To my email subscribers - please visit site to view missing articles

To my email subscribers:

There were a couple of small issues with the email subscriptions not getting all of the articles in the email over the last week or so. If you subscribe to this site via email, please visit the site to view the missing articles. It looks like the issue has been fixed now.

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/


Thanks!!!

Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, Email, Google+ - why/when use each one

There are a variety of tools that I use to stay informed and connected online. They each have their own benefits and shortcomings and I have different reasons for using each one.



Twitter - Twitter is an excellent resource for educators. I connect with other educators from around the world and share resources and discuss educational topics. I also get breaking news, updates from companies I like, and more. I don't use it as a purely social entity though. It is more for my professional use. The one problem with Twitter is that you can easily miss things as your feed moves along. You can search for users and topics, but it is very easy to miss things. It's strength is instant communication and connecting with people around the world. (however, the 140 character limit can make it challenging sometimes).

Facebook - I use Facebook to connect with friends and keep up with social events. I do follow a couple of business and education pages, but my main use is for keeping with with my friends. There are plenty of educational uses for it, but I haven't gone to far with that yet. I only spend about 10-15 minutes a day scanning for interesting or important updates from friends.


Email -  email is a great method of communicating with people. You can write any length, attach files, and the responses don't disappear in a feed of messages like on Twitter. I have an email account for business use (like banks, etc), my school email account, and a gmail account for Google accounts and communicating. I do not believe that email is dead, or even dying, like many people have suggested. In fact, email is a great way to communicate with others.


RSS Feeds - I've read different articles about how RSS feeds are dying too. I don't believe that. I use RSS feeds to subscribe to web sites to get notified when there is a new article. The feed doesn't disappear into a long line of messages like on Twitter. It will be there until I read it or delete it. I can also favorite an article to read later, or even share them with others. It is an extremely useful tool.



Google+ is Google's social network. Features include "Circles" where you put people and groups you follow. The circles allow you to selectively view certain posts and also share your posts with certain Circles only. For instance, you could have different Circles for each of your classes and selectively post information based on which class you want to receive it. You could also have a personal or friends circle and the things you post there would not be visible to your students. I use Google+ mainly for education and technology but would like to have more of my real friends (vs Facebook "friends") come over to Google+.


Each of these tools is useful in different ways and has different reasons I use them. I don't think that any one could replace the other because they are so different.


How do you use each one?

Top 5 Apps for Administrators to learn and use

Top 5 Apps for Administrators

I am not an administrator (yet) but in my past life I was a project engineer and I really wish I had some of these tools back then (ok, we had email). I do help the administration and work on many projects at school and these 5 apps have helped me. I do use a lot of other apps on a daily basis, but I think that these are the top 5 apps that administrators should learn and use, especially if they are new to Web 2.0 and Social Networking. 





1. Email - may be obvious but there are still administrators out there who don't use email, or don't use it effectively. Email is a great way to communicate with staff, faculty, students, and parents. Forget printing memos (and wasting money and paper) send an email. Set up email groups for different groups of staff members. Easy to use and everyone has email. 







2. Evernote - I'm a huge Evernote fan and user. Administrators can take notes, clip articles from the web for future use and reference, upload files to attach to notes and share notes with their staff. It's a great tool to stay organized. 







3. Twitter - Twitter is an excellent resource for administrators. They can use it to connect with other administrators and educators from around the world and share, learn, collaborate, and teach with them. They can also use it to communicate with their faculty and staff, students, parents. 







4.  Dropbox - Dropbox is a file sync and storage system that allows you to keep files in sync across multiple computers and backed up on their servers. There is a free account available and ways to increase your free storage. You can even select which directories and files to sync on which computers. Administrators could keep their files in sync between home and school, work on their files from any computer, and not have to worry about a computer failure and losing their files. They can also share files with their staff. 

5. Google Applications

•  Google Calendar - Administrators can stay organized by having appointments, due dates, meetings, school calendar days, and more all in Google Calendar. They can also create a school calendar and share it with students, parents and faculty. Everyone could just look at the calendar and see what is going on. The calendar can even be embedded in a site. 
• Blogger - Blogger is a great, free, easy tool that you use to create blogs. Administrators could use Blogger to create their own blog for reflections and learning, or set up school blogs with announcements, information, and other resources. Educators and Administrators should blog, as it not only allows you to share your experiences and knowledge with others, but you also learn while blogging. 
• Google Docs - Google Docs can be used by administrators as an alternative office suite, but also to use as a collaborative way to work with staff and faculty. It can be used to work collaboratively on a document, as a virtual meeting, to create surveys and questionnaires, and so much more. It can save time, money, and paper. 
• Google Sites - easily create web sites for your school or for different groups within the school for communication and information.
  

I also think that all administrators should have a smartphone or tablet. This way, they can be mobile and still have access to their data, information, and resources and be able to communicate more effectively and efficiently with staff, students, and parents. 




These apps are all easy to learn and use, free, and very powerful. This is a great place to start for administrators looking to go more digital and interactive.




Administrators - share your favorite apps with us.




Related Articles

My Top 10 Free Web Resources for Teachers

My Top 10 Free Google Resources for Education

Top 10 Resources from Discovery Education - all free

My Top 10 Free Web Resources for Students

What technology I use on a daily basis

Differences between Twitter, Facebook, email, and RSS feeds

There are a variety of tools that I use to stay informed and connected online. They each have their own benefits and shortcomings and I have different reasons for using each one.



Twitter - Twitter is an excellent resource for educators. I connect with other educators from around the world and share resources and discuss educational topics. I also get breaking news, updates from companies I like, and more. I don't use it as a purely social entity though. It is more for my professional use. The one problem with Twitter is that you can easily miss things as your feed moves along. You can search for users and topics, but it is very easy to miss things. It's strength is instant communication and connecting with people around the world. (however, the 140 character limit can make it challenging sometimes).

Facebook - I use Facebook to connect with friends and keep up with social events. I do follow a couple of business and education pages, but my main use is for keeping with with my friends. There are plenty of educational uses for it, but I haven't gone to far with that yet.


Email -  email is a great method of communicating with people. You can write any length, attach files, and the responses don't disappear in a feed of messages like on Twitter. I have an email account for business use (like banks, etc), my school email account, and a gmail account for Google accounts and communicating. I do not believe that email is dead, or even dying, like many people have suggested.


RSS Feeds - I've read different articles about how RSS feeds are dying too. I don't believe that. I use RSS feeds to subscribe to web sites to get notified when there is a new article. The feed doesn't disappear into a long line of messages like on Twitter. It will be there until I read it or delete it. I can also favorite an article to read later, or even share them with others. It is an extremely useful tool.


Each of these tools is useful in different ways and has different reasons I use them. I don't think that any one could replace the other because they are so different.

How do you use each one?

What technology I use on a daily basis

(updated 01/15/10)

Last month, I was asked to list my top 3 tech resources, which I wrote about HERE and which will be featured in October's issue of NEA Today magazine.

Recently, a colleague asked me what technology I use each day and how does it help me or my students. So, here is my answer: (all of them are free)

1. Email - I use email for communication. All of my students have my school email address, and I give it out to parents also. I can send messages to my students, communicate with parents, and communicate with other educators. You can get a free email account from Google.

2. Evernote - I use Evernote as a note taking system. I have my notes organized by topic. I have reference notes, lesson plans, tech tips, and much more on here. What I really love, is that I can access my notes from any internet enabled computer or cell phone. I also like the ability to "clip" web sites into a note in Evernote. What's great, is that hyperlinks on the web page are kept when clipped into Evernote. You can also attach files to your notes. Free accounts can only attach images (JPEG/PNG/GIF), audio (MP3, WAV, AMR), PDF, and digital ink files. I try to convert most of my files to PDF anyway for cross-platform support. (Here is some info on how to create PDF files for free on your computer, or online. ) You can also share notes and notebooks with others.

3. iGoogle - I use iGoogle as my start page to keep myself organized. With one glance, I can see my task list, schedule (calendar), bookmarks, time/date, Gmail, RSS feeds and more. I can also access my Google Docs from this page. For more on iGoogle, go HERE.

4. Engrade - Engrade is a free online gradebook for teachers. I have all of my classes listed here and each student is given an access code so that they can see their grades any time they want. I also give access codes to the parents so that they always know how their student is doing. It is accessable from any web enabled computer and you can generate multiple reports and export the data if needed.

5a. Sugarsync - Sugarsync is an online system that backs up your files and allows you to access them from any web enabled computer or smart phone. There is a free, 2GB capacity account available. What is really great is that it keeps your files in sync among multiple computers. Make a change to a file on computer A, and it is automatically uploaded and sync'd with their servers and any other computers you have specified. You can even open/edit a file directly from their server and it will automatically sync the changes you make. I keep my school files on here so that I can work on them and access them at home and on any computer at school.

5b. Dropbox is a service that allows you to sync your files on your computer with their system as a backup. This also allows you to access the files anywhere. You can also sync the files across multiple computers. This means that you have automatic backup of your files and 24/7 access to your files. I have it set up to sync a folder on my home computer and school computer so I don't have to worry about having multiple versions or forgetting a flash drive.

There are also Dropbox apps for iPhone, Android, iPad and there is one coming for Blackberry. There is an independent app for Palm webOS, but you can also access the mobile site from any web-enabled phone. Imagine being able to access all of your files on your smartphone!

One feature that is very nice is the fact that it works with network drives like we use in my district. Some of the other cloud file storage and sync systems can't work with network drives. I was very happy to see this was able to be done with Dropbox.

6. Blogger - Blogger is a free blogging tool from Google. I use it for this blog, as well as for a blog for each of my classes. These class blogs are a great resource for my students. I have important links on the side and then I post what we are doing in class, links for extra help, and more on there. My students have all subscribed to the blogs via email, so they get an email whenever I make a new post on the blog. Students can also hold discussions on the blog.

7. Google Sites - I use Google sites to create a free website for my classes. I have one website that I use for all of my clases - www.physicsmedic.org. On the site I have class rules, reference information, links, and files from class (presentations, handouts, etc.). I also have sections for new teachers and about educational technology.

8. Hardware: I have a teacher station computer in my classroom, along with 8 student desktop computers. I have a printer for the student computers and a printer for my computer. I also have an LCD projector connected to my computer, and a VCR and DVD player connected to the projector. I also use a Keyspan remote to wirelessly control my computer from anywhere in the room. Auxillary speakers are also a must.

I also use a Palm Pre+ smart phone to keep connected. I can access all of my files (and edit them), Google accounts, email, the web, and much more with it (it even makes phone calls).

9. Other software: our school computers run Windows XP. I also use the following software on my school computer: Google Chrome web browser, Stardock Object Dock (a great dock to launch programs from), Picasa (photo organizing and editing), GDoc Backup (backup my Google Docs to the hard drive), PowerCalc (Microsoft Scientific/Graphing Calculator), OpenOffice (office suite) and CutePDF writer. All of this software is free.

I have also switched to using Aviary's clipping extension for Chrome to clip graphics from the internet and edit or modify them.

So, you now know what I use for educational technology on a daily basis. There is much more that I use from time to time and I have a huge number of web sites that I use for information, reference, or with my students.

Please share your resources too.