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Tools to Take the Best Notes at the 2018 TCEA Convention

by Susan Meyer February 4, 2018

written by Susan Meyer

The 2018 TCEA Convention & Exposition is in full swing as educators from all over the nation have come together to learn about the latest trends in educational technology and to build on their professional development. With sessions for every role in education, the convention may take a bit of planning in what sessions to attend and what information to retain. To make the most of your convention experience, taking good notes is essential. After all, what good is taking amazing notes if you can’t find what you need in them in a few weeks or months? The best way to ensure that your convention learning (and any learning, for that matter) remains fresh and easily searched is to use one of the great note taking tools that are available to educators.

The Top Three Note-Taking Tools

Some of the best tools that may help you write the most beneficial notes are Google Keep, OneNote, and Evernote. All of these tools are currently free to use (a big plus!). They have a similar purpose, but also unique features that set each one apart.

Google Keep

Google Keep has standard note-taking features such as automatic saves, ability to share the finished product, and checkboxes. In addition, it has the ability to send reminders about the notes you take and has a built-in OCR. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) means that the system can not only recognize text, but also graphic images such as drawings or illustrations or sketch notes. With these added features, Google Keep is great for jotting something down quick while also giving you room to organize and build on your notes to make them more detailed. Its design is simple for content to be easy to write or find.

Note Taking with OneNote

OneNote is a little more robust than Google Keep because it provides the ability to create internal links. This can allow you to link to a particular Twitter account or chat or to a PDF handout link from a presenter. It also can hold more characters than Google Keep, making it perfect for keeping notes from multiple events and years. These features allow your notes to be a little more in-depth and organized. One disadvantage of OneNote, however, is its inability to recover deleted items, which may be an issue when you’re bouncing session to session.

Evernote

Following Google Keep and OneNote is Evernote. Like OneNote, Evernote is more robust with a feature that integrates with third-party services through APIs. This lets you connect it to other applications such as Outlook or Google Drive. You can see what else works with OneNote here. However, with a more complex design, it lags in speed and consistency across all devices. The best way use Evernote is in its web version.

There are plenty of ways to take great, useful notes. To recap, Google Keep is simply designed and made for quick notes that you can put into greater depth at a later time while OneNote offers a happy medium of more detailed, organizational features. If you are using the web version, Evernote offers copious possibilities. No matter your note-taking style, one of these tools will is sure to help you take your best 2018 TCEA Convention notes.

February 4, 2018 0 comments

Android Technical Support

Android Security for Communications

by Miguel Guhlin January 27, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Did you know 15.2 million text messages are sent every minute?” I asked my wife at evening meal. “That’s almost as many emails as our dear daughter sent the weekend after she got a smartphone!” As we laughed to ourselves, the niggling question of who sees those communications tugged at me. How easy is it to hack SMS/text messages? I often worry someone will grab my smartphone and send text messages/emails that are inappropriate. In a previous blog entry, Safeguard Your Android, I shared how to rely on a virtual private network (VPN) to protect communications. Increasingly, you must secure your communications (e.g. email, text messages, voice calls, and where you go online). In this blog entry, we will explore how to better achieve security.

Did You Know?
At the bottom of this blog entry, you’ll find a nifty infographic showing what sorts of data 3.7 million people put online every minute. To give you an idea, 103 million spam emails are sent every minute and 527,000 photos are shared via Snapchat.

Use this online service to see how your email has been compromised and tied to other data:

Why Do I need to Secure My Communications?

“If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear,” goes the saying. That isn’t exactly true. Consider this scenario:

You send an accidental text or email announcing that you will be at the beach this weekend. You go to the beach and post pictures on social media. When you return to your home, you realize you’ve been robbed.

Tracking your movements need not result in theft. Instead, you may be the target of advertising.

There are numerous ways you can be tracked on the internet. Whenever you browse the net, you are being tracked by the use of browser cookies.

Cookies are the reason why, after you check out a new iPhone case on Amazon, you are repeatedly hit with website ads for phone cases wherever you go. Ad networks save cookies to your computer’s hard drive and then display ads based on the items you have browsed in online stores or searched for on Google. (Source: Pixel Privacy)

Whether you wish to or not, securing your communications is critical to digital citizenship. More importantly, protecting your sensitive data (and that of your students) can prevent problems before they arise. Most of us don’t realize how bad it is.

Tip #1 – Two-Factor Authentication

When I first began using two-factor authentication, it was a pain. I just couldn’t pick up my phone and login to Facebook or Gmail on my computer. Instead, I had to start up my Authentication app. Now, two years later, I am grateful for the added security. About six months ago, someone tried to break into my Gmail account.

Without two-factor authentication, I fear I would have been hacked. If you use Google Suites, Twitter, Facebook, or Dropbox, you may find it worthwhile to protect yourself with the Google Authenticator app.

Did You Know?
You can use a site like Have I Been Pwnd? to find out if a login (your email address) has been hacked. Get a visual representation to see how your breaches forms an identity picture of your breached data. You can also double-check to see if a password you use is up to a brute force attack with the How Secure is Your Password? website.

You may also want to take an extra step. What if your phone is stolen or lost? If someone is able to make it past your fingerprint authentication, they can then use the Authenticator app to log in to your various services. Google Authenticator now backs itself up to your Google Drive, too.

On Android, it’s possible to assign a pass code to apps you choose. Even if someone has your phone unlocked in their hand, they will have to work hard to get past your pass code for individual apps.

People often ask to look at my Android phone. Before, I was a little nervous about letting them look at it. Now, I can hand it over and know people will be unable to get into sensitive apps by accident. You can use BitDefender Mobile’s App Lock to assign a pass code to each app (shown above).

Apps:

Tip #2 – Minimize Your Internet Tracks

Everything we do online is tracked. Forget that at your peril. While it’s one thing to have the government looking over your shoulder (not really), a more immediate threat includes hackers and vendors trying to seize your information. Use a virtual private network (VPN), and one of the browsers below to achieve some measure of anonymity (it may foil online retailers and hackers, but not necessarily the FBI):

Apps:

Browsers:
- Mullvad Browser: This is a customized for security Firefox browser that you can use on desktop and mobile devices.
- Firefox Focus: This app works well to block cookies and advertisements. You aren’t anonymous while using it, but it works great to block ads and keep your mobile browser light. Use it with a VPN.
- Orbot: This app has a built in The Onion Router (TOR) browser, and will work to keep your internet travels anonymous as possible. Use it with a VPN to achieve higher level of protection.
VPN Solutions:
- Mullvad VPN: This VPN is available for approximately $4.99 a month and is pay as you go. Great for those who need a VPN without an annual subscription. It works hand-in-hand with Mullvad Browser, listed above.
- Private Internet Access (Annual cost varies): This is my go-to VPN app on multiple devices and I have relied on it for years.

Tip #3 – Protect Your Text Messages

“What’s the username and password to Netflix?” asked my daughter a few weeks ago. Since my text messages enjoy end-to-end encryption, I have no problem sharing confidential, sensitive information via text message. However, I would never dream of doing this using the standard SMS/text message app on any device. Instead, take advantage of one of the apps below. The best one right now is Signal. On Android, you can use Signal for both encrypted and unsecured text messaging. Your friends who use Signal will connect securely with you, while others who are not using it will not.

No matter what tool you use for text encryption, consider using the Secure Space Encryptor (SSE) app or website to encrypt text messages (and email). This will protect your messages with AES-256 level of encryption.

Apps:

End-to-end text and audio encryption with Signal, WhatsApp, or Voxer
Encrypt your text messages using SSE or web encryption

Tip #4 – Guard Your Email

“With over 200 billion emails sent and received by almost 3 billion people throughout the world each day, accessible anywhere at any time by almost anyone, email inboxes present a big target,” says JJ Rosen. You should be encrypting your email whenever possible, whether you are on your computer or your Android device. You don’t have to be a professional cryptographer to use tools like SecureGmail (Watch video), Virtru Email Encryption (Watch video) or the Paranoia Text Encryptor website. Another approach you can take is to rely on a tool like Proton (based in Switzerland) or Tutanota (based in Germany). Both offer secure apps that allow you to send encrypted emails to others.

For example, Proton comes with a pass code login. This protects strangers from accessing your email app. When composing an email, you can set a password to encrypt messages for non-Proton users. You can then share the encryption password with the email recipient through a phone call or text message (not email though). When they receive the email, they use the password to decrypt your email message. What a relief to know your confidential emails are encrypted while sitting in a friend’s inbox. Another neat feature is you can set message expiration to a number of hours or days. That’s pretty amazing!

Apps:

Proton (now offers a VPN, Calendar, and encrypted storage)
Tutanota

Conclusion

Some may see these efforts to secure communications as so much cloak-and-dagger games for grownups. Let’s not forget that identity theft costs $16 billion dollars a year and affects 15.4 million people. I urge you to take every precaution possible. Only after taking proper precautions will you truly have nothing to fear.

Update: This blog entry was updated with fresh links and tools on 5/23/2023.

January 27, 2018 0 comments

Android Chromebooks

Androidify Learning

by Miguel Guhlin January 2, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

“Ninety-two percent of students say that it is easier to use their mobile device to improve their access to information,” says Daniel Adeboye, citing university research. “Not every classroom can get a laptop every day, so [devices like smartphones], even if you have to pair up, become something useful for teachers,” says Ken Halla, a classroom teacher. In this blog entry, let’s explore a few, effective ways to “androidify” learning in your classroom.

Research Insights

Do BYOD devices enhance learning or distract learners? Let’s take a look at one meta-analysis of 110 studies, The effects of integrating mobile devices with teaching and learning on students’ learning performance: A meta-analysis and research synthesis.

Use the Android app PicsArt Photo Studio to create infographics like this one

Mobile devices…

Support various teaching styles, including lecture-style teaching, convenient information gathering, information sharing, cooperative learning, exploratory learning outside the classroom, and game-based learning.
Facilitate the development of communication, problem-solving, creativity, and other high-level skills among students.
Feature individualized interfaces, real-time access to information, context sensitivity, instant communication, and feedback.

In-Classroom Strategies

While the debate rages on the effectiveness of smartphones in the classroom, many educators and students have already taken the plunge. Consider the slide show, Thirty-three ways to use mobile phones in the classroom (PDF) as a starting point.

Effective Mobile Device Use

Daniel Adeboye makes the point that use of technology in classrooms often enhances efficiency, rather than improves learning effectiveness. He suggests several approaches, among them these three:

Audio recording
Live polling tools
Video creation

Some would also add tools that facilitate staying in touch with students, such as Remind.com for “real-time messaging for your school, group, or just a single person.” However, while educators like Ken Halla have compiled excellent lists of educational apps for BYOD, in this blog entry I’d like to make some of my own recommendations.

1- Audio Recording

As a veteran audiophile, my go-to set of recording tools includes the following:

Voxer.com: While many educators use Voxer to participate in audio-only communities and audio chats, only a few take advantage of it as a recording tool. You can record interviews with others using “My Notes.” Add an iRig Mic to enhance audio quality. You can save the audio as an MP3 file to the cloud. If you prefer to tweet the audio as a link, that option is available. Maximum record time is fifteen minutes.
HiQ MP3 Recorder: A drop-dead simple audio recorder, HiQ MP3 Recorder (free version) can save to MP3 audio format. You can get the audio off the device quickly, saving to Dropbox, Google Drive, or taking advantage of an app’s built-in WiFi Drive. WiFi Drive allows you to connect via a web browser on a computer (or another mobile device). Once connected, you save a copy of the audio file. This is a real time saver. Unlike Voxer, an account is not required to use HiQ MP3 Recorder. Maximum record time is 10 minutes in the free version.

Audio recordings can be used to monitor and/or assess students’ grasp of a subject or target language.

2- Live Polling Tools

Mobile devices facilitate “instant-feedback functions.” These functions “solve the difficulty of efficiently executing…formative assessment in a class with many students,” say the authors of the meta-analysis cited earlier. Many choices are available.

Poll Everywhere: Available for several years, this is often the go-to choice for conducting polls.
VoxVote: This app provides five events for free and allows for unlimited audience voting.

Some other tools include iClicker, Sli.do, and Quick Tap Survey. Add interactivity with tools like Kahoot! and Quizizz.

3- Video Creation

“By 2017, video is predicted to be two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic,” point out the authors of this article. Anyone can create a video with a smartphone. However, editing the video to good effect can be challenging on the small device. Just as iOS users enjoy a few tools like iMovie (free), Videocraft ($2.99), Pinnacle Studio ($12.99), or Filmic Pro ($14.99), so do Android users.

Note: Remember that you need to be logged in with a personal Google account, not a G Suite EDU, to access links to apps in the Google Play store. Otherwise you will get an error.

Before jumping into a list of Android video creation and editing tools, it wouldn’t hurt to review the article, Six tips for successful mobile video assignments. Video creation and editing expectations need to be lower than desktop editing. Most “free” tools include watermarks that can only be removed with a monthly or annual subscription. If you need to record your Android screen, use XRecorder. The tools below focus on video editing.

YouCut – Video Editor & Video Maker, No Watermark: An easy to use video editor that will have you combining pictures, videos, and music (free titles available).
Filmora Video Editor: From their website, app creators describe it as “A pretty powerful video editor application, which will not stamp a watermark or place a time limit on your clip.” With FilmoraGo, you can make video with music and effects and then share to social media.
VideoShow Video Editor: This editor with in-app purchases offers simple editing, subtitles, and over a thousand music clips. A companion app, GIFGuru, makes animated GIFs possible. VideoShow allows conversion of the video to MP3 audio. Creating a video for class assignments shouldn’t be too difficult.
Action Director Video Editor: Action Director offers a variety of options, including editing video, adding music, and more.

Android Authority has a few more choices listed. Try these three first. Kinemaster, ALIVE MovieMaker, and PowerDirector were objectionable for various reasons. Provided video editing is not a class assignment, students can use the Seesaw app to capture student video summaries. The real challenge for video on Android is video rendering time. Not all Android devices are created equal.

Green Screen Tip

On iOS, the DoINK Green Screen app reigns supreme. Green screen can also be done on Android. For video editing, try the paid version of Media Studio. For a one-time charge ($14.95), additional features can be purchased. These features include the green screen effect and audio recording/editing tools. For photos, use PhotoLayers (features in-app ads).

Androidify Learning in Your Classroom

As you work to “androidify” your classroom, remember to have fun. One complaint I often hear about BYOD involves teachers’ lack of familiarity with the right apps. They often do not know how to match apps to an instructional purpose. Consider these apps as a starting point.

Update: This blog entry was updated on 04/01/2020 with new information.

January 2, 2018 0 comments

Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks

Digital Bulletin Board Smackdown

by Diana Benner November 13, 2017

written by Diana Benner

Looking for a free, simple assessment tool? Then this digital bulletin board smackdown is for you. First, however, let’s define what a digital bulletin board is. It’s not putting up decorative items on the TV screen in your classroom. It is a way for students to collaborate and learn together by digitally sharing resources, ideas, questions, and final products.

Before we jump into an analysis of some of the various bulletin board tools available, let’s take a moment to revisit why they are so awesome. Here are the two best ways to use them in the classroom:

Exit Tickets – Exit tickets can be a great way to set up the next day’s learning by allowing the teacher to discover what students learned (or didn’t learn) today.
Quick Write – With quick writes, you can ask students to respond to an open-ended question or prompt, which, if structured correctly, can move them up the level to Bloom’s Taxonomy in their learning.

“What are the best lesson ideas? How can you use [digital bulletin boards] in the elementary classroom and in high school?” asks Lucie Renard in her blog entry featuring thirty creative ways to use digital bulletin boards in your classroom. Let’s explore a few ways digital bulletin boards (DBBs) make learning possible.

Digital Bulletin Boards in Your Classroom

Digital bulletin boards enable anyone to post:

Videos
Images
Text
Thumbnails of Google Suites documents
Links to other documents

What’s more, these DBBs empower students to:

Summarize key concepts using text, video, or audio
Collect student work and assignments
Develop a graffiti wall
Curate a digital collage
Make a concept/mind map
Gather data about a particular phenomena or event
Share takeaways about a field trip
Share book talks
Analyze book characters

Check out a few more ideas online.

Digital Bulletin Board Tools

While there are a baker’s dozen of digital bulletin board tools available, including whiteboard solutions, a few popular digital bulletin board tools have risen to the top of the heap. Those top-of-the-heap tools include:

Dotstorming: You can read more about this exciting newcomer to the group in this TCEA blog entry.
Google Keep: Curious to learn more about practical uses of Google Keep? Check the TCEA blog archives.
Lino: Lino offers a rich feature set, worth investigating further.
Padlet: This is a TCEA favorite. Find out how we recommend its use for online courses, face-to-face encounters, and more.

Each of these tools was assessed and assigned a score. Read on to see how each of them did.

Criteria for Digital Bulletin Board Selection

Ready to select a digital bulletin board for your classroom project? Here is a breakdown of the top four digital bulletin board criteria according to my preferred list of features. If you have your own preferred features, please add them in the comments section below.

User Management

Free
Allows user to use another account to login (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter)
Allows for multi-user collaboration

Features

Easy to add Post it or index card
Provides reminders on special days
Easy to embed images, video, text, thumbnails of digital documents (e.g. Google Docs, Slides)
Has a chat feature to facilitate conversation and collaboration between users (audio/text)
QR codes
Custom background/wallpaper

Technical

Mobile friendly with Android/iOS version
Requires Flash
Apple Watch compatibility

Digital Bulletin Board Smackdown

Ready to see how digital bulletin board favorites stack up? Let’s take a look at this chart. I encourage you to add your own favorites to the Google Sheets version of this smackdown.

digital bulletin board

Points to Remember

Classroom learning opportunities can be enhanced when students use visual tools like digital bulletin boards. Research suggests that visuals enhance students’ ability to:

Organize and process information
Practice higher order thinking skills
Have their various learning style preferences met

Make the effort to use a digital bulletin board solution in your classroom with your students. It can make a big difference.

November 13, 2017 0 comments

Leadership

Social Media for School Leaders

by Miguel Guhlin November 5, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Ever wish parents in your school could turn on their smartphone and see a moment-by-moment update of how their child is learning? Blending social media with websites, you can share powerful stories, stories that feature your school’s children. This blog entry provides five tips you can put into place for success.

Why Do It

This past weekend, a teacher cornered me at a social event. “I don’t get why we need social media in school. It’s a distraction,” she said. She missed the point of social media in the classroom, the principal’s office, and the board room.

“We’ve found Twitter to be a really effective mode for two-way communication–where it’s not just [the Department of Education] putting out a press release or statement, but … something that’s soliciting feedback from everyone–teachers, students, [and] parents,” says Daren Briscoe, deputy press secretary for the Department of Education.

Adding a Twitter poll can be a quick way to gain insight into what staff or parents are thinking.

Social Media in the Classroom

“Thanks for your tweets about last night’s parent meeting!” shared Joyce with her campus principal, while holding the hand of her kindergarten aged child in the hallway. Joyce, a parent on the go who lives on her smartphone, often calls into school to check on her child’s progress, as well as tries to keep track of what’s going on. Contrast Joyce’s experience with mobile phones with the once-a-day parent, Emily, who visits her son’s classroom web page to find out what homework assignments there are and catch up on what major concepts are being covered in class. “I really appreciate how, when I visit the web page, the right-hand column has pictures of my child working on projects in class!” The updates–which can include images and audio–feature students working in groups on projects at school and are fed in by Twitter updates.

Here are a few tips for creating successful social media learning experiences.

Tip #1 – Build a safe online learning space for your school.

Social media tools abound for building an easy-to-update virtual space that can transform how parents view your school. You want parents to see beyond the brick and mortar of the school to the spirit captured in images, multimedia, and children’s voices. Think of it as allowing your school spirit to shine through in ways you hadn’t imagined before. Build an online space using a variety of tools. These sites are easy to create and allow us to blend images, video, and sounds easily in one place. To protect student names and images, always make sure to have a posted checklist in each classroom of who can be photographed or audio/video-recorded.

Tip #2 – Set up your school Twitter account.

Many of us have heard of Twitter as a way to build professional learning networks that give us access to online professional development 24/7. What many fail to realize is that each Twitter update can be embedded in a blog entry or website. You can often copy-and-paste the link to the tweet or use Twubs.com to embed the tweet.

Tip #3 – Archive All Your Tweets

Worried that you might miss all the tweets relevant to your class, campus, or district hashtag? Use a simple solution like TAGS:

Read a tutorial or watch the video above

Tip #4 – Hashtag your school’s Tweets

If every one in your school knew the secret keyword to search for on the Internet, wouldn’t this make it a lot easier to find information about your school? Currently, educators have conversations about various professional learning resources, such as #edchat and #cpchat and many others. These hashtags enable you and the school community to interact via Twitter. If you search on a Twitter hashtag for your campus, any 140-character tweet that includes the hashtag will be viewable.

Tip #5 – Encourage Sharing Online

It’s tempting to want to control all the tweets and online sharing that can go on by parents. Focus on creating a culture of empowered learners–adults or students–sharing what they are learning as they are learning it. With shared hashtags, you can easily pull in content and share excerpts from that content in your virtual space.

November 5, 2017 0 comments

Chromebooks Google Tips and Tricks iOS Tips and Tricks Microsoft

Animated GIFs: Education in Motion

by Miguel Guhlin November 4, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Animated GIFs function great as short picture tutorials. They play well on social media, like Twitter, too. Creating these engaging picture slideshows can range from easy to hard depending on the tools you choose. Let’s take a look at a few free iOS, Windows, Mac, and Chrome tools to create animated GIFs. We will also explore some animated GIFs focused on the Microsoft Education Community, featuring a few common tasks with which learners have problems.

Example #1 – Tech Tips in 15 Seconds

Looking for ideas on how to use animated GIFs? Educational technologists need look no further than John Bimmerle’s Tech Tips in 15 Seconds.

animated gifs

Here is one animated GIF shared via Twitter focused on OneNote sharing made easy. You can edit the images before placing them in an animated GIF sequence. Include instructions, helpful pointers, and more.

How to Share a @OneNoteEDU for #nonprofits via OneDrive for Business #tcea #mieexpert pic.twitter.com/NL5RwmyuIl

— Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) November 3, 2017

Example #2 – Spice Up Twitterchats

You can also use animated GIFs to spice up your Twitterchat/Tweetmeet questions, as shown below. You can imagine creating your images in Powerpoint (or Slides), exporting the images, then stitching them together using one of the free tools available.

Looking forward to amazing folks presenting @TCEA CTS Academy on Nov. 16/17. https://t.co/i6nX2n3s3R #TCEActs @preimers pic.twitter.com/TP7aFOYgku

— Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) November 1, 2017

Tools for Making Animated GIFs

Ready to make your own animated GIFs? If so, you may already have the tools on your device. The process involves recording a short step-by-step as a video and then converting that video into a series of pictures. The picture series is then animated and runs as a sequence known as an animated GIF. Here are my top picks for creating animated GIFs:

Subscription-Based Tools

Screencastify Premium (Free for 10 minutes; subscription service available): This awesome screencasting tool (view tutorials) works great on Chromebooks or the Chrome browser. You can save your recordings as MP4 videos or as animated GIFs. These can be saved to either your device or directly to Google Drive. There’s even an education version worth investigating. A few features of Screencastify include a focus mouse, draw with pen, embed webcam, and my favorite, crop and trim. You can also record your desktop screen (e.g. Windows, Mac, GNU/Linux) or a particular tab on your Chrome browser.
Gyazo GIF (Free for seven seconds; subscription service available): Gyazo GIF enables you to capture screenshots (pictures of your screen) and then share them online as animated GIFs or save them. You instantly share screenshots faster than any other service by uploading the image and copying the link to your clipboard instantly. Fellow Texan and TCEA member Kasey Bell has a wonderful tutorial worth reading on this resource.

Animated GIF of Storyboarder was created with Screencastify’s Save to Animated GIF feature

No-Cost Tools

Storyboarder (Free): This powerful storyboarding tool makes it easy to create animated GIFs (and a lot more). You can export creations to Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, Avid, PDF, and animated GIF formats. You can even print out storyboard worksheets and then draw on them. When done, snap a picture with your phone. Storyboarder will import the boards into your project.
GifMaker.me (Free): You can use this web-based tool to create animated GIFs. You can also create video animations with free, online music. Another benefit is that GifMaker does not require an account, which makes it perfect for use in a classroom situation. An alternative browser-based gifmaker is EzGIF.com.
GIF Toaster (iOS; Free): Looking for a way to create animated GIFs on the go? Look no further than GIF Toaster. You can take a series of photos (or screenshots on your iOS device), then arrange them as an animated GIF. You can then copy them to your computer using WiFi sharing from within the GIF Toaster app. It will also take a recorded video and save it as an animated GIF. Additional customization is possible with built-in filters, etc.
DataGIFMaker: Although not strictly speaking an animated GIF maker useful for tutorials, if you need to play with data, you will want to check out this offering from Google. It allows you to enter a few values and then display them as an animated GIF. You simply enter data points, type in short names for data point clusters, select colors, and then save the animated GIF. See example.

There are many other tools (like Flipgrid!) available for creating animated GIFs. Share your favorite and what you’ve made with it in the comments.

Animated GIFs in the Classroom

Austin Houp recommends students create stop-motion animations as part of their learning activities. He suggests using Google Slides (you could also use MS PowerPoint). Students create a stop-motion slide deck and then export images using the Slides 2 Drive* add on. Then, as a final step, they can combine the entire series of pictures as an animated GIF using GifMaker.me.

*Note: Slides2Drive will kick up some security warnings when you add it since it’s not an official add-on. You need it because creating stop-motion animation will result in numerous slides. Google Slides only allows you to export one slide at a time. With Slides2Drive, you can export all slides as images to Google Drive.

Aside from stop-motion animations, students can create short explanations using animated GIFs. Be sure to check out the Twitter Takeaways blog entries for some examples.

Microsoft Education Animated GIFs

As promised, here are a few animated GIFs featuring Microsoft’s Education Community.

Get a Printable Version of a Certificate in PDF Version

Completed a face-to-face or online course? If you need to get your certificate, you can rely on the animated GIF to walk you through the process. It was created with Screencastify Premium version’s tab recording option.

Get Your Microsoft Public Profile URL

animated gifs

Your public profile URL is often required when you are applying to participate in MIE programs. This animated GIF will walk you through the process of obtaining it.

animated gifs

November 4, 2017 0 comments

Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks Professional Learning

Empower Learners with the 5E Model and Hyperdocs

by Miguel Guhlin September 12, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Want to gear your lesson planning towards student learning? Focus on active learning and increasing what some describe as learner agency. The 5E lesson planning model can help students develop independent thinking. Let’s explore why that’s important.

Fostering Learner Agency

In Rethinking the Lesson Plan blog entry, Katie Martin writes:

Learner agency is about moving students from passively responding to acting with purpose to reach a desired goal or outcome.

Many of students’ learning experiences are passive responses to our efforts as teachers. In a recent workshop for K-12 educators, I found myself grateful for having developed self-paced, “center-driven” learning opportunities. Please allow me to share a reflection on the experience before we jump into 5E lesson planning.

empower Chart to Classify Learning Activities (view source)

Reflecting on Crafting Learning Experiences

While introducing teachers to hyperdocs (learn more here), their expectation was for a sit-and-get experience. When I transitioned participants into an activity after a brief relationship building exercise, one participant shared her discomfort. “I was expecting more of you talking, not me doing an activity that made me think!” As that participant dug into the activity, her creativity started to flow. Later, participants took to the front of the room to share their successful creations.

Learning to be comfortable with discomfort is one of the most important skills to live a truly fulfilling life. If you learn this skill, you can master pretty much anything. (Source: The Only Time You Are Growing Is When You Are Uncomfortable)

This deliberate abandonment of the stage mirrored the instructional approach I hoped they would adopt: less lecture and passive learning, more active, independent, or small group learning. As questions arose, just as in a writing workshop, I moved my chair around the room. This made side-by-side learning chats possible. Some participants intuited a deeper grasp of a key concept. For those, I would ask them to help another. This facilitated peer-to-peer learning and a reliance on helping our community members. These colleagues would remain longer than I, who was visiting for only a short time. Real learning happens at a student’s own pace. Just-in-time learning conversations make better sense when learners are active and self-driven.

How do you scaffold this kind of learning opportunity in your classroom? The chart above points to some approaches.

5E HyperDoc Lesson Planning Tips

We need to create a system that scaffolds teachers’ instructional design. This design must be embedded in contextual learning, well-resourced, and aligned to the needs of learners. The 5E lesson plan provides one such approach. Hyperdocs, which have caught fire via the Twitter hashtag #hyperdocs, combines the 5E model with the flexibility of Google Docs. Learner agency and active learning are built in, both prerequisites for this instructional approach. Let’s explore some of the design tips.

Tip #1 – Know the Format

Know what the purpose of any recipe, any formula, or checklist is? The purpose of a checklist is to ensure we apply knowledge in a consistent and correct manner. This helps us avoid the pitfalls of not knowing enough about what works and being unable to properly apply what we know to a fresh situation (source). Even though you may not know enough about all the possible technologies, consider how this Hyperdoc template scaffolds your lesson planning development. Do you see how it combines elements of the 5E model with technology, making it easier for you to craft engaging, active learning opportunities for your students?

How to get your own copy: Login to Google, then click this link to make a copy of Jen Giffen’s template (@virtualgiff)

The 5E Model is essentially a checklist teachers can follow, no matter what you call each of the steps (e.g. extend or apply).

Tip #2 – Create Layers of Learning

While a traditional 5E lesson may be about engaging students in a problem they can work through on their own, it’s important to create layers of learning. “Variety and contrast drive long-term retention,” says one UCLA cited study in Psychology Today. The phrase “layers of learning” refers to creating a mix of experiences. Students, K-12 or adult learners, need a variety of contrasting ideas and resources. This layered approach speeds learning and reflects how human brains work. Learning happens in a gradual manner over time.

To create layers of learning, avoid monolithic blocking of content to master. Break it up. Mix in a variety of content about a topic, as well as about tangential topics, methods, and techniques. One easy way to do this relies on what Lisa Highfill (co-creator of Hyperdocs) refers to as MultiMedia Text Sets (MMTSs). “MMTSs are just docs with links meant to build schema through exploration,” says Lisa. Schema construction, essential according to researcher Frank Smith (Understanding Reading), helps humans with spatial organization linked to time. Learning experiences we craft for others must mix in a variety of experiences over time and space. These help us situate new learning (information and ideas) in our personal timeline reflected in our own schema.

Tip #3 – Make Time for Reflection

“Reflective learning involves conscious thinking by examining or absorbing an issue which triggers a past experience and helps to gain fresh insights into a new knowledge or skill,” says Vandana Kaveti. Given that human beings build theories of the world, constructing scenes situated in time and space, to make sense of new information, reflection can yield fresh insights. Those insights flow from the juxtaposition of old knowledge and the contrast with the new. Returning to Jen Giffen’s Hyperdocs template, there are a variety of technologies to enhance reflection. Reflection can yield insights for individual students. When the opportunity for reflection is extended to a classroom learning community, insights are deepened and increased.

empower

To make sure that your hyperdocs will do what you’ve designed them to do, use this handy evaluation check list.

The One Desire

We all want things a certain way. This is a natural part of being human. Less a whim, our brains have a schema for each situation. New ideas, information, and experiences challenge us. We must brave discomfort and accept it as natural in order to learn. How well we combine new information with old determines our success. These three tips, combined with previous suggestions, can assist students as they catch fire about learning.

This blog was updated with additional resources on October 18, 2017.

September 12, 2017 0 comments

Libraries

How to Start a Maker Club at Your School

by Guest Blogger September 7, 2017

written by Guest Blogger

Making opens up a world of infinite possibilities for our students. According to Walt Disney, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Those words have never been truer than in the world of making. Students are inventing, designing, and creating prototypes to solve real world problems, today. Making gives every student the opportunity to discover their own genius and share it with the world. Help them do this by starting a maker club on your campus.

Start With the Logistics

When would be the best time to hold a maker club? Since the majority of my students ride the bus home or participate in extracurricular activities, I needed to find time within the school day that was open to all students and inclusive of all ability levels. Lunch time was the perfect solution! Students voluntarily bring their lunch to the library and can participate in coding, robotics, 3D design, and circuits and even have the opportunity to connect with special guests. As your club grows, you may need to find a larger location or create a schedule for your students. In my case, I have over two-thirds of the student body in our club; therefore, I rotate grade levels on different days to ensure everyone has time to participate, including me.

Plan, Plan…PLAN

Developing a calendar of maker activities allows you to plan for needed supplies, instructions, and time. If you are just starting out, you may want to offer some low-tech options for your students such as arts and crafts.

Cardboard challenges are an innovative option to start your students designing and problem-solving with chain reaction machines, mazes, prototypes, and more.
Duct tape has become an art form unto itself, and you can find a wealth of ideas for makers, parents and educators on the Duct Tape website.
Paper crafts, such as origami, are more popular than ever. Challenge students to create works of art inspired by the American Museum of Natural History’s origami exhibition.

High-tech activities add a new dimension to a maker club, and below are three of my favorites.

Tinkercad is a free option to explore design thinking and the 3D printing process for students who have no previous design experience.
Makey Makey is a design lab in a box. The Makey Makey Labz offers lessons and inspiration on every subject for incorporating Makey Makeys into your club.
Stop Motion Animation films are easy to produce and give your students the opportunity to write, direct, and plan a production. Films can be incorporated into all content areas

Just remember, even “the best laid plans of mice and men go awry” and problems may arise during an activity, but be flexible and ready to adjust. Many times our mistakes turn out to be our greatest learning experiences.

Need Funding for Your Maker Club?

Funding is always a top concern when implementing a maker club. My best advice is to be creative!

LEGOs, material, cardboard, Playdoh, and much more can be donated by parents and community members to help stock the makerspace. Most schools have social media accounts that can be utilized to ask for donations. In my experience, the community takes pride in helping our students.
Donors Choose, Limeades for Learning, and other philanthropic organizations offer help in funding your maker initiatives. (Here’s a great blog on how to get such projects funded.)
Many public schools have education foundations that offer grants and funding for teacher programs. The volunteers that serve on education foundation boards are committed to providing the best possible resources for our students.

Maker clubs can have a far reaching impact on our students. By providing a space that fosters creativity and innovation, we provide a culture that values the genius of every student.

This is a guest blog by Michelle Cooper, who is the library media specialist at White Oak Middle School (east Texas) and the Area 7 Director for the TCEA Board. She is a co-founder of #TXLchat on Twitter which provides a forum for Texas librarians to create collaborative connections, share educational resources, and foster lifelong learning. Michelle is the 2016 TCEA Library Media Specialist of the Year, the 2016 Tech and Learning Leader of the Year, a Wonderopolis Wonder Lead Ambassador, a Makey Makey Ambassador, a Certified Google Educator, and has been awarded the 2016 TASL MVP Honorable Award for Excellence. You can learn more about her and what she does in her library here and follow her on Twitter here.

September 7, 2017 0 comments

Google Tips and Tricks Microsoft Professional Learning

TCEA Responds: Get Current on Tech Learning

by Miguel Guhlin August 28, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

I was wondering, I have had my Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration for 20 years now. I wanted to go back and take classes to improve and update my knowledge of computer skills. What classes would you recommend?

-Jim

Dear Jim:

Kudos to you for rekindling your desire to continue learning about technology. As you can probably imagine, there have been quite a few changes in technology in the last twenty years since you graduated. Let’s explore some of the changes made, as well as some opportunities to get you up to speed.

Big Change #1 – Hyper-connected

As you have noticed, especially if you use a smartphone, we are all now hyper-connected to each other. What that means is that each person is a part of a bigger network of connected human beings and devices. Now, if you need information or have questions, you don’t have to rely solely on one medium (e.g. magazines, books, television). Instead, you can reach out to the authors of articles, books, and practitioners in the field. Find people you want to learn from online and then follow them on social media (e.g. Twitter, LinkedIn).

Twitterchats, focused conversations on Twitter around your favorite topic, also allow for fast learning. Here are seven Twitterchats that will get you started in business. These may also serve grade 12-16 students interested in how social media can impact business communications.

#bizforum. Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST
#BrandChat. Wednesdays at 8 a.m. Pacific
#LivePlanChat. Tuesdays at 12 p.m. EST
#PMChat. Fridays at 12 p.m. EST
#PSAMAchat. Wednesdays at 4 p.m. EST
#smallbizchat. Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST
#WorkTrends. Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. EST

Big Change #2 – Collaborative

“Collaboration divides the tasks and multiplies success,” goes the old saying. Now that you’ve seen how hyper-connected people are, you may also want to upgrade your technical skills. While we will explore a few self-paced learning options below, one big change involves the nature of collaboration today. New business tools such as Office 365 and Google Suites provide traditional word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and note-taking tools in a collaborative environment.

What sets these apart from past versions you may be familiar with is the collaborative aspect. Each now allows for web-based, or internet, access to documents for sharing with others. Instead of coming up with a business plan, a presentation by yourself, then emailing that to someone, you can simply invite people to edit a shared document. Your ability to create in virtual space, working together with others at a distance, will set you apart from those who cannot or who avoid collaboration.

Big Change #3 – Self-Paced, Personalized Learning

Ready to get your technical skills up to speed with self-paced, personalized learning opportunities? While you can certainly pay for Lynda.com, Udemy.com, and many others, you may want to take advantage of several free alternatives first.

Microsoft’s Educator Community: This online community provides access to free, online professional learning courses. These courses often grant you points in the Community and/or digital badges you can display. Some offer certificates that you can print and put in your portfolio. They cover the basics of Office 365 tools like OneNote, Word Online, PowerPoint Online, and more. You can get started using your free Microsoft account, Twitter, or Facebook account.
G Suites Learning Center: This website provides access to various facets of Google Suites for Education. Definitely explore it to develop your learning.
YouTube: Many millennials and Gen Z’ers are growing up learning how to do something on their own. They accomplish this by watching videos on YouTube. You can search online to find a wide variety of topics and learn, then apply what you watch. One of my favorites on new tech isSteve Dotto. For example, learn all about Slack, which is a new tool used in today’s businesses.

One Constant

In spite of these big changes, you can rely on one constant. That constant? TCEA offers online professional learning for the low-cost of $49 a year. These learning opportunities include Lunch-and-Learn webinars, Get Your Google On webinars, Microsoft Academies, webinar bundles, face to face conferences/conventions, and more. Be sure to check out our blog to see the latest and great idea sharing. Also, be sure to register online via TCEA Events.

August 28, 2017 0 comments

Student fostering global connections with her partner

Good Teaching STEM/STEAM

Creating Global Connections with STEAM Learning

by Guest Blogger August 3, 2017

written by Guest Blogger

The August issue of TCEA’s quarterly magazine TechEdge will be out very soon. The theme of the August issue is global connections. In each story, educators from around the country share how breaking down classroom walls and fostering global awareness and empathy are transforming their students. We wanted to include a sneak peak of one article from the very talented Tina Coffey on her work with the organization Level Up Village. This article is abridged, and the full version will appear in the magazine. TechEdge is sent to all TCEA members. If you are not a member, it is not too late to join here. You’ll receive the next issue in the mail and have access to a digital archive of past issues.

Creating Global Citizens with STEAM Learning

One Friday morning in March, I walked into a fifth grade classroom to a buzz of activity. Small groups of students were gathered around an iPad practicing beginning Spanish words. Others were working feverishly with students from the local high school to customize and practice Spanish phrases. One student was showing the teacher a video he had recently received from his Nicaraguan teammate. Throughout the room, the excited chatter of students filled the air.

I was delighted to see so much focused activity. This group was a completely different Global Studies class than the one I had seen two months before. But what had caused this transformation?

STEAM and Global Citizenship Unite

A former colleague introduced me to a company that was able to provide our district a great solution. Level Up Village offers global STEAM classes for grades K-9. Their courses include everything from Global Web Designers to Global Storybook Engineers. For each course, classrooms in the United States are partnered with classrooms in developing countries. Together they complete a STEAM project, while also getting to know about a different country in a very personal way. Level Up Village takes care of all the logistics, including pairing students with individual global partners, providing fully developed curriculum and teacher training, and facilitating global communication and collaboration via a safe and secure portal.

Fostering global connections through Tinkercad project

Students working in TinkerCad as Global Inventors (Credit: Tina Coffey)

After conferring with our central office staff, our district began piloting a Level Up Village Course called Global Inventors, which focuses on 3D printing. Up until this point, Global Studies was usually taught in fifth grade along with writing, and was mainly focused on textbooks and internet research. We planned on capitalizing on the Global Inventors course’s cross-curricular components to integrate lessons that met science and math standards alongside Global Studies.

We approached a teacher at Oak Grove Elementary who was enthusiastic about piloting the eight-week program. All students in fifth grade at Oak Grove were able to participate, and each one was paired with a child from Argentina, Nicaragua, or Honduras.

Video Powering Global Connections

As part of the course, each student sent video messages back and forth to his or her partner. Often the video topics were prompted by a few suggested questions, but students were free to come up with their own as well. This exchange of videos soon fostered a friendship across countries that made the project real and meaningful.

Electricity and Nonrenewable and Renewable Resources

Level Up Village provided a series of videos that challenged students to look beyond simple similarities and differences and delve into complex problems. One issue they looked at centered on electricity production, usage, and accessibility. The students learned surprising facts, such as that Nicaragua has a lot of untapped potential for geothermal energy production thanks to its nearby volcanoes. They also learned that not everyone has easy and cheap access to electricity. This knowledge helped set the framework for the purpose behind the 3D design project.

Let There Be Light

To create their global inventions, students used a computer-aided design (CAD) software called Tinkercad to design a casing for a solar flashlight, which was then printed on the 3D printer. Solar flashlights were novel gadgets for our students, but for their partners in developing countries, these flashlights could be used when electricity was not available.

Student wiring flashlight while building global connections

Student wiring solar flashlight (Credit: Tina Coffey)

Students had to call on their understanding of circuits, measurement, and 3D calculation to design the flashlights. They had to make sure the case they designed could both contain the required electrical components and fit on the class 3D printer. Using Tinkercad was by far the hardest part of the course for many of these students. However, knowing they had a partner that was counting on them helped them persevere.

One student wrote, “… it took time and effort to finally finish it. It was hard to make all the measurements perfect so all the components would fit. I hope it helps my partner to study at night and during power-outs.”

Creating Global Citizens

Throughout the Global Inventors course, the students’ growth as global citizens was evident. They could not only name basic facts about the countries they studied, but understood so much more. The project cultivated greater empathy, understanding, and curiosity. The students’ written reflections on their class blogs reflected their growth as citizens of the modern world.

One student wrote, “This project was very different from what I’m used to. It was nice to learn about and send messages to people from across the world. I’ve learned that a 3D printer isn’t just to make cool looking things. Those things can change someone’s life.”

Here’s a video sharing Tina’s story:

Making a Difference with LUV from elemitrt on Vimeo.

If you are interested in trying the Global Inventors course in your school, the In School Price is $55 per student. However, some district-wide variations apply. Level Up Village also says that a number of schools have successfully applied for grants from community organizations to run their courses.

The writer of this guest blog, Tina Coffey, is the Instructional Technology Resource Teacher at Oak Grove Elementary School in Roanoke, Virginia. She is also the Level Up Village US Teacher of the Year for 2017. Connect with her on Twitter @elemitrt.

August 3, 2017 0 comments

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