Technology in ASB (and the rest of your life) - CADA Area A Advisor Conference

I should first preface this whole presentation by saying that everything I discuss today is stuff that I use in my life and/or in my classroom. Some of it may not work on your school district's network if they use blocking software. Any time you use any kind of technology or social media, you should always do it with either the permission/blessing of your school district, and at the very least with the understanding of the consequences of misusing these technologies. As the quote goes from the original Spiderman movie, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Here are the things I talked about today. Please feel free to e-mail me at rippolito@gmail.com if you have any questions about any of the items we learned about today!

PhotoSync - This app available for iPhone and iPad (I understand there is an equivalent for Android, but haven't used it) allows you to quickly and easily transfer photos back and forth between your iPhone, iPad, and/or computer. The download for iPhone/iPad is $1.99, and the companion software is available for free download for Mac or PC. http://www.photosync-app.com/photosync/en/home.html

join.me - This website is great for a couple different types of users. For the tech-savvy, you can use this to help your friends, family members, or colleagues who aren't quite as techie as you are. For the less tech-abled, join.me is a terrific way to get tech help. You can choose to share the screen only, or give control of your computer to another person so they can operate your computer remotely.

Join.me can also be used for conferencing. You can broadcast your screen using join.me (multiple people can tap into a screencast), and then use a website like freeconferencecall.com to have people call in and join the voice conversation. http://join.me

Animoto - This is the site I use to make cool slideshows.  Check into getting a FREE educator account.  Web-quality videos are always free.  DVD-quality downloads are $4 each.  HD-quality is $6 for each download.  You can check out one of the slideshows we created for CADA Camp here http://animoto.com/play/s1i5lFFWpOQi3gLrX10YSg.  To start your own account, go to:
http://www.animoto.com

Google Voice - I don't want to give my personal cell phone number to parents or students, but text messaging is the most efficient form of communication in our culture. With Google Voice, you can send and receive text messages with confidence. I publish my Google Voice number to the world, include it right on my website, and include it in the signature line of my e-mails. I print it on my business cards and put it up on the board in my classroom.

With Google Voice, text messages appear as conversations on your computer, plus you can connect it to your smartphone with the Google Voice app, or link it to your "dumbphone" straight through text messaging. If you reply to a text through traditional texting (rather than through the app), the text appears to the recipient to come from your Google Voice number, not your cell number.

If you ever need to retrieve an old message (from last week, last month, or last year), you can search for it in your Google Voice database. Every conversation is archived and accessible through your Google account from anywhere. Get started at http://voice.google.com. If you already have a Google account, getting started is even easier!

There's a nice article on EdReach about Google Voice here: http://edreach.us/2012/04/15/google-voice-not-your-mothers-voice-service/

Posterous Spaces - This is the way you can update Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, YouTube and more all with one e-mail. http://www.posterous.com

Google Docs - This "cloud" technology allows you to create and save documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint-style spreadsheets, and forms and share read and/or write access with anyone else on the web.  http://docs.google.com

TWITTER FAST FOLLOW - You can send mass text messages to your entire school (parents, teachers, students, EVERYONE!) and it's absolutely free.  Have a teacher or administrator at your school setup an account at http://www.twitter.com.  Once you have your Twitter account created, simply have everyone at your school text follow nameofyourtwitteraccount to 40404.  If they want to stop, they simply text unfollow nameofyourtwitteraccount to 40404. I've written an article on Twitter Fast Follow here: http://www.ronippolito.com/2011/12/setting-up-twitter-fast-follow-at-your.html

Google Calendar - A great way to keep yourself organized, and to publish school events. Valencia High School is doing a great job using Google Calendar on their school website. http://www.hart.k12.ca.us/valencia/ Scroll down to the bottom of the site and then click back in time a little bit so you're on a month in the school year to see all the events they publish. http://calendar.google.com

The other powerful part of Google Calendar is the fact that you can sync with your mobile device. If you have an Android phone, you're already synced up. Otherwise, it takes about five minutes to setup just one time. Visit http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ for step-by-step instructions.

EDUBALLOT - I use this service to do secure, online elections.  You can run ASB officer elections, class officer elections, honor society officers, yearbook "senior bests," dance court elections, and more!
https://eduballot.votenet.com/index2.cfm

Enjoy!
Ron