Google Wave at School part 2

So I got some Google Wave invites and I pass one along to the Gifted Talented/Computer Teacher.

She found a use for her invite almost right away. She is working on movie scripts with her students and it is time to discuss and peer edit them in class. She has her talented kids broken into small groups and is going to use Wave as the medium to discuss and edit.

Of course, there has to be a catch... What is your school student e-mail policy?

You need an address to get invited. We figured out a work around with dummy e-mail accounts where the teacher is the only one with full access/password. Kind of like giving her computers e-mail accounts. Hopefully that will work for her, but it does mean logging in each computer to get at Wave.

The better plan would be to set kids up with their own e-mail accounts. Less login time and a more authentic experience. But that is going to take a change in policy. We don't let kids use their e-mail at school.

I think we can keep kids safer if we teach them about privacy, cyber bullying and proper internet manners if they actually get to use an account. Set them up with an account we (parents and school) can monitor for behavior. Right now, we are so worried about what evil they may do with an account that we choose to completely ban them at school.

It is like worrying about what kids will write with pencil and paper so we ban that stuff too.

The tools aren't the problem. It is the problem behavior that is the problem. We can work on the behaviors. It will just take a little extra effort.

This may be the time to revisit policy.

Google Wave Invites

http://www.waveshare.org/

Did I mention that I finally got a Google Wave invite? I am making it sound like more work than it was.

Go to Waveshare and put yourself down as needing an invite. After you get your invite, share two (more if you would like!) of your invites back at Waveshare.

Simple!

So is Wave ever going to be released? Or is this method of "testing" creating a viral buzz about this product? Or both? Hmmm.

Google Wave Invites

http://lifehacker.com/5381219/google-waves-best-use-cases

http://wavety.com/do-you-want-google-wave-invitation/

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

The scarcity of Google Wave invitations is creating a buzz. I'd love a crack at trying out the Wave.

Lifehacker has some good ideas for use already posted.

Wavety.com is hoping your writing for them will get you an invite. Really?

I've tried the official method, but haven't heard anything.

Put in for an invite. I wish you good luck. In the mean time, WOW! has this got the internet talking. I would like an invite, but I guess Google doesn't need my help testing it.

Mobile Me Revisited

I keep trying to figure out why I should keep MobileMe.

Yes, there are free or cheaper work-a-rounds. And I love trying to figure out the cheaper routes, even if they are a little more difficult. But boy, it gets harder to say good-bye to the MobileMe account.

If you use your iPod Touch for a PDA, having MobileMe account makes it easier to keep your calendar, contacts and mail synced. Nice.

Now, there is an iDisk app as well. Step into a friendly wifi hot spot and take a look at what's on your iDisk on your Touch. Nice!!

Oh. And that magic works on your iPhone as well.

But wait! The Google app! Does a bunch of this as well. The advantage of Google is the price...all free.

The MobileMe products do work when you are off the network, however. I am frequently in a place (work) where connecting my Touch to the wifi would be against policy.

Well, happy sorting this one out! It is nice to have choices.

Google Groups

http://groups.google.com/?hl=en

Our school has some flexible staff development time built into the calendar. Last year, someone came up with the great idea of using some of that time as a book club. Read the book, discuss at someone's home, take care of that flex time.

The discuss at someone's home was frequently a discomfort for me. I have to get a kid out the door for summer school and I'm the daycare provider in the summer. I hate to clean my own house spouse-approved-for-company clean.

I suggested that I host this summer at Google Groups.

Read the book, stop in for the online discussion when you have a minute and I don't have to sterilize the house to host!

Google Docs--Sheets

Have you ever needed to share a spreadsheet?  Do you need to have several people work on a spreadsheet at the same time?  You might want to take a look at Google Doc's Spreadsheet.

I share a number of students with another teacher.  She does the lessons and get the large group and the report card to fill in.  This year, we are trying Google Docs to help us keep track of each other's work.  

Our web based grade book isn't to good for this, so we just opened a sheet.  

Both of us can work on the sheet at the same time.  Both of us can access it at the same time.  We can work on it from home or school.  It is stored professionally by Google.  Overall, I would say it is a great fit for us.

Google Docs is worth a look if you need to share authorship.

Free, Cheap or MobileMe?

I am amazed at what the web is able to do and what I can use the web for...

I can run my calendar, documents, spreadsheets at Google for free.  More things are coming online at Google all the time.  Pretty handy.   If you have a web connection, you can get at the work you have posted at Google.

Several companies have noticed this move to the web.  Google may not have started web apps, but I like how they have what I need and you can't beat the price.  I wonder if Microsoft making a bid for Yahoo was MS playing catch-up.  Trying to get into the low end web service business.

Apple now offers MobileMe.  They have what used to be called .Mac syncing your computers and making it possible to have your work available everywhere as well.  The neat part is that this works well with your on-computer applications (iCal, Address Book, etc.)

After playing with Google for a while, I did notice that I am not online all the time.  At work, I have several hours a day where I am on a laptop away from a connection several hours a day.  

I couldn't be the only person like this and I started looking for solutions.  Some are easy.  If you know you are going away from the net for a bit, download the likely-to-be-needed documents from Google.

Calendars and address books are a little trickier and they will be the things you will need to update at a meeting.  For syncing  Google and your on-board calendar take a look at Spanning Sync.  This program will sync your Google and Apple calendars for cheaper (in the long run) than a MobileMe account.

Of course, Apple users could spring for the server version and be able to sync things from their own home web site.  hmmm. Lots of choices.