Better Than PowerPoint: 3 Online Tools For Creating Gorgeous Presentations. Whether it be for school, your professional life, or pretty much any other reason, presentations are some of the most useful tools for organizing and conveying information to others.
Everyone creates them on a regular basis, including any kids you may have! Microsoft Office’s PowerPoint is the most commonly used application for this task, but it’s not the only tool which can get the job done. In fact, some alternatives to PowerPoint might even be better, depending on which features you desire the most. Did I also mention that these tools are openly available on the web and entirely free? Plus you aren’t even required to be connected to the Internet when it’s presentation time! Google Presentation If you commonly use Google‘s online applications such as Gmail, you’ll definitely find a lot of use in Google Presentations. Prezi My next choice is called Prezi. Frames are what Prezi will focus on during the presentation, and are the equivalent of a slide in PowerPoint. Photosnack Conclusion. Google launches YouTube curriculum to educate students on digital citizenship (video)
Google has developed an interactive curriculum on YouTube to support teachers in educating students on how to be safe, engaged and confident model netizens. The initiative is aimed at students aged 13 to 17 and will help them to develop digital literacy skills on YouTube that would be applicable across the web. A list of 10 lessons has been devised, in which students can learn about YouTube’s policies, how to report content, how to protect their own privacy, and how to be responsible YouTube community members and, in the broader picture, digital citizens. Each lesson comes with guidelines for teachers and ready-made slides for presentation. There’s also a YouTube Curriculum channel where videos related to the project will be posted. Elaine Burke. Parent iPad Info. All things Google. Introducing School-Wide Digital Citizenship Practices with iPads. An elementary school in our district recently got 30 iPads and asked for some advice implementing them with students and teachers.
In addition to suggesting some starter apps, I recommended that we have conversations with kids around the appropriate use of these devices. While almost every child has used an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone, the exciting learning opportunities these mobile, Internet-connected, media creation devices create also open the door to new challenges. Cyberbullying or inappropriate web publishing happens more through the camera than regular computer use does; the mobility of the device combined with the reality that multiple users are using the device with no personalized, password-protected, network-tracked accounts makes it more challenging to keep track of who is doing what with the device or that the device itself is safe.
Rather than tell the students how they should and should not use iPads, I felt compelled to involve the students in the conversation. Google Launches New Search Education Site with Lesson Plans. Google has launched a new site called Search Education aimed at educators who want to teach online search strategies.
The site includes lesson plans geared at different levels of expertise — beginner, intermediate and advanced– as well as training videos that walk through different strategies for subjects like using Creative Commons and Google maps. The lessons cover the following topics: Picking the right search termsUnderstanding search resultsSearching for evidence for research tasksNarrowing a search to get the best resultsEvaluating the credibility of sources For each topic, lessons for every level of searcher goes into deep detail, offering background explanations of how search works the way it does, specific examples of search words and their results, and numerous tips. There’s also a short quiz at the end of each lesson.
The lessons are aligned with the Common Core Curriculum Standards and refer to the K-12 College and Career Readiness (CCR) Anchor Standards. Related. Google’s Digital Literacy Tutorial « Library Shop Talk. I recently stumbled upon an information literacy tool put together by Google for educators called the Digital Literacy Tour.
It appears to have been around since at least September 15, 2009. I’m not sure how I ran across this resource, but the parallels with educating users about the digital environment caught my attention and deserve discussion. Image source: google.com/educators/digitalliteracy.html This is an excellent resource for educators who want to discuss aspects of safety, ownership (copyright in disguise), courtesy, honest, and how to avoid some of the threats or dangers of the Internet. It is also tied into the larger Google for Educators site, which has resources classrooms, classroom activities and posters, an educator’s discussion group (email list), and information about a Google certification program for the professional development of teachers. The instructor guidebooks are under 30 pages, and packed with useful info.
Image source: Google's "I Keep Safe document"