#GAGAFE -Getting Started with Google Apps

Georgia Google Apps for Education Summit 2014:
The Google in Education Southern Summit is all weekend at The Lovett School in Atlanta.  I'll post a few interesting findings over the next couple of days.

Getting Started with Google Apps- w/ speaker Chris Craft-   www.christophercraft.com
We are trying to get Google Apps set up for our students to use in conjunction with Edmodo in our 1:1 iPad initiative.

My main takeaways:

Google Apps for Business= $
Google Apps for Education= FREE
SAME PRODUCT!

You get 30 gig free space w/ Google Apps for Education account (combined mail + docs)- however-- if you create an item in Google is DOES NOT COUNT toward your space!

Use Google Hangouts to archive parent conferences in a private environment on You Tube.  The conferences are easier for busy parents to attend, and you have a video record of the discussion.

DOCTOPUS: http://youpd.org/doctopus  deploy documents to your students all at once- a spreadsheet is also created with links to each student's document.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9yC1AzHMilU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Google Sites for e-portfolios-- purchase domain for each child with their name at the end of senior year so they have a complete personal portfolio to take with them.

http://www.google.com/inputtools/: type in any language with new chrome keyboard add-in on top right

Comments in Docs: File Revision history for writing process, highlight text > insert> comment

I'm Speaking at ISTE 2014 in Atlanta!

Join me in person at ISTE 2014- I am presenting with my colleague and parter in crime Selena Ward- aka The Tech Tiger. 

Our session is called 'Baby Got Back- Engage all Students with Backchanneling'

The session will be MONDAY at 10:45. 

We hope to meet some of our blog followers in person! 

ChronoZoom into History

Chronozoom is a free tool developed by Microsoft to help put historical events into perspective. Try it out! 

 http://www.chronozoom.com

Make a fun Avatar with Picassohead < and many more>!

Avatar Laundry List!

Here are loads of graphic/avatar/image creation sites mixed in with a few Virtual Reality options! (Watch out- don't use these with your students until you preview them thoroughly... the sites can change often and the summary is simply my opinion and impression...)

 

Mr. Picassohead- Create  Picasso-like paintings and transform them into avatars.

http://www.bitstripsforschools.com has a free 30 day trial

Simpsons Avatar Maker- "Simpsonize yourself".

Weeworld- Looks like kid-type avatars in a virtual worldwith a few games.

Voki- Create an avatar, record your voice, and share-geared more towards a younger crowd.

Weblin- Create an avatar and use it to walk around your screen while you chat.

Avatar creator Meez http://www.meez.com/ - Create a 3D animated avatar for export directly to most web profiles, blogs, etc.

Second Life- Use this extremely popular virtual world to do just about anything, but first, you have to create your avatar. This site can have inappropriate areas that have nothing to do with school, but also has many useful instructional purposes. 

Mypictr- http://mypictr.com// Use any image and resize, crop, customize, and export it.

Mii Editor- Create your own "Mii", the avatars characteristic of the Nintendo Wii.

Gickr- Create an animated gif file by either uploading your own pictures.

Gravatar- Create an 80x80 pixel avatar by uploading an image which is then associated with your email address, appearing on Gravatar enabled websites and blogs without additional effort.

Zwinky-Zwinky Customize your personal cartoon avatar and share it across the web.

Digibody's Caricature Maker- Create your own caricature avatar.

Faketown- Looks like an old-school Atari video game world in which you're a citizen.

DoppelMe- Free, simple cartoon-style Avatars.

SitePal- For a cost, make a 3-D, animated avatar creation-this one reminds me of the fake pictures of tech support folks on international websites.

Gaia- Would be great for making your own Manga type Graphic Novel character.

imbee- changed to Fanlala- much more teenaged now.  (Imbee was a social network for young people which included an avatar creator featuring images of animals from the National Geographic Kids library.)

Kaneva- Make an avatar for a  virtual world.

Google Blogscoped-Sunset  Chat with others in this virtual, visual, chatroom.

MojiKan- This one is sort of bizarre- Makes 3D pet avatars.

Frenzoo- Site for girls and women...

and last but not least...

http://www.cpbintegrated.com/theherofactory/

MadMen Yourself http://www.amctv.com/madmenyourself/

Funny Wow http://www.funnywow.com

shorten it and QR it with goo.gl

URL shortener that tracks all the shortened urls you've ever made and it makes a qr code for you all at once- goo.gl... just type goo.gl in your web browser.

goo.gl

URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator may be made substantially shorter in length and still direct to the required page.
 Wikipedia lists these reasons for shortening a URL-- note that some sites will not allow posting of a shortened URL...
"Other uses of URL shortening are to "beautify" a link, track clicks or disguise the underlying address. Although disguising of the underlying address may be desired for legitimate business or personal reasons, it is open to abuse and for this reason, some URL shortening service providers have found themselves on spam blacklists, because of the use of their redirect services by sites trying to bypass those very same blacklists. Some websites prevent short, redirected URLs from being posted."

Everything I know about rolling out a 1:1 iPad initiative. Post 7: Parent and Community Involvement

Everything I know about rolling out a 1:1 iPad initiative.

Post 7: Parent and Community Involvement

Initially, we wanted parents to have an opportunity to help out with the setup of the iPads for our initiative!

We invited them to come help out with unpacking and setup of our iPads.  It was a very exciting day for all of us!  We stationed our new locking carts in the media center and had the iPads delivered to the media center.

We have also continued to hold parent training sessions and opportunities for students to showcase their work through the iPads, and our Learning Management System has a great Parent component.  We're planning a day of Student-Led Conferences also, where students will explain to parents how they use their iPad for school.

Refer to the original post for all posts in this series.  The posts will be active links when they are available. 

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