TIMELY TECH
Tech tips, hints and ideas for your classroom!
Vol. 2 - November 19, 2013
Discovery Education's Board Builder
Looking for a good alternative for the no-longer free Glogster? Discovery Education has recently added “Board Builder” for teachers and students. The Board Builder allows users to present collections of resources in a dynamic, highly visual way.
You can now create engaging, interactive lesson plans and assignments that not only include Discovery Education resources, but your own images, files and videos as well. http://app.discoveryeducation.com/builders
To find Board Builder, log in to Discovery Education (See Jeff for login help) then click on the "Builder Tools" tab and at the bottom of the list choose Board Builder.
*All Frisco ISD students have accounts set up in Discovery Education. (see example pictured below)
- Username = ID#@friscoisd (*Note: There is NO ".org" at the end)
- Password = 8 digit birthday
See Jeff Wiseman for more help on using Discovery Education tools!
eduCanon
"eduCanon.... [can] transform what is traditionally passive content into an active experience for students. By embedding activities that students engage with as the video progresses the content is segmented into digestible components - increasing student engagement and, through our analysis, informing the next day’s lesson planning."
- Give feedback based on student responses
- Differentiate your questions for your students by assigning different sets of questions to the same video for each group of learners.
Monitor students' progress and proficiency in each lesson
Can be viewed in any browser & on most mobile devices
***This is perfect for flipped classrooms!!
Watch the video below for more info, or visit their website to play with a demonstration!
Did you Know? YouTube Audio Library
The YouTube audio library is a collection of copyright friendly music (YEA!) that can inserted into student's video projects that they're creating! Rather than downloading & converting songs from Youtube (ILLEGAL), students can now go to YouTube and use music LEGALLY!
- The audio library doesn’t have a lot of the newest music, but it is more extensive than I had thought it would be.
- Also nice is how it’s separated into categories and genres to make finding a specific song and song style easier.
- Here’s a blog post about the YouTube Audio Library in case you’re interested.
Eduphoria’s Formspace Tip: Viewing Past Forms
If you would like to see what forms you have submitted through Formspace, use the drop-down near the top and switch from “Current Forms” to “Past Forms”. By default this only shows the past few weeks worth of forms. Use the date selection (and search criteria if you would like) at the bottom to expand your results.
Note: Your Current Forms list should be empty! These are forms that you started but haven’t submitted. If you have any forms on this list please either submit them or delete them. You should ALWAYS start from a NEW FORM because if the questions or workflow have been changed, an old form will still have the old information.
Windows7 Tip: Customizing Your Taskbar
If you want easy access to a program on your Taskbar, search for the program from the Start menu then right-click on the name and Send To… Desktop as Shortcut. Next drag that shortcut to your taskbar and you’re done! You can choose to leave the shortcut on the desktop too or delete it.
If there’s a website you access often and prefer it opened in one browser over another (like eSchool in Internet Explorer), make a shortcut to the site on your desktop and drag the icon on top of the browser you want it opened in. To access it, right-click on the browser icon on your Taskbar and it will be near the top of the pop-up window.
Changes made to the taskbar are per user per computer.
Need a smile? Take a minute to enjoy this video!
News & Updates
- FISD Tech Facilitators have a Pinterest page. It has a TON of ideas, tech tools, apps, etc. Its a great place to look for new ideas, so check it out! Tech Tators Pinterest Board
- Let's work together to plan something engaging and interactive for your students. Just shoot me an email and we can set up a time to meet. Several teachers and planning groups are already doing this. Keep an eye out for some really cool projects and activities.
Contact me to start planning your next activity!
Email: wisemanj@friscoisd.org
Website: http://bit.ly/LSHSTech
Phone: 35332
Twitter: @jwisemantech