Digital Modelling Books - Part 2

This is Part 2 of the previous blog post detailing how I create digital modelling books.

My class setup is an apple TV and TV.  When I am working with a group I link my iPad to the TV via the apple TV through airplay.  This allows whatever is on the iPad to be shown on screen.  My go to app for modelling books has been the handwriting app Penultimate, because it is part of the Evernote family and easily links back to Evernote for keeping.  Penultimate allows you to keep handwritten notebooks of information, which can then be kept in the app or shared to a number of other apps/websites e.g. Google Drive etc.

Penultimate is basic and it's one of the things that I love about it.  It does it's job and does it well without trying to be overly complicated.  It has different coloured pens, eraser, cut, paste and different options for paper types.  Everything I need with no pointless extras.  Everything has a purpose and it serves it well!  It is one of my go to apps in a lot of areas.

Throughout the teaching workshop students and myself record key ideas, information, working out etc into our notebook and at the end of the session it is shared across from Penultimate to Evernote.  Because of the way I have it set up as being a shared notebook, it means that as soon as the Penultimate notebook is synced to Evernote the students can access it via our class website straight away.  This is a huge bonus for me, as the teacher, as I don't need to go back and post content, change it etc - it's available with minimum time.

Adding Content to Shared Evernote Notebooks

Open up Penultimate and it will ask you to sign in - this is to your Evernote account.  So you can enter the same details from your Evernote account above.  If it doesn't ask for this straight away click on the cog in the top left hand corner to link Penultimate to your Evernote account.

Now you are free to start a new notebook by clicking on the plus symbol in the bottom left hand corner.  It will open a new notebook for you to work in.  You will see the main tools, such as pens, eraser, cut, undo etc, down the right hand side.  Extra tools such as adding pictures, changing the paper type, sharing options and more down the left hand side of the screen.

Once you have completed working in the Penultimate notebook click on the home button which is on the top left hand side (it looks like a house).  This will return you to the home screen.  The next step is to share this notebook to Evernote and place it in the correct Evernote maths groups notebook.

The home screen in Penultimate is where you can access all of your Penultimate notebooks. To view them all scroll across to view the different notebooks you have. 

On the home screen you will see three options directly underneath the notebook you are working on or wanting to share.  Click on the first option for 'share' which then gives you the option to 'open in...'

Scroll across to the right and you will see an option for 'Open in Evernote' - click on this.

It will process your notebook into a PDF format and then open up Evernote with the following image.  This is your new note inside Evernote.  The PDF option you see inside the note area is your Penultimate notebook that you have just created.  On this screen you need to rename your note (the first line) and then also choose the notebook you would like it placed inside (the second line).  From here you can save your note and it will be accessible once you have synced your account.

While there are several steps to get these digital notebooks up and running, once you have them set up they are quick and easy to use.  I find that we are able to have a workshop and then have modelling books available straight after a workshop.  There has been a lot of trial and error of finding a way that digital modelling books work for my students.  We have trialled Google presentations and other formats but I am finding this is the easiest option that doesn't require a huge load of work and time to make it useable for the students and myself.  Once the initial setup was complete it has been easy to continue using the modelling books.

Remember, Evernote is the equivalent of a digital book - you can create notebooks and create individual notes that go inside your notebook, just like pages of a book.  This works the same when creating a digital modelling book.  In the case of these digital modelling books Penultimate creates the pages that go inside the Evernote modelling book.

Every time I open Penultimate for a new workshop I simply start a brand new Penultimate notebook by clicking on the plus symbol on the bottom left hand corner.  We add in the notes from our session and then when the workshop is complete I repeat the steps I have outlined above in 'Adding Content to Shared Notebook'.  Always check the second line to ensure that your note is going into your correct shared Evernote notebook, as it will always default to the last Evernote notebook you added content to.  This sounds confusing - but makes sense when you are adding content to your Evernote as you will see which of your groups notebooks it is going to be placed into.

When the students click on the link from our class google site it shows up the whole notebook with all of the workshop notes inside (like in the image below).  Students can easily locate the workshop and click to see all the notes we took as part of that session - exactly as it would be for a paper modelling book.  The accessibility from a range of devices and places and for a number of people at the same time means that it far outweighs the 1 in class paper modelling book I had previously been using.

Digital Modelling Books - Part 1

I have been trialling digital modelling books for mathematics with my students and they seem to be working really well for both my students and my self.  There are a number of key elements that make up this system and in this blog post I will outline the system I am using.  If you are new to using Evernote you may want to have a look at a previous presentation I shared at a mobile learning conference.  It gives you a bit of background as to what it is, however, if in doubt please leave a comment and I will help you out!

Evernote is the equivalent of a digital notebook - you can create notebooks and create individual notes that go inside your notebook, just like pages of a book.

4 main components I use to create digital modelling books:

1. Apple TV with an iPad

2. Penultimate app

3. Evernote app and online/desktop version

4. Google Sites

Setting up Shared Evernote Notebooks:

Notebooks in Evernote are private by default - this allows for your notes to only be seen by you.  However there are options to share these notebooks and to allow others to work on notebooks as well.  The last option is a paid feature of Evernote.  All the steps I talk about below are able to be completed with a free Evernote account and free Penultimate app.

Firstly, in our class Evernote account, I set up a notebook for each of my groups, for example; maths groups.  Notebooks are able to be created on both the app and online, however, I prefer to do this part through Evernote on a browser or the desktop version.  These notebooks are set up in our class Evernote account - we have 1 shared account for my entire class that we all use.

Once a notebook has been set up for each group, I set up a shared link for each of the notebooks that I want to have public access to.  To do this hover over the notebook and choose the share icon (there are a number of ways to do this):

It gives you several options to choose from - choose the last option: Publish. 

This allows people to access your Evernote notebook if they have the link.

It will take you to a new pop up window and the final step is to copy the Public URL - this is what I use so students are able to access the notebooks from our class website.  

These notebooks are accessed by my students through our class google site - so from here I copy the link and paste it on our maths area on our google site.  This makes our maths content accessible from one place for my students from home and school.  It allows them to easily find the information and support that they need.  Also parents can access them to support students with their learning.

If you are going to send students directly to this URL you may want to use a web link shortening service like bit.ly to make the link more accessible for students as the link Evernote provides is very long.

Your final step here is to open up Penultimate and link the app to your Evernote account.  To do this click on the 'Settings' button in the top left hand corner and add your Evernote account details.  Once they are linked you will not have to do this again, unless you sign out.

You don't need to worry too much about your Evernote notebooks again until right at the end.  When you share your Penultimate notes to Evernote it will give you an option to choose the Evernote notebook you want to place the note into.

The next post will detail how to use Penultimate as your modelling books and then share these notes across to your Evernote notebooks to make them immediately accessible for your students.

Google Docs for Planning

On twitter a few people have been talking about using google docs for planning.  It's great and provides lots of flexibility.  One of the huge problems I found with google docs is that in the 'document' using tables was unbearable!  So I moved to using spreadsheets.  Which to be honest at first just made me scared - I've never been a big fan of spreadsheets and have often avoided them.

Once I got started planning in google docs spreadsheets I found a huge raft of pluses that made it easier to plan in spreadsheets than in a document.

The fabulous merge button found in google docs spreadsheets

One of the biggest pluses was being able to merge cells to create larger spaces within my planning.  Another bonus being the ability to use the same document for a term or year by using new sheet tabs along the bottom.

Our team has also created our class descriptions in this manner - allowing us to break up certain parts of our class description to make it more easily accessible for certain parts of the information we gather.

Another great feature of using google docs for planning is the ability to merge all your documents together on a google site with ease.  It allows you to easily click once to embed a document into the page you want.  For ease also allows you to quickly click out to the editable document from a link at the bottom right corner of the embedded google doc.

This link will take you to an example google doc for a yearly overview - you are welcome to make a copy and adjust or use how you need to.  It shows simply what is able to be done with your planning via a google doc spreadsheet.

GAFE Summit 2012

During the holidays I had the opportunity to attend the Google Education Summit at Albany High School.  It was the first GAFE held in New Zealand and it was an awesome day of sharing and learning.  Albany High is an impressive school - that boasts amazing open learning spaces.

First session up I attended a session with Lenva Shearing looking at Teacher Dashboard created by Hapara.  It's an add on for Google Apps that allows you to manage your Google Apps environment easily.  Through the system it allows you to see work that students have completed and when.  It also allows for ease of accessing documents as the teacher rather than students having to share items or move things around.  There are some great features that help with the use of google docs such as the roll over feature - where you roll your mouse over an item to see a quick thumbnail of the document.  Simple by effective tools that help streamline the management of multiple documents in the classroom.
As part of the process Hapara help with set up - organising folders and more how you want them ready for your roll out.  The process allows for this to happen for one class or a whole school.  To find out more check out their website here.

Session 2 was the presentation of Helen King, an amazing teacher from Pt England School who uses movie making among other tools as strong hooks for her learners.  You can see examples of students work through their class blog PESKings.  It was awesome to see her passion for teaching and her students as she talked about her students and what they did in their class on a daily basis.  I was interested in hearing about the philosophy and ideas around their CyberSmart programme and the different elements that are contained inside this.  I always love the chance to explore other teachers classrooms and hear or talk to them about the things happening inside them.  It was an awesome opportunity to hear about daily life in Helen's class.

In session 3 we geared up with Google to look at training opportunities that Google presents to teachers and educators around the world.  We had a chance to talk to Wendy Gorton about resources, the Google Teacher Academy and more.  A highlight was finding out more about the Google Apps Training Centre where you can go through a series of online modules to become a Google whizz - would definitely help develop key knowledge around Google Apps and it's potential.  Another highlight was the Google Search Curriculum which provides opportunities for educators and students to learn more tips and tricks to become better researchers on the web.

The final session of the day was with Chris Bell looking at 25+ ways to use Google for blended and online learning.  A couple of my takeaways from this session was the snapshot button in Google Docs which allows you to insert images straight from your webcam.  Also the youtube editor which allows you to be able to record straight to youtube and then use the online editor to edit the video to be finished all online.  Also the youtube Schools site that is underway. A great tool that I'm keen have a go with the students - easily created, remixed and published online for sharing.

The day was also filled with lots of other great moments.  Presentations, Google Smackdown and the conversations with the amazing people that were at the day.  The general consensus was that it should definitely return on a yearly basis.

Adding a Google Calendar to your blog

At uLearn I spoke about how I use a Google Calendar embedded into my class blog to help support communication to students and parents.  I've been contacted by a delegate from the conference to find out a bit more about how to make this happen.  So here is a quick and (hopefully) not to painful way to embed a Google calendar into your blog or wiki!

Log into your gmail account - you may need to create one if you don't already have one.

From here click on the 'Calendar' icon at the top of the page (alternatively log straight into your calendar using your Google account details).

Once you're into your calendar it's pretty simple to add appointments into your calendar by double clicking on the calendar and adding in the relevant details.

You can also add in stock standard calendars such as the NZ holidays calendar.  This is as simple as searching within the Google library of calendars down the left hand side of your calendar - click on 'Browse Interesting Calendars'.

When you are ready to share it you need to go to the cog on the top right hand corner of the screen which holds all of the setting options.  Here you need to click on 'Calendar Settings'.

Next is to click on the tab underneath the google logo that says 'Calendars'

All of your calendars will show up underneath the 'Calendars' tab -  you can have multiple calendars and set different audiences.

The first thing you need to do is click on 'Shared: Edit settings' and to then click on the tick box to make your calendar public.  This will allow people to be able to view your calendar without logging in.

Go back to your calendar settings, into the tab 'Calendar' and then click on your calendar.

You will then get another screen which has all your sharing settings.  This is where you have 2 options to either take the web address of your calendar or to take an embed code to embed into a blog page/wiki page etc

 To embed: copy and paste the code from the box on the right into your blog.

I use the calendar address link as I prefer using the standalone page format for the calendar.  So, where is says 'Calendar Address' click on the blue HTML button and copy the page url that it gives you in blue.

You have finished with your calendar for now - it's always a good idea to leave your calendar open in a tab to come back to.  Just incase you want to go back and make changes to your calendar.

The next step is to take a screenshot or find an image that you want the kids to use to get to the calendar.  I used a basic Google calendar text image for the kids.

Now head back to your blog - this tutorial is using blogger so you will have to adjust it slightly if you are using a different blogging format.

In blogger click on your blog title e.g. Electric Eight and then down the left hand side select 'Layout'.

When the layout page comes up - click on the button that says 'Add a Gadget'

From the selection choose 'Picture'

You could also use a range of different gadgets here e.g. the html or text gadgets but I prefer to use an image that the kids can link to the calendar from so I use the 'Picture' gadget.

The Configure Image box will pop up.  This is where you need to paste the link you copied earlier from your calendar into the 'Link' box.  In the 'Title' box give your calendar a name e.g. What's on? Our Calendar! etc  You then need to click on 'Upload an image' and upload your image from earlier.  Once this is loaded it will show up next to the work 'image' in the box.  Lastly, click on 'save'.

You'll see in the layout window that your gadget for your calendar will be at the top.  You can click and move this gadget around within the list so that it's in the place you would like it to be.  It doesn't have to stay at the top of your sidebar!

Last step! Click on 'Save arrangement' to save your new gadget.

Then click on 'View Blog' and down the left hand side of your blog you should see the gadget you have just added!

Click on your image in the sidebar to make sure that your calendar is showing up!

You now have a class calendar!

Extra goodies for people that like pretty things!

Just a little bit of an extra step here if you are interested in tweaking your calendar or changing the way it looks.  Go back to your calendar settings, into the tab 'Calendar' and then click on your calendar.

You will then get another screen which has all your sharing settings.

Where you would take the embed code there is a small piece of writing in blue that says

'Customize the color, size and other options' click on this to customise your blog.

It will give you a screen where you can change the look and format of your calendar.

One bonus here is that if you click on 'Agenda' under 'Default view' it will give you a list format of the calendar that can easily be embedded straight into your side bar using the embed code and a html gadget.

Example of what an Agenda view is:

Hope this helps you get started with adding a Google calendar to your class blog.  If you have any questions or would like anything clarified or if you have a great tip to make this process even simpler leave a comment!

Interesting Ways To Make Your Classroom A Sparkly Place To Learn!

Tom Barrett is the King of the "Interesting Ways..." collaborative series. The idea is simple and highly effective - he sets up a google doc and an idea e.g. classroom displays, ICT projects and then gets people to collaborate and share their top tips and ideas. In the hunt for looking at classroom display ideas I came across the project. I have contributed to his ICT based docs before so was keen to give this one a go. So check it out and don't forget to take part if you've got some great ideas to share!

Google Wave Gadgets

One of the coolest and most helpful items you can add to a wave in Google Wave are the gadgets (click here for the google gadgets tutorial). When you start google wave you have 2 gadgets as a standard.

One standard gadget is the google maps gadget where you can pin point locations as a map that zoom right down to a street level. The maps sit within the wave without having to embed code or send someone out on an external link


The second standard gadget is a 'yes/no/maybe' voting gadget that places people at their desired answer when they vote. A great wee tool in a group discussion to get a clear picture of people's choices!


There are lots of site's coming out with links to gadgets that are being created by people. One of the best and simplest lists to navigate that I have found so far is here at Chaaps.com. It's an easy list to get through and has a range of fun and handy gadgets from the sudojku gadget through to the Ratings gadget.

The gadget function is not all fun and games. In a group setting when you are organising events gadget's such as the 'yes/no/maybe' do away with a lot of the backwards and forwards emails when planning and organising. Your map goes out to everybody and any changes can be seen by all and are noted as soon as you log in to google wave.

This would be a great way to collaboratively work within a team or for students to work when planning inquiries or investigating. It allows you to track who has posted work/comments but also easily allows for clippings, links, images, video and more to be linked or embedded within the wave giving you a complete overview of the journey in the inquiry process.

Google Wave Is More Fun With 1

I was lucky enough to get a google wave invite from google a few weeks back and while i've endeavoured to tinker with it a bit, it's pretty much just kind of sat there waiting... such a shame. But last night Allanahk announced she was looking for people to figure out what on earth this google wave thing was all about (same place i'd been for a while!) So Keamac and I jumped to this call and got on to google wave.

Don't get me wrong.. you don't need to be online with the person to google wave at all. But for this first chance to play around and experiment it was quite helpful as I found we were bouncing off each other when we found new tools and things to do. As google wave works in real-time, this was extremely handy! With google wave there are tonnes of things to do! We found maps, quizzes, links and embeds within a range. Later on in the night in another google wave session with Dragon09 we also discovered what the gadgets are - more on that later!

So far, I am pretty impressed with the way google wave works (once I figured it out). It's a bit slow and clunky at times and I find that it doesn't mark read messages too well - but this is a preview version and it's all about the feedback at the moment. Have had one chance so far to provide feedback to google when things went a bit haywire - they were very quick on the ball, with a pop up window asking for what happened etc.

I'll be posting a bit more on google wave soon.

Here's a couple of quick overviews of google wave which I quite liked...

Google Forms

As part of blooms taxonomy self-guided reading comprehension tasks the students have undertaken creating a survey/quiz using google docs. I was really keen to see the direction the students would undertake with the questions that they would ask. In particular, whether they would be strictly knowledge based questions or delve deeper into questioning and asking peoples opinions and ideas on their topic of robots. For these students their reading goals focus around deeper understanding of the text and being able to evaluate and draw their own opinions based on the texts. On repeating this task I will be looking to see how their questioning changes and evolves.

The students found using the google forms simple to do and after a quick lesson on where the basics were, the first student was underway and completed by the end of the reading session. I created a simple how to sheet for the students to follow which prompts them to email me the form once it is completed. Was fantastic to see that one of the first responses from the student was to post it to their class blog.

I'm sure they would love to have you take part, so please click here to answer their quiz!