Hour of Code

The Hour of Code engages students of all ages. Pictured, a middle school student.

   For the second consecutive year, Gill St. Bernard's school has participated in the Hour of Code program. The Hour of Code is an international program designed to introduce students to computer coding.  The program is really built on dual premises. 1) Most students have no familiarity with computer coding when they graduate high school and 2) Computer coding is a fundamental academic skill that will grow in importance as technology becomes increasingly part of our lives.         

  Given these two realities, a great many individuals and organizations have backed an initiative that would, at the very least, introduce large numbers of students to computer coding. This introduction comes in the form of a wide variety of coding exercises collectively called the Hour of Code. The exercises, none of which would take more than a hour to complete, can be found at the Hour of Code web site: code.org.

Upper School students in a Statistics class participated.

   Who's backing Hour of Code? Bill Gates is. So is Ali Partovi. And Susan Wojcicki. And dozens of other important technology people. Organizations, too, like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, Dropbox, Facebook, Yahoo! and Khan Academy.  In short, support comes from a who's who of technology people and organizations. They all have a stake in promoting coding to a group of people who will become the workforce of tomorrow....today's students.

    Some facts about the Hour of Code program. Over 76,000,000 students have participated. They have written over four billion lines of computer code. Participation has been gender-balanced: 51% boys, 49% girls. Participating students come from all over the globe representing about 40 countries. Among these nations, U.S. participation is the largest.

   So in participating in the Hour of Code, we're involved in something very big and arguably, very important.  But what's actually going on in a Hour of Code classroom?  Students are guided to coding activities that are age appropriate. Depending on their age, they may be coding with a simple, object-based code or they may be creating app for phones.  But every activity, viewable on the code.org web site, can be completed in a relatively short amount of time. Remember, the goal is not to produce computer coding experts. It is to introduce students to coding and encourage those with an interest to pursue further study.

Student Films

   With the completion of another project cycle, our Filmmaking class has created a new set of short videos. The project asked each student to choose a school club, team or event and create a promotional video.  The hope is that advisers might post these videos on activity pages in KnightSite to help promote the given activity.
   Keep in mind that this is a group of relatively inexperienced filmmakers who are in the initial stages of learning a craft.  I've enjoyed watching them make quick progress through the semester as they become increasingly familiar with film creation tools.
   Hope you enjoy these six selections. Each is roughly 60-90 seconds long.

 

Comets and Coding

(This short video offers an introduction to the ESA's comet exploration mission.)

   
   The news a few days back that the European Space Agency (ESA) had successfully landed a scientific probe on a comet gave me pause.  The mission seemed ridiculously audacious and challenging.  It involved a spacecraft launch a decade ago that needed propulsive boosts provided by a couple of planets to reach its rendezvous location over 300 million  miles away.  The spacecraft, Rosetta, was set on a course to meet up with a comet named Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. As Rosetta came into orbit near the comet, it launched its lander, Philae, towards the comet's surface.  All this while the comet is speeding through space at upwards of 80,000 mph.  Somehow, someway, Philae landed and began to relay scientific data back to mission control.  Pretty amazing!
   I grew up and in a very specific time of space exploration. Only two countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, were involved in exploring outer space. There was a high-stakes competition between the two countries dubbed "the space race." Who first left earth's atmosphere, who first orbited earth, who first orbited the moon and who first landed on the moon mattered immensely at that time.
   It's very different now. Other nations have successfully launched spacecraft, as have consortia of nations and even private entrepreneurs.  Goals have changed as well.  A comet rendezvous mission in deep space was unthinkable 40 or 50 years ago. Today, it's a reality.
   As regards to space exploration and education, one central theme persists. During the time of the space race, there was a keen interest in how students were educated. In particular, educational professionals scrutinized science and math curricula and recommended changes to promote higher level learning.  The reason? The space race required our best and brightest minds to fully participate at the frontiers of science.
   Today, we understand the fundamental role computer science education plays in preparing students for professional lives connected to space exploration. There is an increasing awareness that, at least in the U.S., computer science programs have grown slowly.  To that end, many interested individuals and organizations have jumped at the opportunity to find ways to promote computer science learning.
   The Hour of Code program fits into this framework.  It's a program with wide support. It's designed to introduce students to programming.  And the Hour of Code organization states in its mission that it wants to see computer science as a core course offering, taking its place besides English, history, math, science and world language. In a time of on-site comet exploration, it's a curricular idea worth considering.

Photographer Matt Wang (http://www.iflscience.com/space/graphic-shows-size-rosettas-comet) compares the size of the 3-kilomoter comet to the skyline of Los Angeles. But in deep space, the comet is still a very small object.

My Favorite Site Contest - Honorable Mention Submissions

   Over the last several weeks, a contest was organized, promoted and judged, and winners were awarded prizes.  The contest asked faculty to submit favorite web sites or apps. Our Student IT volunteers, a group of nine students (grades 9-12) judged the entries and chose one winner for each of four categories: creative, education, news and technology. The winners and their submissions were reviewed in my previous post. I hope you've had a chance to take a look at the sites/apps. All four are excellent.
   Because so many submissions were outstanding, I wanted to add a list of Honorable Mentions. These are sites/apps that were near misses.  All earned justifiable praise from our reviewers. And again, all are worth a look if they are not familiar to you.
   In the creative category, a few sites merit attention. Animoto, submitted by Mary Tuohy, allows the user to quickly create videos from still images. You can add music and text to enrich the content. It's a site and app.  Prezi, submitted by Joanna Hayes, allows for the presentation of information in a particularly dynamic way. As perspectives shift, viewers are forced to consider their own perspectives on a topic.  Kristen Armstrong's recommendation, Recitethis, allows the user to add quoted text to a variety of other platforms. The results can be useful and fun, and helps viewers engage material. 
   In the education category, Elise Smith suggested an app called Subitize Tree. (Currently, it's selling for 99 cents.) This app promotes numerical literacy and number sense for younger mathematicians. Irv Taylor recommended the Code Academy site for people who'd like to "learn to code interactively,  for free."  Linda Park offered several sites that focused on language use. Forvo is unique among them because it is built around the auditory component of language acquisition.  Listen to how words and phrases sound around the world. Finally, in this category, Lynn Prosen's ChemCrafter iPad app allows you to mix chemicals and see reactions, all from the safety of an app.  I guess it's the Chemistry version of a virtual dissection in Biology.
   In the news category, There were several sites designed to bring news items of your choosing to a central location.  I submitted Zite and Mike LaBrie submitted Feedly.  Both are similar to Fred Corona's winning submission of Flipboard, though Flipboard's navigation software is especially impressive. And Larry Bostian's igHome allows the users to create a personal dashboard that might serve as an excellent home page in your browser.  With the exception of the web site igHome, these are free apps.  Some of our student judges were impressed to learn that CNN has set up a news section on their site for middle and upper school students. Joanna Hayes pointed us towards their site.  
    The technology category had only four submissions, but in addition to the winning Dropbox, Isabel; Corbin's suggestion of Diigo merits a look. It's a social media site for educators. It allows you to organize information and sites for personal use, and also to become part of larger communities sharing resources of mutual interest.  I receive a Diigo feed every day, and virtually without exception, I find information of use and interest.
   So in addition to our four winning submissions, there are quite a few others that are deserving of your attention. When you get some free time - and yes, that might be at some point in the distant future - check out our Honorable Mention submissions. They, too, are worth a look.
  

My Favorite Site

   A few weeks back, I organized a contest for GSB faculty. Faculty members could nominate up to three favorite web sites or apps.  Any nomination would be assigned to one of four categories by the submitter: news, creative, technology or education. Over forty submissions were received.
   The contest elicited many interesting, valuable sites. In order to judge the sites, a team of seven student volunteers each looked at about twenty sites.  In this way, each site received multiple reviews.  Each site (or app) was judged for ease of use, attractiveness of interface, navigation, content and how well it works.  Multiple scores were averaged yielding a simple 1-10 total score for every site reviewed. Any score over 9.0 meant that several students judged the site to be very strong in all components.
    In the creative category, a website, Colossal, submitted by Sarah Isusi was the winner. In Colossal's banner, "Art, Design and Visual Culture" are the identified interests of this site.  There's excellent video content and spectacular photography. The Design section offers some very original ideas that might offer inspiration to artists of all stripes. Be sure to click the "More" prompt for a wide variety of site options.

 

   In the technology category, Lynn Prosen's submission,  Dropbox, was judged tops.  There's nothing particularly new or noteworthy about Dropbox to its millions of users. But there is a very easy-to-use interface, consistent performance and the convenience of an ability to sync across multiple devices and platforms.  Many of the student judges used Dropbox, and perhaps this skewed their judgements. But what they have come to learn is that Dropbox provides cloud storage for free (or inexpensively, depending on how much storage you want) and thus far has proven 100% dependable. Dropbox is more than a website; you can download an app on computers, phones or tablets and then your files are synced across all devises whenever an edit occurs. I use it. I'm a fan. It really does work very well.  Below, a screenshot of my Dropbox.

   In the news category, Fred Corona's app, Flipboard, was judged a winner. Flipboard is a news aggregator; it brings together articles of interest from diverse sources.  It's very customizable.  For instance, your Flipboard could gather articles (and video and audio content) on music, gaming, history and health. You might add social media networks like Facebook or Instagram.  Another user might have completely different content in his or her version of Flipboard.  Everyone user creates a new, individualized Flipboard.

   Two other submissions were very similar to Flipboard. One is Zite. The other is Feedly. Both essentially do what Flipboard does. Obviously, with three unrelated submissions, this concept has some fans. It's worth checking Flipboard (or Zite or Feedly) to create your own custom "magazine." 

   In the news category, Joanna Hayes suggested the NY Times Learning Network. As the banner reminds us, it's all about "Teaching and Learning with the NY Times."  The short articles are invariably stimulating and can easily provide starting points for discussions, creative projects or further research.  This is a part of the NY Times not included in the paper version. But by navigating to the web page, you'll be rewarded with excellent content.  I'll put in a pitch for the terrific  infographics section included in the Learning Network. There's some great tips to using infographics in your classes, and exceptional content as well.

   Congratulations to our four winners and thanks to everyone who took the time to submit.  A full annotated list of submissions is posted and shared on OneDrive.  And a special thanks to our student judges, members of the GSB Student IT group.

   

PSAs - GSB Filmmakers Deliver the Message

http://viewpure.com/S51cwrmEnCM (animal welfare)

http://viewpure.com/Q0uFOejzVf4 (cyber bullying)

http://viewpure.com/0jKvyhBquTA (theft)

http://viewpure.com/Y85FtNwqOzk (bullying)

http://viewpure.com/y0GuB0aK90c (gum chewing)

http://viewpure.com/lM0mAuwIpRc (fan rage)

   Above, six links to six student films.  They were all created over the last several weeks as part of a Filmmaking class assignment.  Students were asked to create a PSA, a public service announcement. As stated on our class site, "What are PSAs? PSA stands for Public Service Announcement. A PSA might be broadcast on the radio, on TV, in a movie theater, on the Internet or elsewhere. A PSA is designed to draw awareness to issues of personal or societal concern. They seek to help people to behave better or to contribute positively to their community or to become aware of pressing issues.  Some of the many issues PSAs might address are bullying, the dangers of driving under the influence, the link between smoking/drinking and health, and the importance of sound nutrition."
  Students could pick their topic of choice. Films range from about 30 - 90 seconds. Especially noteworthy is the fact that for five of the six filmmakers, this was essentially a first effort.  They've learned the fundamentals quickly and I am certain their filmmaking skills will develop quickly.
    Usually, if I was including video in this blog, I'd embed the video so you'd see an opening scene and could simply click on the video to play it right out of the blog page.  But for these videos, I used Viewpure to isolate the video content. (Because Viewpure does not supply embed codes, only the links are posted.) Why Viewpure for these videos? Because I think they might be effectively used by teachers to show to other students. Some possibilities: the character education work done in the lower school, middle school health classes and upper school advisory meetings.  The Viewpure interface will eliminate the sidebar clutter that is part of a YouTube embedded video.
    I hope you'll take a look and enjoy the work of our US filmmakers.  And if you'd like to use films to help students think through social issues, then these PSAs are really doing their job.

Office 365...beyond the transition

   It's been about a month since we adopted Office 365. With that change, all employees and students grades 5-12 gained access to cloud-based email, calendar and document management. After a month, it seems timely to pause and assess the transition.  Keep in mind that all my observations below are anecdotal, gleaned from daily conversations about Office 365.  It's my plan to more formally survey our users, but I want to wait to get past the initial learning period.
   In considering this wholesale move to cloud-based software, I would divide users into three categories: students, teaching faculty and non-teaching employees. Students generally have adapted to the system without much fuss.  I saw some eyes roll with the realization that there was yet another password to create and remember. Many students were also not especially keen about the length of their user names. In this system, the user name is the full email address, and many students have lengthy user names.  Students, as a group, are reluctant email users.  And if they're checking email, their first instinct is to look at an already established personal account. (Personal accounts are generally gmail accounts.) So getting students to check a school account can be a challenge.  But one of the advantages of Office 365 is that it links other functions to email, notably document creation and storage.  The idea that students have 24/7 access to Word docs (and Excel and PowerPoint) is valued by students.  By default, they open the program that also opens their school email.
   Our teaching faculty have quickly adapted to the new system, but not without some reservations.  Email, in general, is considered a very positive part of the change to Office 365.  Previously, virtually all faculty regularly checked email at school and at home. But the two displays were totally different, and the programs acted differently. Now, in Office 365, the interface is identical all the time.  That change is much appreciated.  Faculty seem less comfortable using cloud-based document management.  Creating and working with a new document, like a Word document, is a bit different than in the past. Questions about whether or not to download documents or simply work in Office 365 persist.  Understanding when best to share a document is a work in progress for many users.
   Non-teaching employees have probably encountered more hurdles than other users, and are understandably less enthusiastic about the change. Tasks that formerly might have taken one or two steps might now take two or three steps. Emailing large groups (e.g.: all the parents in the school) required a work-around that was not obvious at first glance. Many of our non-teaching employees are what might be termed "power users" of the system. They are in offices everyday working on their computers. They become masterful at particular software products. When change happens, it's especially challenging to these GSBers because there's no real time to learn the new software. Their work continues every day. so they learn as they work through problems, and in the process lose some short-term efficiency. I'm confident that soon enough, today's challenges will become tomorrow's dim memories, but in the meantime, I'm particularly aware of this group's transition.
   I'd remind everyone that the change to office 365 was done for good reasons. You can review the reasons by jumping to my August 11, 2014 post.  I know that we've gained a rock solid system for GSB that will serve us into the years ahead. But transitions are always challenging, and this one is no exception.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

   Jump back about six years.  GSB was getting ready to roll out an Intranet, a password-protected set of interconnected websites including sites for every class. Though Intranets were standard fare among colleges, they were far less common at the K-12 level.  Edline was our provider.  After a school wide contest, our Intranet had a name: KnightSite.
   Over the ensuing years, we've been charged with learning and using a variety of new web-based systems.  Instant Alert, also about six years old, became the tool we used to notify the GSB community about emergency closings and delays and other announcements of importance. The following year, Pick-A-Time was brought online as a scheduling tool for Parent Conference days.

   As teachers and students increasingly became dependent on KnightSite, its functional limits became more apparent.  At the same time, a decision was reached that it was time to refresh the look of our school's public website. We switched providers to Whipple Hill for both our public site and for KnightSite.

   Over the next couple of years, Whipple Hill was actively engaged in revamping and upgrading the look and navigation of its software.  This meant that annually, teachers needed to learn how to use new features.

   And of course this year, with the roll out of Office 365, there is yet another system to learn. Office 365 will replace our email system with a more reliable system. But it offers far more: a cloud-based set of creation, sharing and storage tools for information.

    Depending on your division or specific job, you may also have had to learn one or several of the following systems over the last six years: Accelerated Reader, FAWeb, Discovery Education, Destiny and Naviance.
    Though we work in a school and call ourselves teachers, it might be more accurate to say we work in a school and we are both teachers and learners.  It is simply impossible to opt out of learning these new software tools. They are part of our profession the way a chalkboard was 50 years ago.
    More than most, I appreciate the way our faculty and staff have taken on the challenges of learning and using new systems. They can facilitate organization and communication, but also require time and perseverance on the part of new users. It might be worthwhile to take a moment and appreciate not only what you've taught to so many students, but what you've learned as well.

Office 365

   I use this blog to communicate with members of the GSB community, especially faculty, about technology topics that may be of interest.  Posts generally appear to coincide with an academic year.  For the upcoming 2014-15 school year, the initial post comes a bit early because a significant system change is underway. I'd like to offer information about this change.
   We are changing the way we access and use the Microsoft (MS) productivity suite, MS Office.  MS Office includes such widely used software applications as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook (email).  Currently, MS Office is installed on each school computer. Users can create documents and save them to local hard drives, to a network drive or to a personal device like a thumb drive.  If you choose to access your email off-site, you utilize Exchange, MS software that connects your remote computer to the school's server that holds email data.
   As I write this post on August 10, we are in the middle of a project that will change the way we access MS Office.  Moving forward, we'll be utilizing Microsoft's cloud-based version, Office 365 (O365).  With O365, you'll be able to create a document in programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint from any computer with internet access. When you save the created file, you'll continue to have exactly the same options you currently have with one addition; you can also save the file to a personal storage folder accessible from any internet-connected device.
   Before I continue with more information, I'd like to be sure the terms I'm using are understood. A cloud-based system simply means that software or data, or both, are stored in a remote server that could be anywhere in the world.  The software and data are accessed through a user name and password.  A personal storage folder in the cloud is a familiar concept to many GSB users.  Dropbox and Google Drive have popularized the concept. A locally hosted system means that the software and data reside at the physical location of the user.  Generally, the software and files are accessible only from that location unless access from remote locations is specifically allowed.
   Why make this change? Though there are several reasons, the foremost is reliability of email.  Currently, our email delivery is not as reliable as we'd like.  It probably delivers email safely and accurately over 99% of the time, but the standard we aspire to is a rate of 99.9%. We are currently vulnerable to power outages and brown-outs and hardware failure.  With O365, these problems would essentially disappear. But O365 offers more than reliability. It holds the potential to fundamentally change the way all of us, including students, use documents. (Students will get O365 accounts as well.) After creating a document, it can be shared with others. Group editing can occur. Comments can be inserted and replies offered.  In short, O365 holds the promise for creating a new learning environment untethered to the classroom.
   Why O365 and not Google Drive? It's a question that we carefully considered over the last months, but ultimately, we thought O365 is a better solution for a number of reasons.  The specific software applications of O365 (Word, Excel, etc.) are close to identical to the locally-hosted version we currently use.  So when we cut over to O365 and you begin using a cloud-based version of Word or Outlook, there will be no learning curve to get started.  Though the Google productivity suite is very similar to what we use now, it's different enough that some training might be required.  No training is better than some training, every time. Also, the big challenge in this project relates to email, specifically the hundreds of gigs of data that needs to be transferred from our local server in Hockenbury to Microsoft's server. Every user's inbox, folders, calendar, etc. is being copied into the O365 servers dedicated for our use. Partly because our email server already runs on Microsoft equipment and partly because the way Google manages the transfer, it is easier to transfer to O365 than to Google Drive. Finally, with O356, we'll be able to keep our current email addresses. With Google, changes would be mandated.
   What lies ahead? Over the next couple of weeks, GSB users will be instructed on how to access email utilizing O365.  You'll be given a user name and password and a web site log-in address.  Materials will be available to get you started.  Our currently timeline has us making the switch to O365 as early as August 14. But there are no guarantees; the date could change.  After the switch, you'll need user name and password information to access email.
   We'll be using the news feed of KnightSite to keep everyone appraised of changes.  Best to log-in to KnightSite regularly beginning August 14 for news about this important change.
   Want to get oriented with a quick video? Click below.  A quick web search will yield much more information if you are interested.

Video Editing and Production

   Classroom technology has changed rapidly in the last few years, and as devices have changed, so has classroom instruction. I can think of no more clear example than how video production has permeated classroom curricula at all levels.
    In the lower school, a number of recent projects show how young students are learning about topics through the use of video production.  In the 4th grade, a video project had students making films about topics related to appropriate computer use; one film was about cyber-bullying, another about plagiarism and another about cyber-safety. This past week, I've watched a number of Upper School Units ready films about various Unit experiences.  And through the year, in all divisions, student video projects are regularly produced to add depth and understanding to a topic under consideration.
    No doubt, you've seen student films and maybe assigned video-based projects.  But do you  know what's involved on the production side? Exactly how difficult is it to make a movie?
    The biggest single reason accounting for the explosion of video projects is the easy availability of good video cameras.  For most student filmmakers, this means using their phones.  Smartphones, pretty much without exception, have built in cameras that can be used for still or video photography. The resolution is usually excellent, though the audio usually lags far behind.  But another important reason why video project work has caught on is that video editors are also cheap (or free) and widely available.  At school, the two most used video editors are iMovie (an Apple product) and Movie Maker (a Microsoft product).
     Both iMovie and Movie Maker are similar, however one only works in the Apple operating system and the other in the Windows operating system.  In both, you work in a timeline.  You can drag and drop still images or video clips.  You can add a separate sound track, or separate audio clips, again by dragging and dropping.  You can create title slides and credit slides. You can use transitions to bridge sections of you film. You can add some special effects as well.  In the end, in either editor, you'd export your timelined project to create a file on your computer or a DVD.  The file could be posted to YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
     I teach a Filmmaking class in the Upper School. There are occasionally students in the class who have never worked in a movie editor.  It usually takes one or two classes to a student to know enough to begin working.  In other words, it's a gentle learning curve with lots of quick progress if you're using Movie Maker or iMovie. But to be accurate, iMovie is a little more difficult to learn because it's a richer program.  But it's still pretty easy to learn and worth the very moderate extra effort.
    The pros don't use iMovie or Movie Maker.  They're far more likely to use Avid or Final Cut Pro.  I've never used Avid, but I do work in Final Cut Pro.  It's more difficult to learn and master because it can so do much more than the basic editors.  But for those with interest, the end products seem well worth the effort.
    Interested in learning more?  If you have a Mac, it's likely you have iMovie already installed. Many of our school Macs are bootcamped, so you'll need to be working on the Mac OS side to access iMovie. If you're using a PC, you can look at your programs to see if you have Windows Movie Maker. If not, it's a free download.  I'd be happy to help you get started if you'd like some assistance.

The GSB Cavern

   In the Lower School, some available space has undergone an extreme makeover and become a simulated cave environment.  It's a teaching tool for Lynn Prosen, our science teacher, as she takes classes on tour to educate students about the ecosystems of caves.
   The cave, dubbed The GSB Cavern by students, is the handiwork of Lynn, Joanne Bodnar and Hope Napolitan.  You can watch the video posted above for an in-depth look at the cave.  In the video, the cave tour is hosted by two fourth graders, Isha and Kelly. Both were poised, knowledgeable guides.  

Google Drive

   When people hear the word "Google," generally one of two thoughts come to mind.  The first is to consider "Google" as a verb, and think about Googling information.  The other thought might be to consider "Google" as a corporate entity, a hugely powerful company that seems bent on taking over all competitors.
   I would add one additional reaction. To me, "Google" also brings to mind a set of tools that are effective, creative and practical.  The particular tool I want to focus on in this post is Google Drive, but before we get into Drive, I'll mention a few other Google tools that indicate the company's scope.
    Google Sketch-Up is a 3-D drawing tool. Blogger is a template to create blogs. (This blog is created on Blogger.) Google Sites allow users to create web sites. Google Play is an integrated set of services that bring games, music, TV, books and other entertainment to users. Gmail, of course, is an email system.  There are dozens of other examples.  Most are software tools, but Google is also creating hardware tools like Chromecast and Google Glass. Google tools are virtually all free to users, generally easy to learn and work dependably. Google tools are used best by registered users. The registration process affords Google information about users, and ultimately, that information has become very profitable to the company.
   Google Drive is actually a productivity suite of software tools in much the same way Microsoft Office is a productivity suite.   Google Drive's tools as a group are generally called Google Docs; you've probably heard the term.  These Docs are identified as Document, Presentation, Spreadsheet, Form and Drawing.  So if, for instance, you create a Google Document, you'll open a MS Word-like editor that allows you to create a text document, edit it in much the same way you'd edit a MS Word document and save it.  You can do the same for newly created spreadsheets or presentations (which echo a MS PowerPoint). Forms allow users to create surveys that can be distributed through a web site. Responses automatically populate a spreadsheet for easy analysis. (You might remember the "Digital vs. Paper" survey last month. That was a Google Form.) Google Art helps users to create and edit 2-D art work.  
   The real power of Google Drive is the way in which it allows multiple users to collaborate on a document.  Say, for instance, I create a Spreadsheet. I can share access to this document with several other users.  Based on my settings, other users might have read-only access or might have full editing privileges.  All edits are saved immediately.  The document is saved to Google's servers (aka: cloud storage) but can be downloaded to your desktop.
   Within Google Drive, folders can be created and named.  The result is that a Drive page can look much like a user's desktop, with fully identified folders that contain documents or additional nested folders.  Google Drive allows for customizable organization, an important feature for active users.
   Last week, I was part of a re-accreditation team that visited Montclair Kimberley Academy to create a report based on their self-study. This was a complicated project because MKA has three divisions located on three separate campuses.  Our team had 21 members, a very large team, so that each campus would have seven members "in residence."
   We used Google Drive to write our report.  Our Drive account, newly created for this project, had a separate folder for each chapter of MKA's self-study. Within the folder were documents that would allow specific people to take and store notes. There was also a template document that would eventually be filed in by designated team members that would be included in the final report.  Below, you can see a screen shot of the organization scheme.

      Folder #5 is labeled Technology.  This folder housed the note-taking documents and the report chapter on the Technology section of the self-study.  Looking below, you'll see the documents in the Technology folder.

   Towards the end of each working day, our 21 person team would assemble for group editing.  It was possible for all 21 members to have the same document open and actively be involved in editing that document.  Obviously, this could become chaotic. In fact, this is exactly what happened so it was important for our group to create some guidelines for our group editing sessions.

   We also found it helpful to set up a folder that housed a variety of files that were pertinent to our work.  If you look closely below, you'll notice that a Drive folder comfortably accommodates non-Google docs. You'll see .pdf files, a PowerPoint file and MS Word documents in the folder. It's easy to upload your files and/or create new docs using Google Drive.

    As part of our final session, our team debriefed our four day experience as a re-accreditation team.  On the topic of Google Drive, there was a unanimous and enthusiastic endorsement of its use for our work.  In fact, any number of people wondered aloud how such a project could be completed without a document-sharing tool such as Drive. 

   If an upcoming project includes a collaborative element, and especially if group participants are geographically separated, Google Drive could prove very useful.  If you'd like to know more, don't hesitate to ask.

Digital vs. Paper

    About a week ago, a survey was circulated at GSB in order to gather information about preferences for the delivery of information.  The basic question was simple: Do you prefer information in digital form or paper form?  The survey asked a variety of questions designed to tease out more specific information about preferences.  All employees were given an opportunity to complete the survey.  About 100 did so. Respondents self-reported as one of four affiliations: lower school, middle school, upper school and all-school employees.

    The first set of questions surveyed respondents about the distribution of information at school.  This set of questions was designed to allow respondents to differentiate between different types of documents in terms of length. Results were separated by division, with an additional category for respondents that identified themselves as primarily associated with the whole school, as opposed to a single division.  It’s very clear that in the aggregate, there is consensus around the idea that a sole reliance on paper delivery is not a preference.  Paper delivery gains some traction when the document is larger, but the data suggests that we’d be fine with digital communications on campus in most situations. 

    There was also an opportunity to comment on the question of digital vs. paper delivery of information.  A number of comments do a nice job of articulating specific concerns.  Here are just a few:

At times I feel I am under a pile of information sent digitally. I think people send information that they wouldn't normally send along to others because it is easy to click. 

I think that we could better utilize the resources that we have. For instance, we should use our outlook calendar for setting up meetings so that individuals need to RSVP and get the meeting on the calendar. I also think that our online resources could also be used more effectively.

I frequently like digital material because it cuts down on paper use. On the other hand, if something needs t/b handed out to students (or kept in a folder etc) it makes more sense to use Xerox copies than to have everyone print out copies on a printer (Xerox more efficient than ink-jet or laser).

Paper copies going home seem more likely to be read by parents. Not many keep up with KnightSite, unless an email is also sent out. 

    A question asked about etexts for class use.  Etexts are being used in some middle school classes but have not gained real traction in any division.  I wondered what the interest was in etexts. They are talked about as "the next big thing" in curriculum delivery. The responses across all divisions indicated interest (though not overwhelming interest) in etexts.  In terms of saying they were "very interested," only 7% of lower school respondents agreed. But 50% of middle school faculty were very interested and 28% of upper school faculty were also very interested. Add in numbers for "not sure at this time" and the interest is significant. We certainly want to keep up with etext information and look for appropriate opportunities to expand our program.  

    A number of questions asked about at-home reading habits.  These questions were designed to gather additional information about varying comfort levels with digital vs. paper delivery of reading materials. Roughly one third of all respondent s owned a dedicated eReader. The Kindle was the preferred device, with the Nook a somewhat distant second.  People also are in the habit of reading at home on other devices (i.e.: tablets, phones, laptops), and for those using these devices, the iPad was a clear favorite. Finally, a question solicited information about home subscriptions.  Here, paper delivery was a clear favorite.  When newspapers or magazines are delivered, most people right now favor paper delivery. However, roughly 30% of all respondents stated their subscriptions include a mix of delivery modes.

    Again, respondents were given an opportunity to comment.  And again, they were thoughtful, insightful. Here's a sampling:

I like real books.


I find that I'm using my iPad more and more. Books are becoming cumbersome to hold and carry, but I can't pass the digital books along to share with others. 


I like to be able to write notes on paper as I am reading it. I'm not in the habit of doing that on my kindle.


I prefer paper form because it reduces my time staring at screens, either on phone or computer.   


I prefer to read longer email attachments from paper. Reading articles or schedules from the computer is, for some reason difficult for me, so I print them out.
I do like reading books from an ereader but only with the e-ink that looks like a book, not the glow of an ipad or computer.


I like digital copies, because I can file them on my computer, making them easy to find later. However, if a document is several pages, and I need to read it in its entirety, I print it out to read. So, my preference is to have digital copies, and then I make the choice to print or not. 


I don't like the electronic of the GSB monthly news. I find it too hard to read. I would prefer a paper version, or even a simpler PDF. It is the type of publication I would like to read when I am relaxing, not sitting at my computer.

    Interested? Want to know more? Feel free to email me and I'll send you a more ccomprehensive report.