Amazing new App and Google add-in make this a must have tool in your school.

Lucidcharts is a great tool with so many great features for use in the classroom to create flowcharts, mind maps, graphic organizers and other diagrams.  Their commitment to education is amazing. They offer Lucidchart free of charge to K-12 educators and students. The educational accounts are the equivalent of their team accounts and come equipped with all the premium features. (For other's they offer a free trial, as well as free accounts with limited features.) There product line, support, and tutorials are first class.

Note:  Here at Norris, we have this automatically available to all staff and students, via the drop-down menu in Google apps under more:

Lucidchart integrates right into Google Apps and Google Drive.  They also have a great Chrome app, and just released an iPad app that is getting great reviews.

If your School (or Business) is Google Apps, then you need to have your system administrator add it to your Google Apps and request the free licenses.   More info can be found here.

Their iPad app (Checkout the features here!) was just released, and is a must have free app for teachers and students.

What are you waiting for-- Give this thing a try!

Great free chrome app (w/Google Drive integration) for student note taking while viewing YouTube videos

  

Videonot.es - The easiest way to take notes synchronized with videos! 

Are you using YouTube videos in your classroom. (Hopefully you have your Classroom Channel setup with play lists on your classes, subjects, etc.... )This tool is a nice tool for students that allows them to takes notes on your YouTube videos. Those notes are synced to your Google Drive, and linked to the timeline in the Video, so when you click on each note, it takes you to the location in the video when you created that note!

Visit their website, and load the Chrome App.  http://www.videonot.es/

Here is a short 3 minute youTube video Tutorial on using Videonot.es: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgyjo3vQfyI

Movenote for Google Drive- a must have free tool for teachers (and students).

NOTE - THIS PRODUCT IS NO LOGER AVAILIBLE

Movenote for Google Drive is a powerful tool for teachers to provide student feedback on their documents or presentations.  You can easily bring up a Google Doc or other file, and provide audio and video feedback. This tool could also be used for tutorials or presentations. (It's the talking head concept when presenting online.)

Short Video About Movenote:




STEP 1:
You will want to add the Chrome App. (This gives you the create option in Google Drive.)
Chrome Extension for Movenote

STEP 2:

Here at Norris, we have added it to our Google Apps Domain (nsdtitans.org) so it is available from our Google Apps drop-down menu. When you click on this link, your account is created for you.  (If you are reading this post from another school district, then you can just create an account on movenote.com manually.)

STEP 3:
Once you have created an account, you will want to connect it to your Google Drive.

When you start Movenote, you may also have to allow access to your web cam:

It's that simple.  You are now ready to start making your first Movenote.

Here is a short Movenote presentation on how to make Movenotes. 

I like the nice integration withing Google Drive and the ease of use on this application.  Hopefully you will find it useful within your classroom.

Google tools, iPad Apps and cool web resources 9-9-13

Google tools:

5 Gmail and Google Drive Updates you Missed Over the Summer (in animated gifs) http://www.googlegooru.com/5-gmail-and-google-drive-updates-you-missed-over-the-summer/

How To Organize Your Research With The Power Of Google Drive -A nice resource/reference for students! (And teachers too.)  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-organize-your-research-with-the-power-of-google-drive/

To help summarize and analyze data in Google Spreadsheets, use this - goo.gl/QnbQSi  

A Complete Guide to Using Blogger In School - 81 Page Free PDF ow.ly/obyTJ  (NOTE- Here at Norris, I already have this in our folder of free ebooks on the Q drive.  O:\eBooks -Free\Blogger for the classroom) 

10 advanced tips and tricks for Google Forms - not too hard, but very powerful! ly.tcea.org/yphgn

Google+ Hangout Tip Sheet http://t.co/ZE6N9qKp91  (At Norris, I have filled this Google Doc under our Tech Docs in Drive, as a future reference.) 

Chromebook tip  via @googlechrome: Swipe right on your mouse with two
fingers to go back & swipe left with two fingers to go forward in your
browser history

Web sites and tools: 

Shutterfly Photo Story is a new free app that allows you to make digital photo books with audio from your Shutterfly photos. Many classroom applications and possible uses! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shutterfly-photo-story-for/id659614190?ls=1&mt=8

More Tools for Your Utility Belt from TCEA -These guys are a must follow for teachers on Twitter!

GoSoapBox is a web-based clicker tool  http://www.gosoapbox.com/tour

Sandy Delzell and Sarah Koehlmoos shared thinglink.com with the Intermediate staff a while back. This tool allows you to put notes, directions, even sounds as links on a photo.  (Great for classroom directions, student guides, and more.)  Give it a try!

I have mentioned this one several times, but I think it's an amazing tool for connecting with your classes or student groups via text messaging.  https://www.remind101.com/  (Very safe, since you do not even know the students phone numbers.)  Hopefully you have a Google class calendar for class assignments and activity. If so... remember students can set SMS (Text messaging) reminders for items on that calendar. 

52 Economics / Money - Coin Counting Websites goo.gl/F13yds 

Active Textbook - Turn PDFs Into Multimedia Documents. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/08/active-textbook-turn-pdfs-into.html

A Collection Of Useful Recently-Published Interactive Maps & Charts http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/08/21/a-collection-of-useful-recently-published-interactive-maps-charts/

To help learn more about the 3 Branches of Government play these two games: http://t.co/RtvlfaW8cT    http://t.co/JEGOt0d4GI #sschat #nebedu   (Notice this one came from Twitter!  Are you following the great EDU hash tags for your educational area??????

10 Useful History and Geography Apps http://t.co/z31lQJw9Xb

Embed Voki on Google Site http://blog.voki.com/2012/11/13/tip-of-the-week-embed-voki-on-google-site/ Not sure what a Voki is??? it is a FREE service that lets you Create customized avatars. Here is a YouTube on creating a Voki. 

10 Techy Icebreakers for The 21st Century Teacher ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/10-techy-icebreakers-for-21st-century.html

GeoGebra Tablet Apps - Apps for both Android and IOS

Short 5 minute or less videos on a variety of tech topics. Videos by educators with tips, tricks and ideas.  http://eduslam.me/

More great websites!  Cool Web Tools For School http://t.co/MX3YMuKeQz  

Huge list of digital learning tools:  http://t.co/pENmKAdiZK

3D Cad through a Browser? 

Want a nice Simple 3D CAD type of browser based app. Then 3DTin is for you!  http://www.3dtin.com/

Here is their Chrome App. (Pretty much just a link to their website.)

Apps: 

My 2 fave app discoveries at #ADE2013 - - Spreaker DJ and Touchcast -- portable recording studios+!

A Handful of Free iPad Apps for Creating Videos | iPad Apps for School

http://ipadapps4school.com/2013/08/28/a-handful-of-free-ipad-apps-for-creating-videos/  (This is a great list. As of 9-3-13, the Loopster App added some premium features for a fee.)

Word Clouds on the iPad http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2013/09/word-clouds-on-ipad.html

Discover free apps and find other apps with..... well.... another app of course!  http://appsfire.com/#discovery

5 iPad Hashtags Teachers should Know about via Educational Technology

and Mobile Learning

App Craver is a site with many app lists, reviews, and more. Here is their list of top free apps for your iPad: http://www.appcraver.com/top-free-apps/

Amazing web tools, free apps, Google tools and more. Here's my stash from the summer!

Here is a stash of some great web-tools, free apps, amazing sites and more that I have been storing up all summer long. Hope everyone is settling into a great school year!

Some great web resources and tools:

Great app for site words! goo.gl/YjbOs many levels and allows students to self-check

Math Equation Editor - I just added the Daum Equation editor to our recommended apps in our nsdtitans.org Chrome Store. Check it out!  And... Google has it's own math equation editor too:  More info is here! 

Interactive Math Websites — http://www.ipadsammy.com/interactive-math-websites/

IgniteCast – Create and Embed Multimedia Presentations http://teachamazing.com/ignitecast-create-and-embed-multimedia-presentations/

scootpad.com offers practice for common core standards and is self paced. It's free for ELA/Reading and Math. (With a few premium features costing $. Compare features here.)  Includes leader boards, incentives, and more. 

GoSoapBox - Survey Your Audience In a Variety of Ways goo.gl/fb/IiGtd

7 Ways to Create and Deliver Online Quizzes  I like Google Forms with Flubaroo, Socrative or the quizzing feature of the Google add-in we have a Norris called Engrade Gradebook. 

Create your own Docs story. http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/

93 First Grade Websites That Tie into Classroom Lessons http://askatechteacher.com/2013/07/26/93-first-grade-websites-that-tie-into-classroom-lessons/

softschools.com Another great websites with lots of online activities for all subjects for grades K to middle school

The Five Best Tools for Creating Videos Without Installing Software ow.ly/jMmZ7

A couple nice screencasts on Evernote vimeo.com/67441603 & vimeo.com/67440869

8 Great Sites for Reluctant Writers - Ed Tech Ideas http://goo.gl/6wznF

This is a great place to make a cool QR code! qrphoria.com

PhET Interactive Simulations http://phet.colorado.edu -  Fun, Interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the PhET project at the University of Colorado.  Includes simulations for science and math.  Click on Play with Sims to see different simulations that are available.  (Resource shared by Alisha Bollinger)

Want to connect your class with experts? check out @catlett1 's great GHangout site: eduhangout.org

Twitter Tools:

The Tagboard site,http://tagboard.com/,  allows you to view Tweets based on a hashtag.  Here is an example of the #nebedu hash tag on Tagboard.

Open Education Resources OE:. 

 http://www.acrossworld.com/edubridge.html

http://www.oerglue.com/     Quick Start: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vxEFm-ET0Us

http://www.goorulearning.org (We have this enabled in our Google Apps Domain, so it's available from the drop down in Google Apps.) 

 Some great tutorials for staff and students on a variety of topics at GCF: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/   Here is their section on just Google topics: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/google  Here is their listing of all topics.

IOS (iPhone/iPad) apps

The best free photography apps for iPad - http://www.apppicker.com/applists/2013/1/18/The-Best-Free-Photography-Apps-for-iPad

10 Great Apps for a Teacher’s New iPad - http://ipadapps4school.com/2012/12/26/10-great-apps-for-a-teachers-new-ipad/

Turn Pictures Into 3D Models on Your iPad http://ipadapps4school.com/2012/12/12/turn-pictures-into-3d-models-on-your-ipad/

5 iPad Apps Students Can Use to Record Audio Notes ow.ly/naxIV

6 iPad Apps for Better Classroom Management ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://goo.gl/iwO3D  ClassDoJo is one of those... and we like this app/site!  

21 ClassDojo Tutorial Videos http://t.co/T0xh8k5efU  If you have not used Classdojo http://www.classdojo.com/ (Best for younger students), now might be the time!  (Behavior Management site/software.) 

Teach Science?  The iCell app is amazing for teaching about cells! And is Free!

Convert Any Webpage into an ePub Document ow.ly/l4Ul0 (You can then read it on your tablet by importing the ePub doc.) 

History Maps for Your Students’ iPads http://t.co/Ib3goS0MLE Free!

YouTube Resources

Not new, but still a great list... 100 Incredibly Useful YouTube Channels for Teachers. 

The K-12 YouTube for education home page allows you to look for EDU videos based on subject area, and other sorting criteria.  http://www.youtube.com/education?category=K-12

Google, Gmail, Chrome, and more great Google Tools!

How to Print Gmail Emails in Bulk (or save to a PDF) http://goo.gl/LNrtL 

Quick Tip: Set up Gmail Offline in Chrome 

22 Useful Google Forms for Teachers and Principals ow.ly/l7oxC

30 Ways to use Chromebooks in the Classroom 

Google Class Folders updated with new features: sites.google.com/site/gclassfol… (See last weeks blog article on some great Google Scripts to use.)

Here is one from Janelle while attending the Google Summit this summer:

For those of you in the last session who knew I was looking for where to record in YouTube, I thought I'd show you I found it while attending next session about YouTube. It is in the upload section. You can also make it from a presentation or pics in your account or a Google hangout on air (which Molly mentioned in her session but didn't get into). Awesome find for me today!

Here is a link to the pic.

30 Gig for Google Drive and mail. Here are the details:  Here's important news: Google storage quota is being unified across Gmail and Drive. Beginning May 28th, 2013, Google changed to a new, simpler allowance for storage—one that's combined across Gmail and Drive. We're replacing the current, separate storage allowances—25GB for Gmail and 5GB for Drive—with a single 30GB quota that will cover Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos. Should users need more than the 30GB quota, they can purchase additional Drive storage using the existing ordering points, and the higher allowance will continue to be spread across all of these services. Here's how the change will affect your users: • Each user will have a total of 30GB of included storage that can be used across Gmail, Drive and Google+ Photos. • Users who needed extra storage under the old plans may no longer require it. For example, a Gmail user with just 3GB of email stored will be able to store up to 27GB of files in Drive without a need to license additional storage. • Gmail inboxes are no longer limited to 25GB. Each user can store up to 16TB of email by purchasing additional storage licenses. • As before, when users approach their storage quota, additional storage should be purchased to continue using Drive and Gmail normally. • Also as before, files created in Docs, Sheets and Slides, as well as photos in Google+ smaller than 2048px, won't count against storage quota. For more information, please take a look at the FAQ and Help Center. And feel free to contact Google Apps support if you have any questions or need further assistance (you can find contact information on the Support tab in your Admin console). Thank you, The Google Apps Team

Some amazing Google scripts to start the school year off right.

All of these are some great free scripts, you can use to automate your classroom and leverage the power of Google Apps in your classrooms.

Flubaroo http://www.flubaroo.com/
Teacher creates a Google Form with multiple choice questions. Students fill out the form (quiz, assignment). Teacher runs Flubaroo to autocratically grade the assignment. Results are presented with some nice data summaries

doctopus http://www.youpd.org/doctopus

Automates creating, sharing, grading and returning work to students via Google Apps.
Make a spreadsheet with your roster, names and email addresses.
Your starting document (handout, quiz, etc...)  Doctopus will use your roster to share a version of your doc with each student, and the link to the student's work will be located in a column of the spreadsheet next to their names. Your students will then receive an email notification that it's ready for them in their drive folder. When the assignment is completed you can stop their editing rights. Then you assign a grade and give feedback in the spreadsheet. The script automates the process of sending out an email to each student containing the grade and the feedback.  (Check out integration with Goobric for creating Rubrics for grading of these assignments.)  Updated: 8-29-13- Read more about doctopus use in the classroom by a Norris teacher. 

autoCrat - http://www.youpd.org/autocrat A document merging utility, that allows you to personalize, share and email your templates.

formMule -  http://www.youpd.org/autocrat flexible merged email creator that runs from Google Spreadsheets

gClassFolders  http://www.gclassfolders.com/  creates class folders for students and teachers to simplify and streamline document management.  (Similar to Doctupus?)

Gcal2Excel http://www.gcal2excel.com/
is a free utility application that lets you export your Google Calendar events to Excel files.

WiFli Response http://www.wifliresponse.com/  Own your data a student response system for your Google Drive. (This one is not free, but for $5, it's close!)

Want to learn more about Apps Scripts, and maybe even make your own?  Here are some more resources you may find helpful:

Nice resource on how to write scripts. (For the techy teachers!)

The Hottest Script in Hollywood

Listing of more useful scripts and another list.

Auto Email based on a Google Form response. - Example

Free apps and great web and tech tools for the week of 5-16-13

Free App today - Lapse It Pro Need to do time lapse photography for a class project, or other uses... This app is Free today (5-16-13) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id536495161?mt=8

Leaving the district... This will help take your Google Data with you. 

Manage Photos with Google: I know I sent this out to staff a few weeks, but I recently updated it with a section on pulling pictures from Picasa right into Shutterfly.  Here is the Google Doc - Managing Photos- Picasa & Google+ 

Some great web resources: 

Animated maps of military history: historyanimated.com/newhistoryanim… - I Wish they had these when I was kid... great for the visual learner!

Need to backup Facebook, Twitter or Gmail- Norton's Ditto service to the rescue FREE http://goo.gl/40NLh

Use Visual.ly (website) for creating Infographics & Data Visualization. Short 2 min. video about this service.

Capzles.com - an innovative presentation tool & storytelling site- Many EDU uses. Cool web 2.0 site!

Create an EXE Video file using RAD Video Tools. (Freeware)  Article here

Supersize your free cloud storage to 100GB or more via @PCWorld http://goo.gl/Ymbzb 

Nice resource on copyright information http://goo.gl/oobia

Create iPad and Android Magazines on Flipboard on the Web http://goo.gl/EDy8K

Use AppCrawlr (appcrawlr.com) to find iOS and Android apps easily; lots of different ways to search.

Google is king, but there are a few others..... 5 Search Engine Alternatives or give Hakia a try http://j.mp/Q6p46P

A Simple Video Explanation of Compound Interest http://goo.gl/etgll  nice video for kids. 

More for the web page guru's (Requires web coding)  - Add a save to Google Drive Button on your graphics on your web site.

How to Create Multimedia Projects Using Mozilla's Popcorn Maker goo.gl/fb/KoAqz

100 best video sites for educators: fluency21.com/blog/2013/05/1…

Norris has a Phone app!  (Android only-- IOS coming soon!)

Thanks to Andrew Carlson for this!

Here is the link to it in the market: http://goo.gl/jdPxU

Great Google and YouTube tools and tips:

 

"Perform Amazing Feats With These Useful Google Spreadsheet Functions" feedly.com/k/YIjZFV

The YouTube Trick- this 17 second trick is worth the watch. goo.gl/pj3qr

New in Google Forms: Images! goo.gl/nP4aK pic.twitter.com/VVsxb3UyHH Wow.. great for online quizzing! 

Quick Tip: Create and share a Google Calendar

Free Technology for Teachers: Use 121 Writing to Add Voice Comments to Google Documents http://goo.gl/cTdQz

IOS (iPhone/iPad apps):

Adobe Ideas for iOS just went free (was $9.99). Includes drawing, tracing & saving to camera roll: http://t.co/5G8Jy2wi0t

PRESENTATION SOFTWARE TO SET YOUR STORY FREE - Have you tried Haiku Deck yet? It's free and amazing for presenting on the iPad.

Need to find a great iPad app? Check out TCEA's list of recommended apps, sorted by subject area and topic: tcea.org/ipad