Tech Tips and News for May 10, 2024

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You may be getting tired of hearing about AI this and AI that, but honestly it's such a huge technology transformation that it dominates all my news feeds. If you've been around awhile (like me) you'll remember other major milestones in technology, such as the personal computer, graphic user interface (like Macintosh and Windows as opposed to entering prompts into DOS), the Internet and Web 2.0, the smartphone and tablets, and WiFi. Remember when we had to learn how to use email? Or when Wikis were all the rage? Those little video time capsules definitely illustrate how far we've come. Each of these new technologies revolutionized the way we process, absorb, and generate information, as well as how we interact with people and business. AI is the next step of that evolution. It's not going away. It's going to infiltrate everything we do online. Already we encounter an AI chatbot whenever we contact customer service or support for pretty much any company. Now it's time for us to familiarize ourselves with it leverage AI it to our advantage. If you don't know where to begin, check out the ABCs of AI webinar link below. All of this being said, I was able to find a few articles this week that didn't revolve around AI this week for those of you who just can't hear AI one more time right now. 😉

Safety & Security

• 10 Security Tips Your IT Department Wishes You'd Follow
• The Rise of AI Is Creating a Rise in Scams on Social Media
• Over 850,000 people hit with online shopping scam that steals credit cards — how to stay safe

Tips and Tutorials

• Find Your AI Teaching Assistant Series:  Train Your TA to Grade For You
• The ABCs of AI - Recorded Webinar
• One AI Tool I'm Actually Excited to Use in My Classroom (Video)
• End of the Year THRIVE-al (Not Survival) Guide
• A Fun Geography Game Full of Cats (video)

10 Security Tips Your IT Department Wishes You'd Follow

10 Security Tips Your IT Department Wishes You'd Follow, from How-To Geek by Brad Morton

While some of these may be tips you've heard before, there are really good explanations with them. 

The Rise of AI Is Creating a Rise in Scams on Social Media

The Rise of AI Is Creating a Rise in Scams on Social Media, from How-To Geek by Zuaid Ali

Social media scams are getting smarter with AI. Here's how to stay safe from these six types of scams.

Over 850,000 people hit with online shopping scam that steals credit cards — how to stay safe

Over 850,000 people hit with online shopping scam that steals credit cards — how to stay safe, from Tom's Guide by Anthony Spadafora

Don't become one of the over 850k people who's credit card info gets stolen from a sketchy shopping site. Read through to find out how to safely shop online. 

Find Your AI Teaching Assistant Series:  Train Your TA to Grade For You

Have you ever wished someone could help you grade student work? That time has come! And these products are free for teachers! Class Companion will give your student writing feedback in real time. Enlighten AI will learn how you grade student work and provide you with student feedback you can edit as needed. Snorkl will help students develop thinking and reasoning skills with real-time feedback, then provide you with their progress. 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.

Class Companion

classcompanion.com - Blog post - Demo video (11 minutes)

• Class Companion is a free AI tool for instant, personalized feedback on written assignments. In short:
• You create a written assignment from scratch, imported, from the library, or AI generated.
• Students then write their response, including short answer, essay, or outline.
• The AI assesses the student writing based on the rubric and instructions you provided.
• The AI gives detailed personalized feedback to the student on their writing.
• If allowed, the student then rewrites their response to improve it.
• As needed, the students can ask the AI questions for clarification and assistance.

EnlightenAI

enlightenme.ai - Blog post - Demo Video

• EnlightenAI is an AI-powered tool to grade written student work based off of your style and guidance.
• Create an assignment or import submissions from Google.
• Grade a few student submissions to train the AI.
• Review and edit AI generated feedback, modeled after yours.

Snorkl

snorkl.app - Blog post - Demo video (12 minutes)

• With Snorkl, students record and share their reasoning then receive instant AI-powered feedback to drive deep and meaningful learning.
• Develop thinking and reasoning skills by giving students the tools to record their voice and visually represent their thinking on a simple whiteboard.
• Students receive on-the-spot insights into their thinking and problem solving–which teachers can effortlessly review, edit, and expand.
• Use AI scoring to comprehensively monitor class progress, skim through videos for insights, and gain an in-depth understanding of each student's thinking.
• Snorkl Examples - student.snorkl.app/i1xdfc

This is the fourth in a series of ways teachers can work smarter by using AI as a teaching assistant. Previous articles included Multi-Tasking Tools That Take the Guesswork Out of Prompts, Communication Tools to Use With Students, and Save Time With Assessment Tools. Coming soon...AI tutoring tools, and AI differentiation tools.

The ABCs of AI - Recorded Webinar

The ABCs of AI - Recorded Webinar, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts

If you're overloaded with AI information, and don't know where to begin with it, here's a good start.

One AI Tool I'm Actually Excited to Use in My Classroom (Video)

End of the Year THRIVE-al (Not Survival) Guide

End of the Year THRIVE-al (Not Survival) Guide, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller

Here's a handy toolbox full of resources for several end of the schoolyear scenarios. Keep in mind that some of these sites may be blocked for our students due to their age. You may want to login as a student and test them. 

A Fun Geography Game Full of Cats