Thursday, June 11, 2015

TBT and Tech Camp Day 2

Remember the time when I guest posted on Kirby Larson's blog about Star Wars and encouraging library users? I should make that up into a cool image.


Today I attended classes on creating infographics, augmented reality, Chrome apps, and Chrome tips and extensions.


The real kicker for the infographics one is deciding what information to include. Never been awesome with numbers but then again not all infographics are numbers. Really it's just sit down and FINISH it! See TBT. Expect to see that later this summer.

I had heard of most of the AR apps but never actually TRIED a few of them so that was good. Will post more about them later. Then the power went out and we got an early lunch

Power was back on after lunch so Chrome Apps. Some new to me ones. Yay!
LucidPress (linking to the webpage but of course install it to Chrome!). So I had heard the name but out of context. Or maybe I'd just heard of LucidChart, I don't know. I'd never actually seen WHAT it does. Definitely one worth checking out further.

SumoPaint

Ahhhhhhh ...

NewsELA. Do you all use this one? I mean, I like to promote use of the databases so I don't know. One article at many different reading levels. That is helpful. I can see how teachers would like it.

They talked about Typing Club and how we had to get kids practicing at the elementary level (using good because it was an expected skill from about 7th on. I got a terrible score. But hey, I can type!

Loupe Collage. Yes, it's kind of cool. So maybe for my blog Google account. Remains to be seen for school. Will kids have that many photos in their Google accounts? They'll all be on the iPads. And that seems easier to deal with Dropbox than Google Drive, actually.

Polarr. My first instinct is "I like my Picmonkey." So old school. Remember when I was so mad Google killed Picnik? (And then Google Reader but hey, that's a sidebar conversation.) But definitely, I think this one can do more.

Google Docs and Sheets Add-Ons ... well that deserves a whole other post in and of itself.


Now? Well, I still have to turn in my keys and get the promissory note for the tech I took home over the summer. No one I needed was there when I went back to campus Tuesday afternoon. But beyond that? GLORIOUS SUMMER FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing these! There are a couple I'm going to have to play around with a little bit. :)

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  2. Yes! My middle school uses NewsELA - in English, Science, and Social Studies classes. It is up to the English teachers to have students set up their initial accounts and then all the Science and Social Studies teachers have to do is give students their class code for students to add to their profile. We use it all the time. Students love it - especially since they can access on their mobile devices - and student engagement with current events has really spiked. They have a professional version but I have discovered the free version works well with what our teachers need.

    I have had quite a bit of PD on infographics and am now ready to start using them to collaborate with teachers and students. Thinking that maybe the first step is to use infographics already made to enhance skills like main idea or to provide background info for content area lessons. Then, I'm thinking the next step would be to see if any teachers would be willing to work with me to create infographics. They are powerful tools that are already everywhere! Why not use them in lessons?

    This is a great blog, by the way. I don't usually comment because I read them in my email. Enjoy your summer! Here in Virginia we still have a week to go. :(

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