Lucid Press (App)

Create stunning visual content for print, mobile or web. Make brochures, newsletters, magazines, reports, and more using Lucidpress

Lucidpress is a web-based drag and drop publishing app, enabling students and staff to create content for print and digital.

Features:

Drag and drop to create your content 
Add images, video, and text from Google Drive, YouTube, Dropbox, Flickr, and Facebook
Publish digitally via a customized link 
Or download to PNG, JPG, or PDF (for printing)


Collaboration Options: 

Collaborate in real time on group or team projects
Add anyone to your document for free
Comment and chat without leaving your doc
Track or reverse edits with revision history


This app has several templates for digital and print: Newsletters, brochures,flyers, reports, posters, presentations, social media graphics,blog images, digital banners, or create your own!

PRINT: Download your content as a high-quality PDF or JPG that’s perfect for printing.
DIGITAL: Publish your work as a PNG or sleek digital document. Everything is optimized for viewing on a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Applications for Education

Lucidpress could be an excellent tool for students to use to collaborate on creating flyers for school events, to create a collage showcasing a highlights of research, or to design a cover for an ebook. 

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway,
visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Google Hangouts (App & Extension)

Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts (similar to Skype) is a web based application you can use to chat one-on-one or in a group using text, voice or video. Use the Google Hangouts app or extension to access your chats with a single click. Watch the short 1 min. video below to see how Hangouts work. 

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Pixlr Editor (App)

Pixlr Editor is a browser photo editor for all your editing needs. Have full control over your images, including layers and effects.

Pixlr Editor is an online photo editor. No download is required, and it's 100% free. It contains a lot of the features that you normally see in desktop graphic design applications.

Some key features include:

• No account necessary. Create an account for free storage space if you prefer.
• Nothing special to download or install, it works directly in the browser.
• Provides tools like layers, lasso tool, brush controls, cloning, and filters.
• Optional private Pixlr Library where you can store all your photos and images.
• Tools include red-eye reduction, a spot healing tool, drawing tools, clone tools, sharpen, blur, and many more.

The suggestion for getting started with Pixlr Editor is to understand working with layers.
   

Other Getting Started Tips & Videos :

• The Pixlr Editor toolbar explained
• Cutting Things Out with the Magic Wand & Lasso Tool 
• Pixlr Editor Design Basics: Resizing and Cropping Images 
• Hook Up Pixlr Editor and Pixlr Express to Google Drive and Gmail
• Pixlr YouTube Channel

Application for Education:

One of the best place for students to get images for multimedia projects is from themselves. Pixlr offers great tools for students to use to create and edit their own images for use in video projects, slideshows, online collages, and ebooks.

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

PowToon EDU (App)

The PowToon app is a great way for you or your students to make animated videos or presentations. It's very similar some of the other video creation tools in that you can customize the content using the preset templates. Whether you're trying to explain a concept or introduce a project, PowToon can help you to engage your students or give them a platform to create. 

There are a number of free templates available and there are also many object available that can be animated and included in your video. You control the animation, the text and can tell stories in fun new ways. Once you're done, you can export and publish them to a variety of platforms. There are lots of tutorials to help you out and you can even have students record themselves as voice overs. 

Check out this introduction from the folks at PowToon.

There are limits to the free accounts so be sure to check out the account types here. There are EDU accounts available too but they are all paid. This is a great tool for teachers to use as a way to quickly and easily create videos for students. The PowToon blog has a post about 11 Ways to Use Powtoon in your Classroom

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Newsela (App)

Newsela

Newsela is a site that provides news and nonfiction articles for grades 2-12. The site adds multiple new current event articles each day from trusted news sources, each at five different reading levels and organized by category and reading standard.  Categories include topics such as arts, astronomy, economics, geopolitics, music, sports and zoology.

Applications for Education

Build reading comprehension with relevant articles provided at varying levels so that you can differentiate for your students. Newsela makes it possible to have the class or small groups reading on a common topic at levels that are just right for each person. In addition to creating classes and assigning articles within Newsela, you also have the option to share directly to Google Classroom.

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Google Keep (App/Extension)

Google Keep is possibly one of my favorite Google Apps/Extensions and it can be an important component to organizing your digital life. It is like Post-It notes, but better. With Google Keep you can create notes and checklists. You can also insert photos and audio clips into Keep, https://keep.google.com/. 

Picture of Google Keep web interface.

Once you've started creating your Google Keep notes and lists the fun really begins. You can also color code your notes, share them with other Google users, and set scheduled reminders for your really important items. 

Keep Apps are available for Android and iOS

In addition to the web interface for Google Keep, you also have mobile apps on Android and iOS. The Google Keep Chrome extension lets you create and save notes directly from your Chrome browser, https://goo.gl/JdUsSy. 

Make sure you take the time to check out Google Keep.

Another good resource, how to send information from Gmail to Keep (Quora).


For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Google Maps (App)

Use Google Maps to find local business information, directions, and street-level imagery around the world.

Google Maps provides users with powerful, easy to use mapping technology.

Street View - Street View in Google Maps enables you to explore street-level imagery around the world, showing you places as if you were there in person. You can use Street View to check out a historical site, or plan a virtual field trip across the globe. 

Different views - Earth view enables you to explore 3D imagery and terrain from Google Earth directly in your browser. You can also view satellite imagery in Google Maps.

Google Maps Introduction

How to create a "My Map" in Google Maps

Application for Education

Students can work collaboratively on a map and each person would be responsible for creating and editing their own layers.
This tool can be used in many curricular areas such as:

ELA - literature trips for each chapter of a book
Social Studies - record an event like the U.S. Civil War with a different layer for each year of the war
Many more ideas, including science, math, and design can be found at Practical Ed Tech

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Google Classroom (App)

Google Classroom 

The Google Classroom app allows you to easily access Google Classroom with a single click and already be logged in. This app should already be added to the Chrome App Launcher for teachers and students.

Applications for Education

It is helpful for elementary students to use this app from the shelf on their Chromebook for easy access to Classroom. As long as they are logged into the Chromebook with their personal @parkwayschools.net account, they will be taken straight to their Classroom home screen. Teachers, refer to Bill’s intro post on the differences between apps and extensions to see how to access the Google Classroom app from the Chrome App Launcher.

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.

Getting Googley in Parkway With Apps and Extensions

I'm excited to let everyone know about a new project that we have going on between now and Thanksgiving. As we get more Chromebooks in the district, we've had many requests for how to get more functionality out of Chrome and suggestions for ways to do some of the things we've traditionally done on a laptop. As you probably know, on a Chromebook, if it's not on the web, you can't do it. However, there are tons of ways that we can do similar (if not identical) tasks using the Chrome browser.

So, for the next few weeks, every day you will find a new Chrome app or extension highlighted on this site. Take what makes sense for you or that you need and leave the rest. You will always be able to go back and find other things when you're ready.

All that being said, what, you might ask, is an Chrome app or extension and where do I get them. Here's a brief explanation.

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Apps - Chrome Apps are essentially bookmarks to websites that live online. When you're using the Chrome browser or a Chromebook, these are all stored much like apps would be on a smartphone. They will take you to a website and, if it's a Google tool, you and your students will already be logged into the site and you're ready to get started.

Chrome Apps can be accessed in two ways.

On a laptop:

1. Open the Chrome browser and look for the "Apps" button in the upper left hand corner.
   
   
   
2. When you click on it, you will see a list of all Apps that you have installed on your account listed there.
   
   
   

   
3. If you don't see the "Apps" button, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and select "Bookmarks" and then "Show bookmarks bar". The apps button should show up as long as you are logged in with your "parkwayschools.net" Google account.
   
   
   

On a Chromebook:

1. Click in the lower left corner or hit the "Search" key.
   
   
   

   
   
2. Your list of Apps you have installed will show up on the pop up.
   
   

   

   
   

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Extensions - Extensions are a little different. Extensions are little programs that run and add additional functionality in to your browser. There are many possibilities and we'll explore these over the next few weeks. Depending on what the extension does, most of the time, you will find them right beside your search box at the top of the screen on the right.

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All Apps and Extensions can be installed from the Chrome Webstore which you will find on your list of installed apps. 

We hope that you will find the information shared here over the next few weeks to be helpful and enlightening. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact any of those listed below. Thanks and enjoy the next few weeks of Apps and Extensions. 

Bill Bass

Jason Rooks

Amy Johnson

Kim Lindskog

For a list of all Apps and Extensions that have been whitelisted in Parkway, visit https://goo.gl/sUpBKk.