Control Alt Achieve: 2023

Monday, March 20, 2023

EdTech Links of the Week - 3-20-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Making and Taking Virtual Tours with Google Earth

Google Earth has long been a favorite tool of mine for exploring the world, seeing amazing 3D renderings of natural wonders as well as manmade structures, and of course viewing my house from space.

However, it offers much more than that! With Google Earth you and your students can take and make interactive, educational virtual tours.

With the Voyager tool you can explore hundreds of pre-made tours and activities.

With the Project tool you can create your own tours by plotting points on the globe to make a 3D geographic tour of a story, historical event, interesting locations, or any concept you are exploring in class. Each location can include additional text, images, videos, links, and more.

I recently recorded a 45-minute training video on making and taking Google Earth tours. See below to view the video, as well as access resources from the session and detailed directions. And if you or your students create a Google Earth tour, please consider sharing the product. I would love to learn from you!

My 2023 UCET Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology Conference (UCET 2023) in Provo, Utah this week on March 14th and 15th, 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 learn more about the conference at:

https://ucet.org/conference/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at UCET 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!

EdTech Links of the Week - 3-6-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Google Slides Tier List Activity

I am always looking for ways to engage students in critical thinking and communication.

Recently I have been working on an activity that gets students comparing, contrasting, and prioritizing concepts, as well as defending the rationale for their claims.

This activity is based on something called a "Tier List".

A tier list is a concept that was originally developed in the video game culture where people would rank characters or items from the game based on how important they were. Typically the levels would be letter grades such as A through F, but often with the addition of an S-level that would be the highest rank (from Japanese word for "Exemplary").

Over time people have used the tier list format to rank a wide range of concepts, which I thought would work great for students. What I came up with is a Google Slides "Tier List" activity for schools:

It is a high engagement student activity
It encourages critical thinking, communication, comparing, contrasting, prioritizing, and defending rationales
It can be used in any subject or grade level
It should only take 15 to 30 minutes, and can be used multiple times throughout the year with different content.

See below for all the details about this activity including a tutorial video, examples, and templates you can make copies of.

EdTech Links of the Week - 2-27-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

As part of my job at the Stark Portage Area Computer Consortium (SPARCC) in North Canton, Ohio, I help run a free educational technology conference each year.

We are excited to once again be offering the conference this year, and I would love to have you participate!

The conference will be held on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
The conference will be both in-person and virtual.
The conference will be held in person at the Stark County Educational Service Center at 6057 Strip Ave NW, North Canton, OH 44720.
The sessions will also be streamed live for those who cannot attend in person.
The sessions will also be recorded for those who cannot attend on the date of the conference.
This is a FREE conference for teachers, administrators, technology staff, and anyone interested in using educational technology to support teaching and learning.
This is an excellent way to kick off a new school year with great ideas!

Call for proposals and registration are now open. More details are included below in the rest of this blog post, and also on the conference website at http://conference.apps.sparcc.org/

I look forward to learning with you!

Google Chrome Can Do That?!

Google Chrome is the most popular web browser in the world. Chances are you use it, or have used it.

But are you getting the most out of it?

Chrome is loaded with lots of helpful features and tools that make your work easier, help you be more productive, and extend your abilities way beyond just browsing the web.

A while back a did a series of blog posts and videos on Google Chrome, where we explored lesser known features, tips, tricks, and helpful ideas for getting the most out of Chrome.

To make it simpler to access all of that content I have pulled everything together in one place. For each topic below you will find a short tutorial video, a basic overview, and a link to the original blog posts with even more details.

Over time I will continue to add new content here as Google Chrome continues to add features and improvements. Also, be sure to let me know your suggestions for tips that I should add. I would love to learn from you!

What's New in Google - February 2023

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

Below is the recorded video from our February 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 February 2023 meeting:

EdTech Links of the Week - 2-20-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Free Media Resources for Projects

When creating a project, such as a presentation, video, poster, podcast, or more, one challenge is finding media elements for your project that are free to use.

Thankfully there are many resources online that provide free, high-quality multimedia content that you and your students are able to use for free in any of your creations.

These include:

In this blog post we will explore lists of free resources for each of these categories. If you have other sites that you use for free media, please let me know so I can add them to these lists.

And although the media elements provided through these sites are free, be sure to check for any attribution requirements to make sure you provide proper credit when using any content.

Book Creator Pen Tools - Let Your Inner Illustrator Come Alive!

Book Creator is a fantastic tool for students and teachers to create and share digital books. Not only does it help you write a book, it also makes it super easy to illustrate your creation.

Book Creator has a powerful pen tool that includes:

a marker, paint brush, crayon, and highlighter to draw and write with
the magic ink option to draw, write, and fill with colorful patterns
a fill tool to color items in with colors or patterns
an emoji tool to search, find and insert emojis
and (best of all) the AutoDraw tool

These simple but powerful tools can bring out the inner illustrator in any student, and help them make a colorful and engaging book.

See below for a tutorial video and written directions on how these tools work. And thanks to Book Creator for sponsoring this post and video! All opinions expressed are based on my personal view.

Mote for Multilingual Learners - Recorded Webinar

Recently I had the privilege to offer a free online session for the Teacher Innovation Network "EdTech Playground" where the theme was ways technology can support multilingual learners.

For my portion of the session I presented about the Chrome extension Mote and how it can be used in the multilingual classroom. Here is a description of my session:

Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools

Mote is a free Chrome extension that lets you and your students record your voices and insert the audio into most all Google tools. In Docs this can be used to provide recorded directions, add personalized feedback, and practice fluency. In Slides this is the simplest way to embed audio in your presentations. In Forms you can use Mote to add audio to your questions, but also for students to record and submit their answers. Mote can also be used in Classroom, Gmail, and much more. Learn how you and your students can use this awesome extension to enhance teaching and learning with audio

The other presenter was Brian Lopez who covered using Flip for multilingual learners.

The Teacher Innovation Network was kind enough to make the recorded video available for people to view if they were not able to attend the live session. See below to watch the recording, as well as access the resources I shared in the session.

EdTech Links of the Week - 2-6-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Hearts and Charts Google Sheets Math Activities

In an earlier blog post I shared a fun math activity using Google Sheets and Skittles candy as a project students could do to tie in with Halloween, but it could certainly be done any time of the year.

With Valentine's Day coming up, I was asked if I had a similar version of the activity using Valentine Conversation Heart candies. That sounded like a terrific idea, so I made a new version of the project that uses the seasonal heart candies with little messages on them.

Very much like the earlier Skittles activity, this "Hearts and Charts" Google Sheets project allows students to practice skills including:

And the Sheet is self-checking, so it provides feedback to the students as they work through each problem, letting them know if that got it correct or not.

See below to get your copy of the template, as well as written directions on how your students can do the activity.

EdTech Links of the Week - 1-30-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Join my Mote EdTech Playground on Jan 31st

I am excited to be offering a free online session for the Teacher Innovation Network where the theme will be ways technology can support multilingual learners.

The session is completely free for everyone and I hope you can attend. Below are the details and link for registration.

Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Pacific Time - 3:30 to 5:00pm
Eastern Time - 6:30 to 8:00pm
Register for free at tinyurl.com/tin2023

For my portion of the session I will be presenting about the Chrome extension Mote and how it can be used in the classroom. Here is a description of my session:

Marvelous Mote Activities for Schools

The other presenter will be Brian Lopez who will be covering Flip. I look forward to learning with you!

Monday, January 23, 2023

My 2023 FETC Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC 2023) in New Orleans, Louisiana this week on January 23th through 26th, 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 register for FETC at https://www.fetc.org/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at FETC 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!

My 2023 OETC Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting and keynoting at the 2023 Ohio Educational Technology Conference (OETC23) in Columbus, Ohio on February 14th through 16th.

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 OETC23 information and register for the conference at:

https://oetc.ohio.gov/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at OETC23, 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 - January 2023

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

Below is the recorded video from our January 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

EdTech Links of the Week - 1-16-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Google Slides Photo Words - Advanced Webinar

I recently shared my blog post and tutorial video about creating "Photo Words" with Google Slides. This is a fun activity for students to take any word and put an image inside of the word.

This engaging project can allow student to:

Visualize any vocabulary word
Create a "One Word" for the year
Summarize a story
Learn a new word (in their language or other)
Represent a location
Tell about themselves
Recap a year
Make a logo
And so much more!

My original blog post and 16-minute tutorial video were designed to help you and your students learn the basics of this activity, but there was so much more that I couldn't cover in the short introductory video.

To help with this I did a 90-minute live-stream webinar where we did a deep dive into creating Photo Words. In the video I go step-by-step through the process of creating four different advanced designs.

See below to access the recorded webinar video, as well as other support resources from the training. And again, I would love to see what you and your students create!

EdTech Links of the Week - 1-9-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Creating Photo Words with Google Slides - How to Place an Image inside of Text

I am always excited about discovering new ways to use Google tools for creativity. Recently I have seen some people sharing some cool designs where they placed images inside of text to create what I am calling a "Photo Word".

As I looked into this many of them were being created with Photoshop or some other graphics editing tool. As awesome as that is, not everyone has access to those tools.

So I asked myself the question I usually ask in this situation, "Is there any way to do this using Google tools?"

And the answer is … YES!

Just using Google Slides, I was able to create all sorts of creative designs by putting photos inside of text, which can be an engaging project for students or for anyone.

See below for a short tutorial video and written directions on how to do this.

My Spring 2023 Midwest EdTech Summit Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Spring 2023 Midwest EdTech Summit in Wisconsin Dells, WI on March 6th.

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 METS23 information and register for the conference at:

https://sites.google.com/cesa5.org/mwgs

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the Spring 2023 Midwest EdTech Summit, 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!

My 2023 NCTIES Sessions

I am excited and honored to once again be presenting at the 2023 NCTIES Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina on March 8th through 10th.

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 NCTIES information and register for the conference at:

https://conference.ncties.org/2023/registration/

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at NCTIES 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!

EdTech Links of the Week - 1-2-23

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

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