Harry Dickens AppSmash Pt 2 #tie14 #arktie2014

Harry Dickens AppSmash Pt 2 #tie14 #arktie2014

Google add-in script called MCQ. Grades assessments, emails students, also can provide links for explanations of missed questions.

Drop images, videos, and much more into Google Forms to create quizzes.

Hand scanner - http://www.amazon.com/Vupoint-Solutions-Portable-Scanner-PDSWF-ST44-VP/dp/B008FSEWS0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1393532781&sr=8-6&keywords=magic+wand+scanner

Use page breaks in forms in conjunction with answer routing to help shape and or guide students through an assessment. You could also have students watch a video first, then answer questions. Based on their answers, route them accordingly. Students could create "Choose-Your-Own-Adventures" based in Google Forms.

Use educreations for formative assessment - have students post results to student folders. Virtual manipulatives can be stored in DropBox and then have students access those from within educreations.

Classflow - interactive whiteboard with or without a whiteboard in the classroom. Connect to DropBox for images, etc. It also has a resource folder and you can drop their resources into your own Resources folder.  Can embed Google Form, Doc, Etc as well.

Bookry.com creates book widgets.

What are other tools you can use for formative assessment? Think about it and let me know!

Ex:
iTunes Course created by Tonia McMillan and Harry Dickens -
https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/designing-student-assessments/id824284265

iRubric iPad/Android/Google app.

gClassFolders - Google class folders.

Helpful tool for teachers: Doctopus script - copy documents to students, keep track in spreadsheet, attach rubrics, etc.

Looked at Front Row Math app

VideoScribe - app and website

Animation Creator - offers "onion skinning" for animation. Also Smoovie for stop-motion movies has "onion skinning" overlays.

NumberKidz - fractions, etc.

Work Life: Creating "Merged" Cells in Google Docs #GAFE #EdTech

One of the biggest complaints about Google Docs is the inability to merge cells together in a table.

I recently had a project that required a specific layout in Google Docs. The layout consisted of a Word Docx that used tables with merged cells to produce a particular feel.  Since you cannot merge cells in Google Docs, I needed a way to emulate the desired layout.

Luckily, there is a workaround that gives you the appearance of merged cells!

Click on any image to see a larger version.

First, I need to create the "outer shell" that will hold the pieces and parts together. To do this, I chose TABLE > INSERT TABLE > 1x1:

Now, I had the shell and needed to add elements to give the appearance used in the original Word Doc. In this case, I am adding a 1x2 table INSIDE the "shell:"

Making sure my cursor was inside the "shell," I repeated the TABLE > INSERT TABLE for the various sizes I needed.  In once place, I needed a series of cells on one side of the layout. So, inside the right section, I clicked my mouse and inserted a 3x2 table:

 Below is the final result of the layout. It may be a bit confusing to see it all in black and white:

To help you visualize the various pieces and parts, I have colored the cells (below). Notice that I can add text inside any of the cells. I could have put text between the various nested tables as well!

It may take some trial and error to get the layout you're wanting, but with a little patience and practice, you can get Google Docs to give you Word-like table layouts!

*How did I color the cells? Right-click in a cell (or group of selected cells), choose "Table Properties...," then click the color-picker for "Cell Background Color!"

Google Billing Update: Invalid Request Error - Resolved, at least for me.

Many people are having trouble getting into admin console for their the Google-registered domain name. When they try to log in, all they get is "INVALID REQUEST." Unfortunately, no one seems to speak "English" so any helpful directions are few and far between. (By "English," I mean non-geekspeak, not actual "English")

Here is a fix that worked for me:

Okay, I *FINALLY* got in to the stupid thing. Here is how, thanks to a modified version of something LMckin51 posted.  Here is what worked for me:

Password reset:

Reset password https://google.com/a/REPLACETHISWITHYOUROMAIN.com/ForgotAdminAccountInfo 

Naturally, you take out "REPLACETHISWITHYOURDOMAIN" above and actually type your domain there. 

You should see a CAPTCHA code. Enter the info.

You should be alerted that the reset link has been sent to your primary email address (most likely your GMAIL username with your registered domain name, mine was). I opened my secondary email to find the link.

Click the link in the email. At this point (and/or possibly in the previous step as well), you will see your domain name's username. Make a note of that!

Reset your password.

Login to the admin console with your DOMAIN NAME account info. Do **NOT** login with your @gmail.com account!! Use your @mydomain.com account!!

You may get a warning about logging in with two gmail accounts. Whatever, just keep moving.

Once you are logged in, update/set your billing info!

Why I don't like the new GMail

I've switched to the new GMail because, well, they will eventually force me to anyway, so I figured I had better jump on it so I can support the folks at work.

First of all, let me make this clear: I hate the new GMail.  There. I said it. Now, brass tacks time:

For starters, I had to switch to "compact view" so that I wouldn't have a bunch of wasted space on my screen.  One of the things I liked most about GMail was the simple, clean interface. No frills, no nonsense. Bye-bye.  Now, we have views with more white space between messages than the actual length of the messages themselves.  Luckily, GMail must have known some people didn't care for all that "breathing room" and gave us an option that is close to the original layout (though not exactly).

I hate CHAT. I don't use it. I want to be able to turn the dumb thing off.  Again, it is a matter or screen real estate.  I'd rather have my label list down the side than have that dumb chat gizmo there, or anywhere.  Users should be allowed to turn that off.

I hate cute little icons where words work perfectly well.  maybe it is because I like to write and enjoy reading.  Maybe it is part of the whole 'streamlined' thing I enjoy.  Whatever the reason, I *HATE* stupid little icons that are supposed to represent the tasks I want to perform.  See them up there?  The irony is that you have to hover over them so that a TEXT BOX will appear to tell you just what you are supposed to do with them. Stupid.  I like my words. I like menu systems.  One of peeves with Office 2007 was the whole "icons on ribbons" thing. UGH.  Show me the words that tell me what I want to know, what I need to do.  I think cutesy little icons just waste space and waste time because I have to now figure out what each one does or means or represents.  have we fallen so far as a society that we can't have actual WORDS anymore!?  Soon, our writings (electronic or otherwise) will revert back to cave drawings - icons that show and tell our life stories.  instead of Facebook, we'll have.. Imagebook or Iconbook or Cavecarvings or some other wordless means of "communicating."  Supposedly, a picture's worth a thousand words.  In this case, it barely even covers one.

I am not a fan of the whole 'theme' thing. I never have been.  I like certain things neat and clean, no frou frou. Email is one.  i want my email to be...(GASP! SHOCK AND AWE!) **EMAIL**  I don't want little dancing smiley faces in my emails, I don't want a pink background with falling hearts from the sky.  I don't really even like the 'desktop' background I have in mine right now, but it was the easiest to look at for more than 5 minutes.

I know Google isn't switching it back, and that's fine.  Since we switched to Google Apps for our corporate mail system, I have to take what they give me - a certain drawback to going to "the cloud."  It is a drawback that no one talks about until after the fact. 

Oh, I know, in the scheme of life, this is petty and small and doesn't amount to a grain of rice for a starving child (go to freerice.com to help with that, though!!), but I am free to express myself.  And for that, I am eternally grateful to people like my Father, Grandfather, Uncle, and the other millions of people who have served in our military so that I *can* say what I feel.  The sacrifices made by those folks in uniform amount to much more than email interfaces, cloud computing, and even food on the table.  They served (and serve) OUR country for all the good, all the bad, all the freedoms, and all the choices we have as Americans.  I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, knowing full well that my petty rant is nothing but a grain of sand in the scheme of life.