Category: Links

• Google Teacher Academy: London, UK
  And the big news for the week: "Application now open for GTA London on Thursday, July 29th, 2010. Apply by midnight PDT on Thursday, June 17th. The Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience designed to help primary and secondary educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other primary and secondary educators in their local region."
  (tags: gta googleined googleapps gct)
• Official Google Enterprise Blog: Putting email in context with Gmail contextual gadgets
  And for Gmail users comes this big news (particularly if you use Mail in Google Apps): "Contextual gadgets in Gmail – like YouTube, Google Docs and Picasa previews – intelligently display relevant information from other systems as you read your email, so you can be more efficient without leaving your inbox. Starting today, third party developers can build Gmail contextual gadgets and distribute them in the Google Apps Marketplace."
  (tags: gmail googleapps googleappsmarketplace)
• Encrypted Google search coming to a browser near you
  Also welcome news from Google, especially for privacy advocates: "Google has begun rolling out an encrypted version of its search engine in an effort to protect Internet users from having their searches sniffed by others on their network. The new version of Google is SSL encrypted and located at https://www.google.com. Like many of Google's other changes, it's being rolled out slowly to all users who choose to search securely."
  (tags: google search security privacy)
• Official Google Blog: Google Apps highlights – 5/21/2010
  This week brought several big annuncements for Google Apps (including, in most cases, Education Edition): Google Calendar gets a new look, New themes for forms in Google Docs, Drag images into Gmail messages, Google Voice open to students, Google Wave (Labs) open to all, and (most importantly) More Google applications coming for Google Apps customers.
  (tags: googleined googleapps)

• Email Alerts for Google Scholar
  Great news: "Google Scholar added the option to get email alerts when new articles related to your interests are published."
  (tags: research googleined googlescholar)

• Using captioned videos for English as a second language or ESL I received an email about this service… they catalog captioned videos on the web, and have provided some support for educators using the captioned videos for teaching ESL. (tags: esl language video captions)

• My Adventures in Educational Technology: Saskatchewan IT Summit 2010 – Cool Tools Duel – Dean Shareski and Will Richardson Thanks to Joanna Sanders Bobiash for sharing this. (tags: tools)

• Set Google Voice as Your Skype Caller ID – Google Voice – Lifehacker
  For those of you using Google Voice, but using Skype for Voice Over IP calls, this might be big news: "A Google Voice number, one that rings all your phones, makes good sense as the caller ID number for outgoing Skype calls. Google Voice blocked the verification SMS that Skype needed until recently, but Google's flipped the switch and made it convenient."
  (tags: voice googlevoice google)
• Embed a Wave on a site; anyone can now view it
  This certainly makes wave more accessible (and useful) to the masses: You’ve had the ability to embed waves on websites before, but there was one major problem; the only people that could view it were other Wave users. That all changes today, as embedded waves are now visible to everyone!
  (tags: wave google)

• The Twitter Times: jutecht
  Jeff Utecht's "Twitter Tim.es" site. Twitter Tim.es trolls your twitter feeds for links and creates a newspaper-like interface for you to read the "stories" linked to by those you follow.
  (tags: twitter)
• Weblogg-ed » Kids and the iPad
  Will Richardson shares a video from Warren Buckleitner about The iPad and young learners. :)
  (tags: ipad)
• Why Schools are Turning to Google Apps
  Mashable's Greg Ferenstein on the Oregon decision.
  (tags: googleappsedu)
• Sky – Digital Learning Environment meets Learning Management System
  You have to watch the tour to actually know what it's about (and I'm not sure I'm actually excited about it) but "Sky" is the best named new online education product I've seen in a while: "Introducing Sky, a revolutionary new digital learning environment designed for K-12 teachers and administrators. By freeing up instructional time, Sky enables districts to maintain performance standards with reduced budgets. Sky’s ingenious design allows districts to finally get the full benefit of their digital resources, without the complexity."
  (tags: edtech curriculummapping)
• EasyTech – interactive online technology literacy curriculum
  I'm sure I should've been aware of this before, but Lainie Rowell pointed me toward this "web-delivered K-8 technology literacy curriculum [that] easily and effectively integrates technology into Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies."
  (tags: 21stcenturyskills)
• Google Apps for Education Agreement | Oregon Virtual School District
  Wow. I suppose this (like LAUSD) is a good example to point folks toward who are concerned about Google Apps in schools: "Oregon is the first state in the nation to sign up for Google Apps for Education in K-12 classrooms. Google Apps are available for free to Oregon public schools on a voluntary basis and are designed to help schools improve digital literacy and reduce IT costs while maintaining the security of school and student data."
  (tags: googleapps googleappsedu googleined)

• Gmail Adds Drag-and-Drop Attachment Uploads, Deeper Calendar Integration – Gmail – Lifehacker
  And capping off a week of great new Google features: "Starting today, Google Chrome and Firefox 3.6 users can drag and drop attachments into Gmail messages without hassling through the slow, kind of annoying manual file upload. Gmail has also increased their support for Google Calendar with a new Invitation feature."
  (tags: google gmail)
• Follow Finder by Google – markwagner
  A new tool from Google… for Twitter: "Follow Finder analyzes public social graph information (following and follower lists) on Twitter to find people you might want to follow."
  (tags: google twitter)
• Official Google Docs Blog
  Here's a video introducing the new features in Google Docs. Click through to view.
  (tags: googleined googledocs)
• The new version of Google documents : Getting to know Google Docs – Google Docs Help
  Click through for details on how to switch and why: Real time collaboration, Higher-quality imports, Chat with other collaborators, and Ruler.
  (tags: googleined googledocs)

• iPad Photos From Kevin Honeycut: "If you want or need iPad pictures you can use for presos or whatever, feel free to use these."

• Google Apps Marketplace – Manymoon: Free Social Productivity, Project Management & Task Management
  Here's a fantastic social project management application (which I've used a little previously) that now integrates with Google Apps via the Marketplace – and might also be valuable for an Education Edition domain: "Manymoon is the #1 team collaboration application for Google Apps and is trusted by thousands of businesses. Put your social network to use to securely get work done, instead of just talking about it."
  (tags: projectmanagement googleined googleapps googleappsmarketplace)
• Google Apps Marketplace – MindMeister Mind Mapping
  Here's another great app in the marketplace for education (thanks to Doug Belshaw @dajbelshaw for pointing this one out): "MindMeister lets you create, share and collaboratively work on mind maps, making it easy to plan projects, exchange ideas and brainstorm online with friends and colleagues." It looks expensive though – unless there's an EDU version.
  (tags: mindmaps googleined googleapps googleappsmarketplace)
• Google Apps Marketplace – Dimdim Web Conferencing
  Dim Dim is another important app for education in the Google Apps Marketplace: "Face-to-face meetings used to be the only way to get things done. Now the best way to save money, time and travel is to collaborate over the Web with Dimdim."
  (tags: dimdim videoconference webinars googleined googleapps googleappsmarketplace)
• Aviary – Creation on the fly / blog / Aviary is in Google Apps!
  This is probably the most important app available in the Google Apps marketplace… "Aviary is a powerful suite of browser-based design tools for people who create." As GCT Danny Silva (@iteachag) said, "who needs adobe." I'd add iLife (or at least Garageband). These tools are free and web-based. Awesome.
  (tags: multimedia googleapps googleined googleappsmarketplace)
• Google Apps Marketplace
  This changes Google Apps: Education Edition (for me). Suddenly Google Apps can do things a normal Google account can't: "The Google Apps Marketplace offers products and services designed for Google users, including installable apps that integrate directly with Google Apps. Installable apps are easy to use because they include single sign-on, Google's universal navigation, and some even include features that integrate with your domain's data."
  (tags: googleined googleapps googleappsmarketplace)

• Free online Audio Editor – Aviary.com's Myna
  On Twitter today @mrlosik said "Myna is hands down the best freebie I've used. It's to Garage Band what Google Docs is to Office." Cool.
  (tags: multimedia audio)
• Twiducate.com – Social Networking For Schools
  Again, I haven't played with it yet, but this looks like another social microblogging option for small groups of students (such as a class, led by a teacher). I think @shareski posted this on twitter, and I'd love to learn more about it.
  (tags: socialmicroblogging internetsafety)
• Internet Copyrights: A Guide for Educators and Students « Curriki's Blog
  I haven't watched it yet, but I always have my eye out for more "copyright" resources for educators. This video and the accompanying resources are being promoted by Curriki, an inspiring "open source" curriculum effort. :)
  (tags: opensource copyright intellectualproperty)
• Digital Storytelling Tools for Educators by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano in Education & Language
  This free ebook (and low cost book) might not only be a good resource for you, but also an inspiration. I'd love to see more educators self-publishing the resources that they create… for the benefit of others (and themselves).
  (tags: books digitalstorytelling publishing)
• Kidblog.org – Blogs for Teachers and Students
  This site has been making the rounds in Twitter and Buzz – and will definitely be a part of my next "Blog If You Love Learning" workshop. From the about page: "Kidblog.org is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the blogging process. Kidblog meets the need for a safe and simple blogging platform suitable for elementary and middle school students. Most importantly, Kidblog allows teachers to monitor and control all publishing activity within the classroom blogging community. If you've tried (perhaps with limited success) other blogging platforms like Blogger, Edublogs, or WordPress.com, you'll notice the Kidblog difference immediately!"
  (tags: blog edublog internetsafety)