Weekly Tech Tips and News for April 21, 2017

pixabay.com

It sure seems like it's been a very wet spring. The good news, though is that the grass is very green, buds are turning into actual leaves, and there are now very few days below 45 degrees. Spring seems to really be here! Now if we could just turn off the water faucet a little so we can get the yard clean up done and enjoy being outside. This issue includes ways to do a little spring cleaning on your contacts list to keep those obsolete email addresses from popping up in Gmail, and stopping those annoying videos that automatically start playing when you open a web site. There's also a big new announcement - at long last Google Earth is now available for Chromebooks. Check out these highlights as well as several more ideas to use in your classes.

• Do You Hate Those Videos That Autoplay, too?
• Clean Up Email Addresses in Your Gmail Auto-Complete List
• Google Earth Now Works on Chromebooks!
• 8 Ways to Create Videos on Chromebooks
• Open Ed Assessments, Homework, Videos and Lesson Plans
• 10 Ways to Make Lessons More Hands-On
• 10 Ideas for Using Comics in Your Classroom
• Teach With Kahoot!:  Go Beyond Review with the Blind Kahoot
• Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools

Do You Hate Those Videos That Autoplay, too?

Doesn't it drive you crazy when you open a web page and a video automatically begins playing? It's especially jarring when it begins blaring loud music. Well, you can prevent that from happening so you can surf the web in peace. Because there are two different video types on websites, there are two different steps you must take to prevent all videos from playing automatically. The first kind are Flash videos. You can turn this autoplay feature off in your browser settings. This PC World article will explain how to turn it off in Chrome, FireFox and Internet Explorer. The second kind of videos that play are in HTML5 format. In Chrome you can install the Disable HTML5 Autoplay extension. Once you've installed the extension, simply click on it and select Disable Autoplay. For Firefox, there is another PC world article that explains how to disable autoplay. You can still play the videos manually by clicking on them, but they won't automatically start playing on their own.

Clean Up Email Addresses in Your Gmail Auto-Complete List

Clean Up Email Addresses in Your Gmail Auto-Complete List, from Better Cloud Monitor
Here's another one of those annoyances you can easily remedy. When you are entering email addresses in Gmail and a list of suggested emails pops up, are there non-current addresses included in the list? Here's how to get rid of them.

Google Earth Now Works on Chromebooks!

Vatican City from Google Earth 3D View

Great News for all of you who had to give up those Google Earth activities when we switched to Chromebooks! Google completely rebuilt Google Earth, and now it works on Chromebooks. Instead of needing to download and install the Google Earth program, Earth for Chrome (as you would expect from the name) is accessed through your Chrome browser. Right now it only works on Chrome or in the Android app, but an iOS version is coming soon. To get you started, here is the link to Earth Help, and a tour of Google Earth by Richard Byrne. You can search for locations yourself by entering the address or name, watch the world spin to the location you selected, then read all the details about that spot. Voyager allows you to search for places by topic, such as national parks, natural treasures, history and many more. Switch from 2D view to 3D to street view to immerse yourself in the location. If you are just curious, roll the dice (yes really) and have Earth randomly pick a location to explore. Save your favorite locations and share them as well. Although this is a simpler version compared to the desktop version (which is still available) for Windows and Mac PCs, hopefully more features will continue to be added.

8 Ways to Create Videos on Chromebooks

8 Ways to Create Videos on Chromebooks, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Making videos are not just for iPads, my friends. Collect your images and videos, taken from any device, and create your videos on the chromebooks. You can also screencast from Chromebooks.

Open Ed Assessments, Homework, Videos and Lesson Plans

Open Ed offers thousands of free resources for all K-12 grades. You can sort by grade level, resource type, and either standard or subject. Resource types include videos, games, interactive, assessments, lesson plans, homework or audio. The next time you are stumped on how to teach or assess a particular standard, search Open Ed.

10 Ways to Make Lessons More Hands-On

10 Ways to Make Lessons More Hands-On, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
How do you learn new things? Watch a video or Google instructions and then dig in and try it? We all seem to learn best by doing - and so do our students. Here are 10 ideas for making learning more hands on.

10 Ideas for Using Comics in Your Classroom

10 Ideas for Using Comics in Your Classroom, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Not only are there ideas here for different assignments using comics, but there area also suggestions for different tech tools to use, including Google Slides.

Teach With Kahoot!:  Go Beyond Review With the Blind Kahoot

Teach With Kahoot!:  Go Beyond Review With the Blind Kahoot, from Ditch that Textbook by Matt Miller
In addition to reviewing content with Kahoot!, you can also use it to introduce new topics by using Blind Kahoot!

Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools

Create Cloze Reading Activities with Google Sheets and Other Tools, from Control Alt Achieve with Eric Curts
Cloze tests are where students fill in the blanks in a reading passage, either using a word bank or not. This post includes three different ways to create your own cloze tests.