Weekly Tech Tips and News for August 18, 2017

K. Szczytko 2017

Just like this butterfly is trying to get all the nectar it can before summer ends, I am also trying to enjoy the last bit of summer before school starts. Aren't you? Although there is still much to do, we all benefit from taking some time to enjoy the last of the season before it's gone. As we close in on the beginning of the school year preparations, here are some suggestions for ways to start out organized, or new ideas to try out. Give your class a fresh approach to a fresh new year.

• Start and Stay Organized:  5 Tech Tips to Start the School Year
• It's Not About Google, It's About the Learning (ISTE Empowered Learner)
• Book Creator is Now Live for All Chromebook Users
• How to Create Virtual Reality Panoramas
• Seven Sites With Free Photos You Can Use However You Want
• What Happens When You Get a Concussion
• DIY Augmented Reality - 3 Ways to Use it in School

Start and Stay Organized:  5 Tech Tips to Start the School Year

Start and Stay Organized:  5 Tech Tips to Start the School Year, from Tech and Learning by Adam Shoenbart
Not only are there suggestions for what to do, there are also explanations and suggestions for what tools to use.

It's Not About Google, It's About the Learning (ISTE Empowered Learner)

It's Not About Google, It's About the Learning (ISTE Empowered Learner), from Shake Up Learning by Kasey Bell
Here are many practical ideas for presenting assignments and following the ISTE Student Standards.

Book Creator is Now Live for All Chromebook Users

Book Creator is Now Live for All Chromebook Users, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Book Creator has long been available for iPads, now it is also available for Chromebooks. If you create books with your students, this is a great new tool for you to use.

How to Create Virtual Reality Panoramas

How to Create Virtual Reality Panoramas, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Remember reading about Google Cardboard in this blog? Now your students can take their own photos to view through Google Cardboard. The Google Cardboard Camera app is now available both for Android and iOS. It will now work on any Android phone or tablet, as well as on iPhones and iPads.

Seven Sites With Free Photos You Can Use However You Want

Seven Sites With Free Photos You Can Use However You Want, from How-To Geek by Justin Pot
These seven sites have a good variety of photos, that can be used without restriction. On most of these sites, attribution is not required.

What Happens When You Get a Concussion

What Happens When You Get a Concussion, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
With fall sports beginning, this might be a great TED-Ed lesson to review with sports-age students.

DIY Augmented Reality - 3 Ways to Use it in School

DIY Augmented Reality - 3 Ways to Use it in School, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
What is augmented reality? Think Pokemon Go. With Metaverse, you can create your own augmented reality game or exercise. This post contains links to tutorials, as well as ideas for how to engage your students or parents this way.

Weekly Tech Tips and News for August 11, 2017

Photo courtesy of laura271GSD via Flickr.com

We are in the dog days of summer...or are we? If you've ever wondered where that phrase came from, here's the explanation from National Geographic. While we still have a few more weeks of summer, it seems that once the calendar hits August, everyone employed by a school starting at the end of August hits panic mode, or at least kick-it-in-gear mode. Suddenly that endless summer becomes very finite! Today's post has lots of ideas to help you keep your head above water this school year, as well as an advisory video about internet scams, and advice for safely taking photos of the upcoming solar eclipse.

• Three Google Classroom Updates That You Will Appreciate
• 5 Classroom Management Apps to Start Your Year With
• Google Classroom Tutorials
• Alternatives to YouTube's Video Editor -  It's Going Away
• Student Use of Adobe Spark - Your Questions Answered
• The Most Common Internet Scams! Watch Out!
• Give Your Traditional Syllabus a Needed Makeover!
• How to Take Photos of a Solar Eclipse Safely

Three Google Classroom Updates That You Will Appreciate

Three Google Classroom Updates That You Will Appreciate, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
If you've not yet considered using Google Classroom when your students use the Chromebooks, do yourself a favor and look into it. It makes getting students on the same site, distributing and collecting their work so much easier. Just point them to your classroom and everyone's on the same page. The updates included in this video include viewing student work either by assignment or student, displaying the class code in full screen for students to join, and now you can rearrange the order in which your classrooms appear. Other updates not highlighted in this post include being able to transfer your classes to another teacher, as well as the ability to use decimal points when grading.

5 Classroom Management Apps to Start Your Year With

Bouncyballs.org is a fun way to manage classroom noise levels.

5 Classroom Management Apps to Start Your Year With, from Stephen Mosley
Looking for a fresh way to manage your class this year? Here are 5 tech tools that can help you out.

Google Classroom Tutorials

If you've been wondering what the fuss over Google Classroom is about - here are two quick videos to get you started. Classroom does all the heavy lifting for you. It creates folders for you classes, makes copies of files for your students, takes care of all the pesky permissions, and makes assigning work and the feedback much easier.

Setting Up Google Classroom

How to Assign and Grade Work in Google Classroom

Alternatives to YouTube's Video Editor -  It's Going Away

Alternatives to YouTube's Video Editor -  It's Going Away, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
I'm thankful for this clarification. Many of the features we use to edit our videos in YouTube are not going away, such as trim, blur and filter. But other important features like the Photo Slideshow, combining multiple video clips, and adding music are. In this post, Richard makes suggestions for replacing those features.

Student Use of Adobe Spark - Your Questions Answered

Student Use of Adobe Spark - Your Questions Answered, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Adobe Spark is a great tool to use for video editing with Chromebooks. Not only does this post show you how to use Adobe Spark, and combine clips, it also answers the questions about how students under the age of 13 can legally use it. They are able to sign in with their Google account.

The Most Common Internet Scams! Watch Out!

Give Your Traditional Syllabus a Needed Makeover!

Give Your Traditional Syllabus a Needed Makeover! from Tech & Learning by Shelly Terrell
There are several ideas in this post for making your syllabus more eye-catching, or even interactive for students. Create an infographic, game, hyperdoc, scavenger hunt, and more.

How to Take Photos of a Solar Eclipse Safely

How to Take Photos of a Solar Eclipse Safely, from How-To Geek by Harry Guinness
In a follow up of last week's post, How To Safely Observe the Upcoming Solar Eclipse, the next logical question is how to take pictures of the eclipse. Don't just point your phone or camera at the sun and shoot.

Weekly Tech Tips and News for August 4, 2017

Find out the best way to view the upcoming eclipse.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.com)

This week's post brings us several Google updates that are very useful. The App Launcher (waffle), file sharing and Forms got some handy new features. With the end of summer coming up, before you take your next road trip find out how to avoid toll roads or highways when navigating with Google Maps. There are also some general computer tips that will be helpful for everyone. Last, but not least, with the upcoming eclipse on August 21, there is also a post on how to observe the eclipse safely with a homemade device, as well as a link to find out when the best viewing time is wherever you will be on August 21. It may be August, but there's still some summer left - enjoy it!

• G Suite Updates: App Launcher Order Change and Easier to Share Google Files with Non-Google Users
• Google Forms: Question by Question Grading
• How to Block and Filter Senders in Gmail
• How to Avoid Toll Roads in Google Maps
• 15 Computer Tips and Tricks Everyone Should Know!
• How to Safely Observe the Upcoming Solar Eclipse

G Suite Updates: 

App Launcher Order Change

The Google App Launcher is the "waffle" or 9 square grid in the upper right corner of your G Suite window. When you click on it you see the apps that are available to you. Did you know you can customize the order of those apps according to your preference? All you have to do is click and drag the icons around to rearrange them. Google will be rearranging the default layout around August 1st, to reflect the apps that are used most often. If you don't like the new app order, now you know you can move them around in an order that makes sense to you. If you'd like more details on this update, here is the G Suite Updates blog post.

Easier to Share Google Files with Non-Google Users

A recent update has made it easier to share Google files with others who do not have a gmail account. When you share a file and one or more of the recipients does not have a Google account, you will receive a prompt to either send an invitation or send the link (no sign-in required). Sending an invitation will send a prompt to the person you are sharing with to sign up for a Google account. You will want to select send the link (no sign-in required). This will allow non-Google users to open the Google file without a gmail account. Full details are here in the G Suite Updates blog.

Google Forms: Question by Question Grading

Google Forms: Question by Question Grading, from Edgaged.net by Lance Yoder
When you give a quiz or test with a mix of auto graded and manually graded questions, you can now look through one question on all submitted quizzes, instead of scanning the entire form. There's a video example in this post.

How to Block and Filter Senders in Gmail

How to Avoid Toll Roads in Google Maps

How to Avoid Toll Roads in Google Maps, from How To Geek by Cameron Summerson
Just in time for those last road trips of the summer, here is a tip for avoiding toll roads. You can also avoid highways if you prefer the more scenic routes.

15 Computer Tips and Tricks Everyone Should Know!

These very useful tips are not just for Windows.

How to Safely Observe the Upcoming Solar Eclipse

How to Safely Observe the Upcoming Solar Eclipse, from How To Geek by Jason Fitzpatrick
Did you know there will be a solar eclipse in North America on August 21st? Protect your eyes by checking out the eclipse directly, with the proper eyewear, or indirectly with a cereal box, foil, paper, tape and a pin. Also take advantage of NASA's interactive map to find out the best viewing time.