Three New Important Updates to Google Drive Released Today

June 26, 2014
Google released today a major update to Docs,Sheets, and Slides. With this new update, users will be able to work on their documents across different devices (desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone), anytime and with or without Internet connection. Here is the three main things that come with this new update:

Slide App is now available
Like Docs and Sheets, Google Slide has now a mobile app for both iOS and Android. Using this app, you will be able to create and edit slides on the go, even if you are offline.

Edit and share Office files without having Office
Mobile apps for Docs, Sheets, and Slides enable you now to edit Office files without having to convert them. This means that when someone sends you an Office document, you can edit this document in your Google Doc in its original format and send it back .

Suggested Edits
Suggested Edits is a new feature added to Google Docs which makes collaborative work on Docs way better. "Instead of giving your collaborators free reign to edit away, you’d rather they make suggestions that you can accept or reject later. That’s why today we’re excited to add Suggested Edits in Docs. This new feature is now available for anyone with commenting access in Google Docs on the web, and is coming soon to our mobile apps".

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Use Google Docs to Convert Images and PDFs to Editable Text

June 25, 2014
Here is a great Google Doc tip that helps me a lot with my studies in university. As a graduate student, most of my reading assignments and hand-outs come in the form of PDFs and some of these documents are only scanned versions of the original documents. Often times, these PDFs are low-quality as they are poorly scanned which makes reading them a real pain in the butt. Also, scanned PDFs do not allow you to do much on them: You can not annotate or edit text on them. However, there is a workaround to this using Google Docs OCR(Optical Character Recognition).

Optical Character Recognition(OCR) lets you convert scanned PDFs or any image that include text in it into text documents using automated computer algorithms in Google Docs. Once converted, you can then edit and annotate the text as you like. Here is how to activate OCR on your Drive.

1- Log in to your Google Drive
2- Once you are in your Drive's Homepage, click on the gear button at the top right hand side. Under "upload settings" tick the "convert text from uploaded PDF and image files" and " confirm settings before each upload".

Now when you upload a scanned PDF or an image with text into Google Docs, you will be able to see converted text below the image. Watch the video below to see one example of this.

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Teachers' Visual Guide to Twitter Chats

June 25, 2014
In an earlier post here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning I talked about some of the ways teachers can leverage the power of Twitter for their professional development. One of the things I mentioned is the use of Twitter chats. I am a big fan of these chats and though I don't  attend them regularly but I always check the archive to catch up with what teachers discuss and share on them. In fact several of the ideas and tools I share with you here  come from those chats.

Today when I  came across this infographic on Twitter chats I thought it would make  a great follow-up post for my previous article. In this visual, Teamtait ( author of Edutait) provides some practical ideas to help teachers make the most out of Twitter chats. He starts with outlining some of the reasons why teachers should consider taking part in these chats, then moved to the ways to follow a Twitter chat. Next, he features the popular education chats on Twitter together with the time they take place and he concluded with useful tips to effectively use Twitter chats for professional development purposes.

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Over 400,000 Lesson Plan Resources for Teachers

June 25, 2014
I received a couple of emails over the last couple of weeks from some teachers asking about a reliable resource for lesson plans. I have already shared a list here in the past featuring seven good online lesson plan resources for teachers  but in this post I want to focus more particularly on one single platform that is my favourite among them all. This is called Lesson Planet.

Lesson Planet is a website that provides teachers with a convenient place where they can search for, discover, and share standard-correlated lesson plan resources. Teachers can search over 400.000 online lesson-planning resources reviewed and rated by a team of credentialed teachers. Lesson Planet also provides worksheets, presentations, educational videos and several other good materials to use in your class.

The difference between using Lesson Planet and a general search engine

Whereas a general search engine displays large numbers of unfiltered results, Lesson Planet focuses on resources that are useful to teachers, such as lesson plans and worksheets. Moreover, each of the 400,000+ resources on Lesson Planet has been summarized and rated by credentialed K-12 teachers, allowing members to rapidly locate relevant, high-quality material. Lesson Planet also allows teachers to narrow their search by criteria specific to the classroom, including grade level, subject, overall rating, or standard.

Lesson Planet is not free. It offers a 10 day free trail period that teachers can use to see whether they like it or not and then if they want to continue using the service they need to pay a membership fee.

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Fantastic Chart On 21st Century Education Vs Traditional Education

June 25, 2014
I am not sure if you have already seen it or not but I don't want anyone to miss it. This wonderful chart created by Dr Jackie Gerstein outlines some of the major differences between what education used to be and how it is now.  These differences are conspicuously noticed in 4 key areas : teacher and student roles, curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy.

Teacher's role
Teachers are no longer the "sage on the stage" and the only source of the content knowledge in class. They rather  lead from behind. They are mere coaches and mentors who guide their learners in a learning journey of discovery.

Student's role
Students, too, have assumed a more open and encompassing role in today's education. They are no longer the passive learners whose role is limited to consuming what others have produced. Today's students are actively engaged in the production and sharing of knowledge.

Curriculum
Unlike the traditional one-fits-all curriculum that used to focus on a single textbook to deliver content knowledge, today's curricula are more diverse, differentiated and multi-sourced.

Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the mirror through which the above changes are reflected. Instruction now is less teacher centred and more student centred. Errors and mistakes are celebrated and considered  healthy signs of learning and misbehaviour is viewed as " an opportunity for growth and often resolved through group efforts".

Assessment 
A growing trend towards ongoing formative assessment done for and by students is now in vogue.

Check out Jackie's chart to learn more.

Some other great posts from Jackie I recommend for you include:

• Flipped Classroom :The Full Picture
• Where is Reflection In the Learning Process

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32 Ways to Use Google Apps in Your Classroom

June 24, 2014
Looking for some ways and tips to integrate Google Apps in your school or classroom? Julia Stiglitz  has this wonderful presentation to help you out. Julia provides several examples and links on how to use each of Google products in your class with students. I have gone through this presentation a few times and pulled these notes for you.

Make sure you follow Julia on Twitter to stay updated about her great work in Edtech.

Google Docs

•  Collaborative lesson planning
• Staff/ Grade level meeting notes
• Shared Lesson Repository
• Improv the writing process
• Reading response journals
• Translate letters home for parents
• Track students homework and share with parents
• Sign-up sheets
• Science experiments
• Flash card center

Google Forms

• Use Google Forms for formative and summative assessments
• Survey students: Collect student interest information
• Do teacher or student observations
• Tracking discipline referrals
• Collect information from parents or teachers
• Spelling tests/ multiplication tests

Google Calendar

• Create shared calendars
• Checking-out resources (laptop carts, library)
• Standards mapping
• Pacing guides
• Use appointment slots for office hours

Gmail

• Communication with parents including in Different Languages
• Global pen pals

Google Talk

• Invite a guest lecturer into your classroom
• Hold office hours over chat

Google Sites

• Create classroom and school websites
• Student ePortfolios
• Student projects and reports
• Curriculum sharing
• Use Groups for discussion or announcement lists for classes, departments or committees

Blogger and YouTube

• Use YouTube to share video demonstrations, content-approved films or have students post their own video projects
• Use Blogger to structure and run your lessons.

Check out the full presentation from this LINK.

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New Classroom Poster on How to Critically Judge Online Content

June 24, 2014
Below is a handy visual you can share with your students to help them learn about how to critically judge online ( and offline) content. The information included in this visual is based on Google Safety resources as well as on an article I shared here a couple of years ago.

Criteria for judging content critically

1- Be skeptic
Before you believe ask yourself questions such as: what's the point of view of the site? And what opinions or ideas are missing. Does the information show a minimum of bias ? Is the author impartial in their reasoning ? Is the page designed to sway opinions ?

2- Fact-checking
 Always double check the facts that you find through comparing them with other sources of information. Ask yourself: Is the information reliable ? Is it error-free ? Does it include links to other resources ?

3- About the author
Is the author qualified ? An expert in their domain ? Is there a link to the information about the author or the sponsor of the website ? If the page does not include no author name or sponsor, then is there any other way to determine its origin.

4- About the page
Check out if the page is dated and if so , is it current enough ?  what topics this website cover ? What is it that this page offers to readers ? How in-depth is the material ? What about the writing style, arguments, data , and facts included ? how are these developed ?

5- Search strategically
 Use advanced search features to refine your searches. Think critically about your online searches and use specific and descriptive keywords.

6- Conduct multiple searches
Search for the same topic using various keywords and phrases. Compare the search results and evaluate the different perspectives.

7- Pay attention to the URL domains
The URL domain is located at the end of a website address. URL domains reveal the kind of organization you are dealing with . Educational institutions and government entities usually aim to share knowledge and improve communities. Examples of URL domains are .com = company, .gov = government website, .edu = educational institution, .org = organization.

Check out an enlarged version of this visual from this link. You can also download it as a PDF from here.

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