tools to edit and modify graphics.

Aviary Education is currently in Beta and is offering free accounts for educators. The site allows educators to create private student accounts, manage assignments, and use the image editor, vector editor, audio editor, and music creator with their students. The content is promised to be 100% school safe.

This is a great tool for all educators to use, especially graphics, art, and music.

join.me – Free Screen Sharing - easy to use

join.me is an easy to use screen sharing site. To share your screen with others, you download their executable file and away you go. It is very simple to set up and use. After you run the executable file, it sets up the toolbar above at the top of your screen. You share the code via email or people can go to join.me and enter the code to join up. The code is unique for each sharing session.

The free version includes screen sharing, chat, file transfer, and remote control abilities. There is also a pro version that adds some more features. You can also hold a phone conference.

I recently used join.me to share my screen with my students as I showed them how to do some things in Google Docs.

This is great for conducting distance training, professional development, and working with your students.

web2.0calc.com - online scientific calculator

web2.0calc.com is a free online scientific calculator that I have been using for a while now and have shared with my students. I was surprised when I realized I had never blogged about it.

It is free and easy to use. It has all of the functions most students would need (outside of calculus) and shows the entire calculation in the top of the screen.

It can even be accessed by most mobile browsers so students with smartphones don't even need to buy a scientific calculator app for their phone.

There are also widgets available so you can embed it in your blog or website (which I did for my students here).

Great free resource.

Google Voice - great for teachers

Google Voice is a great tool for teachers. You can use your Google Voice number to give out to students and parents instead of giving out your actual cell or home number. This can help you eliminate problems and spam.

Google Voice is free for most calls with inexpensive international calls. You can add Google Voice features to your current phone or create a whole new number (which is what I did).

Some of the really nice features:

• Voicemail transcription - voicemail messages automatically converted to text (and you can have it emailed to you). 
• Customized greetings - you can set different voicemail greetings for different callers.
• Call Screening and forwarding - decide which phone rings based on who's calling and you can listen in as someone leaves a message before deciding to answer the call. 
• Works with any kind of phone (there are apps for most smartphones too)

Go to the site and explore it and see if it is something you can use.

Other links regarding Google Voice:

Most Helpful Features of Google Voice You're Not Using (Lifehacker)

What is Google Voice (YouTube Video)

Google Voice Opens to all in US (and some resources - from Free Technology for Teachers)

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Crocodoc.com

Crocodoc is a free, online service that allows you to upload and markup documents, including PDF files. You can not actually edit the PDF file, but can add text, highlight, draw, and even strikeout text. When you strikeout text, it opens a new text box above the strikeout for you to edit.

I used it recently to make a change to a physics lab I use with my students. It is a PDF file and I just wanted to make some small changes to the procedure. I uploaded the file, make the markups, and downloaded it. No account is necessary.

You can create an account and store files on the system. It even allows multiple people to markup and collaborate on work. Crocodoc works with PDF files, Word Documents, images, and PowerPoint presentations. You can view and mark up your files online. The documents can be shared with others who can all mark the files up collaboratively. You can make revisions, highlight or strikeout text, add notes and comments. Files are stored on their servers and can be password protected.

This is a great tool for educators and students to use for sharing work, working collaboratively, and providing feedback on work.

Blogging 4 Everyone

Blogging 4 Everyone is a resource for anyone who wants to learn how to blog. It has very simple, straightforward instructions for starting a blog including a video.

It does not mention Blogger, so here is my instructions for getting started with Blogger.

This would be a good resource to use if you want to create your own blog or if you are trying to get your students using blogs in class.

Welcome back to School!

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great summer and was able to relax and recharge. We started this week with teachers back on Monday, freshmen on Wednesday, and all students today. It's been a little hectic, but things are working out.

Here are some resources to help you get the year started.

Create a Personal Learning Network - a PLN is an excellent resource for help, advice, and sharing ideas.

Google for Educators - Google has a huge number of free resources for teachers and students. Check them all out (they're all free).

New Teacher Advice - some good advice for new teachers (and old ones too!)

Discovery Education New Teacher Survival Central - a great resource for all teachers (and free).

List of Discovery Education Resources for Educators - very good, inclusive list of Discovery Educations resources.

Overview of some free technology that can help you be more organized and efficient. 

Some great websites and blogs to check out:

Tech and Learning Magazine - great magazine with educational and technology information and resources. Free subscription for teachers.

Edutopia - George Lucas foundation site dedicated to education.

Twitter - Twitter is a great resource for educators, especially #edchat.
(and follow me on Twitter @daveandcori)

Enjoy these resources and share yours with others.

iTALC - computer management

iTALC is a free, open source, computer management system. It enables teachers to control student computers, including monitoring what the students are doing, remote control to help users, lock out workstations, send text messages to students, remote power on/off and reboot and more.

It is extremely easy to install and use. It took me less than 10 minutes to download and install the admin version on my computer. I loaded the software and the key onto my network drive and then logged on to each computer in my room (there are 8) and installed the client version in less than 3 min for each computer. It then took a few minutes to set up the main system on my computer with all the classroom computers linked.

iTALC is similar to systems like LANSchool, but free.

The wiki is also very helpful with the installation and set up.

DocsPal - Free online file Converter and Viewer

DocsPal is a free online file converter. You simply upload your file, select the original file format and what you want it converted to, and click convert. The link to the converted file will appear on the screen. You can also have the link sent to you via email.

I converted an Excel spreadsheet with graphs to PDF format in about 15 seconds.

It is still in Beta and only supports about 30 file formats, but more are being worked on.

This is great for educators who use one type of software or operating system at school and different ones at home or have students using different systems.

Board800 - web based Interactive Whiteboard

Board800 is a free, web based interactive white board that can be used by multiple users at the same time.

It is very easy to use and you can save your session. Tools include shapes, free drawing, and text. Your session can be saved as an image for later retrieval, archiving, or to embed in a document or web site.

This would be great for distance meetings, distance learning, tutoring, homework help, and much more.

You can also purchase a server version to host yourself for a fee.

Teaching with Technology

Teaching with Technology is a great resource for teachers. It has a list of different technology resources for educators. The resources are grouped in tables by category. Categories include Tools for: Creating, editing, and sharing; Communicating and networking; Managing time, tasks, and information, and Making it all work.

Many of the resources I've covered here in this blog, but there are a lot of other great resources listed. Everything from documents to presentations to videos to Skype to Twitter to Google Calendar to Remember the Milk to firewalls and anti-virus.

This is definitely a site to check out and bookmark.

TodaysMeet - back channel hosting

TodaysMeet is a free service that allows you to create a back channel for your meeting, class, or presentation. You name it, create the hash tag (for Twitter) and select how long you want it to be kept before being deleted, and you are all set.

It is simple to set up and use.

Back channels are a way for students, meeting participants, or the audience in a presentation to post comments, questions, and discussions during the class, meeting, or presentation. They are becoming more and more popular. They can also be used to gather information and data from an audience.