Technology and Education

Click here for a searchable list of lesson plans that uses Google Docs and other Google tools in the classroom.

Forth in a Series
This is the forth in a series called Google Docs in the Classroom.  Each post will highlight one way to use google docs in the classroom.  I will focus on uses that help teachers to teach and students to learn in ways that could not be done otherwise.

Collaborating and collecting and analyzing data are important skills in the science.  Google docs makes it very easy for students to collect data from a large number of people all doing the same experiment.  A Google spreadsheet can be shared with an entire class or multiple classes or even classes from another school so that all groups are recording data into the same spreadsheet.   This makes a large data pool easily accessible.  Students can then draw conclusions and analyze the data.  They can also share their analysis with the other groups to compare their conclusions.

Click here to find more ideas for collaboration in the science classroom

I took a course on Formative Assessment from the American School Of Bombay Online Academy this fall.  I felt is was well worth the time.  They are offering the same course again this winter and a few others that look interesting.  Click here of their offerings.

Third in a Series
This is the third in a series called Google Docs in the Classroom.  Each post will highlight one way to use google docs in the classroom.  I will focus on uses that help teachers to teach and students to learn in ways that could not be done otherwise.

Instead of lugging home 16 reading response journals every week to comment on, have students keep their journals in a shared Google Doc.  You can give your comments while students continue to write in their journals!

“Taken from 32 ways to use google apps in the classroom” by Julia Stiglitz.

First in a Series
This is the first in a series called Google Docs in the Classroom.  Each post will highlight one way to use google docs in the classroom.  I will focus on uses that help teachers to teach and students to learn in ways that could not be done otherwise.

Review student writing
Comments: Google docs has a very nice commenting feature allowing teachers to make comments (insert menu item > comment).     Students can review these comments and make the necessary changes and they can also reply back to the comments asking for further clarification.  When a students replies to the comment the teacher will receive an email notification so that they don’t miss a student’s question.

Revision History: Google docs saves a copy of your document every minute or so and stores this for review at any time.  You can see the revisions by going to the File menu item in your document and choosing “see revision history”.  This can be very handy to restore to a particular point in time of your document.  Also it can be helpful if you want to see what changes have been made over time.

Using google docs to review student writing and give feedback has other benefits too.

1. It saves the time and trees because you do not have to print.
2. Eliminates collecting and passing papers back in class.
3. Teachers and students can access the documents from anywhere and at anytime.  Students do not have to wait for the teacher to pass back the paper in class to get to work on the suggestions made by the teacher.
4. All revisions and comments are stored in one place rather than having many printed copies of each assignment.

What happens when you download a file from the internet.  Sometimes it opens all by itself.  Other times, it seems to vanish into nowhere and can’t be found.  The following two videos attempt to clear up how downloads work and the settings that you have control over.

To get to these videos click here and then scroll to the bottom of the page ( use your pike gmail log in).  There is a separate video for Safari and Firefox.  They are a bit on the long side but I really could not figure out how to make them shorter.

I created a new video on how to hide a page.  During the training many of you asked how to hide a page from your site.  This comes in handy when you want divide up your homework pages so that each page is shorter.  Many of you talked about dividing the pages into months.  Others have mentioned that you will divide up the pages by chapters or units.  Here is the link to the video. and the video itself.

We are shutting down the all network services and the phones TODAY, FRIDAY 8/26/11 at 2 PM due to hurricane preparations.

• Pike telephone system
• Gmail
• Internet
  H: drive
• Veracross
• Blackbaud Financial Edge or Raiser’s Edge
• SNAP
• iPike
• You will not be able to print.

As you are preparing to come back to school next week here are two links that could be very helpful.