Here is another great post from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2015/09/here-is-wonderful-google-classroom-tool.html.
I haven't had a chance to test this out yet, but if you are already using Google Classroom, this could be a great addition to your toolbox. If you aren't using Google Classroom, it is definitely worth a gander. Check with your resident edtech expert or your ITL/ITRT if you have one.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Create Instructional Videos Using Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a very cool app that can be used for a variety of purposes from creating virtual fieldtrips and QR quests, to flipped lessons for your students. http://explaineverything.com/
The app is available for Chromebooks, Android, and iOS. It allows you to create videos using slideshows, a virtual whiteboard, and imported images and videos. Create a quick lesson or demo to show in your classroom, share with an absent student, or for students to watch at home.
The app is available for Chromebooks, Android, and iOS. It allows you to create videos using slideshows, a virtual whiteboard, and imported images and videos. Create a quick lesson or demo to show in your classroom, share with an absent student, or for students to watch at home.
Monday, September 28, 2015
VR is a Thing
But is it a good thing?
It isn't extraordinarily expensive either. Take I am Cardboard http://www.imcardboard.com/Blog/. If you have an Android smartphone you can have Virtual Reality (VR) Goggles for about $20.
Ask just about anyone who owns a smartphone and they will admit that they have been distracted from a real-world interpersonal interaction by their device. Often the distractions aren't even that important. A text from a friend asking a banal question or a social media post with a cat video is not, for most of us, important enough to ignore a friend. Sure, sometimes we might check just to decide whether or not something is important enough to pry us away from another interaction, and sometimes we might use an alert as an excuse to end a less than interesting conversation, but mostly it's just hard to ignore the insistent interruption that is a smartphone alert. VR takes that a step further and actually places the user in an alternate reality. Netflix plans to release an app that will let you watch shows and movies in a virtual theater, so you don't have to sit in your boring living room with other presumably boring humans. Gaming, for all of its shortfalls still has the potential to be a social experience with groups of friends playing together in the same room. VR goggles, however, will make the fact that you are in the same room with other humans irrelevant. It won't matter that they are there because you will be wearing goggles and headphones that will make it impossible to interact with them outside of the virtual world.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/will-virtual-reality-be-more-than-a-solo-experience/
This inevitability has been explored in a variety of movies and TV shows, but one that sticks out in my mind is Surrogates. This 2009 movie explored a world where many people interacted with the world using a robot that they controlled through a VR interface. The technology already exists. The military and law enforcement use drones and robots to complete tasks that are considered too dangerous for humans. Even home inspectors are using drones instead of ladders to look at rooflines eves, and other hard to reach areas. As long as they don't find anything alarming they can complete their inspection even if they are wary of heights or unable to climb a tall ladder. In a few more years drones and robots may be advanced enough that drones can even give haptic feedback that will essentially allow an operator to touch and feel objects via the drone or robot. The potential for practical and entertainment applications is nearly limitless, but we humans need to learn to live in a world were we use this sort of technology without letting it destroy our ability to maintain real world, interpersonal relationships.
It isn't extraordinarily expensive either. Take I am Cardboard http://www.imcardboard.com/Blog/. If you have an Android smartphone you can have Virtual Reality (VR) Goggles for about $20.
Ask just about anyone who owns a smartphone and they will admit that they have been distracted from a real-world interpersonal interaction by their device. Often the distractions aren't even that important. A text from a friend asking a banal question or a social media post with a cat video is not, for most of us, important enough to ignore a friend. Sure, sometimes we might check just to decide whether or not something is important enough to pry us away from another interaction, and sometimes we might use an alert as an excuse to end a less than interesting conversation, but mostly it's just hard to ignore the insistent interruption that is a smartphone alert. VR takes that a step further and actually places the user in an alternate reality. Netflix plans to release an app that will let you watch shows and movies in a virtual theater, so you don't have to sit in your boring living room with other presumably boring humans. Gaming, for all of its shortfalls still has the potential to be a social experience with groups of friends playing together in the same room. VR goggles, however, will make the fact that you are in the same room with other humans irrelevant. It won't matter that they are there because you will be wearing goggles and headphones that will make it impossible to interact with them outside of the virtual world.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/will-virtual-reality-be-more-than-a-solo-experience/
This inevitability has been explored in a variety of movies and TV shows, but one that sticks out in my mind is Surrogates. This 2009 movie explored a world where many people interacted with the world using a robot that they controlled through a VR interface. The technology already exists. The military and law enforcement use drones and robots to complete tasks that are considered too dangerous for humans. Even home inspectors are using drones instead of ladders to look at rooflines eves, and other hard to reach areas. As long as they don't find anything alarming they can complete their inspection even if they are wary of heights or unable to climb a tall ladder. In a few more years drones and robots may be advanced enough that drones can even give haptic feedback that will essentially allow an operator to touch and feel objects via the drone or robot. The potential for practical and entertainment applications is nearly limitless, but we humans need to learn to live in a world were we use this sort of technology without letting it destroy our ability to maintain real world, interpersonal relationships.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Sign Into Chrome
Signing into Google Chrome offers a variety of features. I think the most beneficial are the bookmark and extension syncing features. In may ways Chrome browser functions as a lightweight operating system. It allows you to add extensions or apps that can be used for a variety of purposes including editing images and video, capturing and sharing your screen, and casting to another device. The following is a brief video that shows you how to sign into Chrome.
https://youtu.be/lemNrt02Lok
https://youtu.be/lemNrt02Lok
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