Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office

Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office brings collaborative multi-person editing to the familiar Microsoft® Office experience. You can share, backup and simultaneously edit Microsoft Word, PowerPoint® and Excel® documents with colleagues.

Google Cloud Connect allows you to work on your office docs offline and synchronize once you are connected. At the same time backing up to your google docs and allowing you to collaborated and share. Use the link below to download on your computer. Google Cloud Connect will show up below your office tool bar. 

 

Watch the videos below to learn how Google Cloud Connect teaches your old docs new tricks.

For more info and the free download: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect

ArtRage 3 for iPad

Touch technology has the potential to open up many new educational opportunity. Touch allows us to interact more intuitively with a digital interface. ArtRage 3 on the iPad 2 is an one example of this.  I have used ArtRage 2 in the classroom before. It's a creatively simulating and exciting software program. Children are able to learn and practice drawing and painting techniques. They can create their own oil paintings and other types of artwork with out the mess and setup time normally required. Using the iPad and ArtRage 3 brings this experience from the mouse to the brush. I can't wait to try this out with a group of children.    

"Computers are bicycles for the mind" Steve Jobs

A personal note composed Thursday 6th October 2011 NZ time:

From an early age microcomputers caught my imagination. I was about 12 years old when the Apple 2e came out in New Zealand.  I was completely infatuated by this machine. I had limited access at school. However, every opportunity I had I would cherish. Thanks to the computer and physic teacher Mr Hunt, one school holiday I got to take an apple 2e home. I will never forget the excitement. Needless to say I didn’t get a lot of sleep over the next two weeks. I started adding “apple 2e” to the family shopping list on a weekly basis. About 5 years later I had saved $2500.00 to buy my first computer the apple 2e. By this time it was fairly old but nonetheless I had to have it. So instead of buying a car at this stage of my life, like most normal kiwi boys, I purchased my first computer. Over the years my passion has served me well and I became a primary teacher. In more recent years an ICT specialist teacher. I feel I have passed this passion on to many children over the years. To this day I still have a flash computer and a rubbish car. I dare say it’s largely thanks to one man, Steve Jobs – RIP.

Popplet - Mind-mapping Web 2.0 Tools

Popplet - A easy to use, collaborative mind mapping tool.

Bring ideas together from FHS shared statement about what is elearning.

Compare and contrast the below mindmap for key competencies. Can you see the crossovers?

eLearning @ Forrest Hill School

Click hyperlink to see in full screen: http://popplet.com/app/#/48813

Taken from http://allanahk.edublogs.org/. Linking web 2.0 tools to key competencies.

Key Competencies

Click hyperlink to see in full screen: http://popplet.com/app/#/13953

EduNet for Forrest Hill School

Taken from the NEAL website:

EduNet - what is it?

EduNet is here - EduNet is a comprehensive ultra-fast broadband service that has been developed for our NEAL schools by Vector. It provides the ability to connect schools to content providers. Content providers include streaming video content (such as eTV, Clickview, TV3 and TVNZ). Plus e-asttle and other Ministry applications to follow.
In addition, EduNet is also your gateway to the world of Cloud Computing. With EduNet you can have high speed access to a range of web based services including
· KnowledgeNet, Ultranet and Moodle (myPortfolio coming soon)
· Backup and other data centre services

Watchdog filtering services are now available directly online on EduNet - no delays while your filtering is handled offline.

EduNet includes commodity internet with unlimited data download. Local (NZ) internet traffic and access to all the NZ based services is FREE at at ultra-fast speed. You can choose your international bandwidth (at different prices) to meet requirements - but the traffic is free and there are no data caps. See more (including Vector's partners for EduNet) here.

Google Apps

Google apps can open up a whole new world of working and learning. As a pilot we are going to be trialing the use of Google apps and teacher dashboard with Room 12 a Year 5 class and Room 9 a Year 6 class. Potentially I see the opportunity to rethink and restructure our digital learning and teaching environment for the better. By learning more effective and efficient practices. I have created a small list of video's from YouTube that will help build a picture of what Google apps can do and hopefully clarify what Google Apps is or can be for teachers and students. Please take the time to view some of these and give your feedback. This will be a good lead into "Google Apps - An Introduction" Thursday, July 7, 2011 - 15:30 - 17:00 at TNIS.

Other YouTube video's of interest:

Google Apps Quick Tour

Why Google Apps for Education?

Watershed School talks about Google Apps

Google Docs in Plain English

Google Reader in Plain English

Geek Out on the Best Practices of a Google Apps Deployment

Using Forms in Google Docs

Introducing a new Google Docs

Google Apps for Education K12 Demo Google Docs

Google Apps Education Edition Recorded Webinar

Forrest Hill Internet Radio Stream

I have been thinking about the possibility of starting up FH FM for sometime. I have researched the options and even visited Whanagparaoa Primary's Splat FM. They also have a podcast http://splatfmwgp.podomatic.com/. I found out the setup required for an FM radio station is about $2000.00. Alternatively I could setup a internet radio for next to nothing.

Why have a radio station? How could this support the learning of our students?

Some ideas:

Daily News 10am - details of sport practices, clubs and general notices.
Story of the Day - Children shared their own work by reading their own stories out loud. This could be prerecorded and played back in various time slots.
New Library Book - Reviews and previews.
Math Problem Solvers - Each day of the week a problem could be read out and every Monday the answers could be given out. Or answers could be sent in for marking.

Basic Facts Challenge Test : Competition to help students improve their basic facts.

Original Music: Recorded and played. Eg. Choir Songs

Chit Chats: Students could report on what's happening/happened in their classroom in the current week.

Interviews - Senior students could report on school wide events sharing interviews with the key people.

This is just the beginning of the list. There is a lot of potential here. Combining the radio station with a website of some description would be important.

I have made some progress so far in researching possible options. Here are some of my findings:

There are several approaches to creating streaming internet radio and which one you choose depends on your goals. If you are truly inspired to begin a Internet-based Radio station that operates for the purpose of profit and generating revenue, your path will be different than from the person who just wants to set up a broadcast to simply share his or her CD collection with friends.

There are excellent options for the novice which require very little technical knowledge. If you can create or assemble MP3 files, upload them and choose a few options, you can reach a global audience!

Flexible and Cheap Personal Broadcasting Using Your Own Computer

If you wish to set up a broadcast and don't want to pay the fees a other third-party to host your Internet radio stream - and you are a do-it-yourself kind of person - you might do well creating your own online radio station by using your own personal computer to create a dedicated server for doing the job.

Some of the software options for getting this done include:
SHOUTcast
http://www.shoutcastblog.com/
SHOUTcast is one of the original free Internet radio software solutions for streaming audio. You can start your own station fairly easily and the software is free to download.

Others include:

• Helix Server Basic
• Quicktime Streaming Server
• Quicktime Broadcaster
• Peercast
• Icecast
• Andromeda
• Live365.com
• ubroadcast.com

I have notes on all of these alternatives however for now I am trying out Shout cast and Winamp. My current goal is to just get it up and running with a mock up program. I have met some technical problems and hope to get these sorted soon.

School Holiday Project - Rube Goldberg

Nick and I worked on the below project during the April break. It was part of Nick's homework assignment. Designing and building a Rube Goldberg requires; alot of thinking and planning, a certain amount of knowledge of how simple machines work, some creativity and innovation, problem solving along every step, careful measurement, trial and error, some research, adaptation, experimentation, hands on practical application of skill, patience and persistence. Yet the whole purpose of this machine is to flick on a light switch! It's nuts, it's fun and it's powerful learning!

Learn more about Rube Goldberg - http://www.rubegoldberg.com/

Reuben Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970) was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to those drawn by "Heath Robinson" in the UK.

Goldberg received many honors in his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for his political cartooning in 1948 and the Banshees' Silver Lady Award 1959.[1]

Goldberg was a founding member and the first president of the National Cartoonists Society,[2] and he is the namesake of the Reuben Award, which the organization awards to the Cartoonist of the Year. He is the inspiration for various international competitions, known as Rube Goldberg contests, which challenge participants to make a complex machine to perform a simple task. (Info taken from: Wikipedia)

A Kiwi Scratch Day @ Forrest Hill School, NZ

Today I official joined Scratch Day 2011 on behalf of Forrest Hill School.

Here are some links to our event:

http://day.scratch.mit.edu/event/384

http://www.forresthill.school.nz/default.asp?PageID=22563

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/JamesRobson/1715530

The motto for Scratch is imagine • program • share. With these three things in mind I have made a start to setting up our Scratch environment for 2011. Some of the ideas from last year will be used again. Along with some exciting new developments. Like Integrating the Lego WeDo with Scratch. I have started doing this at Coatesville School and will continue to develop these ideas. I’m hoping to get some volunteers from Coatesville to take part again this year sharing their WeDo projects.

Some other interesting project to share will be:

· Taking part in the World Museum 2011 Project hosted by Yoshiro Miyata http://day.scratch.mit.edu/event/358

· Take a look at a Scratch project using the XBox 360 Kinect controller! http://vimeo.com/18562642

· Take part in our own collaborative projects; Traditional Stories (Room11FHS)

If you would like to be part of our Scratch Day 2011 please let me know:

jrobson@forresthill.school.nz

Mouse Mischief and Kodu by Microsoft

I was reading through some of my bookmarked blogs on delicious to see if they were worth keeping and stumbled upno this post:

"On April 30, 2010, Microsoft shared with the world a FREE tool where teachers can create a multi-media presentation via PowerPoint and the students can NOW participate DURING the presentation! Each student can use a mouse, answer questions, and the teacher can see how each student answered. No more spending thousands of dollars on interactive programs and clickers. Just download the FREE Mouse Mischief from Microsoft and create! Microsoft does have sample lesson plans to get people started on how to use the “Multiple Mouse” option." from Krista http://coolschoolwebsites.com/ (CSW)

Link to Mouse Mischief download:
http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/en-us/default.aspx

On the subject of free Microsoft software. I have recently discovered Kodu. It is specifically designed for kids wanting to create their own games. It is very visual and looks a lot of fun I will be trying this out with my Boys in School group at Coatesville and my lunchtime computer club at Forrest Hill School. Kodu is designed to work with the xbox controller however you can download to your PC and use keyboard controls.

Link to Kodu website and download:
http://fuse.microsoft.com/project/kodu.aspx

Learning @ School 2011

I had the opportunity to go to Learning @ School this year. The last conference I attended was ULearn 07. Learning @ School was a good opportunity to meet people I had read about like Scott McLeod and to get to know members of our cluster group better. Over the next 2 weeks I will share my thoughts and reflections about aspect of the conference.
Below are a list of what I attended. I will use this list to start most of my posts. My first breakout with Scott McLeod has inspired me to start this blog!


Breakout 1 – Scott McLeod Powerful, personalized learning: Why EVERY educator should have a listening station.

Breakout 2 - Sylvia Martinez If Games are the Answer. What’s the Question?

Breakout 3 – myPortolio.

Breakout 4a – Google Apps Teacher Dashboard

Breakout 4b – Software for Learning

Breakout 5 – School libraries in transformation

Spotlight Medley – Douglas Harre Core’s 10 Trends 2011

Keynote 1 – Scott McLeod Two big shifts and one big problem: The growing disconnects between schools and our digital, global society

Keynote 2 – Sylvia Martinez The 92% solution

The Trade Centre – Interesting Stuff
From 3D Printing Systems to YOOBEE iPad in action

Scratch Day Webinar

Last week Karen from Scratch at MIT asked me to take part in a webinar. There was a group of about five of us asked to share our experiences about scratch day. This was the first time I have done anything like this. On a personal level I have used MSM and skype however this was quite different. Stephen Howell was one of the speakers. I have been following his project using the Xbox kinect's and I am very keen to give this a go. I have started a gallery on the Forrest Hill School scratch account with Stephen's projects called "Kinects". I'm also interested in Yoshiro Miyata's project. His ideas are inspiring. Linking people and cultures from around the world to learn together!
The technology of the webinar was great. It worked well overall with a few minor glitches. I still would prefer face to face. However, I think with a bit more practise it would become more natural.

Looking forward to May 21st Scratch Day 2011 it’s going to be a good one!

Some useful links
To review webinar:
http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/hosting-scratch-day-event-february-2011-webinar
Find out more about Stephen's kinect's project:
http://stephen-howell.tumblr.com/
Be a part of the World Museum 2011, Yoshiro's project:
http://day.scratch.mit.edu/users/yoshiro-miyata