Watch Your Google Docs in Action...

Watch Your Google Docs in Action...
As educators, we are all aware that "writing is an important element of learning"; however, many learners struggle to understand the abstract process of writing.

As Educators do you...

• ever asked your learners to quickly write a draft of an essay and turn it in? 
• ever questioned how much time a learner spent writing an assignment?

Draftback - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/draftback/nnajoiemfpldioamchanognpjmocgkbg - is a Chrome Extension that generates a video of every revision made in a Google Doc.

It's like going back in time to look over your own shoulder as you write. 

Draftback also provides very helpful statistical information about a document, such as time spent and when revisions were made.

Draftback only needs access to docs.google.com to get the revision data for playback—but that data never leaves the users own browser.

Matt Bergman's YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/embed/js61lbeygSM - will provide an overview of Draftback in action and...

James Somers' Blog explains "How I Reverse Engineered Google Docs to playback any Document's Keystrokes."

If you, and/or your learners give Draftback a try or have already used Draftback, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Virtual Field Trips/Tours/History & More...

Virtual Field Trips/Tours/History & More...

Google Earth's Tour Builder - https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/ - is an excellent tool to use with learners, within learning environments, to create virtual tours and explore places from all around the world. 

Tour Builder is accessible from a web browser, which makes it easy to add photos and videos to a sequence of locations on Earth, and then share links to these tours with others.

Educators, and/or Learners, can...

• design a tour of any location they want and  
• enrich their tour with multimedia data such as photographs, video clips and text.

Tour Builder can be used in a variety of learning environment projects.
e.g. learners can use it to create and narrate a story showcasing particular events and where they took place, places visited and much more.

Tour Builder can also be used for virtual field trips or for teaching history etc..

For inspirational ideas on how to use Tour Builder with learners, visit the Google Tour Gallery at https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/gallery# to see Tours produced by others.

To Create a Tour go to the first link above and...

• sign in with your Google Account
• Click on 'Create a tour' 
• Provide a name for the tour
• click on 'Create Tour'
• Provide a context to the tour by writing a short description in the 'Tell The Story' text-box
• Choose a type of story for the tour. It is set to 'Story 3D' by default but users can choose from the options available
• Pick a colour to mark the route on the map and
• Access 'Advanced Options' to customise the map style
• Click on 'Add location' and type in the locations you want to include on the tour.
  For each location selected, users can...
• add photos and videos,
• specify a start and end date and
• provide a short descriptive summary.

Once users have completed editing their tour...

• click on 'Share' button to...
• share it with others through a generated link or 
• keep it private.

NOTE: For now, Tour Builder is in beta and Google are excited to see what people build and do with it. They'd love to get feedback and ideas about how it could be a better storytelling tool.

If you give Tour Builder a try or have already used Tour Builder, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments. It would also be nice to see the end results of your, and/or your learner's efforts.

Thank you.

Watch and Discuss Videos in the Same Window

Watch and Discuss Videos in the Same Window

Looking for a convenient tool to use for informal discussion about educational videos?

Yes. 

Well today's post may provide an answer.

Vynchronize - https://vynchronize.herokuapp.com/ - lets users create an on-line room in which they can watch a video while chatting about it with other viewers at the same time.

To use Vynchronize…

• go to the site,
• enter your name, and
• pick a name for your chat room.

As soon as you do that a chat room will be launched and you can invite others to join by giving them the URL assigned to your room.

 

Within the room you can play videos from YouTube and Vimeo.

To play a video...

• copy its URL from YouTube or Vimeo and then
• paste it into the video queue.

Everyone can then chat about the video in a side panel on the same page. 

Users can pause, rewind, and fast-forward the video just like you can on YouTube or Vimeo.

If you give Vynchronize a try or have already used Vynchronize, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Keynote Guides

Keynote Guides
Keynote - https://www.apple.com/keynote/ - is a presentation app that I've posted about in the past.

If you haven't read those posts, Keynote provides users with powerful features that assist in the production of professional presentations

The features include...

• collaborative creation on a single presentation in real-time;
• choosing from a wide variety of Apple-designed themes;
• adding animations, charts, cinematic transitions and several other elements to presentations; 
• using a wide variety of predefined text styles and interactive features;
• presenting slideshows live from Mac, iPad or any other iOS enabled device and many more.

Today’s post is a Heads-Up to two guides designed and shared by Apple Education.

The purpose of the guides is to help Education Practitioners make the best of Keynote on both iPad and Mac. 

The guides are free to download and read on iBooks... 

1. Keynote for iPad Starter Guide - https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/keynote-for-ipad-starter-guide/id1057679841? - is a beginner’s guide to creating beautiful presentations for learning environments.
   It provides step-by-step instructions for creating spectacular slides as you learn to use the elements and features of Keynote in a hands-on exercise.
   All of the materials users will need are provided. 
2. Keynote for Mac Starter Guide -https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/keynote-for-mac-starter-guide/id1138992959? - is another beginner’s guide to creating beautiful presentations for learning environments.
   Providing step-by-step instructions for creating spectacular slides as users learn to use the elements and features of Keynote in a hands-on exercise.
   All of the materials users will need are provided.

If you give Keynote for iPad Starter Guide or Keynote for Mac Starter Guide a try or have already used Keynote for iPad Starter Guide or Keynote for Mac Starter Guide, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Testing AnswerGarden

I've been looking at ways to get real time feedback from others and am trying out "AnswerGarden" - https://answergarden.ch/ - which is a convenient service that allows users to embed a open-ended feedback tool into a blog or website. 

Please respond to the question by typing in the answer field or click an existing answer, then press the submit-button to add your entry. 

If you can't see the embedded AnswerGarden visit https://answergarden.ch/730196 

NOTE: Only the most frequent answers are shown...

Thank you for your answers, I'll be posting more about AnswerGarden in the near future. 
Watch this space...

Historic Maps

Yes I'm back from our short break in Jersey, our first visit!

If you get the chance to go, it's well worth it and we found maps invaluable.

No we couldn't access Google Maps as neither 3G or 4G was available.

Today's post is linked to our maps experience...

Old Maps Online - https://www.oldmapsonline.org/ - is a good site that learners, and/or practitioners, can use to find historic maps. 

Old Maps Online is a map resource that users can browse and search to find historical maps to...

• view on-line, 
• download, and 
• print.

Users can search for a map by...

• entering a location or 
• pan and zoom around the world to find historical maps.

Take a look at the video produced by Richard Byrne, which demonstrates how to use Old Maps Online, at https://www.youtube.com/embed/SdgSi6P1-Ug

If you give Old Maps Online a try or have already used Old Maps Online, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Digital Textbook Sources

Digital Textbook Sources for Education Practitioners

Following on from my last post, today is a "Heads-Up" for some popular platforms that provide open digital textbooks. 

Textbooks are arranged into different categories and content areas.
Some of the textbooks are available for free download in various formats others can only be read on-line.
Five worth a closer look are...

• Bookboon - https://bookboon.com/ - has published more than 1,000 free textbooks for students. These textbooks can be downloaded in PDF format without prior registration.
• Open Education Resources (OER) Commons - https://www.oercommons.org/ - is a platform that provides open access to a wide variety of open educational resources that are either in the public domain or are licensed under Creative Commons.
  These resources include things such as :
• full courses,
• course materials,
• modules,
• textbooks,
• streaming videos,
• tests,
• software,
  ...and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge.
• Open Textbook Library - https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/ -  provides a growing catalogue of free, peer-reviewed, and openly-licensed textbooks. It's worth exploring the library’s books to see if an open textbook fits your course’s, and/or learners’, needs. 
• TextBookGo - textbookgo.com/ is a source for free etextbooks.
  TextBookGo provides free digital textbooks from many sources and for many courses! TextBookGo offers free etextbooks for many subject categories and for all tablet and digital textbook viewing devices. And
• Wikibooks - https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page - offers an open content textbooks collection that anyone can edit.
  It has over 2000 books and other educational materials that can be browsed by...
• subject,
• complettion status or
• reading level.

If you give any of these Digital Textbook Sources a try or have already used any of them, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Learners with Reading Difficulties

Learners with Reading Difficulties

Today's post is a Heads-Up for a Digital Library for learners with "Reading Difficulties".

Bookshare - https://www.bookshare.org/cms/ - is a platform that provides access to a large library of reading materials, over 600,000 titles, covering different content areas and available in formats that individuals with Reading Difficulties can read.

There are different ways that individuals can read Bookshare books.
They can...

• listen to them with high quality text-to-speech voices, 
• hear and see highlighted words on screen or
• read them with digital braille or enlarged fonts.

Another alternative is to read directly from their own Internet browser.

NOTE: Bookshare is available for free for qualified USA students. However, non USA students and other organisations pay a small fee. 

Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/embed/S71aGLIaYuc to learn more about Bookshare.

If you give Bookshare a try or have already used Bookshare, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments. 

Thank you.

Lesson Planner #3

Lesson Planner #3

Today I'll provide a Heads Up for the third and, for now, last tool that will enable practitioners to...

• create their lesson plans section by section,
• add rich media such as text, pictures and video files,
• collaborate with their peers and
• share their resources with their learners.

Standards Planner - http://www.standardsplanner.com/ - is a platform where Educators can access lots of free resources to use in their instruction.

Standards Planner also enables them to build their own resources and share them with their learners.

Educators can...

• create custom events,
• colour-coordinate courses,
• drag and drop resources,
• create customised calendars,
  ...and much more. 

Once an educator's schedule is setup they can make it public for learners to use, making it ideal for a flipped classroom experience.

Standards Planner is great for collaborative work, it can be used to connect with

• other educators,
• view peers schedules,
• share units and resources, and
• engage in real-time chat on documents.

If you give Standards Planner a try or have already used Standards Planner, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.

Lesson Planner #2

Lesson Planner #2

Yes I'm back from our break in Herefordshire and today I'll provide a Heads Up for another tool that will enable practitioners to...

• create their lesson plans section by section,
• add rich media such as text, pictures and video files,
• collaborate with their peers and
• share their resources with their learners.

Planboard - https://www.chalk.com/planboard/ - is an excellent lesson planner from Chalk. 

Planboard makes it easy to create lessons in the intuitive on-line editor. 

As I said in the introduction, users can add in attachments, photos, and videos to bring their lessons to life and then build lesson templates to cut prep time even further. 

Planboard is available from the...

• App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/app/planboard-lesson-planner-for-teachers/id704514651?mt=8 and 
• Google Play at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chalk.planboard&hl=en

NOTE: USA Educators can use the Standards Progression tool to see ‘curriculum progress for each class, and which standards have been covered. Planboard keeps their classroom on track.

If you join 200,000 Teachers Worldwide and give Planboard a try or have already used Planboard, do share your feedback, positive and/or negative, in the comments.

Thank you.