Monday, November 11, 2024

Build a "What I Am Thankful For" Turkey with Google Slides

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, now is a great time for all of us to pause and think about what we are thankful for.

To help out with this I have created a Google Slides activity for your students. With this template your students will build a turkey where each of the feathers will display things that the student is thankful for.

Optionally the students can also use the Mote Chrome extension to record themselves explaining what they are thankful for, and adding that audio to their digital turkey.

See below to get your free copy of the "What I Am Thankful For" Turkey template, as well as a short video and detailed directions on how to use it.

Sunday, November 10, 2024

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 47-minute training video for an updated version of my session "Super Tutor: AI to Support all Learners".

In this session we explore ways AI can assist educators as they are helping students, as well as ways for students to use AI directly to get individualized support. Tools explored include MagicSchool AI, Khanmigo, Brisk Teaching, Diffit, SchoolAI, AI chatbots, and many 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!

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Podcast Spotlight: ShiftED Podcast

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "ShiftED Podcast" from LEARN.

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 Chris Colley from LEARN (Leading English Education and Resource Network) and is described as follows:

…a show that highlights the work of innovative educators with their students as well as the services that LEARN offers to support learning in the English milieu. The show is a part of our core mission of supporting the English education community in Quebec.

I had a wonderful time chatting with Chris about my journey in education and technology, how to help educators adopt technology, balancing technology and life, preparing students for their futures, the ABC's of AI, creative uses of AI, how to find the best EdTech resources, and more!

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

Sunday, November 3, 2024

My 2025 FETC Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the Future of Education Technology Conference (FETC 2025) in Orlando, Florida on January 14th through 17th, 2025.

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/

If you are thinking of attending, you can save 10% on an All-Access or Session pass with my special promo code FETC25SPEAKER

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at FETC 2025, 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 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.