6 ways social media can ruin your life Cautionary tales of Facebook fails, Twitter traps, and Insta-gaffes.

A great post from the Boston Globe this week on
6 ways social media can ruin your life  Cautionary tales of Facebook fails, Twitter traps, and Insta-gaffes.
Here is the link bit.ly/1oSFJKG 

I have talking with students this semester about their digital footprint and using current events.  This approach has allowed lots of interesting conversation and reflection.  However, I also like to highlight the benefits of using social media to connect with community, colleges and potential internships and jobs.  The article is a great reminder to students there are consequences for online posting so the should THINK before the post!

I am looking forward to discussing this article in class this week and will encourage other staff members to join me!

Book Link / Video - Deborah C. Owen's new book:Social Media Fascination; Embracing social media to build community, trust and rapport

Screencasting updates

In the past I have used Jing to create screencasts and host to screencast.com, which saves as a swf/flash file and works great.  However when working with students the computers in our school do not have the ability to download programs so I started using Screencast-O-Matic a web-based screencasting tool.  Student's have been posting to their YouTube accounts and then have the ability to use the YouTube Editor to change or enhance the screencast.  Here is an example of How-To Create a Class Site using Google Sites and
here is a link to the video edited with the YouTube editor and caption slides.
Draft 1 (I need to work on this and will prepare a better verision this week),

I wasn't happy with the above screencast so I did another verision. One with music and one without,
I also had lots of problems when I downloaded Screencast-o-matic into a video editor.  My voice was in fast forward and I was not able to slow down.  So, I reverted back to using my SmartRecorder.

TAKE – 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcHwJnHlFEM&feature=youtube_gdata
with music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwgFs_pGTI&edit=vd

 

This has been a humbling experience! I am glad I have introduced screencasting to students in Multimedia this year!

Google Educator Certification

After taking Google Bootcamp a few weeks ago I tackled the Google Certification tests and I am now a qualified Google Educator, which will allow me to apply to be a Google Certified Trainer. The process involves the taking and passing the tests.  See below for more details.

1. Taking and passing the tests –There are five (5) Google Apps tests  (Sites, Drive/Docs, Calendar Gamil and a choice/elective) to become a Google Educator Certification Exams. You are timed when taking the test, you get 90 minutes for each multiple choice test, and to be honest I found them very challenging.  Not only do you need to a strong teacher user experience wiht GAFE, but a more techincal background with Mail, Calendar and Chrome. They offer Training Modules Site to review prior to the taking the tests.  I found the test to be challenging and more technical than I anticipated.  With this part of the process completed I am in the process of preparing a portfolio to be evaulated to become a Google Certified Trainer. There is a review cycle next week and another one in August.

2.  Google Certified Trainer -  the application process – Passing the tests awards you Google Educator Certificaiton for a eighteen months. But to become a Google Certified Trainer, you must be approved by Google via an application process. You can see the application here – it consists of an array of essay questions, a case study, a record of your previous workshops/speaking events/etc and user-created videos.  I reviewed the overview for the case study, essay questions and videos.  Let the brainstorming begin!

Stay tuned!