Kalen Crane's Blog – February 2012 Archive (4)

Google Apps is versatile tool that can be used by individuals, professional organizations, and schools alike.  Two years ago I started working with Google Apps in the school that I was teaching at.  A year later, our charter school converted to a full-blown Google school.  Our technology teacher became a Google certified teacher and we never looked back.  Google Apps replaced our e-mail system without changing our e-mail addresses that made it seamless for our parents and families.  We were…

I chose to view an on-demand webinar presented on YouTube through the Google Education network.  I viewed the webinar on Monday, February 20, 2012.  The reason I chose to view this webinar was because at the previous school that I worked at we began using Google on a school-wide basis but only touched on the surface of this amazing tool.  Also, as a busy mother, being able to choose when I viewed this webinar was a real selling point for me.  All of the other…

Before beginning my research into Virtual Reality, I considered it to be strictly for gaming or the movies!  I did not feel that it had a place in the classroom, especially the elementary classroom.  After researching scholarly articles, I found that, if utilized properly, can be a valuable tool. 

After researching three programs, Neopets, Roblox, and Toontown, I was swayed back to my original belief that Virtual Reality didn’t really belong in the elementary classroom except for use…

I guess I was a bit naïve when it came to thinking about social networking.  I thought it was only sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter for purely social or commercial reasons.  Boy, was I wrong!  No matter what your interest, there is a social network out there for you, all around the World Wide Web.  Maybe part of my naivety had to do with the fact that as an elementary school classroom teacher, social networking isn’t a part of classroom instruction or conversations since children…