If you are not a 60 Minutes fan or were busy last evening, you will want to watch this lengthy story on Google. It claims that Google has too much power (most positive spin) or uses its power to disadvantage potential rivals to the point they have no real opportunity to compete (more negative spin). One of the topics is the space at the top of the search results page which Google reserves for its own recommendations and may often be the only thing users bother to view.
Google makes an effort to help educators develop their skills for using Google resources in their classroom. Google has the resources to provide quality online support and it is in their own interest to do so. The link provided above allows access to the Google Training Center. The resources are organized in several different ways including by product. So, if you are interested in a specific Google service, but do not know how to begin or you want to understand more advanced features, you should find this site helpful.
From time to time I need a todo list. For me, this is necessary when I work on big projects and I worry when I think of something now I will not remember what I have thought of later. Say I am working on Chapter 4 of a book and I encounter something I want to be certain to include in Chapter 8. I guess this is a basic description of what a todo list is for.
From time to time I have used Wunderlist. It works great and it is free. My problem with todo lists is that I forget to use them. There must somehow be something funny in this situation – a todo app to remind you to use your todo app.
Wunderlist may have come up with a solution. There is a chrome extension for Wunderlist called Wunderlist New Tab. What this extension does is reveal your Wunderlist ToDo list each time you open a new chrome tab (below). You are constantly reminded of your todo list in a way that is not overly intrusive. I find this helpful and it is easy to disable the extension when I have no need for such reminders.
I am a big fan of the This Week in Google podcast. The panel is very tech savvy, but also diverse enough to offer interesting insights on tech issues. In a follow-up to the Apple education event, the panel considers the benefits and limitations of the various large companies interested in providing resources to the education market. In comparing companies, the panel does not offer a particularly positive perspective on Apple. They propose that if Apple really wanted to help K12 education, the company would offer price cuts on hardware sold to schools. The discussion and consideration of the contributions of different tech companies is interesting.
Argumentation is one those important skills I have consistently argued K12 education should make the focus of greater attention. Practice engaging in formal arguments is a great way to develop communication and critical thinking skills so necessary in daily life. My interest has been in the classroom techniques of Deanna Kuhn.
I would describe formal argumentation as the equivalent of debate and I think the term debate is more familiar to most folks. I happened across this post on teaching debating skills and I thought some may find the information useful. Debates might make a great way to boost energy as an end of year activity.
Google offers a very useful image investigation tool called lens. Using Google Photos you can find out information about the images you have collected with your phone.
Here is a quick description of how this tool might be used.
We just returned from a trip to Rome where I took this picture. I had no idea what I was looking at when I took the picture or afterward. I brought this image up on my chromebook with the Google Photos app installed and selected the lens tool at the bottom of the image and generated the information appearing in the second image. Google identified the image as showing the Theater of Marcellus and provided a link to information from Wikipedia.
Apple iOS announced that it would provide the same service (March 16), but I am still waiting (the information icon appears where the lens app should be).
This tool should offer learners some interesting opportunities.
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