Tech Tip December 2016

Here are some great tech tips

Screen Castify : A great screen recorder that saves directly to Google Drive to create tutorials or provide great feedback to students. The free version is limited to 10 minutes which should be more then enough for an evaluation or to do a small training video for flipped learning

Demo and explanation

Essay Metrics: Great Google sheets add-on for evaluating basic essay data like # of words, paragraphs, sentences, etc... very quickly. Also integrates with google classroom and drive. Demo and explanation

For fun but can be used for team building or design thinking exercices

Google Build with Lego https://www.buildwithchrome.com/ only works on Computer

as well as the Lego Serious Play method https://www.lego.com/en-us/seriousplay

Food For Thought videos

Human Population Through Time

It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion—and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE

The future of shopping in stores Amazon Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmMk1Myrxc

Gun Violence prevention but can be applied to many other subjects like suicide, bullying, great to share with students. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8syQeFtBKc

Tech Tips and ideas October 2016

Hi everyone,

Here are some tech tips and ideas

1.Google has some new features for Docs, Sheets and Slides as well as Google forms.

Create Actions on specific lines of text like upgraded comments. 

Intelligent Google form building, with predictive questions.

Check out this page for the new features.

https://www.blog.google/products/g-suite/five-new-ways-reach-your-goals-faster-g-suite/

2.Poster collection of Google tips available in english and french

https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/0BzgdYCCzI3LLY2JFYm1ZRUw1cW8?usp=sharing#

3.For a few links concerning classroom and school design, 

-A podcast in french on Académie St-Anne (the old Queen of Angels) renovation and philosophy.

http://www.lafabriqueculturelle.tv/capsules/7517/l-ecole-de-demain-episode-1

-Worlds most innovative schools

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-innovative-schools-in-the-world-2-2016-10

-Flexible seating and student centered learning

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/flexible-seating-student-centered-classroom-kayla-delzer

Some of you may have seen this video about taking school to court. Fro those who haven't its worth some food for thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8

Google Apps Training material

Since our school has made the jump to Gmail and the rest of the Google Apps suite, I made a slide deck to train our staff. I will be adding to this document over time with new tips and tricks both for my staff but for all of you as well.

I am also sharing it with anyone who wants it. In the slide deck is a bunch of videos as well, please notice that some videos are not mine and I have included credits and links to the creators.

Google Apps Training Slides Presentation

Réalité Virtuelle et 360 degrés

Un marché relativement nouveau, la réalité virtuelle a fait des grands pas de géant au cours des dernières années. Les grandes entreprises comme Google, Facebook, HTC, Microsoft et Sony ont tous commencé à faire une gros progrès dans cet direction .. La question est de savoir comment cette nouvelle technologie affecte l'éducation? 

Un des grands joueurs est Google et l'angle qu'ils ont choisi est une solution facile d'accès et pas cher. Google Cardboard qui est littéralement une boîte en carton pour votre téléphone qui vous permet d'accéder à des applications qui peuvent vous donner une vue unique à 360 degrés. Cette nouvelle application sera rejoint par Google Expeditions donnant un accès Google Street View aux musées, sites historiques, etc ... Google Cardboard est très facile à installer, ne nécessite que très peu d'investissement et peut être un énorme changeur de jeu pour l'éducation. Google a également ajouté à Youtube la capacité de montrer des vidéos 360 dans votre navigateur ou encore mieux à 360 degrés avec le Google Cartboard.

Youtube Vidéo 360

Je voulais aussi mentionner que vous pouvez créer des Photosphere est avec l' application mobile de Google , mais une fois que vous avez un photosphère vous pouvez utiliser un nouvel outil appelé Storysphere pour ajouter des clips audio. Imaginez la mise en place d' une salle d'art ou d'une bibliothèque avec des morceaux de l' art ou des livres dans un cercle, en faisant une photosphère et l' ajout d' audio des étudiants à des objets. Voici un exemple

Facebook (Oculust Rift) et HTC (VIVE) ont opté pour l'option plus en immersive et dispendieuse. Ils ont besoin d'un ordinateur puissant, des casques et des contrôleurs avancés. HTC VIVE est allé un peu plus loin et nous a donné Room Scaling, vous permettant de marcher autour de l'environnement et utilisé des contrôleurs tactiles, Oculust Rift va sortir avec ceux-ci bientôt. Cela permet à un nombre illimité de possibilités de découverte et de potentiel. Cette solution est coûteuse mais repousse les limites encore plus loin. Je sais que la vidéo pour Tilt Brush semble trop beau pour être vrai, mais je l'ai essayé et ses à peu près ce que vous voyez. Le grand avantage de l'un de ceux-ci est la possibilité pour les étudiants d'apprendre à programmer et créer leurs propres applications.

HTC Tilt Vive Brush

Vous pouvez également utiliser des caméras spécialisées comme le Theta S et le Nikon Keymission 360 (qui sortira en Octobre) pour filmer en 360 degrés et ajouter une perspective supplémentaire pour vos films.


Facebook fait aussi du ​​vidéo 360 mais il est actuellement basé seulement dans un navigateur.


Le plan de Sony est de faire une addition pour leur console playstation 4(Novembre 2016), ce qui serait pas trop concentrer pour des utilisations éducatives et probablement seulement pour les jeux. Microsoft travaille sur Hololens, son objectif principal est en fait la réalité augmentée qui est mettre des éléments virtuels sur le vrai monde. Le système peut également agir dans une réalité virtuelle complète. Hololens semble être une autre étape importante, mais est encore en développement et n'est pas disponible pour les consommateurs.

À mon école, nous avons maintenant une installation complète avec le HTC Vive et un packet de Google Cardboards, le plan est de continuer à explorer ce nouveau marché et que les élèves soient en mesure de filmer et de programmer pour ces plates-formes. Un excellent point de départ pour la programmation en VR est VR Dev school . Je vais vous donner des mise-à-jours sur ce sujet que nous continuons à progresser tout au long de l'année.

Virtual Reality and 360 degree

Virtual Reality

A relatively new market, Virtual Reality has jumped leaps and bounds in the last few years. Big companies like Google, Facebook, HTC, Microsoft and Sony have all begun to make a big pus.. The question is how does this new technology affect education?

One of the big players is Google and the angle they have chosen is cheaper and ease of access. Google Cardboard which is literally a cardboard box for your phone allows you access to apps that can give you a unique 360 degree view. This new app will be joined by Google Expeditions giving a google street view access to museums, historical sites, etc... Google cardboard is very easy to setup, requires very little investment and can be a huge game changer for education. Google has also added to Youtube the ability to experience 360 videos within your browser or even better in 360 degree with the Google Cardboard.

Youtube 360 Video

I also wanted to mention that you can create Photosphere's with Google's mobile app, but once you have a photosphere you can use a new tool called Storysphere to add audio clips. Imagine setting up an art room or library with pieces of of art or books in a circle, doing a photosphere and adding student audio to individual items. Here is an example

Facebook (Oculust Rift) and HTC (VIVE) have gone for the more in-depth, expensive option. They require a powerful computer, advanced headsets and controllers. HTC VIVE has gone a bit further and given us Room Scaling allowing you to walk around the environment and used touch controllers, Oculust Rift will be coming out with those soon. This allows an unlimited possibilities for discovery and potential. This solution is expensive but will push the limits even further. I know the video for Tilt Brush seems too good to be true but I have tried it and its pretty much what you see.

       HTC Vive Tilt Brush 

  

The big advantage of either of these is the possibility for students to learn to program and create their own apps. You can also use specialized cameras like the Theta S and the Nikon Keymission 360 (due out in October) to film in 360 degrees and add an extra perspective for movies and films.


Facebook has a limited 360 video but it is currently only browser based.





Sony's plan is to release an add-on for the playstation console (November 2016), which would be quite limited for educational purposes and probably only for gaming. Microsoft is working on Hololens, its main focus is actually Augmented Reality which is a twist on Virtual Reality, whereas Virtual items are placed on top of the real word, the system can also act in a complete Virtual Reality as well. Hololens looks to be another big step but is still in development and is not available to consumers.






At my school we now have a full setup with the HTC Vive and a bunch of Google Cardboards, the plan is to continue to explore this new market and have students be able to film and program for these platforms. A great starting point for programming in VR is VR Dev School. I will give an update on this subject as we continue to progress throughout the year.

Long time no see

I know I have not posted in a while, since my Daughter was born on May 2nd, I've been a bit busy but I have been working on a few things which I will share with you very soon.

Here is a teaser of what I am working on.

May 2016 Tech Tips

I had the pleasure of going to the Future Ready conference with Bill Bedard and Stéphanie Lafortune a few days before going on paternity leave. This conference gave me a few project ideas and tools but also some food for thought on our current education system and what could we do more not just for our students but also for ourselves. We got to see the documentary, Most Likely to Succeed which analyses the history of education as well as new models like High Tech High and how they relates to traditional views of education.

1. Google Slides Q&A, you can now collect questions from the class during your presentation with Google Slides new feature Q&A New Link 

2. Leafsnap: free ios app that allows you to take a photo of a leaf and identify the tree automatically http://leafsnap.com

3. icell : http://icell.hudsonalpha.org  you will have to download a small plugin but you get to see cells of plants, animals,etc... in 3D

4. Storymaps http://storymaps.arcgis.com/en/ create a story with maps and see other projects. You can sign-in using your google account

5.Mindmup or Coggle Collaborative mind mapping tools, have multiple users collaborate at the same time on a mind map and use your google account for easy access.

6. http://www.montrealenhistoires.com/home   free app for ios or android, dictated history for most landmarks in old Montreal as well as historic photos. Great for experiential learning experience and history class. English, French or even Spanish.