Tech Tips and News for May 3, 2019

I cannot stress enough how important it is to be skeptical of everything online and in your emailbox. You cannot be too careful out there, my friends. Maybe I'm too cynical or paranoid, but I haven't been compromised...yet. (Knocking on wood now - I've probably just jinxed myself.) If you haven't been caught by any phishing or hacking scam yet, good for you! You're obviously being sufficiently cautious as well. We must continue to learn about the latest scams to remain safe online. The first two articles touch on the latest twists to Phishing scams and spam. If only those scammers would use their talents for a good purpose! They could probably end war and world hunger.

• How Phishing Scams are Evolving - And How Not to Get Caught
• How Email Bombing Uses Spam to Hide an Attack
• How to Wipe Your USB Drive Before Throwing it Away
• How to Update Google Chrome
• G Suite Updates:  Team Drives is Being Renamed to Shared Drives
• 5 Ways to Prevent Cheating On Your Google Form Quiz
• Google Earth Timelapses and Historical Imagery
• 10 Ideas for Digital Exit Tickets (and some analog ones too)
• Make Trading Cards for Historical and Fictional Characters

How Phishing Scams are Evolving - And How Not to Get Caught

How Phishing Scams are Evolving - And How Not to Get Caught, from Gizmodo by David Nield
Because if you are going to be online - ever - you need to be aware of the latest scams so you don't fall for them. There's an online Google Quiz included in the article if you want to test your phishing smarts.

How Email Bombing Uses Spam to Hide an Attack

How Email Bombing Uses Spam to Hide an Attack, from How-To Geek by Josh Hendrickson
I'm truly grateful I haven't encountered this particular attack, and I hope none of us ever do. It's good to be forewarned just in case!

How to Wipe Your USB Drive Before Throwing it Away

How to Wipe Your USB Drive Before Throwing it Away, from Tech Republic by James Sanders
It's important to wipe any old technology before discarding it. Anyone who ends up with your old device or drive can access your files if you don't.

How to Update Google Chrome

How to Update Google Chrome, from How-To Geek by Brady Gavin
Your browsers update on a regular schedule, just like your operating system does. This is what keeps them running properly and securely. Although the updates will download automatically, they won't be applied until you close and reopen your browser. It's a good idea to get in the habit of doing this on a regular basis. This article will show you how to check to see if Chrome needs an update, and how to run them.

G Suite Updates:  Team Drives is Being Renamed to Shared Drives

Be aware that on May 31, you will no longer see Team Drives in your Drive, instead you will see Shared Drives. It's just a simple name change, they will still work the same way.

5 Ways to Prevent Cheating On Your Google Form Quiz

5 Ways to Prevent Cheating On Your Google Form Quiz, from The Electric Educator by John Sowash
Prevent students from looking at someone else's screen or previewing the quiz before class. It's also possible now to keep them from opening other tabs.

Google Earth Timelapses and Historical Imagery>

Google Earth Timelapses and Historical Imagery from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
This feature has been available in the desktop version of Google Earth for quite awhile, it has recently been added to the online version, which the Chromebooks use. See how to access it in this article.

10 Ideas for Digital Exit Tickets (and some analog ones too)

10 Ideas for Digital Exit Tickets (and some analog ones too), from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller
These are quick check-ins with students before class wraps up. Did they understand what was covered today?

Make Trading Cards for Historical and Fictional Characters

Make Trading Cards for Historical and Fictional Characters, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Using the Read Write Think Trading Cards free tool, students can create trading cards about people, places and events, both real and fictional.

ASA Weekly Tech Tips and News for March 2, 2018

Courtesy:  Tanis Schultz, PLLC from WOOD TV8

Spring must be on its way. Why else would it be sunny and in the 60s, then give us a winter advisory the next day? If nothing else, those few warm, sunny days certainly give us hope for spring. It's wonderful to be able to open the windows and let in the fresh air! Just make sure the floods have subsided before doing so, or you may get more than you bargained for as they did at Tanis-Schultz PLLC last week when a muskrat perched on their windowsill as it swam by the flooded Grand River. When you can take a break from bailing out your own basement or yard, take a few moments to check out the latest tech tips and ideas. If you own an iPhone or iPad that no longer updates past version 9,  please take a moment to read about the latest security danger for those devices.

• It's Time to Dump Those Old iPhones and iPads
• G Suite Updates:  Email Members of a Team Drive
• Newspaper Templates for Google Docs & Word
• Use Google Sheets to Create Online Bingo Boards with Pictures
• Google My Maps Tips and Tricks
• Why Feedback is SO Time Consuming - and How to Fix it
• NASA Kids' Club - Fun Games for Learning About Space
• How to Tell if a Facebook Competition is a Scam

It's Time to Dump Those Old iPhones and iPads

It's Time to Dump Those Old iPhones and iPads, from ZD Net by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
There has been a major leak in the code that boots up iPads and iPhones still running iOS version 9 or older. If your iPhone or iPad cannot update to iOS 10 or higher, it's seriously time to replace it for security reasons. Not sure what version your iPhone or iPad is running? Go to settings > General > About/Software Update.

G Suite Updates:  Email Members of a Team Drive

Here's a truly useful update for Team Drives! As you may recall, Team Drives are where we store and share files with a specific group of people. Now team drive members have the ability to email all members of that drive. This can be done from the team drive itself, or from within a file in the team drive. You will also have the ability to exclude specific team drive members from the email. With the Team Drive open, simply click on the name of the drive in the heading banner, and select Email Members. When you have a file from a Team Drive open, click on File and select Email Collaborators. Full details and a screenshot are available in the G Suite Updates blog post.

Newspaper Templates for Google Docs & Word

Newspaper Templates for Google Docs & Word, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
If you are working on a project where students are creating their own newspaper, here are some helpful templates they can use.

Use Google Sheets to Create Online Bingo Boards with Pictures

Use Google Sheets to Create Online Bingo Boards with Pictures, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Another fun game creator using the add-on Flippity. It's now possible to create Bingo cards with pictures instead of words. The cards can either be printed, or students can play online.

Google My Maps Tips and Tricks

Google My Maps Tips and Tricks, from Sustainable Teaching by Tom Mullaney
This blog post clearly explains how to use My Maps either as a teacher or student, and shows it is not just for social studies.

Why Feedback is SO Time Consuming - and How to Fix it

Why Feedback is SO Time Consuming - and How to Fix it, from Ditch that Textbook by Matt Miller
Use the technology you already have to automate your feedback to students.

NASA Kids' Club - Fun Games for Learning About Space

NASA Kids' Club - Fun Games for Learning About Space, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
These games are designed for students in grades K-4.

How to Tell if a Facebook Competition is a Scam

How to Tell if a Facebook Competition is a Scam, from How-To Geek by Harry Guinness
I often see Facebook friends participating in FB competitions with the comments, "It can't hurt to try." Well, the reality is it might hurt. Some are scams trying to gather information about you and your friends.

Weekly Tech Tips and News for March 17, 2017

flickr.com

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. May the road rise to meet you, and the wind be always at your back. There has been quite a bit of significant tech news in the last week, such as the new Team Drives, which we will be using at ASA. If you have an iPad or iPhone, you will definitely want to read about how you can prepare for the upcoming 10.3 update, which is not your average update. There is also an interesting study on what kids think about the news, as well as several helpful tips in several different areas, including MAP test reports, flashcards, creating screenshots, and removing backgrounds from pics or clipart. Hopefully one of these tips will be your pot o' gold.

• New Team Drives in Google Drive
• Prepare for Upcoming iPad Update
• G Suite Update:  Gmail Video File Attachments
• Highlights Module for Simple MAP Data Explanations
• 10 Ways Google Keep Can Help Streamline Life at School
• What Kids Think About the News
• Duolingo Tinycards - Quick Review Activities
• Three Good Tools for Creating Screenshots on Chromebooks
• Top 3 Apps to Remove Backgrounds from Pics on a Chromebook

New Team Drives in Google Drive

With the addition of Team Drives in Google Drive last week, we are finally able to create a shared file structure in Google Drive, where you can go to find commonly shared files. (Like we used to use in Windows.) No longer do we need to share files with everyone, who then are unable to locate them in the next they are needed. In your Google Drive you should see a new folder right below My Drive, called Team Drives. Inside the Team Drives folder are sub-folders to which you have access. One of the best features of team drives, is that files in the team drives files are owned by the team drive - not by the file owner. This means if you were to win the lottery tomorrow and retire, any files you had placed in a team drive would remain there after your account is deleted.

You can also see who else has access to a team drive folder by clicking on the folder, then clicking the i on the upper right and selecting Details. Hovering over each initial or avatar will tell you the other members of this folder are and what kind of rights they have. You may have different levels of permissions in each of your drive folders, for example, everyone has view only rights (can see all the files, but cannot make changes) to the Staff (View) folder, but the office staff and administration have full editing rights (add/delete/edit files) to it. So while you may be able to see the files, you won't be able to edit, add, or remove files in that folder. Contrast that with the Staff (Interactive) team drive, to which all employees have editing rights. Any files you place in the Staff (Interactive) team drive will be fully editable by everyone else at ASA. So, think of team folders as the place to share files with a specific group of people. The permissions you have in each folder depend upon your role in that group. You can still share files with individuals or smaller groups of people who don't fit one of the team drive categories. A full list of ASA team drives and members will be sent in a separate email.

Prepare for Upcoming iPad/iPhone Update

If your iPad is running iOS 10, you will be receiving the upgrade to iOS 10.3 later this month. This is a different kind of update because Apple is converting all devices (Macs, iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs) to a new format - Apple File System. What you really need to watch out for is that once it updates to this new platform by way of version 10.3, you will not be able to restore your previous version if your device doesn't work correctly after the update. Well, you will be able to return to the previous version, but all data stored on your device will be wiped out. Apple is strongly recommending you back up all of your devices soon - prior to the update. You can either back up your data using iCloud or connect your device to a Mac or PC and do the back up through iTunes. This will also be a good time to get rid of any apps you don't use, and update all the apps you do use.

G Suite Updates:  Gmail Video File Attachments

Previously, in order to view a video attachment you received in your email, you had to download the file and watch it through your media viewer. With this latest update, you can now simply click on the attachment and watch it right in Gmail.

Highlights Module for Simple MAP Data Explanations

MAP newsletter mar 17

It's unfortunate that I didn't receive this information a few weeks ago - before conferences. In the Student Profile Report on the NWEA site, there is a Highlights module below the Subjects tab. This will help you explain MAP data in parent friendly language. Click here for free training to use the Student Profile Report.

10 Ways Google Keep Can Help Streamline Life at School

10 Ways Google Keep Can Help Streamline Life at School, from Ditch That Textbook by Matt Miller

I know, I know, enough on Google Keep already! I had to include this one because it is specifically about how to use it in school to make your life easier. Love sticky notes? Digitize them and carry them with you everywhere. Inspired by a great idea? Record a note. Need to sketch an idea? Use the pencil tool in Keep. Color code your notes. Set a reminder for certain times or locations. There's a handy, dandy video tutorial in this post as well.

What Kids Think About the News

What Kids Think About the News, from Common Sense Media by Michael Robb
Common Sense Media conducted a large-scale study of how kids get their news, engage with it, and feel about it. Kids are so much more connected than ever before, and news now comes through all forms of social media. There are some interesting findings in the study, which definitely highlights the importance of educating our students in media literacy.

Duolingo Tinycards - Quick Review Activities

Duolingo Tinycards - Quick Review Activities, from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
There are numerous subject areas of flashcards to use, and you can also create your own. This also takes flashcards one step further, by combining flash cards with fill in the blanks to make sure students know the content.

Three Good Tools for Creating Screenshots on Chromebooks

Three Good Tools for Creating Screenshots on Chromebooks from Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne
Why would you want to be able to create screenshots? There are countless uses in education for not only taking a screen shot of something, but also annotating it. Screen shots are not just for instruction steps. You may want students to label a map or diagram, or point out a specific point of interest in a photo or blur our a portion of it. I'm sure you can think of many more opportunities to use screenshots and mark them up. Keep in mind, if you would like students to use one of these, please let me know and I will push it out to them.

Top 3 Apps to Remove Backgrounds from Pics on a Chromebook

Top 3 Apps to Remove Backgrounds from Pics on a Chromebook, from edTechify by Bob Petitto
One of these ways, which is also the easiest, is available via a website, not an app, so it is accessible now for all students. The other two involve the apps Pixlr and PicMonkey. Both are easily obtainable apps in the Chrome Web Store that you can install in Chrome on either a Chromebook, PC or Mac. PicMonkey is an app and extension that is already pushed out to student Chromebooks. If you would like them to have Pixlr as well, please let me know and I'll push it out.