Access Google Docs With One Click Even When You're Offline

Today, Google released three new Chrome apps that allow you to access Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations in one click. I'm actually surprised that it took Google this long to make one-click access available through Chrome. The Docs app (each app is a separate install) allows you to create documents even when you're offline (this feature has been available through your browser for a while).

Installing each app is a one-click process that does not require you to restart your browser. Once the apps are installed you can click them to instantly open and create a new document, presentation, or spreadsheet. If you use the offline Docs app to create a new document when you reconnect to the web your document will sync with the rest of your online files.

Applications for Education
If you're working in a school that has Chromebooks, the new Chrome apps will make it easier for new Google Documents users to access and create documents. I occasionally hear from elementary school teachers that their new students have trouble opening a new documents from the drop-down menus. The Chrome app should help those young students create new documents.

Interactive Infographic - Tracking American Poverty

Tracking American Poverty is an informative infographic that I found on Cool Infographics. The infographic has six screens that you can move through to find poverty statistics divided by race, gender, education, age, and family type. Each screen allows you to drill-down to more refined statistics. You can look at statistics by year from 1967 through 2010. 

Applications for Education
The screen that I think will be of most interest to educators is the screen about poverty according to level of education. Not surprisingly, the group with the highest rate of poverty is the group with the lowest level of education. The

What Happened to Qwiki? It's Going Mobile

When it launched in 2011 I was impressed by the multimedia reference site Qwiki. Then when they launched a creation tool earlier this year, I was again impressed. Unfortunately, Qwiki has taken those tools offline and is transitioning to mobile development. According to their website, their Twitter page, and this TechCrunch article Qwiki has plans offer a multimedia reference creation app for iOS and Android. There's no word yet on what the app will cost, if anything. If the app is like the web version, I'll be trying it as soon as it launches. You can sign up for early notification of the app's release on the Qwiki website.

Halloween and SMART Boards

Image Credit: Elizabeth Thomsen

Halloween is just over one week away. If you're a SMART Board user who would like some new Halloween-themed resources, James Hollis has a list for you. The list of more than three dozen resources is divided into sections for games, clip art, informational activities, puzzles, sound files, and SMART notebook resources.

James Hollis always has good stuff for SMART Board users. So even if you're not looking for Halloween resources, you should check out his blog for other SMART Board resources and tips and tricks for using your SMART Board effectively.