Saturday, April 10, 2010

Google Docs Viewer

I just tried out a feature from Google that was released last September-- the Google Docs Viewer. It is a pretty cool little tool once you realize its power!

The Google Docs Viewer allows you to email a link, place a link on your Web page or blog, or embed a stand-alone viewer to read PowerPoint, PDF, and TIFF image files directly in the browser. Right now, if you put a link to a PowerPoint presentation on a Web page, it has to be downloaded and opened with the PowerPoint software on the user's computers. And PDF and TIFF files will not open in a Web browser, either, and require software on the local computer to read these file formats.

Following are some examples using the Google Docs Viewer.

A PDF version of an ergonomics manual developed for our district. This will open in another window, but right within the Web browser.

A PowerPoint presentation created when we first began our current unit design process in the district.

Here is the embedded version using that option of the Google Docs Viewer.



I uploaded an image in the TIFF file format so you could see how that works, too!

The Google Docs Viewer is a interesting tool for you to try out! Let me know if you come up with other creative ways to use it!

Friday, April 02, 2010

Educators' Use of Twitter: Survey Results

This survey was open to participants from March 10 through April 1, 2010. The data was collected via a Google form. The survey was originally created by Emily Embury of C. Blohm & Associates (http://www.cblohm.com/) for a session at COSN 2010 dealing with Twitter. She gathered data from the pre-registered educators for COSN, and summarized it online. 


I liked the survey, and, because her data set was rather small, I asked if I could send it out through my personal learning network to gather additional data.  She graciously agreed, and the only changes I have made on the presentation are the first three questions.


I sent out the survey link to 5800+ educators on Twitter, and asked them to share the link with those in their school and/or district, whether or not they were current Twitter users. I received 284 valid responses.


The first section of the survey was a collection of demographic data from the responders.


The second section dealt with personal and professional use of Twitter.


The third section dealt with school or district use of Twitter.


Here is a slide show of the survey results.




Thank you to all who participated in the survey. Feel free to use this data if you need it to justify the use of Twitter in your school or district, to provide data to get it unblocked in your school or district, or for any other reason. 

Citation for the study:
Schrock, Kathleen. (2010, April 2). Educators' Use of Twitter: Survey Results. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from http://blog.kathyschrock.net/2010/04/educators-use-of-twitter-survey-results.html