A Google+ Collection of Your Events

Several weeks ago, Google+ rolled out a new feature known as Collections--a way for you to group Google+ posts by topic.  At first, I thought it was going to be Google's answer to Pinterest, namely, a way to "pin" posts that you come across on Google+ to collections that you create.

I was mistaken.

Turns out, Google+ Collections will only let you group YOUR posts...so, a little less useful than I originally had anticipated.

One way I leveraged Collections recently is by grouping my summer training events.  This way, teachers can go to the collection and easily browse and RSVP to my *reFRESH trainings.

Here's how:

1.)  Create the first event.  Give it a custom theme.

2.)  Duplicate the event.  Change the Title, Description, and Date.

3.)  Repeat Steps 1 & 2 until all events have been created.

4.)  Go to Collections.  Create a new collection and give it a custom theme.

5.)  Go to your profile page and look for your Google+ Events posts.  Add each one to your Collection in the order in which you want them to appear within the collection.

6.)  Share the link to your Collection!



If you have a cool idea for leveraging Collections, tell me about it!  Leave a comment below or message me on Twitter (@rpetitto) or Google+ (+BobPetitto).

Happy Collecting!

SMART Hackathon: 20+ Ideas Realized in 48 hours

9 Teams of SEEs and their
assigned SMART Developers

Gotta give 'em credit: the developers over at SMART Technologies are an amazing crew.  Last week, SMART Technologies hosted the 2014 Global SEE (SMART Exemplary Educators) Summit.  76+ SEEs attended from all over the globe.  The week was filled with opportunities for collaboration and innovation.  One such activity was the Hackathon where 13 of the 76 SEEs (myself included!) were able to work alongside SMART software development team members to share and realize ideas they had regarding feature requests, modifications and improvements.  Within 48 hours, 9 teams of SEEs and their assigned developers realized over 20 ideas.  These ideas were then shared with and voted upon by the other 60+ SEEs.  Many ideas were met with enthusiastic head nods while others evoked roars of applause.

What's truly incredible is that SMART Technologies took the time to listen to teachers about their product.  It was amazing to see them take our ideas and run with them, offering suggestions we hadn't even considered.  What other software company can say that they not only produce hardware and software solutions designed for teachers but also boasts that they allow teachers to influence the design and functionality of their products?  Not very many.

SMART Technologies definitely has a good head on their shoulders and are (as they have been) proving that they understand the needs of the 21st Century Teacher.  #SMARTcares

Google Apps for Education: Our Academic Playground

About 2 months ago, I was commissioned to come up with a graphic that would explain the benefits of transitioning to a Google Apps in cooperation with our District's Strategic Plan.  It had to be informative but simple, engaging but not over the top.  The Prezi below is the result.  Enjoy!



If the Prezi fails to load, click here.

Google Moderator for Collaborative Decision-Making

I'm an avid user of Google Forms.  They're easy to create, distribute and seamlessly compile into a spreadsheet that can be shared with any stakeholder.  The one drawback--they're not collaborative.

There's a time and a place when I want data that I can put into a Pivot Table and analyze =COUNTIF(...) formulas.  Most of the time, I'm just looking for general consensus.

Such is the case for my most recent project: piggy-backing off the success of our VVSDtech OnDemand page for staff by creating a VVSDtech Student OnDemand page.  I wanted to make a collaborative decision as to what resources should belong on the page, and at the same time, eliminate redundancy, duplicate entries, and navigation between multiple web pages.  I had considered creating a Google Form that, upon submission, would prompt the user to visit the results of other users' submissions, but the more I thought about it, I realized:

1. Users might be deflated upon realizing that the idea that took them 2-3 minutes to submit was already submitted by someone else.
2. I don't want 50+ rows in my spreadsheet taken up by a single resource that everyone happens to agree on.

So, I decided against using a Google Form and instead opted to leverage Google Moderator.  For those that don't know, Google Moderator allows users to submit ideas and vote for each other’s ideas all on a single page in real time!  

The gDoc below outlines how to use Google Moderator for this purpose.  Feel free to use it for your own purposes.  Happy voting!

School Librarians as a Literacy Specialist...Not a Babysitter

In our district, the Library Media Centers (LMCs) are a dumping ground.  

As per the contract, K-5 teachers send their students to the LMC for 30 minutes a week as a Special, like Art, Music or PE.  During the 30 minutes, students receive a mini-lesson on a variety of topics including digital literacy, library expectations and procedures, keyboarding practice, digital citizenship and more.  They are also allowed, clearly, to check out books.  The checkout process can take around 10-15 minutes which doesn't leave very much time for the LMC director to execute their curriculum.

The LMC Directors want change!  In a recent article put out by The Guardian, "...[revolutionizing the school LMC] means a great deal...the library has the capacity to enjoy its own renaissance. Because of the digital revolution it is no longer just about the printed book. As a space, it is about inspiring young people." 

Our LMCs have that potential.  I've seen it happen.  Just yesterday, I popped in on one of our LMC Directors, Ms. Erin Preder, in the middle of a collaboration session with a fellow 5th-grade teacher and his students.  She and the class used Story by Disney, a FREE iPhone/iPad app, to create a Digital Story of the LMC Expectations.  The entire process took only 27 minutes from start (brainstorming rules) to finish (watching what they created).  Unlike the regulary scheduled 30-minute LMC blocks, the teacher stayed with the class and handled the management of the class while Ms. Preder led the class in collaborating, creating and technology instruction.

Ms. Preder displaying the final product to the participating class before publishing

As witness to this project, I can attest that it was collaboration at its best.  Both the teacher and Erin were working together to manage the class and maintain an authentic learning environment.  Erin and the students were working interdependently to create the final product.  Students were engaged from start to finish because they saw the relevancy and reward of the lesson design, the process, the procedures and the final product.  The students had buy-in because they were to be featured in the LMC Expectations slideshow that is to be viewed by the other classes; they were kept accountable, which also focused their efforts and minimized behavior issues despite the fact that only a single iPad was used for the lesson.  See the final product below:

For me, the entire experience was a glimpse as to how the LMC director should be utilized given the freedom to collaborate and cocreate with fellow staff members.  It's my personal opinion that if all LMC Directors were on a flex schedule, more opportunities like these would be possible, which would ultimately improve school climate, relationships among colleagues, and student engagement.

See below to learn more about Ms. Erin Preder and all the wonderful things happening in her LMC.

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