Weekly Tech Tips and News for March 3, 2017

K.Szczytko, Little Traverse Wheelway 2016

No this photo is not from my recent visit to the Caribbean. It was taken last summer in Petoskey from the Little Traverse Wheelway, the bike path that runs along beautiful Lake Michigan. Over the course of a couple summers, Mark and I have ridden the entire 26 miles from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs. I recommend the stretch near Petoskey to anyone who happens to be in the area. Why am I sharing this lovely summer photo now, while the weather keeps bouncing between winter and premature spring? It's to spotlight our Great Lakes and the TED-Ed Lesson, A Short Lesson About the Great Lakes, which appears later in this post. (Did you know the inter-connected Great Lakes contain 20% of the worlds fresh water?) There are TED-Ed lessons about a wide range of topics, check them out as an additional resource for your class.  Other topics in this week's post include the latest G Suite updates, simple search lessons, how to use Genius Hour and Hyperdocs in your class, providing instant student feedback, and more.

• G Suite Updates:  Hangouts Time Saver, Google Keep Part of G Suite, Larger Attachments in Gmail
• Create a Shared Checklist with Google Keep
• 10 Strategies for Lightning-Quick Feedback Students can REALLY Use
• Simple, Effective Search Challenge Lessons
• 12 Ways to Really Make Genius Hour Work in Your Class
• A Short Lesson About the Great Lakes
• Hyperdocs & Self-Paced Learning

G Suite Updates:  

Unread Message Indicators in Hangouts

gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com

Google Hangouts on both desktop and Android has received a time-saving update. Now when you enter a very active conversation, you'll see a Jump to Last Read button, which takes you to the last unread message in the thread. Here's the full explanation from the G Suite Update Blog. For those of you who have not yet embraced the convenience of Hangouts, in Gmail it allows you to instant message your Google contacts (either with or without video) - one at a time, or a group. Think about how handy it would be to instant message the office staff when sending a student there. In addition to instant messaging, in Hangouts you can hold meetings with up to 150 people and share your screens with those who are at different locations. In other words,  you do not have to be in the same room to hold a meeting. Hangouts is one of the apps available in G Suite. Just click on the Hangouts icon to try it out. Click here for Hangouts instructions or ask me for a tutorial session.

Google Keep Now a G Suite Core Service

Google Keep is a note taking service, like Evernote or One Note, that now integrates with Google  Docs. You can save information from Docs to Keep and vice versa. Want to convert a photo of your whiteboard into editable notes? Snap a photo of it in Google Keep. Now that it is part of the core G Suite apps, it means you will find the icon for it in your app switcher (waffle) next to your avatar or name in Google. You can also share Keep notes, checklists, reminders, etc., with other users for further collaboration. Last fall, I posted an article on what Keep can do. You may want to review it to see how useful Keep can be for you and your students. Click here for a full explanation of the Google Keep update from from Free Tech for Teachers by Richard Byrne

Larger Attachments in Gmail

Starting this week, you can now receive up to 50MB attachments in Gmail. This doubles the size of the attached files you can receive. While that's good news, you are still limited to attachments of 25MB when sending email.

Create a Shared Checklist With Google Keep

Create a Shared Checklist With Google Keep, from Better Cloud Monitor
Here's a quick tutorial on how to share a checklist with co-workers or students for tracking progress on a group project. What else can you use a shared checklist for?

10 Strategies for Lightning-Quick Feedback Students can REALLY Use 

10 Strategies for Lightning-Quick Feedback Students can REALLY Use, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller

How often do you provide feedback on student homework, only to find it in the trash? Here are some strategies for providing that feedback while they are working on the assignment.

Simple, Effective Search Challenge Lessons

Simple, Effective Search Challenge Lessons, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
The argument can be made that proper internet search skills are nearly as important in today's world as good reading or math skills. Here are some resources and lesson ideas to use when teaching your students how to efficiently and effectively search the internet.

12 Ways to Really make Genius Hour Work in Your Class

12 Ways to Really Make Genius Hour Work in Your Class, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
Give kids the opportunity to be innovative and creative in their approach to learning. They'll learn how to learn for the sake of learning - not for the grade. Allow them to view attempts that don't work not as mistakes or failures, but as true learning experiences. There's also an 18 minute TED talk included that debunks the carrot and stick method as effective motivation.

A Short Lesson About the Great Lakes

A Short Lesson About the Great Lakes from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Not only is this a great science lesson, which is near and dear to our hearts as Michiganders, (or is it Michiganians?) but it also includes a TED-Ed lesson. These lessons are based on TED-Ed talks and/or YouTube videos, which are created by other educators. You can also create your own lessons and share them with others. Search for lessons by subject, content type, student level, and video length. Students watch the video, then proceed to the Think section which comprises of questions to answer about the topic. The next section, Dig Deeper provides additional resources to explore, followed by Discuss, where the students can contribute to a guided discussion. Teachers can also customize the lessons to better fit their needs.

Hyperdocs & Self-Paced Learning

Hyperdocs & Self-Paced Learning, by Catlin Tucker
As you may recall from a post last January, a Hyperdoc is a document containing links to many resources that guide students through a self-paced lesson. Here is a post about how this teacher uses them in her class.