Another great Screencast tool

Happy January, everyone!  Hope you're surviving this week of crazy weather.

Greg recently shared the extension for Loom with me - another screencast creator similar to Screencastify.  You can sign in with Google and create recordings of your desktop or just one tab.  Of course, when you start out, you have to give it all the permissions (to add the extension to chrome, to access your Google account, to use the microphone and camera).  Then it will come up with this screen:

To get started, you have to hit the Loom icon in your Google extension toolbar.

Then it will ask you some options.

Including whether or not you got a haircut recently!  (I did, thanks for noticing!)

After that, this is what a recording might look like.  Please note that you can pause your video while you are recording, which is a feature that does not exist in some other screencast creators.  Then the finished screen will take you here.

From here, you can see lots of options, such as sharing and editing the video.  If you invite people via Gmail to view the video, it will also tell you when they have done so.  This is a feature that Screencastify does not have.

Some ideas that this could be used for include creating an instructional video for students to watch at an independent station, having a substitute teacher share this video with your students on a day that you are absent, and having students create a reflection on a topic that they just learned and then share it to your email.  They could reflect on a finished project, a story that was just read to them, or goals that they set for themselves in a class.

Let me know your thoughts on this tool and how you are able to make it work for you!

Google Cast for Education

If you are familiar with Apple TV or similar products (Amazon Fire TV stick, Roku streaming stick, Chromecast), you may already realize that you can connect your phone or computer to your TV through these services in order to watch streaming video or show photos.  Being able to show the content from your screen becomes even more useful when the teacher can allow the students to show their screen on the Smartboard in a 1:1 environment.  This is now possible and extremely user-friendly with the Google Cast for Education extension.

To get started, you will use the Google Cast for Education extension with your laptop or chromebook, so add it here.  Once you add it, click on its green icon in your chrome browser at the top right-hand corner to open it.

When it opens, it will look like this:

It will ask you to name it, so I recommend giving it something that is simple for students to type in, such as your building and room number.  For example - MS101.  Notice that in the bottom left-hand corner, I named mine C&I.

Then it will ask you to share with certain people.  You can share with individuals, groups, or Google Classrooms.  That will allow you to instantly give permission to multiple students / users.

Once a student wants to cast to your window, they will use the same extension (Greg says he will add it for them), and then click the 3 dots (the kebab menu!) and choose "Cast" and a list will appear.

When the window pops up to "Cast to," they can type the name that you used, such as MS101 that I mentioned above.  Then it should come up for them to select.

Once a student is casting on your screen, it will look like the image below.

Notice that the person who is casting to your device is listed in the bottom center.  You can close them out by hitting the X at the top center.

If you want to see a video about how to use this, watch one here.

Many of us have experienced changing devices connected to a projector and the technical difficulties that can arise as a result.  This cast system can eliminate some of that heartache and create greater opportunities for students to share their work with the class in a 1:1 environment.  Test it out!

AR

Augmented reality is different from virtual reality in one key way - it incorporates the technology into the existing environment.  The best example and probably the most famous is Pokemon Go, where people were "catching" Pokemons with their phones and on a map, it said there were Pokemon all around the city, but they really just used the app and the phone's location to simulate this environment.

Teachers are beginning to use augmented reality in the classroom to further allow students to simulate and explore 3D models, whether they are of the solar system, the skull, or an aquarium.  Some great resources for this purpose include the Merge Cube and the CoSpaces app.


The Merge Cube is an inexpensive foam block that can be purchased on Amazon.  I also found this printable one here.  I have one as well so if you are interested in using it, just let me know.



For further reading, check out this article with apps that can be used with the Merge Cube for AR and VR.

Google Tips and Tricks

Just a short post for a few features you may not be aware of in Google Drive.

1. Create a new tab and type docs.new, slides.new, sheet.new or form.new to create a new one of those items.



2. Use the "Print Setting and Preview" to hide backgrounds in Google slides prints, print with notes, or choose how many slides per page to print.





3. Under "View", choose "Master" and then you can edit the master copies of all slide types so it will have a consistent style and color each time you create a new slide.


4. Use slidescarnival.com and choose a slideshow you like.  Then choose to use it as Google Slides, make a copy of it and then you can edit it for a pre-made beautiful design that goes beyond what's available in Google Slides.