If youve ever participated in a Hangout on Google+ you know that the video conferencing feature works great! You can hangout with video and audio with up to ten people while also chatting and sharing video. Hangout also knows who is talking and puts them front and center. Theres no awkward handing over and collecting the microphone. It feels like others are really right there with you.

The problem with Hangout though is that it is hard to know who is hanging out and it is hard for people to know if you are hanging out. I wrote to Google and suggested that under the Hangout option there should be a list of people in your circles that are hanging out. I also suggested that you should be able to give your Hangouts a title. They havent incorporated my feedback yet, but in the meantime, theres one solution that may work.
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Joyce Valenza, Judy OConnell, Cathy Jo Nelson, Linda Nitsche, Rob Darrow and Chris Betcher
in a hangout hosted by Jenny Luca

Where to hangout at Google + provides you with a time-stamped list of who is hanging out or who is about to hang out along with the topic that participants will be discussing. Currently the most common topic seems to be, testing out hangouts and the topic search feature is not yet active, but the idea is right. One of the more interesting Hangouts was: Steve Ward – Host & Executive Producer of VH1 Tough Love talking about Sex, Love, Dating & Relationships. I can definitely see this as a great way for television shows to immediately get on-the-street perspectives. Very cool!

We currently have a list of Twitter Chats which you can see here. When are we going to start a Hangout schedule? I see this working by setting a time for the chat to begin and if more than ten people join, the chat organizer provides a link to a second chat, and third, and so on being able to have intimate conversations with each group.

Hello Staff

Still lots of room in the Tech Ed Planning workshop “Unleashing the power of Twitter” taking place at EDFeehan on Wednesday, Nov. 23 from 3:45 to 5:00 in room 103 (Open to all EDF, OSK and CYBER staff too). If you recall me stating on from our PD day, “if there is one tech tool every teacher should know, it’s learning how to use Twitter”. This workshop will show you how to set up a twitter account, how to find resources and colleagues, and some interesting tools that work in tandem with twitter to dig out more information.

Hope to see you there! If you plan on attending, please enter your name in the form at: http://goo.gl/ySTG6

Reg

LINK: http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/tag/a-z-web-tools/

You will want to bookmark this links as it is a wealth of web tools that will take some well deserved time to peruse. Ozge Karaoglu has assembled in her blog, a listing of a – z web tools for use by both teachers and students which she has categorized alphabetically. It’s a virtual Teachers dream library of tools to do just about anything. Your limited only by your imagination. Be sure to subscribe to both her WEb tools RSS and Blog RSS to keep up with her growing list of tools.

Reg

Hello Again.

Sorry for spamming you again but the correct date for the Twitter PD is Wed Nov 23rd not the 13th.

Reg

On 2011-11-15, at 11:43 AM, Nakoneshny, Reginald wrote:

Hello Staff

The first EDF Tech Ed Planning workshop “Unleashing the power of Twitter” will take place at EDFeehan on Wednesday, Nov. 13 from 3:45 to 5:00 in room 103. If you recall me stating on from our PD day, “if there is one tech tool every teacher should know, it’s learning how to use Twitter”. This workshop will show you how to set up a twitter account, how to find resources and colleagues, and some interesting tools that work in tandem with twitter to dig out more information.

Hope to see you there! If you plan on attending, please enter your name in the form at: http://goo.gl/ySTG6

Reg

Hello Staff

The first EDF Tech Ed Planning workshop “Unleashing the power of Twitter” will take place at EDFeehan on Wednesday, Nov. 13 from 3:45 to 5:00 in room 103. If you recall me stating on from our PD day, “if there is one tech tool every teacher should know, it’s learning how to use Twitter”. This workshop will show you how to set up a twitter account, how to find resources and colleagues, and some interesting tools that work in tandem with twitter to dig out more information.

Hope to see you there! If you plan on attending, please enter your name in the form at: http://goo.gl/ySTG6

Reg

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9557126.stm

Podcasting offers anyone a chance to get behind a microphone and make a radio programme. There are many FREE tools to help you sound like a pro and deliver your work to your audience. This video has many tips, sites, and tools to help you. Get out a pen and paper because they go by quick.

Reg

Link: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/10/fresh-start-for-google-presentations.html

Via: Freetechnologyforteachers.com

One of the few drawbacks to using Google Docs to create presentations has always been a lack of transition and animation options. Today, Google addressed that issue by introducing a new set of Google Docs presentation tools. The new Google Docs presentation tools include transitions and animations like those that you might find in PowerPoint. There is also a new selection of slidedeck themes.
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Applications for Education
I always kind of liked that Google Docs presentations didn’t have transitions and animations because without those things my students were able to focus on the messages of their presentations rather than the visual effects. However, not everyone agreed with me on that. The transition and animation options remove one of the obstacles to school adoption of Google Apps for Education.

Reg

Link: http://blog.scs.sk.ca/oskayak/cree-word-of-the-day/

Learn the CREE language, one phrase at a time! I am especially proud of this link of the day, proud for Delvin to fearlessly jump in with both feet and master his iPad and Blogpress in recording and publishing his Cree-phrase-of-the-day, published to the Oskayak High School web site every day. Delvin has been recently appointed as the GSCS Cultural coordinator but still has time to bless the students at Oskayak with his delightful video antics every day. Learn a little each day and practice it on your friends and colleagues! You may also want to bookmark keep an eye on his blog as he develops it. http://refeathering.wordpress.com/

Reg

Link: http://www.videocopilot.net

If you want to learn how to make some interesting “hollywood” type effects on your video project, Video Copilot has a wealth of tutorial videos, blog, support (and products for sale) to assist you. Their tutorials are top notch and include both pre production and post production how-to’s. The site also features a community of experts available in the site forum so you can collaborate with community members and experts as well. Another site of interest is Detonation films http://www.detonationfilms.com which offers a library of effects footage including examples of their use and more. Very cool, realistic effects!

If you’re a video buff or an aspiring Speilberg or Tarantino, check these two sites out!

Reg

Link: http://www.techlearning.com/default.aspx?tabid=67&entryid=600

We have realized for some time that YouTube is an excellent resource for educational videos. With bandwidth issues, it’s often impossible to expect playback on School networks or its often difficult screening questionable content. Many of these issues can be resolved! Here are the top ways to to filter YouTube to make it safer for educational viewing and to edit YouTube videos. I especially like the Saveyoutube website that lets you download youtube videos to your computer to playback in class! http://saveyoutube.com/

Reg