Gawd, I love the internet

There have been two times in the last two days where I found myself thinking (and saying out loud), "Gawd, I love the internet". The first was when I was introduced to Instructables.com and the second when I was researching a feature a student wished to incorporate in his Weebly page. With a simple search of "linking slideshow photos to store", I was brought to the press release for the feature, a step by step guide, and much, much more.

Being the first point of reference for my students' questions and needs, I have encountered many issues. Everything from lost Notability notes to disabled Google accounts, to disabled iPads to frenetically flashing iPad screens, you name it.. I've probably seen it. But every once in awhile a student brings something to me that I'm not entirely sure of and today was that.

I have taken on the task of teaching my students, all 500 of them, troubleshooting methods. Some of them ask, "How did you get so good at computers and technology", and I never really know how to respond. It is really just exposure, a willingness to fail, and like everything else, knowing where to look: Google. Over the last week I have encountered a few problems where I didn't know the answer or couldn't figure it out on the spot, so I just told the students I would get back to them. Once they left the office, the furious Google Searching began and before you knew it, I found exactly how to do what they needed to do.

Along with Googling for troubleshooting, I also put together How To directions for our students and faculty members. If I can't find a clear "how to" somewhere on the web, I will walk myself through the process taking screen shots, upload photos to Drive, pull them into Drawing, and annotate them. Then pull them into a Google Doc with step by step directions and inserting the photos as reference.
Here is a snippet of the directions I made for our air printing system and downloading iTunes U courses:



Have you figured out a better way of transferring the knowledge of troubleshooting?

the power of the g/doodle

After attending the Los Angeles Google Applications For Education (GAFE) Summit, I began to think about how much of an integral part Google apps play at my school in the learning and acquisition of (21st century) skills for the students I work with day in and day out.

21st Century skills focus on all those C words: collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and metacognition, etc. and students using Google Docs hits on the biggest ones! Google apps (docs, sheets, slides, drawings, etc.) allows students to share their work for comment, view, or collaborative editing privileges leading to an enhanced learning experience. I remember the first time I was introduced to Google Docs. I had started a G-Mail account maybe a year or three before the introduction, but was completely unaware of the awesomeness that is G-Apps! It was in grad school and someone was like "just start a Google Doc and we can do it there".... now, there was a learning curve for me. Not just moving away from saving everything on a thumb/USB drive, but also allowing someone else to have EDITING RIGHTS TO MY DOCUMENT? What is that?! What WAS that?! My mind was blown. 

Fast forward 3 years and it's basically all I work in. Of course Microsoft and Apple products are more robust, but I export the document if I need to do more.... typically for Excel... I am the EXCEL LADY. Love it; pivot tables, merging tables, formulas, ugh... all of it <3

Anyway, yes. Google Apps, I've seen this amazing jump in the ability and accountability with students who share their work and take advantage of tracking the input, participation, changes, etc. and it seems as though it really works. Do you remember when when you were in grade school and had to do group projects and it was thee WORST? I feel as though Google Docs takes some of that hatred away. Students can work collaboratively remotely, so they don't need to be with one another (do you remember how hard it was to get to a friend's house? Or am I the only latchkey kid here?); students are also kept accountable with the ability to track changes to a document. Not sure about you, but I was always the kid with the initiative (though my mom would disagree when it comes to chores) when it came to group work. I tended to the timeline, even now. However, there was no worse feeling than being a teenager and having to tattle on a friend who didn't contribute ANYTHING to the group project. With Google Docs, that's all tracked. 

At the conference's kick off, we had a graphic shared with us and I wish I had it now, but I recall that something like 50% of the attendees were barely transitioning to Google Mail & Apps, which led me to think about those who still haven't. WHO IS NOT USING GOOGLE? What school entities are not using Google as their mail provider, document and organizational being? I know of so many smaller districts and charters that are there, but are the big ones there? Has LAUSD adopted this yet? How much farther do those schools need to fall behind before those making decisions and then delivering content to students realize that their own fear is what is holding crazy talented students back thus increasing the skills gaps? So many questions, not enough answers.