My experience on Google Sites

https://sites.google.com/site/introductiontoeducationalmedia/

I can’t believe I have created a Website for my first time! It was definitely a fun experience.I’d like to share about how I made it as follows.

To get started, go to sites.google.com and click on the Create button to create my first website. Give my site a name and then customize the end of the URL if I like. By default, it’ll just be sites/google.com/site/sitename. If I chose a blank template, I can select a theme also. Click the “I’m not a robot” button and then click Create at the top.I’ll now be brought to the homepage for my new site.

The important section is at the top where I can edit the current page. To adjust the settings for the page and the site, click on the gear icon and then click on the Manage site. Then I can configure a bunch of options like the site name, site description, the landing page, etc.The last section of sidebar in Manage site let me add a header image and change the font, color and size for the text in various sections of the site like content area, sidebar, navigation, etc.

When I start editing and creating new pages, I can choose to create four types of pages: Web Page, Announcements, File Cabinet and List. Then choose the location of my page. I can create a top level page or put it under a different page. An Announcements page is a blog page with posts listed in chronological order. A File Cabinet page lets me upload files and will list them on the page. A List page allows me to create a list of items and displays them in table format. I can change the template for a page anytime by clicking on the gear icon while on the page and choose Change page template.

If I want to add something on the page, for example, to add a table, click on the Table menu item and choose the size of my table in terms of rows and columns. To insert anything else, click on the Insert menu option.I can insert all kinds of items like images links, text boxes, HTML boxes, calendars, charts, maps, YouTube videos, etc. When working with text, I can click on the Format tab to pick different heading styles, etc.

I can see recent site activity, all my pages, attachments that I upload, page templates I can use, apps scripts, sharing and permissions and themes/colors/fonts. I can also choose to insert recent site activity on the sidebar so that I can keep track of changes. I can even revert to an older version by using 'Revision history.' From my site, click More actions in the top right of any page and select Revision history.If I change my mind about the most recent edits I or my collaborators made to the site, simply revert to an older version by clicking any version from the list. After returning to the 'Version history' view, click the Revert to this version link next to the version I'd like to revert to. Then my document will be reset to the version I selected.

AR Apps with and without targets

I never imagine I can see dinosaurs in the real world! But it happened when I just simply clicked on the Dinosaurs app on ipad. All kinds of dinosaurs are just walking and roaming around everywhere in my surroundings. When we touch each single of them on the screen, the detail information will pop up, such as species, diet, sizes, the period they live and so on. We can experience them both in my real world and their virtual world by switching scenes.  In my language classroom, after I introduce the topic and read dinosaur stories to my students, I can ask them to create their own dinosaur research report. They can read more dinosaurs reading books, playing with Lego, playing with the toy dinosaurs and put a 3D image of a dinosaur in a photo. They are going to present along with their posters about their knowledge on dinosaurs and sort the dinosaurs into categories. I will apply this app to students fourth grade and above.

As a language teacher, I always expect my students to explore the details of an object and describe it in an expository writing. AR House will provide students a real virtual experience. They are able to take a tour of a construction site on this app instead of going to a field trip. They have the opportunity to exam every floor from every angle in the building for details, they can observe the building’s  outdoor view and every perspective from the roof. Students can work in peers and talk with each other about what they observed and how they felt. They can come up with the discussion of the structure of the building and outline the structure of their writing before they start the written work. I will use this app for the written task for middle and high school students.

If I want to talk about the body part or the physical structure of humankind, Anatomy 4D will be a good app for that. Just through this app and a simple printed image, Anatomy 4D transports students, teachers, and anyone who wants to learn about the body into an interactive 4D experience of human anatomy. Students will be able to learn about and explore the human body and heart in intricate detail. They can choose to change the view back and forth between a male and female body. They have the opportunity to highlight various organ systems individually, for example, they can focus on just the skeletal, muscular, or respiratory system. They can zoom in to experience each organ or body part in-depth. This app will be used for me to teach high school students.

Quiver could be perfect for me to use as a storytelling prompt. It comes in different languages including English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish and instructions on how to use the app. Students will have fun to color and create their main story characters and settings. The feature of the app seems attractive to students that it gives students the opportunity to customize their own figures and watch each one jump off the page! Students will love this magical experience. By moving the device that hosts the app around, students can view the animation from different angles.When viewing any given animation students can zoom it in and out, capture a photo or video record it, pause and resume it. This app helps students to develop their imagination and creativity in a storytelling activity. I will choose to use it to children 6 years and above.

Comment on Google Forms and CCSS

Google Forms is a tool that can be used for teachers gathering data from students and the community as well as delivering online assessments to students. The data collected from Google Forms can directly go into a Google Spreadsheet, where it can be analyzed, organized, and displayed in Gadgets and charts.

There are many ways for teachers to use it in the classroom, the following are some examples:

1. Teachers can create questionnaires and surveys to obtain information about students.
2. Teachers can manage parent contact logs out of it
3. Teachers can design self-grading student quiz with it
4. Teachers can create discipline forms to track students’ attendance or behavior.

All data and information can be e-mailed directly to the parents and shared with other school faculties.

For a math teacher, he/she can ask students to create questions for other classes to answer - they collaborated on the same Google Form. After the other classes took the survey, they graphed the results as part of their math unit on graphing. As what is required in Common Core State Standard, students make “strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data.”

For a language teacher, he/she can ask students to use Google Forms to create their own questionnaires about a unit of work. Students will have the opportunities to extend and/or strengthen their understanding in creating effective questions. Students can then complete other students' quizzes to boost their understanding again. It could be created and/or completed during lesson time or as a homework activity. According to Common Core State Standard, students will be able to “conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.”

Comment on Spreadsheets and CCSS

The Common Core State Standard requires students to use appropriate tools when thinking mathematically. Google Spreadsheets can meet this requirement by allowing students to collect, analyze, and report findings with data, which enables students to become better decision makers and problem solvers.

For example, the teacher can ask students to collect data of how many hours they spend on doing homework everyday and find out the average study hours per week or month for the class. The teacher just needs to create a Google Spreads and share it with the class; then assign the students a cell number to enter their data. For elementary level, students can experience elementary algebra in action as they create and use formulas and function tables. For secondary level, patterns, probability experiments and other data can be instantly analyzed with dynamic graphs that adjust automatically as new data is entered. Then students can make predictions and formulate conjectures as they compare theoretical data with real-life data. According to the Common Core State Standards,”Technology plays an important role in statistics and probability by making it possible to generate plots, regression functions, and correlation coefficient, and to simulate many possible outcomes in a short amount of time”. Google Spreadsheets allow students to analyze, predict, and share data that can help mold the understanding of the subject.

When language teachers teach reading scientific and technical texts, they can encourage students to draw or create graphical representations of the data that help students to understand the concepts and context. Students can benefit from expressing the data in their own creative ways. According to the CCSS, “When reading scientific and technical texts, students need to be able to gain knowledge from challenging texts that often make extensive use of elaborate diagrams and data to convey information and illustrate concepts.”

Comment on 5 Chinese Apps

Essential Chinese is an app for the introduction to vocabulary, phrases, and grammar of the Chinese language. It covers most basic conversational topics in daily life. Each lesson focuses on one topic. However, free lessons are limited, the user needs to pay for more lessons. It has 3 sections in each lesson: vocabulary, grammar and conversation, which allow the user to practice listening, speaking and recognizing Chinese words and phrases. Games are designed at the end of each section. This app is good for beginners to start learning Chinese from the beginning.

Chinese Pad provides interactive Chinese books and articles on the app. It includes a built-in Chinese-English dictionary, an open content platform and a set of tools to drill users in the basic language skills. With this app, the users can practice their handwriting; record their voices and test their knowledge on a certain topic. This app is good for learners of intermediate level or above. Because the content is more focus on Chinese culture, custom, folk stories and idioms.

Learn Chinese provides a couple of free lessons with various topics. In each lesson, selected vocabularies on a particular topic are displayed with pinyin, characters, sound and pictures. The user can listen to the sound of the word repeatedly. After each vocabulary is introduced, a test follows up asking the user to match the sound of a word with its picture. On this app, the user can create a profile and keep their learning history and results recorded. It is an app designed for a more audio-visual style learner. It meets the needs for those who just simply wants to name things in Chinese since it doesn’t cover phrases, sentences on a conversational level.

Chinese Skill is an app designed for testing. When the user starts a lesson, he enters in a quiz window right away. However, the quiz seems to breeze past many aspects of language without any specific focus on any of them. For example, in a quiz, the user will be asked to match a sound with a Chinese character; trace writing a character; fill in blanks for a missing word in a sentence; then translate a sentence into English. The user can review all the contents by taking formal tests that come with four categories: flash card, character, word and sentence. This app is a tool for testing learners’ knowledge so the user is supposed to have some background knowledge.

iLearn Chinese focuses on teaching learners Chinese characters. It believes that a large number of characters are required for effective communication. It emphasizes the historical information of each character and demonstrates the writing of characters stroke by stroke. The users are able to practice the writing on the touch screen as many times as they like to “feel” and “program” the stroke orders into their memory. The app has image icons for characters of both concrete and abstract meanings. That means it provides pictures for not only real objects like “desk”, “cup”, but also abstract concepts such as “love” and “year”. This app is good for those who love to research about the history of Chinese words and learn Chinese from writing and accumulating words.

My experience on Spreadsheet

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AnUynI1n4JlK8E10Myp7DjvFXLUY49dnfVQoHDFNgpg/edit 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1szuIMSxwPIdzOcSRyN8exx6HQSY6Ifez7ZkHHMEwN_4/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10budeyNtsNJZisKxS-C8US6t22Q1ynV7TQvhdbKzqjU/edit?usp=sharing

It is my first time to experience working on a spreadsheet. I was very excited when my grade sheet was created. It seemed easy to create a new sheet and put data in each cell. Formatting text in the cell is similar to it on Google Doc and slides. We can choose to change font size, make words or data bold, italic, or underlined. We can change the text color and fill the cell with colors. There are some more similarities like inserting chart, images or links on it… However, Google Sheets has its own features since people use it mostly to deal with data. For example, when copy and paste, we have options to choose from paste values, format or formula, each leads to paste only a particular attribute of cells. When we delete, we can choose either to delete a data in the cell or a whole row or column. We can also choose to freeze rows and columns to protect ranges. Functions allow us to perform specific calculations of the data in a selected block of cells, such as sum, average and maximum etc. It is also a challenging part for me to be careful with putting in a particular formula for each calculation.

Since I had only experienced it by creating a self-grading quiz and a grade sheet in this couple of days. I believe there are many functions on it waiting for me to explore further. For example, what I can do with filter view, what changes on borders will happen… But I know I can learn more from Google Docs Editors Help.

Comment on the Lesson plan

It is a good idea to ask students to explore and design Tangram Square with Google Drawing. The lesson plan just showed us how the lesson with Google app meets the Common Core State Standards. As a language teacher I will have the CCSS on all listening, speaking, reading and writing aspects. I can definitely come up with lessons with Google Drawing to ask student to sort out their ideas by creating collaborative drawings and have my class free of paper. 

Comment on Google Drawing and CCSS

Google Drawing can be used in a classroom to create collaborative graphics that express meanings. It can be used to create flow charts, custom graphs, informational posters and graphic designs.

For example, when a language teacher asks students to write a resource-based essay, he can create the graphic organizer displaying the structure of the reading material, making a template for the essay and share it with class. The class will make a copy of it and use it to prepare for the writing. Students can be asked to show how they understand the material by creating a chart on Google Drawing to analyze it and organize their thoughts and ideas on outlines. It will help to meet the requirement of CCSS for reading “Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.” (Table 8.1 Anchor Standard 1 for Reading, Graham’s book chapter 8, P129)

When a math teacher wants his students to explore geometry, he can ask students to use Google Drawings to draw shapes and manipulate them under instructions. Shapes can be edited by clicking and dragging, increasing and decreasing in size, rotating 90 degrees, and flipping…, which will meet the requirement of CCSS to draw, construct and describe geometrical figures in Seventh grade. 

Comment on Google presentation and CCSS

Google presentations contribute a lot to the assessment of communication skills in the Common Core State Standards. When students use this collaborative tool to present information to classmates and teachers, they are presenting an extensive set of skills such as listening carefully to ideas; integrating information from visual, oral or media sources; evaluating information; express themselves explicitly to others，and adapting speech to context and task etc.

Google presentations meet the requirement of CCSS by allowing collaborative work. Collaboration is the distinct feature of Google Slides. The ability to easily share and simultaneously edit a Google Drive document is the platform's biggest selling point. The fact that everyone will always be on the same version of Slides, and that all the collaborators will have a consistent experience while editing and commenting, is a huge positive for Google’s apps.

Presenting about knowledge and concepts learned is one of the best learning strategies. Google presentations provide opportunities for students to research content, summarize the information, display data in visual forms and create presentations with images and video. Students will be able to learn how to organize information effectively and conduct a speech seamlessly. From the tables listed on Graham’s book chapter 5, we can see that Google presentations can meet the speaking, listening, reading and writing standards in CCSS for various k-12 subjects.

Google Drawing

Google Drawing is a drawing tool to make graphics. It includes shapes, lines, colors and can also include words.

First, we go to Google Docs, create a new document, then choose to insert a drawing. When a new window for drawing is open, we can design any shapes we want. On the toolbar, we can choose to draw a line, arrow, curve or other many kinds of shapes. For example, I choose to insert a line, then I can format it by changing its color and style. We can also choose to insert word art, text box and even insert an image by uploading it from my computer or online. After drawing, we can name it and save it, then share it with people to allow them view, comment or edit on it.

Google Presentations vs PowerPoint

 PowerPoint is a familiar Microsoft Application for us to put together our presentations, talks, and classes. Now compared with Google Drive Slides, Power Point seems inferior to it in some ways:

First, all the changes can be automatically saved on Google Drive while we have to care to save every change we make on Power Point.

Second, Google Slides would be good for collaboration. The ability to easily share and simultaneously edit a Google Drive document is its most distinct feature. Google Slides enables a couple of people to easily make changes and to comment back and forth. While with Power Point, we need to deal with multiple files with different versions.

Third, Google Presentation provides users with the tools that are necessary to organize information in an artful manner. In comparison, Power Point seems antiquated and overly simplistic. 

Link of Google Presentations

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IEbwSy5Z9_vDj0GoghFExchr2330PsDda0J1Np65baM/edit#slide=id.p3

Puppet Pals on iPad

Puppet Pals is a great app for children to creatively explore narrative. With this app, teachers can ask students to create and record their own play and stories. At first, we choose up to 8 characters and in the free version, we can get some fairy tale settings. We can get other backgrounds and characters by purchasing. Students can choose any character and up to 5 backdrops for their stories. It’s a good way to see students’ creative abilities and how well they use their language. When students get characters on the stage, they can place them on the backdrop wherever they want and start recording whenever they’re ready. They record their voice so that they can have their narration along with that. We can have a couple of students working together on a project. No matter how many students work on it, they can narrate themselves in the story. It’s a great way for children to use their creativity and imagination to create stories and integrate both language arts and fine arts.

Once they’re done, they can click to save their projects; title them and export them out. Teachers will be easily seeing all the projects on iPad.

It’s definitely an useful app for me as a language teacher to teach literature in a fun way and access students’ reading and writing abilities as well.

Adobe Photoshop Express

After downloaded and installed Adobe Photoshop Express, we got some tab settings that we can upload and edit in Adobe settings. We can choose to upload the photo to Photoshop.com, Face book or Twitpic. We can have an account on Photoshop Express online and get tips on how to use it. To edit a picture, we select and upload it, then there are many ways to edit it, we can choose either to crop, rotate or flip it. We got options of exposure, saturation, tint or contrast…others are like sketch, soft focus, sharpen and effects and borders…After the edition, we can save the picture and choose to upload or post it to Face book or Twitpic. It is an app for any device and convenient for us to edit our pictures and use them in our classroom posters or power point.

Spelling Test on iPad

With ‘Spelling Test’ on iPad, we can create our own lists of tests that students can take on their own. We just simply spell out all the words and record them into about a few minutes. Then when press the list and listen to words spelled on the iPad itself, students can take the test independently. If some words were spelled wrong, it will show how to start correctly. When it’s done, it shows how the students spell the word and if they got correct or not. It can also be moved to the smart board, and students can listen to the task and work on it independently on the smart board. It allows the test be taken at any time and any place. I am looking into using it in my language classroom. In the beginning of the class I can ask my students working on it while I am setting up the class.

Dictionary on iPad

‘Dictionaries’ is a simple but powerful app on iPad designed to find and learn about words in the dictionary. When we type in a word, we can get either the exact word or a series of words we were looking for. Each word shows and says out loud exact pronunciation, definition and how to use it in a sentence. There is also an option to go to the source; when typing in a word, we will find a list of alternatives. The Word of the Day section gives us a word that the website has chosen each day. There are a few more options for customization such as listing aboard similar to an actual dictionary. This app looks fully extensive and frequently updated.

Safari and Rover

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple. It is an application both on a Mac and iPad. Rover is also a web browser, however, it is a “Flash capable” browsing app designed for iPad. Safari as a broadly used web browser has many features, such as Full-text search, Safari Reader, iCloud tabs…While Rover could be used for a more educational purpose when to access flash content on iPad.

I will prefer to use Safari, because it looked very handy and at the same time there are many limitations on using Rover on iPad. For example, websites using the Unity plugin for 3D graphics will not work on Rover. The gestures in Flash content don’t work well and lag causes delays and problems for interactive sites. It does not support other common web plugins like shockwave or Unity. And it is only good for using one iPad at a time and only with a fast and unlimited broadband connection. Since it uses too much bandwidth, it is will not be a good choice to allow the whole class using it simultaneously in the class.

Using iThought in the Classroom

iThought will be a good tool for me to teach language in my classroom. Students will have opportunities to brainstorm ideas about a given topic. They can organize their thought processes and turn these ideas into structured written pieces by creating and using mind maps.

For example, when I introduce family members, I can just simply ask students to create a family tree with iThought. In a project-based learning, students can use iThoughts to brainstorm, collaborate, and organize their goals, responsibilities, research, and work flow. They can also use it to take notes to demonstrate their understandings of a topic covered in class. Students can then share their maps with their peers using the various sharing options and comment on each other’s work.

Box screenshot

Pages compares with Word

Both Pages and Word are word processors and page layout applications. The document window for both of them contains a toolbar, which gives one-click access to commonly used functions such as inserting objects and adding additional pages etc. When text is selected, the format bar of both of them enables users to choose fonts, text size and color, adjust line spacing and alignment. For Pages, its toolbar gives access to uploading the document to iWork.com and there is a separate Inspector window which provides almost all formatting options available for any element in the open document. When Pages is first opened, users are presented with a Template Chooser which allows them to start with a blank document or with a predesigned template – including a basic, report, letter, resume, envelope, business card, flyers & posters, cards, miscellaneous, and a newsletter section of templates – that contains placeholder text and images which can be replaced by dragging and dropping photos from the Media Browser.

In word processing mode, Pages on iPad supports headers and footers, footnotes, and outline and list creation. Users can collaborate with others on a document. Pages tracks changes by different users by displaying each person's edits in different colors. Users can also add comments alongside the document. In page layout mode, users have complete control over the position of objects on the page. Images and text can be placed anywhere on the canvas. 

When using an iPad, typing accurately and quickly on the iPad’s wide on-screen keyboard was comfortable and fast. The Web browser also works beautifully. However, most people need two hands to use iPad.

Hi My name is Lily.