Google+

Last week Google released their long awaited social networking tool Google+.  While I don't have access to Google+ (and from what I've seen it's pretty hard to get in) from what i've heard it has a quite a lot of potential, especially for education.  This post is not specifically about AT or special education, but I think that the potential of Google+ is something that should be looked at.

Circles:  While this cartoon may explain why people would want to join Google+ (Google+ xkcd), Circles is what sets it apart from Facebook.  When you first start Google+ allows you to sort your friends into groups.  This allows you to share information with specific groups or publicly, which is something that Facebook has not made easy.

Implications for Education:  Circles would allow you to friend family, friends, co-workers or students which is something that I would never do on Facebook.  By creating Circles you can share information with one Circle, some Circles or publicly with everyone.  It allows you to share more like you typically do, you share certain information with co-workers, close friends or family.  It solves the Facebook issue of everything being public.

Hangout:  Hangout is a video chat for up to 10 people.  The chat is run from your browser and includes text chat, Youtube video sharing (which means you all can watch), and automatic switching to who is talking.  You do need to download a small file from Google to make it work - Google voice & video chat.  To use Hangout, you set your profile to say you are available to certain Circles, then your friends can initiate the video.

Implications for Education:  Imagine having "office hours" via Hangout.  You can set certain times you'll be online and available to Hangout with your students.  Offering help via video and hopefully screen sharing or whiteboard too (don't know anything just features I'd like to see).  Hangout's even continue after you leave the session, allowing students to continue to discuss after you leave.

Sparks:  Sparks is a way to discover new content/information.  You add your interests and Google finds articles, stories, or posts that fit that topic.  You can then share that information with your Circles or publicly.

Implications for Education:  Sparks sounds like a machine curated version of Twitter.  While information on Twitter is curated by your friends, Sparks is more Google directed.  I can see this as a very interesting way to discover new information for my PLN and such.

Again, I have not had access to Google+ and these are just my impressions.  If you are interested in seeing more about Google+ I recommend checking out EdReach.us this week as they are doing a great round up of Google+.  Also, check out Episode 101 of This Week in Google on the TWIT network.


Patrick


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MicroBlogging

I've become more and more interested in Web2.0 applications and how they can be used with students. One of the newer, more interesting application is microblogging. So you've read my blog, now check out my microblog - Teachntech00. Right now there are 2 major ones - Twitter and Plurk. Basically you can see and write about simple, small things you may be doing. Maybe you want everyone to know you are looking at a specific site, video, or blog. Or maybe you just want everyone to know you just ate Fruit Loops for breakfast. You can put whatever you want - as long as it's less than 140 characters.

So how could this be used with students. My first thought would be, since profiles can be private (gotta think about those privacy laws), parents or grandparents could be the only ones to view the feed. Then students could microblog about their day. One of the new trends in teaching is to have students understand what they are doing, and be able to explain it. So as a teacher you could have the student write a sentence about what reading activity they are doing, or what kind of math problems they are working on. Then it could be put online and the parents could see what a child did all day. No more wondering if the teacher forgot something in the notebook, or calling because the teacher forgot to write (guilty as charged).

With the amount of computers that are in classrooms these days, schools with laptops and such it becomes a minor issue to have students post this info. And as a student gets older Twitter accepts posts from cell phones, or just as easily from the IPhone, this could be an age appropriate, acceptable way to get writing samples from a student. Think about how natural this is, a student texting, that's the way all students want to communicate right now.

There are issues to work out with this technology - making sure things stay private, cell phones in school (yeesh), and just making sure it gets done, but I think it's something I'm going to be exploring. Give me some thoughts, let me know what you think.


Patrick