EdTech Shorts

EdTech Shorts

By Randall BlackEducationHow To
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EdTech Shorts episodes

  • Tips for Making Great Instructional Videos

    Recently on the House of #EdTech Episode 119, friend of the show Chris Nesi (Twitter) shared his list of tips for making great instructional videos. I wanted to quickly share those with you on this episode of EdTech Shorts.

    Chris’ lists is:

    1. Forget the headset
    2. Keep it short
    3. Prepare well and then wing it
    4. Position the camera above your eyes
    5. Location, location, location
    6. Move it out
    7. Look right at the camera lens
    8. Cover your screen
    9. Say “cheese”
    10. Avoid overdoing it

    You can hear his full commentary on each of these tips over at http://chrisnesi.com/119.

    3 min
  • Random Student Selection Tools
    Previously on EdTech Shorts we looked at Google’s student selection tool in the Classroom App on Android. On this episode we’re going to look at some other random student selection tools.
    Richard Byrne at Free Technology For Teachers recently shared a few random selection tools in his post about the update by Google to include a student selection tool. Here they are:

    * Random Name Picker
    * Flippity.net
    * Random Name Selector from Primary Technology (Demo on YouTube)

    3 min
  • Random Student Selection Tools

    Previously on EdTech Shorts we looked at Google’s student selection tool in the Classroom App on Android. On this episode we’re going to look at some other random student selection tools.

    Richard Byrne at Free Technology For Teachers recently shared a few random selection tools in his post about the update by Google to include a student selection tool. Here they are:

    1. Random Name Picker
    2. Flippity.net
    3. Random Name Selector from Primary Technology (Demo on YouTube)
    3 min
  • Student Selector in Google Classroom (Android App)
    Google has made a new tool available in their Classroom Android App to make it easier for you to randomly select students from your roster and keep track of the students you have, or have not, called upon in class. It is really easy to use. To get started you open you class, tap on the “people” button at the bottom of your class, and then tap the “Random Name” selector on the top of the next screen. The random name selector lets you mark a student as absent if they are not there. You can select “Call Later” if you need to pass on that student for some reason. You can also mark when a student has been called upon so that you won’t see their name again until after everyone else in the class has been called upon.
    3 min
  • Student Selector in Google Classroom (Android App)

    Google has made a new tool available in their Classroom Android App to make it easier for you to randomly select students from your roster and keep track of the students you have, or have not, called upon in class. It is really easy to use. To get started you open you class, tap on the “people” button at the bottom of your class, and then tap the “Random Name” selector on the top of the next screen. The random name selector lets you mark a student as absent if they are not there. You can select “Call Later” if you need to pass on that student for some reason. You can also mark when a student has been called upon so that you won’t see their name again until after everyone else in the class has been called upon.

    3 min
  • Automatic Captioning in Google Slides
    On October 8, 2018 Google announced a new feature that a lot of educators are going to love. Automatic, real-time captioning is now available in Google Slides.
    If you are presenting in full-screen and have a microphone connected to your computer, you can enable the captioning feature and Slides will display captions of your speech in real-time on the bottom of your slides. Currently the feature is only available in the Google Chrome web browser and in US_English.
    Google noted that captions may not be accurate if you do not speak clearly, have a distinct accent, or there is a lot of ambient noise in the room. Having a microphone (like the ATR-2100, Sampson Q2U, or a decent lapel mic) will make it easier for the computer to pick up your voice and produce those captions.
    This will help you to make presentations more accessible to your students. For hearing impaired students the captions help them to follow along in class as your present content; but can be valuable for students with a hearing impairment by making it easier for them to follow along and take notes based on your presentation and your lecture.
    3 min
  • Automatic Captioning in Google Slides
    On October 8, 2018 Google announced a new feature that a lot of educators are going to love. Automatic, real-time captioning is now available in Google Slides. If you are presenting in full-screen and have a microphone connected to your computer, you can enable the captioning feature and Slides will display captions of your speech in real-time on the bottom of your slides. Currently the feature is only available in the Google Chrome web browser and in US_English. Google noted that captions may not be accurate if you do not speak clearly, have a distinct accent, or there is a lot of ambient noise in the room. Having a microphone (like the ATR-2100, Sampson Q2U, or a decent lapel mic) will make it easier for the computer to pick up your voice and produce those captions. This will help you to make presentations more accessible to your students. For hearing impaired students the captions help them to follow along in class as your present content; but can be valuable for students with a hearing impairment by making it easier for them to follow along and take notes based on your presentation and your lecture.
    3 min
  • NEW Features in OneNote Online
    In starting off the new school year, Microsoft has announced some new features for OneNote Online to enhance creativity, productivity, and collaboration.

    * Insert from Camera – This feature is extremely popular in the Windows 10 OneNote App and has now been imported into OneNote Online. To use it, simply choose Insert -> Camera and the image will be placed on the current page.
    * Emoji Keyboard – Students will love this new features. Simply go to Insert -> Emoji to see a small sample of the available emojis. To see the full emoji keyboard, click “More Emojis” from the bottom of that menu.
    * Autocorrect – You have the ability to control the autocorrect functions in the Windows 10 and Office 2016 apps, but not in OneNote Online. Click Home -> Spelling -> Autocorrect and you can now edit your settings for autocorrect and auto format options.
    * Copy a Link to Section – You had the ability to copy and paste a link to a page in OneNote Online to link between pages quickly and easily. Now you can right-click on a section and do the same. OneNote Online recognizes those links when pasting and will format them down to a much smaller hyperlink, rather than the huge amount of text actually copied.

    These new features were announced on Oct. 3, 2018 and should be rolled out to 100% of OneNote Online users in the coming days or weeks.
    4 min
  • NEW Features in OneNote Online
    In starting off the new school year, Microsoft has announced some new features for OneNote Online to enhance creativity, productivity, and collaboration. Insert from Camera – This feature is extremely popular in the Windows 10 OneNote App and has now been imported into OneNote Online. To use it, simply choose Insert -> Camera and the image will be placed on the current page. Emoji Keyboard – Students will love this new features. Simply go to Insert -> Emoji to see a small sample of the available emojis. To see the full emoji keyboard, click “More Emojis” from the bottom of that menu. Autocorrect – You have the ability to control the autocorrect functions in the Windows 10 and Office 2016 apps, but not in OneNote Online. Click Home -> Spelling -> Autocorrect and you can now edit your settings for autocorrect and auto format options. Copy a Link to Section – You had the ability to copy and paste a link to a page in OneNote Online to link between pages quickly and easily. Now you can right-click on a section and do the same. OneNote Online recognizes those links when pasting and will format them down to a much smaller hyperlink, rather than the huge amount of text actually copied. These new features were announced on Oct. 3, 2018 and should be rolled out to 100% of OneNote Online users in the coming days or weeks.
    5 min
  • Create a Grading Rubric in Microsoft Teams
    Are you an educator using Microsoft’s Teams to manage your course content and assignments? Did you know that you can now build grading rubrics directly in the Teams interface?
    To build a rubric, simply create a new assignment. Click the + Add Rubric button. Fill-in all the criteria and point values for your rubric. Then press the Attach button to add it to your assignment. Assign the assignment to your students and they will now see the rubric as part of the grading criteria and know what you will be grading for. You can use the rubric to score their assignments quickly and easily with it’s “Click to Select” interface all while not leaving the Microsoft Teams interface.
    2 min

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