Matthew's Google Workspace, Apple & AI EdTech Blog

  As I am currently in the process of weaning myself off using a computer and making my primary device an iPad, it has led me to consider the pros and cons of the various Ed-tech apps, tools, platforms and sites I use all the time in my work right now, whether that be on a PC, tablet or phone. As a Certified Google Trainer I obviously use Google apps a lot. However, there are also many good iPad apps to help any teacher, along with so many other apps developed by other companies and organizations. In fact, these days it can be a bit overwhelming to see the amount of Ed-tech products available for educators to use. For many educators, it can be much more than a bit overwhelming.  So, I asked myself, now at the end of 2022, if I had to choose just 5 Ed-tech products to use, what would they be? Which ones are indispensable to me right now?  CRITERIA Which ones are indispensable to me right now? In answering that question I made a bad decision as I first decided to just make ...

In this blog we will look at the benefits of remembering that: a) extensions exist b) we can find them easily on the Chrome Web Store _____________________________________________ Q: Why should we remember that the Chrome Web Store exists?  A: Let's use a simple teacher concept/tool to help us highlight why: Word Clouds Word clouds have been around for a while now. Common educational uses of word clouds include: 1. Ice Breakers 2. Introduce new topic 3. Collect new ideas 4. Conduct a brainstorm session 5. Set up a discussion 6. Sum up a topic 7. Check for understanding 8. Reflect on experience (learning) 9. Ease into vulnerable topics with student anonymity 10. Check in on students Social Emotional Learning (The above list was taken from ClassPoint. For more information about each activity check out their in-depth summaries for each activity here .) Now, let's imagine that making a word cloud is something that you or your students want to do as part of a lesson activity.  Of c...

Note: This blog may be of interest for educators who  a) wish to develop less formal, more organic extracurricular activities for students and  b) are already familiar with using most core Google Workspace apps. _____________________________________________ In this blog let's take a look at how educators can use Google Workspace and the concept of Affinity Groups to develop rewarding and open learning  opportunities for school students from elementary level upwards. To do this, let's answer four questions: What is an Affinity Group?  What is an Ed-tech-based Affinity Group? How can you create an Affinity Group with Google Workspace apps? What is a clear example of an Affinity Group in action?   1. What is an Affinity group? In a broad context, an affinity group is a group that allows students who share an identity — usually a marginalized identity — to gather and talk in a safe space about issues related to that identity. This may be, for example, Hig...

  Using Google Workspace apps in conjunction with other third party apps, you can create a nice VR project for either an entire class or smaller group of students. It's based on the idea of getting students to convert amazing 3D VR videos into their own 2D interpretations. This kind of project pushes all kinds of skills acquisition, from techy to literacy. In this blog we just give a simplified overview of how to do it.   Background: Last year we worked with a small group of 8 gifted P5 and P6 EFL students (aged 10-11). All students were already familiar with using core Google Workspace tools after 2 years of pandemic-style teaching and learning strategies. After a long absence from experimenting with VR Headsets due to the pandemic, we were able to reconnect to VR - within careful hygiene restrictions. So, we wanted to create a fun, enjoyable learning experience for our students and we based this project on previous VR-based lesson and activity ideas we had implemented b...

  Using Google Workspace apps you can create nice VR and AR projects for either an entire class or smaller group of students. Let's start with an AR project which involved using two AR Google Apps: Earth and Google Arts & Culture. Background: Last year we worked with a group of 15 gifted P5 and P6 EFL students (aged 10-11). All students were already familiar with using core Google Workspace tools after 2 years of pandemic-style teaching and learning strategies. Based in Hong Kong we were still, after 2 and half years, effectively unable to travel outside of Hong Kong. We decided it would be a good idea to get students to create virtual tours of places they would like to visit in the future, after the pandemic restrictions were lifted.  Project Aim:  Students create a Google Site to showcase the places they would like to visit in the future - Virtual Tours. This site can then be published and sent out to all school mates for feedback and comment in their Google Classro...

Some people argue kids shouldn't go anywhere near the Internet, particularly YouTube. The videos watched are no good and the trash in the comments sections is appalling. And all these iPads, these phones, screen time, games - all this tech use by kids is harming them... There is, no doubt, some truth to this. So surely in a school setting we should just ban the use of all this corrupting technology, right? Get back to basics. Well, that is one way to look at it. However, is it not better to get students taking advantage of the benefits of being online and using technology and not just focus on the negatives? If young learners are given good guidance and practice on how to us the Internet, and how to communicate with others online, AND gain technology skills which will be invaluable to them as they progress through life, then 'technology' can be a great tool. Unfortunately, even with training, not all kids will grow up to be responsible users of the Internet. There will be t...

Here in Hong Kong the online learning for school students continued, on and off, from February 2020 to April 2022. A very long time. What was the most challenging aspect of teaching online? For me, probably the classroom management and keeping students focused.  Working with Jonathan Lee at the HK Education Bureau, we decided to test out some 'old-school' techniques with the students at my school as we taught them online: Specifically thinking about how to make sure students on Zoom could feel included throughout the lessons. We experimented with using YES/NO paper-based flashcards with the students. It proved to be a great way to focus the whole class. They were very easy to use in conjunction with simple match up games using Google Slide flashcards. Want to know more about it?  For a full summary, check out   this Doc here  .