Google Custom Search

So, I have been working on units that I must complete for an online class with my school district called Google Academy. We have been learning the ins and outs of many Google Services that are offered within our Google Apps for Education Accounts. I have been learning a lot, especially with using some of the newer services that I have not been exposed to before. Google Custom Search has had me a bit stumped. I know it is supposed to have the ability to put a "gadget" up on a web page or wiki of your choosing. It gives you code that you are then supposed to copy and paste into your page and it should then show up as a gadget on your page once you save. This has not been working for me, and it may have something to do with the way that Google "verifies your web page." Since I can't seem to get it to work as a gadget, I thought I would put the link to my custom search called "Technology 2.0" here:
http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=016604273342921047105:62gbbovytqc
and anyone who wants to can test the link and my Google Custom Search and leave comments for me on how this is (or is not) working for you.
Thanks!

Facebook and Google Brawl?

Looks like there is some posturing going on in the world of Internet behemoths. Facebook and Google appear to be having issues with each other and they are playing out their differences by putting us "children" in the middle. The New York Times is reporting that there has been a "kerfuffle" going on between the two internet giants. Click here to see the article.

What do you think, are dutiful users of Facebook and Google being put in the middle of a dysfunctional relationship?

Google Apps for Education

At our last Heritage Technology Committee meeting we discussed Google Apps and it's advantages over just a regular Google account and how having such an account set-up through-out our district could have an impact on student learning. Giving students an identifiable and professional email account is one advantage. Having a central location with 10GB of storage space for each student is another clear advantage. If you are familiar with Google Apps (versus just a regular Google account) and you would like to comment on what you see as advantages/disadvantages for all LPS students having a Google Apps account, please do so here. If you would like to participate in the pilot program for Google Apps, see Heidi Dudley.

The Social Networking Revolution

It seems that lately all we are hearing about are how people are "tweeting" and "updating their status." Places in the internet like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are changing the way we communicate and interact with each other.
If you haven't joined any of these sites yet, you might want to look into one or two, just to give yourself an idea of what is going on with this new communication venue.
Let us know what you think about the various social networking sites here and if you see any educational or class uses that could come out of "social networking."

TIE 2008

Heidi and Diane completed the two classes we presented at the Technology in Education Conference at Copper Mountain Resort. Now that it is over, we are breathing a collective sigh of relief. The first class we presented on Wednesday, Intro to Google Docs, became quite a challenge when TIE's wireless network went down at the beginning of class. We were prepared with a download we completed before class started that enabled us to show and work on Google Docs offline. We received some positive feedback about the class itself and about how we were still able to teach a class on web resources without the web!

Our last presentation was Thursday afternoon on iGoogle, Google Reader, and Google Calendar. For this class we thankfully had the internet, so things went much better. We even received applause at the end (I think it was for Heidi's stellar presenting skills, but it might have been partly because we finally had the internet up and the group could finally interact on the site instead of just watch!).

We have come away feeling tired and yet energized by the experience. Look for more Heritage Tech Academy Classes on these types of Web 2.0 tools when we come back in the fall.

The Joys of iGoogle and Google Docs

Since our last post, Heidi and Diane have been accepted as presenters for the TIE (Technology in Education) Conference at Copper Mountain this June.
Diane will present on Google Docs (see our last post) and Heidi will present on iGoogle. If you have tried out Google Docs for yourself, you may already know how useful it is and how it can revolutionize the way we can work and collaborate on a document.
iGoogle is where you can experience even more joy with Web 2.o technology. iGoogle is essentially your very own start page to the Internet. You can customize it any way you want so that you have instant access to things like blogs, your gmail account, RSS feeds and more making the Internet fully customized to you and your interests.
To learn more about iGoogle and/or Google Docs you could sign-up for our summer class at Heritage that is also being taught by Mike Porter and runs June 2-6 from 8:00 to 1:00 each day. Or, you could visit Heidi and Diane at TIE 2008: Wireless Dreams June 23-27 at Copper Mountain Resort . We will also be teaching more Heritage Tech Academy classes on this next fall.
Try signing up for a Google account if you don't have one, and check these technologies out for yourself.

Google Docs...Wait, Google Docs, Sreadsheets and Presentations

Here's a little example about how quickly these Web 2.0 resources can change. Last year during our summer class our district IT Guru (or Assistant Director) Mike Porter showed off a great little resource called "Google Docs." He explained that it had started as an online program that is similar to Microsoft Word and other word processing programs. What makes it different is its ability to save your work online (so you can access it from anywhere) and its ability to allow you to share your documents among anyone that you invite so that the document can be shared and revised by a group of users online and in realtime (meaning you see the changes pretty much as they happen).
The change in this little resource offered by Google has been phenomenal to watch. Starting out as Google Docs, Google Spreadsheets (similar to Microsoft Excel) was quickly added. After our class had completed, Google added Google Presentations (similar to PowerPoint) to the suite.
To access these great free online tools you need a Google account (which is also free...you can't beat the price!).
You can set up and access a Google account by using any email account that you currently use. However, you may want to set up a free Gmail account if you want to have Gmail integrated into your Google services. We'll talk about the world of iGoogle and other Google services in our next post.
In the meantime to set up a Google account, go to http://www.google.com/, click on Sign in and then click on the "Create a new account now" link.
Enjoy your new Google account and we'll talk more about Google and the free services that are offered in our next post.