ISTE 2014 in Atlanta

The International Society for Technology in Education conference (ISTE) will be held from June 28th- July 1st in Atlanta this year, https://www.isteconference.org/2014/about/.  Registration is now open.

"For more than three decades, ISTE’s Annual Conference and Expo has been the premier forum in which to learn, exchange ideas and survey the field of education technology. The event attracts upwards of 18,000 attendees and industry representatives—including teachers, technology coordinators, administrators, library media specialists, teacher educators and policy makers. Attendees enjoy world-class keynotes, hundreds of sessions in a variety of formats, and a massive expo hall." 

Highlights of the program are:

• 3 inspirational keynote sessions
• 175 provocative and informative lecture and panel sessions
• 65 hands-on skill- or resource-focused BYOD sessions
• 325 lesson, project or technology implementation-focused poster sessions
• 50 exemplary student-presented showcase sessions
• 10 interactive playgrounds
• 150 in-depth workshop sessions (additional fee required)
• A myriad of ISTE special interest group (SIG) and affiliate sessions and events
• 18 hours of exploration time in an expo hall larger than 5 football fields

Tech Tuesday - PLNs

If you were unable to attend the scheduled Tech Tuesday session yesterday I have posted my notes below.

What is a PLN – Personal Learning Network

A PLN is a combination of tools that use social media to collect, communicate, collaborate and create with others with whom you share professional interests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mghGV37TeK8

My PLN is a combination of Twitter, Google+ and Yahoo or (/feedly/symbaloo)

Blogs

Subscribe to many, good for inspiration and ideas- takes 10 minutes or less to read the headlines-keeps one abreast of issues

http://teach.com/teach100

http://edublogawards.com/

Google+

Join many, very good for direct questions – i.e. what is a good site for explaining binary numbers?

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/

Twitter

Very popular way for teachers to have access to information

basics-put your picture out there, follow a few people and they will follow you, it is ok to lurk and just listen to conversations, jump in when you are ready.
http://pairadimes.davidtruss.com/twitter-edu/ 

Resources:

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/12/the-17-best-twitter-hashtags-for.html

http://www.learningunlimitedllc.com/2012/12/twitter-for-educators/

http://www.cybraryman.com/plnstars.html

http://www.cybraryman.com/0_teachers1.htm

More info on PLNs

Resources:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-do-i-get-a-pln-tom-whitby

http://www.schrockguide.net/creating-your-pln.html

If you create a Twitter account, email me your handle and I will follow you.

Inspiration 9 and Mavericks

One more reason not to upgrade to Mavericks just yet is that Inspiration 9 is not compatible with the newest OSX.  Although I am able to run inspiration and save the document I do not have full functionality.  I can't use the templates, which is often where the students begin when creating a project.  I have had 2 students come to me unable to use any of the features of Inspiration 9.  I reinstalled Inspiration and no luck. So a word of caution if you are looking to upgrade to Mavericks be sure you are not needing Inspiration for class.  The company website says they will release a compatible version in the near future.

Adobe Flash Objects not working in Windows SMART Notebook Software

Yesterday a teacher came to me and was unable to use some of the SMART Notebook files he had used in the past. Thanks to blog post on Marble Head Public Schools I found out that it was an issue with Flash, and the solution for which was a downgrade. If you have lost some SMART Notebook functionality and you are unable to interact with Adobe Flash Player objects in SMART Notebook software after updating to Adobe Flash Player 11.9.X downgrade Adobe Flash Player from version 11.9.X to 11.8.800.168.

To downgrade Adobe Flash Player Using your browser, download the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller.

1. Using your browser, download the Adobe Flash Player uninstaller.
2. Close all applications that run Adobe Flash Player, including your browser and SMART Notebook software.
3. Run the uninstaller and follow the on-screen instructions.
4. Restart your computer.
5. Using your browser, download and run Adobe Flash Player ActiveX 11.8.800.168.
6. Using your browser, download and run Adobe Flash Player Plugin 11.8.800.168.
7. Restart your computer.
8. Start SMART Notebook software.

OSX Mavericks

OSX Mavericks is out and for the first time Apple is issuing an OSX upgrade for free.  The release of this could be problematic for us as an educational institution for two reasons:  first, the release comes at a time when the faculty and students already have their laptops and there is no time to test and troubleshoot the OSX before it may be deployed by some;  second, this release is free so more students and faculty maybe inclined to upgrade without thinking of the consequences.

So far, we have not seen any problems but I have cautioned the students against upgrading at this point.  Here is a handy list, https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=88506535, detailing some applications that might or might not run once you upgrade.  I was most concerned about the Shockwave Player compatibility since we use Explore Learning Gizmos in every division, and Shockwave Player is required to run the simulations.  Luckily, it seems the issues reside with 11.5 but I have had no problems on my Mac Book Pro.  Although it is not mentioned in the list we have also seem problems with older versions of Smartboard so it is advised to upgrade to version 11.0.  Fingers crossed, hoping we do not see other issues.

How to turn off Groupwise Notify on your Macbook Pro

For those of you wanting to turn Groupwise Notify off on your MacBook Pro, here is a simple screen shot showing you how to do so.

Hiding the SmartBoard Floating Toolbar on your MacBook Pro

Recently, several of you have come to see me wanting to get rid of the Smart board floating toolbar. Even though pressing on the double arrow buttons will hide most of the toolbar many of you just want it off your desktop.

 

To do so we have to take it out of the start up items.  Once you remove it from the start up items I would advise putting the board tools icon in the dock allowing you to pull up the floating toolbar as needed.  

To take it out of the start up items simply go to System Preferences ->  Users and Groups->Login Items -> highlight the smart board items and hit the negative sign. Once you restart you should notice the board tools will not appear.

Playful Learning Lexington 2013: Lexington, KY

Playful Learning Lexington 2013: Lexington, KY. October 22, 9:00 am CT. The Learning Games Network invites you to a free hands-on workshop to learn about new resources, strategies, and opportunities to bring game-based learning to your classroom! National experts in the use of digital media in education will lead a series of discussions and working sessions designed to introduce tools and techniques to engage students through game-based learning while addressing Common Core learning goals.  Click on the link to register, http://beta.playfullearning.com/rsvp/lexington-oct-2013/registration

Mountain Lion and Software Compatibility

A student came to see me today after upgrading to Mountain Lion because her Microsoft Office icons in her dock no longer worked. The reason for this is that Mountain Lion does not support PPC applications.   Few students will have this issue because only Sayre Bundles prior to 2009 had a version of Office earlier than 2008.   If you are unsure and want to check your laptop configuration before upgrading follow these instructions:

1. Click "Apple" menu and choose "About this Mac"
2. Choose the "More Info" button
3. On the left hand column select "Applications", under the software section
4. Under the kind section in the menu bar you can see if the application is "PowerPC" or "Universal".  PowerPC applications will NOT run under Mountain Lion.

 You will need to find an upgrade or replacement for that application.

Connected Educator Month

The US Department of Education has declared October "Connected Educator Month," aimed at broadening and deepening educator participation in online communities and networks. Connected Educator Month will be celebrated with a month of online events and activities sponsored by more than 150 major national education organizations, communities, and companies.  If you are interested take a look at the Connected Educator calendar.  Also, edWeb, one of the communities joining in the event, is giving educators one free webinar during October, take a look at their calender, edWeb Google Calendar, and see if there is anything of interest.

Quickoffice

Quickoffice is now free for IOS and Android users.  This may be a nice tool for the MS iPad users who are also teaching in the US and working with Office.  Take a look and see how it compares with some of the other apps you have been using.  I played with it a bit and really liked it for the excel spreadsheet but not as much for the documents.  Take a look and let me know your thoughts!

iCloud: iCloud storage and backup overview

A faculty member came to me today unable to use her iPad because icloud was unable to back up her data.  We had to force quite her iPad by holding down both the sleep/wake button and the Home button until the screen turned black and the Apple logo appeared.  Once we restarted we were able to see that she had used all her iCloud allotment.  

Here is what Apple says about iCloud. Your iCloud account includes 5 GB of free storage for iCloud Mail, Documents in the Cloud, and your iOS device backups. Your purchased music, apps, books, and TV shows, as well as your photo stream, don’t count against the 5 GB of free storage. If your iCloud storage starts to get full, you can make more space available by removing items you don’t need to store in iCloud. For example, you can free up iCloud storage space by not backing up specific iOS apps or removing the backup of a device you have replaced. Go to Settings>iCloud>Storage & Backup>Manage Storage, tap the name of your device under Backups, then under Backup Options turn Camera Roll to Off.  However, it may be best to keep it turned on and use it how it was intended and to rather remove the pictures from the iPad as suggested below:

1. Back up the pics to the computer (done)
2. Remove the backed up pictures from the iPad
3. Learn about and utilize PHOTOSTREAM (including its limitations like no videos, only 1000 pics and only for 30 days) to make backing up and saving the photos from the phone easy and simple.

Alternatively, you can also increase your storage by upgrading your iCloud storage plan. 

Here is a great resource page for iCloud support, http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/.

Thoughts on Blogging

I lay awake last night thinking about Blogging.  Blogging has been the best professional development I have engaged in this year.  I started a blog two years ago and it took me a while to find a voice.   I felt it was contrived and I really had nothing about which to Blog.  I later came to the realization that it is just a platform for getting out information and it did not need to be a venue for collaboration at least while in its infancy.  I transitioned from my newsletter to a blog and over the course of a few months I began to have so much to say.  Every day as I answered student and faculty questions, many of which were repeat questions, I realized I had essential material for my blog.  The added bonus was that I could create a culture of independent learners by referring teachers and students to my blog.  Here are some of the points I thought about that night while lying awake thinking about what makes blogging such a critical and important tool for students and educators these days. 

Professional

As educators we need to integrate the tools that students will be expected to use in their jobs.  Every job in communications, marketing, writing, media seems to have blogging as a prerequisite.   It is a given, you should know how to blog.

Practice

Practice, practice, practice, makes perfect.  Writing begets writing.

Portfolio

Student bloggers applying to colleges or moving to other schools have a whole portfolio of their thoughts and ideas.

Publish

Everyone likes to see their writing read, not necessarily by their teachers but by a wider audience, their peers and those across the ocean.

Portability

Graduated?  Got a new job?  Guess what, your blog is yours it still remains in the cloud if you wish.

Professional Development

For those of you looking for a little Professional Development but were not able to get away and attend some conferences this summer, below are three links to conferences I was able to attend.   Each conferences was very useful and I have included the links to the resources so that you can  browse the presentations and the literature that was made available. I will continue to post Professional Development opportunities in my PD section for upcoming events.


Innovations for Learning at Bryan Station
https://edtech.fcps.net/ifl/resources.aspx

KET Multimedia Professional Development Days
http://www.ket.org/education/video‑mm‑event‑infopage.htm

Tech, Teach, Learn conference at KCD in Louiseville
http://www.techteachlearn.org/2013‑post‑conference‑resources.html

Copy App

I did a post a few months back about cloud resources, naming some of my favorites such as Drop Box, Sugar Sync, and Box.  I have since discovered another resource, Copy , that is becoming one of my favorites and the size allotment is 15GB.   I can use  Copy on my iPad and my PC desktop.  I think this app is particularly useful for those teachers who are using both iPads, and laptops, and need to quickly have a repository where they can store their data and not worry about file size.  Additionally, I really like that I can also send the documents to email accounts or upload to Drive, Edmodo, DropBox and a variety of others applications.  File sharing is made super easy with this wonderful web tool and Copy is supported on all Platforms:

• Android
• iOS
• MacOS

• Windows
• Linux

How to Enable Airplay Mirroring on your MacBook Pro or iPad

If you requested an Apple TV for your classroom the set up is quite simple so just let me know when we can configure your device.  If you should want to begin on your own I have included the Apple directions below. You will need to make sure both the Apple TV and your device is on the same network.  If you will want students to have airplay capabilities you will need to be on the same network as the students, Sambucus. 

Enable AirPlay Mirroring on your Mountain Lion MacBook Pro

Since your Mac supports AirPlay Mirroring, an AirPlay Mirroring menu extra appears in the menu bar when an Apple TV is on the same network. Turn on mirroring by selecting an Apple TV from the AirPlay Mirroring menu:

 

Enable AirPlay Mirroring on your iPad

1. Connect your iOS device and your Apple TV to the same Wi-Fi network.
2. On your iOS device, double-click the Home button to display your recently used apps.³
3. Swipe the recently used apps twice from left to right until you see the AirPlay icon: . If you do not see the AirPlay icon on your iOS device, your iOS device and Apple TV may not be on the same network. Get help troubleshooting, if necessary.
4. Tap the AirPlay icon, , to display a list of available AirPlay devices.
5. To use AirPlay Mirroring, select the name of your Apple TV, then toggle the ON/OFF slider to ON.

Password Generator

Today I had my first Laptop Orientation session for this year.  I used a new program called Password Bird to help my students think of strong passwords for their accounts.  Most of the students come to sessions with very weak passwords and I encourage them to create 8 character passwords using letters, numbers and caps.  I always have several students who find this task difficult.  We used Password Bird today and it generated some really helpful passwords.  Most other password generators I have used create random passwords that I have trouble remembering.  If the first password doesn't work ask for another, or another.  After several tries we found one that was strong and easy to remember.

Google Dashboard

The end of summer is a perfect time to clean up some files and get ready for the new school year. Have you ever wondered what your Google digital footprint looks like?  Google Dashboard is a great tool to see all your Google accounts at once so you can check settings, edit profiles, and manage documents.  I think this is a great tool to keep tabs on yourself, visit www.google.com/dashboard  periodically and see where you have been and what may need maintenance.  Here is a video to give you a better idea about Google Dashboard.

Global 2013 STEMx Education Conference

I recently read about the Global 2013 STEMx Education Conference, the world’s first massively open online conference for educators focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and more. The conference will be held over the course of three days, September 19-21, 2013, and will be free to attend.  This would be a great opportunity for some free Professional Development. 

"STEMxCon will be a highly inclusive event that will engage students and educators around the globe and will encourage primary, secondary, and tertiary (K-16) educators around the world to share and learn about innovative approaches to STEMx learning and teaching. The call for presentations has been issued.

Register as a member of this conference network to be kept informed.  See the conference information and welcome HERE and the menu links to the left and at the top of each page."

KET Multimedia PD Day

For those of you who were not able to attend the KET PD Multimedia conference last week the materials have been published to their site and might be a useful resource for you.  One of the sessions I attended was an Introduction to Using Twitter in Education it was great and her resource materials are fantastic.  If you are interested take a look at the site, scroll down to the bottom and you will see links to the documentation.

Khan Academy - Opportunity for Math Teachers to Participate

This summer, Khan Academy jumps off the computer screen and into live workshops with teachers across the country. They will be bringing their best practices and implementation models to teachers and administrators in one-day, in-person workshop in  Chicago. The free workshop is open to any math teachers with regular access to WiFi and computers.

Apple Celebrates 5 years of the App store

If you are looking to try some new apps over the summer that are not on your i Pad you may want to take a look at the app store this week.  Apple is celebrating 5 years of the App store by making many apps available for free this week. To view the whole list of apps visit the iTunes App store.

Setting up Groupwise on your iPad

Go to your Settings
Go to Mail, Contacts, calendars
Choose add an account
Select Exchange/Microsoft Exchange
In the appropriate boxes, enter your Groupwise email address, username, and password
For the server address, enter mobilesync.sayreschool.org
Leave domain empty
Enter your username as your first initial last name
If available, or if prompted, select to use SSL
For the rest of the settings, the default should be used
You should only select to have the mail and calendar items synced.  Don't choose contacts, as this will attempt to sync the whole Groupwise address book

Tech - Teach- Learn

For those of you looking for some Professional Development opportunities this summer, here is one in Louisville.  A two day opportunity for educators to learn to be more effective with technology and Google Apps for Education in the K-12 classroom. **Please note the online registration system requires a fee for event organizers to track daily attendance. THERE IS NO FEE FOR THIS CONFERENCE.** Lunch is also provided for you at no charge.

Technology for Teaching & Learning Conference

August 5 & 6, 2013
8:00 am - 4:00 pm

Make Your Blog into a Book with Blog Booker

BlogBooker is a wonderful resource that was recommended to me the other day.  For those of you who are looking to make your own digital textbooks this might be a really viable option.  BlogBooker is a site that produces a high-quality PDF Blog Book from all your blog's entries and comments.  Book Blogger is compatible with Blogger, WordPress and Live Journal Blogs.  I was able to make a PDF out of my blog with a table of contents, footnotes and some images.  I think this is an fantastic tool for creating digital textbooks especially if you are already using blogs in the classroom.

Using Google Translate

A student came to see me today needing to translate an Arabic webpage.  Even though Google Chrome has the capability of translating sites I had to use Google translate to get this site in English.  The usual way to translate sites using Chrome is as follows:

Enable the translation bar

1. Click the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Show advanced settings.
4. In the "Languages" section, use the "Offer to translate pages that aren't in a language I read" checkbox to adjust this feature.

Even though  my checkbox was checked it still was unable to translate the site so I had to copy the URL into http://translate.google.com/.  

The above mentioned method is not browser specific. 

How to Save Keynote Files to Google Drive on your iPad

For those of you using Keynote, Pages or iPad apps and want to open the documents in word through your Google Drive, here are simple steps to follow:

Go to Pages and type up a new document

When you are done hit the wrench in the upper right hand corner and a drop down menu will show

Choose share and print

Choose open in another app

Choose Word

Choose open in Google Drive

Choose upload when prompted

10 Great TED Talks for Teachers

Here is a list of 10 Great TED talks for teachers compiled by the site, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, many of them are worth watching but I found Eli's talk to be particularly illuminating. Eli's discussion of filter bubbles may make you interested in choosing a different search engine, a private one, such as Go Duck Go, which I mentioned in previous newsletters.  Eli's point is that algorithms are customizing your searches to the extent that we are no longer getting objective search results.  If we are using a different computer for the same search and I am a Democratic and you are a Republican a search through Google may gather different hits.  Google may assume my party affiliation, from prior searches, and may in fact not bring up any conservative perspectives assuming I am not interested in hearing a conservative perspective. 


Alternative search engines

https://startpage.com/

https://duckduckgo.com/

Google Drive File Attachments

Every now and then a student comes to me needing to send a large email file and Groupwise won't accommodate the file size.  One way to send the file is through your Gmail account.  Google Drive now allows for files as large as 10GB, that is huge!  Simply click on the Google drive icon and insert  the file.

Google Drive Research Tool

 Teaching students research skills is paramount these days as there is so much information they are gathering from the internet and it all needs to be cited eventually in the proper format.  I got a good tip today from Aaron Maurer's site about how Google drive can help facilitate researching and citing. 

1.    Go to your Google Drive page
2.     Choose “Create” and then select “Document”
3.     Start by writing your information
4.     When you get to a word  in question, highlight the word and go to the menu bar
5.     Click on “Tools” and then find “Research"

Google searches the word and pulls up relevant searches, from there you can preview, insert link, or site cite.  You can also choose between  the citation format:  Chicago, MLA, APA

Streaming, Downloading and File Conversion

I am often asked about streaming, downloading and file conversion.   I always try to encourage students to download their videos since streaming takes up a lot of bandwidth and slows down the network.  However, it seems downloading a video is never a simple task.  Even if a file is downloaded there is often the issue of file conversion.  This morning a student came to me wanting to embed a You Tube clip into her PowerPoint.  It was a tedious process but this is how we did it.  I downloaded the file with Real Player Downloader.  On my PC in the upper right hand corner, as a video plays, I am prompted to download the video.   On the MacBook Pros download player does not show up as it does on a PC.  To find and launch the player go to applications -> Real Player downloader and launch the program.  Once you play the You Tube clip the movie is listed in the download player and you select download to start the process. Once downloaded it saves as a FLV file that needs to be converted to an MP4 to play on a macbook pro with quicktime.  I used a nifty free online file conversion site, Zamar, which worked masterfully.  Once downloaded as an MP4 she was able to embed the video.  Zamar is a great free program but sometimes it is not able to download the file, if this should happen I usually resort to the website keepvid which is another way to approach the conversion.