Tag: study guides

Provide study help with Socratic

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What:

Socratic is a new app powered by Google to help students “get unstuck” and “learn better” (source).  Socratic is an app that supports most subject areas using visual explanations of complex topics. Socratic is powered by Google AI so it offers the most up to date information. 

How to:

Socratic is an app for iOS and Google devices. It allows high school and college age students to receive immediate guidance when studying. Students can “take a photo of a question or use their voice to ask a question” and Socratic (now powered by Google AI) will present the most relevant resources (source). The algorithm used by Google AI not only provides guidance on the topic but also looks for underlying concepts to explain the concept thoroughly. There is also a section with study guides available for over 1,000 high school and higher education topics created by teachers (source). It’s basically like having a teacher right by your side.

Next Steps

Interested in learning more? Check out the websites below for great information. 

References:

All sourced information is hyperlinked as applicable above. 

TLDR (too long didn’t read):

Socratic is a new app created by Google to help students “get unstuck” and “learn better” (source).  Socratic is an app that supports most subject areas using visual explanations of complex topics. Socratic is powered by Google AI so it offers the most up to date information. 

@hollandkaylah

Easily Connect with Students, Parents, and Colleagues Online

Posterous Groups is the simplest way to communicate with your students, colleagues, family and friends. Posterous Groups may be the next evolution in email communication.

Messages and attachments submitted to the group will be emailed to everyone in the group. Send any type of file to your group and Posterous will convert it to the most web-friendly format available. Photos will be sent to your group members inline, and if you send multiple photos, Posterous will automatically create a photo gallery for you. Submit a YouTube URL to the group and Posterous will grab the embed code and automatically embed it in your site. Email replies can include photos, videos or any other rich media and will be automatically shared with the rest of the group via email and stored on the group website.

A Few Benefits

Most everyone has access to email and understands how to send and received messages and attachments.

No account required. Anyone can participate in your group simply by emailing your group address while receiving email updates without ever having to visit your site.

Your group can be public or private.

Posterous Groups have been optimized for viewing on mobile devices. Your students and their parents can access your Posterous materials from their cell phones and iPads.

Multiple people can have full control of your group. That means you can share administrative rights to the website/group with others if you choose to do so.

Worth Noting

Best I can tell (and I certainly hope I’m wrong) it isn’t possible to have a Posterous website and a Posterous Group integrated together in the same domain. This is disappointing because it means that we can’t connect blog posts and web pages with the group features in one site. This can be worked around by setting up a Posterous site and a Posterous Group and linking them together, but it means having to administrate two different instances. This isn’t difficult for teachers comfortable with technology, but will likely be a bit overwhelming to those entertaining the idea of developing their first class web presence. In this case, I’d suggest they simply stick with setting up a website (in most instances).

Get Started

Get started by creating a group for your classes, clubs, groups, teams, or students’ parents. You can also start groups for your family, friends, church, and more.

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Collaborative Diagrams, Concept Maps, Site Maps, and More

Thanks to Cindy Brock, I learned about an interesting web tool today. Cacoo‘s website states that it “is an online drawing tool that makes real-time collaboration a reality,” but I found this to be an incomplete description of its many capabilities.

Here are some of the features that I noticed while becoming familiar with Cacoo.

  • Multiple users editing the same diagram means real-time collaboration.
  • Cacoo allows you to share diagrams with everyone.
  • Shared diagrams can be edited by anyone.
  • Create wireframes, mind maps, network diagrams, site maps, and many other types of drawings using “stencils” that you drag and drop into place.
  • Cacoo can be pasted into a variety of web applications, such as Wiki and Blog.
  • Promotes collaboration through “diagrams” with flexibility, quickness, and beauty.
  • Currently available in 13 languages.

View the full list of features.