Month: September 2012

Breaking News From The BPS Ed Tech Team! – Google Drive iPad App Update

On By Patrick LarkinIn App Store, BPS Ed Tech Team, Google Docs, Google Drive, iPadLeave a comment

From The BPS Ed Tech Team:
By Andy Marcinek

After a long wait, Google Drive is now available for the iPad with the full functionality of the web-based version of Google Drive. To refresh, Google Drive is the new name for the Google Docs Suite. This suite includes Google Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Forms, and Folders.
The updated version of the Google Drive app allows you to create, collaborate and edit documents with ease on the iPad. Before, this process was rather cumbersome through the mobile view and desktop interface on the iPad, however much has changed with this update. Users can also upload photos and video right to Google Drive directly from the iPad. This will allow students to upload video projects and photos immediately.


The home screen for the Google Drive App

The best update to arrive in version in Google Drive version 1.1.0 is the editing option. Users can edit much easier and with a cleaner interface. Plus, the editing and collaboration features are much faster through the Google Drive App. Users can also see who is editing on the doc at the same time. In addition, docs can now be accessed offline as well. Users can edit a doc offline and once it hits a wi-fi connection, the doc will sync with Google Drive and save in the cloud. This feature will happen automatically or via the refresh button in the upper-right hand corner of the home screen of the app


Editing view in the Google Drive App

The Google Drive app also gives users the ability to organize their entire Google Drive. Users can create and share a folder as well as create and share a doc through this app (at this writing only docs can be created directly through the app). Also, users can move docs to folders and organize their entire Google Drive from the iPad app.


Create a new doc, folder or upload media

While creating presentations, spreadsheets, and forms is still unavailable, I imagine this feature will be added soon. Even though you cannot create presentations, spreadsheets, and forms directly from the app, users can still view these documents within the app. In addition, users can open a Google Spreadsheet and access the “open in…” feature from the app that will allow users to open the spreadsheet in supported apps (such as Notability, Evernote, Dropbox, etc.). For presentations, users can view and present from the app, but not yet create a presentation directly from the app. Again, I imagine these features are not far behind this update.


Open spreadsheets in supported apps

Users also have the ability to share a doc directly from the app and can access a populated contacts list from simply typing in the first letter of the email. The share feature also allows the doc owner to set permissions for “can edit”, “can comment”,  and “can view”. The doc owner can also toggle viewing permissions and completely remove a user from the doc.


Share docs, view and toggle permissions

If you’ve struggled with Google Docs on the iPad in the past, this is update will make your life and classroom work-flow more enjoyable. This is not a perfect update, but it is a giant step in the right direction for those of us using Google Apps for Education in a 1:1 iPad environment. If you have any questions about this update, please visit the help desk for assistance.

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Don’t Miss This Week’s #PTchat! Parents & Teachers Discuss Digital Citizenship & Internet Safety

On By Patrick LarkinIn #PTChat, Digital citizen, eFaceToday, Internet safetyLeave a comment

We have certainly had many conversations about how we are supporting our students and parents in regards to citizenship and responsibility in the digital age. While our move to a 1:1 high school where every students has an iPad has brought a great deal of positive feedback, there have also been parents who have raised concerns about the increased access to the world wide web that their students now have.

As you can imagine, the questions and concerns that we are dealing with here in Burlington are the same ones that are being discussed in communities throughout our country (and beyond).  This Wednesday night you have the chance to collaborate with parents and teachers from all over the map on this subject.  Check out the blog post below from eFaceToday for more information:

Image credit: mozardien.com
Guest post by #PTchat moderator and New Jersey teacher Dana Sirotiak (@sirotiak02)

As we prepare our students and children for the 21st Century, there is a certain responsibility required when educating students on how to practice safe and responsible usage of online information.  The positives of technology integration include collaboration and increased productivity, but in order for students to demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning, we must instill practices when preparing students for appropriate Internet usage.  

Join us this Wednesday, September 12th at 9pm EDT/6pm PST as we discuss what it means to be a digital citizen and how teachers and parents can develop a partnership to facilitate Internet safety both in school and in the home.  All #PTchat archives/resource gDOCs can be found here. 
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Help Support the BHS Marching Band This Sunday

On By Patrick LarkinIn BHS Marching Band, Burlington High SchoolLeave a comment

From The BHS Principal’s Blog:



The Marching Band will be at the Burlington common this Sunday Sept 9th from 10 am to 3 pm at Truck Day.  The BGood truck will be there selling shakes.  100% of the money that is collected from the sale of the shakes will be used to support the band’s trip to Disney this spring.  The band will also be selling candy, scarfs and football cushions.

Best-Selling Young Adult Author Mike Lupica in Burlington Tomorrow

On By Patrick LarkinIn Burlington, Young-adult fictionLeave a comment

As a former sports-writer, I have been a fan of Mike Lupica for some time.  The veteran sports writer for the New York Daily News is also a best-selling author of young adult fiction with a phenomenal series of sports-related stories to his credit.  He will be in Burlington tomorrow at Barnes and Noble at 4 p.m. to sign his most recent publication True Legend.

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Education Leadership: Will Richardson’s TEDX Talk

On By Patrick LarkinIn Education Leadership, Education Reform, TED Talk, TEDx, Will RichardsonLeave a comment

Originally posted on the Connected Principals Blog

I am always looking for entry points for our school community to engage in a meaningful discussion of our vision for students.  Will Richardson’s TEDx Talk from Melbourne, Australia (below) provides a clear description of where we need to be headed.

All schools need to answer the following question asked by Richardson:

What is the value of school when you don’t really need school to do school if we define school in the traditional sense?

Here are two key points from Richardson’s talk that get to the heart of this question:

  1. Learning is what our kids need to be doing in the classroom, not getting ready for assessment that were built for another time.
  2. (via Justin Reich) We pay so much attention to the measurable part of education that we miss the immeasurable part.creativity, perseverance, problem-solving are what are children need.

I would love to hear your thoughts after watching the video!

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Hey Forbes Magazine! What About The Students?!

On By Patrick LarkinIn branding, Communication, Forbes, Leadership, National Council of Teachers of English, Social mediaLeave a comment

Originally posted on the Connected Principals Blog

Untitled
We won’t go wrong if we keep students the focus of our plans.

I was excited to see the headline on a Forbes magazine piece in August titled – Why Public School Leaders Must Embrace Social Media Now.   As I read the article, I was in complete agreement with the points that were being made by the author, Joel Gagne, a consultant who works with schools on communicating more effectively with stakeholders.

Gagne pointed to the following as reasons for schools to start using social media:

“Communications: Often, schools communicate with stakeholders via either regular postal mail or the school website. When a school district decides to utilize social media, their stakeholders can receive information like the “Principal’s Report,” event information, schedule changes, and more in real time.  They can also use social media to listen to what many in their community are thinking about their local public schools.
Public Relations: Given so much negative media about public education, schools can no longer leave public relations to chance. Social media allows schools to direct their followers to newspapers and TV segments featuring positive information. School districts can also use social media to highlight the hard work of their students and staff, and their school district’s accomplishments.
 Branding: Whenever someone sees the Golden Arches, they know they’ve found McDonald’s. This should be a school district’s goal through social media – that whenever someone sees their school district’s logo, they should think “innovation” (or whatever the desired brand may be).

The above are a great starting point in regards to why schools should be utilizing social media resources.  But are these the most important reasons for us to start embracing social media?  In my mind, these are low-level tasks that have been and always will be important to any organization, including schools.

However, the biggest concern I have with school leaders be unwilling to utilize social media resources, or even worse banning them in their school, is the fallout for the students.  Students who do not know how to utilize these current resources to communicate, collaborate, and learn are not competent according the National Council of Teachers of English  framework developed on 2008.

According to NCTE :

Twenty-first century readers and writers need to

  • Develop proficiency with the tools of technology
  • Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally
  • Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes
  • Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
  • Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts
  • Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments
In looking at this list, I am concerned that we are a long way off  from having students who can meet these standards.  If the conversation with school leaders is one that focuses on the low-level tasks described above then we will never lead our students where they need to be.  The bottom line is that if school leaders do not model the use of these resources then we cannot expect teachers to make it a priority either.  If teachers aren’t using these resources then the capacity of students to integrate them will be greatly inhibited.

In closing, I want to make it clear that I intend no disrespect to Forbes or Mr. Gagne, but the fact that school leaders would need to turn to a private consultant to market their schools has me a little bummed.  There are a number of places that our colleagues can get help for free in this areas and some great models available in school leaders that are already doing this work.

I guess it brings me back to the same question we have been asking for a while here..How do we get them to get them on board and see the bigger picture? Any suggestions?  The students are missing out! 
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