Google is pretty much synonymous with search. Though in the earlier days of the web, people went different places like Lycos, Yahoo, and Altavista, it's second nature for most of us to turn to Google nowadays when we have a question or need a resource. BING? Sorry, no.
The thing about web search, when you think of it...it's language. We ask a question and get an answer. The results can be a list, a description, a fact, a picture to describe.
Often, a search can be very helpful when we discover those pesky gaps in our students' world knowledge or vocabulary.
Most of us, including myself, probably turn most readily to the little Google field in the upper right corner of the Safari iPad app, which indeed does the job pretty handily. However, Google has been steadily improving its free (of course) Google Search app, and it now includes speech-to-text (Voice Search), regardless of the version of the iPad you are using. Additionally, depending on the type of search you are making, the app will read aloud the results (so, text-to-speech), a feature related to what Google calls its Knowledge Graph, which helps zoom in on the most important facts about real-world items. Google gives us some ideas for the types of questions that work well with Voice Search.
To see how the Google Search app can be useful in your interventions, check out this terrific contextual demo centering around one of my favorite places: Cape Cod. I need to go to there right now. *Sigh* I hate January.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Google on Apple: YouTube
A frequently touched upon theme here on this blog is the usefulness of YouTube as a visual teaching tool, and it keeps evolving as a resource. For example, recently with the iOS6 update, Apple removed the native YouTube app. I had previously recommended Jasmine as a replacement, and this is still a perfectly nice app, but Google then produced their own new (free) YouTube app for iPhone and then updated it to be universal for iPad. You can, as always, still see YouTube videos in the Safari app as well.
The iPad app works as you would expect it to, and has a very nice, clean interface as many of the new Google apps do. The nifty addition of voice search (using the microphone in the upper right corner) and sign-in capabilities allowing you to subscribe to "channels" or add videos to playlists, are nice touches. One of the issues when the native app disappeared is that many people, including families of kids with autism who used the app extensively to provide entertainment to their children, lost the "favorite" lists that were saved in that app and only in that app. With sign-in, all favorites will be saved to your Google account.
If YouTube is blocked at your school, or you do not have wifi access in your building, you can also consider saving YouTube videos for later viewing using apps such as PlayTube-Offline Player for YouTube (free). Simply search for a video and tap Cache, and the video will be saved for playing within the app, regardless of where you are. Do keep in mind that caching video consumes storage on your device.
The iPad app works as you would expect it to, and has a very nice, clean interface as many of the new Google apps do. The nifty addition of voice search (using the microphone in the upper right corner) and sign-in capabilities allowing you to subscribe to "channels" or add videos to playlists, are nice touches. One of the issues when the native app disappeared is that many people, including families of kids with autism who used the app extensively to provide entertainment to their children, lost the "favorite" lists that were saved in that app and only in that app. With sign-in, all favorites will be saved to your Google account.
 |
| Google's New YouTube App |
Monday, January 7, 2013
Google on Apple: Google Catalogs
Continuing this series on Google's offerings on iOS, here's an app I know many SLPs will LOVE. Catalogs can provide a great therapy material, as they are visual, descriptive, personally relevant and motivating, and filled with categories! Catalogs also provide contexts that stretch across many age levels and populations. There have been a number of good posts about using catalogs in therapy; see Speech Time Fun for one and Speech Room News for another.
Google is naturally involved in the world of goods and services, but I find it interesting that they chose to create an app as interactive and creative as Google Catalogs (free). Google Catalogs lets you browse catalogs in a wide variety of categories, pinch to zoom and tap the tag to select items to view more information.
.PNG)
The truly cool thing about this app is that it goes beyond information consumption to become a creative tool. You can tap the heart icon to "Favorite" any item, and then go into a collage mode to create a picture array integrating your favorites with a themed background and text. This creative capability allows SLPs to target categories, descriptive language, causals, conditionals and written expression, or have clients work within a budget to target functional math.
As you can see from the screenshot, the collage mode allows you to add items you have tagged as favorites (heart), text, change themes, and share the collage. Check out the app, and make sure you don't buy too much in the process.
Common Core Connection:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1b Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
Google is naturally involved in the world of goods and services, but I find it interesting that they chose to create an app as interactive and creative as Google Catalogs (free). Google Catalogs lets you browse catalogs in a wide variety of categories, pinch to zoom and tap the tag to select items to view more information.
.PNG)
The truly cool thing about this app is that it goes beyond information consumption to become a creative tool. You can tap the heart icon to "Favorite" any item, and then go into a collage mode to create a picture array integrating your favorites with a themed background and text. This creative capability allows SLPs to target categories, descriptive language, causals, conditionals and written expression, or have clients work within a budget to target functional math.
 |
| Ok, maybe I don't really NEED these things... |
As you can see from the screenshot, the collage mode allows you to add items you have tagged as favorites (heart), text, change themes, and share the collage. Check out the app, and make sure you don't buy too much in the process.
Common Core Connection:
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Google on Apple: Google Maps
Toward the end of 2012, Google released a flurry of updates and new apps for iPad, many of them useful for SLPs. The Google-Apple connection should be of interest to us because, like it or not, Google provides some terrific services in communication, mapping, video and all-around information access that can help us in our jobs daily.
The connection between these two giants is famously tenuous, with Apple often acting like a jealous ex (unhappy about Google's foray into mobile technology with its Android platform). With the launch this past fall of its most recent operating system, iOS 6, Apple sort of kicked Google out of the house by removing the Google-based Maps app, as well as placing the native YouTube app on the curb. Apple's own foray into mapping (what you see when you open the Maps app after updating to iOS 6, which you hopefully have done, unless you have an iPad 1, and can't), with the exception of some pretty amazing 3D building imagery useful for taking kids on virtual field trips related to the curriculum, was a huge embarrassment. Apple Maps was even blamed for almost getting some people killed, when poor directions led to some strandings in the Australian Outback. So it is sort of like Apple had been dating some embarrassing people, while ignoring phone calls from eager-to-reconcile Google.
However, Google has continued sending gifts to Apple, and to its credit, Apple has not ignored the value of Google-based apps for iOS, and recently accepted a slew of them by approving the apps for downloading in the App Store, to everyone's benefit. It would have been a shame for iOS users to have gotten caught in the middle and not have iOS-worthy apps to access Google services or data on our devices.
To dispense with my extended dating drama metaphor, my main message in this new post is to encourage you to download the new Google Maps app (Free). Though for now (and I am sure, not for long) this is an iPhone app that runs in "compatibility mode" (i.e. it looks small on screen, and you can hit 2x to make it bigger), it is worthwhile to SLPs for several reasons:
-If you do have an iPhone, use Google Maps instead of the Maps app if you need to travel to provide any clinical services, and you are much less likely to have a data glitch that will result in your getting lost and/or saying a swear word. Via iPhone, the app has great turn-by-turn directions that also reduce your odds of having a crash!
-Google's maps data has been being developed for years and years and is a great resource for connecting with curriculum, geographic information, vocabulary and concepts and, finally...
-...the app provides you with an easy way to access Google Street View, a hugely rich resource for visuals and elicitation of descriptive language. Within the app, you can search for a particular location, then sweep up to access Street View, or tap and hold to insert a pin, then sweep up:
-Particularly cool in this release is the "look-around" feature (see icon on bottom left), which allows you to interact with the view by tilting or moving your iDevice left and right, a form of augmented reality.
-Google Street View can also be accessed in your Safari app (but without the look-around movement feature), and here's a great list from Google on some Street View sites, including interiors of buildings such as the White House and many art museums, places that aren't technically streets, such as the Amazon River, and even underwater reefs. Wow, that little Street View car has gotten advanced!
Coming up: Some other useful apps by Google!
The connection between these two giants is famously tenuous, with Apple often acting like a jealous ex (unhappy about Google's foray into mobile technology with its Android platform). With the launch this past fall of its most recent operating system, iOS 6, Apple sort of kicked Google out of the house by removing the Google-based Maps app, as well as placing the native YouTube app on the curb. Apple's own foray into mapping (what you see when you open the Maps app after updating to iOS 6, which you hopefully have done, unless you have an iPad 1, and can't), with the exception of some pretty amazing 3D building imagery useful for taking kids on virtual field trips related to the curriculum, was a huge embarrassment. Apple Maps was even blamed for almost getting some people killed, when poor directions led to some strandings in the Australian Outback. So it is sort of like Apple had been dating some embarrassing people, while ignoring phone calls from eager-to-reconcile Google.
However, Google has continued sending gifts to Apple, and to its credit, Apple has not ignored the value of Google-based apps for iOS, and recently accepted a slew of them by approving the apps for downloading in the App Store, to everyone's benefit. It would have been a shame for iOS users to have gotten caught in the middle and not have iOS-worthy apps to access Google services or data on our devices.
To dispense with my extended dating drama metaphor, my main message in this new post is to encourage you to download the new Google Maps app (Free). Though for now (and I am sure, not for long) this is an iPhone app that runs in "compatibility mode" (i.e. it looks small on screen, and you can hit 2x to make it bigger), it is worthwhile to SLPs for several reasons:
-If you do have an iPhone, use Google Maps instead of the Maps app if you need to travel to provide any clinical services, and you are much less likely to have a data glitch that will result in your getting lost and/or saying a swear word. Via iPhone, the app has great turn-by-turn directions that also reduce your odds of having a crash!
-Google's maps data has been being developed for years and years and is a great resource for connecting with curriculum, geographic information, vocabulary and concepts and, finally...
-...the app provides you with an easy way to access Google Street View, a hugely rich resource for visuals and elicitation of descriptive language. Within the app, you can search for a particular location, then sweep up to access Street View, or tap and hold to insert a pin, then sweep up:
-Particularly cool in this release is the "look-around" feature (see icon on bottom left), which allows you to interact with the view by tilting or moving your iDevice left and right, a form of augmented reality.
-Google Street View can also be accessed in your Safari app (but without the look-around movement feature), and here's a great list from Google on some Street View sites, including interiors of buildings such as the White House and many art museums, places that aren't technically streets, such as the Amazon River, and even underwater reefs. Wow, that little Street View car has gotten advanced!
Coming up: Some other useful apps by Google!
Posted with BlogsySunday, December 30, 2012
Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2012
As a way of wrapping up 2012, here are the 10 most popular posts on this blog from the year. It's a little artificial as this list is just based on page views, which don't take into account Google Reader or email subscriptions, but it roughly comes out as a list of posts I was pretty happy with, anyway.
It's been a great year, and I look forward to spending 2013 with you all. Happy New Year!
10- iPad Essentials: Sharing your iPad Screen as a Visual/Interactive Context with a Group
9- 2012 Edublog Award Nominations
8- iPad Essentials- Using Images
7- ASHA 2012 Highlights
6- iPad Essentials: Displaying PDFs on iPad
5- Flummox and Friends
4- QR Code Update: Make Audio-Based QRs
3- Explaining + Animation= Explanimation
2- Notice
1- Animonths-Shaun the Sheep, Netflix and Home Sheep Home
It's been a great year, and I look forward to spending 2013 with you all. Happy New Year!
10- iPad Essentials: Sharing your iPad Screen as a Visual/Interactive Context with a Group
9- 2012 Edublog Award Nominations
8- iPad Essentials- Using Images
7- ASHA 2012 Highlights
6- iPad Essentials: Displaying PDFs on iPad
5- Flummox and Friends
4- QR Code Update: Make Audio-Based QRs
3- Explaining + Animation= Explanimation
2- Notice
1- Animonths-Shaun the Sheep, Netflix and Home Sheep Home
Friday, December 28, 2012
Holiday News and Link Roundup!
Hi Folks, just a few bits of news and links to some posts elsewhere to share with you!
First of all, I wanted to offer a belated thanks for all who took the time to vote in this year's Edublog Awards. I was thrilled to place 2nd (wow!) in two categories! Like Avis, we try harder.
More importantly, SLPs made an excellent showing in this year's proceedings, with several wins and many top 5 placements. See all the results here, and please check out all the nominees. The Edublog Awards is above all a great place to find new resources to follow.
I am going to be offering a 2-day (you can attend one or both days) workshop here in MA on January 17-18 in Dartmouth for Southeastern MA Educational Collaborative. Click here for more information and to register.
In other news, here are a few other posts I was involved with elsewhere on the Interwebs:
-On the Mindwing Concepts Blog, I posted a video tutorial on one of my favorite apps, Puppet Pals, and a discussion of how to use it in a story retelling activity.
-Also on Mindwing, a post on using the Gift Wrap App (Holiday season and year-round) to target knowledge of the narrative element of character and social skill of remembering things about others.
First of all, I wanted to offer a belated thanks for all who took the time to vote in this year's Edublog Awards. I was thrilled to place 2nd (wow!) in two categories! Like Avis, we try harder.
More importantly, SLPs made an excellent showing in this year's proceedings, with several wins and many top 5 placements. See all the results here, and please check out all the nominees. The Edublog Awards is above all a great place to find new resources to follow.
I am going to be offering a 2-day (you can attend one or both days) workshop here in MA on January 17-18 in Dartmouth for Southeastern MA Educational Collaborative. Click here for more information and to register.
In other news, here are a few other posts I was involved with elsewhere on the Interwebs:
-On the Mindwing Concepts Blog, I posted a video tutorial on one of my favorite apps, Puppet Pals, and a discussion of how to use it in a story retelling activity.
-Also on Mindwing, a post on using the Gift Wrap App (Holiday season and year-round) to target knowledge of the narrative element of character and social skill of remembering things about others.
Happy Friday!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
iTunes 11's New Code-scanning Feature
I am sure I am not the only one who received a few iTunes cards this holiday season. My peeps know my passion for apps. Additionally, I had taken advantage of a Best Buy deal that I'd encourage all to be on the lookout for periodically- on Black Friday iTunes cards were 20% off! These deals are also often available at BJ's, Costco, or Sam's, and when you add funds in this way to your iTunes account, it gives you a nice budget to stretch over...whatever period of time you choose.
Normally, the process of redeeming an iTunes code can be a bit of a pain for those of us with the best decoding eyes, but with the recent overhaul of iTunes, Apple has made this much easier. As long as you have a recently produced iTunes card that has a box across the code, when you go to redeem the code on a Mac or PC, you can scan it via webcam and it's as simple as this:
Normally, the process of redeeming an iTunes code can be a bit of a pain for those of us with the best decoding eyes, but with the recent overhaul of iTunes, Apple has made this much easier. As long as you have a recently produced iTunes card that has a box across the code, when you go to redeem the code on a Mac or PC, you can scan it via webcam and it's as simple as this:
Super cool! It hadn't even occurred to me until I saw it while blog surfing that this new feature is actually assistive technology...it has been mentioned that this new code-scanning element will be of great assistance to the visually impaired and those with dyslexia.
So, be sure to update to iTunes 11, which is important software to have on your computer in case anything goes wrong with your iPad, and I still prefer it as a way to back up my devices rather than buying more iCloud space. Here's a nice tutorial.
Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday break!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Mr. Rogers' Wisdom
I apologize for that little bit of radio silence the last couple of weeks, but in the wake of the CT tragedy, I hadn't felt much like writing.
For so many of us, this event just hurt on so many levels. Worst of all is the children and their families, which I have difficulty even thinking about. Having spent most of my career in elementary school settings made Newtown seem horribly close to home, as did thoughts of my mom, dad and sister, who have spent their lives in classrooms (my sister is a first grade teacher, additionally).
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to this entire community, and for all of America as well.
So, although this is quite a delayed response, I wanted to post a resource that I found helpful in the days following December 14, and indeed shaped my response to a group of boys that brought up the event during a treatment session. Good old Mr. Rogers:
I also found great comfort from his famous quote, which in itself is a strategic use of reframing:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
For so many of us, this event just hurt on so many levels. Worst of all is the children and their families, which I have difficulty even thinking about. Having spent most of my career in elementary school settings made Newtown seem horribly close to home, as did thoughts of my mom, dad and sister, who have spent their lives in classrooms (my sister is a first grade teacher, additionally).
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to this entire community, and for all of America as well.
So, although this is quite a delayed response, I wanted to post a resource that I found helpful in the days following December 14, and indeed shaped my response to a group of boys that brought up the event during a treatment session. Good old Mr. Rogers:
I also found great comfort from his famous quote, which in itself is a strategic use of reframing:
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Notice.
People may mistake my enthusiasm for the potential of technology with a desire to spread the message that our lives, both work and personal, should be tech-infused all the time. Though I struggle myself with balancing high- and no-tech, and there's the whole "those who can't do..." thing at work here, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge how important it is that we regularly Notice our analog friends, family, neighbors, and, of course, students. Erik Raj recently wrote a wonderful post on tuning in to the parts of our job that make us happy, and you should check it out.
On my part, this post may seem out of the blue, but I do have a Zen streak to me, and I was actually inspired by two TED talks I watched at the gym this morning. If you don't know about TED (it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design), it is a series of events in which people from all disciplines give short, inspiring talks. It is also, naturally, an app and website. TED really gives us a LOT to think about, and certain talks could also serve as a therapy context given their real-world and multimodal nature (a good opportunity to use graphic organizers to break down information).
Don't think I don't recognize the irony and contradiction of writing a post that advocates for focusing on the present moment related to the use of an app, all prompted by my utilizing said app while working out (hey, it was a warmup). Also, as I was writing this post, and I am not kidding, my mother called me, I received a text from a friend, a Google Chat message from a different friend because I had that open in a tab, and both a Facebook and Twitter notification, all at the same time. Couple solutions: don't have multiple tabs open in your browser, and minimize notifications so you can check services when you want to, and not be constantly interrupted by them (one example). Anyway, despite all those levels of concentration/distraction, the meaning got through to me, and I hope these two brief talks are meaningful to you as well.
(Google Reader or email peeps, please click through to the post to see the videos)
On my part, this post may seem out of the blue, but I do have a Zen streak to me, and I was actually inspired by two TED talks I watched at the gym this morning. If you don't know about TED (it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design), it is a series of events in which people from all disciplines give short, inspiring talks. It is also, naturally, an app and website. TED really gives us a LOT to think about, and certain talks could also serve as a therapy context given their real-world and multimodal nature (a good opportunity to use graphic organizers to break down information).
Don't think I don't recognize the irony and contradiction of writing a post that advocates for focusing on the present moment related to the use of an app, all prompted by my utilizing said app while working out (hey, it was a warmup). Also, as I was writing this post, and I am not kidding, my mother called me, I received a text from a friend, a Google Chat message from a different friend because I had that open in a tab, and both a Facebook and Twitter notification, all at the same time. Couple solutions: don't have multiple tabs open in your browser, and minimize notifications so you can check services when you want to, and not be constantly interrupted by them (one example). Anyway, despite all those levels of concentration/distraction, the meaning got through to me, and I hope these two brief talks are meaningful to you as well.
(Google Reader or email peeps, please click through to the post to see the videos)
Monday, December 3, 2012
Vote for SLPs Shortlisted for 2012 Edublog Awards
A couple weeks ago, you might have seen my post nominating some peers (always hard to make these choices) for the 2012 Edublog Awards, and may have seen many other posts if you hopefully follow some other SLP blogs. The way this works is that the folks at the "Eddies" need to comb through thousands of nominations made by all the people in the edublogosphere and create a manageable Shortlist. This is based on some qualifying factors as well as measures of reader engagement such as page rank, use of comments on the blog etc.
I am proud to say that SLPs have again represented in this initiative, underscoring our key role in the educational process and in the spheres of social media and educational technology. What follows is a list of SLP nominees, so please VOTE early and often.
As the Edublogs People tell us:
Remember that only one vote per day per category will be counted from the same location!
This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count.
The best way to vote is to navigate to Vote Here, select Vote all at Once from the dropdown menu, and be aware of the following SLP nominees in various categories.
CONGRATS to all the nominees!! Thanks again to those who nominated me!
Best Individual Blog
SpeechTechie
Best Group Blog
ASHAsphere
Best New Blog
Speaking of Apps
Speech Adventures
Speechie Apps
Best Student Blog
HannaB, gradstudentSLP
SLP_Echo
Best Ed Tech Blog
PediaStaff
SpeechTechie
Best Teacher Blog
(I'm in here too somehow, wow, but please vote for..)
speech-language-therapy.com- Caroline Bowen
Most Influential Post
Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)
Individual Tweeter
@SpeechyKeenSLP – Tara Roehl
Twitter Hashtag
#slpeeps
Podcast
A.T.TIPSCAST
Edceptional
GeekSLP
Therapy and Learning Services
Social Network
PediaStaff
Mobile Apps
Custom Boards Premium
Vote Away! Remember that this event is also a great way to discover new resources to follow, including those not created by SLPs.
I am proud to say that SLPs have again represented in this initiative, underscoring our key role in the educational process and in the spheres of social media and educational technology. What follows is a list of SLP nominees, so please VOTE early and often.
As the Edublogs People tell us:
Remember that only one vote per day per category will be counted from the same location!
This means, if your school uses one IP address, you’ll need to ask students and staff to vote from home, or only one vote will count.
The best way to vote is to navigate to Vote Here, select Vote all at Once from the dropdown menu, and be aware of the following SLP nominees in various categories.
 |
| CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE TO VOTE or go to this link |
CONGRATS to all the nominees!! Thanks again to those who nominated me!
Best Individual Blog
SpeechTechie
Best Group Blog
ASHAsphere
Best New Blog
Speaking of Apps
Speech Adventures
Speechie Apps
Best Student Blog
HannaB, gradstudentSLP
SLP_Echo
Best Ed Tech Blog
PediaStaff
SpeechTechie
Best Teacher Blog
(I'm in here too somehow, wow, but please vote for..)
speech-language-therapy.com- Caroline Bowen
Most Influential Post
Lexical Linguist – Nomenclature and basic functions of Twitter (AKA Twitter 101 for SLPs and AUDs)
Individual Tweeter
@SpeechyKeenSLP – Tara Roehl
Twitter Hashtag
#slpeeps
Podcast
A.T.TIPSCAST
Edceptional
GeekSLP
Therapy and Learning Services
Social Network
PediaStaff
Mobile Apps
Custom Boards Premium
Vote Away! Remember that this event is also a great way to discover new resources to follow, including those not created by SLPs.
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