What Is Google+ and How Are Districts Using Google Apps?

Image by gplusinfo.com

What is Google+ and why should I care?
Google+ is basically Google's answer to Facebook. It is essentially a social networking environment where individuals can collaborate with one another through forums, shared pictures and media, links, updates, and more. You can organize the people or organizations with which you collaborate or follow by putting them into "circles" with names you choose. For example, I share certain posts with librarians I know from outside the Wausau School District in my circle entitled "Librarians Outside District." Therefore, only those specific people that I've put in the circle will be able to view that post.

One of the reasons you should care about Google+, in my opinion, is that it is an excellent collaboration tool that is customizable by you based on your affiliations and interests. If you're interested in special education, follow some of the big names on Google+ to see how they're changing the world of spec ed. Interested in assessment? Search Google+ for assessment gurus and let the updates come to you. Google+ at the Wausau School District allows us to keep our posts within a specified domain, so as long as our posts say "Wausau School District" beneath them, only people in our @wausauschools.org domain can view them. You can make them even more specific by sharing information to a particular circle of people that you have created.

Another reason you should care about Google+ is because of Google Hangouts, which is a powerful video calling service that allows nine people to communicate with one another live. Google+ is required to engage in Google Hangouts. One of the best things about hangouts is that they can be recorded "On Air" so that tutorials and collaboration can be captured in the hangout and uploaded directly to YouTube for others to view asynchronously. You can share your screen, collaborate on documents in Google Drive, watch YouTube videos together, chat, and more. It's a great way to collaborate with teachers across the district or the world, and it doesn't require you to download any software. It works on your PC, Mac, Chromebook, iOS device, and many cell phones.

Hangouts allow users to share ideas, documents,
and more with up to nine people at once.
Image by 9to5google.com

How are districts using Google Apps right now?
Google recently organized some Google Hangout sessions with teachers across the country for Teacher Appreciation Week. Some of them feature what teachers have done specifically with Chromebooks; however, if you remember our last JMMS library post, You Have a Chromebook Already--Basically, you know that you can do any of what these teachers are doing as long as students have access to a computer. All they need to do is log in to their Google Chrome browser.

Here are the featured Google Hangouts facilitated by Google representatives but featuring actual teachers. How do I know these are actually teachers? One of the English teachers in the language arts Hangout is my old cooperating teacher from Fond du Lac. Her middle school does not have a 1:1, but despite that fact, she has been able to do some impressive things with collaboration in writing and practice for the Smarter Balanced Assessment. Just an FYI, each video is about 60 minutes or so because around five teachers have the opportunity to present how they've been using Google Apps in their subject.

Monday, May 6 - Mathematics http://youtu.be/DG25m0gmYWU
Tuesday, May 7 - Science- http://youtu.be/z7blur1o2RM
Wednesday, May 8 - Social Studies & Foreign Language - http://youtu.be/XEB7AfJklQE
Thursday, May 9 - Special Education- http://youtu.be/nGdDEvZZZa4
Friday, May 10 - Language Arts - http://youtu.be/GP5IYVM32nU

Special thanks to Bryon Kolbeck for compiling these videos.

You Already Have a Chromebook--Basically...

What some people don't realize is that they already have access to a Chromebook, or what is basically a Chromebook, each time they use their current PC or Mac. When you log into Chrome, the browser, not just Gmail or Google Drive, you open yourself up to a world of powerful web applications and browser extensions. Unlike iPads, you don't need a Chromebook to learn how to use a Chromebook--all you need is what you already have--a computer. The learning curve for Google Chrome is surprisingly small because you've already been using a browser for years--most likely Internet Explorer. When you're ready, consider dabbling with Chrome and allowing your students to open up their web experience as well. If you learn Chrome, the browser, you will know 95% of what Chromebooks have to offer. One of the best parts is that the only cost to you is time. Don't know how to login to Chrome? Here is some help.

Below is a YouTube playlist that provides explanations of how Chrome differs from other browsers, and it even provides tutorials on how to install extensions and web applications. If you don't know what those are, have no fear; the videos explain that, too.

The John Muir library is dedicated to helping staff learn more. Therefore, we're spending time curating some of what we consider to be the most important extensions, apps, and scripts available in Google Chrome. Remember, if you can use it in Google Chrome on your PC or Mac, there is a very good chance students will be able use it on a Chromebook. 

Click banner above to view the JMMS Chromebooks Muir page

New Issues Books & Assessment Books, More Library Changes, and Google Drive File Management

We haven't posted for a while in the LMC on account of being a bit busy. Our Twitter feed, Scoop.it feed, and Pinterest boards have all been active, however. If you haven't viewed them, you might learn a thing or two from them. This post is multifaceted--a sort of menagerie of updates--without the animals. Here's a mini TOC:

• Issues Books
• Professional Development Books (Assessment and Common Core)
• Library Changes
• Google Drive File Management and Assessment Strategies

Issues Books

We just received over seventy books on important issues going on in the world. These books illustrate a variety of different opinions, and each one is framed with two based questions that speak to the opposing sides of each issue. Great text features, strong thesis arguments, and a combination of facts and opinions make these books great options to support a number of different modules in the curriculum companion as well as Common Core standards in many core subjects. In the fall, we will have three new issues database subscriptions containing thousands of articles on debatable topics. If you have only used Google as your research engine, considering looking at what is available at http://bit.ly/jmdatabase. We're always happy to help researchers find academic resources they can trust!

Over 70 new issues books added to the library to support research modules in Common Core.
Click the picture to enlarge!
*Original image by C. Jeffers made with FrameMagic on the iPad.

Professional Development Books
Thanks to the John Muir Assessment PLC we have two copies of two different books that may help guide you through some of the educational philosophies and strategies behind the shift to new, effective methods of assessment. These are important reads, and we're happy to have them in our professional collection. Furthermore, we're happy to offer a copy of Lucy Calkins's Pathway to Common Core: Accelerating Achievement.

Image by www.bn.com

Image by C. Jeffers

Library Changes

We have made two changes in the library layout since the past blog post. First of all, we've made a periodical section by the south exit of the library. For now, it is mainly magazines, but we'll be adding newspapers shortly. Also, all Chromebooks are in and ready for staff checkout. Meanwhile, we've repurposed the old study consoles and made some more private research stations for a quieter environment. Lastly, we have removed the old graphic novel shelf by the main entrance and placed all of the mangas, graphic novels, Orca books, Stone Arch books, and audiobooks where the magazines used to be. We're almost finished with the renovation...

Private Chromebook stations for quiet research
Image by C. Jeffers

Finally a separate area for all of the magazines
Image by C. Jeffers

Google Drive File Management and Assessment Strategies

Despite whether you're piloting iPads in a 1:1, experimenting with Chromebooks, learning new web technologies, or trying to bury your head in the luddite sands, one thing remains constant, technology is playing a bigger part in the way we educate. The grand finale Appy Hour of 2012-2013 at Muir (Advanced Google Drive-ing | Wednesday, May 15 at 3:15-4:30) will feature three Google scripts (gClassFolders, Doctopus, and Goobric) that will help you with managing student files, generating student portfolios and folders, and keeping better tabs on your feedback of student work. If you intend to have students share documents with you in Google Drive, you will be interested in how these scripts work. Here is a brief description of each:

gClassFolders

This script allows you to take a class roster in a spreadsheet and automatically generate assignment folders for each student. It automatically names the folders based on the students' names in the roster, and it even places them in the correct class periods in which you have each of these students. After you run gClassFolders, students can simply place any document, picture, word file, pdf, etc... into their assignment folders, and it will automatically be shared and organized for the teacher to view. No more trying to find student assignments in Google Drive.

Doctopus

This script allows you to create an assignment template, multiply it to all the students in your class roster, name the file based on student's first name, last name, and period, and automatically place one individual copy of each file into a specific designated student folder for each student. Furthermore, it places a link to each of the individual student files for that assignment into a spreadsheet that you can sort by class period or student name. Therefore, you can grade each student's work from one spreadsheet. 

Goobric

This script/extension in the Google Chrome browser allows teachers to attach a more detailed rubric to an assignment and grade the assignment electronically using the attached rubric. The rubric appears as a drop-down menu on the right-hand side of the browser, and once a teacher fills in all of the point values, a copy of the rubric is emailed to the student and copied onto the document that is being assessed.

You can get the May 15 Appy Hour instructions here. Have a great weekend!