15 Cool & Useful Things You Can Do With Google

1. Convert Units:  You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest. 
2. Get a definition. If you want a definition without having to track down an online (or a physical) dictionary, just type “definition:word” to find the definition of the word in your results (i.e.: “definition: serendipity” will track down the definition of the word “serendipity”).
3. Search within a specific kind of site. If you know you only want results from an educational site, try “site:edu” or for a government site, try “site:gov” and your search term to get results only from sites with those web addresses.
4. Search within a specific website. If you know you want to look up Babe Ruth in Wikipedia, type in “site:wikipedia.org Babe Ruth” to go directly to the Wikipedia page about Babe Ruth. It works for any site, not just Wikipedia.
5. Calculate with Google. Type in any normal mathematical expressions to get the answer immediately. For example, “2*4″ will get you the answer “8.”
6. Google Scholar. Use this specialized Google search to get results from scholarly literature such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, and academic publishers.
7. Make a study group with Google Groups. Google Groups allows you to communicate and collaborate in groups, so take this option to set up a study group that doesn’t have to meet face-to-face.
8. Google Code University. Visit this Google site to have access to Creative Commons-licensed content to help you learn more about computer science.
9. Learn what experts have to say. Explore Knol to find out what experts have to say on a wide range of topics. If you are an expert, write your own Knol, too.
10. Create online surveys for research projects. Quickly and easily create online surveys for any research project that requires feedback from others. The answers are saved to your Google Docs account.
11. Use the Tasks as a to-do list. Use the Tasks available in Gmail as a way to stay on top of assignments, exams, and project due dates.
12. Highlight mail with labels. Use labels to mark your messages. You can find them easily while in your inbox and do a search for all the messages with that label after you archive them
13. Consolidate email accounts. If you have a Gmail account, an account through school, and any other account you are juggling separately, combine them all into Gmail to cut down on time spent checking all those accounts.
14. Get a text message with your daily agenda. Keep up with all that you need to do for the day without ever having to log on to your Google Calendar.
15.  Take Notes while searching the web.  This note taking application allows you to organize all of your online research quickly and easily. With Google Notebook, you can clip text, images, and links from web pages while browsing. Your notes and clips are saved to an online “notebook” that you can access from any computer, and may also be shared with others. So whether you’re planning a vacation or writing a school paper, Google Notebook makes it easy. To get started, go to Google Notebook’s main site.

Google's Art Project

An incredible free opportunity from Google that allows you nearly unfettered access to 17 of the greatest museums of the world.  Not only does this site give an individual an unprecedented view of specific art pieces but it also allows an individual to create their own personal "museum".  Just think of the discussion that a class could have contemplating the choices of each individual.

http://www.googleartproject.com/

Lino

Lino acts like an online bulletin board.  With Lino you can;

• Take a note where ever you are
• Access lino from your home, office, or even on the road and post a note whenever you need to.

• Set reminders on your special days or deadlines
• Set due dates on your stickies and you will receive an email reminder on the morning of the date.

• You can share your pictures and videos
• You can arrange your pictures and videos as you like and share them with friends.

• Share your ideas with your group members
• Create a group and lino becomes an ideal tool to share your idea with colleagues

•  Share files among friends and colleagues
• Attach your files to stickies, and share them with your students or colleagues

• Apps are available for mobile users
• There's an app for that.

QR Codes

What are QR Codes?
QR (Quick Response) Codes can be found almost anywhere today.  In a nutshell, a QR Code is a barcode on steroids.  While a barcode can only provide information horizontally, a QR Code can provide information horizontally and vertically, allowing for much greater information to be encoded. 

QR Codes allow you to provide individuals with URL links, videos, audio, text, maps, images, and more.  An individual simply scans the QR Code with a smart device (a smart phone, an iPod/Pad with a camera, or a laptop) and they are then redirected to a specific site.

15 Ways You Can Use QR Codes In Your Classroom:

1. Use QR Codes to give out website to students (No more worrying about typos).
2. Use QR Codes to provide students with the answers to homework assignments.
3. Use QR Codes to promote school activities.
4. Use QR Codes to provide opportunities to learn/explore in the hallways, commons, bathrooms...
5. Use QR Codes to enhance/extend information in books and other printed material.
6. Invite parents to see "inside" your classroom by posting a QR Code to your blog/website.
7. Create a scavenger hunt review using QR Codes.
8. Add QR Codes to math homework with video tutorials of how to solve the problems.
9. Add QR Codes to the back of library books that lead to book trailers.
10. Add QR Codes on research assignment that take students to databases and reputable websites.
11. Create a virtual tour of the school using QR Codes.
12. Add QR Codes to classroom displays and make them interactive by linking them to sites/videos
13. Use QR Codes to provide students with handouts.
14. Link literature books to online resources using QR Codes
15. Use JumpScan [ http://jumpscan.com/ ] to create personal profile pages that contain contact information - email, web address, twitter feed, facebook feed, flickr feed, etc. Rather than copying down someone's information, just scan the QR code to see an individual's contact information.

How One School is Using QR Codes:

TimeToast

Create timelines, share them on the web.

Timetoast is a great way to share the past, or even the future... Creating a timeline takes minutes, it's as simple as can be.

MindMeister

MindMeister brings the concept of mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere. In brainstorming mode, fellow MindMeisters from around the world (or just in different classrooms) can simultaneously work on the same mind map and see each other's changes as they happen.

Please click HERE to see a  MindMeister that I created.  This MindMeister will also provide you with some insight as to why I value technology in the classroom.  Feel free to edit it.

Rethinking Education

http://ksuanth.weebly.com/wesch.html

 Dubbed "the explainer" by Wired magazine, Michael Wesch is a cultural anthropologist at Kansas State exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. 

After two years studying the implications of writing on a remote indigenous culture in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea, he has turned his attention to the effects of social media and digital technology on global society.  His videos on culture, technology, education, and information have been viewed by millions, translated in over 15 languages, and are frequently featured at international film festivals and major academic conferences worldwide. 

Wesch has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was recently named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic.  He has also won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities. 


Click HERE to view more videos by Micahel Wesch.

VoiceThread

VoiceThread

With VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. All with no software to install.

A VoiceThread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam). Share a VoiceThread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to record comments too.

Users can doodle while commenting, use multiple identities, and pick which comments are shown through moderation. VoiceThreads can even be embedded to show and receive comments on other websites and exported to MP3 players or DVDs to play as archival movies.

Wordmark.It

 Let's face facts.  We are all perfectionist when it comes to picking the right fonts.  The choices seem so limitless, from the classically unoriginal Times New Roman to the overindulging Comic San.  There are hundreds of choices on your computer, so why is it so frustrating finding the right one? 

Wordmark.it is a tool to end your hours of searching/suffering. It's a free website that scans your computer's installed fonts and displays them in a simple visual grid for easy browsing.

Tagxedo

Tagxedo

Many of you are familiar with the word cloud generator, Wordle, but if you are a visual learner I believe you will enjoy Tagxedo.  Tagxedo turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, lyrics, slogans and themes -- into stunning artwork.  Tagxedo is not so much an alternative to Wordle, it is a leap forward in both layout and design.