Google accepting applications for next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Chicago July 24-25

Google is now accepting applications for the next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Chicago, Illinois on July 24-25. This is a great, free, professional development experience for educators that Google runs around the world. Teachers who have attended always give it rave reviews. If you use Google's tools, or plan to, and want to learn how to use them more effectively in education, this is your chance. 

The GTA is a free professional development experience designed to help educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, two-day event during which participants get hands-on experience with Google's free tools, learn about innovative instructional strategies, share with and teach colleagues, and immerse themselves in a supportive community of educators making impact.

Apply by June 10. Learn more and access the application on our webpage.   #gtachi

http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/google-teacher-academy.html

Educators who attend a Google Teacher Academy become Google Certified Teachers (GCTs). GCTs are:

• Outstanding educators with a passion for using innovative technologies and approaches to improve teaching and learning.
• Creative leaders who understand opportunities and challenges, and have a desire to help empower others in their local community and beyond.
• Ambassadors for change who model high expectations, life-long learning, collaboration, equity, and innovation.

They also receive access to more resources and events from Google. 

Read More

CloudConvert - online file format conversion

CloudConvert is a free, online file format conversion service that lets you easily convert files from different formats. Simply select, or drag and drop, your files, select options (email when done, send to Dropbox, send to Google Drive) and off you go. As it's name implies, everything is done in the cloud with no software to download. It also works in mobile browsers so you can convert files on the go to be able to view them on your mobile device.

The send to Dropbox and Google Drive are options that most conversion services don't have. Most of them send  you an email with a link that you click on to download your converted file. This makes things more streamlined.

It supports over 100 audio, video, document, archive, image, ebook, spreadsheet and presentation formats with advanced options for each.

Guest users (no login) get 5 daily conversions, with up to 2 concurrent and a 100MB file size. Registered users (can user Google+, Facebook, Twitter, or create account) get 25 daily conversions and up to 5 concurrent conversions with a 1000 MB file size.




Related:

VLC - Awesome free video and audio player (and converter)

Lots of PDF resources - print, markup, convert and more

Media Converter - fast free online audio and video converter

Free Video Format Conversion Software (3 of them)

Zamzar - free online file conversion - great resource

Online Converter - convert file formats of audio, video, docs, eBooks, images and more

Read More

Google Apps and Chromebooks Training Resources

I put this list together for our district as we are going with GAFE and Chromebooks and I figured I'd share it here too. 

Google Apps and Chromebooks Training Resources


Google Apps for Education (GAFE)

• GAFE Training Center http://edutraining.googleapps.com/
• Learn how to use GAFE http://learn.googleapps.com/
• GAFE User Guides http://deployment.googleapps.com/Home/user-resources/documentation-templates
• Google in Education - Teacher Resources http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/index.html
• Google for Educators Resources http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/google-for-educators_22.html
• GCF Learn Free - Google Training http://www.gcflearnfree.org/google
• Google Apps Crib Sheets http://goo.gl/EBN5O 
• Recordings -- Innovative Chromebook Teachers - Hangout on Air Series
• 100 Tips for Google Chrome http://www.chromestory.com/100_Chrome_ChromeOS_And_ChromeBook_Tips_Ebook.pdf

Google Drive

• https://www.udemy.com/googledriveeducators
• http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home/module-4-docs
• http://blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-convert-microsoft-office-files-to-google-docs-on-your-chromebook
• Intro to Google Drive for Educators http://youtu.be/LcoppNExlZE
• Introduction to Google Drivehttp://youtu.be/wKJ9KzGQq0w
• How to Open and Edit Word Files in Google Drive http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/12/how-to-open-and-edit-word-files-in.html

Chromebooks

• Product Page for Chromebooks http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/landing.html
• Introducing the Chromebookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVqe8ieqz10
• Chromebook user Guide http://www.chromestory.com/chromebook-user-guide/
• Chromebook EDU site https://sites.google.com/site/chromebookedu/home
• Chromebook Central - Chromebook user group - https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=&hl=en#!forum/chromebook-central
• Chromebooks for Education Overviewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSbZQNJwPuI
• Guided Tour of Chrome OS (Chromebooks)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntLPcVAyNPE
• What Chromebooks can and can’t do http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/google-in-the-enterprise/your-questions-answered-what-chromebooks-can-and-cant-do/106
• 70 Tips for Mastering Chrome OS http://www.chromestory.com/google-chromebook/

• Android for Education Resources http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/android-for-education.html

Miscellaneous Computer and Tech Help
Free online resources on computers  http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computers

Read More

Wonderopolis - free resource for find the answers to what students wonder

Wonderopolis is a great, free resource that has some great resources to help students learn and explore all kinds of topics. It has topics ranging from the science of why the sky is blue to how sound effects are made to pretty much any question, or "wonder" a child has.

There are quizzes to help reinforce knowledge and connect to related ideas, mobile design and navigation, social networking features, ways for users to share ideas, and over 900 different topics of wonder.

Some ways Wonderopolis is used:

Wonderers include teachers, students and parents wondering about the world around them in a variety of ways:
· A fifth grade teacher supplements classroom work to help her students develop authentic writing skills, critical thinking and expanded vocabulary
· A third grade class taps Wonderopolis while researching and writing papers
· The mother of a first grader spends early morning quality time with her son checking out the Wonder of the Day and exploring past Wonders

Take a look at it and use it with your students. Share it with your students and parents as a resource to use over the summer to continue learning and curiosity.

Wonderopolis is run by the National Center for Family Literacy and supported by the Verizon Foundation.

Read More

PBS KIDS' Design Squad Nation - great STEM resources and lessons

PBS KIDS' Design Squad Nation is an Emmy Award winning program with STEM related videos, activities, games and an interactive community. There is also a Parents and Educators section with lesson plans, curriculum guides, and more. 

There are some great new features to it, including a Solar System unit with games, activities, and lesson resources about our solar system, a roller coaster project where students compete to build the best roller coaster out of poster board, and a variety of other resources. 

Topics include science, flying, hobbies, sports, and much more. 

This is a great, free resource for educators, parents and students and well worth the time to explore it. 

Read More

eduClipper social web clipper gets Updated with Some Great New Features

eduClipper is a great app from EduTecher Adam Bellow that provides a way to clip anything from the web and then share it with anyone.

It's free and allows you to clip and capture anything from the web including articles, links, videos, lesson plans and more. You then create a clipboard to organize what you have clipped and then you can share the clipboards with students, colleagues, the public or just keep it for yourself. Students can use it too and the clipboards are searchable. You can also share your clipboards via different social networks.

The social sharing aspect is what makes it different from other web clipping services and apps. You share what you have clipped with others and people can comment and discuss the clip.

It was recently updated with some great new features...

Teacher and Student Accounts : We are excited to announce teacher and student accounts. Teachers can easily set up classes of students and create eduClipboards of content to share with whole classes or groups of learners.
Teachers can also change settings to make eduClipper more or less restrictive for the whole class or individual learners based on school or classroom policies. There’s a lot there - and we really want to put you in the driver’s seat when it comes to how you wish to use a powerful tool like eduClipper with your kids.


                                                               New Bookmarking Tool : We are really proud of the new eduClip It button. This bookmarking tool lets you clip literally any type of content and bring it into eduClipper as an eduClip. It is smooth and fun to use!



Collaborative Clipboards : Sharing resources is great - but creating collaborative clipboards with users on a topic is an even better way to offer real-time collaboration in classes for students or teachers. Great for educators connecting with colleagues to create the ultimate resource board as well as for students to join each other and curate the best resources for academic or interest-based learning.

Citations : Being a “good digital citizen” starts with citing sources and we have worked with EasyBib to generate citations for all eduClipped web content. A quick and painless way to annotate your eduClips.
Those are just a few quick things - but in short... everything is 100% more awesome and we are excited to tell you that this is just the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot more up our sleeve and you should be on the lookout for more cool news soon.
Take a look at the new site and give it a shot - we know you will love it!
And if you have questions or comments - we are all ears!
eduClipper exists to help bring education forward and we are eager to hear your feedback.

Related:

EduTecher - explore and share educational web tools

Read More