Home Tags Posts tagged with "Windows"
Tag:

Windows

Microsoft Tips and TricksWindows

Five Lifesaving Portable Apps to Try

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If you’re looking for a roundup of portable tools to load on your USB pen drive, then you’ll find this list handy. Save these five apps on your USB flash drive, then run them when you need them. They can be a lifesaver when you’re working on a school computer you don’t have admin rights on.

Note: MakeUseOf.com inspired this blog entry with their list of portable apps. The ones you will find in this blog entry are my favorite picks from their list. You can find a longer list of Portable Apps available online.

Ready to start exploring? Let’s get started.

Tool #1: Snipaste

You may be familiar with a few other great screenshot tools, like Lightshot, that works in the browser. Lightshot also works as an installable program on your computer. It excels because it works everywhere. Unfortunately, its image annotation isn’t as great as it could be.

portable apps
Snipaste

Here’s what Snipaste allows you to do that other tools struggle with or don’t do at all:

  • Run from USB flash drive on your Windows computer
  • Adjust the font size and color of any text you type on an image while you are annotating it
  • Use all sorts of lines and add arrowheads to match
  • Draw solid or hollow shapes (e.g. boxes, circles)
  • Blur text with a Mosaic blur (adjustable) feature

These features make it a powerful improvement over tools like Lightshot. That aside, you may want to use Lightshot if you need a full-featured screenshot tool in the browser.

Tool #2: STDU Viewer

Need a quick way to view an unfamiliar document? You may not have MS Office or ebook viewer handy. Or you may not want to upload it to Google Docs. Here are the formats it supports:

  • Documents:  TIFF, PDF, DjVu, XPS, JBIG2, WWF
  • EBooks: FB2, TXT, Comic Book Archive (CBR or CBZ), TCR, PalmDoc(PDB), MOBI, AZW, EPub, DCX
  • Images: BMP, PCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, PSD

Besides being able to view those file formats, you can export text from formats like the ones below:

  • TXT, TCR, PDB, FB2,
  • PDF, XPS,
  • MOBI, AZW, EPub or Djvu

Even better, STDU Viewer is freeware for private, non-commercial, or educational use. Isn’t that amazing? This is a must-have portable app to have in your toolkit.

Tool #3: PeaZip Portable

Need to compress files or folders? Or you may need to protect data? You can compress and encrypt confidential data before sending it via email. This is a must-have for your toolkit.

portable apps

You may prefer MakeUseOf’s recommendation of 7-zip Portable for file compression utility. I prefer PeaZip Portable instead. This compression tool also offers AES-256 encryption of files and folders. This makes it a nice feature to have to safeguard data on the go.

From their website, you can see this description:

PeaZip is free file archiver utility. It bases itself on Open Source technologies of 7-Zip, p7zip, FreeArc, PAQ, and PEA projects.

It is cross-platform, full-featured and a user-friendly alternative to other compression tools. You may be familiar with WinRAR and WinZip. It can open and extract 180+ archive formats: 001, 7Z, ACE(*), ARC, ARJ, BZ2, CAB, DMG, GZ, ISO, LHA, PAQ, PEA, RAR, TAR, UDF, WIM, XZ, ZIP ZIPX.

Not bad, huh?

portable appsDid You Know?

Sure, you can get a boring USB flash drive or pendrive. But you can also get one in the shape of your favorite, well, whatever. I bet my colleague, Peggy Reimers, would love this robot USB flash drive (shown right in silver but available in pink, too for my other colleague, Diana Benner). You can find my list of cool flash drives online.

Tool #4: Photo Demon

Image editing software is available in plenty. Still, you may need an image editing tool that isn’t web-based (e.g. PhotoPea), or complicated as Photoshop. This is where PhotoDemon, which is free, and open source, fits.

portable apps

Although my simple editing tool go-to has been Irfanview, Photo Demon offers a lot. In fact, it has some features Irfanview may obscure in its feature set. Take some time to check out Photo Demon.

Tool #5: Don’t Sleep

And, finally, finishing up this list of five essential portable apps? Don’t Sleep. Ever been in the middle of a presentation, making an emphatic point to your students, then without warning, your computer goes to sleep to protect the screen?

portable apps

Most people can tweak their computer’s power settings. But, if you are working on a managed machine, those options are not available. That’s where Don’t Sleep comes into play. Use it to stop your computer from falling asleep or throwing up a screensaver in the middle of your presentation.

Image Attribution

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Announcements/Important DatesMicrosoftProfessional LearningWindows

Microsoft’s TCEA Summer Camp

by Victoria Thompson
written by Victoria Thompson
Microsoft Education

Congratulations on completing the school year! As you slide into summer, take time to rest, relax, and consider participating in professional development that can help you prepare for the next school year. There are several opportunities available, but if you’re interested in learning more about Microsoft tools and resources over the summer, we’ve got you covered! In partnership with the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA), Microsoft Education is holding a virtual summer camp. All sessions will be held June 21-23 from 1 p.m. CT to 4:30 p.m. CT.

During this virtual summer camp, attendees will learn about how Microsoft tools can help elevate learning and leadership in the classroom, school, and beyond. Crafted with educators in mind, a unique element of this conference is that sessions will be run by our awesome Microsoft Innovative Education Experts (MIEExperts), Showcase School leaders, Microsoft Learning Consultants, and more! You’ll learn from people in education and in industry. Sessions include how to join the Microsoft Innovative Education Expert community, using Immersive Reader in STEM content and classes, using Microsoft Teams for blended learning, and how to use Reading Progress to personalize student literacy—and this just scratches the surface. Platforms covered include Minecraft: Education Edition, OneDrive, OneNote, Office 365, MakeCode, Sway, and more. No worries if you happen to miss a session – you’ll have access to the TCEA Microsoft Virtual Summer Camp series through July 27. 

We look forward to showing you how Microsoft tools can help you grow professionally! As the excitement builds, be sure to check out the event page and TCEA’s social media, and register! We can’t wait to see you there! For more information about the Microsoft Innovative Education Expert and Showcase School programs, you can find more information on our Microsoft Educator Programs website.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Blended LearningBYODMicrosoftMicrosoft Tips and TricksWindows

Creating Equitable Opportunities to Develop Strong Literacy Skills

by Microsoft Education Team
written by Microsoft Education Team
microsoft reading tools

Microsoft recently announced the launch of new digital reading tools that will help learners reach their full potential. We are excited to share an expanded literacy portfolio designed to address a diverse set of student needs, help close achievement gaps, and empower teachers as they support their students in achieving their goals.

The new Reading Coach experience in Microsoft Teams is a reading practice tool for students that automatically generates individualized exercises based on each student’s specific needs. It works to increase reading fluency—the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and meaningful expression. It also provides guidance on correct pronunciation and syllabification, shares visuals to help vocabulary recall, and positively reinforces students to help build their confidence as readers. Reading Coach, available this summer, comes built into Immersive Reader, our free reading tool that supports equitable education. 

microsoft new digital reading tools

Microsoft also announced new updates to Reading Progress, the tool that helps educators create individualized reading fluency assignments with powerful insights easily used to inform instruction. Reading progress currently measures and identifies correctly read words per minute, accuracy rates, and challenging words, and the update will now also automatically detect prosody—the patterns of expression and intonation in a language. The updates also empower learners to work at their own pace in an encouraging environment while helping teachers provide just-in-time support. We’ll also be enabling teachers to see which phonics rules students are struggling with, providing more insights to help inform instruction. Guided by this data, educators will have the information they need to help ensure students’ emotional, social, and academic needs are being met.

With these updates, Microsoft is reinforcing its commitment to inclusive learning by providing real literacy solutions for students, teachers, and school administrators. Read more on the Microsoft Education Blog about how Microsoft is helping to accelerate reading fluency and creating accessible, individualized, and data-driven learning experiences.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
ChromebooksGoogle Tips and TricksiOS Tips and Tricks

13 Shortcuts You May Not Know

by Sara Qualls
written by Sara Qualls

Check out some of the best tech tips you may have never known about. These shortcuts just might change your daily life.

1. Browsing Shortcuts

Don’t waste any more time going for your mouse to open a new tab. Use CTRL + T to open a new tab in your browser. Accidentally close a tab? Just hit CTRL + SHIFT + T. Do you like to operate your online life with more than five tabs open–like I do? No problem! There is a shortcut for that, too. Type CTRL + (any tab number 1-9) to jump to that tab in your window. If you are a Mac user, just swap CMMD for the CTRL button, and things work just the same.

2. Navigation Shortcuts

Leave the mouse at home with these navigation tips! If you’re surfing the world wide web and want to go back a page, just key in ALT + LEFT. To go forward one page, hit ALT + RIGHT. Actually make it all the way to the bottom of a page? Head back to the top quickly by typing CTRL + ALT + UP. And if you want a fast way to get to the bottom of a page, try CTRL + ALT + DOWN.

3. Lose the .com at the End of URLs

You’ll never have to type “.com” again with this trick. Quickly complete a URL after typing the site address using CTRL + ENTER. It will add the domain for you!

4. Gmail Shortcuts

Take your Gmail game to a whole new level. Easily create a numbered list by utilizing CTRL + SHIFT + 7. If you need a bulleted list, simply try CTRL + SHIFT + 8. Plus, never look for that link icon again to add a link to text. Just apply CTRL + K after highlighting the text you want to be linked to automatically link it.

5. Rearrange Your Google Waffle

For those that don’t know what the Google Waffle (otherwise known as the App Launcher) is, it’s that grid of nine small boxes in the upper right corner of your browser when using Google Suite. Did you know you can reorganize it based on your needs? Just click and hold an icon to drag it wherever you want it to go.

6. Open Routine Tabs With Ease

Do you find yourself starting your day navigating to the same sites over and over? Here’s a shortcut that will save you time every single day. Open all of the sites you use daily. Then employ SHIFT + CTRL + D to save all of your open windows to a new folder. The next day, just right-click on the folder, choose to open all the tabs, and your routine sites will deploy.

7. Shake It Up

Go back in time with this useful iPhone or iPad shortcut. Ever found yourself getting a little swipe-left happy and accidentally deleted an important email? Or have you ever deleted a block of text that you actually needed? Just shake your device to “undo.” A prompt will appear to save the day, and your action with magically be undone.

8. Close Out Your Tab

Drop that mouse! If you’re a Chrome user, just use CTRL + W to close out the current tab you are browsing. Mac users can just interchange this shortcut with CMMD + W.

9. Land on the Address Bar

You may never have to use your mouse again with this tech tip. You can jump up to the address bar by applying CTRL + L. If this is the only tip you take away, you will have cut your browsing time in half or given yourself even more time to browse!

10. Switch Between Apps

This shortcut is a favorite that I use daily multiple times. If you want to go back to the last app you were using, take advantage of ALT + TAB. Just keep pressing the TAB key while holding the ALT key to cycle through all the apps you have open.

11. Split Your Screen

Are you a Chromebook user? Need an extra monitor? Try splitting your screen. You’ll want to type ALT + [ to snap it to the left or ALT + ] to snap it to the right. Then drag your other tab to the empty side, and you’ll have simultaneous viewing on just one screen.

12. Create a Timer

We all know there are several online timers to choose from. However, if you ever need one in a pinch, you can use Chrome to make it happen. Open a tab in Chrome, and in the search box, type “timer 60 seconds“. A timer will start when you press enter. Note: You can set it for any length of time.

13. Reopen Your Closed Tab

Did you get a little too click-happy and close that website too soon? Have no fear. You can get it back by simply typing CTRL + SHIFT + T. If you’re on Mac, type CMMD + SHIFT + T. You can also open a new tab by deploying CTRL + T or CMMD + T.

Hopefully, you stumbled upon at least one shortcut you weren’t aware of. If I didn’t cover your favorite one, please leave it in the comments, and I’ll add it to my list.

Read 10 More Shortcuts You May Not Know

14 comments
5 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Windows 11 SE
MicrosoftMicrosoft Tips and TricksWindows

New Windows 11 Solutions Built for Education

by Microsoft Education Team
written by Microsoft Education Team

Educating minds dramatically changed mid-March 2020 and still challenges our educators today. From grade school to grad school, educators have a unique opportunity to reimagine how they can leverage technology in new and innovative ways. Providing simple and secure technology solutions that work on affordable devices has been top of mind for educators and Microsoft. As a partner in education, we are proud to introduce Windows 11 SE and the Surface Laptop SE.

Microsoft has long supported students and educators with an array of solutions and recently made a big announcement sharing a new edition of Windows 11. This new edition was built to support K-8 classrooms to address our current hybrid learning worlds. Windows 11 SE introduces performance enhancements that optimize low-cost device resources and offers better performance, more choices, and flexibility for students and educators than ever before. More information about Windows 11 SE can be found here.

Microsoft also announced a new ecosystem of Windows 11 SE devices, including the new Surface Laptop SE, our most affordable Surface PC ever. This device has been specifically designed for K-8 students. It joins the line-up of Surface classroom devices like Surface Go 3 and Surface Laptop Go at only $249.99. Additional devices are coming from now into 2022 to ensure our students and educators have even more choices and the right tools. Visit to learn more about Windows 11 SE and Surface Laptop SE.

0 comment
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
3D design of a tennis shoe on a computer screen
Coding/Computer Science

3D Tools, Libraries, and Resources

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If your campus or classroom is just beginning to dabble in 3D design, you may think you are limited in the resources available to you. But there are tons of amazing tools and even libraries available for you and your students. Imagine an online library where anyone can browse, share, and remix a 3D object. For example, you might design a tour in Google Tour Builder. Now you can put that into Google’s Poly, an online library, and you have something you can share. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few tools for creating 3D assets (i.e. models, scenes, tours) and examples.

Why Learn to Create 3D Assets?

When students work in virtual words, they are learning to manipulate 3D objects and navigate virtual 3D environments. Minecraft: Education Edition and Sketch Up Pro are two fantastic tools for this. TinkerCAD enables students of all ages to design in 3D. Put those designs in a 3D printer and you have a physical artifact. Don’t forget that 3D printing is about more than small curios. 3D printing houses, bridges, clothes, and even glass objects and more is a reality now.

As the 3D printing industry grows, so do opportunities. It is critical for students to “become fluent with programs and machines for 3D printing.” The Try Engineering Institute points out several important job skills in this area, such as the following:

  • 3D Design: Take a product idea, then make it into something that can come to life. Consider the importance of rapid prototyping for design thinking and engineering design processes.
  • 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Modeling: This involves converting product designs into digital blueprints. These digital blueprints are then used in 3D printers.
  • Biological and Scientific Modeling: Engineers, designers, and modelers design and create 3D-printed organs and more.

Poly Toolkit offers a wealth of resources needed to build augmented reality (AR) applications. This short, 35-minute video will provide some background on the toolkit:

Making the ISTE Student Standards Connections

Wondering how learning 3D design is important from an ISTE Standards perspective? Consider the following relevant standard and indicators:

1. Empowered Learner

1.d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

4. Innovative Designer

4.a. Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

4.b. Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

4.c. Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

4.d. Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.

5. Computational Thinker

5.a. Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.

5.b. Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

6. Creative Communicator

6.a. Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.

6.b. Students create original works or responsibly re-purpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

Now that you can see the connections, let’s take a look at the evolving tool set and some examples.

What Tools Are Available to Create 3D Assets?

Although I’ve mentioned a few tools for creating 3D assets, others exist. There are some you may be unfamiliar with. Please find a short list below:

  • Poly Toolkit : This cross-platform tool works on Android, iOS, Web, as well as Unity and Unreal. If you’re using Blender, Cinema4D, Maya, or 3dsMax, you can get a plug-in for the Toolkit. Using the web version, you may need some background on Javascript or Python. Don’t know coding? That’s OK. There are simpler tools.
  • Tilt Brush: Do you have access to Google VR on VIVE, Oculus, or Windows Mixed Reality? Then you may want to explore the Tilt Brush Tutorials.
    3d assets
  • Blocks: This tools enables you to create 3D models as well (see image below). The goal is to enable developers to create 3D objects in 3D environment. Then you can publish those.
    3d assets

To be honest, most of the activities and skills needed for this require special equipment. But there is one tool you may already be familiar with. The tool? Google Tour Builder.

Tour Builder

Tour Builder enables students to create a virtual tour of their research data. They can add photos, text, and video as needed. Students use a map-based approach to organize research as location and impact are the two organizing principles. Check out this Getting Started with Google Tour-Builder guide for more information.

Tour Creator

Did you know that you can use Tour Creator to design virtual-reality tours and then publish them on Poly? This means you, as a teacher, can add tours you create to Expeditions. This allows you to guide your students in your class on an Expedition because tours that you add to Expeditions on Poly are auto-added to your Expeditions app.

Publishing Google Tours into the Poly Library

Once you create a Google Tour, you can share it and make it public. That’s important because it will make it available in Poly for students to access. Jen Cauthers suggests these steps:

  1. Log into your account (the same one you would use on your phone).
  2. Go to Poly and click the share button for that tour.
  3. Choose “Expeditions” for the way you want to share the tour.
  4. You should now see the tour you want to share under your tour list in the Expeditions app.

Make the tour public in Poly, then you can share the link with anyone. This means they need not sign in as a Poly Tour designer  to view it. One neat feature is the ability to save items in the Poly library as animated GIFs. Give it a try!

Some Examples

Ready to see some examples? Here are a few to get you started:

  • Lewis and Clark Expedition – In this tour, you see six different landmarks that Lewis and Clark stopped at.
  • Gettysburg Battlefield – Includes seven scenes depicting a tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.
  • Isabel’s Journey – A story of Isabel, who lived in Cuba under Fidel Castro, and left. Some interesting text items illustrate the tour. Great example of how to capture student’s family history. Of course, the source is Alan Gratz’ book, Refugee.

See many more examples are available online in the Poly library. Organized in collections, you’ll find a variety under many headers, including Animal & Pets, Architecture, Art, Culture & Humanity, Food & Drink, Current Events, and more.

1 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Technology Applications

Seven Keyboarding Tutorials to Share

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Are you a touch typist or do you thumb and one-finger type your way through life? For a year, I learned how to be a two-fingered typist. Then, I took keyboarding in high school and I no longer agonized over every key’s location. When people comment on how I get work done so quickly, a part of me says “Thank you!” to the matron who drilled us in touch typing. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few keyboarding tutorial programs.

typing tutor

Source: What Makes a Faster Typist? (April, 2018)

Keyboarding Research

Is teaching keyboarding necessary? My own children thumbed their way through many an essay or poem. On Twitter a few days ago, I read a teenager’s poem where he describes the joy of writing on a small screen. Of course, he’s not handwriting on a small screen using Google Handwriting Input app. Using the built-in keyboard to his iPhone, he’s two-thumb typing. Let’s hope he doesn’t get smartphone thumb, a painful inflammation of the thumb tendons.

Poet: J.E. Guhlin (@jguhlin)

Dr. Leigh Zeitz shares a recent roundup of research relevant to keyboarding. A slight paraphrase of his text appears below:

Keyboarding is a life long skill. It has evolved from a transcription typing skill to generative typing. Transcription typing involves typing hand-written content. Generative typing involves composing original thought at the keyboard (Cooper, 1983).

Student writing develops faster through generative typing. It facilitates the review and revision learning process. Efficient keyboarding skills allow students to emphasize concept development instead of key location.

Source: Zeitz, L. (2008). A New Look @ Research-Based Keyboarding Instruction. Chicago, Illinois: Sunburst.

Learning to type with a full-sized keyboard may be passe. Brain chips and other interfaces offer hope. One day, we may shed the keyboard as an input device. Until then, learning to use a keyboard may remain our best option.

Type Faster on Your Mobile Phone

Have you tried one of the various keyboard apps that make typing on a small screen easier? To type faster on a small screen, consider these tips:

  • Use emojis
  • Enable always-on number row
  • Turn on text correction and next word prediction
  • Empower contact name expansion

Find more tips available for Android and/or iOS. Of all the typing tutors reviewed, only Z-Type offers a browser and smartphone-friendly app (more on that below). For now, let’s take a look at some full-sized keyboarding tutors.

Typing Tutorials

Ready to explore a few typing tutorials? Here are a few you may want to introduce to your children and/or students. They range from boring to engaging games.

Tutorial #1: Doorway Text Type

“Doorway Text Type is a touch typing tutor (TTT),” says their website. It “takes learners from the home keys to mastery of the whole keyboard and typing sentences.” It is accessible to visual impaired learners. You can get a CD for offline access.

Tutorial #2: Dance Mat Typing

This site offers four levels to play. Each level is divided into three stages.  The end of each level allows you to test your typing speed. It appears intended for a younger audience.

Sense-Lang’s Meteor Game

Tutorial #3: Sense-Lang

This keyboarder’s dream offers lessons as well as a plethora of games. One of my favorites includes Meteor Game.  You will stumble on that past level sixteen of the keyboarding lessons.

Tutorial #4: Peter’s Online Typing Course

Peter’s Online Typing Course is just that, a rich assortment of lessons. It has several distinct web pages displayed in a table of contents. Each leads you to a lesson that you read and then practice on.

typing tutor

Z-Type

Tutorial #5: Z-Type

My favorite typing tutor, Z-Type turns you into a starfighter pilot. You zap letters and words as they fall towards you (compare to the author’s XType 2012). It reminds me of my old Apple //e typing game. If this is too tame for you, older learners may appreciate the Typing Game of the Dead. This is in Adobe Flash and has you slay the zombie horde one-at-a-time with a quick-typed word. The use of weapons, while not approved for school, is tame compared to Fortnite, and other FPS games.

Z-Type is available via Google Play store and iOS App store, making it ideal for thumb-typing practice.

typing tutor

Typing Lessons’ TypeLift

Tutorial #6: TypeLift

This browser-based solution offers “a free touch typing courseware.” Get started via their website. Sporting a clean keyboard look and the use of lorem ipsum text, you will soon find yourself “turning off” your reading for comprehension, letting your eyes and hands take over as they type information on the screen. All the best typing tutors will move you into the zone at the higher levels.

Tutorial #7: TypingClub

TypingClub is a free web-based site. They have made a promise to always remain free for both individuals and schools. You can keep practicing your typing skills until you get five stars.

Thanks for joining me on this quick exploration of seven keyboarding tutors you can share with K-12 students or adult learners. Each has something to offer to a particular audience, whether its striving for perfection or avoiding certain death. What’s your preference? While you are pondering that, you may want to check out Timothy Cayer’s list of best keyboarding sites.

6 comments
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
download youtube videos for free red background
ChromebooksGood TeachingGoogle Tips and Tricks

TCEA Responds: Download YouTube Videos

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Dear TCEA Responds:

Do you know of a simple and free way to download YouTube videos for Google Workspace for Education and/or show them without advertisements? Students are blocked from YouTube. The solution I was using is no longer available.

Thanks, Vicki

Dear Vicki:

Want to save videos from YouTube and bypass district policies that block YouTube for staff and students? This blog entry will provide you with three, no, six approaches to view YouTube videos ad free. You will also see proven tips for saving videos from YouTube.

Why Block YouTube?

Some school districts continue to block YouTube. They rely on technology to control and manage students. However, it’s important to engage students, parents, and staff in reciprocal dialogue about issues like poor content. This dialogue needs to go along the lines of, “Hey, we know there’s bad stuff on YouTube. There’s good stuff, too. Let’s build a culture of trust and openness that leads all involved to make better decisions.” If we don’t teach our students, who will?

Manage Your YouTube Settings

Why not show the following information to your Google Workspace for Education administrator with a kind request to unblock YouTube videos?

As a Google Workspace administrator, you can help restrict which YouTube videos are viewable by signed-in users in your organization and on your network using YouTube’s Restricted Mode settings. The settings help restrict which videos are available to your users. Learn more

What’s that? You don’t think that’s going to work? Before we go straight to how you can get the videos you want, let’s explore some other options.

NOTE: These quick ways to view YouTube videos will NOT work in an environment where YouTube is blocked. All these “view YouTube” solutions do is shield the viewer from extraneous content (e.g. advertising). They do not make a copy of a YouTube video and then stream it from their own servers.

Quick Ways to View YouTube Videos, No Advertising

One of the objections people raise about YouTube involves the advertising. Often, inappropriate advertising is put next to wholesome, educational videos. The solutions below assist you in blocking that advertising. The idea is you can watch YouTube videos through a protected window that blocks out unwanted content. In this case, unwanted content is the advertising.

Here are a few solutions that work, including my favorite, Wakelet.com. Did you know that if you put a YouTube video link inside of a Wakelet, all the advertising is removed? Wow, that’s amazing! The best part? Once you put videos in a Wakelet collection, you can share that with your students and they don’t have to visit YouTube at all.

The Wakelet Collection below, Videos in the Classroom, features some of the best solutions along with my recommendation.

YouTube Adblockers

View this Wakelet Collection to see YouTube Adblocking Solutions with Example

Getting (a.k.a. “Downloading”) YouTube Videos

Your only recourse with blocked YouTube videos involves violating YouTube’s policy. TechAdvisor has a whole article dedicated to the topic. They count the ways you are violating YouTube’s policy. Need a summary? You’re not supposed to download or save videos from YouTube. Period.

Ok, now that the point is clear, here are some ways to temporarily save videos off of YouTube so that you can share the useful content with your students. With the incredible amount of storage space available to Drive for Google Workspace for Education users, you can copy saved videos in MP4 or WEBM format. Here’s a short tutorial. Or, in lieu of cloud storage, save it to a USB flash drive and then move the video file to your school computer.

Save Videos Tip #1 – ATube.me

For Windows users, you can use aTube Catcher. The program is free and makes it easy to save YouTube video playlists (like fifty videos or more in a playlist). For example, if you wanted to grab all the top Lamb Chop’s Play Along songs, you would paste the link to the playlist into ATube Catcher. Below is what that process looks like.

Never heard of Lamb Chop’s Play Along television show? Be sure to listen to this unforgettable song.

Save Videos Tip #2 – Torch Browser

This approach is elaborated at length in the Simple Video Tricks blog entry. You can get the Chromium browser (works just like Chrome) Torch. This free browser has built-in Media Grabber (it’s a button on the tool bar). You just click that button. In a moment, the YouTube video you are looking at saves the video in MP4 format to your computer. MP4 video format is a standard type of video file, so you should be able to play the video with built-in video players on Windows, Mac, Chrome, or GNU/Linux computers.

Save Videos Tip #3 – Firefox Video DownloadHelper

Another go-to is Firefox’s add-on Video DownloadHelper. This add-on requires using the Firefox browser. You can save YouTube videos in various formats. You can also save videos from “DailyMotion, Facebook, Periscope, Vimeo, Twitch, Liveleak, Vine, UStream, Fox, Bloomberg, RAI, France 2-3, Break, Metacafe,” among many others. Since it works as a Firefox add-on, you can use this on Windows and Mac computers alike.

TCEA Responds: Get YouTube Videos

Vicki, as Uncle Ben Parker allegedly (Voltaire said it first) said to Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Now that you know how to get videos from YouTube and save them as MP4 video or MP3 video format, what will you do?

Charity Evans suggests these two approaches:

  • Screencast the video wanted. Add teacher commentary (fair use for educational purpose evades copyright issue). Host on Google Drive.
  • Screencast yourself instead of downloading someone else’s content. “Make your own personalized videos for your kiddos and share them with colleagues via Drive.”
  • Use EdPuzzle to annotate the video, add questions, and more.

Charity’s suggestions have merit. I like Screencastify as a screencasting tool. You can find a few more screencasting tools in this blog entry, Flipped Learning Tools. You may find these two blog entries of interest as well:

Of course, if you do not want to work with videos, simply create a playlist to share with students, give Wakelet collections a spin.

0 comment
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
video tricks
Good TeachingMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Simple Video Tricks

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

A week doesn’t go by that a friend doesn’t ask me, “Can you help me with video editing?” Lacking formidable video skills myself, this blog will show you how folks continue to believe I’m a video editing whiz. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Here are my simple video tricks.

Get a copy of this infographic as a Google Slides version you can edit

Trick #1 – Get Videos Off the Web

“I want this video. How do you save the video?” asks my friend. She will send me links to both YouTube and embedded videos on web pages. After explaining that this is a violation of YouTube’s Terms, I offer some tips. There are three tools that I will try to use. I’m going to share them in order of ease of use.

Approach #1 – Media Grabber (Chrome browser)

If you haven’t heard of the lightning fast Torch Browser for your Windows 10 computer, you need to check it out. It has a lot of amazing features, including streamlining your Facebook window (getting rid of advertisements), a built-in torrent downloader (we won’t be going into that much), and web music player. Since Torch Browser is based off of Chrome browser, you can use all your favorite add-ons (e.g. Screencastify) with it. Think of it as Chrome Browser Plus.

The tool that makes getting video easy is Media Grabber. This is the tool you will use to pull videos off web pages, including YouTube. It also makes it easy to strip the audio from a video. That is useful when you want just an audio file of a video file (Note: Torch saves audio in AAC format. You can convert AAC to MP3 audio format with Audacity or Cloud Convert). This is what the tool looks like in the tool bar:

You will want to click on the blue arrow icon. It will save the video to your computer as an MP4. You can further customize Media Grabber to also save the audio. To do that, go into your browser settings, just as you would in Chrome, and then go to Advanced–>Media Grabber screen. As you can see from the screenshot below, you have several options.

Approach #2 – Video Download Helper (Firefox Quantum browser)

Familiar with the new, fast Firefox Quantum browser? If not, you should give it a whirl. A complete rewrite of Firefox, it offers vast speed improvements over previous lag-prone versions. The Quantum version also features low compatibility with add-ons. Two that I must mention include the Video Download Helper and Multi-Account Containers.

The add-on that has been a long-term friend of folks who need to save videos off the web, including YouTube, is Video Download Helper. As you can see from the screenshot, I must get a copy of that Hotel Transylvania movie trailer. Video Download Helper makes doing so in a wide variety of formats easy.

Aside: What are Multi-Account Containers? This add-on is fantastic for keeping your internet cookies separate (e.g. Facebook can’t track you since all its tracking cookies are kept in their own jar). This add-on has nothing to do with video, I just felt compelled to mention it.

Approach #3 – ATube Catcher

ATube Catcher gives you access to an actual program you install on your Windows computer. It has a variety of features, best represented with this opening menu of options:

As you can see, these are drop-dead simple options for pulling video off the web. There are many options for how to save the video you get off the web. Here’s what that looks like:

The process is quite simple, only many are unaware of such a powerful, free, open source tool at their fingertips.

Trick #2 – Cropping Videos

Now that you know my top tricks for getting video off the internet, you may find this one a bit esoteric. I am often asked “How do you crop videos, like you would a picture, to get rid of a caption?” Consider this image below:

Image Source: New Bell’s South Africa TV Ad

If you want to use this video in an instructional setting, you may not want to see the caption, “Not for Sale to Persons Under the Age of 18. Drink Responsibly.” To get rid of that, follow these general steps:

  1. Use a screen-casting tool to capture your screen and system audio
  2. Select only the part of the screen you want in to get
  3. Save the video

This process can be problematic for some since some screen-casting tools only let you grab the entire desktop or tab in a web browser. Still, there are several ways. This is just one approach I use with Screencastify Premium.

This awesome Chrome browser friendly add-on allows me to record a video, then crop it AFTER the screen-cast is complete. Here’s a video from Screencastify that explains the process.

Wait, wait, here’s one more trick that often comes in handy.

Trick #3 – Flip that Video

Flipping video on Android using Google Photos – Edit the video, then tap on the ROTATE option at the bottom of screen,

“An epidemic at little kids’ sporting events, I refer to this as vertical video syndrome (VVS),” says Dawn Bradley. Ever start recording video on your phone and then realize you’re holding it wrong? Here’s an example. When recording video, you are supposed to hold it sideways (horizontally). Often, though, in the excitement of the moment, we forget and the phone is held in a vertical manner (a.k.a. portrait mode). There are several ways to flip the video so it displays in landscape mode.

  • Use an online tool like Clideo
  • iOS user? Try Video Rotate and Flip ($0.99 for cropping feature)
  • Android user? Use Google Photos app on your device to edit the video, then rotate it.

Wasn’t That Easy?

If you are saying to yourself, “Wow, that was less painful than I thought it would be,” you are right. Getting and flipping videos isn’t as hard as it once was. Much of the work can be done with no-cost tools. Give it a try. You never know when these tricks will save you, or maybe someone who needs your help, time and stress.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
power tips for windows
Microsoft Tips and Tricks

Power Tips for Windows Users

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

Since the Windows operating system has been around so long, it’s easy to believe that we know everything there is to know about it. I was surprised to learn recently, however, that there are a lot of tips that I hadn’t heard of before. And they’re simple to begin using and will help to increase productivity and save time.

Most Important Power Tip for Windows

The biggest tip for power users is to switch between open programs by holding down the Alt key and then tapping the Tab key. To remain at a program, simply release the Alt key.

Shortcuts

Most of these shortcuts are done using the Windows key and some other combination of keys.  (The Windows key is the one with four panes that mimics a window.)Windows tips

  • If you have several monitors and want to switch between them quickly, just press the Windows key and P. That will give you a list of ways to output. You can switch between those by maintaining the Win key and pressing P at each switch. Release Win and it will be applied.
  • Windows + W lets you take a screenshot and crop/draw on it, and either copy it to your clipboard or save it as a PNG.
  • Windows + Shift + S skips straight to the snipping tool area selection and then puts the selected areas on your clip board (Windows 10).
  • To temporarily lock your computer while you are away, press Windows + L.
  • To quickly access your system properties, press the Windows key + the Pause Break key.
  • Instantly minimize all of  your windows by pressing Windows + M.
  • Windows + E opens the Explorer file window.
  • To zoom in on your screen using the Magnifier app, press Windows + plus sign. Windows + minus sign will zoom out.

Function Keys

The Function keys have unique purposes, too.

  • F1 is the Help key.
  • F2 is the Rename a File key.
  • F3 will help you find a file.
  • F5 refreshes your screen.

Bonus: YouTube Shortcuts

If you’re a big YouTube fan, here are some tips to make you a power user:

  • Press K to pause the video.
  • Press F to make the video full screen.
  • You can use , and . to reverse and fast forward a video frame by frame.
  • M mutes the video.
  • C toggles captions on/off.
  • J and I will fast forward and reverse the video by 10 seconds.

I hope that you try out some of these tips to save you time. Let me know what you think about them!

 

0 comment
1 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Newer Posts
Older Posts