Thursday, April 13, 2017

Weekly Tech Tips and News for April 14, 2017

Chapel in 3rd Station, Via Dolorosa
commons.wikimedia.org
Hopefully everyone has dried out from our damp Via Dolorosa walk this morning. We have much to reflect upon during the Triduum and Easter Sunday this weekend, and the 8th grader's Living Stations were a powerful inspiration. When you surface on Easter Monday, here are some topics to ponder while eating your chocolate bunnies. There are several Google related tips, as well as a video on email etiquette to show students. You can provide electronic feedback for digital student homework using DocStickers, and review content with Jeopardy games and flashcards. I wish you all a very blessed Triduum and Easter.


Fact Check Now Available in Google Search and News Around the World

Fact Check Now Available in Google Search and News Around the World, from The Keyword by Justin Kosslyn
Fact Check, previously only available in a few countries in Google News, is now available everywhere, and has been expanded to Google Search as well. You may start to see a Fact Check tag in search results, if the story has been fact checked.


How to Show Non-Printing Characters in Google Docs

How to Show Non-Printing Characters in Google Docs, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
Some of you may have no idea what non-printing characters are, but anyone who proof reads or edits documents knows this is a valuable tool. This is another of those tools that are available in Microsoft Word, but not in Docs. Non-printing characters will show you spaces between words, or more importantly, if you have too many spaces between words. It will also show you tabs, paragraphs (or soft paragraphs) at the end of a paragraph - basically when you hit the Enter key (or Shift-Enter), as well as tables (especially handy when there's no border around them), and page breaks. Wondering why you have an extra blank page in your document, look at the non-printing characters and you probably see a lot of extra paragraphs (where you hit Enter) at the end. It makes those necessary adjustments easy to spot to fix your document. Since this feature is not natively included in Docs, you can use the Show add-on to make it happen.

How to Delete an Unwanted Page in Google Docs

How to Delete an Unwanted Page in Google Docs, from Better Cloud Monitor
Have you ever encountered a stubborn blank page either in the middle of, or at the end of your Google Doc? Here are three ways to get rid of it.

6 Ways to Become a Google Slides Pro

6 Ways to Become a Google Slides Pro, from Better Cloud Monitor
Find ways to make your presentation interactive, use animations, make your mouse a laser pointer, insert videos and more.

A Cute Video About Email Etiquette for Students

A Cute Video About Email Etiquette for Students, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Students need to learn how to properly compose and send email, just like they need to learn to write letters. There are two short videos in this post to help with this, one is created by students, the other by a teacher.

DocStickers:  A Docs + Keep Integration for Old School Feedback

DocStickers:  A Docs + Keep Integration for Old School Feedback, from TechTalk by Stephanie Filardo
Do your students love getting stickers on their assignments? Most do, right? Well just because they turn in a digital assignment, doesn't mean they can't still get a digital sticker. Now, with the integration of Google Docs and Google Keep, it's pretty easy to do. Stephanie is even kind enough to provide a link to DocStickers she has created so you don't have to create them yourself - although you easily could in Google Drawings, and she includes a tutorial for that too.

Jeopardy Rocks Now as Factile - Jeopardy & Flashcards

Jeopardy Rocks Now as Factile - Jeopardy & Flashcards, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Jeopardy Rocks has now become Factile. In addition to a free resource to easily set up Jeopardy games, they have now also added flash cards. You can either create your own games, or copy them from the template gallery.

How to Manage Google Chrome Extensions

How to Manage Google Chrome Extensions, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Chrome extensions can add a lot of efficiency to the Chrome browser, but every now and again it's a good idea to take a look at which extensions we are no longer using and clean them out. This keeps Chrome running better, and also helps keep us safe from extensions that are not getting updated with security patches.
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