Home Search
Search results for

"office lens"

digitize
Google Tips and TricksiOS Tips and TricksMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Four iOS Tools for Digitizing Paper

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

scannersThe bulky flat-bed scanners of yesteryear rest forgotten, lost in the annals of history. Today, many of us snap pictures with our smartphone cameras and that’s it. Yet these pictures may lack the quality of a scanned document. That’s where a dedicated smartphone scanner app can make all the difference.

Before we jump into a quick overview of those, let’s take a moment to revisit why modeling the use of scanner apps may be useful in the classroom.

Why Digitize Paper in Today’s Classrooms or Offices?

Let’s consider the response in the context of these two real life scenarios.

Scenario #1 – At Central Office

As I stepped out of the meeting, I looked at the stack of five to ten pages of paper I’ve received. I had several options:

  • Toss them in the trash and hope I could find digital copies later.
  • Add them to the growing stack of paper on my desk, which I wouldn’t see until later that day.
  • Scan them to digital format and then keep them in my cloud storage account (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive). Then toss them.

The decision at the time was a no-brainer. I whipped out my phone and used my favorite scanner app (e.g. Scanner Pro) to digitize the paper. I quietly slipped the pages onto the handouts table at the front of the room as I left. Later, I would link the documents to my personal wiki where I tracked my notes and reflections. No way I could have kept track of ALL the paper. What’s more, in digital format, I was able to add annotations and audio and forward everything to my team.

Scenario #2 – In the Classroom

My fifth grade students (in a departmentalized setting) turned in their poems, one piece of paper at a time. By day’s end, the stack of written work was quite tall, or deep if you looked in the inbox. Digitizing the pages wasn’t possible unless I ran them through a copier scanner solution. Those hadn’t been made available yet to classroom teachers. As a result, I was stuck with wading through paper. With the right scanner apps, digitizing the stack of paper would have been easy to do. Simply snap pictures of the paperwork, provide a title, and then give a video response to the student.

In both scenarios, digitizing presents a variety of benefits. Those benefits include:

  • Minimal storage of paper copies
  • Easy backup, search, and retrieval of documents
  • Create PDFs from scanned documents
  • Scanner apps typically include optical character recognition (OCR) capability, which makes it easy to convert pictures of text into text (e.g. copy text from image) for easy sharing via email or messaging on the go
  • The ability to share documents with others without providing a printed copy, minimizing cost and effort
  • Ability to add text/audio/video annotations to existing documents using convenient screencasting tools

Here are some scanner apps for iOS you can use to make digitizing paper easy.

Scanner Apps for iOS

The following tools make digitizing paper documents fairly easy. I have used all of them and each has various benefits, depending on the cloud storage solution (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) you rely on. In fact, most work with any or all of the standard ones.

scanner

Tool #1 – Scanner Pro

Although a $3.99 paid app, Readdle’s Scanner Pro is one of the easiest tools to use. It supports saving scanned documents to Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Drive. In fact, as a heavy Google Suites user, being able to save scanned documents to a particular Google Drive folder made this app a must-buy for me. Imagine setting all scans to go to a Drive folder for that particular group of students. Then, as you start a new class period or work with a different group of students, you can select the appropriate folder in Google Drive to save them to. And, Scanner Pro supports OCR. What a time-saver!

Tool #2 – Adobe Scan

If you’re a heavy Adobe user and love portable document format (PDF), then Adobe Scan may be the app for you (although almost all scanner apps offer scan to PDF functionality and much more). What sets this app out from the pack is that Adobe Scan lets you save content to the Adobe Document Cloud, which, of course, comes with a price.

scanners

Tool #3 – Office Lens

Office Lens became my new favorite free app, not only because you can scan to a variety of online spaces, but because it now includes immersive reader. This last addition makes it great for digitizing text and then applying OCR technology to facilitate reading of text right on your phone. Wow! Watch this short video overview of Office Lens with Immersive Reader:

scanner

Tool #4 – Evernote Scannable

Although I switched to Readdle’s Scanner Pro after using Evernote’s Scannable app, some may find it a worthwhile app to use given how well it integrates with Evernote. Office Lens’ also offers the same features (e.g. business card scanning). One notable feature unique to Evernote includes a whole team being able to control a ScanSnap Evernote Edition Scanner from their own devices and send paper on its way.

Recommendations

If you’re looking for a top notch scanning app for your iOS device, you couldn’t go wrong with Scanner Pro for $3.99. It will make scanning documents in office or classroom settings and then saving them to cloud storage simple and quick. If you’re looking for a little more robust solution that works on iOS, Android, and Windows 10 and offers OCR with “read text aloud” features, then Office Lens is your go-to.

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
TCEA responds
CTO/CIOEducational TrendsGoogle Tips and TricksiOS Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

TCEA Responds: Recording Speakers

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Welcome to TCEA Responds #3.  Submit your own question(s) online. Today’s topic is recording speakers in conference settings and note-taking.

Dear TCEA Responds:

Are there apps that you could recommend that work best in TCEA convention environments? I have looked at some of these. Ideally, I would like to be able to record the speakers’ voices, have their voices converted into texts, type notes, and be able to paste pictures I take of graphic presentations into the apps. Anything you could recommend will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jerry

Dear Jerry:

Recording speakers at conferences and workshops has never been easier. Before we explore various solutions that address your question, let’s get one thing out of the way.

Get Permission

If you are going to record someone to share with others via a blog, ask for permission prior to the session, or as soon as possible thereafter. I often carry a business card with some information about myself and that I work for a nonprofit. I share that with the speaker so they will know what I am up to.

Recording a Speaker’s Voice

Recording a speaker’s voice can be done easily. You may want to read this blog entry that goes into iOS (and Android) microphone solutions, as well software to use. My go-to solution these days is the iRig Mic Cast for iOS/Android ($35) and iRig Recorder software. You can then save the audio recording to your favorite cloud storage or note-taking app (e.g. OneNote).

Need an audio editor? Use the free, open source Audacity sound editor (e.g. Mac/Windows/Linux) or Beautiful Audio Editor Chrome add-on. For hosting your audio to share with others, use Google Drive, The Internet Archive’s Open Source Audio, or SoundCloud.

Voice to Text

If you have an iOS device, you can use Apple’s Notes app to convert speech to text as it happens. The transcription will not be perfect, but it gives you an awesome starting point. Another approach on Windows 10 computers or tablets can include using Cortana (“Hey Cortana” to activate) to do voice to text. If you do this in a conference presentation, Cortana will transcribe your speaker’s speech to text (find out more). You can do the same with Google Docs’ Voice Typing feature. Aren’t these cool solutions that work with your Windows tablet, iOS/Android device? For more text to speech and speech to text solutions, read this blog entry, Transform Learning with Text to Speech. Some great apps to investigate include OneNote, Evernote, and Google Keep.

Paste Pictures

If you don’t know about the free Microsoft Office Lens app (available for Android, iOS, and Windows), then you are missing out. Not only can you take pictures at an angle (which Office Lens then flattens out to make it readable as if you were standing in front of it), you can also scan documents and then have Office Lens read them to you. You can drop pictures into your Camera Roll (iOS) or Gallery (Android). And, if you have a slide full of text, you can grab text from that slide and save it to your notes.

Final Tip: Avoid Media Capture Frenzy

“I like the slowness of writing by hand,” says Susan Sontag (as cited here). Avoid media capture frenzy. You may find yourself at the end of a stimulating presentation, only to find yourself uninspired. Allow yourself the opportunity to experience the speaker’s enthusiasm with handwritten note-taking or sketchnoting.

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
OneNote
Microsoft Tips and Tricks

Get Organized: Productivity Tips for OneNote

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“Looking for productivity tips and tricks for keeping yourself organized?” I asked an audience of campus and district principals, their secretaries and clerks. The response was a resounding “Yes!” Since that session to a packed room, I’ve found myself hunting ways that technology can enhance productivity for those tasked with office work. This blog explores approaches on how you can leverage OneNote to achieve office and professional organization.

Note: Welcome to this third blog in the ongoing series on productivity tools for leaders and do-ers. Check back often to see more!

Digitize to Facilitate Access

“I have so many papers to sort through, how can I better keep track of these?” my secretary JoJo, asked me one day. I hadn’t given much thought to keeping her organized. After all, that’s why I hired her. She had excellent project management and organizational skills. “I have all these purchase orders to keep track of.” We realized that there were TOO many papers, most of them trapped in three-ring binders that bulged around her or were in labeled manila folders in behemoth file cabinets. In theory, we had everything we needed at our fingertips. In practice, finding something for an audit was impossible.

To better facilitate access to thousands of papers, we made the decision to digitize everything. We had one of those fancy copiers that would convert copied pages to PDF. So we used that to create digital copies of all of the department’s documents. This was a great improvement over the paper copies, but still gave us a headache. We ended up with hundreds of folders with PDF documents in each. How could we take the next step to make them searchable?

One solution was to digitize documents, save to a OneNote notebook, and then add search tags for each document. For example, you can create a OneNote digital notebook for each school year. Add tags to each page that describe the item and make it searchable. New documents could be dropped in via email to “me@onenote.com” and sent to a specific notebook section without even opening OneNote. This features makes it easy to snap a picture of a document with Office Lens app and then send it to OneNote, or use OneNote’s built-in imaging tool.

Record Your Meetings

While you won’t want to record every meeting you go to, there are some that are invaluable. That’s why OneNote has built-in recording capabilities, allowing you to save searchable audio recordings along with your handwritten (a.k.a. digital ink) or typed notes in OneNote.

Attach Supporting Documentation

While digitizing to facilitate access works great for paper documents, you can also take existing digital documents relevant to a meeting or project, then drop them into a OneNote page. This is simply drag-and-drop. If a document or resource is on the web, copy and pasting a portion of the document will also include the website where you found it. This makes keeping track of resources online incredibly easy.

Track Problems with Pictures

“Do you see the hole in the ceiling?” I pointed out to my supervisor. This was but the first of several instances where I captured the failure of the maintenance department, who vehemently denied that there was a problem. Who should the supervisor believe? With photos you can take with OneNote, you can capture anything from holes in the ceilings to rats under your desk to how solutions are implemented. These pictures can be quickly organized into OneNote, sent in via email to “me@onenote.com,” or saved directly using the OneNote app on your mobile device. You can also take pictures of problems that arise on your computer and include them. This is helpful for recording strange errors and issues that others need to know about.

Make a Checklist

Create a collaborative checklist that you and your team member(s) can add to, append, or edit. OneNote makes it easy to create To-Do lists and checklists.

Find Out More

Want to learn other ways to save time and be more productive at work? Attend the Productivity Tools for Administrators on Thursday, June 15, 2017 in Austin. The one-day learning experience is guaranteed to provide you a wealth of hands-on activities to ensure you walk away with the tips and techniques you need to do more in less time. Register here.

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
assessment
ESL/ELLMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Multimedia ELL Assessment

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Most language learning assessment tools are rooted in paper and pencil. As Surface tablets, iPads, and Chromebooks find their way into teachers’ hands, new technologies can move us one step closer to multimedia assessment techniques. For example, in the area of assessment, the use of Microsoft OneNote can be helpful for recording observational notes. In this article, let’s consider how OneNote can enhance a type of assessment known as anecdotal records.

Towards Authentic Assessment

In the Language Learning classroom, Microsoft OneNote can be used to support various types of assessment, such as anecdotal records. As discussed in 50 Strategies to Teach English Language Learners, using OneNote can greatly enhance the assessment process, through the following steps:

  1. Decide on a system for collecting assessment.
  2. Choose what to document/schedule.
  3. Conference with students to set growing goals.
  4. Use records for planning hands-on, cooperative learning.

A campus team, such as a department or grade level group, can take advantage of OneNote to facilitate observational notes and collection of student work. Growing goals can be set in collaboration with students, and the digital version can be updated.

Anecdotal Records

Anecdotal records are a form of authentic assessment. These observational notes allow the teacher to record authentic experiences, unintended outcomes of literacy development, levels of engagement, curiosity, motivational factors, and more. For teachers, these records facilitate assessment conversations between educators and others.

assessmentAnecdotal Records Assessment (ARA) with OneNote

In his article, Focused Anecdotal Records Assessment: A Tool for Standards-Based, Authentic Assessment, Paul Boyd-Batstone outlines several ways ARA can be used. Let’s review some of his suggestions for OneNote usage:

  • Observing children in instructional settings: In this suggestion, Paul points out that students may be observed in small groups of 2-4. One of the concerns is that the teacher may forget the observations. He suggests observing different students throughout the week to build an observational record. Furthermore, using the Office Lens app, the teacher can capture student work, photos, and images and place them directly in the anecdotal record notebook.
    OneNote Connection: Teachers can create a page in OneNote for each student, adding video/audio recordings of the student, while quickly switch back-and-forth to make notes about specific students.
  • Maintaining a standards-based focus: Maintaining a focus on a particular standard or set of standards enables the teacher to better keep track of what he/she is observing. Paul cites specific verbs that the teacher can use. For example, in writing, verbs would include: write, print legibly, summarize, describe, and others.
    OneNote Connection: Teachers can keep a list of standards they copy-and-paste into OneNote as needed. These become checkboxes participants could use to quickly check off standards observed.
  • Making and managing of anecdotal records: Paul suggests that a single-page form can facilitate managing records (see example in OneNote).
    OneNote Connection: Create an anecdotal record form as a OneNote page, then set it as a page template that you can insert when taking notes. Here’s a blank form, as well as a sample that you can review (get the PDF version of both). As you can see, having the form in digital format makes it easy to include audio/video annotations as well as traditional text.

Conclusion

Assessment in the language learning classroom can be aided through the real-time recording of student work towards academic outcomes. OneNote facilitates this process for teachers, enabling them to record their own observations in digital format and quickly embed media (e.g. audio, video, images) that enhance those recorded notes.

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
OneNote
iOS Tips and TricksMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Improved Teaching with Microsoft

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“We sure wish Class Notebook worked in OneNote Online,” several teachers remarked to me at a Fall Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) session. Microsoft was listening. On January 18, 2017, Microsoft improved teaching and learning with OneNote! These new features expand integration for OneNote’s most popular add-ins, Class Notebook and Learning Tools.

Big Announcements

Today, in the announcement, Microsoft shared their two popular add-ins are now available for OneNote Online, as well as OneNote for Windows 10 (the free version that comes installed with Windows 10). Some additional enhancements were also covered.

OneNote Enhancements

You already knew that YouTube, Vimeo, Slideshare, Sway, Docs.com, MS Forms, and Office Mix could be embedded into a OneNote page for easy student access. As of today, you can also embed Quizlet, ThingLink, GeoGebra, Wizer and Sketchfab 3D! Check out Marjolein Hoekstra’s (@OneNoteC) example OneNote Notebook (as well as her demo of Padlet embedding!). OneNote has also been enhanced to include stickers for student feedback. These stickers won’t peel off!

improved

improvedClass Notebook

For teachers, Class Notebook for OneNote Online and OneNote for Windows 10 means easier distribution of content to all students in a class. It also empowers teachers to review student work sequentially (click and grade your way through a class roster with ease). This is phenomenal since it adds class management functionality the online and app versions of OneNote 2016 (the cadillac version). These features are rolling out on January 18 for OneNote Online. A new version of the Win 10 OneNote app will allow you to enable the feature via the settings in the Options menu.

Learning Tools

Learning Tools, which provides access to the Immersive Reader, dictation, and more, has now been expanded. It works on Word Desktop, Word Online, OneNote Online and Office Lens for the iPhone. A great dictation feature translates you when you say “period” or “question mark” and inserts respective “.” or “?” inline. Other new features include six new languages, as well as the addition of three dictation languages.

Office Lens Adds Immersive Reader

You may have missed the message that Office Lens for iPad and iPhone now includes Immersive Reader, which “lets you hear text from a scanned page read back to you as words are highlighted,” functionality. This is an incredible addition!

 

 

 

Microsoftastic Updates!

Thanks to Microsoft for modeling continuous improvement, listening to teachers AND students, and implementing these changes.

 

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
interactive
Content AreasMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Creating Interactive Math Textbooks

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

“It is not the reader of a text who learns the most,” says Stephen Knudsen, “but rather the author.  When a student makes a textbook in a course, the student engages daily in all classifications of learning…when students are asked to make a textbook, they are required to remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. The results of this process are often nothing short of astonishing!”

Combine popular math tools like OneNote and GeoGebra to create astonishing, interactive math textbooks. Let’s find out how below.

Creating a Digital Textbook

Microsoft OneNote makes digital textbook creation easy. Students can work together on a single OneNote notebook that is organized into “notebook, section groups, sections, and pages.” Create a OneNote notebook as a textbook template, then share it via Docs.com. Students can grab the OneNote notebook digital textbook template, then enhance it. Each student or group of students can take responsibility for a specific section. OneNote enables you to insert all sorts of content, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Office Mix, Sway, and Microsoft Forms.

Organizing a Digital Textbook

Want to create a digital textbook template for your students? Let’s adapt Stephen Knudsen’s suggestions for a digital textbook:

  • Section 1: Welcome
    • Title page featuring student-created cover art
    • Dedication
    • A short Foreword by the teacher or someone who has read the textbook
    • Table of Contents. You can use Onetastic add-on to OneNote to auto-generate a table of contents for each “section chapter” and the digital textbook as a whole.
    • Author’s page with pictures of students, including their Twitter addresses
  • Section 2: Chapter 1 – Introduction
    • Organize the OneNote notebook into sections. Each section is a chapter.
    • Each section chapter will include its own table of contents and introduction.
  • Section 3: Chapter 2
  • Section 4: Chapter 3
  • Section 5: Chapter 4
  • Section 6: Chapter 5 – Conclusion
  • Section 7: Chapter 6 – Appendix

Students create hand-drawn resources and then digitize their creations with the mobile-friendly Office Lens app. Tablet access? Students can create their first draft of figures within OneNote. Identify key terms, record video/audio definitions and explanation. Design tall buildings and describe in a video how they were created. For math problems, students can use OneNote digital whiteboard technology to draft their explanation. Or rely on Microsoft Snip’s whiteboard capabilities and then embed that in the OneNote page. A few other tips include adding tags to chapters, creating a hyperlinked table of contents for each section, and setting a page template specific to each section. When complete, future classes can access the digital textbook via OneNote Online or a “frozen” copy can be permanently published at Docs.com.

Exploring GeoGebrainteractive

Wondering how to add difficult mathematics constructs? Take advantage of GeoGebra tools and materials.

GeoGebra is dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education (free to non-commercial users) that joins geometry, algebra, spreadsheets, graphing, statistics, and calculus. It also runs offline and works on various software platforms and devices (Source).

GeoGebra enjoys a rich community of support (check out Kurt Soeser, fellow Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE), work | watch his video) with over 500,000 pre-created resources. In addition to creating content with GeoGebra, students can also place any of those half a million resources within their digital textbook. Want to see this in action? Go to my TCEA Connect OneNote notebook using this link. You can also watch the YouTube video walkthrough.

Conclusion

Rather than rely on traditional textbook publishers, adopt a maker attitude in your math classroom. Empower students to create digital textbooks using Microsoft OneNote and GeoGebra. Publish to a worldwide audience and ensure that the learning is meaningful and authentic.

Featured Image Source

“Embed GeoGebra in OneNote” via Kurt Soeser as featured in the LearnOneNote Conference. Available at https://www.learnonconference.com/kurt-soeser-2016 during 11/12-11/17, 2016.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
MIE
Microsoft Tips and TricksPodcastsProfessional Learning

MIE Podcast #2: April Wagner on OneNote

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Welcome to TCEA MIE Podcast #2!  In these conversations, we explore how educators are using Microsoft tools to achieve instructional objectives. At the Tots and Technology 2016 Conference in Galveston, Texas, I had the opportunity to connect with April Wagner. April provides assistance to teachers of students in grades 4-6. She models how to use Office 365 tools in the classroom. In today’s chat, she shares how easily tools like OneNote can be used to collect information and share it with students’ parents.

Microsoft is putting a lot of effort into OneNote.  In fact, they have revamped the Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Program to reflect new features.  For example, in only a few short months, Microsoft has added the ability to quickly embed a variety of media formats into OneNote.

Some of those media formats include Vimeo, Youtube, and Microsoft Snip, an easy-to-use screen capture and audio annotation tool, as well as Microsoft Sway. One of the ways I am using OneNote in my workshops is to setup an “anyone can edit” notebook. Then I ask participants to record an audio summary. The audio summary involves them sharing what they are learning in the session and provides an opportunity for reflection.

This is really a powerful way to introduce folks to how they can use OneNote to capture audio recordings of learners. It makes it easy to keep artifacts (e.g. digitized paper, photos) and audio reflections in one place. A neat tidbit of information is that Office Lens will be available this summer for your Windows tablet (it’s only available for Android and iOS when I wrote this blog entry).

Let’s listen in on the conversation with TCEA member, April Wagner.
(Twitter: @wagnerwoman)

MIE Scenarios

One of April’s suggestions for helping teachers was to explore scenarios that illustrate how to overcome problems they sometimes encounter. Three scenarios that April mentions in our conversation are below. I created some quick “Snips” using Microsoft Snip to illustrate possible solutions:

  • How can you put information in separate sections? How do you put information back when you accidentally put it in the wrong section? Watch video response.
  • How can you delete information in Class Notebooks? Can students delete information in Class Notebooks? Watch video response.
  • How does OneNote Class Notebook interact with MS Classroom? Watch video response.

 

Thanks for listening to this TCEA MIE Podcast! I hope you will join us again. Subscribe to the TCEA TechNotes blog. You can enter your email and get email notifications, or follow @tcea, as well as @mguhlin, on Twitter to stay in the loop. New blogs are posted several times a week with great information and resources for integrating technology into the classroom. If you are interested getting access to more resources and ideas, please join us for the TCEA MIE Skypechat which will be kicking off in August, 2016, as well as leave a comment on this blog entry to sign up for the TCEA MIE Diigo group, where I frequently share links to web sites, breaking news and more.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Good TeachingWeb 2.0 Tool

Become a Storymaker: Creating Engaging Digital Tales

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

When I first participated in Joe Lambert’s digital storytelling workshop, my father had just passed away. Creating a digital story, Garbed in Silver, a combination of narrative and images, helped me cope with the grief of his death. It also helped me reconnect with some of my best memories, allowing me to create a remembrance for my young son that endures today on YouTube and Teachercast video hosting sites. Digital storytelling can be a powerful way to connect with others. In this blog entry, we explore digital storytelling resources and tips.

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via your mobile device or online. Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading, and technology!

1) Finding Digital Storytelling Resources

Looking for digital storytelling resources? There are quite a few available online. Here are my top three favorites:

Each of these contains digital stories that connect at a visceral level. And some, like We Are StoryMakers, invites the work of writers, actors, and media enthusiasts to create with a simple directive: you have five minutes to create a narrative and then record it.

2) Storytelling Keys

“In oral culture,” shares Joe Lambert, “we humans learned to retain stories as epigrams, or little tales that had a meaningful proverb at the end. In our current culture, many of us have not developed an epigrammatic learning equivalent to these processes.” Yet it’s not just about creating stories that are entertaining; it is about creating stories that transform us. As Vyasa says, “If you listen carefully, at the end, you’ll be someone else.” To accomplish that, I like to think that stories engage both our experience and beliefs, as Gretchen Bernabei demonstrates in this image, and helps us reflect and transform our perception of what has happened in our lives.

digital storytellingThere are various approaches to storytelling. The oral storytelling approach focuses on a beginning event, a middle with multiple events, each summarized by an image that captures our attention, until it reaches a turning point, moves to falling action, and ends. This story structure can be used for a lot more than just oral storytelling, of course. To prepare for this type of approach, Joe Lambert suggests creating a “memory box.”

Of course, it is easier to collect images, videos, and sound in one virtual space (e.g. Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox) than ever before. A few tools I recommend for creating a digital memory box include the following:

  • OneNote + Office Lens: These two free apps, which work on a multitude of mobile devices, allow you to store text, audio, images, and embed videos, and could easily be used to collect information. The Office Lens app lets you digitize content, snap a picture of paper items or photos, and save them to OneNote, a digital notebook. With OneNote’s built-in digital ink, students can easily fill in the chart and storyboard their digital story. The teacher can take those student creations, combine them with the final products, and publish them on Docs.com as a OneNote Notebook (which is free for everyone and works great on iPads, Chromebooks, Windows/Mac computers, and Android).
  • Google Photos + Google Drive:  With these two apps, you can save photos or videos taken with your device to Google Photos, saving content online. Google Drive offers unlimited hosting for GoogleApps for Education (GAFE) users, so you can easily drop videos and images there.
  • Collecting images can be straightforward with mobile apps like Camera Awesome (iOS and Android), Camera MX (Android), and Google Camera. Image annotation becomes easy with Annotate (iOS), Photo Editor by Aviary (Android and iOS), SnapSeed (iOS and Android), as well as EyeEm Camera and Photo Filter (iOS and Android). Don’t be afraid to take advantage of green screen apps (DoInk for iOS and Green Screen Pro for Android) to further enhance photos, making your own greenscreen with a $1.00 Dollar Tree store green plastic tablecover.

 

3) Find Photos That Make You Care

“Is that your son?” asked a friend when I showed him the digital story I had made of my Dad. The picture showed my son, perched like a king, in my Dad’s lap. Both were grinning, the picture such an attention grabber that even now I find it hard to look away. If you are looking for examples of photos that hold your gaze, check out the IPPAwards.com site. You can also find a wealth of images in free, public domain, or available for re-use online.

Note: Want to learn more about becoming a story maker? Be sure to join Miguel Guhlin at TCEA’s Tots and Technology Conference taking place this summer in both Galveston and Frisco, Tx!

4) Combine Images and Audio into a Digital Story

“Little strokes” said Benmin Franklin “fell great oaks.” Epigrams like this one powerfully send the message that you have achieved something, overcome adversity if it comes at the end of your digital story. If you can’t make one up, find the right epigram to borrow, properly cited, of course. Practice telling your story aloud, using the pictures as your guideposts; keep your wisdom brief.

Apps like Shadow Puppet EDU, Adobe Voice, and Storymaker 2, as well as MS Office Mix (Windows/Mac) enable you to combine content in powerful ways. The process is straightforward, but the key lies in creating epigrams that will stick in people’s minds. Include music only if it enhances your story; otherwise let your voice, or silence, and images make the message clear.

Conclusion

All of us are carrying countless stories in our mobile devices, in the moments that we felt compelled to capture with a camera. And those moments call to our spirit, seeking to liberate words that lay afraid in our minds. Digital stories can set you free.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
notes tools
Good TeachingGoogle Tips and TricksPodcasts

TCEA Podcast #2: ePortfolios with Yvonne Clark

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Listen to Yvonne Clark, Henderson ISD

Today, we’ll hear about how one teacher, Yvonne Clark (@yclarkhhs) from Henderson ISD, is using Google Sites as a way to house ePortfolios.

Yvonne was kind enough to write a few words, as well as record a podcast about her experience:

Hi there, my name is Yvonne Clark and I am from Henderson ISD, Henderson, TX in the Tyler/Longview area; we are about 20 miles south of I-20. I am in my first year as the campus technology specialist where I assist both teachers and students with technology needs. I previously taught technology classes and that is where I began using Google Sites for student portfolios. Find me on Twitter @yclarkhhs or on my website.

Last year, I had several seniors that were talking about all of the forms they had to fill out for college: scholarship applications, college entrance applications, and summer job applications. My original thought was to have students make e-portfolios that they could send out with their applications. I wondered how I could make the process easier for students. I googled “portfolios” and found some ideas that I wanted to tweak and made my assignment.

Student Portfolio Assignment page

Grade sheet

And, in regards to using Google Sites for eportfolios, here is what Yvonne had to say:

A Google site was the best option for me to use as a portfolio platform because we are a GAFE school and it was free. We had practiced creating websites with Google Sites using the different page options in a previous assignment. I then had students follow the portfolio assignment page. I wanted to have my students update their portfolio throughout their high school career. Plus, I had my students add their personal Gmail account as an owner to the site so that their work did not disappear after graduation. Students can then provide a link to their portfolio on applications to future colleges and/or businesses.

What I Would Change:

  • Use Google Drawing to help personalize pages more.
  • Have all high schools students start as ninth graders collecting information.

These are sample sites that you should be able to access:

Conclusion

Thanks for listening to this TCEA podcast featuring Yvonne Clark (@yclarkhhs) from Henderson ISD. You can find a copy of the show notes online at www.tcea.org/blog, which is the TCEA TechNotes Blog, recently recognized by EdTech magazine as one of the top 50 blogs to read in 2016! Also, be sure not to miss any of our upcoming events this summer 2016. Some amazing learning will be happening at the TCEA Makers events, Tots and Technology Conferences taking place in Galveston and Frisco in June, as well as the Adobe Academy and Chromebook Academy.

If you’re a TCEA member, don’t be afraid to sign up for the free Lunch and Learn webinars (only three left this school year) and more online at www.tcea.org/events. Not a TCEA member yet? Join up at www.tcea.org/join

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via Your Mobile Device or Online! Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading and technology!

Show Notes

Weaving a Digital Tale About Yourself

Creating a digital story that reflects your voice is important. You can do this with these apps quite quickly.

Digitizing Content

Need to quickly scan paper documents into digital? These apps make doing so incredibly easy, either saving directly to Google Drive (Scanner Pro) or to your camera roll or OneNote.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
OneNote
Microsoft Tips and Tricks

Five Ways to a OneNote-tastic Learning Experience

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Over the last two months, I have been amazed at how easily I have transitioned from other digital organizers to OneNote. Having migrated approximately 10,000 notes from Evernote  to various organizers, including Apple Notes, Centrallo, Evernote, Google Keep, MammothHQ, and SimpleNote, each of which have their own advantages and disadvantages (view comparison chart), OneNote surprised me.

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) SkypeChat via your mobile device or online. Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading, and technology!

OneNote serves as a fantastic tool for personal organization and class management. For example, it has the following admirable features:

  • Notebooks can be easily accessed on a wide variety of devices (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows); you do not need a Windows computer to take advantage of the basic features, which are considerable and available at no-cost.
  • Notebooks, each with its own sections that can be password protected or locked with SDES/AES encryption, contain pages that can be created and shared via OneNote Online with anyone.
  • Email content to your Notebook (via me@onenote.com) and save it in a section of your default notebook (set that up in the settings) by including @section_name in the email Subject:.
  • As a sharing tool, it wins hands-down for classroom deployment. Why? As a teacher, I can create materials and share them via a resource notebook for students that they can access on their mobile device. With a Windows computer, I can create Class Notebooks that allow for a collaborative common area, a content library where I can distribute updated documents to each student individually en masse, a real time-saving feature.
  • OneNote’s content and formatting tools boast a GUI interface that is difficult to match, yet relatively uncluttered.

But wait! There’s ONE MORE feature that I have just become aware of. OneNote can be enhanced by add-ons to expand its functionality on Microsoft Windows. If you have OneNote 2013 (or 2016), you can easily install Onetastic, a free multi-purpose add-on reminiscent of the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox. Onetastic enables the use of custom macros such as the following:

  • Create a table of contents for a notebook, a section, or a page using the Table of Contents macros.
  • Use the Search and Replace macro to quickly make adjustments across multiple notebooks or a single notebook, including HTML replacement.
  • Add Excel-like functions to tables such as Sum, Average, Min, Max, Count Numbers, and more.
  • Number all cells in a table, autofill, and other items.
  • Insert monthly calendars into notes.
  • Display a summary page of all recent changes in a notebook or section.
  • And many more macros that provide enhanced functionality non-existent in other tools.

If you haven’t used OneNote, you will want to start soon! It is a must have-organizer for classroom teachers and campus administrators. Here are five ways to create a “onetastic learning experience:”

  1. OneNoteUsing Microsoft Office Lens app on Android/iOS, “scan” documents and save them directly to OneNote.
  2. Using the clipper (e.g. Chrome add-on, Firefox, Edge ), remove web page clutter, then capture pages and content, saving them to the resource notebook you created for your students to use.
  3. Using Diigo Social Bookmarking tool, free for educators and their students, you and your class can bookmark resources to a Diigo Group. The RSS feed for that Diigo Group can then be fed through IFTTT.com and resources auto-saved into the Notebook and Section of your choice, as the teacher. Be sure to read the tutorial here at TCEA!
  4. Create student ePortfolios by granting every student a section in a OneNote notebook (or Class Notebook, which provides even more flexibility) where they can save their work. Then, when they leave or graduate, export that section out so they can “take it with them.” You can embed documents, pictures, and videos in the pages of that ePortfolio.
  5. Help students and staff keep notes by creating a page template such as Cornell Note-Taking or meeting notes for OneNote. Students and staff can “import” that into their OneNote 2016 program and then use it. Or, if only the teacher has OneNote 2016 and students are using OneNote Online, then the teacher can do it.

If you aren’t using OneNote Online, OneNote 2016, and the Onetastic tool with all the great macros that come with it, then you are missing out!

Want to learn more about OneNote? You can host a OneNote one-day Academy in your district or area at a great price! Make contact via email at mguhlin@tcea.org or catch me on Skype (@tceamg) to request a workshop.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts