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Microsoft

TCEA Responds: Saving High School Seniors’ Digital Work

by Miguel Guhlin June 29, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Welcome to TCEA Responds #7. Submit your own question(s) online. Today’s topic is helping high school seniors take their digital work with them.

Dear TCEA Responds:

Our high school seniors are moving on soon. They have data stored in Microsoft OneNote. Do you know if students can easily print all their OneNote tabs at one time to create a hard copy of a notebook to take with them after graduation?

-Gina

Dear Gina:

It’s amazing, isn’t it? The young men and women who arrived just a few short years ago are leaving. But what to do with all their digital files, some of which would help them at their next stop at the university? Some of the old options include:

Print all the documents (not very eco-friendly)
Saving all files/folders to a USB flash drive (but what if it gets lost or the media is corrupted?)

Let’s explore some possible responses.

Option #1 – Copy Files with Multcloud

While you could print an entire OneNote notebook, another approach would be to have students create a OneDrive account, then use an online utility (free) to copy their OneNote notebook from their school account to their personal OneDrive account. The online utility that they would use is Multcloud.com.

CloudHQ.net and CloudGopher are two other utilities (available at cost) that work great. Note that these approaches work well with any cloud storage solution, including Google Drive and Dropbox. Read more about it here.

TCEA responds

Option #2 – OneNote Export

If copying to OneDrive cloud storage is not an option, then you could export the entire OneNote notebook containing student work as a Word or PDF file. This would allow the student to have a version of the document they can edit. They could then take the Word file(s) and open them in Google Docs or with their free Office 365 account.

Below, you will see the various export windows depending on what you want to export. Note the different output formats available.

Export Page	Export Section	Export Notebook

Choose the Best Option

With all the available tools, there really isn’t a need to print or save work to temporary media that may get corrupted or lost. Cloud storage provides a much better option than copying work in unusable formats. And with tools like Multcloud or CloudHQ, your students can back up data to any location, not just the one where they created it.

June 29, 2017 0 comments

Microsoft

Virtual Space Construction Workers

by Miguel Guhlin June 27, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to prepare your students for the future? Why not help them become construction workers? Microsoft is ready to assist you.

If you are getting ready to upgrade your fleet of school district devices to Windows 10, make sure that you take advantage of this new offer to get Minecraft: Education Edition (MCEE) for free. When you purchase a new Windows 10 device for your school, you will receive a one-year subscription to MCEE. Not familiar with Minecraft: Education Edition (MCEE), an open-world virtual world construction set that promotes creativity, collaboration, and problem solving in an immersive environment?

Let’s quickly review three reasons why you would want your students to have access to what is a virtual world construction set (read benefits of construction sets for children) and programming tool.

Reason #1 – Virtual Space Construction Workers Comprise Jobs of the Future

While K-12 educators may be focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic, knowing how to create and modify virtual worlds has become an emerging future job skill. In fact, technologies like Microsoft HoloLens, as well as SketchUp Pro, rely on the ability to interact in virtual space. Making physical models costs time and money, and going virtual reduces those costs.

Mixed reality models in SketchUp Viewer can be infinitely reconstructed and re-scaled to suit your needs.If you haven’t seen it yet, then you will definitely want to check out these videos that introduce you to the concept of architecture and construction in virtual space. Students who want a shot at the jobs will need to learn how to build, work collaboratively, communicate, and connect with other virtual space construction workers. Like all of yesterday’s jobs, they are going digital. Just as the textile industry is moving from traditional fabrics to 3D printed outfits, so is construction.

Image Source: Arkenea

NASA relies on virtual reality to train astronauts. And everyone knows that NASA astronauts are highly-trained construction workers, building international space stations and other structures in space. With Minecraft: Education Edition (MCEE), students are able to pick up essential skills such as collaboration, planning, modeling, and building to scale. Aren’t you ready to give your students this opportunity?

Reason #2 – Open World Facilitates X-Based Learning

Replace the X in X-BL with one of the following words: project, problem, passion, or inquiry. Whatever version you choose, these terms all refer to the same type of engaging, active learning that has long-term benefits for student achievement. The benefits of X-BL include:

Open-ended questions or tasks
Authentic applications of content and skills
Student independence and inquiry
More multi-faceted and involved than traditional lessons or assignments

I refer to “multi-faceted” as a wrinkly brain vs a smooth brain. What’s the difference? Well, human beings have wrinkly brains, but rats have smooth ones. Wrinkles increases the brain’s surface area for neurons, which is a good thing apparently. So ask yourself, “Is my lesson wrinkly or smooth, multi-faceted or traditional?” If the former, then you know that there are various benefits to providing open-ended questions or tasks to students. One way to accomplish this is to introduce students to MCEE as a way to externalize their knowledge and information processing. MCEE serves as an excellent way for students to develop future work skills (read the research report) including:

Sense-making: the ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed. Prior to working in MCEE, students must gain a gestalt perspective of what is the end result imagined or sought after.
Social intelligence: the ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions. In MCEE, for example, students can build human interfaces for simple machines in a virtual space.
Novel and adaptive thinking: a proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rule-based. In MCEE, projects students engage in can be intentionally designed to be open-ended, requiring them to engage in adaptive learning.
Cross-cultural competency: the ability to operate in a different cultural settings. In MCEE, students are not simply collaborating with peers in close proximity to each other. They have the opportunity to connect globally with other MCEE students (in other countries), communicating and collaborating at a distance with diverse users.
New-media literacy: the ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms and to leverage these media for persuasive communication. In MCEE, students can create structures and develop explanations of their creations that can only be shared using new media (e.g. video).

These are only a few of the ten skills for the future workforce. Let’s explore how Minecraft: Education Edition (MCEE) can also enhance yet another one of these ten skills, computational thinking.

Reason #3 – MCEE Makes Computational Thinking Approachable

Computational thinking may be described as a person’s “ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning” (Future Work Skills 2020 report). In coding or programming, computational thinking describes how various processes can be used to understand and solve a problem with technology.

The Three As present one simple approach of understanding computational thinking and exploring how MCEE supports it:

Algorithms involve using a sequence of steps to solve a problem
Abstractions involve reduction of a problem to its bare essence
Automation involves using tools to automate the solution to the problem (source)

Although many schools have been introduced to The Hour of Code with Minecraft, Microsoft has provided an incredible way to have students create code (programming or block coding). That is, students rely on built-in coding tools such as block coding (e.g. Tynker, Scratch) or programming (e.g. Javascript). What’s powerful about this is that students can begin creating instructions (an algorithm) that uses tools (a “coding agent”) to automate processes in Minecraft: Education Edition (MCEE). That means that students create the instructions that result in a physical manifestation in virtual space.

Watch this video, Introducing Make Code for Minecraft, to get a deeper understanding:

Unleash the Master Builder in Your Students

Ready to get students started as master builders? Realize that before they can gain a competitive edge on other builders, they must spend time, energy, and effort to learn critical future work skills. What’s more, children, like adult humans, also seek validation for their work. That can happen in schools with education professionals. Get started now and complete this form.

June 27, 2017 0 comments

CTO/CIO Microsoft

TCEA Responds: Microsoft Classroom Assignments

by Miguel Guhlin June 22, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Welcome to TCEA Responds #6. Submit your own question(s) online. Today’s topic is how to deal with new students and assignments scheduled prior to their arrival in Microsoft Classroom.

Dear TCEA Responds:

Hello! Thank you very much for your excellent videos! We are about to begin with MS Classroom for all our classes at the school where I work and I have a question, maybe you can help me. Suppose I prepare all the homeworks and classwork in MS Classroom before the year begins and subscribe the students so that I activate the class until the first school day but at middle of the bimester a new student arrives, how can I assign all the homeworks and classwork to him/her? Thanks, Paco!

Note: On May 2, 2017, Microsoft announced that the MS Classroom would be merged into MS Teams. Here is an excerpt from their announcement:
Microsoft Classroom Preview will continue with current functionality until July 31, 2017. – Teachers will not be able to create new notebooks or assignments after the July 31, 2017. Current classes and associated content will continue to be available as Office 365 Groups. Teachers can access assignment resources, files, calendars, and conversations, through tools such as Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint Online. If necessary, they can copy Class Notebook content to their personal workspace (e.g. OneDrive for Business). When the new class experiences become available in Teams, School Data Sync will start creating the new classes for Microsoft Teams. SDS will continue to sync existing Microsoft Classroom Preview classes through July 31, 2017.

Dear Paco:

Great question, Paco. When I attempted this, I noticed that assignments scheduled in the future, but prior to the arrival of the new student, do not appear in the Assignments list. The Assignment list for a new student looks like this:

The screenshot above reflects the MS Classroom Assignment view, which typically reflects upcoming assignments for students. This is a new student’s Assignment window, which does NOT show upcoming assignments.

The new student’s calendar, though, DOES reflect the Assignments scheduled. This means that the new student, to see what other students see when they look for future assignments, would have to look at their calendar as shown below:

TCEA responds

Unfortunately, I don’t know how you would get those assignments scheduled PRIOR to the arrival of a student to appear in their Assignments list. Also, the calendar event shows up on the calendar as not assigned. This is certainly great feedback to offer Microsoft Classroom developers via the Feedback button.

Recommendation

One recommendation involves coaching all students to rely on their Outlook calendar. The Group Calendar will reflect all assignments, even those that were scheduled prior to being enrolled. A second suggestion is that you rely on OneNote Class Notebook, which is integrated into MS Classroom, to house all your assignments, along with a list of due dates. That way, new students–and old ones–would have access to the information. Remember, the student will see the assignments you scheduled in the past via the Outlook calendar built-into MS Classroom.

June 22, 2017 0 comments

Announcements/Important Dates Microsoft

Farewell Docs.com, Hello Enhanced OneNote, Forms, and Flow

by Miguel Guhlin June 11, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Did you catch the news updates about an enhanced OneNote, Microsoft Forms, and Microsoft Flow? Just as Microsoft works hard to enhance its classroom offerings, it is also shuttering existing services like Docs.com. This morning, I woke to the news that Docs.com, which Tom Grissom highlighted in this TCEA Podcast, would disappear and be replaced by Slideshare.com as the preferred sharing platform. Some other updates in this blog entry include changes to OneNote 2016 and OneNote. We will also take a look at Microsoft Flow and Microsoft Forms (Microsoft’s IFTTT.com type service).

Farewell, Docs.com

If you’re not familiar with Docs.com, it offered a simple way for Microsoft users to share their resources online. It described itself as a way to “showcase and discover Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, and PDF documents for free.” Docs.com community members shared quite a bit of incredible content online, including Marjolein Hoekstra’s OneNote and Minecraft resources. The service proved invaluable as I began learning about how others were using Microsoft products like OneNote and Sway, giving me access to fantastic creations from the K-12 space and more. Here’s an excerpt from the email I received this morning about the update:

Thank you for using Docs.com. We would like to let you know that we are retiring the Docs.com service on December 15, 2017, and need you to take action to save your files. Please make sure to migrate all your content to other storage and/or sharing services on or before the retirement date to avoid losing any of your data.

As I look forward to Slideshare becoming the new sharing space, I hope that the migration process will be as smooth as suggested above. Find out about the migration process online. Some important dates to keep in mind include June 9 as the time when new Docs.com accounts will no longer be allowed; August 1 when publishing and editing of Docs.com content will stop; and December 15 when Docs.com will be completely inaccessible.

OneNote Turbo-Charged

enhanced Just a few weeks ago, I recorded two video walk throughs of OneNote 2016 (now sporting a new name, OneNote Desktop) and the OneNote app on Windows 10. In that time, Microsoft has rolled out incredible changes to the OneNote app, making it my preferred OneNote tool.

That means, yes, I’m no longer using OneNote 2016 and instead, prefer the free OneNote app. The latter has a more nimble interface and responds faster to commands.

Some of the major features now available in the OneNote app include:

Redesigned interface sets a standard interface for both OneNote app and OneNote Online (web version)
- Navigation Panes make it easy to view notebooks, sections, and pages, or show only pages
- Search notebooks with ease
- Open new window so you can have two or more OneNote windows open
- Draw menu has been enhanced with rainbow colors and more, including ink to shape and draw math problems
Class Notebook integration (with Immersive Reader, or Learning Tools, integration coming)

Be sure to update your OneNote app to get these revised or new features. Unless you are using some esoteric feature (e.g. copy text from picture, Onetastic macros, high-end table customization, insert Excel spreadsheets), the improved OneNote app may meet your needs.

Microsoft Forms Improved and Flow Sports New Integrations

If you’ve been using Microsoft Forms, you’ll be delighted to note that it now has a new interface featuring Form thumbnails, as shown below. MS Forms also now supports a total of 68 languages.

enhanced

If that wasn’t enough, Microsoft just made this announcement about Forms integration with MS Flow.

Microsoft Forms is a new part of Office 365 Education that allows teachers and students to quickly and easily create custom quizzes, surveys, questionnaires, registrations, and more. Currently in preview, the connector enables you to act whenever a new form response is submitted.

If you are accustomed to using If This Then That (IFTTT.com), Microsoft Flow offers another tool that interacts specifically with Office 365 tools (e.g. OneDrive). IFTTT is one of my favorite tools to automate the flow of information from one location to another. Introducing these connectors will make it much easier for MS Forms to get work done.

Some examples of the work that can get done include (source):

Using Forms and Flow, you can receive email, push, or text notifications when new survey responses are submitted. You can also notify your team by posting the response to your channel on Teams, Yammer, or Slack.
You can route the response to your favorite database service or create a new record in Google Sheet or Excel.
You can create workflows to automate tasks based on the information received from a user (the responder).

Wait, There’s More!

If you are like many Office 365 educators, you are waiting for the biggest announcement of them all. That is, the availability of MS Classroom components into the more robust MS Teams. Having seen some of the integrations possible with MS Teams, I can only wait with anticipation to see what’s coming next. Stay tuned to the TCEA TechNotes blog for the latest updates.

June 11, 2017 0 comments

CTO/CIO Google Tips and Tricks iOS Tips and Tricks Microsoft Technical Support

TCEA Responds: Grants and Tech Planning

by Miguel Guhlin May 26, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

My name is Raquel. My principal has given two of us the job of trying to find and upgrade our school’s technology. I was hoping I could reach out and maybe find out where a great place where I may start this journey. I am a member of TCEA. So, I know that you all have great resources.

First – is there a school or classroom where we might can visit that is already technologically advanced? We are a primary school, kinder through second grade. I was hoping you all would be able to direct us to a school that we can see technology being really used.

Next – our principal has asked us to find grants for technology. Where do we need to go look for some of these? Do you all have any ideas? Any help that you all might give, we would really appreciate it.

Dear Raquel:

First of all, thank you for approaching TCEA Responds with your questions. Let me start responding with the grant question first.

Question #1 – Grant Writing Resources

The TCEA PD Team has pooled its resources to provide you access to information available online in the Grant Writing Tips section. You will find a host of resources relevant to grants, including collaborative grant writing and grant writing tips. Some of the tips include:

Celebrate people and gather stories. In order to be funded, a grant must make the reader feel a deep emotion.
Develop a powerful, data-rich narrative.
Build a writing team.
Get your budget straight.
Define success in measurable terms.

In addition to more information about these tips, you’ll find links to websites that provide lots of tips about grant writing and more. Also, be sure to check out this great blog post on Looking for Dollars in a Haystack. And keep checking the TCEA blog; when we hear about new grants being released, we always post them there.

Question #2 – Technologically-Advanced School

As to your first question about a model school for technology, I’d recommend reading this blog entry on Basic Tech Skills and how new expectations from Generation Z learners impact that list. Note that this blog entry is intended to focus on key ways we need to change our teaching to match Generation Z students (those students we have in our classrooms now). “New” basic tech skills teachers need to have can be accomplished with a wide variety of technology tools, whether they are (in alpha order) Apple, Google or Microsoft.

With these points in mind, the school you are looking for is probably using a combination of devices in schools. If you’re starting out as a technology director/CTO in a school district and wondering how to spend precious district funding, here’s how it might be done:

Device Choice

For the masses, the device of choice is probably an inexpensive, easily-managed touchscreen Chromebook or Windows 10 cloud laptop for students and mobile cart checkout. For high stakes testing labs, Windows is your best choice. For teachers/staff, one recommendation would be the Microsoft Surface tablet.

Scaffolding this multi-device environment is an embrace of no-cost Google Suites for Education to facilitate email, cloud storage, and productivity tools. (Although you have the freedom to rely on MS Office for staff, you can also give out LibreOffice free and compatible to MS Office) Again, if you are firmly entrenched in the Microsoft environment, you can definitely get Office 365 Pro Plus licensing.

If you have iPads, rather than raise costs by deploying them in a 1:1 configuration for students, disperse them two to three devices per classroom or grade level available for checkout. Apple iPad devices provide some great free apps for video editing, and those videos can be saved to Google Drive.

If you’re a Microsoft district, try this instead. For students, take a look at the Lenovo N23 Win10 laptops. For staff, SurfacePro tablets or SurfaceBooks can be a good choice.

Learning Management System

You will also need to nail down the learning management system (LMS) that will help to handle all of the amazing content your students and staff will be creating. You can use Google Classroom if you have adopted Google Suites for Education or Microsoft Classroom with OneNote Class Notebook. You may want to take a gander at this Classroom Smackdown blog entry.

Single Sign-On

On the back end, single sign-on (SSO) needs to also be set up. I wouldn’t roll out a wide variety of devices unless you first nailed down Active Directory with some type of account management solution that makes single sign-on a reality. (Enboard, ClassLink, or EST Group/Identity Automation are three top solutions.) In fact, this is probably your most important consideration.

About The TCEA Responds series: Have a question? Don’t hesitate to submit your question via this online form and we’ll get our team of educators to research possible solutions for you.

May 26, 2017 0 comments

Announcements/Important Dates Microsoft

Enhancing Parental Access with OneNote Class Notebook

by Miguel Guhlin May 21, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

On April 19, 2017, Microsoft made an announcement that a lot of classroom teachers had been eagerly awaiting. Microsoft announced that teachers can now get read-only links to various aspects of the OneNote Class Notebook Content Library, as well as individual student notebooks. This is a much anticipated feature since it facilitates parent/guardian access to student work. If this were the only new feature add-on for Class Notebook, that would be enough. However, Microsoft also released three additional enhancements to a product teachers and students use every day.

OneNote Class Notebooks have a personal workspace for every student, a content library for handouts, and a collaboration space for lessons and creative activities (source). Get the OneNote Class Notebook add-in for OneNote desktop (2013 or 2016). It is designed to help teachers save time and be even more efficient with their Class Notebooks. The add-in includes page and section distribution, quick review of student work, and assignment and grading integration with many Learning Management Systems LMSs). No integration with Microsoft Teams, which takes the place of Microsoft Classroom, is available yet.

About Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a digital hub that brings conversations, content, and apps together in one place. Educators can create collaborative classrooms, connect in professional learning communities, and communicate with school staff all from a single experience in Office 365 for Education. Find out more

Feature #1: Delete Student Content from OneNote

Teachers sometimes need to remove a student and that student’s content. Using the Manage Notebook web interface, teachers can now remove a student and then select a check box to also delete that student’s content. Here is a screenshot illustrating the feature:
OneNote

Feature #2: Permissions in the Collaboration Space

As mentioned earlier, the OneNote Class Notebook Collaboration Space serves as a common area for students to work together online. The teacher can divide students up into various groups, facilitating project-based learning (PBL) and collaboration. The new Class Notebook enhancement makes it easier for teachers to allocate student permissions for each section. The benefit is that the teacher can decide whether or not students in one group can see or interact with content in another group’s section. This makes it easy for a group of students to co-create projects and then. when appropriate, that content can be viewed by other students.

Feature #3: Extending Learning Management System Support

Microsoft has continued to expand support for third-party learning management systems, student information systems (SISs), and parent portals. This expanded support comes after an announcement earlier in the year . That announcement focused on richer grade scales, including custom points, letter grades, and pass/fail percentages supported by Canvas and Skooler, two learning management systems. Connecting your LMS/SIS has never been easier.

Kudos to Microsoft’s Commitment

I applaud Microsoft for adding these critical enhancements for educators using OneNote Class Notebook in Office 365 districts. These enhancements affirm Microsoft’s commitment to listening and implementing changes teachers that recommend.

One desired enhancement, relevant to Microsoft Classroom (now, Microsoft Teams since Classroom will be sunset July 31, 2017), I have heard from teachers is the inclusion of a “lite” gradebook. Another is easy embedding of straight MP3 audio files into OneNote pages that results in an embedded player. What enhancements would you request from Microsoft to make teaching and learning easier?

May 21, 2017 0 comments

windows laptop showing system update status message

Microsoft Technical Support

Windows 10 Tips and Tricks

by Miguel Guhlin May 18, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Ready to learn a variety of tips, tricks, and ideas to get more from your Windows 10 computer? In this blog entry, we will explore a few exciting ways that you can augment your Windows computer. Let’s get started and answer some important questions that can help your staff and students’ personal Windows devices be safe and protected.

1. Are you running the latest Windows 10 Creators’ Update?

windows The latest version of Windows 10, the Creator’s Update, comes replete with awesome updates. Let’s quickly review some of those:

Add 3D abilities to the Edge browser and PowerPoint.
Place 3D objects within a PowerPoint slide and other apps.
On Microsoft Edge, 3D can work with HoloLens to allow true 3D browsing.
Upgraded version of Paint 3D that allows users to draw a 3D sketch on one device, then view it on another Windows 10 device (e.g. mobile, HoloLens) as a hologram
Paint 3D also integrates with Minecraft (watch this video). Users can move their creations from the game into the app. From there, the creations can be edited and then 3D printed.

If you can’t wait for Microsoft to roll out the Creator’s Update, then use the Microsoft Update Assistant to start the process.

2. Are you protecting your Windows 10 device?

While some believe that anti-malware tools are seldom needed (and they may be right) with Windows Defender on guard, add more armor to your protective suite. Keep your Windows computer up to date with Windows Update. Keep your other programs updated with Patch My PC.

You can also lower your hacking risk in another way. Set up another user account on your computer that does not have administrator rights to install software. When you need to install software, switch to the admin mode user. Otherwise, just use a regular Windows user account.

Here are a few more pieces of armor to protect your Windows 10 installation:

Anti-Malware
- Malware Bytes– Great to use when you think your computer has been infected with malware/spyware and you need your computer “cleaned out.”
- AntiRansomware – Although still in beta, Malware Bytes’ solution to ransomware offers real-time protection against this huge problem, catching it before it can encrypt your files.
- Spyware Blaster– An easy-to-use “inoculation” program against spyware/malware.
- Spybot Search and Destroy – The best part of Spybot is the TeaTimer which protects your computer’s registry against contamination and immunizes your browsers (IE, Firefox) against malware.
AntiVirus
- BitDefender Free – This free-for-home-use antivirus program works great and does not drive you crazy with advertisements. OR
- Sophos Home Antivirus – This is another protection free for home use.

Remember, before you go any further, protect your Windows 10 computer so you can prevent malware from taking over your device as you surf the web or add programs.

3. Are you protecting your confidential data?

Whether it’s school records, health information, or financial data, it all is sensitive data that should be encrypted while at rest or in motion (on a USB flash drive). As a result, take advantage of one of these free solutions. Protect work sensitive data and you will be protected under Texas Safe Harbor law, which means no embarrassing reporting of lost/stolen data for your organization and possible termination for you.

Mac/Windows/Linux computer?
- Get ParanoiaWorks’ Secret Space Encryptor (SSE).
Chromebook or use Google Chrome?
- Get Minilock for individual file encryption.
Android device?
- Get ParanoiaWorks’ Secret Space Encryptor (SSE) for Android from Google Play store.

Try these file and/or folder encryption tools. If you need text encryption solutions, whether for email or SMS/text messages, one of these should work well for you.

iOS/iPhone/iPad device?
- Get Paranoia Text Encryptor (PTE)
Any device?
- Get Text Encryption (save then open in your web browser)

You may also want to get a copy of File Shredder for Windows to securely delete information from your Windows computer.

4. Are you protecting your logins and passwords when using public WiFi at coffee shops and airports?

Unfortunately, it’s not enough to protect your data while it’s on your device. If you take advantage of public WiFi, or even WiFi that’s “trusted,” you are exposing your usernames and passwords to various web-based services. That’s because any data flowing over WiFi can be snatched out of thin air using special tools. (Yes, I have tested it myself in my home neighborhood using easy, free tools available to anyone, and it is frightening.) That’s why I use a virtual private network (VPN) to protect data.

“Virtual Private Networks provide an important element of privacy protection for users,” Electronic Frontiers Association says. . .VPNs [are] one of the most effective tools for protecting privacy when using the Internet, due to the degree of anonymity they provide when accessing online services.

Free VPNs for Your Browser

1. Opera browser has a built-in VPN that works well.
2. DotVPN Chrome add-on works with your Chrome browser.

VPNs that Protect All Internet Traffic from Your Windows Computer

1. Private Internet Access (PIA) (approx <$40 annually or $6.95 per month)
2. Express VPN
3. NordVPN

Mobile VPN for Android and/or iOS

1. All VPNs above have mobile versions.
2. Windscribe VPN works great.

5. Want to save money and not buy expensive Windows software?

When home-schooled twins in their wood cabin in a Tennessee mountain home created a YouTube video series based on my daughter’s ebook, Alone in the Middle, they did it with free software. That is, Paint and MovieMaker. It made me ask in 2010, “Why aren’t public school students using these free tools to make their own YouTube videos and animations?” If you missed it, there are tons of free, open source software you can use.

windows Here is a short list:

Ninite.com: Install and update all your programs at once. Scroll down to see all the available apps. Get my favorite Ninite picks (this will actually get you a copy of my favorites).
Open Source Windows
Compression Software (e.g. zip): 7-zip or PeaZIP
File Copying/Moving or Management: TeraCopy and FreeCommander
Text Editors: Notepad++, ConText
Free Adobe Alternatives
- Scribus: Create great-looking, print-ready posters, newsletters, and magazines.
- GIMP: Refine your photos or create your own artwork from scratch, with support for Photoshop plugins.
- LightZone: A digital darkroom for converting, editing, and managing photos in batches or individually.
- Inkscape: A versatile, open source vector editor that’s ideal for hobbyist illustrators and web designers.
- Unsplash: Professional-quality stock photos in the public domain – totally free to download and use.

Although this blog entry has gotten long, there’s more to share. Check out this list of Microsoft apps for your surface book/tablet as well as other great Win10 programs.

Update: This blog entry was updated with fresh links for the VPN on 4/23/2018.

May 18, 2017 0 comments

Android iOS Tips and Tricks Microsoft

Moviemaker Is Dead; Long Live Story Remix

by Miguel Guhlin May 12, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

Windows 10 embraces its movie-making roots, bringing storytelling to life with a new app Windows Story Remix that takes the place of the old favorite Moviemaker. Although not due out until later this year, Windows Story Remix boasts some features that should get educators excited. Let’s do a quick review of three exciting features.

Feature #1: Cloud-Based Creativity

The new program has students start online using the mobile device of their choice (Android, iOS, and Windows) and then save their work to the cloud. Images and video from all of those devices gets mixed into their creation. That means that if a student makes a story on an iPad, they will be able to finish it on their Windows 10 device later on.

Feature #2: 3D Virtual Designs and Digital Ink

With Paint 3D, a re-designed Paint program, students can create designs and then import those into Windows Story Remix. They can take objects and pin them to scenes. Those pinned objects can also follow throughout a scene. Students can also import content from Remix 3D, an online warehouse of user-generated 3D designs, and they can take advantage of digital ink to write text directly on their creations, dropping in 3D graphics and adding special effects.

remix

Feature #3: Add a Soundtrack

Adding soundtracks to a video is easy with Windows Story Remix, allowing students to pull royalty-free content from a variety of places:

remix

Watch the Video

To get a grasp of the possibilities of this new software, check out this video. Then start planning how you’ll have your students don their filmmaking hats and tell their own stories!

May 12, 2017 0 comments

Microsoft

It’s Microsoft Morphing Time

by Miguel Guhlin May 4, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

On May 2, 2017, Microsoft made several exciting announcements that were just plain incredible. Now that the dust is settling, interesting assertions about Microsoft Classroom are being made based on evidence not widely published or shared. What a perfect opportunity to shine some sunlight and see what we can see!

What’s the Change?

Amidst other incredible changes announced, Microsoft Classrooms (still in Preview mode for many districts) will now be merged into Microsoft Teams. Let’s read what Microsoft has to say on this:

The new classroom experiences in Teams will help teachers manage their daily workflow more easily than ever before. Using Teams, they can quickly and efficiently create classes with automatically populated student rosters from their school information system; share files and teaching materials; make announcements; divide the class into project groups and monitor progress; create, distribute and grade quizzes; deliver personalized learning with OneNote Class Notebooks; and distribute, collect and grade assignments.

And because Teams is a digital hub, students can work together anytime, anywhere, and on any device; teachers can connect with their peers and continue their own development in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs); and school administrators can communicate and collaborate with their entire staff…Teams gets even better with partners, and today, we’re announcing four new integrations from education tech leaders busuu, Canvas, Flipgrid and Kahoot!

Now that’s pretty exciting! But wait, let’s take a moment to think it through. This has implications for school districts that are currently using Microsoft Classroom or had planned on implementing it next year. Let’s review those implications:

On July 31, 2017, support for Microsoft Classroom Preview will be discontinued.
Microsoft Classroom Preview will continue with current functionality until July 31, 2017.
Teachers will not be able to create notebooks or assignments after July 31, 2017.
Current classes and associated content will continue to be available as Office 365 Groups.

That’s pretty incredible. Teachers who have created information-rich OneNote Class Notebooks will need to take action. Let’s review some ideas for that.

What Action Should Be Taken?

Classroom teachers should probably create a regular OneNote Notebook, then use OneNote 2016 to copy their instructional content from the Class Notebook(s) into the regular OneNote Notebook. This is solid practice because it gives you a OneNote you can copy content into Class Notebook. The same goes for any campus/district administrators using Class Notebook as their school policy handbook repository. On the back end, School Data Sync remains, so we can hope that few changes are needed.

What Should We Hope For?

With this change, we can hope for better integration between Office 365 and Teams, as well as new features. As I have mentioned before, I hope that MS Classroom/Teams will provide some features that TCEA members have long requested, such as an assignments list with grades in traditional gradebook view and improved integration with OneNote Class Notebook. It would also be great to see better OneDrive integration, Microsoft Forms quiz functionality, and grades integration. Educators have long wanted quiz grading results from Forms dropped into MS Teams/Classroom gradebook. Finally, let’s hope that this roll-out happens quickly and K-12 education users are not stuck in preview mode for another year.

Learn more about Microsoft Teams for Education online.

May 4, 2017 0 comments

Coding/Computer Science Educational Trends Microsoft

Creating Worlds of Tomorrow: Microsoft Update

by Miguel Guhlin May 2, 2017

written by Miguel Guhlin

“To predict the future, invent it,” said Alan Kay. The quote perfectly describes Microsoft’s successful May 2, 2017 event, Learn What’s Next , and some of the innovative teaching and learning possibilities Microsoft has created. Let’s take a moment to quickly review what those updates are and how they approach creating worlds of tomorrow. You can also watch the event on demand and follow the buzz via the Twitter hashtag, #MicrosoftEDU.

Innovation #1 – $189 New Windows 10 Education PCs and Software

Photo Credit: @Surface

Creating worlds of tomorrow involves new technologies, including 3D ways of looking at the real and virtual world. Microsoft announced a new version of Windows 10 known as Windows 10 S, where the S represents security, simplicity, and superior performance. Paired with an offer available for all schools, Windows 10 S is free for installation on current Windows Pro PCs. If you need apps that are not in the Windows Store, you can still get them if you have Windows Pro on your device. Microsoft Intune for Education, an easy way to manage Windows PCs, is also now available and will make it easier for district IT staff to manage the devices. Intune will sell for $30/license. Curious about the new Windows Surface laptop? Check out the specifications for the $189 Surface laptop.

But wait, there’s more! The free Microsoft Office 365 for Education now integrates Teams, Microsoft’s newest chat-based workspace, for use in Microsoft Classrooms via an incredible update. This will allow for greater and easier collaboration among students and staff.

Innovation #2 – Minecraft (MCEE) Adds a Coding Agent

Microsoft update Wish you had a digital assistant to help you build a virtual world? Now you do. Minecraft: Education Edition (also known as MCEE and in use in 100 countries) now has a mod known as Code Builder, which makes building and creating in the online virtual world as easy as drag and drop. In the on-screen demo, students use block coding strategies with Tynker (Scratch is also available) to direct the Agent, which appears on the screen as a robot. The robot can be programmed to build and create structures in virtual space. This is absolutely mind-blowing! Over 50 million instances of Minecraft Hour of Code have already highlighted how budding coders are learning to create and manipulate their virtual environment in real time. Now you’ll be able to combine Tynker and/or Javascript (for more advanced coders) with MCEE without having to leave the virtual world. Minecrafters simply type /code to connect to Tynker or Javascript. And all new Windows 10 education PCs now come with a free one-year subscription to MCEE. Both of these updates offer fantastic opportunities for schools, taking MCEE into the realm of coding to solve real-world problems.

Innovation #3 – Free STEM Projects and Lessons

Control a robotic finger made from a straw, stream data into MS Excel, and design a moving dragon. These are only three examples of newly available pop-up STEM experiences that will appear in May, along with summer programs, at select Microsoft stores. Add these to the existing library of content available via Creative Coding through Games and Apps (CCGA) and K-12 schools have access to an array of learning possibilities.

Innovation #4 – Windows Mixed Reality Brings 3D into Classrooms

Image Source: 3D4medical.com

“Learning is an endless pursuit,” says Panos Panay (@panos_panay), Microsoft Surface engineer, as he lovingly describes engineers seeking to design new Surfacebooks and tablets. These words are echoed in every aspect of Mixed Reality, a new technology that models field trips to space and places students into a 3D reality. This is the power of mixed reality that merges physical and virtual worlds. See it in action via this video. Mixed Reality works with any Windows 10 computer equipped with a built-in or external webcam. Even better, it is available at no cost.

Another incredible addition is 3D4Medical, which transforms medical learning using the Microsoft Surface laptop (available June 15 for $999; pre-order today). What’s more, Microsoft, 3D4Medical, and Pearson have combined to make a variety of other innovative courses available.

Innovation #5 – New Surface Laptop with 14.5-Hour Battery Life

One of the stunning announcements of the morning included demonstrations of the new Surface Laptop, available in multiple colors and boasting a 14.5-hour battery life (outperforming Apple’s Mac at 10 hours of life). This incredible device appears light, sleek, and powerful. It’s great for use anywhere and by anyone. It is available for purchase beginning today at a price point just shy of $1,000.

Photo Credit: The Next Web

Implications for K-16

Wondering how these revelations impact K-16 education? While new technology is always exciting, Microsoft Intune brings new mobile device management tools to Windows 10 S devices, making them a solid option for cost-conscious education leaders. The free, albeit for one year, Minecraft:Education Edition with Code Builder, the no-cost Mixed Reality, and pop-up experience STEM lessons and curriculum make today’s update a visionary and breathtaking view of what’s possible tomorrow.

May 2, 2017 0 comments

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