A thank you message from the Google in Edu team at the end of 2014

 This is a great message from the Google in Edu group from South Africa. I love all the useful links.

"The Google  for Education​ Team would like to thank you for your involvement this year in the workshop and for using Google for Education Tools in your learning environment.

2014 has been a great year - We launched great tools like Google Classroom, Google Apps School Directory Sync, Android 5.0 has great APIs for Work and Education,  90+ open source server software (Tomcat, Wordpress, Moodle, Drupal, LAMP etc) became click-to-run on Google Cloud Platform​, and we introduced the Hangouts Chrome App for Chrome OS and Windows.
Chromebooks became available in South Africa and got Photoshop and its first set of Android Apps.​ 
The new Google  for Education​ website has all the information you may need about teaching resources and training.

Existing tools got greater features - you can now 'store everything' on Google Drive free of charge as Drive for Education supports individual files up to 5TB and unlimited storage, and Google Apps Vault, our solution for search​/archive​ and e-​discovery for compliance needs, ​is now free to all Apps for Education users.​

Google introduced CS First  a program to increase school learner exposure to Computer Science through after school or in school programmes or even as clubs, the resources are interactive and fun!
You can subscribe to our Education Blog and/or Google Africa Blog for live updates​.

​We have been thinking of more ways to support Faculty and enable ICT growth, and in 2015 we would be looking at ways to enrich curriculum in the areas of Digital Marketing and Android/Java development. Please contact ​obumekeke@google.com if your university / college has an interest in teaching these courses locally ​your area.

Join the South African Google Educator Groups on Google+. G+ communities: GEG South Africa, join the chapter in the area you live in! We would love to see your comments and updates on the G+ pages, and join the events in 2015!

Our twitter handle is @googleforeducation
Thank you, have a great Festive season and Happy Holidays !​
Thanking you
The Google Edu Team"

How to rip a CD to iTunes on a PC and save it on a flashdrive or an SD card

I have just purchased a lovely new CD of songs by one of my favourite song writers and singers, and I want to listen to this on my upcoming holiday without taking the CD along.  In fact I want to listen to it on my little portable player. Apple’s iTunes is a free download, and is one of the best ways to rip, organize and enjoy the music you have purchased.

When you rip CDs to iTunes to create digital songs the default files are known as AAC files but you CAN change the kind of files that iTunes creates when you rip CDs and add them to your music library. I have iTunes on my PC and I have set that to convert songs that are imported to Mp3s.  I did this after reading this blogpost ‘How to Change iTunes CD Import Settings’.  So, as a result, my Windows laptop now automatically rips songs as MP3s into iTunes.

Step 1: Open iTunes on your PC and insert a CD into your PC’s CD player
iTunes will immediately pick up the CD and try to locate it on the Internet. It will ask you which CD this is.

Step 2: Follow the prompts
The songs with their titles will show up in your Itunes interface if you have the Internet turned on, and iTunes will ask you if you wish to import the songs to your iTunes library. Answer Ýes’.  Note that if your Internet is turned off the songs will show up unnamed.  Check the boxes next to the songs you would like to import.

iTunes chimes when it has finished importing your checked list of songs.

Step 3: Create a new playlist for your CD
Go to File/New/Playlist and give your playlist a name.

Step 4: Open Playlists

Step 5: Add the recently imported songs to your newly created playlist

Click on the name of the Playlist and then click on ‘Add to’
Find the imported songs folder and click on it to open it.

Drag the songs into the playlist and select Done

You’ll see that your songs will now be added to the playlist.

Step 6: Add your playlist to your SD card or flashdrive

• Go to your default Music library on your PC and look for iTunes

• From there I select Itunes Media/Music/Compilations and find the name of the playlist. 
• Right click on the playlist to open a window.
• Select Send to/SD card (or it could be Removable Disk should you choose the flashdrive option)

Your music is now ready to list to via your chosen media which, in my case, is on a removable disk that plays on my audio player.

How to move Android Apps to an SDMicro card #1

I am trying to work out how to move Android Apps to a microSD card and have gleaned this part shown below so far. So, here’s how to move apps to the microSD card using Android’s application manager.

1. Navigate to settings on your phone. You can find the settings menu in the app drawer
2. Tap Application Manager.
3. Select an app you want to move to the microSD card.
4. Tap the Move to SD Card button. If you don’t see a Move to SD Card button, the app cannot be moved. Most preloaded apps cannot be moved to an SD card. If you don’t see Move to SD Card buttons on any apps, your device may not support this feature at all.

If you wish to move an app back to the internal memory, hit the “Move to device storage” button.

Problem to solve
OK. I have done that and it shows the Apps saved on the microSD card when I open my Galaxy tablet. However when I connect the Galaxy tab to the computer and look to see what is on the microSD card I don’t see those apps! Oh dear! So this becomes the next problem to solve...

Further reading
http://blog.laptopmag.com/move-apps-sd-card-android
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoUgSl9R7WI

Listly List - 'The Must-Have Educational Apps List For Android' by Terry Heick.

Listly.com is definitely one of my favourite applications for summarising a collection of websites. Recently I came across a post on TeachThought with this 'The Must-Have Educational Apps List For Android' by Terry Heick. When I opened the Listly list I saw there was an option to embed the list on one's own blog so I thought I would give this a try especially as there are so many teachers in South Africa that use Android Apps in the classroom. It is also a great way to refer back to the list

The Must-Have Educational Apps List For Android

View more lists from Terry Heick

Get to grips with Google Plus (Google+) (G+)...

This is a cross post of a post I wrote for the SchoolNet blog.

When Google+ came out in 2011 my immediate thought was – I simply don’t have time for another social network!  But as time has progressed I have seen that Google+ is a different kind of social network, one that you can’t really ignore! It has grown in popularity to become the second-largest social media site in the world (according to Mashable) with a monthly use by 235 million users.

What exactly is Google Plus?
Google+ is a social network that builds off of your Google Account. If you have a Google account you have a Google+ account! All you have to do is activate your profile.  Getting involved with Google+ takes your Google account to another level. You soon find you have a few pluses that you can’t just ignore… such as a great place for storing your photos, a fresh way of communicating with others in posts of more than 140 characters or via Hangouts, and a connection to many different kinds of communities which suit your interests, and more!  A big part Google+ is connecting you to other people who are interested in your passions. Google+ is interest driven.

So in a nutshell:
Google+ is a social networking site that comes as part of your Google account and it is just waiting for you to activate it so that you can discover a whole new, exciting cyber adventure…

How to get started:

Step 1: Activate your Google+ profile

There are two ways that I know of which enable one to do this.  Your profile is what people will look at to decide whether to circle you (a Google term) so make it interesting!
a) After you have signed in to your Google account go to your Google search page you’ll see a +You sign at the top. When you click on this you’ll be taken to a page where you update your Google+ profile.

b) After you have signed in to your Google account type in https://plus.google.com in the URL bar and you’ll be taken to the same upgrade page to activate your profile.
Once your Google+ account is activated you’ll see that the You+ on your search page or email page now has your name!
If you would like a short video tutorial on how to get started with Google+ here is a 7 minute one given by a teacher, Jamie Linton: http://youtu.be/Up1AhYuXuWo

Step 2: Start to post in your new profile
In your post you can create a post that consists of text, images links, and videos. You don’t have to keep to 140 characters. You’ll see that you can post to an email address, to public (everyone) or to a circle of friends. That brings us to Circles which is what Step 3 is about.

Step 3: Get started with circles
Google Plus has a central feature of helping you put people into groups based on e.g. location, interests, engagement etc. These groups are called Circles and they are fundemental to Google +. At the side of your Google+ page when you click on the word HOME a drop-down menu appears and if you click on the word PEOPLE you’ll make a start with creating a circle of people. Basically you create circles with your friends and acquaintances – they will never know which circle they are in. This Slideshare gives a step by step breakdown to the way Circles work.


Let's explore Google plus! from Fiona Beal

Step 4: Explore Google Plus Communities
Once you have explored circles it will be worthwhile expoloring Communities. Communities are groups of people with a similar interest sharing ideas. You can find communities by clicking on the side bar and choosing the ‘green’ icon’, then you will see recommended communities as well as being able to search for them there too. If you are a teacher in South Africa why not join the Google Educator Group community called GEG South Africa https://plus.google.com/communities/100791080087539989021


Step 5: Google Hangouts
Google Plus Hangouts are a great feature available on Google+. As well as ‘chat’, they allow you to group video chat with up to 9 other people, share links, screenshare and utilize all sorts of useful apps. You can use this link to see what hangouts you can enter:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/s/is/hangouts. If you would like to watccch a 10 minute video on setting up and running a Google hangout here is the link: http://youtu.be/AGHdqCkf9Ik

Step 6: Store and share your photos on Google+
Google took over Picasa and has incorporated it into Google+. This is a fantastic way of storing your photos online. In fact I have set my phone and camera to automatically upload photos to Google+ when we are in a WIFI region.  Here is a 10 minute video showing you how to work with photos and Google+: http://youtu.be/mQ0LjtJbOXs

Get a custom URL for your Google+ account
You can set up a custom URL for  your Google+ account so it you can be easily found. https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2676340?hl=en. IO did this and mine is
http://google.com/+FionaBeal

A  task: Get started with Google+
1. Activate Google+ byvisiting https://plus.google.com/
2. Create your profile
3. Create circles. Circles are like folders to help you organise your contacts
4. Add people to your circles
5. Share some information and write a post!
6. Comment on other posts.
7. Search for what you are looking for with filters such as hashtags #
8. Enjoy!

GVC #15: Our holiday break is on its way

We have been having our exams, school concert and soon our long holiday break will happen. The other two teams don’t have any of this so for the next while we will not be participating as such. We did have a Skype chat with the others before breaking up for the term.  See https://goo.gl/GsCrbx. The awkward part about Skype is the time differences. For the American School it was 8am. For our school it was 3pm. For the Taiwan classes it was 10pm at night! I applaud their dedication.
We are planning another one in April 2015:

Have you ever wondered what takes place at a GEG launch in South Africa?

                                             

This is a cross post of the post I wrote for the SchoolNet blog  recently.

After becoming a Google Certified Teacher in New York in 2012 I take great interest in anything related to Google. I love the way the GEG groups are spreading throughout South Africa. Currently I am a GEG trrainer fro SchoolNet and I try and attend all the Cape Town Google events. Have you ever wondered what happens at a Google Educator Group (GEG) launch in South Africa? Well they are all different but I would like to take you through tghe latest exciting launch that happened in Cape Town recently - namely the Cape Town West Coast GEG which was launched at Parklands College in Cape Town.

What is a GEG group?
"Google Educator Groups (GEGs) are communities of educators who learn, share, and inspire each other to meet the needs of their students through technology solutions, both in the classroom and beyond." http://www.google.com/landing/geg/about/

Back to the GEG West Coast launch. The GEG leader who took the initiative for the launch was Tiaan Lotter from Parklands College.

The launch itself  was run by three super-enthusiastic GEG leaders in the Table View Area namely Tiaan Lotter, Lindsey Durell and Arthur Preston -  and what an inspiring, fun-filled and exciting event it proved to be - in true Google style!  The 60+ teachers who attended LOVED it.

 

Highlights of the afternoon
When we arrived at the brightly decorated venue we were welcomed by the GEG leaders and we chose a group to join based on our choice of colour of sunglasses.

The Elkanah House group

Tiaan introduce the GEG and the concept of GEGs plus future plans for the GEG. We then heard three SUPERB presentations. Arthur Preston spoke on ‘Úsing Google Tools in the Classroom’ and he shared his presentation with the group.

Google Tools In The Primary School from Arthur Preston

Lindsey Durell gave an excellent presentation on ‘Using Google Tools in the High School’.

Lindsay's presentation can be viewed at http://goo.gl/hXvMQp 

...and Anthony Peters gave a really good presentation on how he uses digital tools and Google tools in his lessons.



Highlights of the afternoon 
Another highlight of the three hour launch was getting into teams to discuss real world solutions to problems and how to tackle them in the classroom across the curriculum using Google Apps. Each team was given a different problem to tackle and plan and then followed the report back. Great ideas emerged from this.

 
The event closed with the energetic GEG team highlighting some of their proposed events in 2015. All the attendees were requested to fill in a form if they required training in 2015… and of course, there was a group photo! 



So, in a nutshell, what generally happens at a launch?

• Sharing great ideas
• Meeting new technology friends
• New ideas for the classroom
• Belonging to a group that can learn together and have fun meet-ups
• A glimpse into some of the exciting changes that are happening in teaching
• A place to ask ‘those' questions. 
• Learning how to collaborate with others

Why Should You Join a GEG?
"Learn. Share. Inspire. Empower. These four words represent the essence of GEGs. Educators will build relationships with other educators and gain the necessary skills to use open technology to deliver the best possible education to their students."

Join the GEG South Africa community (http://goo.gl/glkhTU) and become part of the excitement in South Africa. See if there is a GEG group in your area and join up (the groups are listed in the GEG South Arica community).

The winning Doodle from the Doodle4Google South Africa of my Dreams competition

It was very exciting when Google in South Africa launched their 'Doodle for Google South Africa of my dreams' competition. I immediately got all the classes at the little school that I volunteer at to enter and uploaded 120 entries. Alas, none of them were winners but I was very excited about the competition as a whole. The website with all the details can be found at:
http://www.google.co.za/doodle4google/ 

Google.co.za recently announced the winning Doodle in the Doodle4Google South Africa of my dreams contest. The Doodle was created by Katya Ludick, who won a R100,000 technology award for her school, Hoerskool Noordheuwel at the Doodle4GoogleSA Awards in Johannesburg.



Katya’s Doodle was displayed on the Google.co.za page on 3rd December. Her caption for her Doodle was ‘SA Flag is proudly represented in the Google letters. The reflection symbolises 20 years of freedom. In my South African dream there is no more poaching. We must fight for those that cant speak. Conservation is our future.’

The 20 finalist Doodles can be seen at http://goo.gl/MUxITo.  Look at this lovely, short video that Google created from the 20 finalists’ videos.

GVC #14 Working away on our recycling project

We are starting to collaborate with the other teams in our global project on Recycling now. We have been studying recycling and brainstorming the topic with our students.  We have decided on the headings for our Google site.  The students are learning so many things: We are also hoping to have a Skype session before the holidays.  These are the things we have been looking at:

• How to cite information
• Copyright issues
• All about recycling
• Recycling games
• Sites for finding free images
• How to work in a team
• How to divide up the work in a project
• How to collaborate and communicate

This project has really opened our eyes to the value of International communication and collaboration.

Our school has a long six week holiday now while the other schools in Taiwan and the USA,  don't, so I guess when we get back we'll see quite an advancement on our Google site.