Monday, April 29, 2024

Tech Tips and News for May 3, 2024

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If there's one thing we've been reminded of these last two weeks, it's that what seems to be constant is change. I know most of us resist change because we're comfortable in our current state, we don't have time to learn new procedures, or we're unsettled by the unknown. There are many who approach technology that way as well. It changes so fast and there isn't always time to keep up. Guess who doesn't have that approach with technology? Scammers, hackers and any other online ne'er do well. They are always on the lookout for the next new way to trick unsuspecting users out of their money or information. I'm sure you know the other group that keeps up on the latest ways to use AI to their advantage...your students. They have far more free time, and would clearly prefer to spend it figuring out how to use technology to get out of doing their school work. It's impoortant for all of us to keep up on how both of these groups are using the latest technology to their advantage. 

Safety & Security
Updates
Tips & Tutorials


Protect Your Wallet from Accidental Deposit Scams

Protect Your Wallet from Accidental Deposit Scams, from National Cybeersecurity Alliance
If you use any type of payment app, such as PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, you will want to be aware of the accidental deposit scam. Rule of thumb - Never send money to anyone you don't personally know through an online payment app - even if they insist they accidentally deposited money in your account.

Scammers Use AI to Mimic Voices of Loved Ones in Distress

Scammers Use AI to Mimic Voices of Loved Ones in Distress, from CBS News by Carter Evans, Analisa Novak
Don't be fooled! Learn how you can protect yourself and your loved ones.

Windows 10 Support Ends Next Year: Here Are Your Options

It is a very bad idea to continue using an internet-connected device of any kind after it is no longer supported. Why? When devices are no longer supported, they stop getting security patches and updates. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by bad actors. If your Windows 10 laptop cannot be upgraded to Windows 11 - read on for your options.
 

Help Students Stay Safe Online

This playlist from Google for Education includes five videos in English that you can use to add to your digital citizenship lessons. 



Infinite Campus - Classic Look Ending July 2025

If you are still using the classic look in Infinite Campus, and haven't yet adopted the new look, the clock is now ticking. You will want to switch over sooner rather than later. The new look will be your only choice beginning July 2025. You can turn the new look on by clicking on your profile and turning on Try New Look. Here's a help article about using the New Look, including a video. I've been using the new look for 2 years now, and I can tell you from experience while it's very different, it is possible to get used to. My favorite feature is the Favorites section of the left column. Simply star the tools you use most often, and they will appear in the Favorites (star) section of the left column. This gives you a shorter menu of just the tools you use the most. While trying to learn where tools are located now, I would just do a quick search for them, and note what heading they now fall under. 

Google Meet:  Use Annotations to Enhance Your Presentations


Presenters, along with anyone they assign as a co-anotator, can use annotation tools to highlight content, or make any other notations over presented content. Annotations will be on by default when you begin presenting. The annotations menu includes tools, such as a pen, disappearing ink, sticker, textbox, and more. To assign a co-annotator, hover over another attendee's tile, select the three dots (more options), and select Add as co-annotator. Full details are available here. If you aren't already seeing this update, you will see it soon. 

Google Meet:  AI Meetings and Messaging for Google Workspace add-on 

The AI Meetings and Messaging add-on will help you have richer meetings and foster more meaningful collaboration. The AI Meetings and Messaging add-on will give access to Google Meet features such as studio look, studio lighting, studio sound, and take notes for me. The studio look, lighting and sound will correct your appearance, lighting and sound issues you may be having. Learn more about the AI Meetings and Messaging add-on. You will see these features in the next few months.




Keyboard Shortcuts in Google Workspace for Education and Chromebook 




Find Your AI Teaching Assistant Series:  Save Time With Assessment Tools

Some of the assessment tools you may have already been using, such as EdPuzzle (allows you to make any videos interactive with questions) and Quizzizz have added AI components.There are also some new tools that will create quizzes and questions  for you on any given topic, reading level, and in any language. Once the AI resource creates the questions or quiz, you can either use what it has created, or make any adjustments to it that you need to. Try out the resources below when creating your next quiz. All of these resources have a FREE version. This list has been curated by Eric Curts, Control Alt Achieve, from his The AI Toolbox: Best AI Tools for Schools session at MACUL last month.

Question Well

  • QuestionWell is a free tool to create AI-generated multiple-choice questions for a topic.
  • Begin by adding a "Topic" for the quiz.
  • Next choose the "Reading Level" to change the Lexile level of the content.
  • Next change the "Language" if needed.
  • Optional - Add "Learning Outcomes" if you have them, or let the AI generate them for the topic.
  • Optional - Add the "Reading" which can be copied text or a website link or a YouTube link.
  • Note: The free version limits the reading to 1,000 words.
  • Finally click "Generate" and give it a minute.
  • The AI takes the content and pulls out a number of learning objectives, creates essential questions to guide student learning, and creates multiple-choice assessment questions.
  • You can now select the questions you want to use.
  • If needed you can edit any of the questions and answers.
  • Finally export the questions in various formats for Google Forms, Quizziz, Kahoot, Canvas, Gimkit, Blooket, and more.
Conker
  • Conker is a tool from the makers of Mote, which uses AI to generate quizzes.
  • The quiz can come from any topic, and can also include source material.
  • Questions can include Multiple Choice, Mixed, Read & Respond, or Fill-in-the-Blank
  • Quizzes can be taken right inside of Conker or can be exported to Google Forms.
  • Webinar - "Conker Your Quizzes With Mote" (30 min) - Resource link
  • EdTech Spotlight - Resource link

Quizzizz

  • Create a new quiz from a text prompt, weblink, YouTube video, or existing resource (.DOC, PDF, .PPT) - Help page
  • Enhance the quiz with AI to fix grammar and errors, convert to real world scenarios, translate, add similar questions, simplify language, change voice & tone, and more - Help page

Edpuzzle Teacher Assist

Edpuzzle has added AI features as part of their new Teacher Assist suite of tools. These include:
AI Question Generator -  Information is pulled from a video and the AI generates and embeds questions automatically
Autograde feature - AI will help grade open-ended questions to save you time and energy

Formative

  • Formative now includes AI
  • Generate questions for assessments including multiple choice, multiple selection, short answer, free response, true or false, numeric
  • Generate hints for questions
This is the third in a series of ways teachers can work smarter by use AI as a teaching assistant. Previous articles included Multi-Tasking Tools That Take the Guesswork Out of Prompts, and Communication Tools to Use With Students. Coming soon...AI grading tools, AI tutoring tools, AI differentiation tools.

How to Catch Students Who Use AI on Assignments (Part 2)


Teacher's Clever Hack for Catching Students Using ChatGPT on Essays

Just because we've blocked AI chatbots at school, and most of them require parent permission for users between the ages of 13-18 doesn't mean our students aren't using them to do their homework. Watch the TikTok video embedded in this article. It quickly illustrates how she can easily catch any students who used an AI chatbot to do their essay for them. 
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Friday, April 19, 2024

Tech Tips and News for April 19, 2024

Google Gemini's 2024 March Madness Brackets Results
Now that March Madness 2024 is in the books, I thought I'd show you how AI, specifically Google Gemini, did with its brackets. (see image at left) I chose Google Gemini because of all the free AI chatbots, Gemini is able to scrub the internet in real time, whereas many of the other free versions are not as up to date. I specifically went only with the teams Gemini predicted would win for the purposes of this experiment. Gemini displayed the limits of computer programming by favoring teams strictly according to their rankings.  The AI did shine through by providing options for possible upsets, along with the reasons why. I could have intervened and selected a team with an educated hunch based on that information. Next year I may try that, or I may try several chatbots and see how they compare. As you can see, between the East and West, there were more upsets, so the brackets were busted by the Elite 8. In the South and Midwest, Gemini fared a little better. The bottom line is, if you know little to nothing about NCAA basketball teams, (like me) Google Gemini is a great place to start, so you can make educated guesses without hours of research. Gemini definitely did better than my previous process of choosing teams based on which city I'd prefer to visit in each matchup.

How to Protect Yourself (and Your Loved Ones) From AI Scam Calls

AI, like any new technology, is a double edged sword. It brings new innovation and convenience, yet it also brings new or "improved" scams. AI makes it way too easy to mimic anyone's voice or image. Discover how you can protect yourself from these very convincing scams. 

Spring Clean Your Online Life

Spring Clean Your Online Life, from National Cybersecurity Alliance
A sloppy digital life not only makes your files harder to find, it also makes you vulnerable. Here are 6 tips for cleaning up your digital life. I know it doesn't sound like the most enjoyable way to spend your time. The next time you're binging a show on Netflix or Hulu, do some digital spring cleaning while you're at it. 


Glanceable Directions is the Best New Google Maps Feature in Ages

This helpful new Google Maps feature is just in time for summer road trips. 

Super Prompt - An AI Prompt to Create AI Prompts

Super Prompt - An AI Prompt to Create AI Prompts, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
This may sound redundant, but if you've ever played around with any AI Chatbot (Chat GPT, Co-Pilot, Gemini, etc.), you know that it can sometimes be tricky to create a prompt to get the results you are looking for. It ALWAYS takes more than one or two prompts to get there, and sometimes you just give up. Eric Curts has created a prompt for you to use, and all you need to do is insert your informtion into the prompt. 

What You Need to Know About Student AI Chatbots

What You Need to Know About Student AI Chatbots, Digital Learning Podcast by Matt Miller and Holly Clark
Now that student-safe AI chatbots are starting to appear via tools that teachers can create, like MagicSchool and School AI. This 24-minute podcast will explore what is good, and what teachers need to be aware of . 

Find Your AI Teaching Assistant Series:  Communication Tools to Use With Students

If I could choose a single AI resource that most teachers raved about at MACUL, it was SchoolAI. It's safe to use with students, it has a wide variety of ways you can use it, is extremely customizable, and is pretty simple for teachers to use to create AMAZING learning experiences for students. Another student-safe tool that was widely praised is Mizou although it's a more limited than SchoolAI. Both of these tools will allow teachers to set up a free account, then you can either select a premade AI experience or create one of your own. Next you can share an invite link with students, who do not need to sign in or create an account. Each student will experience his or her own interaction. While students are engaging in the activity, you can monitor their progress. If a student starts to go off-topic, the AI bot will steer them back on course. Once the activity is done, the AI tool will provide a summary of the interactions or apply a grade. Activities include bell ringers, exit tickets, topic exploration, conversations with an historic figure or book, career exploration, sidekick (a safe chatbot for students to ask anything), tutoring sessions and more. you can align activities with specific textbooks and/or standards. During our demo, we were able to have a conversation with Sacagawea. She spoke like a real human would, and she replied to questions about everying - her feelings, her experiences. the food she ate, the clothes she wore, etc. 

As always, with any new technology, it is necessary for you to test these tools before using them with your students, and to remind students not to share any personal information in any online format. Learn more about both of these tools here to help you get started:

I encourage you to try just one experience in either of these tools. Once you see the list of experiences, and how easy they are to use, you'll be amazed by how little prep you'll need to do to engage your students.  

This is the second in a series of ways teachers can work smarter by use AI as a teaching assistant. The first article was Multi-Tasking Tools That Take the Guesswork Out of AI Prompts. Coming soon...AI assessment tools, AI grading tools, AI tutoring tools, AI differentiation tools

10 Powerful Ways to Use Custom Chatbots in the Classroom

10 Powerful Ways to Use Custom Chatbots in the Classroom, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
Tools such as SchoolAI and Mizou will help teachers create or use custom AI chatbots with your students in a safe, monitored environment. This article gives you ideas for using them, as well as instructions to get started. 

5 great AI extensions for classroom teachers (Time-Saving SUPERPOWER!)



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Thursday, April 4, 2024

Tech Tips and News for April 5, 2024

Teachers:  Imagine how you
would use a teaching assistant!
Image generated by ImageFX
Welcome back from spring break, for those of you who participate. I hope your break was a relaxing respite. Did you know that Rand Corporation surveys indicate the average work week for a teacher is 54 hours? Are you also aware at 44% of K-12 teachers report feeling burned out accoriding to a Gallup poll? I'm sure if you're a teacher you are nodding your head. It's no joke that our teachers really need these breaks to combat burnout. Do you wish you had a teaching assistant? I know you've heard a lot about AI (Artificial Intelligence) lately, but seriously there are so many AI tools now for teachers to use as a teaching assistant. This can be the remedy you need to reclaim some of your time and avoid burnout. What about the rest of us? We could all use some help juggling the many tasks we need to perform. Beginning this week, I'll start sharing some tools I discovered at the MACUL conference I recently attended. So stay tuned, prepare to save LOTS of time, and have your mind blown.  

Safety and Security

Tips & Tutorials



Taking Photos of the Eclipse Can Ruin Your Phone (Here's How to Avoid That)

Learn how to safely photograph the solar eclipse on Monday.

It's Time to Disconnect Your Smart TV From the Internet, Especially if You Have a Vizio

Is your Smart TV spying on you? Guess what brand of TV I have, and what I'll be doing when I get home!

iPhone Users Under ‘Reset Password’ Attack — How to Stay Safe

Don't fall for this phishing attack, or you might be locked out of your phone!


Anyone Can Learn About AI With These Free Google Courses & Guides

Are you absolutely baffled by all the buzz about AI (artificial Intelligence)? Do you know what AI is, but aren't sure how to use it? Are you familiar with AI and want to learn some advanced concepts and uses? At whatever level you find yourself, there are AI courses for you!

Get the Latest Tips for Google Products - Spring 2024

Every Spring, Google runs a product training series. In each of these 30 minute sessions, they highlight new and upcoming features, and show you how to use them. I've hit the highlights below, but you can find the entire list here. These training videos are usually only available for a limited time, so watch them while you can.

Find Your AI Teaching Assistant Series - Multi-Tasking Tools That Take the Guesswork Out of AI Prompts

Are you unsure of how to even begin to create AI prompts to get what you want from an AI chatbot? Here are some tools that take that step away entirely. Need to create a lesson plan? Select that option. Need to create questions for your students about a video? Select the video summarizer tool- it will even watch the video to create the questions for you! Need to simplify text to a specific grade level? Done! Each of these tools has many resources and tools for you to use to generate everything from lesson plans and teaching content to IEPs. Try them out to see what you find useful. You may find you need to use more than one if they have a limit to the number of times you can use them each month in the free version. All of the options have a free version. This list was curated by Eric Curts, of Control Alt Achieve. 

🔮 MagicSchool AI

  • Over 50 resource types and learning objects to generate including:
  • Planning - Lesson Plan, Science Lab, Syllabus, etc.
  • Content - Choice Board, Rubric, Video Summarizer, etc.
  • Questions - Word Problems, Multiple Choice, Spiral Review, etc.
  • Intellectual Prep - Exemplars, Directions, Misconceptions, etc.
  • Student Support - Text Leveler, IEP Generator, Accommodations, etc.
  • Communication - Comments, Feedback, Letter of Recommendation, etc.
  • Community Tools - Ice Breakers, Song Generator, Observation Tool, etc.
  • Also can be used with the Chrome Extension - Chrome Web Store link

🚨 Eduaide

  • Over 100 resource types and learning objects to generate including:
  • Content Generator - Planning, Information Objects, Independent Practice, Cooperative Learning, Gamification, Questions
  • Assistant - Professional Duties, Accessibility, Wellness
  • Feedback Bot - Spelling, Grammar, Mechanics, Logic, Reasoning, Rubrics
  • Assessment Builder - Multiple Choice, True or False, Short Answer, Fill in the Blank, Matching, Essay

😊 Twee

twee.com - Blog post - Demo video (5 minutes)
  • Twee is a collection of 30+ AI-powered tools to help educators create content. Some of the uses include:
  • Reading - Create a text, Open questions, ABCD questions, True / False statements, Dialogue based on topic, Titles for a text, Reading bits
  • Writing - Essay topics, Famous quotes, Four opinions, Link words into sentences, Creative writing
  • Vocabulary - Fill in the gap, Word definition matching, Sentences with target vocabulary, Essential vocabulary, Word formation, Communicative situations with your vocabulary, Collocations with target vocabulary, Matching halves, Extract collocations, Word-Translation matching
  • Listening - Video Transcript, YouTube video with questions, YouTube summaries
  • Speaking - Dialogue based on topic, Discussion questions, Find facts, Advantages and disadvantages, Famous quotes, Four opinions, Lead-in activities, Link words into sentences
  • Grammar - Fill in the gap, Scramble the words, Open-the-brackets (verbs), Matching halves

🗺️ Almanack

almanack.ai  - Blog post - Demo video (4 minutes)
  • Smart course material generator and lesson planner for educators.
  • Over 35 tools to generate resources, games, curriculum, and more.
  • Tools include flashcards, rubrics, quizzes, Lexile adjuster, lesson plans, essay feedback, science lab, story generator, summarizer, and more.

Stop Wasting Time Making Excel Formulas, Use ChatGPT Instead

These instructions will work with any spreadsheet program (Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers) as well as in any AI chat interface (Chat GPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft CoPilot, etc.)

Can you find the cheater? Testing 5 AI content detectors (part 1)



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