Send links, maps, phone numbers, & more from your Chrome browser to your phone

Are you ever on the computer and want to send what you have up on the screen to your phone?  I can think of many times that I was looking up restaurants on my computer and wanted to send the address to my phone so that I could then navigate to that place using the navigation app on my phone.  I'm sure that you can think of many similar situations.  Having to start researching all over again on your phone is a time waster. One you setup the application in Chrome and on your phone, you will be able to send links, maps, phone numbers, & more from the Chrome browser right to your phone.  Please see the two sections below for Android phones and iPhones and follow the steps for the device that you have.

Android Phones
First, you will need to go to this link and install the Chrome to Phone extension for your Chrome browser.  Next, you can go to this link on your phone to install the Chrome to Phone app.  You could also go to the Google Play store on your phone and search for "Google Chrome to phone".  The last step is to sign in to both the Chrome extension and the mobile app.  Once you've signed in, you can start sending things to your phone by clicking the extension in Chrome, like in the image below.

Here is a video on Chrome to Phone:

iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch
The app for sending information from Chrome to your iPhone or iPad is not as feature rich as the Android version, but you may still find it handy.   You can go to this link to install the Site to Phone Chrome extension.  The next step is to go to this link and install the app on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.  You can also open up the App Store on your device and search for "Site to Phone".   The last step is to login to both apps and then you can start sending links and other things from Chrome right to your phone.

Do you use other apps or methods of getting information from your computer to your phone?  If so, please post them in the comments below.

The Evernote Trunk

So, have you become a big Evernote fan yet?  If you have then you are going to love this post.  Evernote itself is a great tool, and the addition of Skitch makes it even greater!  But there is something else that really makes it an awesome tool, the integration with other tools, hardware and services.  You see there are a lot of other people out there that are big Evernote fans too and some of them are software developers and hardware manufacturers.  They like Evernote so much they have built integrations and developed hardware that works with Evernote in amazing ways.  I bet you are wondering where you can find all this great stuff.  All of it can be found right inside of Evernote by clicking on the "Trunk" button in the left-hand menu.  Once you click this button you will see a menu at the top where you can select Apps, How To, Hardware and Gear.

In the Apps area you will find Skitch and a host of other applications that are ready to integrate with Evernote.  One of my favorites is Instapaper which lets you archive webpages for later reading.

In the How To section you will find a number of books and guides for using Evernote.  I am a big fan of Lynda.com and will be checking into her offerings on Evernote!

In the Hardware you will find all kinds of scanners and other tools that can connect to the Evernote application.

There are some fantastic integrations that make Evernote even more versatile.  If you check any of them out leave a comment on the blog to let us know how it worked!

This will be my last post until the end of December.  So have a great holiday season everyone!

Taking notes in class - The digital way

Do you take notes while you are in class?  Do you use paper, a laptop, tablet, smartphone, or some combination of those?  Having access to my notes digitally and being able to search them has been invaluable to me, so I typically take notes using my computer.  I have also found it useful to take paper notes when I was in Math classes because there was just no way I could type all of those symbols and keep up with the instructor.

There are lots of services for you to type and take notes and here are the ones that I have found to be most useful.  These services are all free.

Google Docs

As I have mentioned in earlier blog posts, Google Docs and Google Drive have been invaluable. It is very easy to just create a folder for a course and quarter (like ENGL 101 Fall 2012) and then create documents to type class notes in.  You can look up these notes anywhere you have an internet connection and even offline if you set that up.  You can search through all of your notes to find specific topics and keywords.  This was helpful when studying for upcoming tests.  It was also helpful on test days, as I could open up the mobile app on my phone and read through my notes as I was riding the bus to class.

Google Drive also allows you to upload any type of files as well.  In addition to your notes for a class, you can upload PowerPoints, example files, images, or anything else from your instructor and have a central place (besides Canvas or Angel) to access all files and notes related to a particular class.

Here is a link to Google Drive/Docs.


Evernote

Evernote is another fantastic note taking tool.  It was designed specifically for taking notes and doesn't have multiple uses like Google Drive, but it does its specific job quite well.  You can provide a very helpful and short explanation on Evernote in Andy's blog post here.  If you like taking handwritten notes, you can use your smartphone, iPad, or Android tablet take pictures of your notes and import them right into Evernote.  That is all explained here in another of Andy's blog posts.

Here is Evernote's website.


Springpad

Springpad is a slightly different multi-use online tool.  Here is a short video to introduce you to it:


With Springpad, you can type your notes like in Evernote or Google Docs, but you can also add lots of other things, such as:

• Links to websites
• Or, add by items type:
• movie
• music
• book
• place
• recipe
• product
• wine
• tv show
• photo
• video
• file
• alarm
• check list
• event
• task
• contact

Springpad could serve as your notes, your to do list, contact list for your classmates you are working with on a project, list of bookmarks you want to save for your class, and much more.  In some ways, it is a more flexible tool than either Google Drive or Evernote.

Here is a link to Springpad's website.


How do you take notes in class?  Please post in the comments your go-to method for note taking in class.

Chrome - Automatically sync all of your bookmarks and web apps no matter what computer or smartphone you are on

Do you use bookmarks?  Do you use more than one computer?  Do you have a iPhone, iPad, or Android phone?  Using the fastest browser around, you can have all of your bookmarks and web apps synced across every computer you use, as well as your smartphone.  If you don't already have Google Chrome installed on your computer, I would highly recommend going to this link and installing it.  It is a free application.  As part of the install process, you will be asked if you would like to import your bookmarks and settings from Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.  I would recommend doing that, as that will make your transition to Chrome easier.

Once you have installed Chrome, follow the directions on this page and sign in to Chrome.  If you have any other computers, install Chrome and sign into those as well.  If you have an iPhone or iPad, go here to download Chrome for iOS and if you have an Android phone, go here to download it.  From now on when you add or remove bookmarks or web apps, it will be synced across all of your computers and your phone.  You will have a seamless experience everywhere.

For more information on signing into Chrome and why you should do it, you can watch this short video:

The Google Chrome browser is compatible with both Angel and Canvas, so you will have no problems using it with either system for your classes.  

Skitch

Skitch is a great tool for taking screenshots on your computer.  Skitch was recently purchased by Evernote so now it integrates very nicely with my favorite note taking tool!  You can grab Skitch from http://evernote.com/skitch/.  It is a free download and if you are using a Mac computer you can get it directly from the App Store.

The integration with Evernote is great.  Once you snap a screenshot the image is automatically loaded into Evernote for safe keeping.  But Evernote isn't the only way you can use your images.  They can be saved to your hard drive or shared out via email or social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.

The fun doesn't end once you take the screenshot.  Skitch has annotation tools built in so you can point out or highlight areas of the image and you can add text to help explain different elements on the image.

Here's a tip from the eLearning team.  If you are having some technical difficulty with an eLearning tool (Canvas, Angel, Tegrity, etc...) and you need to submit a ticket, use Skitch to take a screenshot of the problem and include it with the ticket.  This will help us see the problem and aid in our troubleshooting.

Have fun exploring this free tool!  

Mythbusting Media: Expert Tips and Techniques for Effectively Using Social and Digital Media

This was a pre-conference session at EDUCAUSE.  Since we are working on a social media strategy at TCC I thought it might be a good idea to get some different perspectives on this topic. What I found most interesting about this session was hearing from different educators from around the country "busting" some myths around social media 

One presenter talked about her usage of social media as a tool to market the Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas. In this role she is able to interact with students that are interested in the college. One of the myths she "busted" was that it really isn't necessary to separate yourself from your "brand". She felt it is important to be yourself when interacting with people via social media as it helps build connections.  http://www.slideshare.net/marleysmom1/marketing-myths-for-sm-use-in-highered

Another presenter is a student who actively uses social media for her online classes. The primary myth she "busted" is about building real relationships via social media.  She commented how she has developed the same kind of relationships in her online class Facebook groups as she had in her face-to-face classes.  

What do you think about these myths?

College blogs of intrest

Did you know that Tacoma Community College is one of the early adopters of new technology and a leader in eLearning advancements in the state of Washington?  Other colleges look to our examples. However good we are, we can’t know everything. So I did some looking around for some other college blogs out there that you may find of use as a student making your way through this maze that is college and life.

Hack College
   Hack College is a blog dedicated to helping you “work smarter, not harder.”  All content is written by students, so it comes from the source.  It is not just tech stuff like tips for cleaning up inappropriate Facebook photos from last week’s party or recovering your missing English final from a corrupt hard drive. They have some really well written articles and they are trying to help you change the way you learn.

MyEdu
    You want to know exactly what your grade point is at any given time right? You also want to know what time your anthropology discussion starts, and how you can save up to 20% on books and tuition. And you want to do it all in one place.

    That’s where MyEdu comes in. They let you do everything listed above, as well as find out which classes your friends are taking, plan your degree by semester, check up on your professors, and much more. Best of all, it’s all free.

Rate My Professors
    Nobody wants the lecture with the professor who reads aloud from the textbook (or spits on the front row when he talks). Get the most out of your college dollars by checking up on professors before you enroll in their class.

    This free service rates professors on a 5-point scale for easiness, helpfulness, clarity and rater interest. 

Gizmodo

    This site is an offshoot of Lifehacker, another blog for the geek in all of us. But I like the flow and feel of Gizmodo in how it brings college students all the latest information on new, must-have technological gadgets and gizmos, allowing us to stay in sync with the cool trends.

Chromebook - The thin, fast laptop with 6.5 hour battery for only $249

Thin, Fast, Low Cost
How would you like to get a thin, fast laptop with a 6.5 hour battery for only $249?  Well, the Chromebook is your laptop then.  Google has created the Chrome OS, which is a lightweight operating system designed for people that spend most of their time online and they have put this onto the Chromebook laptop.  Instead of using Windows 7, Windows 8, or the Mac OSX, you are using the Chrome OS, which centers around the Chrome browser.

Web apps
Instead of installing applications on the computer, you "install" them in your Chrome browser.  You can browse applications to install in the Chrome Web Store.  Are you worried that you'll lose all of the applications you are used to using like Microsoft Word or iTunes?  Instead of Microsoft Word, you can use Google Docs for free.  I explain here about using Google Docs and Google Drive instead of Microsoft Office.  Instead of iTunes, you can upload your music to the free Google Music.  There are also lots of other free, web-based applications that you can listen to music with.  If you need to edit pictures, you can use Aviary for Google Drive.  These are just a few examples of the many available, free web applications that you can use instead of the desktop applications that you are used to using.

Free 100GB of online storage
With the purchase of a Chromebook, you also get a free 100GB of Google Drive storage for 2 years.  All of the documents, pictures, music that you store on the Chromebook is synced with you Google Drive and you can access that anywhere you have a web browser and an internet connection.  I pay $2.49 per month for 25GB of Google Drive storage and as I explain here, I was able to save all of the photos I've ever taken thanks to Google Drive store.  Getting 100GB for free is a great deal.

Offline editing
The Chromebook is mostly designed for people that are connected to WiFi all the time.  With WiFi at school, home, coffee shops, and friend's houses, you can pretty much be connected to WiFi almost the entire day.  There may be times when you aren't connected to WiFi though and Google Docs does have offline editing that will allow you to make edits offline and then it will automatically sync the next time you get connected to the internet.

Hardware specs
You can check out the hardware specs here.  The best features of the hardware are the 6.5 hour battery and the solid state drive, which makes the use of the laptop very snappy and a boot time of less than 10 seconds.  The 0.7 inch thickness and weight of 2.5 pounds is also quite nice and makes it a very portable machine.

Wrap up
Is the Chromebook for everyone?  No, it's not.  Is it a cheaper, effective alternative to Windows or Mac laptops?  Yes, it is.

EDUCAUSE 2012

This week I will be attending the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado.  This conference focuses on Information Technology and how to use it effectively to enhance teaching and learning in higher education.  It is one of those great conferences where there are three or more sessions that you want to see each hour of each day.  This makes it hard to decide which one to actually attend.  Tomorrow I will be attending a pre-conference seminar and then the regular conference starts on Wednesday.  My plan is to update this post blog throughout the week to discuss some of the sessions I attended.  In my summary here I will try to address sessions that may be reflected in projects at TCC and what impact these projects may have on students.

New Group Study Room Equipment in the Information Commons

If you are looking for some space to collaborate on a class project then visit the Information Commons (building 15) and check our newly installed media:scape in both Group Study rooms. Each media:scape unit is equipped with two monitors and a media sharing module that allows up to four computers or portable devices to be shared on the screen.

The media:scape was designed for a “walk-up and connect” experience:
- Open the media well and remove a puck;
- Connect the puck to your laptop;
- Share what’s on your laptop or mobile device by pressing the puck.


The rooms can be reserved for 2 hour slots. If you have any questions about the rooms you can contact Andy Duckworth, Shannon Hight (shight@tacomacc.edu) or Christopher Soran (csoran@tacomacc.edu).

Reading About What Students Want and Will Need in the 21st Century

Reflections from Jo Munroe . . .

Recently, the Educause Center for Applied Research  released its 2012 Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology. Because the study is about you and your experiences, I though that I would summarize it here and invite you to read my brief summary of what it says and to comment or  to ask questions in this forum. The study I reference here, is a study to inform higher ed folks (your instructors, eLearning support folks, your VPs and Presidents) about which technologies you prefer to use for learning, how strong your abilities to use those technologies and resources are  and what you feel about what technology adds to  (or subtracts from) your instructors' effectiveness. All of this is supposed to help us to meet you where you are and help to move you to where you want (need) to be  in terms of your educational and lifelong learning plans.

The report describes you as reflective and curious, but not interested in the new just because it is new. Here are some of the observations (loosely paraphrased) from the study:

1. You like blended learning (face-to-face mixed with online components) best  . . . if you had to choose. You enjoy this form of learning and you think that you learn best this way.
2. You don't really care that much about new, trendy technologies, but you like technology when it is used well to help you to achieve your learning goals.
3. You want more technology training and skill development for using technology . . .You think that this is more valuable than new, more or "better" technology.
4. In terms of the technology you own, you have moved away from desktop computers and feature cellphones and PDAS to laptops . . .and smartphones . . .and tablets and e-readers. You want the option to use these and the training to leverage them for academic purposes.
5. It is not true that all of you have high degrees of technical expertise . . . nor do you really want us to use social networking tools for classroom purposes. You like interacting with your friends on Facebook . . . Interacting with your teachers this way? . . . Meh . . .not-so-much.
6.   You want to interact with your instructors more . . .  face-to-face, via your course management system (like through Canvas, for example). And, while you like instant messaging and online chatting, you really do not enjoy social networking sites and telephone chats as ways to interact with your instructors.
7. You expect us to know how to use technology to engage you in the learning process, and you appreciate our guidance and encouragement about how to get started in  matching technology with teaching and learning needs. If we gave you the opportunity, you would create and present more frequently.
8. While you do wish that we would use more open educational resources and more simulations and educational games, in general, you are pretty pleased with how we are introducing and using technology in the classroom (Yay!) You think that (in general) we have adequate technology skills, that we use technology well in terms of helping you to understand course materials and that we use the "right kinds" of technology effectively.
9. You like  a continuum - deconstructed learning spaces - that push the boundaries of the classroom and give you time to reflect . . .You do not skip class when lecture components are put online. You like blended learning.
10. You would like more technology training that relates directly to succeeding in your courses . . . Just as your instructors, though, you favor on-demand problem resolution with technology rather than formal, organized trainings. 

That's what the report says . . . You can read it for yourself by searching : ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2012  . . .I hope that you will.

Studying with music? Try out these services for free music streaming

Do you ever study or do homework while listening to music?  I know music helps me focus and keeps me going when I'm studying or doing homework.  You may also love saving money, so I'm going to give brief overviews of the best ways to listen to music for free and legally.

Spotify

• Website: http://www.spotify.com
•  Features: 
• Using the free desktop application, you can listen to any of 13 million available songs.
• The free account gives you unlimited streaming of songs and the ability to make playlists.
• Using the mobile app, you can get free access to the Spotify radio, which acts just like Pandora or Slacker.  The $10 a month plan gives you access to play any songs you want on the mobile app and doesn't limit you to radio only.
• Cons: 
• No access to stream music via a web browser.  You have to use the desktop application.
• Thoughts: 
• I've deleted iTunes and stopped buying music since I started using Spotify.  Any time I have an internet connection, I can listen to almost any song I want to on demand.

Pandora

• Website: http://www.pandora.com/ 
•  Features: 
• You give it a song or an artist and you get to listen to artists and songs that are similar to the one you started with. 
• The songs played for you are based on the research from the Music Genome Project.
• Unlimited listening with ads.  For a while, free accounts were limited to 40 hours per month, but that limit was lifted earlier this year.
• They recently added stations for stand up comedy.
• Has a free mobile app for iOS and Android.
• Cons: 
• Limited to 5 skips per hour with the free account.
• Thoughts: 
• After thousands of hours of listening to Pandora stations, I feel like they have been "played out" and I'm not getting any more new music.

Slacker

• Website: http://www.slacker.com/
•  Features: 
• Similar to Pandora, you give Slacker a song or artist and are delivered a radio of similar songs.
• Has a free mobile app for iOS and Android.
• Cons: 
• Can't play songs on demand. 
• Thoughts: 
• Slacker isn't as polished as Pandora and doesn't play as many lesser played songs from popular artists like Last.fm does, but it does its job well and is a nice alternative to other free streaming music services.

Last FM

• Website: http://www.last.fm/
•  Features: 
• Streaming radio based on artists, songs, or imported music that you give it.
• Using the Last.fm scrobbler, you can import your current music library from iTunes, Windows Media Player, or Winamp and get recommendations for music to listen to based on your current collection.
• Great for discovering new music.
• Cons: 
• Can't play songs on demand. 
• Thoughts: 
• Last.fm has been a great place for me to discover new artists and listen to the lesser played songs from artists.  Pandora and Slacker are similar, but only play the most popular songs, so it is nice to get a little more song variety here.

Google Music

• Website: http://music.google.com 
•  Features: 
• You can upload all of the songs you have on your computer to Google Music and stream that music from your web browser or the mobile app.  
• Has a mobile app for Android and you can use any of these apps for iOS to stream your Google Music.
• Cons: 
• You can't stream music that you don't already own and have already available on your computer.
• Thoughts: 
• It's a great, free way to store all of your music in the cloud and have it available to you anytime you are connected to the internet.

The Operating System is (Almost) Dead - Cloud applications to replace your computer applications

There are so many tools that are available via the cloud, I would claim that the operating system doesn't matter anymore.  You can be on Windows 7, Windows 8, Mac OSX, Ubuntu, or anything as long as you have a web browser and an internet connection. You can do nearly everything you need to do as a student via any web browser.

Here's a list of free applications that you can use in your web browser instead of on your computer:

• Cloud file storage
• Google Drive
• Dropbox
• SkyDrive
• Box
• Picture editing
• Aviary
• Presentations
• Google Docs Presentations
• Prezi
• Microsoft Office alternative
• Office Web - works with SkyDrive
• Google Docs - works with Google Drive
• Note taking applications
• Evernote
• Google Docs
• Springpad

Every one of these applications also had an iPhone and Android phone app.  You're not always going to be on a computer and being able to access these things via mobile applications is very important.  What cloud based applications do you use?  Please make a comment with the application(s) and how you use it for your classes.

Canvas with Crocodoc

Canvas has integrated a new tool in their system that you may find very useful, especially if your instructor puts you in peer review groups.  This new tool is called Crocodoc (https://crocodoc.com).  Crocodoc is the default tool for embedding Word documents, PowerPoints, Excel files and PDFs in Canvas (it is important to note that only these document types are currently supported).  Once one of these documents has been uploaded, and it is a part of a peer review assignment for you, then you can open the file in Canvas and annotate directly in the browser.  No longer will you have to download the file, add comments and the re-upload.  You can do all of that work directly in Canvas.  To learn more about how this works check out the video below:


Canvas Product Release Screencast - Sept 29, 2012 from Instructure on Vimeo.

Question Corner

Question Corner:

This week I worked out at the front desk longer than usual so I got to hear some of the questions that we are getting asked on a daily basis.  This week 2 of them really stuck out so I thought I would highlight them here.

1.  How do I forward my student email to my cell phone?

Every cell phone is a little different, but all of them have Settings and then your Account Information.  You are going to want to:

·         Add Account:  Pick Microsoft Exchange or ActiveSync

·         Email address or User name: Your full TCC email address, for example; JDoe65405@student.tacomacc.edu

·         Your password: The same password you use for the portal

·         Server name:  outlook.com

IF your phone does not have Microsoft Exchange you can use IMAP e-mail server settings.

IMAP4 Server:

Server name: pod51004.outlook.com

Port: 993

SSL turned on

Your SMPT/Outgoing server name will be:

Name: Pod51004.outlook.com

Port: 587

SSL turned on

2. In the portal my tabs are blank, I think the Portal is down.

 

No, the Portal is not down.  More than likely you are using Internet Explorer and the image is not refreshing when you click on a link or tab.  It only seems to be an issue with Internet Explorer.  All you have to do is press F5 on the keyboard to refresh the screen or in the address bar click the refresh icon and you will then see tabs again.

The solution that we suggest is that you use Mozilla Firefox for all of your browsing needs here on campus and at home.  This is free software you can download and we feel that it works faster and is much more compatible with Angel and Canvas.  Another Browser that we really like is Google Chrome. 

With both Chrome and Firefox, we are not seeing the refresh issue. 

If you have any questions regarding these browsers or how to set up your email, you can call the Help Desk at 253)566-5176 or send us an email at eLearning@tacomacc.edu. 

Shannon