Google Docs – quick and easy collaboration on a document.

Recently I tried something different with my year 12 IT class. I wanted each student to research a small element of a theme topic and then to share that with the rest of the class. I could have used a wiki but I went for Google Docs. Google Docs allows you create a variety of different types of documents online (word, excel and powerpoint equivalents). Each document can be edited simultaneously by students.

I created a couple of documents that were effectively 3 column tables, with each row an element to be researched. Students selected a row by putting their name in it then added their research info.

The document is made available to students by simply recording their emails and sharing a url.

I have made you all contributors to the document below;

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=df7p5n8_3cx49kqgb&hl=en

Once completed the students simply save a copy for themselves.

Blog as a journal or process diary?

There is post from last year where Bob wrote that there was a student last year who used a blog to keep track of her Major Design project in DT. It may be beneficial if we as the Science department looked at students keeping a blog instead of their journal. A group blog would be a good way to monitor group progress based on their posts and comments. Also if students are away results could be posted on the blog for the entire group to have access. Students may even be able to link web pages they have used for their research to their blog. Could this be an appropriate use for blogging in class? Has anyone done something similar?

Posting an Entry

This is a film the devasting earthquake in southern China

Using blogs in teaching

College professor Barbara Ganley, who uses Weblogs extensively in her courses, asks “How can a teacher expect her students to blog (or to use any other tool, strategy or technique) if she doesn’t use it herself, exploring the impact it has on her thinking, writing, research and creativity?” (Ganley, 2004b). She also says

And as we all know, when a teacher believes in what she’s doing and is confident in her tools, well, it rubs off on even the most resistant of students. As reflective research-teachers, we must continue to circle back and look at how what we do ties into our long-term educational goals. (Ganley, 2004a)

This is what our team is about. It is good to see that there is support for the path we are going down.

Any comments?

Do you agree with the quote?

I have ordered the book  it comes from and will let you know when it arrives

 

 

What do you want to do?!

Just thought I’d share this site with you.

They talk about the internet becoming the “killer application”; that in the future (now?) much of our processing needs will be carried out online. In other words, you won’t need applications on your pc/mobile device, you only need a suitable browser and internet connection to access the online applications.

Vist http://www.go2web20.net/ 

Portable Applications

What a great idea!!

Applications that you save to a portable storage device (flash memory or portable HD) and take with you to whatever computer your working on. Combine this with a UMPC (ultramobile personal computer)and you’ve got a lot of serious portable computing power. A classic use of this technology is to have a portable version of Firefox (an internet browser) then add to this the free plugin called Fast Video Download. This combination allows you the save videos from Youtube and similar sites. To play the videos you can use another free portable application, VLC Player. What this means is that with these programs on a USB flash drive you can go to any computer and download, save and play Youtube videos!!

You can get the software FREE from many sites;

• an article discussing portable apps. http://teacherhacks.com/?p=17
• FREE portable apps http://portableapps.com/
• FREE portable apps http://www.portablefreeware.com/all.php

Some flash disk manufacturers are creating devices capable of hosting software installations, these are marked as “U3″. The advantage here is that you can supposedly install any appliaction, not just those designated as portable.

Keeping Track of Posts

If you start to use a number of blogs it can be hard to keep track of what is going on. Thats what RSS feeds have been designed for.

There are two feeds on the IT Matters Blog. They are on the right hand side of the window and usually have this

Icon

IE can check these feed for you. Try it and see if it makes sense to you.

There is also a good outline in the IE  Help file about using it. Or just ask if you are not sure.

Posting for the IT Group

OK so far we have John, Martin, Sharon and Mary added to the blog, it doesn’t take long.

Sometimes it hard to think about what to say (although not hard for some).

How about some discussion on Portable Apps. I know John and Martin have been doing some work on them, maybe we could hear something about that.

Second Classroom

This is an interesting project that has recently started with some of the people in our diocese

Second Classroom is a project to explore ways in which educators can create projects for students using immersive media such as Second Life, MMORPG and social networks to create authentic learning.

Have a look, if you are interested you could join as well. Dean is one of the IT people from Marist who has been doing a lot of work with second life and second teen life.

The virtual Shakespeare project sounds interesting.

Would you like a UMPC ?

For a bit of research do you think there are uses for this type of technology in the school.

The Asus Eeec PC is a mass market version of this that has had a lot of success recently.

Here is a surprisingly large list of others.

Would they be good for our student support team to use with their girls that have difficulty writing?

It is interesting to see who is using them in education