#DLC Digest
Tech talk, tips and thoughts to motivate and inspire!
Earth Day is coming!
Every year on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day (which also, coincidentally happens to be my wedding anniversary). Earth Day started in 1970 as a way to inspire, challenge and motivate people to help save our Earth. Of course, it is more than a single day. But it is a good opportunity to share with students the importance of Earth Day and ways we can conserve. The following video is interesting in regards to planet Earth - who owns Antarctica. Ownership is a large part of taking care of things (our car, our house, our belongings) - it's "MINE." Diffusion of responsibility is something that can be detrimental to Earth. As in a classroom, when there are 30 students - "I didn't do it" or "it wasn't me" can ring true because there are many students who COULD share in the responsibility. When we have ownership over something, we take pride in it and are responsible and take care of it. The same is true with Earth. There are many of us living here, so someone ELSE could recycle or conserve. Diffusion of responsibility. When we view things as "OURS" we tend to take better care of them. Food for thought as we enter into April 22... are YOU taking care of Earth like it is YOURS?
Who Owns Antarctica? (Bizarre Borders Part 3)
Google Tip #1 - Drive
Yay for Google tips! Thank you to those of you who sent in feedback stating that you liked the Google tips. Let's start with the Drive. Google is unique because work can be directly SHARED between users (not emailed). There are a few ways to access shared work. You may be sent an email stating that something was shared with you. You may also access shared work in the drive itself. If you go into your drive and click "shared with me" - you will see everything that has been shared with you. HOWEVER, please note that this does NOT mean it will be saved in your drive. It simply means someone shared it with you. If you decide that you would like to KEEP the item and store it in your drive, you need to click the drive button with the plus symbol (see below). If that logo doesn't come up, it means it is already in your drive.
Google Tip #2 - Templates
Did you know that in March Google added templates to your favorite Google tools? Now Google Docs, Slides and Sheets all have premade templates you can choose from. As of now, Google Draw does NOT have templates - HOWEVER, I have a ton saved in my drive. Seriously, a ton. If you are looking for a template, please email me - chances are I already have something saved in my drive. If you would like to access the new Docs, Slides or Sheets templates, it's easy. Open a new Doc (or Slide or Sheet). Once in the new Doc, click FILE --> NEW --> FROM TEMPLATE and you will be able to choose which template you would like to use! Pretty nifty! Don't forget to click the "more" button to see more templates.
Alternatives to YouTube
YouTube is an amazing resource. Trust me when I say, our students are very familiar with YouTube. My own boys like to go on YouTube to watch videos of how to solve levels in games, or how to create a world in Minecraft, or how to do a skateboard jump. There are many GOOD reasons to use YouTube. HOWEVER, with great power comes great responsibility (stolen from Spiderman). There are times we may want the content from YouTube but not the exposure to some of the surly things also housed on YouTube. Here are a few options:
- Safeshare.tv: This is a website where you can paste a YouTube link and SafeShare
will remove any ads/extra content. Click HERE to view a step by step list of how to
use SafeShare.Tv
- School Tube or Teacher Tube: These are websites that have educational videos and
are endorsed by many educational organizations. You can search for videos, unlike
SafeShare where you have to put in the specific link.
If you are using YouTube - I can also suggest AdBlock as a Chrome Extension, which you can add by clicking here.