Back To School Apps & Tech

As the kids go back to school this year, be sure to check out some of the great Apps and Tech available for students. Mary Cantwell shares this great inforgraphic with us.

Mary is a DEEP design thinker in the K12 Arena. Homebase Atlanta, GA Thankful playing field, Mount Vernon Presbyterian School Creator of DEEPdt methodology, Discover. Empathize. Experiment. Produce. Center 4 Design Thinking: a thinker, a doer, a dreamer, a maker, a tinker, a rough around the edges learner @scitechyedu

To interact with each of the icons go to https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2624459-back-to-school-apps

Creating A Website – Not as Hard as Expected

I have spent the last two days creating a website.  I can’t believe I just typed those words.  That is a statement I never expected to make.  As the owner of a small business, I needed a new website that I can easily update.  This website needs to include a calendar, blog, map, comments, picture slide show and quite a bit of description.

Since I am an avid Google users and love Google docs, Picasa, Google alerts, Gmail, Google Maps and all things Google, I naturally turned to Google to create a website.  For a only $10 I was able to buy my domain name for one year.  Then it was a matter of finding the template that best met my needs.  This is a vacation rental website, so I found a beautiful template of a home in Zanzibar and just started replacing their information for mine.

Google+ Boom

As a Senior at Kennesaw State University I am always looking at the new technology especially social media.  I am always looking for ways to integrate my social media with my studies.  Whether it be adding new friends from classes, getting homework, or even just answers to general questions from classmates when professors are unavailable.  I’m proud to say that I think I have discovered the best way for me as a student to integrate my social media and university requirements.  I have been exploring and learning about Google+. It seems to have taken the best of all social media’s and combined them into one. There are two aspects of Google+ that I use the most for University. They are Google+ Hangouts and Huddles. The hangouts are used through Google+ on your computer creating video conferencing/chat rooms and the Google+ Huddles are used through the mobile app creating group texting / chat rooms.

Google+ Hangouts make virtual video conference and chat accessible for all. Every Google+ member is able to enter the Hangout even if their computer or laptop is not equipped with video or microphones. The members of the Hangout that do not have video or microphone can still see and hear the hangout and are able to participate by typing in the chat section of the hangout. This option has changed the need for group meetings. Every student understands the difficulty of finding a time that every member of your team or group can meet. Some student’s work, some don’t, someone may have class during a time no one else does, well the Google+ Hangouts make finding that time easier. It eliminates the need for everyone to drive to a location to meet. With the Hangouts we can all jump online from home or any other location.

The Google+ Huddles also help ease the difficulty with group meetings/projects. The user on the mobile app is able to create a group like “school project” and invite the specific users into the Huddle. Whenever a new message is created all other members get a notification to their cell phones, similar to a SMS text, keeping all members current on the conversation involving the projects.
I currently use a zBoost to guarantee that I always have signal for my phone and computer. The zBoost makes sure that I am always connected on my DroidX and my laptop aircard to participate in the Huddles. Because of the zBoost I know I will always be able to participate and complete my work.

Google Tips

At a recent dinner, the conversation turned to the viability of Twitter.  One guest, who obviously only knew about Twitter from the media, said that knowing what someone had for breakfast was not of interest to him.  I immediately responded that Twitter could be personalized to be whatever you want it to be.  I personally follow a variety of journalists and publications and as a result, I have benefitted from numerous meetings or information that they have shared through Twitter.

On Monday, I received a Twitter from Steve Baker, a veteran writer with Business Week Magazine. The people from Google had stopped by the Business Week offices to give tips and tricks for using Google.  Maybe Google stops by your office on a regular basis, but I haven’t seen them around lately.  I use Google constantly for work and for personal issues so I was very interested in any tips they had to offer.  If you haven’t seen them in your office, you too might be interested.  Here is an excerpt from their Tips and Tricks session. (http://sites.google.com/site/tvjournalistssite/)

 Welcome!

Here is a recap from the “tips and tricks” session. We created this site as a way for you to visit many of the shortcuts and product features that we shared in our session. Here you’ll find resources for everything from Search to Google News, Trends, Earth, and Mobile.   GOOGLE ALERTS: Did you know you can set alerts on numerous topics and have these emailed to you on a daily basis? These alerts can range from news regarding your competitors to American Idol Results. See the example below for specifics. You’ll also find contacts for any lingering questions you have about how to take advantage of Google’s products. As always, inquiries about new products and interview requests should be sent to press@google.com. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. We hope you’ll find this site useful.