Happy New Year!

Well, it is almost the end of the first week back. I hope you and your students have made it through relatively unscathed. I thought I would start off the New Year on the Learning and Innovation blog with some resources you can incorporate into your classroom. As well, there is an upcoming project and one conference which may be of interest to some of you. As always, if you would like more information or would like me to come work with you, please do not hesitate to contact me. Next week, I will share some updates on some of the really great things your colleagues are doing around the division.

Instagrok

I have shared this website before but thought it warranted a second mention. It has been popping up on a number of different blogs I read. Instagrok (www.instagrok.com) is a site where students can search any topic and create customizable concept maps. The concept maps can be scaled in difficulty to suit the needs of the students. As well, students can create their own concept maps and save their maps. I see a lot of use for this in all divisions and subject areas. The site creates maps that include text, images and videos. In addition, each subconcept that appears on the map is expandable. I spent quite a bit of time playing around with the site. I believe many of you would be able to integrate it directly into your lessons.

Chrome Apps Perfect for the Chrome Classroom

With the integration of Google Drive across the division, there are many applications that are available to us and to our students. The apps increase the functionality of the tools we have available through Google Drive. 

Holly Clark, a Google Certified trainer and Junior High Teacher from San Diego, has put together a list of Chrome Apps that help increase the functionality of Google Chrome. I had the opportunity to meet Holly in August while she presented at a conference in Calgary. She is an energetic, passionate teacher who has a great deal to share. She describes her favourite Chrome Apps on her blog which can be found here: http://hollyedtechdiva.sharedby.co/xY0LRR. Holly is also very open to questions and is willing to help teachers integrate Google Apps for Education into their classroom. 

Medicine Hat College/Grasslands Collaboration

Earlier in the year, I wrote a blog post about VROC - Virtual Researchers on Call (www.vroc.ca). This free service pairs teachers in all divisions in Grasslands with researchers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math who are willing to be virtual guest speakers in classrooms. As a humanities teacher, I thought it was unfortunate that this type of service did not exist for those of us outside the STEM environment. As such, I approached Medicine Hat College with the idea of creating a database of their instructors who would be interested in being virtual guest speakers on topics in the humanities. They agreed to engage in a pilot project with us. As a result, we are looking for teachers in grade 9 through 12 who would be willing to participate in a pilot. As a participant, you would gain access to Medicine Hat College professors with expertise in economics, literature, history, political science, and geography who would be willing to speak to your classes through either Skype or Google Hangouts. You would also help to come up with a list of possible topics that these professors may be asked to speak on. We would like to keep the initial pilot to grades 9 through 12 with the intention of expanding, should the pilot be successful. 

If you are interested in acting as a participant in the pilot project, please contact me and I will provide you with more details.

Alberta Google Summit: March 2/3, Edmonton

The Google in Education Alberta Summit is a high intensity two day event, which focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education to promote student learning in K-12 schools. The program features both local and international Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators and solution providers. 

I attended the last summit in Calgary in August and was very impressed. I took a lot of useful information away from the conference. If you want to expand your knowledge and understanding of how to use Google Apps for Education or find innovative ways to utilize the tools in your classroom, this is a great opportunity. You can find more details here: ab.gafesummit.com.