tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-263596552024-03-13T09:34:07.247-04:00 Tech Briefs Technology briefs for busy educators and students.dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-65826052378678853492013-10-21T10:42:00.001-04:002014-04-11T12:31:47.807-04:00Passwords and all that security stuffWith all the security scares in the news, people are scrambling to change their passwords. So, here's my take on the subject. In fact, this is what I did/do in my own life. First, separate all your logins into three categories: the critical ones, the important ones and everything else. The distinction between these categories is the amount of aggravation and losses you would suffer if a maliciousAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-88793927465973892522013-09-25T11:42:00.000-04:002013-10-08T16:09:36.805-04:00Chromebook101
If you want to read up on Chromebook capabilities and setup, try support.google.com/chromebook/
Apps
If you have been trying out Chromebooks and need to do a task for which on your Windows/Mac laptop you have specific software -- despair not. The site, aboutchromebook.com, provides information on Chromebook apps or online apps to accomplish those tasks. It's a good place to start,Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-79538118223425181622013-09-13T13:53:00.003-04:002013-09-25T11:37:19.249-04:00Finding answers to tech support questionsI made a custom Google search that looks only in recommended technology support sites. So, if you have a technical question, try it out. I've also put it in the "Search Tools" page on this blog.
Search good techsupport sites
If you want to know what these sites are, here's the list:
Tech Support Guy
5-Star Support
Protonic
AskMeHelpDesk
Techie 7
Help.com
Suggest A Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-10498301172970886472013-07-26T20:32:00.000-04:002013-10-08T16:08:54.470-04:00How to print from mobile devices: iPad/iPhone and AndroidiPad
How to Print from Your iPad: Summary of Printer and Printing Options
Print from iPad / iPhone without AirPrint; also App for Konika/Minolta printers
Android
instructions from techsupportalert
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-10474338640371480352013-07-24T19:04:00.001-04:002013-10-28T12:00:07.983-04:00Authoring your own electronic textbook for you class
Many teachers use their own collection of materials for their classes, rather than a single textbook. In this day and age, creating an electronic version of such materials should be painless. In this post, we find out otherwise.
Requirements
The first step in our process is to choose a format for our electronic end product. We want a widely-used multimedia-enabled ebook format that Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-52746961089949536332013-06-18T17:06:00.000-04:002013-06-18T17:06:02.542-04:00How to add a Google Maps directions gadget to your Blogger blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-15967076611708791102013-04-22T08:08:00.001-04:002013-04-22T08:09:37.959-04:00Disallow download of a Google Drive file There is no "fullproof" way to do this. The best that you can do is deter a novice.Access your file's directory in a browser. Check the box next to your file, click More and choose "Prevent viewers from downloading":
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-28503961695669185742013-02-24T13:00:00.002-05:002013-02-24T13:02:08.951-05:00Royalty-free images you can useSome great sites for getting images legally that you can use for non-commercial use:
~ Wikimedia Commons
~ Getty Images that are royalty free
~ Google Image search box restricted to images that are "free to use or share"
If you want the "mega" listing: public domain image collections ordered by size.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-71001017242876842052012-12-12T16:31:00.001-05:002012-12-12T16:34:09.844-05:00Slides from my TABS-2012 workshop "Collaborative Classroom"I gave a talk about iPads in Education. Here are the slides. Unfortunately, I cannot find any way for the slides to play the animations automatically. So, if it looks like the slideshow stopped, click anywhere within the slideshow window.
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-11077165942589322012012-11-12T10:25:00.000-05:002012-11-14T19:48:11.138-05:00My paper on "Collaborative Classrooms with 1:1 iPads"Collaborative Classrooms with 1:1 iPadsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-20313358350915297802012-11-08T07:51:00.002-05:002012-11-10T15:23:16.366-05:00Election 2012 sum-up done nicely in Prezi
.prezi-player { width: 550px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; }
Election Results Prezi on Prezi
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-84253977815091269942012-10-29T20:29:00.001-04:002013-09-25T11:45:37.609-04:0060 in 60: Inspiring Apps (and site) for teachers by Hansen and BirksVery good presentation by Aaron Hansen and Ray Birks of Wenatchee School District from 10/2012.
http://waetag.tk/
Their presentation includes websites and iPad apps, for K-12. Here are some free ones that I thought especially useful for high school and that people may not have heard about.
Sites
PollEverywhere -- polls taken via phone, web and Twitter -- use it as a clicker response system
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-79959091566701088672012-10-15T18:31:00.000-04:002012-10-29T20:53:38.556-04:00Talk about "iPads in Education" at NJAIS 2012I gave a talk about iPads in Education. Here are the slides. Unfortunately, I cannot find any way for the slides to play the animations automatically. So, if it looks like the slideshow stopped, click anywhere within the slideshow window.
dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-6187532281678758942012-10-03T23:17:00.001-04:002012-10-03T23:17:53.535-04:00Googling more effectivelyGoogle has always had various modifiers, or "operators", you could include in the search box to make your search more effective. This Google support page describes these operators in detail. If you like infographics, this giant one is geared at students doing online research (note that the timerange operator is incorrect). Here is my remix of this infographic to highlight the ones I think are theAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-34975840328739742992012-09-05T14:07:00.000-04:002012-09-05T14:07:02.510-04:00Encrypting files, in Dropbox and elsewhereOnline/cloud storage -- i.e. keeping your files with an online storage company that allows you to access them from anywhere -- is here to stay. The best known example is Dropbox. The newer kid on the block is Google Drive, which has similar functionality. If you already have your entire world set up with Dropbox, there is no overwhelming reason to switch. However, if you are just starting with Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-42492991452580521222012-09-01T14:12:00.003-04:002012-09-01T14:12:51.640-04:00Link directly to a specific time within a YouTube video, and other YouTube tricksStart time
When providing a link to a YouTube video, there is a simple way to have the link open the video at a specific time within the video. Take the YouTube address (URL), e.g.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJxxHvWwQBw
and add the following to the end of this link, e.g.
&t=0m40s
Now, when you click on the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJxxHvWwQBw&t=0m40s
the video dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-14650801200557177682012-08-29T13:59:00.002-04:002012-08-29T14:00:03.598-04:00Where to store files?Until this April, the answer was Dropbox, which provided 2GB of free storage, ways to share folders, and a good automatic sync between your various devices. If you want a short intro to Dropbox, you can find it here.
Google Drive, which came out this past April, can serve the same function
as Dropbox in terms of online storage.
Should you switch? If you are using Google software for other Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-45412005682071553472012-08-28T15:56:00.003-04:002012-08-28T15:59:11.640-04:00Grading with Voice on an iPadHere is a good article by Doug Ward, a University of Kansas professor, who uses iAnnotate to provide verbal grading/feedback on student papers. iAnnotate is the Cadillac of PDF annotations and it syncs with Dropbox. The audio notes are saved with the file. iAnnotate is pricey ($10).
There is another app, PaperPort, that supports text dictation using Dragon speech-recognition software. PaperPort Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-4918443382785005852012-08-24T15:55:00.001-04:002012-08-24T15:55:47.986-04:00Nearpod for iPadNearpod is an interesting tool that, from the buzz the company has produced, seems to be the holy grail for education. On further testing, it proves to be useful but limited.
Here's how it works:
1. You, the teacher, create a lesson at nearpod.com ahead of time. Here is where you hit the first limitation -- the lesson cannot be created or edited on iPad. So, if you don't have a computer in your Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-58062306678470719972012-08-15T17:16:00.003-04:002012-08-15T17:16:54.693-04:00iPad and FlashAlthough iPad does not fully support Adobe's Flash technology, a number of Web Browsers available for the iPad handle at least some Flash sites. The best of these is a free one called Puffin.
Here are pointers to further information about Flash and iPad:
… articles about different solutions for playing Flash: How to Get Flash on the iPad and Can I Play Flash on iPad? Yes!
… sample sites that “Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-5214501120473835482012-05-21T11:26:00.000-04:002012-05-21T11:26:01.107-04:00My reflections from Learning and the Brain conference May 4-6, 2012
Overall quality and content
The talks varied tremendously in quality and content: a few were excellent, some were ok, and some were content-free and/or erroneous. I'm not sure how they vet, but clearly it is not a rigorous process.
The best talks
Cathy Davidson, "How the Brain Science of Attention will transform Schools and How Students Learn and Live"
David Daniel, "The Dark Side of Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-32009561389313337722012-04-16T11:41:00.000-04:002012-04-16T11:59:23.847-04:00A free screencast and whiteboard app for iPadCame across this reasonably new iPad app: PageSend. It is free and does two important jobs very well.
1. It's a very nice
screencast app. It supports
writing/typing/drawing, provides choice of colors and line thickness and allows multi-page boards. The only downside is that it is not integrated with Dropbox -- the finished product can be emailed or viewed at pagesend.com
2. dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-91993682914559446082012-04-12T11:19:00.000-04:002012-04-21T12:25:09.495-04:00[Advanced] Fixing up a sluggish Win7 machineExcellent instructions for a savvy techie on what to do to fix a sluggish Win7 machine:
2012: Fixing a sluggish PC link
My take on the steps: [all apps mentioned here are free for personal use]
Slow at bootup:
install and run Soluto (site), then follow its recommendations
Slow while running:
reduce size of Recycle bin to 2% of disk space
reduce size of IE dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-12588623098021063992012-04-11T17:13:00.002-04:002012-04-11T17:17:06.355-04:00Worthwhile additions to your Web browserThey go by many names: plugins, extensions, add-ons, bookmarklets. Whatever you want to call them, they are extra functions that you can add to your Web browser. The best browsers for adding stuff is Firefox and Chrome; the worst is Internet Explorer. But, even with Internet Explorer, there are ways. While you can certainly go crazy with these add-ons, be warned that they do take up extra dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26359655.post-50934216384310474342012-04-06T17:05:00.001-04:002012-04-11T17:16:49.203-04:00Distraction-free reading on the WebThis is a long-ish post because I have included examples to motivate and illustrate these tools. If you just want just the punchline, skip to the end.
Here's what a first page of a typical online news article looks like nowdays:
Here is each page with the story's content marked with a red rectangle:
What you do not see in these snapshots is that each webpage has at least one dkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08442235734468920272noreply@blogger.com