Google Docs for Writing Instructors 5.2.12

On May 2 at 11 am Pacific Time, I am going to host a Google Education On Air Session using Google Hangouts. I can invite nine people to join me for the conversation, and an unlimited number of folks can watch live and / or view the archived session on YouTube.

Please share this with anyone you know who might be interested. If you'd like to be a participant rather than just a viewer, leave a comment on my Google+ post about the event.

Session description

Google Docs can completely transform the entire process of teaching writing. Eliminate stacks of papers and unmanageable email attachments by having your students submit their writing through a shared collection. This session will explain best practices including naming conventions, controlled sharing, and streamlined rubrics using Google Forms. Grading papers is a pain. Google Docs makes the process much easier.


More details here. 

MyMüvi! A Cheap HD Video Camera with a Cheaper Name

Two years ago our school purchased a dozen Flip Ultra cameras, many of which we still use today. We found a program where we could get the $150 camera for half the price. I still love these little cameras for their durability, ease of use, and decent quality. I have no reservations handing one to a student. Since then, Cisco has pulled production of the Flip line. [sad face]

Last week, however, I was hiding in the camera shop while my wife was shopping, and I came across a display for MyMüvi! FaceCam HD. The name would be obnoxious even without the exclamation mark, but the price tag was alluring at $30. I confirmed that I could return it if I didn't like it, so I pulled the trigger.

Like the Flip Cameras, the MyMovie (I refuse to use that spelling anymore) has an attached a usb port, HDMI out, SD card slot (that is its only memory, sold separately).

I tried editing the video on my Mac and my ChromeBook. Neither worked. It shoots in an AVI format that these computers don't like. So I tried it on the school's Acer netbook running Ubermix, and it worked flawlessly. I edited these few clips together using OpenShot Video Editor, which came bundled with Ubermix. 

The video quality is about what you should expect for $30. Notice how the exposure changes so abruptly.   There is also no macro option as you can tell in the thumbnail. This is no Flip Video Camera, nor is it my favorite version of these mini cameras, the Kodak zi8. I miss that camera! However, for $30 and a netbook running Ubermix, you could do worse. 

Amazon, Google, let's see some iBooks Textbooks competition

In January, Apple announced their initiative to get into the textbook market and a partnership with both Pearson and McGraw Hill. From what I could tell, these eBooks are incredible. They feature the same content as the print textbooks with added video, interactive visuals, built in flashcards, and quizzes. All at $14.99. Well played, Apple.

This is great news for iPad owners. But what about the (granted dwindling) numbers of people without iPads? Now, Amazon and Google, it's your turn. The textbook selection in the Kindle Store and Google Play is pathetic.

If you created a platform for publishers and teachers to produce interactive textbooks books to be distributed through your stores, we would be much more likely to adopt these books because they would be device neutral.

It's worth noting that Kindle books do not have to be read on a Kindle. I read mine on my iPad and my laptop, and I could also read them on my fancy new Linux powered netbook. Amazon will have to abandon hope of supporting textbooks on the e-ink Kindles. We need more interactivity like what Apple is offering. Make them powered by HTML5, and teachers and school boards will come.

Ubermix for netbooks

I'm in my second year teaching English in a classroom with a cart of ten netbooks running Windows XP. I am so grateful to have them, and my students use them at least every other day. However, as an aging operating system, XP runs slowly and is much more complex than we need. The start time is long and we have varied success connecting to the wireless network. On the recommendation of Colin Matheson, an IT specialist at Carmel Unified School District, I installed Ubermix.

Ubermix is an all-free, specially built, Linux-based operating system designed from the ground up with the needs of education in mind. 

I downloaded the image file onto a separate machine and formated the image onto a USB stick following these instructions. The process wasn't as easy as I expected. I noticed that the install would hang after it said it would take about five minutes to install. So, I did what any sane person would do in this situation. I asked a teenager. In this case, Nils, who is launching his own web design business as a part of my class's 20% project. Check it out at www.liveculturesweb.com. He recommended that I give it more time to install. My problem is that when installing something at a root level like an operating system, you're given no feedback that anything is happening. After an hour of nothing, I noticed the red light on the usb stick flashing. Something was happening! Nils was right. After about eight hours, the OS started to boot. I felt like a 15-year-old in line for The Hunger Games.

Start time
This thing goes from shut down to browsing the web in 65 seconds. That's slower than a MacBook Air with a solid state drive, but it's much faster than my windows machine. Once booted, it immediately connects to a wifi access point and is ready to surf.

User Interface
I love the simplicity of the UI. With its large icons, it is designed to look more like a mobile operating system than a desktop operating system. There is no "start menu" like Windows, or "dock" like OSX. Rather the left column are app categories including internet, games, education, accessories, and system. Click on the category and your given the apps that could be Android or iOS app icons.

Software
Ubermix comes bundled with a bunch of freely available software including the entire Open Office suite, Skype, Gimp for photo editing, and other math and science apps I haven't had time to explore. I'm most interested in this as a web machine, and for running apps like Moodle, quizlet, Poll Everywhere and Google Docs, this thing is perfect. Both Chrome and Firefox can handle any website you throw at it.

Quick Restore
One of the must-have features of Ubermix is the easy system recovery feature. Students tend to mess with settings, change background images, and download garbage that slows everything down. By pressing esc on the boot, you are given the option to restore the operating system to its original state.

One Hitch
So far I cannot get the thing to wake up once it is in sleep mode. I've tried a couple bug fixes recommended on the web, but still no luck. If anyone out there knows a fix, please send it along. As it is now, I just have to restart the system after the lid closes.

1:1 / BYOD Solution?
Anyone looking to adopt a 1:1 program or Bring Your Own Device program at a school will want to consider this as an option. The world has tolled the death of the netbook to the tablet and ultrabook.

Not so fast. Compared to the iPad, a netbook running Ubermix could be half the price with a keyboard and a fully functional web browser that could easily handle editing complex web apps like Moodle or Google Docs. What do you think? 

Crowdsource vocabulary word curation to your students

We're currently reading Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God in my 10th grade English class. Whenever we read complex novels, I like to collect a list of vocabulary words from the novel to study. I used to collect those words myself. Now I have my students create the collection. First I create a Google Form. If you're not using Forms, you should.

You can embed this form in your class site. I use Google Sites, but Moodle or other CMS will work. I always have my students submit their section number and last name in all the forms I use. It's much easier to track who has submitted the forms when I do. Then I have them submit a word they discovered while reading the book. They also include the definition of the word. Below the form I embed the spreadsheet associated with the form. Remember to make that spreadsheet viewable by anyone with the link or your students will just see a blank screen.

I called this crowd-sourcing in the title. Maybe we should call it class-sourcing.

Google Spreadsheets for Painless Substitute Organization

At our small school we all cover each other's classes when we need substitutes. The process usually involves a mass email to all the faculty followed by tedious collation and replies. Google Spreadsheets makes this process so much easier. See how.

Your digital footprint: Did you just step in it?

Photo licensed for reuse by mahalie on flickr

According to my Facebook news feed this morning, last night was St. Patrick's Day, and it looks like some folks had a good time. Other folks? I don't judge. Much.

Not long ago young people could mostly escape indiscretion's ephemera. Now, we all leave a permanent digital footprint, whether we want to or not. Even if your students have mastered Facebook's arcane privacy settings (they probably haven't) anything posted digitally can be duplicated again, again, and again.

Students today need to know that the web holds all kinds of personal information that college admissions officers and employers access and use to make judgements. This "digital footprint" can help them or hurt them.

Managing an online reputation is much more than avoiding cameras at parties. Students also need to know that they must present themselves as an authentic good citizen. Some may go so far to argue that an empty digital footprint is as damaging as a negative one.

Commonsensemedia.org offers several lesson plans to help students think about managing their digital footprints. Two have students play the role of a person who must decide between two otherwise equal candidates based on their online identity. Trillion Dollar Footprint is designed for middle-school students, and College Bound is for upper level students.

Both of these lessons will stimulate compelling conversation and may cause some to rethink posting that photo on Flickr. I'm talking to you mahalie.

Four questions to answer before buying your teen an iPad

Your child is stupendously manipulative, independently wealthy, or unbearably charming. Or maybe you're a good parent looking to give the best tool to help your kid in school. Either way, you are considering letting this kid have an iPad. Before you send those $500 to Cupertino, answer these four critical questions.

1. What is your AUP?
Most schools and businesses establish an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for technology. Consider writing up a family AUP for technology between you and your child. You could clearly define how, when, and where the iPad should be used. Establish what types of websites he is permitted to visit, what kinds of games he can play, and what media he may consume. Explain why you have these rules in place before you purchase the device. Get these rules in writing and have both of you sign it. You could review the details of the policy after six months to meet changing demands and increased maturity.

2. Who controls the Apple ID account?

In order to get past the welcome screen on a new iPad, you must register the device with an Apple ID and password. You may already have one if you use iTunes or have another Apple device. You need to decide if you are going to control this account, or will you let your teenager have administrative control. Each time you download an app, purchase music, or rent a movie, you need to enter the Apple ID password associated with the iPad. If you want full control over everything that happens on the device, register it with your own password. Unfortunately, your teenager is going to ask you to enter your password each time an app needs to be updated, which is about as often as she asks for a ride to the mall. You could take the other approach and give full account control to your child by giving her a credit card and her own account. Beware. One parent ended up with a five-digit iPad bill because his kid made a bunch of in-game purchases to keep his virtual fish alive. Since you trust your child enough to provide an iPad, perhaps you should allow her to control the account, but provide an iTunes gift card when registering the iPad rather than a credit card to keep a fixed cap on the expenses.

3. Will you enable restrictions?
Even if your child has control of the Apple ID account, you could still enable password protected restrictions to lock down certain apps or hardware elements. To access the restrictions settings tap Settings > General > Restrictions. The iPad will ask you to provide a four digit password. Then you can enable and disable native apps like YouTube and FaceTime. You can also restrict all apps by their rating in the iTunes store. If you don’t want your kid watching rated R movies, uncheck the R rating in the Movies page. As long as you have control of the restrictions password, you have control of what apps and media your child uses on the device.

4. Where will the device live at three in the morning?
No one is going to stop a teenager from reading comic books under their covers all hours of the night with a flashlight. Give up on that battle. However, you can keep him from Facebooking when he should be sleeping. If your child is losing sleep because of any technology, this is a serious problem. Confiscate the device during bedtime hours. Write it into your AUP. Besides, if he’s using it all night, when are you going to break his Angry Birds record?

Sophomore Speeches: just one of the acts of cruelty I inflict on my students

I win no popularity contests the day I announce to my students they they are going to write, re-write, rehearse, re-rehearse their own original speeches and deliver them in front of the entire 300 individuals of the York School community … and in front of YouTube. See some highlights from this year’s speeches. I am really proud of these kids.

Why I broke up with Google Docs (We're back together)

Google Docs and I had a great thing going. I have been a user since its beta release in 2006. Later I began to experiment with its use in the classroom. Then I attended the Google Teacher Academy and was convinced that I would go completely paperless with all future papers I would assign. It didn't go well. See why Google Docs and I briefly broke up and why we're back together.

[Update] Aaron Slutsky commented on Google+ 

I've had some teacher screencast their comments to the students. Think it could be done as efficiently as making comments?

Screencasting paper comments may be even faster. I'll have to think about that.

Search Google with a Flower

I have a pear tree in my front yard. I know it is a pear tree because it produces pears. This month it is in full bloom. I have another tree in my back yard that is also in full bloom (left). Unfortunately it does not produce any fruit. Not only do I not get any delicious fruit from this tree, but I also do not have any more clues to tell me what kind of tree it is.

This video will show you how I found out what kind of tree this is by searching Google ... not by entering text, but by entering this image in the search box.

Now if Google could just tell me what kind of dog Sasso is ...

Google thinks Sasso looks like this guy:

I cannot disagree.

Notes from Common Sense Media Training

I just returned from two lovely days in Palm Springs, not specifically to get away from the dreariness of Monterey County this March, but it was a welcome bonus. A dozen or so other educators and I met there to receive training on Common Sense Media's Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum.

Their mission:

Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology. 

We exist because our nation's children spend more time with media and digital activities than they do with their families or in school, which profoundly impacts their social, emotional, and physical development. As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.

 CSM offers a K-12 Curriculum on Digital Literacy and Citizenship, and we spent the day gaining exposure to what is available to teachers, parents, and students. Of particular interest are the lesson plans on identity protection, and cyber-bullying. The entire curriculum is based on the results of this comprehensive study from Harvard University.

Key take-aways from the workshop:

• Kids age 8-18 spend an average of 7.5 hours in front of a screen ... each day ... outside of class
• 42% of teens and 92% of middle schoolers have been bullied online
• 10% of bullied teens report it to their parents
• Online stranger danger is less of a threat than the media would have you fear
• Teaching students to become ethical digital citizens must start early. Middle school is the sweet spot, but earlier is good too.

What I liked most about the session what the vocabulary CSM has developed to help us talk about these new opportunities and challenges. 

Watch this definition of "Digital Footprint"

Social Networking & Kids: Striving to Raise a Generation of Ethical Digital Citizens

Last month, the editor of Mbaykids.com asked me to write a piece on social networking and kids for their print magazine, Scoop! Here's the, um, scoop.


What is a social network? 
All humans have engaged in social networks for as long as they have been, well, human. These are the groups of people, family, friends and colleagues that make our lives rich and engaging.

Online social network services like Facebook provide a convenient means for us to interact with these people, who are increasingly spread out around the world. While Facebook is the largest online social network, it is intended only for those over 13 years old and while some parents turn a blind eye, Facebook is not a safe place for youngsters. However, there is a wide variety of social networks available where kids can interact with their friends online safely and where they can learn to become ethical digital citizens. A great resource is Common Sense Media  (www.commonsensemedia.org), which provides great advice and website reviews for parents in our media dense world.

How can I help my child use these sites safely?  
The most important thing you can do while navigating social networking sites with children is to keep a continued conversation open about the Internet. The  first conversation you want to have is about reputation. Back in the 70s and 80s, childhood transgressions conveniently forgot themselves, but in today's digital world, kids can leave a permanent record by carelessly posting comments or photos they will regret in the future.  Everything posted online can be copied and republished indefi nitely. Nothing should be posted on the web that you don't want the world to see.

Next, have an ongoing conversation with your child about respect. Even innocent teasing can be easily misinterpreted. Some sites allow folks to hide in anonymity and kids can really hurt others. It's even more important for kids to be nice online because these interactions stick around for a long time and can be posted publicly.

You can help your children take advantage of these tools by maintaining open conversations about becoming ethical digital citizens. Resist the urge to isolate your child from the many benefits of using the Internet. Like the web, a swimming pool can be a dangerous place, but it's better to teach a kid to swim rather than lock him out of the pool until he is adult. Set boundaries, keep the computer in a central location, and use the computer together. They'll benefit from learning from you.  And you'll, no doubt, learn something from them, as well.

Adopting insights from Kahn Academy

This year our school has charged the faculty to try experimenting with some new educational techniques proposed by Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy. With the help of online video, he has "flipped" the instructional / homework model upside down where students are given instruction at home via youtube video and then they do their homework in class with the help of the teacher. See the TED video:

So now that we're studying Shakespeare, I thought I would produce a short video on iambic pentameter ... a subject I teach every year with a fair degree of success. Here's my attempt:

I didn't expect thousands of students and teachers around the country would use it to help them learn this topic. Things I learned from the comments posted on this video:

• I sound like William Shatner, Mark Zuckerberg, or George Watsky
• These kinds of videos work for some students, not others--more evidence for differentiated learning.

Google Apps for English Teachers webinar

A Google hosted webinar some of my students and I produced in November.

Advanced Forms in Google Docs Webinar

Here is a webinar I hosted with another Google Apps for EDU Certified Trainer, Tim Lee.

Required Reading: 20 Things I learned about the web.

If you use the internet (and I suspect you do) you owe it to yourself to read this short web book by Google.

Overcoming Functional Fixedness with Gaming: Limbo on the XBOX

In the summer of 1995 I was leading a mountain bike trip in the remote Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I took a nasty spill and broke the axle on my front wheel. Digging through my bag I found everything I needed to replace the axle except an essential washer. My partner started digging through his bag, realizing that if we didn’t find a washer, I’d be walking the 12 miles back to the trail head ... and he'd be waiting for me with the rest of the group. He revealed a beer bottle cap, pulled out his multi-tool, drove a hole in the middle of the cap. “Here’s your washer.” Sometimes a bottle cap isn’t a bottle cap.

Archimedes had his moment when he realized a bathtub can serve a purpose beyond bathing--it could also measure volume through displacement. Eureka!

One of the keys to solving problems effectively is to overcome the cognitive bias known as functional fixedness. If you’ve read Daniel Pink’s book Drive, as I’ve urged, you would remember The Candle Problem, which demonstrates our tendency to think of objects as having one discrete purpose. In order to solve this puzzle, we must not think outside of the box, but rather reinvent the purpose of the box.

Recognizing and overcoming our functional fixedness seems to be critical if we are going to solve our world’s major problems, not just broken axles and hypothetical puzzles, but how do we nurture our ability to see objects and tools as having multiple purposes? I would argue, practice.

At some point, I’ll write about how I think Legos have shifted from a system that helped kids combat functional fixedness to one that encourages it, but today I want to write about a video game. Hailed by many critics as the best game of the year, the little black and white 2D game, Limbo, available for download on the XBOX marketplace for about $15 is a beautiful and haunting little game. It’s also another one of those so-called video-games-as-art games. Whatever, that debate has become dull.

Yes, there is so much to love about Limbo, but what made me stop playing it to write this post was its ability to force us out of our functional fixedness. In order to progress through the map, we have to move our benighted little protagonist from left to right, solving puzzles, finding unexpected ways to overcome obstacles.

[minor spoiler alert ... first five minutes of the game ... skip the next three paragraphs if you don’t want to be spoiled]

After overcoming some lethal bear traps, our hero approaches a lake with a little wood crate on its bank. I climbed over the crate and attempted to swim across the lake. The poor boy never learned how to swim, sank to the bottom, and produced small puff of bubbles before his glowing little eyes turned dark. Trial-and-die.

Luckily this game is generous with infinite respawns, so I decided that the crate was going to have to be my boat. I dragged the crate into the water and attempted to float across the lake, but each time, I fell out of the crate and drowned ... and drowned ... and drowned again.

Right when I began contemplating giving up and finding the solution on the web, I had that little eureka moment. The crate isn’t a boat ... it’s a ladder, at which point I dragged the ladder to a nearby tree and climbed my way to the next puzzle.

It’s a very small example of overcoming functional fixedness, but I can’t help but think that time spent experiencing the satisfaction of battling that bias helps train our brains to think beyond the obvious and maybe solve significant problems in innovative ways.

Video: Motivation and Learning for Google Teacher Academy

I produced this one minute video as a part of my Google Teacher Academy application. The academy will be held in London this year and their application suggests that they're particularly interested in international teachers, so who knows. All applicants are to submit a one minute video on Motivation and Learning or Innovation in the Classroom. I chose the former.

Boook Review: Drive by Daniel Pink

Pop Quiz:

If you want to encourage students to complete a project or assignment with creativity, innovation, and passion, what's the best tool to motivate them?

a. offer a high grade
b. threaten a low grade
c. make it a competition
d. offer a gift certificate to GameStop
e. chocolate covered iPod
f. none of the above

According to Daniel Pink's latest book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the answer is f, as in fail. In fact, the evidence is overwhelming that all of the above carrots and sticks actually reduce performance and undermine motivation. When it comes to tasks that require problem solving or other right brain activities, people perform best when they are given autonomy over their tasks, opportunity for mastery in their field, and a sense that the task has a clear and meaningful purpose.

Those who have read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, Carol Dweck's Mindset, and Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics will find much familiar, but Pink packages many of these ideas in a new, and even more useful form.

In the following video from a TED conference, Pink offers a brief and compelling overview of his argument. His emphasis here is on business, but educators wouldn't have to stretch too far to see how it applies to the classroom. However, the book does dedicate a significant number of pages directly to how we need to radically shift the way we motivate our students.



Recently, I applied this new way of motivation to my English students. Essentially I gave them some 20% time to work on any project of their choosing. I did encourage them to do something that was worth doing and had a greater purpose. Some examples of what they came up with:

• Two students, disgusted with the fact that Monterey was given an F by the American Lung Association for smoking ordinances, wrote letters to the the local newspapers here and here. Since then the Monterey City Council unanimously voted to dramatically restrict smoking in public places.
• Ten students have decided that they want to adopt a 3rd grade class at a local underfunded school and encourage them to read by giving lessons on children's books they love. 
• Six students are planning a blood drive with a goal to break a school-wide record for pints donated. They're currently scheming to perform the most persuasive series of assembly announcements. Ever.
• Seven students are organizing a shoe and clothing drive for Haiti.
• Two students decided they want to be published journalists. Look for their first piece to be printed in Off 68 within a couple weeks.
• A couple students are working to build a certain Yurt. 

I suppose I could have spent the past week teaching post-modern deconstructionism.