Good Bye Explorer Program Messages from @GoogleGlass #google #throughglass #gafe

Good Bye Explorer Program 1/15/2015

So we just got word that Google is closing the Google Glass Explorer Program. Not sure what this all means get but below is the messages we got from Google Being an Explorer was a great experience. If it would have costed only $500, I would have no regrets.Which might be a sign of a larger problem.

Presenting with Google Glass got me into places that I would not have been without it. The experience of being part of the closed beta taught me a lot about customer services and engaging your user community. Google did all that very well. As a teacher in virtual pilot pilot program, I observed how they treated close beta uses and applied some of that to our program.

I have met great innovative people. I have learned how to embrace the new technology. There is  value in moonshots. I have learned  through mistakes and testing. Being part of this program inspired me to take some personal moonshots.

There's no statement about the future of Glass in the messages. No statement they are killing Glass overall. Just the end of the beta program.

Hi there,

It’s been an exciting ride. Since we first met, interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology. We asked you to be pioneers, and you took Glass further than we ever expected. We’ve learned a ton, we’ve "graduated" from Google[x] labs, and now we’re hard at work and you’ll see future versions of Glass when they’re ready.

Since we’re focusing all our efforts on the future, we’ll be closing the Explorer Program on January 19. We realize you might have questions about what this means for you. New feature development on the Explorer Edition will stop while we work on the next version of Glass, but you can still call or email us anytime with questions, thoughts or feedback.

In the meantime, we’ve created Glass Vol 001 to honor the Glass Explorer Program. It’s a collection of photos and stories from the early days of Glass. You were one of the most active participants in the Explorer Program, so as a special thank you, we’ll be mailing you a collector’s edition as a gift. If you’ve moved recently, or think we might not have your address, please give us a call at 1-844-GLASS84 so we send your gift to the right place.

For now, we welcome you to preview the digital version. From Google Glass on Google + We’re graduating from Google[x] labs It’s hard to believe that Glass started as little more than a scuba mask attached to a laptop. We kept on it, and when it started to come together, we began the Glass Explorer Program as a kind of “open beta” to hear what people had to say. Explorers, we asked you to be pioneers, and you took what we started and went further than we ever could have dreamed: from the large hadron collider at CERN, to the hospital operating table; the grass of your backyard to the courts of Wimbledon; in fire stations, recording studios, kitchens, mountain tops and more. Glass was in its infancy, and you took those very first steps and taught us how to walk. Well, we still have some work to do, but now we’re ready to put on our big kid shoes and learn how to run. Since we first met, interest in wearables has exploded and today it’s one of the most exciting areas in technology. Glass at Work has been growing and we’re seeing incredible developments with Glass in the workplace. As we look to the road ahead, we realize that we’ve outgrown the lab and so we’re officially “graduating” from Google[x] to be our own team here at Google. We’re thrilled to be moving even more from concept to reality. As part of this transition, we’re closing the Explorer Program so we can focus on what’s coming next. January 19 will be the last day to get the Glass Explorer Edition. In the meantime, we’re continuing to build for the future, and you’ll start to see future versions of Glass when they’re ready. (For now, no peeking.) Thanks to all of you for believing in us and making all of this possible. Hang tight—it’s going to be an exciting ride

Facing the Truth with Google Inbox #gafe @googledevs

I have recently been given an invite to inbox. There are not that hard to get. You can request one at http://www.google.com/inbox/ or if you know some one that it - they can invite you. It's the "and they tell two friends" roll out. (See old cultural reference that follows. Use YouTube if you are too young)


So far it's an adjustment but a truer use of email. Emails are task or informational. They all have a purpose at least to the person sending it. Inbox handles those task messages very well. Inbox bundles your incoming messages much like Gmail does with social and promotional tabs. But there are more bundles then tabs. It bundles the type of messages. Personally the promotional message, I only read if I am looking for something from that store. It's nice to have they in their own bundle and out of the way. I feel like I get so much less junk email.

When a message comes in, you can

• pin it - to  keep it in your inbox. 
• Plan it by setting a reminder. Cool note reminders have actions attached to them such as call Mom 
• Procrastinate it by setting a snooze. Snooze can be time or date. Cool thing, they can be location based too. 

Things I like

• The Snooze by location. 
• The "do this always" option when I move something from a sender to a different bundle. 
• I can still access the same account with Gmail and everything looks the same. 
• The iOS app on my iphone. 

Inbox visual layout is more like Google+ then Gmail. The menu is a left side fly out. Help is way at the bottom of the menu. Setting

From the Help: Some features work just the same in Gmail and Inbox, like archive and done. For some other Gmail actions, there's an Inbox feature that does something similar, but works a bit differently.

Common actions that are the same
Gmail	Inbox
Archive	Done
Delete	Move to Trash
Report spam	Move to Spam
Compose	Compose
Common actions that are similar
Gmail	Inbox
Star	Pin
Read later (mark as unread)	Snooze
Email yourself	Create a reminder
Organize with inbox categories	Bundle labels in your inbox
Create labels & filters	Create custom labels & automatically add emails

Things I am struggling with.

• I starred many messages because they are To Do items. I think this would translate into pinning them. 
• Deleting is more buried then I would like. 
• I am translating my Gmail skills to the new inbox. 
• Some functions are still only in Gmail. So you cannot completely cut Gmail out of your life.
• The iOS app is iphone. There is not a iPad version. 

Overall This is a an email that functions with what emails are better. The organization will take some getting used to. I'll post again as I keep playing. It's more complex than Gmail but I am leaning towards more productive.

LOLZ

Bird walk of the day improves by blogg #edtech

So it's the day after Christmas and that's a take it easy day. So I was wandering/wondering around on the internet. My blog has long bothered me for a few reasons. First it's not organized. I blog for different purposes and they are all mashed up together. The side bars are boring.  The function is not what I would like it to be.
So today's bird walk led me to places that taught me how to add tabs, labels, and view by label to my blog.  Look at the great resources on my NEW Blogger Resource tab if you would like to add these to your blog.
Still on my to do list is:
social widget found here: http://myhelpblogger.blogspot.com/2014/06/blue-color-social-subscription-widget.html
I'd like dynamic views to work.
and updating me website.

I hope I have started you off on your own bird walk.

#admincamp 3 reflections

11/12/2014

What a great day of expanding my thinking. There were so many great thoughts that I wanted to capture to review later. I have so many things to reflection on:

From Paul Angelise

"Who is your every body?" 

A prepared mind understand your passion. 

Being a manger used to be educational leadership but now we are moving to instructional leaders but even that alone does not define what a good educational leader is. There's an important piece about service that must be included. 

"The best prize like has to offer is the chance to do the work worth doing" 

From Adam Hartely 

The oppisite of a hero is a bystander. 

The world is a dangerous place to live not because of those people who do evil but because of the people that do nothing about it. 

"like dang" is the call of a bystander

Adam walked us through a Heroic Journey 

"we are so focused on climbing that mountain we don't take the adventure to go around it." 

interesting people to connect with on twitter 

Lars Leafblad, Daily inspiration, Clocky @poweron

A hero is compassion, empathic, mindful and attenitve

Steps in the herois journey 

call to action 

connecting/assistance

thershold

main challenge/ trail 

mastery of both worlds. Trail blazer that impacts the staus quo 

Bystander leaders build through success which means they are destoryed through losses. Heroic leaders build throught the pain and exerience to fuel their passion to face the next challenge.  

#Colchat takeaways 7/29/2014

#Colchat takeaways 7/29/2014

It was so great to run into expected and unexpected tweeps at #COLchat2action. 

 There's an amazing type of learning that happens when you have a room full of a passionate professional that are doublingly  engaged. I say double egagned because I am listening to  and being inspired by great speakers such at @thenerdyteacher and at the same time my head is down engaged on my device in a back channel conversation. That head down device lit  face body language looks disrespectful on it's face value. But it's not. I am activity engaged in listening, inspiration and channeling that engagement into constructed my own learning. Is this learning our students would benefit from? Posssibly. Is this learning we would allow our students? Probably not. 

We say we go to these conferences on our own time own our own dime for connections. And #Colchat did not dissappoint. I ran into all the usual suspects. Geat to see them and hear what's going on in their life. 

But also I put faces to people I have talked to on Twitter. Another awkward face to face moment where I say so nice to meet you to someone I feel that I know well through twitter. 

But also I connected to new people. I spoke with new administrators. I learned about new groups in virtual education. 

And that's what a conference should be. 1. see those you know 2. meet those you know 3. meet new people. 

And then there was the learning. 

I learned about Voice Thread. We can have a read out with our homeschooling students. 

I missed the session on standards based grading - that will have to be home work for me. 

Someone mentioned Glide - some app. I want to figure out that is. 

I want to recommit to blogging. Not  because I want a following but to be reflective in my practice. 

 In Seth's session he challenged us to do some crappy writing. This is mine. I am a terrible speller and the iPad Blogger app does not have spell check - can you believe it!

the "why" in leadership #miched #edleadership inspired by @pauldsupt

why i notes

I am lucky to be part of the "why I" cohort in Birmingham Public Schools where we focus on the why in your leadership and empathy.  @pauldsupt leads us in reflecting on why we want to be leaders in public schools and what type of leader we are. Here are some notes from our earlier December meeting. These questions may guide you in your own reflection about your leadership. 

12/5/2014

The difference between effective and highly effective is intentional. When learning stops, how intentional is a teacher about moving them along. John Hattie Visible Learning. 

What is your greatest strength as teacher?

How intentional are you about that?

Think of a great teacher, what's their greatest strength?

What would others say about you? 

What's an area of growth that you are working on?

How intentional are you about that? 

Evaluation process is about intentional bettering practice. The greatest variable that we can impact in student achievment is teachers. 

Rick Duford:" are you looking out the window or looking in the mirror?" Out the window is things you cannot control. The evolution process is looking in the mirror. 

Circle of Trust approach 

clearness committee is  discussed in Park Palmer book on page 44 and 92 

Clearness committee is a protocol that asks questions of your decision without giving advice 

Touchstones of Circle of Trust

give and receive welcome; speak your truth in ways that respect other peoples' truth; 

Reflection: so often we response with advice or our own story. As we tell our own story we are building connections. This protocols allows us only to ask questions, not fix and give advice.  That's a hard thing to do. To be in service of others. 

What's your Why? 

I want to be an administrator to move my service to mentoring teachers from mentoring students. With the changes teachers are going through cataclysmic changes. There is a great need to support those people that in pinched between students and all the pressures from outside. 

Google Certified Trainer- what may be holding up your app? #gafe

Have you applied in the last round of applications? I did!  The deadline was in November with notifications going out the week of December 2nd.  Well that's come and gone and no words. Soooo I did some digging.

First you fill out an application here: https://googleedu.onlineapplications.net/app/main/ You will need a training resume, training style demonstration in the form of screen cast or video, and training case study.

The part I did not know is that you need three online references. Once you give their name and email, they get a message from grants@resources.com. Your application is submitted but not completed until one of them fills out the form. From what I can guess, it's only one. I gave work emails and the filter kills the reference request. After the deadline, I went and switch it to personal emails. Luckily one of my references is a great person and stopped everything to fill it out right then.

My application then became "completed". Since then I got another message from google-educaiton-trainer-program@google.com that says:

Thank you for submitting an application to the Google Education Trainer program. Due to the high volume of applications received this round, we are experiencing a significant delay in reviewing the applications. We expect to email you a decision by December 15, 2014. We appreciate the time and effort you put into completing your applications and are ensuring that they are thoroughly reviewed. Thank you again for your patience and understanding.

-The Google Education Trainer Program Team

So there's still hope for me ( and you too!) i know a lot of us were talking about this on Twitter so I thought I would give an update here.