Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Jolicloud and other cloud computer ideas


I have  collection of ancient laptops that my husband doesn’t like to get rid of, because they work. The oldest is a 13 -14 year old toshiba, the last pictures downloaded to it was when my daughter was 3 and she is finishing her freshman year in high school. So I have been looking at ways to use them for more than a book end. I have found several ideas. I have really been leaning toward linux and cloud systems
Features I love are that I can create my own apps that direct students to a specific webpage such as my artsonia gallery page or the school website.  I even set up each art gallery or art game to an app. I did a art web quest and had all the areas I wanted them to search all on one page they clicked from app researched, then moved onto the next app. Saved a lot of time and they went directly to where I wanted them to go. 


How it works in my room for log in:

 I have the web address app I want to use already ready on the first page so when they log on they can click the icon go right to the page and off they go. To do this I log in on my class account “Jolicloud me”, I have a simple log in and password they all use. For security after the lesson I change the password so they cannot go home get into the account and change things, but that is personal preference since I work with grades K-8, I like to lock out after school hours. Other teachers I know allow students to access from home. However, before the next lesson I change the password back to the one they use in class. Otherwise I would need to change the setting on each computer for log in. 


 I really like Jolicloud I recommend watching and playing around with this program. http://www.jolicloud.com/jolio It can be loaded as a dual loading system so you choose which to open windows or Jolicloud or you can have your computer only Jolicloud. As for art if you have old computers or slower running android (those generic cheap tablets) this seems to run much better. Playing with a $59 pandigital tablet I will let you know how that works. 




Another option is:
http://getchrome.eu/index.php

Tuesday, May 8, 2012