Google Chrome Ninja Presentation on Education On Air Conference

Google Chrome allows you to personalize and customize your browser experience.  Efficiency is the goal when you are swamped with papers to grade, parents to email, a personal learning network to connect with and have a little fun while surfing the web.
Google Chrome browser allows you to install extensions that help your work flow in all your daily web activities.

Some of my favorite extensions for Google Chrome are...

Instant goo.gl URL shortener and QR Code Generator

This extension is now retired. You can still use it, but it is highly recommended that you upgrade to the next version, which is called ShortenMe. It now has the very frequently requested feature of saving links to your goo.gl account!

Google Dictionary

With this extension, you can:
1) Double-click any word to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble.
2) View the complete definition of any word or phrase using the toolbar dictionary.

Foreign words are automatically translated to your language of choice.

Turn Off the Lights

With one click on the lamp button, the page will be fading to dark. And automatic focus to the video. Click again, the page will return back as normal.

Clearly by Evernote

With one click, Clearly makes blog posts and articles clean and easy to read. Clearly eliminates all distractions from your online reading experience, and even allows you to browse multi-page articles in one, seamless view.

Send from Gmail

This extension will open a Compose window in Gmail when you click any email address on a webpage. It also provides a button that will create a Gmail message when clicked, using the page title as the subject and selected page text and link address as the message.

Amazon Wish List

Amazon Wish Lists are universal. You can add anything from any website to your Amazon Wish List making it easier than ever to keep track of all the items you want in one place.  Once you download the Amazon Wish List extension to your Google Chrome browser -- start shopping. When you see something you want on any website, just click the Amazon “Add to Wish List” button. 

Google Tasks

Easily add and manage your tasks from Chrome in one of three ways:

*  Simply type "t Your new task" into the Chrome Omnibar to easily add a task from whatever web page you're on.

*  Click the Tasks icon to add a task, see your tasks and task lists and mark a task as completed

*  Highlight text on any web page, right click and add that text to a new task.

Recently I presented at the Google Education On Air Conference with more Google Chrome Ninja tips.  View the recorded Hangout below.

To learn more about Google Chrome and all the Google Apps for Education, join us at a Google Apps for Education Summit!

Register now for the CA Google Apps for Education Summit July 12-13th in Santa Clara CA and the Rocky Mountain Google Apps for Education Summit August 2-3 in Boulder CO.

What did the students say?

On the first day of introducing Chromebooks to the students we asked them what they thought...


Here is what they had to say...

What are you excited about with having Chromebooks in the classroom?

• We won't have to go to the computer lab to do work, and they are nice and small to carry!
• I'm exited that I don't need to wait for a computer to open up.
• I just like technology, I am very thankful for having them.
• I am so excited to learn about technology and different websites on the Chromebooks and I think it will be fun to know tips and tricks that  we can know in the future! 
• I am exited about saving the paper that we use in our every day learning at school. I am also exited about learning how to type well with the Chromebooks 
• I like computers and i think it is really exciting and fun to have Chromebooks in our classroom. why wouldn't it  be fun to have a computer in a classroom! i am sooooooo excited about these chromebooks!
• I'm exited about having aces to the internet 24/7 anytime instead of having Mrs. Purdy having to reserve computer time we always have computer time. More time to learn  

How do you think using a Chromebook will change your learning?

• I think it will make things easier for research and writing papers and other things that you need information for!
• I think it will make things easier to understand and you will never lose or misplace things because it saves automatically.
• I can focus on line it is much cooler then paper and pencil the more online the better!
• I think that it will change my learning because i can not loose any of my work and also my work is just in the computer.
• Well it will make us better learners by typing a lot and getting to know how to use the computers correctly. Also it will be nice to do lots of reports on them.
• I think it will force me to try new things.
• I think it can change my learning because now we always have access to the internet so if we have a subject to learn about we can easily learn about anything on the internet i think having Chromebooks will be awesome!
• Because people like lab tops better than paper and pencil. 
• I think I can get smarter using the crome books because it has the internet.

What can you do to care for your Chromebook?

• Make sure you carry it correctly and not getting it dirty by touching the screen.
• I can hold it properly with my thumbs up on the top.  And I can hold it closed when I am walking.
• Before you get your Chromebook you wipe off your desk and you also wash your hands. 
• Plug it in to the wall every day when the day is over.
• Every time i am done, i should make sure that my Chromebook is nice and clean so when the next person uses it it will be nice and easy. we should be very respectful to these $500 items. we should carry these carefully.
• To care for our Chromebooks we can handle with care, stay away from water, no greasy fingers or try not to drop them.
• Leave your messy snacks on the ground and leave your water bottles on the ground.

Chromebooks to Edina Public Schools

Thanks to the Edina Ed Fund and Edina Public Schools, on Monday, March 26, 2012 Tracy Purdy will be introducing Chromebooks to her 4th grade students at Concord Elementary School at Edina Public Schools.  The students have been "working in the cloud" all year and have produced some amazing projects using technology.  They are beyond excited to have a 1:1 environment with Chromebooks to finish off their year.  I will be there to help support Tracy and the students in her "Classroom in the Cloud."  Feel free to check back often to see resources we add to the site along with examples of student projects that are created with the Chromebooks.


The first resource we have is the introduction Google Docs Presentation that we plan to share with the students tomorrow.  



Before the Chromebooks went into the classroom we had a few things we needed to do. First we enrolled each of the Chromebooks into our Edina Apps domain. 



Enroll the Chromebooks in our Domain.


We also tested out a few policies in the Chromebook management dashboard.  Right now we are just keeping things simple by just having a few websites come up upon login.  We may work on black/white listing apps and setting policies per grade level but for this year we are just keeping it simple.
Configure Chromebook Policies


Once the Cloud Printer arrives, we'll be setting up Cloud Print too.
Google Cloud Print

Chromebook Classroom

On Monday Flipped Education hosted a Chromebook Classroom with the EDU team from Google.  Dana Nguyen and Jaime Casap from Google came to wow a room of 120 educators from around the Midwest.

Flipped Education provided a half day of professional development around Google Apps for Education.  The Chromebook, a web browser device, is a new tool that a lot of educators are looking into for student devices in the classroom.  In Edina, we hope to get our first three pilot sets this March if we receive Edina Ed Fund awards.


Here is our event resource page for the Chromebook Classroom.


Here are some pictures form the MN Chromebook Classroom Event.




If you are interested in learning more, here is a YouTube playlist on Chromebooks

Life after Internet Explorer- Welcome to Chrome

Edina Public Schools is rolling out Google Chrome as a browser option for our staff and students.  I have created a website that helps teachers learn about Chrome and the benefits of Apps and Extensions.

This is a great YouTube video that helps teachers understand that there is more than one way to access the web.

Google Chrome Resources for Teachers

Making the Switch

Using Chrome: Life after Internet ExplorerSimple, Fast, Efficient

Search and Navigate from the URL box
Built in security and updates
Sync your bookmarks on any computer with Chrome
Chrome Apps and Extensions
Google Chrome Help

A few useful tweaks to Chrome

Google Chrome Playlist on YouTube

Google Chrome can be a personalized experience if you choose to add Apps and Extensions to your Google Chrome Browser.  

What is an extension?

Try extensions

• Visit the Chrome Web Store at http://chrome.google.com/webstore to find interesting extensions. Once you find something you like, install it to try it out.

Molly's Favorite Extensions

• Turn off the lights- when watching a YouTube Video, the rest of the screen turns black and the movie is highlighted
• Goo.gl URL Shortener + QR- provides a shortened URL and QR code for any website you are on.  Saves me 5 clicks when sharing!
• Picasa Extension- Quick access to Picasa Pictures
• Picnik Extension- Easily edit any image on your screen.  You can also capture the picture on the screen and bring it to Picnik
• Gmail Attachments to Docs- Save those pesky Gmail attachments directly to Google Docs from the attachment list itself with a newly added Save To Docs link.
• Google Dictionary-  View definitions easily as you browse the web
• Google Docs Viewer-  List, view, search, rename, delete, and create new documents in Google Docs
• Screen Capture-  Capture visible content of a tab, a region of a web page, or the whole page as a PNG image. Support horizontal and vertical scroll when capturing whole page, with an all new autosave capability.
• Amazon Wish List-  Add products from any website to your Amazon Wish List
• 10 More Useful Chrome Extensions

Molly's Favorite Apps

• Scratch Pad- Scratchpad lets you take notes while you browse, and syncs notes to Google Docs
• Google Docs
• Google Calendar
• Picasa
• Picnik
• Offline Google Mail
• Pilxr-o-matic-  Turn your photos into cool looking retro snaps! This darkroom let you apply effects and borders as easy as one two three!
• Tweetdeck
• BrainPop Featured Movie
• Graphing Calculator by Desmos
• Timer

Chrome for the Classroom Presentation- A collaborative presentation

Edina Technology Open House

On Saturday, October 29th Edina hosted a Technology Open House.  The purpose of the event was to showcase the great work that Edina teachers and students are doing by integrating technology into the classroom and curriculum.  We had 17 teachers that came to do a "Show and Tell" and show the great work that students are using technology for in their classrooms.



There were also presentations that shared information about Edina Apps, Moodle, Edina's Bring Your Own Device initiative, SMART and Interactive technologies, and our iTouch and iPad pilots. In my presentation sharing about Edina Apps, I brought a student 5th grade student with me to share about her 4th grade State Research project.  The ways that she was able to express to parents why she liked integratinge technology into her school projects was impressive.  To hear from students makes all the difference.  










We had over 100 students, parents, staff and community members attend this inaugural event.  It was a huge success and we are looking for more ways to showcase the great work that Edina teachers do to integrate technology into the classroom.














Here is a list of what was shared at the Show and Tell

Superhero 2011 Ka-Pow!

BOOM!  Superhero 11 was fantastic!

What an amazing weekend of networking, learning and saving the world (Up North).  When we at Flipped Education started dreaming up Superhero and how we could redesign an educational technology event we knew that it would be successful with the perfect recipe of engaging presenters and passionate participants.  This weekend blew all of our expectations.  Everyone got their geek on, shared their passion, sung their heart out, laughed out loud and really created an amazing new SUPERHERO FAMILY of teachers dedicated to transforming learning through technology.

Superhero Eve

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was the chance to network, collaborate and just hang with some of my favorite people.  On Thursday night many of the presenters gathered by the fire up at Madden's Resort to polish and tweak their presentations.  This is one of my favorite times with my geeky friends...because being together allows for the..."have you seen...?"  or "what do you think about...?" types of conversations that I can never get enough of.  Hanging with Ben Friesen, Sean Beaverson, Mark Garrison and David Freeberg is always inspiring, entertaining and simply fun.

Superheros Descend on Madden's Resort- Uniting our SuperpowersParticipants used their variety of superpowers to arrive at Madden's Resort on Friday.  Some flew, some appeared and others came in a Flash.  No matter how they came, the party didn't start until they started filling the room.  This event was always about the participants.  Getting the right people to Superhero was important and, again, surpassed my expectations.  I do think a family was born of technology educators in Minnesota and networking and collaborating with these new friends has some serious potential.  If you want to see who was here and start following them on Twitter, check out this Docs for All with their information!

Sessions
The pace and schedule of Superhero was designed to be relaxed, a bit flexible and provide time to learn, network and apply information from each session.  I wish I could have attended more sessions at Superhero.  I really think that these presenters were able to engage participants in conversations around some of the most important technology of today that can transform learning.  Make sure to take a look at the sessions that were offered at Superhero and spend some time learning from all the resources provided.  Leveraging collaboration, participants took notes on all sessions on a Docs for All so that even if you weren't at the session you could learn from the website of resources and notes.  Hey, even if you weren't at the conference you can learn from the website.

SLAMS
We ended Superhero 2011 with Demo Slams.  Demo Slams are out of the "phone booth" BIG ideas that could be shared in 3 minutes or less.  Presenters and participants rallied to share these SLAMS.  Google Scripts, Stop Motion iPad Apps, Geo Cashing, Making your Passwords not Suck, annotations in YouTube, Photosynth and more were shared during the SLAMS.  The energy in the room was electric and I was able to see the amazing talent of all the educators in the room.  Each presentation ended with a SLAM and congrats to Todd Roudabush and Nathaniel Lindley for winning the SLAM!

Superhero Extreme
Superhero was designed with sessions for participants to attend, but we also planned a lot of time for networking with each other.  The conversations that took place on a run, around the fire, sitting outside on the pattio, eating dinner, having drinks at the pub, hanging on the pontoon were just as valuable as the sessions.  We planned a flexible, relaxed schedule so that people could have time to network and get to know each other.  After my pontoon cruise with Nathaniel Lindley and others and before signing Karokee in Madden's Pub I found myself looking around Sean Beaversons room and I was so impressed with the room full of fun, smart, inspiring, and incredibly dedicated people.  This is exactly what we dreamed of with Superhero.  Let's connect some really great people.

I can't believe it is over, I'm going to have some Superhero withdrawal for a little bit but the collaboration and networking with my new Superhero family has just begin and I can't wait to see how the SUPER POWERS of all these people can unite to save the world!



P.S.  Superhero 2012 is in the making...pass it on!








Some Photo Highlights!