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Weekly Tech Tips 21 November 2021

 Dear Friends,


Weekly Tech Tips hasn’t been very weekly lately, has it? Sunday November 7 we were live in person at GSIS. I want to thank the folks who came out that day to talk about Google Takeout, Google Drive for Desktop, and Google Classroom.  Great topics and a lot of questions, answers, sharing and learning going on that day. As promised, I am happy to make that a monthly event for those of us who like to be more hands on and face-to-face. It was great to see you. I probably won't schedule one for the month of December with the end of semester and the holiday season, but let’s shoot for January if anyone is interested. And last week Sunday my wife and I were out celebrating 24 years of marital bliss. But this week we are back with….

Weekly Tech Tips


Let’s start with something more geared to the youngest among us, since I know this newsletter often tilts towards the Middle and High Schools. It’s called a Make and Take, and I love it. This is a Thanksgiving (US Thanksgiving) themed one, but you don’t really have to use it as such. Lot’s of turkey-baste (🦃😆) activities as well as a section on gratitude and thankfulness. See what you think, and if you have any ideas to share, by all means, please do add them to the grid:

Thanksgiving Make & Take

I’ve written many times about Google’s Applied Digital Skills. These are short self contained lessons that teach you digital skills while also guiding you through the steps to make a useful tool or artifact. This one teaches Google Slide Skills while creating your own cookbook.

Create a Cookbook in Google Slides

Here are two more that teach Slides

Spreading Gratitude

Scrapbook


This Week’s Apps and Resources


I tried this out, and I have seen a few tutorials produced with it. I wasn’t blown away by the quality of the tutorial produced, but considering how much time I spent on it ( < 1 minute) and how easy it is to use I can see myself using this again. 

Tango instruction maker

Tango | Create beautiful step-by-step guides with screenshots, in seconds

It’s a browser addon that records what you are doing on your screen and turns it into a gif that autofocuses on the clicks you make. It is a great way to make quick instructions for students and parents on how to use an app or site. 


And this one, well it is either serenely relaxing or maddeningly frustrating depending on your mood / personality.

Balance Rocks


As often, several of these useful and fun apps / sites come from Mr. Raphael at Android Intelligence. If you’d like to sign up for his newsletter directly you can do so here:

https://www.androidintel.net/refer/?rh_ref=fe2c21e8


Et cetera


I will host an Open EdTech PD a Sunday in January  from 1:30 to 3:00 PM in the GSIS library (or alternatively room 304 if that is a problem). Google Workspace for Education is my area, but I am happy to try to help with whatever, just don’t bring me your broken macbook, I have no idea what to do with that 😝 . Please let me know if you are interested in that. Send me an email at this modified GSIS email address (did you know you can turn your 1 email address into infinite variations and then set up filters to sort them into a specific folder?)

wigentons+japd2022@gsis.sc.kr and let me know what you’d like to know more about. If it helps and folks come, then I will endeavor to commit at least one Sunday a month to similar live PDs.


Don’t forget you can self study for the Google Certified Educator Program in our

New Google Workspace for Education GCE Google Classroom


You can discuss edtech, education or anything really in a Google Group outside of the GSIS domain here: GSIS2020


And you can read through the Weekly Tech Tip archives on this blog

Weekly Tech Tips



Have a great week,


Scott

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