Live Event: Best Google Tips for Your Classroom

On Saturday October 25th, Simple K 12 will be hosting a free Google day of learning designed to provide educators with The Best Google Tips for Your Classroom. Educators can enjoy a series of webinars throughout the day, starting at 10 AM EDT.

I am looking forward to hosting Improve Writing Skills Using Digital Writing and Google Docs  at 1:00 PM. The session is designed to help educators learn to use Google Docs to thoughtfully incorporate digital writing into the curriculum. 

Improve Writing Skills Using Digital Writing and Google Docs 

Would you like to improve your students’ writing skills and help them bridge the gap between writing in school and writing in the real world? One way of doing so is by using digital writing and Google Docs, the documents editor available in Google Drive. Since Google Docs is collaborative and available 24/7, students using Google Docs often write more frequently and better than when given traditional paper and pencil writing tasks. Join Susan Oxnevad as she shows how to use Google Docs to thoughtfully incorporate digital writing into the curriculum. She will explain how to fully utilize the latest Google Docs features, such as integrated reference tools and collaborative revision tools to help you and your students embrace digital writing.

Learn more about the webinars offered throughout the day and register at Simple K 12. 

The Instagrok iPad App is Here

instaGrok has just released a free iPad app. The app combines the functionality of the web based version with interactivity to support learning on the touch screen. 

instaGrok is an intelligent visual search engine and interactive learning tool that collects content and displays it in the form of a cloud of related words. The tool is very appealing because it offers a variety of multimedia features to meet the unique learning needs of students. 

Students use the the visual mode to collect content, then they use the integrated journal to sort through collected content and take notes. Click on the push pin to add content to the journal then add original thoughts and ideas as notes. The journal can be emailed or printed for convenience.

instaGrok Integration with EasyBib 

The last time I shared instaGrok through this blog I included a wish list. On that wish list was a suggestion to integrate the tool with EasyBib. I am very excited to announce that the teams have worked together to build information literacy and digital citizenship into the instaGrok interactive learning process.

• instaGrok collects sources pinned to the concept map.
• The web based version exports sources with one click and imports them to EasyBib for creating citations. 
• The iPad App launches a screen requiring students to evaluate the credibility of the source.

Final Thoughts

Students with 1:1 iPads will most likely find this app extremely useful as they dig deeper into content through research and improve their ability to express learning through writing. 

Download the instaGrok app from the iTunes Store.

Infinitec Webinar Resources