Chromecast at Last! My (Sort Of) Unbiased Review

I typically don't suffer from shiney-new-techy gadget syndrome: purchasing the newest, latest and greatest as soon as it hits the market, but as fate would have it, I happened to be watching the Google Press Meeting on July 24, 2013 when the Chromecast was announced...at $35. And while I may not suffer from SNTG Syndrome, I am a sucker for something that seems like a good deal.

BORING DISCLOSURE ALERT: In the interest of full disclosure, I am a Google Certified Teacher, but these blog posts are my own and of my own opinion and I don't get paid for anything I write here.

The Chromescast was packaged in a tidy little box with an IKEA-esque set of directions. Essentially, plug it in, turn your TV to the correct source and follow the on-screen instructions. You just have to make sure that your device and your Chromecast are on the same wi-fi network, which isn't difficult when using this from your home. And that's how it worked. Shocking.

Initially, casting anything, whether from YouTube, Google Videos or Netflix, the reception was choppy and not at all smooth. But that wasn't really the Chromecast's fault -  I discovered that our router was kind of old and we had needed a new one for a while. Once we got a new router, it worked like a charm.

You may have to play with the display ratio when casting a Chrome browser tab so as to see the entire screen, but it was fast and smooth.

Some people have been comparing the Chromecast to the AppleTV, and I'd like to address a couple of those comparisons.

• CHROMECAST WIN. You can't compare the price. $35 is a steal and I LOVE not having yet another piece of equipment to drag with me when traveling. I can fit the Chromecast in my pocket. So I guess that's a double-win - price and size.
• APPLE TV WIN (WITH CHROMECAST EXPECTED TO GET THERE). Yes, you can reflect your entire screen with an Apple TV, and that's definitely a bonus, but casting a Chrome browser tab is pretty useful, considering that most of what I do is web-based, anyway. And it's not like I can't plug in my Apple TV and my Chromecast - the TV doesn't implode or anything - they plug into slots next to each other and play just fine. (I also wouldn't be surprised in Google came out with full screencasting capabilities using the Chromecast in due time, as well.)
• CHROMECAST WIN. I love that you can use Android AND iOS devices to cast using the Chromecast. Anything that increases my ability to be platform agnostic and use whatever works for that time or activity is a BIG win for me.
• APPLE TV WIN. Apple TV simply has more capabilities right now, but again, that mostly has to do with its ability to screencast. One of the nice feature is the ability to reflect multiple iOS devices on the same screen. If Chromecast could do that, it would be a whole new picture-in-picture experience!
• CHROMECAST WIN. Perhaps I'm not just a savvy Apple TV user, but casting what's on my phone, tablet or Chrome browser tab is as easy as switching the TV channel, and the same can't be said for Apple TV. The Apple TV has its own remote (which is tiny and easily lost), and that's a danger in our home.

YOU KNOW WHAT'D BE AWESOME? At some point, I'd love to see the ability to project a device and watch live TV at the same time. Think: watching your favorite TV program and having a split screen and on the other side of your screen, you can get more information about something you just saw on TV, thereby deepening your understanding. Not quite like Google TV, but better. If there's something out there like this already, let me know!

AND ANOTHER THING. Stop asking what the educational use is about new technologies that come out. We're trying to bridge the gap between life and education. More and more, questions asking about "educational use" have more to do with "how can I lock this down" and less to do with the powerful things you CAN do with technology. Let's explore those possibilities first, k? Then, we can talk about responsible behavior.

So far, so good. I like it. It does what I want it to do and for the size and price, it makes it a big winner for me.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE, one of biggest practical advantages is that I can finally show my mom how to search on YouTube for exactly the thing she wants to see. It's hard to train someone while sharing a laptop, and when you use the Apple TV, there's no ability to show the actual browser interface as she would use it - on the "real computer" (not those flat tablet thingys). So being able to show her exactly the kind of tab she would look at on her own is incredibly helpful. Now she can watch all the Laughing Baby videos she wants and I can show her how to search for them...

Google Apps for Admins: GMail

We’ve all grown attached to our email programs, but there are some distinct advantages for using GMail as your email client when you’re an educator, and particularly as an administrator.

Here’s my top five reasons to use GMail in an educator’s life:

1. Ability to search all emails - using the search box at the top of the page, I can search all my messages using boolean language or search terms specific to a mailbox. Using the arrow drop-down on the right-side of the search box, I can tailor my search to find EXACTLY what I what immediately.

2. Filters - Once I’ve search for exactly what I need, I can create a filter that allows me to always know where I need to go to find the email I need. For instance, have you ever needed to find that ONE email from that ONE parent from MONTHS ago? If you create a filter, all of those emails that you want to keep, but you know aren’t emergencies, can direct themselves into your pre-designated label. Now, your inbox stays clean and you choose when you’re prepared to tackle which emails!
To create a filter, perform a search and then click on “Create a filter with this search”, and you will then be directed to the box below to choose how you want to filter those messages.

3. Labels - Labels are similar to folders and live on the left-hand side of your GMail homescreen. If you have set up filters to automagically redirect messages to particular labels, you can access those emails by clicking on the label name. On the bottom of your list of labels, you can click “Manage Labels” or “Create New Label”, but you can also do this same thing my clicking on the setting icon  and clicking on the “Labels” tab.

 4. Priority Mailbox (Important & Unread, Starred, and Everything Else) - One FANTASTIC setting in GMail is the ability to differentiate between your Important email, your starred email and everything else. Since I’ve been using it, it usually identifies important email based on the person it is coming from. I have yet to receive an email in

my “Important and Unread” section that is not, in fact, important. I star the emails that need some sort of follow-up, and those emails are strategically placed below my “Important and Unread” emails. And then, of course, there is “Everything Else”. Nothing is left out, but it is prioritized for me in a way that has proven to be meaningful for me and has increased my efficiency. 

5. Labs - Last, but definitely not least, when I train teachers and administrators about GMail, Labs are some of the most fun. Labs allow you to personalize your GMail experience. HOWEVER, labs are experiments and they might not always work asplanned and a lab function that you pick could go away, so don’t grow too attached too soon. Here are some of the options you have in labs: placing the chat bar along the right side, rather than the left-side of your homescreen; adding Google Calendar or Google Docs gadgets on your GMail homescreen, so you can see all your productivity tools in one space at one time; Preview Pane allows a quick preview of any email by right-clicking on the email message, without having to open it; Canned Responses allows you to automatically set canned responses for particular emails or labels. You can find more labs in Settings.

There are some amazing features in GMail that dramatically increase efficiency and productivity and if you’re anything like EVERY educator I know, having a little help to get paperwork and email done more quickly so you can spend more time with your students is always a PLUS.

• This post was cross-posted from the resource-building that I do with Sony, Inc., located at http://www.educationambassador.com - please visit there for more information and great suggestions from other ambassadors across the United States.

In Bed With YouTube and Sites - 365 Learn (2)

Yes, I know that the word is "embed", not "in bed"...but it was punny and I couldn't resist.


One great find I had tonight was how to embed a YouTube video, set to begin at a particular second within the video, in a Google Site.

When you'd like to try this yourself, follow these steps:

1. Click Share below the video

2. Click Embed

3. Check Use Old Embed Code

4. Edit the Embed Code - delete the respective (for your chosen video) part crossed out below

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CAA63umjvU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CAA63umjvU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>


5. Then, replace it with the time you'd like your embedded video to begin. Note: the time to begin will be in seconds. So, if you want a video to begin at Minute 3 and 27 Seconds, use the following formula: 3*60+27.... = 207

Your embed code should now read like this (with the number highlighted representing whatever time you'd like your video to begin)

<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CAA63umjvU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&start=207"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_CAA63umjvU?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&start=207" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>


6. Copy your embed code

7. Go to your Google Sites page and click on the html editing button

8. Paste your embed code wherever you would like it placed, kind of like what I'm about to do here...Enjoy!



As always, thanks for reading!

Raul - The Google Translate Story

I've been asked to repeat this story multiple times (thrice in rather public places and more times than I can count privately), so I decided to just make it into a post for...posterity's sake...and lest I forget...

As an English teacher turned instructional leader who embraces global perspectives and doesn’t know any other languages (unless you count Pig Latin), my greatest professional insecurity is being unable to communicate and connect with other people. Words matter and that’s why I got into this gig and what I love so much about it.

But I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.

So when I became a Vice Principal at a public high school with a significant population of English Learners, I sought out every opportunity available to throw myself into the English Learner population. I volunteered to work with the English Learner Advisory Council and the English Language Development classes and teachers. I had been to the Google Teacher Academy and gathered the great people you have with you right now...around me...and used their support to keep my determination going.

At the start of this school year, I met Raul - no more than 4 feet 10 inches and 90 pounds soaking wet. He was an English Learner, significantly disabled and flirting with gang activity and 14 years old. I met with him multiple times each week, mostly at my own prompting and to his chagrin. He would sit, stone-faced and we would have our battle of wills in which I would usually win. But as much as he pretended that I was just some crazy teacher in an office, I was his safe place to land when he’d get thrown out of class by a substitute or he just didn’t want to get into a fight this week with another student. Raul was failing his classes. All of them. He told me he didn’t want to come to school and saw no point in being there. His attendance solidified his sentiment. I tried time and time again to meet with his mother, but calls went unreturned, notes home went unanswered.

So when I received a note stating that Raul’s mother would be coming in to meet with me and Raul, I cleared my schedule immediately. I frantically searched for someone available to translate to no end so when Raul’s mother showed up, and there was no translator still yet available, I attempted my best attempt at Spanglish until I remembered....my Google Translate App.

I whipped that bad boy out and immediately began typing into it furiously (later on, realizing I could have expedited this process by just speaking into my iPad, but I was concerned with communicating in any way possible). I played my voice. But it wasn't in English. It was in her native language.  

And tears began to trickle down his mother’s face.

CRAP! What have I done?

She said to me, in her broken English - “Thank you...this is the first time in Raul’s school that there is nothing between you and me talking. Thank you.”

She wanted to see what I was typing into the iPad as I typed it and played it back - completely enthralled and fascinated by this tiny little app. The rest of the conference went well and she walked out ready to kill Raul for his grades and eternally grateful to me. I asked Raul to stay after the meeting to speak with him about how he felt about the meeting, but all he wanted to know was what that app was and what else it could do. We hopped on my MacBook and into Google Translate. His eyes lit up and he couldn’t ask enough questions about its capabilities.
When it became clear that we were done for now, he asked me two questions and the most determined statements I heard ever come from him.  “Do you think I could do something like this, or maybe be a translator someday myself?” I said “Yes, absolutely, Raul”. Then, he asked, “Do I need to graduate high school to be a translator?” “Yes, Raul”, I said with a smirk and finally, “I’m going to help my mom learn English with this.” And as he left, he said “I think I’ll come to school tomorrow.”

And then it was time for me to cry.

Raul finished his 9th grade year with improved attendance and he will not be transferred to the continuation school now because he was able to bring his grades up enough to be on track to graduate.