You will need a few things to get started.  A Gmail account (personal or through a Google Apps Domain), A Google Calendar, A Twitter account, and last an account with ifttt.com. I would recommend creating a new Gmail, Google Calendar and Twitter account for this process.  I wouldn’t want you to be tweeting out a reminder for your next doctor’s appointment.

First, to get the process started, we need to set up your Google Calendar.  Go into your calendar notifications settings and set the default reminder for an email.  Choose a good amount of time you would like to have the reminder email before the event.  For our school calendar events; I use 2 days, for our cafeteria menu; I use 23 hours.

Your Gmail account will just be a pathway, there is nothing to set up, not even a forwarding email.

Next, we head on over to http://ifttt.com

ifttt.com is the glue that makes this such a straight forward and simple process. To skip the how to and just get started, just use my published recipe to get your events tweeting right away.

http://ifttt.com/recipes/2797 (you will still have to verify the connections to your account from ifttt.com)

If you would like to see the simple set up, just follow these steps.

1 – Create a new task.

2 – Select Gmail.

3 – Choose the “New email from” trigger.

4 – Add the email address from the Google Calendar Reminders and create the trigger.

calendar-notification@google.com

5 – Set up Twitter as the action channel.

6 – Choose the “Post a new tweet” action.

7 – Use the default action field {{Subject}} and create the action.

8 – Create the task.

Now add your events to your calendar and get tweeting.

Those of you with Facebook pages can even do this, here is my recipe for Google Calendar to Facebook pages. http://ifttt.com/recipes/2801

Danny Silva

Image from Lifehacker.com - Transparent Monitors: A Space Enhancing Solution

In the post, “Tranparent Monitors: A Space Enhancing Solution” Jason Fitzpatrick talks about how a reader has set up his monitors’ desktops or wallpaper with a picture of what is behind them.

I thought about what I could do to use this in my position.  Recalling an ealier post from Lifehacker, “Set a Video as your wallpaper with VLC” I knew I had my solution. I would use software to make my desktop/wallpaper the video feed from a webcam.

Here is the set up:

PC users need a web camera and VLC (a full featured multimedia player).

Mac users need a web camera (the built in iSight camera will face the wrong direction) and Quicktime

PC users:

First, download and install VLC and set up your webcam.

Next open VLC and go to “Tools” and click on “Preferences…” select the Video and change Output to “DirectX video output” and click “Save.”

Then, in VLC go to “Media” and click on “Open Capture Device…” select your web cam for the Video Device and for the Audio Device select “None” and click “Play.”

Last, in the VLC window go to “Video” and select “DirectX Wallpaper.”

The view from your webcam will now be on your monitor’s desktop / wallpaper.  You will see a VLC window open; just minimize that window.  To change back to your existing display just close the VLC window that you minimized.

UPDATE: In the newest version of VLC you might not be able to minimize the window and keep the video as the desktop.  Just shrink the window size down and move it mostly off the screen in one of the corners.

Mac users:

First, download and install “Secrets Preferences Panel”. In Secrets (it will be in your System Preferences), click on “All Secrets” and search for “Fullscreen” and deselect the option to Exit fullscreen when switching apps for Quicktime.

Next set up your webcam.

Then, open Quicktime and click on “File” and select “New Movie Recording.”

Last, in the Quicktime window, you should see the image from your built-in iSight Camera, click on the down arrow to select the webcam, and click on the fullscreen button (arrows pointing in opposite direction).

Note about the Mac version: This is not actually setting your video as your desktop / wallpaper.  You will essentially be running Quicktime in a fullscreen window behind your other running programs. To see your Dock just move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and select the programs you would like to see.  If you click on the video all windows will move to the background.  Use the Dock to bring your apps back to the front.

If I could fix one thing about either of these solutions it would be the ability to run a webcam on each monitor of a dual screen display set-up.

Now get out there and make your monitor transparent.

Now this is very cool, but it got my brain thinking about another way to use the ability to sync Chrome browsers.  How could I use this ability to sync in a school computer lab setting as a tool for education?  Here is the idea:

First, set up a generic class Google account.  This could be a regular Gmail account or a Google Apps account, it really doesn’t matter.  You just need an  account to set up the sync.

Second, set up Google Chrome on your classroom computer and set up the sync with this new account. You do this by clicking on the picture of the wrench, then “Preferences”, and then click on the “Personal Stuff” tab.  (If you would still like to sync to your account and have the class account also, check out the link from Lifehacker in the first paragraph.)

Last, set up your classroom or lab computers with Google Chrome and start the sync with the class account on all of the Computers.  (This may sound like a long process, but I think you will enjoy the benefits.)

Now comes the fun part.  When you present your lesson to your students and need to share a link, you could give them a shortened URL or have the log in to a social bookmarking site like Diigo, but instead all you will have to do is create a bookmark on your browser.  The bookmark will sync with all of the other computers in the lab tied to that class account. You could even do this on the fly in the middle of class (the students might need to hide and then show the bookmarks bar to refresh it). Even better, you could have one student share a link quickly with the rest of the class.  If you wanted to take it to the next level, set up bookmark folders for different units/subjects, classes, or even students.  This is social bookmarking without the extra log in for our students.

Some final clarification: You are only using the generic class account to set up the sync in the Chrome Browser settings.  You and your students are not using this to log in on a Google Apps account.  That is part of the beauty of this setup.  You get to sync all the cool stuff with Chrome but you and your students will still be able to get to your individual accounts with your own mail, docs, calendar, etc.

Who said Google Bookmarks was dead? Now get out there and sync some bookmarks.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Birthday!.png

I have been doing this for a great group of educators (Google Certified Teachers) over the last year and a friend, Mark Allen, has inspired me to post about how to make it happen. He has also given me the great idea to automate it for use in schools.  Wouldn’t it be great to wish every student a Happy Birthday?

We will look at both methods, one more personal and no automation and the other with automation but with better consistency.

What you will need:

1. Google Calendar
2. Google Group
3. Gmail
4. Everyone’s birth date

The personal birthday connection.

1. Have a Google Group set up (this can be an exsisting group) with everyone.  In Google Apps you could use a Google Apps Administrator Group or a Google Apps User-managed Group (A group that a user sets up if User-Managed Groups has been turned on by an Admin) .  If you are not using Google Apps you can use a Google Group.
2. Create a new Calendar and Share it with the Group so the members can add their birthdays to the calendar.
3. As a member’s birthday comes close. Post a message to the group to wish that person a Happy Birthday and to encourage others to do the same. (To make things easy on yourself, add a default email reminder to the birthday calendar two to three days in advance.  Then you will receive an email so you will not forget to post to the group.)

The automated birthday connection.

1. See #1 above (This could be a group that will only allow announcements or it could be interactive)
2. Create a new Calendar.  You can still have members add their birthdays to the calendar by sharing it, but since you will be automating the process it might be cleaner to use a CSV file to import all the birthdays into the Calendar. (Suggestion: make the “appointment” subject something like “Happy Birthday John Smith”
3. Be sure to add a default email reminder to the birthday calendar. Because this will be automated you will need to decide if you want to send the birthday announcement on that day or two to three days in advance.
4. To make this fully automated you will need to create a filter in Gmail to forward the Happy Birthday reminder to the Group email from #1.  You will need to use the advanced filters to make sure only the Happy Birthday messages get forwarded to the group.
5. If you want to really publicize the birthdays you could use Google Calendar to Twitter to Tweet the birthday news to all of your followers.

Now get out there and wish everyone a Happy Birthday!!!

I hope you have a very Happy New Year, and always remember to keep on learning.

Danny Silva

Here are five alternatives for screen capture / recording tools that you can use right from the web. No downloads needed (except for a java applet).

ScreenCastle is very easy to use. You don’t even need to register. Click the big red button, adjust the screen capture area and start recording.  You can use a microphone to add voiceovers.  When finished ScreenCastle gives you lots of options (see below). The disadvantages are you will not be able to go back later to watch the video if you don’t have the link because you do not have an account.  I would recommend saving the link and possibly downloading the video file.

• Link to watch the video
• HTML embed code
• BBCode -Big
• BBCode – Small
• Direct link to the file
• The Pure video ID
• Address – Big  image
• Address – Small image

ScreenToaster is also easy to use.  You can set up an account with ScreenToaster that will give you lots of options, including adding audio and a webcam. You can publish your videos on the ScreenToaster website, download your videos, embed them on your website, mail it, and even edit your video.  ScreenToaster is probabely the most advanced of the tools here.

Screencast-O-Matic is the next most robust tool but it also gives you the option to GoPro and pay for more features.  With Screencast-O-Matic you can create an account, which will give you the options to Record a 15 minute video; free hosting of your video; upload to Youtube HD; Export to MP4, AVI, & FLV (with watermark); and record from a web cam.

Screenjelly is again easy to start with a big red button similar to ScreenCastle.  Screenjelly will save your videos online with your account.  It is designed to instantly share your captures with a link, through an email, with a tweet, or through Facebook. Screenjelly will even give you the ability to put a screen capture button on your website and has a bookmarklet feature to let you quickly grab a screen capture from a website.  I have to admit, out of the five tools listed here, it is the only one I could not get to work with my Macbook.  I am not sure if it was user error or a problem with Screenjelly.

The last tool which is the simplest in nature is Screenr. Screenr allows you to choose the area to record, voiceover your recordings, and save the videos to your account.  The main idea behind Screenr is to provide “Instant screencasts for Twitter.”  You even authenticate your account through Twitter.

Happy Screencasting.

In my last post “How to become a Google Apps EDU Certified Trainer” I mentioned using Camtasia, a TechSmith product. It made me reflect on their outstanding products and how I use them in my different roles in Education.

As an Educator, I find myself consistently using software from TechSmith. I have used Camtasia for the last two years at school and Jing for at least that long. In my experience, their software is simple to use with outstanding results.

As a teacher and Technology Coordinator for the Le Grand High School District, I use Jing to quickly take screen-shots and screen-captures to help my students and staff. If I need to easily show someone where the submit button is on the screen or how to reserve a room using Google Calendar, Jing is the software I open. With a few clicks I can quickly take a screen-shot or a screen-capture, save and upload it, and have a URL to email or post for students or teachers to view. I find myself also using Jing more and more for twitter to help answer questions or to ask my own questions.

As a Google Certified Teacher and a Google Certified Trainer I have had the opportunity to be a Lead Learner (presenter) for professional development sessions for educators from around the world.  I have found Snagit to have that professional polish for taking screen-shots to add to my presentations. Snagit is as simple to use as Jing but with some great added features, like drop shadows and transparency to name a couple.

As a blogger and an online teacher, I find Camtasia Studio to be a wonderful tool. Camtasia allows me to make great how-to videos and simply save them locally or send them to Youtube to be published to the world or my class. For on-line courses it’s a must have. I can show and explain the process the students need to perform simply, with no confusion. As a blogger some of my most viewed posts are ones with screen-captures demonstrating cool applications or software. Again, TechSmith makes things easy in Camtasia just like in Jing and Snagit, but still gives you the added features to take your screen-capture productions to the next level.

TechSmith has an Education Community and an Education Blog for more information on using their products in Education.  I would love to hear how others are using these products or similar ones in their classrooms.  Please use the comments below and be sure to leave a link to your How-to’s.

(Full discloser, I have been using Jing and Camtasia for two plus years and was recently given a copy of Jing Pro, Snagit, and Camtasia Studio for free from TechSmith through the Google Certified Teachers group.)

Update: Here are some tweets with links to great examples of TechSmith Products in Education;

The process to become a Google Apps EDU Trainer is fairly straight forward.  I think of there being three stages to this process: Using the Training Center, becoming a Qualified Individual, and finally becoming aCertified Trainer.  The Training Center is always available and it’s your choice if you want to go through all the stages.

The Training Center

The Training Center is available to “teach yourself to become an Apps expert in the classroom.” The great part about the Training Center is that it is broken up into six training modules: Google Apps Education Edition, Apps Mail, Calendar, Docs, Sites, and Other Tools.  What does this mean for you?  It means that if you are in the Training Center to find out more about Calendar, my favorite, you can.  Just go straight to the Calendar Module and become a Calendar expert or look for that one piece of information that you needed.  Don’t forget to use the “Search this site” button in the top right hand corner if you are looking for something specific.  As a teacher you could use the the training center to become more proficient in the use of Google Apps for your classroom.  So if you just want the information, it’s all there waiting for you in the Training Center.

Individual Qualification

If you are interested in testing your new knowledge acquired in the Training Center you can take all six exams.  Passing all six exams will give you the honor of being “Google Apps Education Qualified” and earn you a certificate. The exams are $15 dollars each and you will need to pass each exam with a score of 80% or higher.  You could give your students the chance to become qualified.  I know there are Computer Application courses in high schools that allow students at the end of the course to take tests for certifications for various manufactures of software.  Why not let the student take the tests and at $15 dollars per test, it is very reasonable compared to other exams.

Certified Trainer

You’ve passed all six exams and have decided to go for the gusto and become a Certified Trainer.  Now what?  According to Google, Certified Trainers have extensive experience in teacher training and Apps deployment.  So, if this fits who you are and what you do, go for it.  Here are the requirements from Google’s Program Details web page.

“Certified Trainer” individual applicants must:

• Have previously achieved ‘Qualified Individual’ status.
• Demonstrate work history and experience in technology instruction and/or professional development. Strong references from school or business clients are required.
• Create sample learning materials and provide a short video which demonstrates your ability to create and present instructional material.
• View the complete application here.

The application is not too difficult, but where most people get hung up is the short video.  If you have given tutorials before in person then you are not that far away from creating a video.  One of the video hang ups is what do I put in the video?  My advice: pick a topic from the training center that you like, something you know how to do, that was new to you, or something that you know colleagues have had problems or questions about in the past.  This will make the video have a personal connection.  Use the Training Center to help you with your script.  The other hang up on the video is how do I create it?  There are numerous versions of screen recording software out there on the web for sale.  There are also a few websites that will let you do the same thing.  I would recommend  Camtasia. It has lots of great tools to cleanup and put the professional touches on your video. Best part is that TechSmith gives you a 30 day trial with no limits.  Here is the video from my application:

And what will you get out of this Certification:

What’s in it for you? As a Google Apps Certified Trainer, you will receive:

• Early access to technical training and support materials.
• A Google ‘badge’ for your online marketing, and other marketing collateral.
• Additional visibility in the Apps Marketplace as a Solutions Provider.
• Shared training resources from the community of fellow Certified Trainers.

I hope this helps to answer the question.  How do you become a Google Trainer?  Please feel free to ask more questions in the comments.  Now get out there and do some training.

As an educator, I try to use technology in my classroom all the time either to present or share information, communicate with colleagues, or produce materials for the class.  I have my students use technology for the exact same processes.

Google Apps is platform agnostic software that is used in an internet browser.  Students can use any operating system (Windows, Apple, or Linux); all they need is an Internet browser that is up to date.  Google Apps gives you access to a word processing program, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program, email, and a calendar program.  You can use your personal Gmail account to access your personal Google apps (little a), but a better alternative for Education is to sign up for Google Apps (Big “A”) for Education. This allows you to have more control over the programs and lets you sign up students through your school account for these great tools. Lets take a look at what Google can do for your classroom, school, and Ag Program.

Google is known for its search page ,but are you and your students utilizing its full potential? There are some great resources on the Internet to show the capabilities of search.  Google even has a set of lesson plans on using search.  Here are some of the things that might be useful for your classroom.

Along with Google Apps Mail, there is the availability to turn on Chat.  This has been a boon for my students. During class students can communicate throughout the room without leaving their seats to ask questions of one another and teach each other quickly and efficiently in a manner they are used to.  Granted chat can be a great tool and also a huge distraction, but with some simple classroom management this can easily be controlled.  This year I had a student with three chat windows open and I went over to investigate, thinking the student might be using chat for the wrong purpose.  To my delight the student was helping three other students at the same time with the current assignment through the chat windows.

Another great tool that I have found students as well as teachers do not use to its full advantage is Google Calendar.  This is by far my favorite application of the Google Tools.  Most people think of a calendar application as just a simple way to keep events in order, but Google Calendar offers so much more and has so many ways to take advantage of this seemingly mild mannered application.

Google’s Calendar application allows you to have multiple calendars visible in one location as well as being able to share calendars with others, embed calendars in websites, send out reminders by email, and the ability to invite guests to an event.  These are just the basics of Google calendar.  Teachers and administrators are always coming up with new ways to use Google Calendar in their schools and classrooms.

There are many ways to take Google Calendar to the next level.  Use it to make a class pacing guide with due dates for assignments, attach the assignment to the event and then share it with students directly and on your class website. Set up reminders to come straight to your phone through SMS messages.  Even have Google Calendar send reminders of events to your community on your FFA Twitter, FFA Facebook page, FFA Website and to a list of email subscribers (Google Calendar by default will not Tweet or send information to Facebook, but with a couple of simple tweaks this is easily possible).

Google Docs are three web based applications that come with Google Apps.  They are Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations. These tools come close to being full fledged desktop applications but have some significant advantages.  With Google Docs you have the ability to have multiple people working on the same document at the same time.  This allows students and/or teachers to collaborate on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation without having to break it up into multiple files.  All of the files also have the ability to become web pages that can be shared to edit or view with a single individual, a whole group or publicly with the world.

Spreadsheets in Google Apps also have a great added feature: the ability to collect information through a form.  The forms are very easily created, like most other Google Docs, and can be sent to individuals to fill out through emails, embedding them on a website, or using their own URL to become a simple website themselves.  Use a form to collect data from FFA members, find out what food parents are bringing to the potluck or even use a form to create an application for an FFA award.  With some simple formulas applied to the spreadsheet of the form you can even use a form to create a self grading online test.

The last tool I am going to talk about with you is Google Sites.  Sites allows you to easily create an FFA website, a class website, or turn your students to Sites to build an online presentation, lab right up, or presentation board that they can share with you, other students, their parents and even the world. Sites have the ability with a few clicks to add one of your Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, or Calendars on to your website.  A novice user will have no problem building a website and experienced users will be amazed at what you can do with a Google Site.  With the ability to use pre-made templates users can also have a site ready to go in a few clicks and just need to add their own content.  My students are always amazed when I tell them tomorrow we are going to build our own websites instead of making a powerpoint or poster for a project.  Kids love the idea that they are making something that could possibly be viewed by anyone.  This is great for the idea of an authentic audience.  When students know that what they are creating has a large potential audience they are more likely to put in a great amount of effort.  At our school we are using Google Sites to build ePortfolios with our students.  They start their portfolios as a Freshman and continue working on them until they are Seniors when they use them as part of their exit interviews.

Links to teaching and learning resources

http://edutraining.googleapps.com/
http://sites.google.com/site/gtaresources/Home