My Chrome Theme

This year we rolled out Chromebooks to all of our students grades 2-8. It's been a lot of work, but so

much fun.  This week we learned the value in the Chromebook and harnessing the power and creativity of our students.

With our Google Apps control panel we have tried to keep the Chrome Web Store under control. We didn't want students installing inappropriate themes and playing games on the laptop. Over the last week students began emailing me to request access to apps, extensions, and themes.  They figured out the web store pretty quick. After all they have only had the Chromebooks for about 2 weeks!  Google does a nice job gathering all apps and extensions for education, so it was simple to make 50 or more apps available to our students.

Themes are a different animal.  I really didn't want to go into class and find garbage all over each student's Chrome theme. Nonetheless, students kept asking for themes. I had received a warning about one of these students from his principal. I was warned that this student was cunning and crafty with a computer.  We figured we could use this to our advantage. So we challenged him to create themes for his school or anything else school related. He asked me to open up the My Chrome Theme app in the web store, and I did right away. He emailed me 3 zip files less than 24 hours later! So we uploaded his themes to the webstore and made them available in the GAFE Domain folder of the Chrome Web Store.  Check out how we did it below:

1. Enable the My Chrome Theme app in the web store for GAFE domain users.
2. Install the My Chrome Theme app
3. Follow the steps in the app for creating your own theme. (For a really nice theme you will need access to some type of photo editing application.)

4. Install the theme into your Chrome browser.  (You will need to take screenshots in order to post the theme to the web store.)

5. Download the .zip file

6. Navigate to the Chrome Web Store.

7. In the upper right-hand corner click on the gear and then "Developer Dashboard"

8. Add a new item.
9. Upload your file, and fill out the form on the following page.  * You will need logos and screenshots for your theme.
10. Publish your app to the Chrome Web Store. * A one-time $5 developer fee is required.
11. Finally, in the GAFE control panel, navigate to Chrome management and enable the themes you uploaded so that students can install them on their Chromebooks


This process has been so slick, that I'm planning on creating a contest for students to create the best Chrome themes for our school district.

Chromecast Review

I ordered my Chromecast from the Google Play store the morning after it was announced. It was immediately backordered and took about 3 weeks to arrive.  But it's hear and I love it.

This is a fairly small device and hides very easily behind the TV.

The HDMI port on my TV cannot power the Chromecast on it's own. For others with this problem the Chromecast comes with a 5ft. USB cord and an AC adapter. This TV has a USB port close to the HDMI ports, so I didn't have a need for the AC adapter.

It took me 30 seconds to plugin the HDMI dongle and USB cord.  It then took about 3 minutes to follow the directions in step 3 below. This step had me download a program to my Mac. Once the program opened, it found the Chromecast, asked me to input the wifi network passkey, and completed the setup. (It was seriously too easy.)

What it can do...

Mirror any Chrome tab on a Mac onto the TV.

Instantly stream YouTube or Netflix in HD from: iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac,

Allow mobile devices to multi-task while streaming. I was able to check email, surf the web, and use other apps while streaming.

Automatically switch the TV input to Chromecast when I begin casting. In other words if the TV was on Cable, Dish, or BluRay, and I decide to cast a video from Netflix, the TV will automatically switch the input and save me the hassle of finding the remote to switch the input manually. (This feature is only supported if your TV’s HDMI ports support auto switching.)

Play audio and video files inside a Chrome tab on a Mac or PC. I was able to drag music file and a video file into Chrome from my local hard drive and play them on the TV.

Stream Google Play Music. However, only music from the cloud.

Control volume while listening to music (although somewhat limited).

Control the Chromecast with multiple devices at once.  My wife and I sat down for nearly 2 hours playing our favorite YouTube videos.  She had an iPhone and I used a Nexus 7. When she had selected a video to cast, the YouTube app on my Nexus showed the video that was currently casting.  I was able to search for another video and either play that video instantly or add it to the queue. It was simple to understand and use.

The Chromecast allows the user(s) in the room to create a play queue with the YouTube app. Videos then continue to play from one video to the next until the app runs out of videos in the queue.

What it can’t do...

Mirror a Chrome tab on iPad, iPhone, or Android.  I assume that this is due primarily to the fact that Chrome on mobile devices doesn’t allow extensions.

Stream Pandora from a mobile device. Google and Pandora have announced that this is a feature they are currently working on.

Play Music from local memory. My Android phone has music in the cloud and on the SD card. While using the Google Music app I was able to play music from the cloud but not from the SD card. Since Google Music puts all the songs together regardless of their location, this was a terrible experience.

It cannot cast anything from a Chromebook. I was using a Samsung series 550 Chromebook. The extension in the WebStore was blocked for the Chromebook I was using. This seems to be a feature that is turned off for now but may be possible with future software updates. However, this fact renders Chromecast useless for classrooms running Chromebooks. (But the potential is definitely there.) * Update - I ran 3 updates on this Chromebook and Chromecast works beautifully!

*Note - I did not have a PC to test most of these features with. 

So is the Chromecast worth the $39 price tag? Absolutely! With the TV I'm using, I had been streaming Netflix on the Wii and couldn't stand the awful resolution. With the Chromecast, everything was in HD and it looked great! I don't think I have watched as much YouTube in one day as I have with Chromecast. I love being able to browse Netflix on my tablet instead of the Wii. I already have my iPad, phone or laptop next to my while I'm watching TV anyway. Now those devices are more useful while watching TV.

Is this a good device for the classroom? It depends on what you want to do and who you want to do it. If you want your students to have the ability to share their screen with the class on the projector, then yes.  This is very inexpensive device and has lots of power to engage students.

Google Apps Promo Posters

Google Apps are extremely effective tools for teaching and learning.  They can advance nearly every instructional area, especially those revolving around literacy.

I've been working on getting our district prepared for a full Google Apps rollout...teachers, administrators, & students.  I'll be blogging the full plan of my roll out in the future.  For tonight, however, I'd like to share a poster I've built for creating positive publicity around Google Apps and what we, as a district, expect students and teachers to do with these tools.

Here are the posters.  Jump to the links at the bottom of post to download the .pages or pdf versions of the posters.  I've created one for Elementary (without Gmail) and one for Secondary schools (with Gmail).

Elementary version

Secondary Version

You can download the PDF Versions as well as the original pages version here.

If you like these posters or have any other suggestions, please leave a comment.

Setting up Nexus 7 for Classroom Use

I'm working with a teacher who got a Donor's Choose grant for 4 Nexus 7 tablets to use in his classroom.  Before we went in on this little experiment, I made sure he knew that this was going to be an experiment and we were sure to stumble along the way.

Here are the steps I've taken to setup the tablets this far.  Remember, this is NOT a 1:1 device.  These 4 Nexus tablets will be float around the classroom in 3 class periods with about 25-30 students each.

Class setup:

1. Create a classroom Google apps account with secure password
2. Login to the device with Admin/teacher Google account first.
3. Make the admin account the device admin
4. Create a passcode for opening this account (something other than the default swipe lock)
5. Add generic class account to device
6. Login and setup device with generic account
7. Launch Play store app
• Play store settings
• Create a pin to control and lock settings
• Use a pin to install apps. (Found out this only applies to apps requiring a fee.)
8. Turn off the syncing of Gmail, calendar, and contacts. (Since this is a generic account we don't want students using the Gmail account anonymously.)
9. Launch Play store web
• Settings
• Settings tab
• Give a device nickname
• Write the nickname on the physical device. (This allows the teacher to install apps remotely from the web, rather than touching each device.)
10. Install the Google Drive App on each device. (Could also use Dropbox. We may use both, for getting content to/from each device.)

Problems:

• Other than setting maturity restrictions on apps, we cannot prevent students from installing free apps.
• Cannot remotely organize/setup look and feel of the device
• I investigated the Google Apps Device Policy app from Google. However, the app allowed the user to uninstall it. I also didn't have much luck with figuring out how to make the device ring loud (According to the info on the app, the GAFE admin can make the make the device ring loud in an effort to recover a lost/stolen device.) The only real tool I found was to wipe the device remotely.

Do you have similar problems, solutions, etc? Please leave a comment or contact me via G+.

It's Time We Innovate Educational Data

Data...Educational leaders love it.  Many go to great lengths to find it.  Some even do it just to have others call them by another title.   (That's a joke Dr. Larson.)

All joking aside, today's schools are ripe for disruptive change in the realm of instructional data.  Education has an enormous problem with data that will require world changing solutions.

Schools are starving for data.  There are lots of companies offering programs that provide data to schools and teachers.  Some even do a decent job providing data that is easy to consume and interpret.  BUT, they all miss the mark.  Let me paint a clearer picture.  States require standardized testing at various levels and subjects.  They return data by which districts, schools, and teachers are measured.  The data includes course objectives, standards, student demographics, etc.  Districts and schools then purchase specialized programs for student remediation, tutoring, and progress monitoring.  Any given school might have 3-10 specialized programs that also house more data revealing bits and pieces of valuable information. I call it valuable, because I think that data, if used properly, could reveal the keys to learning.  How likely is a teacher to be able to use this data effectively when it is broken into so many fragments?  They don't have time or expertise to be able to use the data when it is provided to them in such an unorganized mess.

I question current educational methods for providing feedback on student performance and skill mastery to key stakeholders in a child's education.  What is the standard method for providing feedback on  student performance?  It's primarily letter grades.  Yes, we also give standardized testing scores and other sundry pieces of data that may or may not reveal student progress.  But in today's educational culture of NCLB they don't quite fit in.  The further my children get in their educations, the more I wish I had more specific data from their teachers that could assist my wife and I in finding activities, games, etc. that would move toward mastery of classroom objectives with which they need the most help.  It makes me ponder a world where a child is a data driven report of their skill mastery rather than a holistic grade that reveals their willingness/ability to complete tasks.

Here is the point...

Education needs a standard or a platform for housing student data.  A system that is either open source or has open standards, or APIs.  A standard for data that will allow data to be moved from platform to platform.  A platform that inspires talented developers and visionaries to create tools and systems where educational data is easy to collect, evaluate, and used to improve student learning.  We need to be able to track student performance across countless assessments, activities, programs, and other teacher-made assessments.  Educators, students, and parents need data to be easy, nimble, and powerful.  On top of all this it needs to ensure a strict level of security and privacy.  Then it must be widely adopted by state education agencies and private companies alike.

This would create a frenzy of innovation in the market of educational data and tools.  Look at the past few years in technology.  Take the MP3 file format, for example.  It was a revolutionary standard for transforming the music industry making music easier to create, and consume.  From it we were introduced to MP3 players, iTunes, iPods, and countless other music players and programs that are a part of our everyday lives now.  Then there is Twitter.  Twitter created a simple platform for sharing ideas, links, pictures, and more.  From it spawned the creation of hashtags, retweets, and countless new apps for creating and consuming media.  It was a simple platform that was easy for developers and users alike.  Yet, it was a powerful tool for communication, and remains so today.

It's a huge task, I know.  If done right, however, it could create a new market full of tools for creating and consuming instructional-based data.

So who's going to be next to change the world?