Thursday, October 31, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-31-24

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:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

What's New in Google - October 2024

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from October 2024, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our October 2024 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 2024 meeting:

Did a Robot Write this Report? Managing AI Cheating

Generative AI is a powerful tool that can be used to support teachers and students. Most of the time when I am sharing about AI or doing AI trainings, I often focus on the positives aspects of this technology and how it can be used to benefit education.

Unfortunately, just as AI can be used to generate lesson plans, provide helpful feedback, and serve as a personalized tutor, it can also be used to write a paper, provide answers, and do students' work.

In short, AI can be used to cheat. Depending on the study you look at, research shows that between 60% and 70% of students admit to using AI to cheat.

It is critical for schools to explore and address this concern so that students can benefit from the support of AI, but not abuse this tool and ultimately hurt their own learning.

But how can we manage this? Recently I recorded a 50-minute video where I do a deep dive into addressing AI cheating. To be clear however, there are no easy answers. We are all learning this together and my presentation simply shares hopefully helpful ideas. I welcome your suggestions, thoughts, questions, comments, and opinions!

See below to watch the recorded video and access all of the support materials.

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Podcast Spotlight: One-to-One Podcast

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "One-to-One Podcast".

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love podcasts and am always mentioning something new I learned from one of them, so I was super excited to get to join an episode of this podcast.

The podcast is hosted by Brian Bates and Linda DeYounge and is described as follows:

Learn about the latest topics in edtech with the Learning Technology Center of Illinois, a program of the Illinois State Board of Education. Each episode will include discussions about integrating the most recent tech into classrooms, interviews with movers and shakers in education technology, and answers to questions from listeners.

I had a wonderful time chatting with Linda and Brian about creative uses of technology in the classroom, the importance of student voice and choice, my current top three favorite EdTech tools, and more!

Take a look below to listen to or watch the episode, access the resources that I shared in the episode, and explore more about the podcast.

Thursday, October 24, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-24-24

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:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Halloween Themed Google Fonts

As I have shared in several previous posts, I have always had a love for fonts. The right typeface can help to communicate information or spice up content.

With Halloween almost here, I decided to share some of my favorite fonts for the spooky season.

My favorite place to explore typefaces is Google Fonts, where (as of this writing) Google provides over 1,700 free fonts. You can explore and preview all of these typefaces at https://fonts.google.com/

These fonts can be used by you and your students to add style, personality, and creativity to your Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Sites, and more. You can easily add any of these fonts to your Google tools by clicking the font menu, choosing "More fonts", and then typing in the font name.

If you are not using Google tools, you can also download the fonts for use in the programs on your computer.

See below for a dozen of my favorite fonts for Halloween. Some tie into the scary side of the season, while others lean into the candy and fun.

Monday, October 21, 2024

Citation Needed: AI Tools that Provide Sources

Although artificial intelligence can be a great benefit for educators and students, there are also valid concerns that schools need to consider and address (see https://bit.ly/curts-aimisuse for more details).

One of those concerns is the possibility for AI to produce content that is incorrect. In short, AI can make mistakes.

When discussing this with schools, I usually recommend several ideas to help address this concern:
  • Educate students on the potential for misinformation
  • Encourage critical thinking and skepticism among students
  • Use multiple chat tools to get a variety of responses
  • Improve the initial prompt to get more accurate responses
  • Ask follow-up questions to expand information and perspectives
  • Use tools that help check and verify information
For this blog post I am going to take a closer look at the final suggestion listed above - "Use tools that help check and verify information". Thankfully there are many AI tools that assist with fact checking or can provide sources you can use to learn more and verify the information.

See below for details on five suggested AI tools and how they can be used to help address potential inaccuracies. I have also included details for the free versions of each of these tools. 

Be sure to explore all of my AI resources at https://www.controlaltachieve.com/ai and as always I would love to hear your ideas, recommendations, and questions.

Thursday, October 17, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-17-24

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:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Back-To-School AI Webinar Recording

Last month I was honored to be on the panel for a "Back-To-School AI Webinar".

Dan Fitzpatrick, a leading voice in AI for education, organized a panel of educators to share some of their favorite AI tools and ideas to help kick off a new school year. The panel included:
  • Sabba Quidwai, the CEO of Designing Schools from California
  • Jason Gulya, an English professor at Berkeley College from New Jersey
  • Aileen Wallace, a high school teacher from Scotland
  • Matthew Wemyss, a school leader from Romania
  • And me!
For my portion of the webinar I shared about Brisk Teaching and how educators can use it to easily:
  • Create content such as a quiz, lesson plan, slideshow, etc.
  • Generate feedback on student writing
  • Change reading level and language of articles and documents
  • Monitor student writing process
  • Create student AI chatbots for learning activities
See below to watch the recording of the webinar. I hope you pick up some great ideas!

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Creating Soundboards with Google Slides for Stories, Games and More

How can you bring some extra life into your class activities, discussions, and games? Ding, Ding, Ding! Yes, that's right, with your own custom soundboard.

A soundboard can be used in your class for many purposes:
  • It could provide fun sound effects for class games, quizzes, and competitions.
  • You could use the soundboard for audio cues for classroom transitions, such as indicating when time's up, or students need to clear their desks, or switch groups, or such.
  • The soundboard could be used while you are reading a story out loud to your students, to bring the story to life with sounds from the story content.
  • You could use the sounds to support and reinforce content being taught in class.
  • If you or your students are recording podcasts and videos, a soundboard can be used to for effects and transitions while recording.
  • And more!
There are certainly lots of options for classroom soundboards, but one free and easy tool for this is Google Slides. With Google Slides you can create your own custom soundboard with audio that you have recorded or downloaded from free audio sites.

See below for details on how to do this. You will find a 21-minute video I did for MoteCon24 where I go through all the steps, as well as links to my associated resource document, session slideshow, sample soundboard, and more.

Monday, October 14, 2024

My 2024 ITIP Ohio Google Summit Sessions

I am excited and honored to once again be presenting at the ITIP Ohio Google Summit at the Kalahari Resort and Conference Center in Sandusky, Ohio this October 28th and 29th, 2024. This year the conference is hybrid, with an in-person or virtual registration option.

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: itipohio.org/google-conference-2024

You can also view the full conference schedule and register for the conference.

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at the ITIP Ohio Google 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!

Thursday, October 10, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-10-24

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:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Upcoming Webinar - Cyber Assist: Using AI as Your Teaching Assistant

I am excited to be providing a free webinar for the OETC Postscript Series on "Cyber Assist: Using AI as Your Teaching Assistant".

OETC (the Ohio Educational Technology Conference) is offering these "postscript" sessions as a way to keep the learning going throughout the year as we head toward the next conference in February.

Here are the details on my OETC Postscript webinar:
  • October 16th from 4-5 p.m. (Eastern Time)
  • 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 Gemini, Brisk Teaching, EnlightenAI, QuestionWell, MagicSchoolAI, Khanmigo, 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!
  • Register for free here - Registration link 
Anyone is welcome to attend the live webinar. Feel free to share with others and I look forward to learning with you!

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

AI Summit for School Leaders

Artificial Intelligence is a hot topic in schools right now, but a lot of the focus has been on how teachers can use this powerful new tool.

Although that is great, it is also important for school administrators and leaders to explore AI. School leaders set the tone and expectations for the use of AI in education, and will likely also help set the policies and guidelines for its appropriate use.

To help with this, I am super excited to offer an AI Summit for School Leaders in partnership with OASSA, the Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators. The event will be held October 31st and November 1st in Columbus, Ohio, and although it is hosted by OASSA, you do not need to be a member to attend.

See below for all of the details and registration information. And feel free to share with others who may benefit. I hope to learn with you!

4 Googley Halloween Learning Activities

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I already love the Fall with the change in temperature, beautiful leaves, and the smell of logs in our fireplace.

And Halloween is one of the high points. I love walking my grandkids around their neighborhood as we go trick-or-treating, and try my best not to eat too much of their candy.

Most years I even try to dress up for the occasion, although having a beard does somewhat limit my options. My go-to costume recently has been none other than Bob Ross!

Another favorite thing I have done is to create Halloween-themed educational activities with Google tools including:

🎃 Build a Jack-O-Lantern with Google Slides

👻 Halloween Rebus Stories with Emojis and Google Docs

🦇 Halloween Drag and Drop Poetry with Google Drawings

💀 Skittles and Google Sheets Math Activities


For convenience I decided to pull all of them together in one blog post. See below for details on each activity and links to the resources and templates.

Thursday, October 3, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-3-24

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:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

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

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Google Docs Calendar Templates for the 2025-2026 School Year

Several 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 2025-2026 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 2025-2026. 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.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

What's New in Google - September 2024

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from September 2024, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our September 2024 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 September 2024 meeting: