JD Cool Tools 2018-2019

I am not that enamored with social media skills. I guess it is a generational thing. I am pretty good about learning about new technology and cool tools is a great way to explore options that I wouldn’t pick up on my own. I have used Twitter and Facebook sporadically (and our district does not allow Facebook, Twitter   and probably Instagram too use in school) but I had not looked at Instagram until now. I read a couple of the articles, especially one that compared Twitter to Instagram   I liked this summary from GARY VAYNERCHUK -   https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/the-big-difference-between-twitter-and-instagram-will-determine-who-wins/ Twitter and Instagram for what they really are: tremendously different. Twitter is the cocktail party of the internet; when stuff is happening the world, Twitter is where you go. When there is an unfortunate world crisis and breaking news, we don’t run to Instagram for the pictures, we run to Twitter for the breaking tweets and ...

I looked at Google Sites , Google Tour and 360 , Google slides and Google free image sites . Sites, Slides and free image sites were in relation to a project that we were putting together for a school expo. Google Sites   I decided to use it for my book club to see what tools were available and how difficult it was to work with. Like many Google programs, it was simple to set up and easy to add basics but limited as far as I could see for anything more complex.   For example, I wanted to add a table for books read that I could update and I had a heck of a time. I did some work arounds but I may try to investigate more later.   I then created a Google Site for the School Expo with pages for Grade levels and Programs. Same issues and I decided to use some other programs to accomplish the same things. I think this was useful for the book club and I could use it for student work because of the easy learning curve. ...

Notetaking I kind of backed in to this topic. I have always used a word document to save pictures, websites etc and then emailed or printed info to save for later or took screen shots. I noticed the choice when I went to save a document that there was a choice of Save to One Drive and I didn’t know what that was so I never used it but when I saw this topic, I decided to look at Notetaking options, One Note and the others. I looked at the different articles about different choices including one that compared five other programs to One Note (a brief summary of the article – listing the 5 choices): 5 Free Alternatives to Microsoft OneNote By  Robert Zak  – Posted on Dec 12, 2017 in  Software Tools ,  Windows Microsoft OneNote is an easy go-to for those looking to bring some organization into their lives. It’s a recognizable brand, it’s free, and it’s integrated into the world’s most popular operating system. But maybe you want to bre...

Thing 24 – Google Drawings. My only past experience with this program was to try to use it in google docs to add word art or picture but I wasn’t very impressed. I decided to explore the features it offers in the cool tools and I was very pleasantly surprised. Three things that I explored was using Google drawings to: 1-           Make an interactive image, the author calls it a Googlink – similar to Thinglink- (this is the program that RCSD supports but I was afraid that they would not continue in the future.) You start the Google drawing with a background on the topic, I used the Rainforest as an example, (see below) and then add links to images websites and videos. It is pretty easy to learn and utilizes Google functions to search right in the program.   It gives students the opportunity to do the research and then create a great visual representation.      2-  Is a neat little trick to make p...