Cyber Assist: Using AI as Your Teaching Assistant

I recently had the opportunity to present a live-stream of my session "Cyber Assist: Using AI as Your Teaching Assistant" for the CuriCon virtual conference.

Curicon was a week-long series of live video sessions exploring artificial intelligence in education, presented by a wide range of amazing educators.

My session explored how we can use a wide range of AI tools to help us with our daily tasks as educators. Here is the session description:

Cyber Assist: Using AI as Your Teaching Assistant 

It has been said that with generative AI, every educator now has their own personal 24-hour assistant. Learn how to use tools such as ChatGPT, Google Bard, Curipod, EduaideAI, Conker, MagicSchoolAI, Twee, Diffit and more to help you generate presentations, create lessons, write emails, provide feedback and much more. Save more time so you can spend more time impacting students!

See below to watch the 30-minute recorded video, as well as access all of the resources from the session. And please share your ideas for how you use AI as your daily assistant. I am excited to learn from you!

My 2023 GaETC Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Georgia Educational Technology Conference (GaETC 2023) in Atlanta, Georgia on November 1st and 2nd, 2023.

I always look forward to an opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, share some ideas, and learn so many new things from others.

You can access more GaETC information at https://conference.gaetc.org/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at GaETC 2023, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!

What's New in Google - October 2023

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from October 2023, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our October 2023 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda with all the awesome resources and Google updates from the last few months. This includes lots of new Google updates and Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:

• Connect Google-using educators
• Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
• Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
• Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
• Ask questions and get answers

The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the October 2023 meeting:

Can a Chromebook be your Primary Computer?

Note: Spon­sored by Leno­vo and Google for Education. All opinions are my own.

Chromebooks first came out way back in 2011. At that time they were pretty basic with small low-resolution screens, low-end processors, and limited memory. Most people saw them as nothing more than a web browser in a laptop format.

Well Chromebooks have come a long way since then, in both power and popularity. Last year Google announced there were over 50 million Chromebooks in schools.

Most of the time we see these devices as primarily for student use. However in recent years, as the devices have become more powerful and feature-rich, we have started to see more and more schools offering Chromebooks as an option for educators as well.

So what about you? Could a Chromebook serve as your primary computer?

I have been testing this out for myself with the Lenovo Flex 5i Chromebook, which is one of the new devices Google is classifying as "Chromebook Plus". See below for details on these powerful new devices and my thoughts on using them as a primary laptop.

Join Me for Curicon23!

I am super excited to be a part of the Curicon23 virtual conference and would love to have you join me for my session!

Curicon is a week-long series of live video sessions exploring artificial intelligence in education, presented by a wide range of amazing educators.

The virtual conference runs from October 23rd through 27th, and is being hosted by the makers of Curipod, which is an AI-powered tool for educators to create engaging and interactive learning materials.

See below for the details on my session:

FigJam for Schools Advanced Webinar

I recently had the pleasure to host an advanced webinar on FigJam for Schools, as a follow up to the introductory session I hosted last week.

As you have probably heard by now, Google has announced that they are shutting down Jamboard by the end of 2024. Thankfully Figma has partnered with Google to provide their tools absolutely free to educators and students.

One of their tools is FigJam which is an advanced collaborative whiteboarding tool with features including stamps, emotes, stickies, shapes, connectors, drawing tools, plugins, interactive widgets, and much more.

To help you get started with FigJam, and get the most out of it, I have hosted two webinars with David Curran, a former teacher who has recently joined the Figma for Edu team. These sessions covered all of the basics of using FigJam in your school, as well as going deeper into advanced topics, features, and uses.

See below for a recording of the advanced webinar, as well as the recording from the earlier introductory webinar, and resources from both sessions.

FigJam for Schools Intro Webinar

I recently had the pleasure to host a webinar on FigJam for Schools.

As you have probably heard by now, Google has announced that they are shutting down Jamboard by the end of 2024. Thankfully Figma has partnered with Google to provide their tools absolutely free to educators and students.

One of their tools is FigJam which is an advanced collaborative whiteboarding tool with features including stamps, emotes, stickies, shapes, connectors, drawing tools, plugins, interactive widgets, and much more.

To help you get started with FigJam, and get the most out of it, I hosted a webinar with David Curran, a former teacher who has recently joined the Figma for Edu team. This was an introductory webinar to cover all of the basics of using FigJam in your school.

We will also be hosting a follow-up webinar on October 10th to go deeper into the tool and answer questions we did not get to in this first webinar.

See below for a recording of the webinar, resources from the session, and details on the advanced webinar coming up.

Google Docs Calendar Templates for the 2024-2025 School Year

A couple years ago I created some Google Docs templates for a colleague who was looking for a simple one-page document to show important calendar dates for an entire school year. The templates were a big hit and many people found them to be helpful.

Although it still feels like the school year has just gotten started, I have already received emails from folks asking if I have made a version for next year ... the 2024-2025 school year.

So for all of you super organized people who are already planning for the next school year, I am happy to say, yes, I have versions for 2024-2025. See below for the links to get your own copies of these templates, as well as some basic directions on how to edit them for your own use.

Super Tutor: AI to Support all Learners

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool for teaching and learning. One of the most beneficial uses is for supporting students. It has been said that with AI it is like every learner can now have their own 24-hour personal tutor.

I recently recorded a 1-hour training video for my session "Super Tutor: AI to Support all Learners".

In this session we explore both AI tools and practical uses to help support learners.

• The tools include ChatGPT, Google Bard, Diffit, Eduaide, MagicSchoolAI, Brisk, Goblin Tools, and more.
• The uses cover a wide range of examples in reading, writing, tutoring, and more.

See below for the recorded video and session resources. And be sure to share your suggestions for AI tools and uses. I am excited to learn with you!