www.google.com/squared - Price: free
Google Squared works just like the regular Google Search: Type in a search term and you are presented with results. What is different is how the results are presented and what you can do with the data. Google Squared presents the results in table form. Results are organized horizontally by several pieces of information (or what Google calls attributes.) All the results in each of the columns come from different places on the Web. You can find the source of the information for each result and attribute by clicking the link in the square. (Remind students that it’s always a good idea to check where information is coming from.)
PROS: You can designate which attributes you want displayed. There are suggestions for attributes, or you can type in your own. If you don’t like or don’t need one of the search results, press the X and it goes away. Your search results are customized for your needs or what your students need.
CONS: This product is still a baby, so there will be mistakes and search results that just don’t fit until the product matures.
OVERALL EVALUATION: Google Squared changes the way students find information on the Web, and the ability to customize the search makes it a good tool for research and developing information literacy.
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
BACK-OFFICE BUSINESS: HOW SCHOOLS GET IT DONE
Wireless overhaul yields improved reliability, simplicity
PROBLEM: Harrisonburg City Public Schools, located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, used Netgear and Apple wireless access points, but maintaining wireless coverage was a challenge.
SOLUTION: The school chose Aerohive wireless solutions and divided the wireless LAN into separate networks. One provides secure faculty access to the student-management system; another is for a library cataloging system that enables wireless scanning to check books in and out; and a third is for guest access.
New England schools improve literacy while kids have fun
PROBLEM: How to build strong foundational reading skills in nearly 1,700 schools and learningresource centers across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
SOLUTION: These schools selected the Lexia Reading program, which offers more than 900 activities for reading-skills development. Margaret Adams, director of Balanced Literacy and Title I at Malden Public Schools in Massachusetts, particularly likes the small-group instruction and Response to Intervention. Pamela Rosenberg of the Bridgeport (CT) Public Schools said they’ve been so pleased with the results, the schools expanded their program to include students in grades one through three district-wide.
Ohio schools add wind energy, save thousands a year
PROBLEM: Perkins Local Schools in Sandusky, Ohio, contended with an outdated and inefficient infrastructure. Along with improving it, the district wanted to reduce its dependence on traditional energy sources.
SOLUTION: Perkins turned to energy-services provider Honeywell to better understand the renewable landscape. The company helped the district analyze several options by using its Renewable Energy Scorecard. The district then worked from a financial forecast based on tax implications, rebates, subsidies, and other incentives for renewables, such as solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal. The resulting project is expected to generate operational and maintenance savings of around $56,000 a year without a loss of maintenance personnel.
California educators honored for communication excellence
PROBLEM: How to merge four north Sacramento area school districts into
a new district of 27,000 students in 54 schools, covering 120 square miles.
SOLUTION: The administrators created a communication model that included measurable results, face-toface communication, and a vision for expanding ways to communicate. They showed parents and communities the benefits of their vision for the future of the schools and for their children’s education. This effort led the Twin Rivers Unified School District to be named the 2010 recipient of the Leadership Through Communication Award from the AASA.
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
PROBLEM: Harrisonburg City Public Schools, located in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, used Netgear and Apple wireless access points, but maintaining wireless coverage was a challenge.
SOLUTION: The school chose Aerohive wireless solutions and divided the wireless LAN into separate networks. One provides secure faculty access to the student-management system; another is for a library cataloging system that enables wireless scanning to check books in and out; and a third is for guest access.
New England schools improve literacy while kids have fun
PROBLEM: How to build strong foundational reading skills in nearly 1,700 schools and learningresource centers across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
SOLUTION: These schools selected the Lexia Reading program, which offers more than 900 activities for reading-skills development. Margaret Adams, director of Balanced Literacy and Title I at Malden Public Schools in Massachusetts, particularly likes the small-group instruction and Response to Intervention. Pamela Rosenberg of the Bridgeport (CT) Public Schools said they’ve been so pleased with the results, the schools expanded their program to include students in grades one through three district-wide.
Ohio schools add wind energy, save thousands a year
PROBLEM: Perkins Local Schools in Sandusky, Ohio, contended with an outdated and inefficient infrastructure. Along with improving it, the district wanted to reduce its dependence on traditional energy sources.
SOLUTION: Perkins turned to energy-services provider Honeywell to better understand the renewable landscape. The company helped the district analyze several options by using its Renewable Energy Scorecard. The district then worked from a financial forecast based on tax implications, rebates, subsidies, and other incentives for renewables, such as solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal. The resulting project is expected to generate operational and maintenance savings of around $56,000 a year without a loss of maintenance personnel.
California educators honored for communication excellence
PROBLEM: How to merge four north Sacramento area school districts into
a new district of 27,000 students in 54 schools, covering 120 square miles.
SOLUTION: The administrators created a communication model that included measurable results, face-toface communication, and a vision for expanding ways to communicate. They showed parents and communities the benefits of their vision for the future of the schools and for their children’s education. This effort led the Twin Rivers Unified School District to be named the 2010 recipient of the Leadership Through Communication Award from the AASA.
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
8 FREE AND EASY WAYS TO BEGIN EDUCATING INNOVATIVELY
The following tools are all free and easy to use. This means there’s no cost, nothing to download, no CDs, no manuals, and no training. Additionally, for students there is no email required, no registration, and no log in.
1 STUDENT RESPONSE SYSTEM: POLL EVERYWHERE
Poll Everywhere allows teachers to collect up to 32 responses per poll. Students can respond either by texting their answer to 99503, tweeting their answer to @poll, navigating to poll4.com on a smartphone, or simply clicking on their answer on the teacher’s online space i.e. blog, wiki, website.
2 WRITING-LEVEL TOOLS: READINGLEVEL CHECK IN GOOGLE DOCS
Google Docs provides three indicators of the reading level of the document you’re creating. They calculate the Flesch Reading Ease, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and the Automatic Readability Index.
3 READING-LEVEL TOOLS: LEXILE FIND A BOOK
This free tool allows users to type in any book and find the reading level of that book, or type in their reading level and interest and build a custom reading list for that subject.
4 INTERACTIVE-WHITEBOARD ALTERNATIVE: PROJECTOR ONLY
Use a laptop and projector to mimic the benefits of an interactive whiteboard.
5 VIDEO/AUDIO CONFERENCING: TINYCHAT
Tinychat is a free service that provides text-, audio-, and video-chat rooms. Users don’t need special software to join in, don’t need and email, and do not need to register. The teacher selects the url, provides it to students who can type it in and instantly enter the room.
6 ONLINE BULLETIN BOARD: WALLWISHER
Wallwisher allows you to leave virtual sticky notes in one place on the Web. Participants don’t need to register or join to participate. Unlike physical sticky notes, on Wallwisher, you can embed hyperlinks, pictures, and video.
7 SCREEN-CAPTURE RECORDING: SCREENJELLY
ScreenJelly is a free tool that enables you to record your screen activity with your voice, so you can spread it instantly by sharing a url, tweeting, or sharing on Facebook. You begin recording with one click of a mouse.
8 TALKING AVATARS: VOKI
Voki is a terrific tool that enables students to share a message using an animated avatar that talks created using either their writing or their own voice recorded right from their laptop or phone. Students design their avatar’s appearance, add their voice, and can
pop it into any web2.0 compatible site—Lisa Nielsen, The Innovative Educator http://TheInnovativeEducator.blogspot.com
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
1 STUDENT RESPONSE SYSTEM: POLL EVERYWHERE
Poll Everywhere allows teachers to collect up to 32 responses per poll. Students can respond either by texting their answer to 99503, tweeting their answer to @poll, navigating to poll4.com on a smartphone, or simply clicking on their answer on the teacher’s online space i.e. blog, wiki, website.
2 WRITING-LEVEL TOOLS: READINGLEVEL CHECK IN GOOGLE DOCS
Google Docs provides three indicators of the reading level of the document you’re creating. They calculate the Flesch Reading Ease, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and the Automatic Readability Index.
3 READING-LEVEL TOOLS: LEXILE FIND A BOOK
This free tool allows users to type in any book and find the reading level of that book, or type in their reading level and interest and build a custom reading list for that subject.
4 INTERACTIVE-WHITEBOARD ALTERNATIVE: PROJECTOR ONLY
Use a laptop and projector to mimic the benefits of an interactive whiteboard.
5 VIDEO/AUDIO CONFERENCING: TINYCHAT
Tinychat is a free service that provides text-, audio-, and video-chat rooms. Users don’t need special software to join in, don’t need and email, and do not need to register. The teacher selects the url, provides it to students who can type it in and instantly enter the room.
6 ONLINE BULLETIN BOARD: WALLWISHER
Wallwisher allows you to leave virtual sticky notes in one place on the Web. Participants don’t need to register or join to participate. Unlike physical sticky notes, on Wallwisher, you can embed hyperlinks, pictures, and video.
7 SCREEN-CAPTURE RECORDING: SCREENJELLY
ScreenJelly is a free tool that enables you to record your screen activity with your voice, so you can spread it instantly by sharing a url, tweeting, or sharing on Facebook. You begin recording with one click of a mouse.
8 TALKING AVATARS: VOKI
Voki is a terrific tool that enables students to share a message using an animated avatar that talks created using either their writing or their own voice recorded right from their laptop or phone. Students design their avatar’s appearance, add their voice, and can
pop it into any web2.0 compatible site—Lisa Nielsen, The Innovative Educator http://TheInnovativeEducator.blogspot.com
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Web Tools for Enhancing Collaboration
Collaborate is one of the most often used terms in education, and there is no better way to collaborate than with 2.0 Web tools. Here are some favorites:
• DABBLEBOARD is a whiteboard that enables you to visualize, explore, and collaborate. Just draw as you would on a whiteboard and you can easily share your ideas.
• COSKETCH is another collaborative whiteboard program, and you don’t have to register or install anything. It works in all browsers, it’s real-time, and you can get an embed code for your drawing after you finish.
• STIXY lets you create an online bulletin board on which to collaborate with family, friends, and colleagues. You can share pictures, files, reminders, and notes using widgets whose sizes and colors you can change—and it’s free.
• GROU.PS lets you create your own social network. You can create your forum and your mailing list; share documents, files, and your agenda to organize events; have your own YouTube; and share links, bookmarks, and photos. You can have real-time chat, and you can let the users have subgroups. Free.
• NING is the one of the best sites for creating and joining new social networks that interest us.
• IMAGINATIONCUBED is a multiuser drawing tool. You can use a pen, stamps, shapes, lines, or type.
• If you are using Twitter, you may want to try GROUPTWEET. It lets you turn your Twitter account into a group communication tool where everyone in the group uses direct messaging. When a member gets a DM, GroupTweet turns it into a new tweet that all followers in the group can see.
• WALLWISHER is an online noticeboard maker. Use this tool to make announcements and keep notes. You can use links, pictures, music, video, and pages. You don’t have to register.
• PAGEFLAKES is a social personalized homepage that you can customize by using “flakes” of all your Web favorites. You can add Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, photos, music, videos, calendar, to-do list, message board, and RSS feed.
• WETOKU is an interview tool that automatically records interviews to play them back. You can embed it and share it with others.
• SPRINGNOTE is an online notebook for collaboration. You can write down your ideas, create to-do lists, schedule, and work together on projects. It also has an iPhone application.
• MEBEAM is a place where you can create your own chat room. You just type the name of the room and tell people to meet you there.
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
• DABBLEBOARD is a whiteboard that enables you to visualize, explore, and collaborate. Just draw as you would on a whiteboard and you can easily share your ideas.
• COSKETCH is another collaborative whiteboard program, and you don’t have to register or install anything. It works in all browsers, it’s real-time, and you can get an embed code for your drawing after you finish.
• STIXY lets you create an online bulletin board on which to collaborate with family, friends, and colleagues. You can share pictures, files, reminders, and notes using widgets whose sizes and colors you can change—and it’s free.
• GROU.PS lets you create your own social network. You can create your forum and your mailing list; share documents, files, and your agenda to organize events; have your own YouTube; and share links, bookmarks, and photos. You can have real-time chat, and you can let the users have subgroups. Free.
• NING is the one of the best sites for creating and joining new social networks that interest us.
• IMAGINATIONCUBED is a multiuser drawing tool. You can use a pen, stamps, shapes, lines, or type.
• If you are using Twitter, you may want to try GROUPTWEET. It lets you turn your Twitter account into a group communication tool where everyone in the group uses direct messaging. When a member gets a DM, GroupTweet turns it into a new tweet that all followers in the group can see.
• WALLWISHER is an online noticeboard maker. Use this tool to make announcements and keep notes. You can use links, pictures, music, video, and pages. You don’t have to register.
• PAGEFLAKES is a social personalized homepage that you can customize by using “flakes” of all your Web favorites. You can add Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, photos, music, videos, calendar, to-do list, message board, and RSS feed.
• WETOKU is an interview tool that automatically records interviews to play them back. You can embed it and share it with others.
• SPRINGNOTE is an online notebook for collaboration. You can write down your ideas, create to-do lists, schedule, and work together on projects. It also has an iPhone application.
• MEBEAM is a place where you can create your own chat room. You just type the name of the room and tell people to meet you there.
Source of Information : Tech and Learning February 2010
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