Thursday, October 27, 2022

Tech Tips and News for October 28, 2022

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It's the last week of Cybersecurity awareness month. This week's focus is Cyber Secure at Home. You wouldn't just leave the front door of your home wide open, day or night, for anyone to wander in, would you? Well, you'll want to make sure your online devices and home network are at least as secure as your physical security, if not stronger. If you work from home, it's even more important to make sure your information is secure, because you are not only putting your own information at risk, but you're also bringing along your co-workers and students. 

KnowBe4 Interactive Training:  Internet Security When You Work From Home


This training will show you 10 tips for keeping your home and devices are secure, even when working. It also looks at the best practices for working from hom sucessfully. Security risks are much greater when you are away from work. Tips range from tasks as simple as closing the lid to your laptop when you step away, to using a VPN or configuring your router. 

2-Factor Authentication Attack

This video is less than 5 minutes and shows how it's possible for hackers to work around 2-factor authentication, and what you should watch out for. 

Keeping Your Passwords Squeaky Clean

These security hints and tips from KnowB4 will  help you learn why it is so important to create strong passwords, why you shouldn't reuse them on all of your accounts, and how to kep them all straight. 

Don't Become a Victim

This is a recap of everything we've learned this month. Access the quick review capsules here. It's just a 2 sheet PDF of quick takeaways. Feel free to post it, and any of the resources shard this month. 

Search Recently Closed Tabs in Chrome

Search Recently Closed Tabs in Chrome, from Chrome Story by Dinsan
Now, in addition to using the keyboard command ctrl shift T to reopen your last recently closed tab, you can now search through your most recently closed tabs. 

Five Google Workspace Tips That Can Make Your Day Better!

Tips include creating email templates, using an email schedule, stremlining meeting scheduling, creating unforgettable reminders and quickly creating helpful things with Google Sheets templates. 

Carve a Digital Pumpkin Using Google Slides

Carve a Digital Pumpkin Using Google Slides, from Chromebook Classroom by John Sowash
Have your kids carve a pumpkin in Google Slides - with a provided template. There are suggestions for modifying the activity for younger vs. older kids. 

Skittles and Google Sheets Math Activities

Skittles and Google Sheets Math Activities, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
This will cover math skills, such as estimating, counting, comparing, adding, dividing and graphing, as well as learning Google Sheets skills. There is a short video tutorial, as well as written instructions. 

Google Sheets in 20 Minutes

Google Sheets in 20 Minutes, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
When you are teaching your students how to use Google Sheets, it will be helpful to at least have a basic understanding of how to use it yourself. This will also make it easier to navigate the field trip response sheets and conference scheduling sheets. 
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Friday, October 14, 2022

Tech Tips and News for October 14, 2022

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It's Cybersecurity Awareness Month week 2! Right on cue is a warning for both the Android Play Store and Apple App Store of over 400 malicious apps, while the apps have been removed from both app stores, take a look at the list to make sure you haven't installed any of them on your device. If so, immediately remove them, and change your Facebook password. If any of your other online accounts share that password, change those too.

Did you find time to look at last week's lessons? How did you do? What did you think of them? Are they helpful? Did they waste your time? This week's theme is Watch Out for That Phish. Phishing emails are still the most common way networks and organizations are breached. This week's training will take you 2-3 minutes to complete and is worth the reminder to ALWAYS be on the lookout for suspicious email, no matter how realistic they look. When you are at your busiest and in a hurry is when it is most important to be on guard. Distractions are the most common reason that people fall for phishing emails. Check out the image at left for some quick reminders. Clicking on the link below it will display the full page version from the KnowB4 website. 

KnowBe4 Interactive Training Module:  Phishing-Don't Get Reeled In

This quick training module is designed for use on a mobile device, such as your tablet, iPad or smartphone, but can also be used on a laptop. You'll learn tips for staying safe both at work and at home. There's a quiz at the end to test what you'v learned. If you feel like you need a refresher on identifying legit URLs from bogus ones, here's a study guide for that. How did you do? 

Credential Harvesting Attack - Would You Fall For It?

This roughly four-minute video shows a social engineering attack using pretexting. Pretexting is a form of social engineering where the attacker lies to obtain restricted information or access. The attacker uses social engineering to trick an unsuspecting user to enter their email login credentials into a fake website. Would you fall for it? 

These 400 malicious Android and iOS apps can hack your Facebook — delete them now

Be sure to review the list in this article. If you've installed any of them on your Android or iPhone mobile device, delete them, then change your Facebook password right away. 

Lessons From a Professional Password Cracker

Lessons From a Professional Password Cracker, from The Markup by Julia Angwin
Sage advice from someone whose password was hacked. She has found some good processes for creating very strong passwords. 

How Does the Reading List Tool Work in Chrome?

Do you keep lots of tabs open in Chrome because you intend to read something later? Or do you bookmark them and can't find them later? The reading list in Chrome is designed to help you with that. Having lots of tabs open can slow down your computer. Bookmarks are designed for sites you need to quickly find long term, not for reading an article. Ron Houtman, Educational Technology Consultant at KISD, has created this quick demo video to help you use the Reading List to find and read those articles you run across, but don't have time to finish. 

4 Googley Halloween Activities

4 Googley Hallowen Activities, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
These activities come complete with teamplates you can use. 

Why Our Voices Sound Different to Us Than to Others

Why Our Voices Sound Diffrent to Us Than to Others, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
The first time any of us record ourselves, whether it's a video presentation or just recording a voice over for a slide show, we are often surprised by how we sound. This may be your stumbling block when creating tutorials for your students, and it might be your students' reactions as well. Find out why.

How to Create Green Screen Videos in Canva

The best part? You don't even need a green screen! 😲 Think about how fun that is for a student's book report. Remember, Canva is free for educators. Your students will not be able to use Canva themselves, at this point. Keep in mind, though, if you do want to use Canva with your students, we can set up a district account to make it safe for them to do so. 
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Thursday, October 6, 2022

Tech Tips and News for October 21, 2022

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Welcome to Cybersecurity Awareness Month week 3! How did you do with the first two lessons? Were the videos helpful? Remember, these materials are free and available only until October 31, 2022, so check them out while you can. I'll be interested in hearing if they were helpful for you or not. 

Now that we've learned about cybersecurity at work and phishing, this week we move on to More Than Just Phishing. Emails are just one tool in a cybercriminal's toolbox, so it's important to be able to recognize other types of social engineering attacks, such as tech support scams, texting scams, and how to keep info secure on a mobile device. In addition, it's helpful to know what personal information hackers are interested in, and how you can keep it private. 


KnowBe4 Interactive Training Module:  2022 Social Engineering Red Flags

Social Engineering is the leading cause of security breaches to an organization's network. How well do you recognize social engineering attempts? In this Knowb4 training module, which is free to access until October 31, 2022, see if you can recognize social engineering red flags. The module takes about 15 minutes to complete, and will explain all the warning signs to watch out for. Feel like you need a refresher before taking the lesson? This study guide will help you out. How well did you do? 

Tech Support Pretexting - Would You Fall For It? 

This roughly five-minute video shows a social engineering attack using pretexting. Pretexting is a form of social engineering where the attacker lies to obtain restricted information. Watch it here. 

Protect Your Personal Information - Hints and Tips

Check out these hints and tips about protecting your personal information from KnowBe4. Identity theft is common. You probably know someone has been a victim and don't realize it. 

20 Ways to Block Mobile Attacks

There are so many ways your phone can become vulnerable to attack. While most people are aware of voice call scams, text message scams have become even more popular than emails lately. Some WiFi and apps are gateways to a hacker's paradise. Learn all the ways to protect your information on a mobile device here. 

Google Workspace Updates


Google Sheets:  Easily Add Link to Events and Docs


Google has expanded the use of Smart Chips in Sheets to make it easier to add a link to Calendar events and Docs and Sheets files. Smart Chips are the little cards or menus that appear when a users enters @ into a cell in Sheets, or type it in a Doc. With these updates, when you enter @ in a field, you be able to choose not only a contact, but also a calendar event or a Doc or Sheets file. It will automatically add a link to that event or file, and anyone who clicks on the link will be able to see any other related info about that event or open the file. Both updates should become available around October 25th. See full details and instructions for adding events here. Information about adding a Doc or Sheets file are available here. 

Google Meet:  Transcribe Speech Into a Google Doc

This new feature will only work on a desktop or laptop computer - not on a mobile device. This update is similar to Meet recordings, but will now be available as a written record of the Meet. For meetings with fewer than 200 attendees, the meeting host, co-hosts or transcript initiator will receive the transcription document via email after the meeting ends. For recurring meetings, the transcript will be automatically attached to the associated calendar invite for the meeting. For meetings with more than 200 attendees, the transcription will only be shared with the meeting organizers, host, co-hosts, and individuals who initiated the transcription. Before joining the meeting, attendees will see a notification informing them when transcripts are active. If the host or co-hosts have turned host management on, only hosts and co-hosts can turn on transcriptions. If host management is off, anyone in-domain participants can use transcripts. This new feature should be available by mid-November. Here are the full details. 

A Classic - How to Use Classtools.net to Create a Fake Text Message Exchange

A Classic - How to Use Classtools.net to Create a Fake Text Message Exchange, From Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
This privacy-friendly site does not require creating an account. You can either reuse games that have already been created, or make your own. Then you simply share the link with students. There are so many tools on this site, in addition to creating a fake text message exchange, and they all seem to be easy to use. 

How to Set Up and Run a Classroom Escape Room

Keep in mind, there a couple of lock box kits at the upper campus for teachers to use. 

Calm Your Classroom with Classroom Zen

Have you heard of Classroom Zen? It's a simple website for teachers and parents with tools to provide calming countdown timers, daily breathing and mindfulness techniques, as well as brain breaks. You can set the sensitivity level so the timer stops if the noise level gets too high. How long can your students keep the timer going?

These 5 Big Ideas are All You Need to Teach Internet Safety to Your Students

This is a good resource to use to enhance the digital citizenship program you are already using. ASA students already have access to Be Internet Awesome, with links in their bookmarks folder and on the web landing page they see when they open their chromebooks. Tech instructors have used this at ASA for several years. 
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Tech Tips and News for October 7, 2022

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October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month! This is a great time to brush up on your online security skills and check privacy settings in all of your online accounts. Each post during October will contain a different cybersecurity topic. The training materials, videos, games, and graphics are courtesty of Knowbe4.com, which is a leader in cybersecurity training. During the month of October, they have made select training resources available for FREE October 1-October 31st, so take advantage of them while they are available. They are small bite-sized lessons that will really clarify how you can stay safe online and be able to recognize threats in your email, social media, websites, etc.  

This week's theme is Cyber Secure at Work. Social Engineering is the leading cause of security breaches to an organization's network and online resources, and it's so easy to fall victim. Make sure you aren't the weak link by boosting your Social Engineering knowledge with the short training game and 2 minute video below. I promise it will be time well spent.


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KnowBe4 Interactive Training Game: Classic Danger Zone

Do you prefer games to a training session? This KnowBe4 mini-game will test your security awareness by stopping the hacker from getting to a workstation before you do. It's set up like a board game. For every question you answer correctly, your avatar moves forward. Answer a question wrong and the hacker moves forward. Play it while it's available in October to see how familiar you are with cybersecurity. Want to review the info first? Here's a quick Social Engineering Study Guide to help you review the info you may need to know. 

Understanding URLs - How do you know if it's Legitimate or Harmful?

One of the cardinal rules in online security requires us to be careful about which online links we click on. But how can we actually tell if a link is safe or not? This two minute video will explain how to understand the URLs associated with a link. Details matter!

Is Putting Tape Over Your Webcam Actually a Good Idea?

Is it necessary? Is it a good idea? Read on and decide for yourself.

Trade In Your Old Devices for Amazon Gift Cards

Make sure you factory reset them first! Amazon will take Kindles, tablets, streaming media players (like Roku), Echo, bluetooth spakers and headphones, home security devics, wireless routers, cell phones and gaming equipment.

Infinite Campus Update - Grading Across Multiple Standards is Back!



The ability to grade across multiple standards (horizontal fill) disappeared from Gradebook over the summer. It has now been restored, and you can once again fill grades horizontally within an assignment in your gradebook. 

A Helpful Sheet of Google Search Modifiers

A Helpful Sheet of Google Search Modifiers, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Students often struggle with refining their searches to find the content they are looking for. This sheet shows a list of ways they can do just that. 

4 Free eSignature Options for Google Docs

4 Free eSignature Options for Google Docs, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
Here are four options if you need to add your signature to a Google Doc. 

5 Steps to Gamify Your Canvas Classroom

5 Steps to Gamify Your Canvas Classroom, from Ditch That Textbook by Sarah Stef
Do your students like escape rooms? This post will show you how to create a virtual escape room in Canvas. 

Comedy Relief:  Teaching Passwords is the Same Every Year...

...and this is why we use Clever badges for grades Pre-3. That being said, when teachers first got computers, many years ago, and I was teaching them about passwords, security, and setting up their computer, I finished my password spiel and one teacher leaned over to another and asked "What are you using for your password?" 


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