Tech Tip Tuesdays

10 Awesome and Surprising Ways to Use Google Docs in the Classroom Great tips for incorporating Google Docs in the Classroom!

http://www.yellkey.com/ ·          YellKey.com   comes in handy when you want others in a class, meeting, or presentation to open a URL. YellKey is a temporary URL shortener—the longest a shortened URL can last is 24 hours. The advantage of being temporary is that the final part of the shortened URL (a.k.a. the “key”) can be reused, making it unnecessary to use complicated keys. YellKey provides short URLs with common English words that are easy to pronounce and to type. They always start with   yellkey.com   and end with a random key. An example of a shortened link is   yellkey.com/hour . Other “keys” I’ve seen in YellKey’s URLs include happen, small, across, it, know, make, and memory. ·          You don’t get to choose your key, but if you are unhappy with the key you are given, you can simply enter the full URL again to get a different key.

https://www.peardeck.com/vocabulary/ The tech tip I have for you guys this week is a website called Pear Deck.  It does cost money but there is a free version and one of the best features for the free version is the Vocabulary Factory.  This is a great tool to review or even introduce new vocabulary words.  A link to the site is found above.  Once you click on the link you will find a brief description and a video explaining how the site works.   Some cool features that I like are the following:  It works great with google accounts, students must use their Goodpasture account. When you are finished you can upload the cards to Quizlet so that the students can study for a test or quiz. It automatically breaks and pairs the students up for you and if you don't like the groups you can reshuffle. It makes the students think more in-depth about the vocabulary words because they must draw a picture and write an example. It can be used for compe...

If you haven't already, I would highly recommend starting to move your documents to Google Drive.  Cloud storage can allow you ultimate flexibility with your files.  You can access them from any device connected to the internet and edit and upload on the go. It also offers amazing collaboration not available with MS Office products on your MacBook.   You can sign in to Google via Chrome and immediately start dragging and dropping folders inside your   Google Drive .  Drive will save all files in their current format. If you want to go ahead and convert Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) to Google apps (Docs, Slides, Sheets), a simple fix can save lots of time trying to convert individually later.   See the next three pictures that describe what to do.  There is a setting inside Drive you can toggle to allow Drive to automatically convert these files when you upload the documents.  

5 Tips for Using Schoology

Over the break I found this article on cleaning up your Chrome bookmarks.  It shows you how to add bookmarks using only icons (called favicons).  Here’s a picture of my newly-updated bookmarks bar.  I personally like the cleaner look and the fact that I can see so many more bookmarks at a time. It also shows you how to change an icon or add an icon if the site does not have a specific one.  Check out the information and video link below! I don't know about you but I have a ton of websites that I go to daily and want to get there within one click. Bookmaking websites on my Chrome browser is a must and I delete the titles of the website leaving the favicon in the bookmark bar so I can make the most of the space available. However, earlier this year I discovered that you could  change  the icon (favicon) to any image you would like! https://www.facebook.com/thetechieteacher/videos/1398127706929968/

Here's a simple tip just to get things going this semester.  If you use Chrome,  you probably end up like me having multiple tabs open while working on things. Sometimes you might accidentally close a tab that you meant to leave open.  All hope is not lost.  You can either do a keyboard shortcut of "command - shift - T", or select File > Reopen closed tab.   It can be some peace of mind that you can always access different pages if you accidentally close them early.   Or if you want to be sure you don't accidentally close a tab, you can "pin" it open, by selecting Window and then "Pin Tab".  For other keyboard Chrome shortcuts, see  here .  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns as we get going this semester.