Google Search Playlist Launched

My GTA Experience--Part 1

The following is an account of my recent trip to Washington, DC. for the Google Teacher Academy and interactions with technology along the way:

Dec 8, 2009--Air tran flight to Baltimore
In-flight wi-fi was $7.95 so I listened to Mike and Mike (ESPN Radio) on AirTran's XM Radio. Found out that they took an unidentified woman from Tiger Woods' house to the hospital. Guess I will find out who that was later today. Played Traffic Rush and Flight Control on iTouch. Not sure it was a good idea to play Flight Control while in a plane but we landed safely. Finished the flight reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman using Kindle iTouch app.

Shuttle Bus B30 to Greenbelt
Taking $3 very warm shuttle to Green Metro Line to get into DC. Need to take note of commute time for return trip. Using iTouch notes to record trip. Typing is getting faster. Listening to Spoon while writing notes. Used Twitter with Cell phone to update #gtadc followers. Asked for suggestions on how to spend DC time prior to the start of the Academy. Thinking about visiting the Newseum. Traffic is slow... don't miss big city commutes. At least I can write while in traffic. Google announced new apps yesterday including real-time search and translation tools. Wondering if we will get a demo at Google Inc tomorrow. Now listening to U2's Passengers playlist. Nice to have lyrics with all my songs. Why isn't there a bus lane...car accident...teenagers who tailgate. If I had to drive every day I would move closer to public transportation. Stack of cookie cakes in SUV next to us...it's always somebody's birthday. Commute on shuttle bus from BWI to DC is longer than flight from Rochester. The Dairy Research Facility we just passed has a lot of security fencing...to keep cows in or humans out?

Metro to Fort Totten transfer to Red Line to DuPont Circle
I always liked DC's Metro System. Easy, cheap, clean, and fast. Leaving station at 9:32am. Transfering to Red Line listening to my alternative rock iTouch playlist...Modest Mouse, Snow Patrol, Beck, Neko Case, etc. Businessmen on Blackberries, blue-collar hardhats, Oriole cap on dredlocks and earbuds fill the train. People reading "A Complete Guide To Special Teams," free newspapers, and text messages. Next stop ... Doubletree Hotel, Rhode Island Avenue.

Doubletree Hotel
Nice hotel between Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill. Great deal on Priceline.com. Used a new app called Search It and found Ben's Chili Bowl, a DC landmark. It was a great place for lunch with lots of energy, great chili, and milkshakes with R&B playing on the jukebox. Crowded but got a stool at the counter in this old silent movie theater. Spent the afternoon at the Newseum. Toured the Stephanopolous studio and 9/11 exhibit was moving. Fun and interesting museum. Used Google Maps on iTouch to map walk to both locations. An evening spent with Capitol City Brewery with about 30 other Google Teacher Academy teachers awaits.

Day 1 - #GTADC
Google Teacher Academy is a whirlwind event. Day 1 include sessions on the following Google applications: Apps for Education, Maps, Earth, Search, Spreadsheets, Wave, Voice, Apps for Administrators, Sites among other titles on our agenda. So the first decision to be made was for all the teachers to use Twitter for discussion. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, we used what is called a hashtag (#gtadc) in all tweets from teachers commenting on the GTA in Twitter. Twitter and several other tools can be used to search all tweets that include #gtadc. This allowed for a massive list of comments that continues to generated.

The first new tool I saw in use was Google Moderator. Google Moderator allows audiences to participate in polls, voting on decisions, and posting comments. Moderator was used infrequently but it was useful given the right situation. I've tried to set up Moderator for an upcoming meeting but need more practice with set up.

The welcoming address reminded us of the Google Mission: "Organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." After sharing GTA goals, we were told this was the 8th GTA since 2006 and after GTADC there will be 417 GCT's worldwide. Finally, at the end of the GTA, our evaluation will include answering this question: If money, time, and resources were not an issue, tell us your biggest, hairiest, most audacious idea. It was clear that we were being encouraged to think beyond any self-imposed limitations.

Coming Soon: Part 2-Google Search

The Human Filter-Moving Students Beyond Google

How do people decide what to tag or share? I tag items that have personal meaning but they need to be useful, relevant, thought-provoking or maybe just entertaining. Are my tagged items better than a Google Search? I would hope. Does columnist Jay Mathew's Washington Post article on Senior Project come up in a Google Search? Not in the first two pages. How about a useful mindmap of Twitter tools? Nope. A nice list of analogies used for AP Psych review? Nope. A great video demonstrating how an MRI works? Ok, Google got that one if I search "how does an MRI work?"

In the past month, out of the hundreds of posts, sites, links, tweets, updates, and emails I've decided to tag 16 links. I've become a human filter for anyone who is interested in Psychology, Senior Projects, Technology, and Education.

I've tagged 5 sites that are specific to my course or professional duties (psychology and Senior Project). These include an anatomy review site, an analogies review worksheet, a video on how an MRI machine works and two articles about Senior Project.

I tagged 4 sites about hardware/software which include a mini-projector device, a tool to provide audio to slides using your cell phone, a concept map of Twitter tools and a list of ways to use a flip video camera in the classroom.

I tagged 3 sites about general educational issues that include using Google Apps for Education, leadership needed to push 1-1 computing in our schools, and creating electronic portfolios for students k-12.

Finally, I've tagged 4 random sites that reflect some personal interest that include NPR's coverage of the SXSW Music Festival, a photography portfolio, a crime tracking tool using Google Maps, and an online application to present at an educational technology conference.

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Alan November @ NECC

Alan November gave a thought-provoking talk at a NECC2008 special session on Tuesday July 1, 2008. The session titled, "Designing Rigorous & Globally Connected Assignments" (among other NECC sessions) can be accessed in full at http://www.kzowebcasting.com/necc/

While entertaining and thought-provoking, attendees didn't come away with specific assignments or a step-by-step how-to procedure. I left the session with a somewhat random list of ideas and tools to consider when designing a globally connected assignment. These ideas and tools were woven into stories and opinions about the current state of education. November's opening story was about how his son received detention because he went to China for a week because going to China wasn't on the list approved absences for seniors. What was more disturbing for November was that not one teacher took advantage of creating an assignment that would enable his son to bring something back from the experience.

Here are other thoughts gathered from my notes...
1. Surveying your audience is very effective tool to bring them into your conversation, lecture, or lesson. November used a clicker-type device that allowed him to survey the audience, giving him a jumping-off point for his talk. I've also used these devices in this manner in the classroom and it is a beautiful hook for most students.
2. Knowing your audience is very important and students should understand audience when communicating. November shared a story about American students being hired by foreign companies that use Instant Messenger tools to communicate in the business world. November claimed that American employees were being fired because they used IM in non-professional ways because they lost site of their audience. I immediately thought of emails I received from some of my students that illustrates they have lost site of the fact that they are emailing an adult who is an authority figure. Our students definitely need to learn to match proper communication to audience.
3. Gathering a global perspective using Google search strategies was very insightful. This media literacy lesson demonstrated the western bias of a Google news search and demonstrated ways to avoid this bias. November cited an assignment where students needed to gather news about Pope Benedict's speech in September 2006 that linked Islam with violence. The caveat was to gather the perspective of Turkey, where the Pope was to speak after giving the speech. The first search attempt using key words in the Google news search brought up sources that indicated mostly a Western point of view. Using "site:tr" prior to key words (no quotes, tr=Turkey) brought up articles from the Turkish Daily News. These articles were not anywhere near the top of the previous search.
4. The most recent information on a topic is very important, especially in the area of medicine or technology. Using Google's "view:timeline" (again, not quotes) in the search box will provide information (web search or news) in a timeline format. This will allow you to see the most recent advances. For example typing "view:timeline cml treatment" in Google will yield this.
5. Create a custom search engine can be a very useful for teachers. I wasn't aware that Google allows users to build a custom search that will limit the search to specific websites. Whether it is one site or a collection of sites, Google allows you to host a search box on your own website that will allow students to do specific searches. Better yet, have students build their own custom search engine for your specific course. As you can see, I have added a custom search for this blog in the upper left corner.
6. Learner job descriptions can be one way to organize classroom tasks. November suggested the following roles: a) Classroom Web Research-builds classroom search engine, b) Videographer to teach course content, and c) Curriculum tutorial design team. One suggested tool to for developing tutorial tasks is Jing. Once Jing is installed screen captures (photos & videos) are made and shared easily.
7. Student created content was emphasized by November. November believes that learners need to contribute to the learning community either by producing or organizing content. Suggested ideas included collaborative note-taking, powerpoints, and contributions to a wikipedia entry (ex. Pitot House, view the history tab). Read more on students as contributors in this article on The Digital Farm.
8. Global connections are easier than ever and kiva.org allows students (or anyone) donate to entrepreneurs in developing countries and get money back on their loan. November suggested some students should make up a "Global Communications Team" that works to set up contacts around the world.

Motion Charts in Google Docs

Have a need to show data relationships over time? I originally blogged about this TED speech that use this gapminder tool to show UN country data. Now everyone has the ability to dump data into a Google spreadsheet and create their own Motion Chart. I've embedded an example of a motion chart below. The data is totally made-up data for the sake of experimentation My district would have the ability to create accurate Motion Charts. Be sure to hover over the dots to see individual schools and use the drop down menus to see other ways to view the data. Very cool visualizer!

Google Reader Shared Items

As many more of my colleagues are using Google Reader, I wanted to point my readers to the SHARE feature of the reader. Simply click on share at the bottom of a post entry on Google Reader and it is automatically saved to a website that can be shared with friends. You then subscribe to someone else's shared blog finds. It's a lot like social bookmarking but you are sharing individual blogs and news feeds rather than bookmarks. Anyway, click here for my shared items on Google Reader. I just started sharing items on a regular basis so if you are interested in what I find interesting, then subscribe to this page.

Blog Aggregators & Subscriptions

I've had a couple of people come up to me and say, "I really like your blog, I check it every day." And my immediate question is "why?" I read many blogs every day. If I had to go check them individually I wouldn't get anything else done. So I use RSS feeds. I manage these RSS feeds with Google Reader. I can immediatly see which blogs have posted new information and I can easily view this new posts in one place. Alternatively, you could also subscribe to my blog via email. You will receive a new post in your inbox so you don't have to check everyday. I love using Google Reader because I can be certain to read great information that I know I will be interested in learning about and I can manage what I read, how I read it, how I share it, and how I save the best stuff. If you want to learn more about
RSS feeds then watch this:

Sharing Calendars Online

I have been using Google Calendar for over a year now and I find it very useful to keep track of my family's schedule. It's color-coded and shared so all family members can enter information. You can make certain calendars private or public. You can add public calendars to your private calendars. A short introduction to online calendars can be found on Wired Magazine's How-To Wiki. I also get the web on my cell phone so I can access my calendar 24/7 even when I'm not near a computer. Click on the image to see 2 week calendar view (daily and monthly options also available). Think about making a public or private calendar for your course, club, sports team, or other activities. I think these calendars are most useful when more than one person needs to view, add, share items for one group (family, co-advisors, etc.).