WEEK 2: Activity #5 - Google Chrome

So I stayed up late through the night... all night... trying to figure out some GOOGLE CHROME applications.   Haven't pulled an all-nighter since college and now see that it is even tougher now.  The one I was excited about where those that the store helps you choose under "Education".  I found a typing tutor there called "Typing Web Typing Tutor".  It required a log-in and was thorough, including a teacher manager for an entire class.  HOWEVER, I felt like the format was tricky. Because of the tricky format with lack of sensible words, my typing skill piddled down to 42 words with 96% accuracy... on four letters!  I wish a typing tutor would only do half of that as not to be overwhelming for a student.  I may hit the road looking for something with few to no nonsense words.

I am excited to use to play with some of the math practice apps since math is a new area for me and I will be teachering up to four preps in the same class.  KHAN ACADEMY seemed neat when I first logged on, but there were so many "divergent button clicks" that I would worry about students becoming distracted.  I will have to experiment with more.

One HAAAAAAPPY BUTTON was "voice-to-text".  It was easy without any sign=ins or agreements, and simple to use, (despite lacking instruction and looking for like Microsoft Paint" canvas!).   This would come in super handy.  I could see students who do not like to type or have dysgraphia or poor spelling enjoying it.  I could also see it as a way to encourage the oral brainstorm independently.  I would be curious to see how it would do with multiple voices going at once in a classroom.

A frustration is that when I load the apps, some go to my tool bar, and some of the "Home" screen (seen above).  I cannot seem to figure out the rhyme or reason, unless some are transferrable or play off of Google Docs, and the rest have their own "entity."  It is frustrating to not know where things go, what they are called, or which one may be the best.  It seems like this could be a valuable tool for kids, but also a potential time waster for those of us challenged by the sheer volume.  I will probably go back to trusted sources (like the Dist 113 Google Chrome page).