Saturday, September 21, 2013

Google Apps for Education and Google Drive

Free Web-based email, calendar & documents for collaborative study anytime, anywhere.

Quick Info:
http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/education/
- Available through web browser at webmail.stclarepdx.org, docs.stclarepdx.org, calendar.stclarepdx.org
- App available for iPad and Android
- Free service for education
- Students have accounts that are managed in the Google Apps control panel. This allows us to control what services students have access to and settings within those services. For example, email for middle school students is set up, but only allows students to send email to teachers. Students can only receive email from teachers and a handful of other addresses that are tied to services like Google Cloud Print and IDriveDigital.

Usage Examples:
Gmail is a useful way to give students an update or share a link.

Google Drive gives students access to word processing, spreadsheets, and slide presentations. It is cloud based which enables students easy access to documents from multiple locations and devices. It has been used extensively for science fair over the last few years. Teachers can share templates with students. Students will then make their own copy of the template, complete it, and share their finished product with the teacher.

Google Drive has also emerged as a critical part of the iPad workflow. Students can post work to Drive from most apps. This allows them to access it from Drive on another computer to print.

Google Calendar is a powerful tool. The middle school homework pages are embedded calendars and students have a calendar app that will allow them easy access to the homework.





Thursday, September 12, 2013

Tellagami

Tellagami is a mobile app that lets you create and share a quick animated Gami video.

Quick Info:
https://tellagami.com/
- App for iPad
- No account needed

Usage Example:
Our seventh graders created and shared a quick animated message explaining one the expectations or procedures for their classroom. The personal avatar or "Gami" was to explain what the expectation was and what the expectation was not. Another objective in our early stages of 1:1 was to get comfortable with the workflow of using an app on the iPad for an assignment and sharing the finished product electronically.