TCEA Blog from LISD: February 2015

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Google Hangout

Google Hangout session facilitated by the3techninjas

I wanted to see what the major differences between Google Hangout and Skype. I prefer Google Hangout because of some of the features that Skype does not have. There are some cool visual effects that Hangout has, plus you can also do a "live-on air" Hangout. When you do this, you can invite up to ten people to be in your hangout, (or you don't have to invite anyone) plus that hangout can be broadcasted live online. You can post the link, send it out, etc. so viewers can watch. When you are done with the broadcast, the broadcast is immediately sent to your You Tube channel where it is archived. Here it can be viewed for those that did not see it live. I can see many tutorial possibilities with this tool. I can also see how you can connect with others and give students a global opportunity to work, collaborate, and learn from people all over the world. It is possible to work on the same google doc and see the person at the same time. You can search for Google Hangouts that are regularly scheduled programs that Scientists, Celebrities, Athletes, etc. put on.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

3 Tech Ninjas

Great site full of resources. Click picture below.

Google Tips and Tricks

Click here for the resources from their presentation

During this presentation, my big take away was the "Form Mule" script for google forms. This add on allows you to send an automatic e-mail response to anyone who submits your form. Your auto e-mail could have a google doc, presentation, etc embedded into the e-mail. Great way to get a certificate of participation, or get your presentation resources to your participants.

I also liked the choice eliminator script for google forms. This allows you to limit the number of times an answer choice can be used in a form. Once the limit has been reached, the choice automatically goes away.

Tim's Resources

https://docs.google.com/a/staff.lisd.net/folderview?id=0B4fKY0lkD6pBNnhuUlYyS1ZhUFk&usp=docslist_api

Above is the link to a folder I created with notes from presentations as well as from those I met while here. It was another great visit with friends and colleagues and we all learned something to take away. For me it was a few things:

Coding - we need to build that link to abstract thinking and this may be the trick.
Add-ons - there were so many add-ons and add-on sessions that one could have spent all day learning new ones. My biggest take away are how to use them as a quick poll for students; form router, which will send the firm to different places, and how classroom paired with doctopus and goobroc has the potential to be really amazing.

Random pics with little explanation

Congress Ave at night in downtown Austin is nice.

Thank you Heather

Tim accidentally smashed Mike's foot.

Augmented Reality Session

Google Glasses are cool!

This was my first time wearing Google Glasses. They could be activated by voice. I would say, "google glass, take picture" "google glass go to the internet" "google glass send image to my e-mail address" I didn't get long to play with them. I hope I get another chance to experience what they can do. The reactions of everyone trying them were pretty exciting.

Lime

In this session it was nice to work with Trela Weesner, the Library Media Specialist from Briarhill Middle School. We explored the iPad app called LIME. It is a video conferencing app that also allows someone to give and get feedback via writing on the video screen. This app would be great to work collaboratively during a tutorial.

Lime was my favorite app that I hadn't seen during this session. What can Lime do? Click here. Here is a link to other apps they went over in the session. All of them are augmented reality apps.

After Conference Adventure

It's time to unwind at the conclusion of day 1. Finding some nature in downtown Austin.

http://www.texasrowingcenter.com/

Monday, February 2, 2015

It's go time.

Session is happening right now, over 100 people.

Here is our link to resources.

https://sites.google.com/a/staff.lisd.net/tcea-2015---google-unpacked-unpaneled/home

About To Start

Sitting outside room getting ready to go in. Time is 10:46

Kevin is ready to go.

Tim and Sabotage

"I am so ashamed"

The Conference Is Starting

http://www.tceaconvention.org/2015/

We meet up with Heather Shorter for some breakfast before the big day.

Thanks Heather for the tutorial on Google Forms. The add-on in Google Forms that pushes out an automatic certificate is cool. We will try it today!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Final Preparations

Is our presentation ready to go?.....We need to embed the twitter feed and make sure the resources are where they should be on the site.

Rick was not distracted by the SuperBowl...Maybe a little.

Checking out the presentation room

Our room is 12B. Looks pretty good but I think we will have to move some chairs. We plan on having stations during our session. Do we have enough room for people to move from station to station? We plan on having 6 projectors running. It looks like we have enough outlets and enough extension cord. We will have to get in right away after the session before us and move some chairs...Like pronto....