Monday, August 1, 2022

Tech Tips and News for August 2022

Courtesy of howtostartablogonline.net
Are you someone who feels you don't have any info exciting enough to worry about someone hacking in to your devices? Think about it this way, do you have information or photos on your devices that you can easily lose and never see again? Most hackers couldn't care less about what files and photos are on an average person's laptop, tablet or phone, they just want the ability to lock it up so you have to pay them a ransom to get it back. Of course, backing up your files and photos regularly provides you with a way out of paying a ransom (and you should back up your files regularly!), but the real safety net is to not get hacked in the first place. Find out how to protect the info, files and photos on your phone below. 

Don't Want Your Phone Hacked? Just Do This One Thing

I would take this advice one step further. I don't open links from people I know either, unless I'm expecting them to share something with me. If their phone is hacked, I prefer not to share the grief. 

Google Workspace Updates


Gmail:  New Integrated Marketing Tools

Two new marketing features are rolling out in the next two weeks.  

  • Layouts:  You can select from a predefined set of email templates, which feature images, text elements, and buttons. You can further customize these templates with your own color schemes, logos, images, footer text, and links.
  • Multi-Send:  This feature allows you to send mass emails without the need to BCC all recipients. By default, multi-send emails include an unsubscribe link unique to each recipient — anyone who unsubscribes is automatically excluded from future multi-send emails from you. As an education user, his feature will be limited to internal recipients only. 
Full details about these features can be found in the Google Workspace Updates blog. 


Google Meet:  Live Stream Google Meet Events via YouTube

You will be able to live stream meetings held in Google Meet via YouTube. One caveat is the YouTube channel you wish to use must be approved at least 24 hours in advance. Once approved, live streaming can be turned on in the Activities Center, which is the triangle-square-circle icon in the lower right of the screen. Here are full instructions for live streaming a Google Meet. This feature is available now.     

45 Next Generation Learning Tools

Just a warning, some of these are free, and some are not. Please remember when evaluating a new online tool to use with your students, you must review the privacy policy to determine if it is COPPA compliant, meaning it protects students online information and privacy. Not sure? I'll be happy to help you figure that out. Please also keep in mind, many online services require students under 13 to get parent permission to create an account. If the tool can be used without students making online accounts, or if the teacher can create accounts for students without sharing student info, that would be the best scenario. If you choose to use a new online tool with your students, please run it by me so I can make sure it meets all legal requirements, and so I can block the ability for students to independently create their own accounts without permission. 

Digital Citizenship:  Why Teachers Should Instill It In Students + Free Resources

With no dedicated technology class for students this year, it is up to every teacher to make sure your students are safe and courteous online, and use technology in a healthy way. 

Chrome Settings You Need to Know

Chrome Settings You Need to Know, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Make Chrome work better for you by learning how to handle those pop-ups, your camera and microphone, make it run faster and a few more. 

Google Workspace Training AND Teaching

Since there will be no dedicated technology class for students this year, it becomes even more important for teachers to know how to use all the tools in Google Workspace for Education. The Google for Education Applied Digital Skills site is a valuable resource for both learning Google Workspace, and teaching Google Workspace tools. You and your students can simply sign in with Google, using your ASA account. Are you brand new to Google Workspace tools? Click on the Start Learning or Browse Lessons links at the top. there's an entire section for learning the most common Workspace apps, such as Docs, Sheets and Drive. Incidentally, that link is also available in the "magical" ASA/DOGR bookmarks folder when you are signed in to Chrome with your ASA account. If you are already comfortable with Google Workspace, try out the Start Teaching or Teaching Resources links at the top. You won't even need to create lessons for your students! You can create a class to use the online courses, or pick and choose from the lessons that are already there. Lessons can be filtered by grade level, digital tool or subject. Subjects aren't just limited to technology topics. You can teach your students the Google tools while also teaching concepts in ELA, math, science, social studies, study skills and organization, and more. 

Fact Check Tools from Google



Custom Tables in Google Docs

Custom Tables in Google Docs, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
There are now table templates you can use to quickly create a table in Google Docs, but you can also create your own custom templates to make them work for you. Why might you want to use a table? You can better organize data, quickly make sure columns and rows line up without the need to fiddle around with extra spaces, and for creating worksheets. What other ways can you think of to use tables? 
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