Google

RECENT POSTS

How are Educators Using Google Plus Hangouts?

July 26, 2011 | 11:51 AM | By

Phillip Torrone

As more people join Google’s new social network, Google+, they’re figuring out how to take advantage of some of the innovative uses for the site.

One obvious use for educators is to boost their personal and professional network, particularly as the service offers more granular controls for privacy and sharing. Within these Circles, as each designated group is called, educators and students can create discussion groups without having to worry about the awkward or troubling “friend” or “follower” relationships that come with Facebook and Twitter.

But beyond that, Google Hangouts opens up another realm of possibilities for educators.

Google Hangouts allows up to 10 people to video chat with one another. Hangouts are free and easy to use (once you download and install a browser plug-in, you’re all set). You can invite specific people to join a Hangout with you, although it’s worth noting that anyone who joins can in turn share the Hangout’s URL and invite others. As being in a Hangout appears in all the participants’ Streams, it does mean that these are public gatherings.

Google’s Hangout technology recognizes who is speaking during a session and that person’s image takes the “big screen” while other participants appear in small tiles below. In other words, there’s no squinting or tracking to try to figure out where the voice in the video conference is coming from.

Video conferencing is nothing new, of course, but the simplicity and the inherent social nature of Hangouts are pretty interesting. Many classrooms have already started experimenting with video chat by using a tool like Skype to bring online guest speakers into the classroom. But with a browser-based solution and with the ability to connect more than just two sites by using Google Hangouts, real-time video-conferencing might become more ubiquitous. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, Google, Google Plus

How Do you Negotiate Public and Private Personas on Twitter?

July 12, 2011 | 11:09 AM | By

http://www.flickr.com/photos/topgold/3860849660/

As teachers try to suss out how to integrate Google+ with their Facebook and Twitter networks in and out of the classroom, the line between public and private posts becomes that much more the focus of discussion.

Google+ has made it somewhat easier by making users decide specifically which circles to post to. That function also works on Facebook, but it’s not as transparent (the prompt is hidden next to the “share” button when you click on the lock icon, which allows you to customize which groups see your post).

If your professors or students follow you on Twitter, do you feel you have to censor your Tweets?

While Facebook has its own dynamics (read the dos and dont’s of using Facebook in the college setting), Twitter is another animal altogether. By its very nature, it’s almost always used publicly. Though you can send private messages, most people use it to broadcast news, links, and briefly described ideas to anyone and everyone willing to read.

Indeed, educators have found creative ways to teach with Twitter. But just as we, as individuals and parents of kids who want to join the socially wired world, must decide what’s appropriate to Tweet (and Facebook and Google+ and all of what else is to come), teachers have to consider yet another layer of what works and what doesn’t. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Culture, Facebook, Google, Social Media, Twitter

Will Google+ Replace Twitter or Facebook for Teachers?

July 11, 2011 | 10:29 AM | By

It’s been almost two weeks since the launch of the “field trial” of Google’s new social network, Google Plus. As the hype grows, more and more people are receiving their invitations to the service, and in turn, there are an increasing number of discussions about how Google Plus might work for teaching and learning. (Take a look at this collaborative Google Doc that lists all the ways the social network site could work with students and teachers.)

The early consensus seems to be that Google Plus has a lot of potential, with services that could aid collaboration and communication in the classroom. Hangouts, for example, allow video chatting with up to 10 people, including the ability to jointly watch YouTube videos. Sparks provides a collection of posts on a particular topic, a way perhaps for students to gather research. And most notably, Circles allow users to sort their various contacts into social circles, giving them a more granular level of control with what they share.

“We always encourage extending the conversation beyond Twitter. That is crucial to seeing actual change happen in our schools.”

Google has been blasted by technology observers for its recent “social” failures – Google Wave and Google Buzz, namely. But the reception to Google Plus has been quite positive. However as a new social network emerges here — a successful Google network — new questions emerge, particularly for those active on other sites: do we relocate our efforts to Google Plus? Do we replicate our efforts there? Do we have time for multiple social networks? Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, Facebook, Google, Google Plus, Twitter

Education in the Age of Google and Wikipedia

June 16, 2011 | 9:30 AM | By

If you’re still wondering about the implications of the effects of technology on learning, take a look at this brilliant video by Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist who studies the effects of media on society. The envelopment of sites like Google and Wikipedia into our daily lives has completely changed our relationship with information. What does that have to do with learning? Take a look.

http://youtu.be/5Xb5spS8pmE

FILED UNDER: Culture, Google, Michael Wesch, Wikipedia

Does Apple’s New iCloud Offer Anything New for Education?

June 8, 2011 | 10:25 AM | By

Apple is holding its big developers’ conference this week in San Francisco, and the event kicked off on Monday with a keynote unveiling some of the new products and features Apple has in store. This includes upgrades to both its Mac and mobile operating systems.

Apple also introduced a new product, iCloud that will store users’ music, photos, apps, calendars, and documents online and then push them to all Apple devices, whether they’re iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches, or Macs. The service includes 5 GB of storage for free.

Apple is hardly the first company to make a foray into online storage. But with the popularity of Apple’s products — with consumers in general and with educators in particular — it may be that Apple’s new offering will help popularize the idea of cloud computing, a term that’s familiar in tech circles but still unclear to a lot of consumers.

CEO Steve Jobs took to the stage at the World Wide Developers Conference on Monday to explain Apple’s new service, saying that iCloud was the company’s “next big insight.” Contending that the PC is no longer the “digital hub for your digital life,” Jobs predicted that with iCloud, the company will “demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device” and instead that our digital hub will be “in the cloud.” And if nothing else, iCloud offers a way to demonstrate what cloud computing means: it’s online storage, accessible anywhere from any device over the Internet. All that data will in fact be stored in massive data centers instead of locally on your hard drive.

But what does iCloud mean for education? Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Teaching With Tech, Android, Apple, Google, google apps for education, iCloud

Weekly News Roundup

May 13, 2011 | 9:43 AM | By

Flickr:WilliamC

  • Microsoft announced this week that it has agreed to acquire the popular VOIP service Skype for $8.5 billion. Skype has become an important tool for educators bridging classrooms around the world, and the acquisition may boost Microsoft’s status in the education sector (provided, of course, Skype still works on Apple computers).
  • According to the June issue of Consumer Reports, Facebook has about 7.5 million users below the required minimum age of 13. And 5 million of those users are ten or younger.
  • While teens and pre-teens may love Facebook, they’re less than enthralled with Foursquare and other location-based check-ins. That’s the findings of a recent survey by Dubit, a youth communications agency, reports Business Insider. According to the survey, 48% of teens have not heard of Foursquare, Facebook Places, or other location services, and 67% of teens who have heard of the services don’t use any of them.
  • Google has announced the semi-finalists for the Google Science Fair. Voting on these entries runs through May 20. Continue reading →
FILED UNDER: Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Skype, weekly news roundup