Social Media - Twitter as PD

Using Twitter for Your Personal Professional Development

@joe_edtech

Most people know that Twitter has value as a social networking tool, but perhaps the secret to Twitter is the professional development available for almost any topic that interests you. Even if you never send a "Tweet," you can get updates from organizations and writers that are important to you and can offer you tools and advice that make you better at what you do.

For instance, I follow:

• Edutopia - The George Lucas Foundation for Education
• NSBA - The National School Board Association
• David Pogue - Tech columnist, NY Times; PBS NOVA host; Missing Manuals creator, dad of 3!
• Common Sense Media - Organization for Research Based Digital Citizenship Curriculum
• Deerfield High School
• Deerfield High School Libraries

And that doesn't even scratch the surface. Writers, other teachers, colleges, organizations, teams, politicians (ugh, I don't recommend following them).

To get started, try:

10 Educators On Twitter You Should Follow (But Probably Don't)

100 Terrific Twitter Feeds for Teaching Advice

All you need to do to get started is create an account on Twitter.com. HOWEVER, before you do, click here and check out "The Ultimate Twitter Guide for Teachers." Jeff Dunn (@edudemic) provides you with:

• A beginner's guide to Twitter (including video)
• Information on Twitter Etiquette
• Advice for Teachers New to Twitter
• 35 Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom

And much, much more.

Once you start using Twitter, you'll learn about "hashtags" (#). They are used in Tweets to denote important topics, and to make Twitter feeds more searchable and user friendly. The most important hashtag for educators is #edchat. Click here to get an idea of the myriad of topics discussed on Twitter labaled #edchat.

Find Twitter Here - And create your free account today.

By the way, there are two great HashTags (#) you should be following and contributing to if you are on Twitter:

#DHS__Pride = Tag the great staff, students, and accomplishments we have.
#D113PLN = Contribute to our online Professional Learning Network

FTT - Notable PDF

From the Chrome Store

Notable PDF - Viewer and Annotation Tool for Google Drive

@joe_edtech

One of the hurdles teachers face as they start to integrate Google Apps into their classrooms (the substitution step on the SAMR ladder) is how to make their printed materials usable once they've been scanned. It is easy to read PDFs in Google Drive, but it isn't so easy to make PDFs interactive. Notable PDF, available from the Chrome Web Store, solves some of the problem.

The first step is to go the the Chrome Web Store and add Notable PDF to your browser. Once you've done that, you'll notice that you will have options when you want to open a PDF in Drive.

This is from the Preview screen in Drive

The first time you open a file with Notable PDF, you'll have the option to watch a brief tutorial on the functions of the product. When the document opens, it will open with a black border and a few "menu buttons" on the right hand side. They are pretty standard annotation functions (highlight, strikethrough, underline, comment, add text, and select text), but if you hover over any of the buttons, you'll get a mini pop up with a description of the functionality.

Annotated Document using Notable PDF

In the example to the left, I added text in the white space of the PDF using the "add text" tool (capital A). 

I also added a text comment. Similar to working in Drive, comments are linked to some portion of the text. So after clicking the "dialogue bubble" icon, click on the pertinent text and type your comment in the pop up box that appears on the right hand side of the screen.

If you look at the top menu bar, you'll notice there are a few more tools. Most of them are pretty standard, but perhaps the most useful for your classroom is the "share" icon:

The share icon allows your students to add you to their Notable PDF documents. Once you've been added, you can see their annotations, add your own, and reply to their comments.

The good news is that annotations you make and comments you make are automatically saved in Notable PDF. However, Notable PDF is not a panacea. Depending on how the PDF is made (scanned as a picture or saved as a PDF from your PC) you may or may not get full functionality from all of the annotation buttons. The "add text" tool and the "dialogue bubble" for adding comments will always work, though.

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Notable PDF is just one of the many options for working with PDFs online. If you have one that you've used and have had success with, please share it in the comments box below.