Wednesday, October 31, 2018

How to change when your Windows 10 machine goes to sleep.

If you would like to change when your Windows 10 machine goes to sleep try the following:

  • Select the Windows icon (bottom left)
  • Settings gear
    • Power and Sleep
    • Adjust when you would like it to sleep on battery as well as when plugged in
    • For additional settings - select Additional Power Settings and adjust to fit your needs
    • When you have made your adjustments make sure to select Software Center
      • Options (top right)
      • Power Management
      • Make sure to select Do not apply power settings from my IT department


Embedded below is a 1 minute and 38 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

How to add and edit Google's new shortcuts on the home page

If you would like to utilize Google's new shortcuts on their home page make sure to select a new tab or select the three dots on a previously created tab.

Embedded below is a GIF as well as a 36 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad

Monday, October 29, 2018

How to add audio to your Google Slides presentation

If you would like to add audio to your Google Slides presentation, try adding the extension Audio Player for Slides.

Once you allow the permissions, make sure you right click on the slide and select manage audio. You will then see the options you see below in which you can record or upload (must be an MP3 in Google Drive).

When uploading audio it could be a perfect time to discuss copyright laws and rules. To make sure you do not violate any of these, try some free files in Internet Archive.

When adding audio you have the option to play the audio on selected slides, or throughout the whole presentation.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 2 minute YouTube tutorial. Big thank you to Layla Lyons for sharing this with me!




Take care,
Brad


Sunday, October 28, 2018

How to find what version of Windows your computer is running

If you need to know what version of Windows your computer is running simply type in winver (short for Windows version) in the search box on your computer. In the example I show below my coputer is currently running on version 1803 (Windows 10).

If you do not see a search bar make sure to right click in an open area on your toolbar (bottom of screen). When you right click make sure to select Cortana - show search box.


Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 30 second YouTube tutorial.





Take care,
Brad




Saturday, October 27, 2018

Time saver when want to open a new Doc, Sheet, Slides, Site, or Forms in Google

The other day I had some fellow teachers ask me for some quick ways to create a doc, sheet, or slide and I blogged about it here - using the Google Docs quick create extension.

Yesterday (10/26/2018) Google announced a number of simple ways to access Docs, Sheets, Slides, Sites, or Forms.
  • Docs
    • doc.new
    • docs.new
    • documents.new
  • Sheets
    • sheet.new
    • sheets.new
    • spreadsheet.new
  • Slides
    • slide.new
    • slides.new
    • deck.new
    • presentation.new
  • Forms
    • form.new
    • forms.new
  • Sites
    • site.new
    • sites.new
    • website.new
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 5 second YouTube tutorial as well as Google's GIF.





Take care,
Brad

Friday, October 26, 2018

Give Wikipedia a new look with the extension Wikiwand

The extension Wikiwand gives Wikipedia a whole new look. Makes it more appealing to the eye and easier to search.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 9 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Simple way to quickly create a Doc, Sheet, Slide, Form, or Drawing in your Chrome Browser

If you utilize Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, or Drawings and would like a simple way to quickly create one, try adding the Google Docs Quick Create extension.

Once the extension is added, simply select the extension and choose what you would like to create.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 47 second YouTube tutorial.





Take care,
Brad

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

How to Sync information across devices in Chrome - great for when your tech department needs to update your computer 😉

If you would like to sync information across the devices you use Chrome in, make sure to select the icon next to the three dots (upper right).

Once you select the icon, make sure to follow the directions and sign-in when prompted. You will then need to verify it is you and then Linc Data. Give it a few seconds and you will then see your information synced (bookmarks, addresses, and saved passwords included).

This is great for seeing the same information in Chrome at home that you do at work, as well as for those times that your technology department needs to update your computer! 😉

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 2 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

How to use sound level in Classroomscreen.com

If you would like to set a sound level in your classroom - try using Classroomscreen's sound level.

A few bits of advice:

  • Use Chrome or Firefox
  • Allow the microphone access (a pop-up window will come up)
  • Adjust the scroll bar according to your specifications
  • Adjust the sensitivity 
  • Decide to turn on the bell (right side)
    • If do not use the bell the bar will turn from green to red
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 12 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Monday, October 22, 2018

Add 1,200 additional fonts to your Google Docs using the extensis fonts add-on

If you use Google Docs and would like access to more than 1,200 additional fonts, make sure to add the Extensis fonts add-on.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 40 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

Sunday, October 21, 2018

How to quickly find all available fonts in Google Docs.

If you would like to search for all available fonts in Google Docs make sure you select fonts and then select.



You then will see filters that you see below
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 8 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Saturday, October 20, 2018

Pixel Art in Google Sheets!

The other day my 6 year old son came home and begged me to go on to the computer to show me what he did in technology class. Of course we jumped on to Google Classroom (proof that 6 year-olds can use Google) and he showed me his project - Pixel Art in Google Sheets!

How awesome is that?!?!?!?! 6 year olds being introduced to the amazing world of spreadsheets in a fun and exciting way. Jack talked to me about what pixels are and how he could create whatever he wanted in this sheet! That deserves a huge shout-out to his technology teacher - (Liz Dowiak) , school (South Elementary), and school district (Perkiomen Valley)!

Once he went to bed I took a look and of course this was developed by Alice Keeler. If you would like to read more about Pixel Art - click here for Alice's blog post.

You can use Alice's sheet by clicking here - it will create a copy for you in Google Drive.

I have created a GIF followed by a 3 minute and 9 second YouTube tutorial in which I take you through the steps, how to alter some of the pixel colors, how to alter the size of your sheet as well.




GO!!!!
Brad


Friday, October 19, 2018

Deleted apps on your iPhone? Here is how to see what apps are no longer on your phone.

The other day I deleted an app by mistake and I could not remember what app it was (my phone was in my pocket). If you would like to see what apps are no longer on your iPhone, but once were, take a look below:
  • Settings the app store
  • Select your picture (upper right)
  • Select Purchased
  • My Purchases
  • Top of screen select Not on this iPhone
  • Scroll down and find that app
Embedded below is a 50 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Changed password in Outlook (or another email)? Here is what to do on your iPhone to change the password.

If you had to change your password in Outlook (or another email) - here is how you can place the changed password on your iPhone.

Select Settings
Passwords/Accounts
Select Exchange (or other services)
Add your new password

Embedded below is a 40 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Certify'em - use this add-on to instantly send a certificate when someone fills out your Google Form

Certify'em is a Google Add-on that will instantly send a certificate to a user when they pass your Google Form. In order to pass a form, you will be able to set the parameters of what "passing" means.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 2 minute and 58 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad


Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Mathplayground - find fun math games, logic games, videos, and share to Google Classroom

Mathplayground is a great website for finding fun math games, logic games, as well as math videos to introduce topics.

What is relatively new is the option to share instantly to your Google Classroom. This is a great option as it focuses the students to the specific "game" you would like them to use.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 55 second YouTube video.



Take care,
Brad

Monday, October 15, 2018

Want to animate your photos and "bring them to life"? Try with the Enlight Pixaloop app

The Pixaloop app  is one in which you can animate photos from your camera roll. The app is pretty simple to use.

One recommendation (mentioned in the embedded video below) is to make sure that when you want to animate your photo you use the anchor options to "lockdown" parts of your photo you do not want to animate. An example in the video below is my Bitmoji - I did not want my Bitmoji to animate but wanted the "fire" to. I made sure to select anchor and made a number of anchor points to "lockdown" the image.

This is a fun app to animate your photos to stand out for friends, students, etc.

Take care,
Brad

Sunday, October 14, 2018

Time-saving emoji keyboard trick for iPhone

If you would have a text that is ready to send but want to see what possible emojis are available to take the place of the text, try this.


  • Once the text has been written, select and hold down the globe (bottom left next to 123)
  • You will see keyboard options available
  • Select emoji
  • You will then see the text be "scanned" and text that is available in emoji form will be orange.
  • Select the orange text and select the text that you would like to replace as an emoji
Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 54 second YouTube tutorial.





Take care,
Brad

TV App on your iOS device. How to search to find a show and see which apps you can view it with.

The TV app on your iOS could be one of those apps on your device that you seldom use. When you launch the app you will see options at the bottom of the screen that includes:
  • Watch Now - suggestions on what to watch (lots of trending shows/movies, sports, etc.
  • Sports - see what is live now based on categories
  • Library - shows your library of purchased shows and movies
  • Store - launches the store where you can buy/rent shows, takes you to hulu, prime video, etc
  • Search - type in a show and then see where you can rent/buy/watch
Embedded below is a 55 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Friday, October 12, 2018

ReadWorks - Student view as well as how to see results from assignments from a teacher point of view.

In yesterday's post, the website Readworks was discussed.

In today's post you will see what an assignment looks like when it is assigned to a student in Google Classroom (including the options available to students) as well as how students can easily see their results when they take a quiz.

Embedded below is a GIF as well as a 3 minute and 2 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

Thursday, October 11, 2018

ReadWorks - access to thousands of K-12 articles and assign through a self-created class or through Google Classroom

ReadWorks is an amazing site that allows you to search for K-12 articles by individual topic, category, grade level, lexile, or type of text (non-fiction, fiction, poetry).

The articles can be easily printed out and include the ability to include or not include additional information (vocabulary, comprehension questions, answer keys, etc).

While you can create your own class manually, you can also easily import your class from Google Classroom.

The best reason for creating a class is the ability to easily assign articles you like to your class. If you use Google Classroom and assign an article to your class you have a number of options. The options include (picture embedded below): if you want the audio included along with the article, what questions you want to be included, vocabulary, if you want to share with your whole class, just specific students, publish to Google Stream, start date and due date.


Embedded below is a GIF and a  2 minute and 39 second YouTube tutorial of what it looks like from a teacher point of view.






If you have any information, please reach out.
Brad

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

How to not put a Passcode on your iPad/iPhone when you update

When you update your iPad or iPhone and you DO NOT want to add a Passcode (especially helpful when using in a shared environment) follow the steps below. Of course, a Passcode is extremely useful when using in an environment other than a classroom. I am not endorsing to not use a Passcode, just showing how it can be done.

  • When prompted to create a Passcode select the blue Passcode Options on the bottom of the screen
  • Select Don't Add a Passcode




  • Select Continue when prompted "Are you sure you don't want to add a Passcode?"
Take care,
Brad

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Flipgrid - How students can access your Grid School Email Domain or Student ID List

Two ways you can have your students access your grid in Flipgrid is to choose the correct community type. There are three community types School Email Domain, Student ID List, and PLCs and Public Grids (this is for participants over 16 and intended for your network).


The first option is by School Email Domain. In this option, you will need to enter everything after the @ symbol for how students access their email accounts. In the district where I work the domain is student.methacton.org.

The second option is a Student ID List in which you can upload a CSV file or manually add them. You will not need to add their actual name if you do not wish to. All that is needed is that you use at least two characters (letters, numbers, symbols). If blank, a random ID will be generated.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 3 minute and 25 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad

Monday, October 8, 2018

Can't send or receive emails in Outlook? Check send/receive and then look for Work Offline option

If you have ever used Outlook on your computer and noticed that no emails were coming in or going out, chances are the Work Offline option has been selected.

To unselect this, simply go to:

  • Send/receive
  • Look to the right side for the Work Offline option
  • Toggle it off
Embedded below is a 24 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Sunday, October 7, 2018

Change the specific time for when you want your Google Slides presentation to advance


If you have a Google Slides presentation that you would like to Auto-advance at a time other than Google's defaults, simply change the number at the end of the published presentation.

In the example below I will be publishing the presentation to every 3 seconds (default) to every 20 seconds.

  • File - Publish to the Web
  • Select Publish
  • Copy the Url
  • Change the ending number from 3000 (3 seconds) to 20000 (20 seconds)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vT3jfvTEa2pcYJk5Z9PmhsK5NEfJRsbUXYXgT vMYm7oSZsFOqzZQ_4fpR6x-mj8wN0MRmzyfLMDF1ZL/pub? start=false&loop=false&delayms= 3000 3000 CHANGE TO 20000


Thank you to my friend Layla Lyons for telling me about this trick!

Embedded below is a 1 minute YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad





Saturday, October 6, 2018

How to use Air-Drop on your iPhone to send or accept files

If you have ever had someone say they would like to "Air-drop" a picture to you and you were not sure what they meant or how to to do it, here you go.

Air-drop is basically a simple way to send something like a picture without having to send an email or text.

In order to have your iPhone ready to accept or send files:

  • Select the settings gear
  • Select General
  • AirDrop
    • choose Receiving off (would not make sense if want to use it)
    • Contacts Only
    • Everyone
Open a photo and select the square with the up arrow (share button) - you will then see the user(s) who have AirDrop ready to accept the file.

If you are accepting a file, a pop-up window will appear and you can choose to accept or decline.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 7 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Friday, October 5, 2018

Padlet - Use the Chrome extension to add a screen recording

Padlet is a valuable resource for communication between teachers and students. If you would like more tutorials on the ins and outs of Padlet - click here for some blog posts I have created.

An option in Padlet is the ability to add a screen recording of up to 5 minutes of video. What the user will need to do is add the Chrome extension to have this option -  click here for the Padlet Chrome extension.

Embedded below is a 2 minute and 9 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Nice notification/reminder when miss a call in iOS12

A nice feature I just noticed today was when I picked up my phone (after missing a phone call) was a reminder that my wife called and I missed it.

A picture of what the notification, as well as a 13 second YouTube tutorial of what it looks like, is below.




Take care,
Brad

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

This week's blog posts (iOS12 updates, Quizizz, Halloween Rebus stories, Live Photos)









Halloween🎃👻🦇 Rebus Stories📖. Thank you🙌 Eric Curts for creating and sharing!

It is October and Eric Curts has again created a great way for your students to write a story in a fun and creative way - Rebus Stories. A rebus is a fun way to tell a story through the use of text and pictures (emojis).


Eric has created a Google Doc template for you to share with your class. Click here for Eric's post on his website . You can also access the link here:
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Be2g9fBrNAyw9PsMBq1zli8MCVrwW976oqJyBt1LCFY/copy


When the students select Make a Copy this will force a copy of the doc into their Google Drive and they can start working on creating their story.

A few items to point out.

  1. Students can alter the size or style of the font just as they would in any doc.
  2. To select the emoji they would like to use make sure they click and drag over the image they want. Then select Ctrl c to copy and Ctrl v to paste.
  3. If they would like to search for other emojis they can access them by selecting insert special character and selecting emojis (this is also underneath of the emojis on the doc).
  4. If a student makes a mistake and erases something, please remind them of Ctrl z (or the undo button). 😀
Embedded below is a 2 minute and 18 second YouTube tutorial I created.


Take care,
Brad

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

iPhone and iPad User Guide for iOS12 in Apple Books app.

If you would like a user guide for the iPhone and iPad (iOS12) try searching in the Apple Books app. When you open the app search for "iPhone and iPad User Guide for iOS12".

Select Get and you will have access to the Guide.

Embedded below is a 45 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Monday, October 1, 2018

Do Not Disturb options in iOS 12 (For 1 hour, Until this evening, Until you leave a location, Until end of event, or schedule)

In iOS12 a great option to make sure that you are not disturbed is to set the Do Not Disturb options in iOS 12.  You can set for 1 hour, Until this evening, Until you leave a location, Until the end of event, or schedule).

To access the Do Not Disturb options swipe from the bottom of your screen and then look for the Do Not Disturb 'moon'. Make sure to press on the moon with a bit of pressure. You will then see the options mentioned above.

Embedded below is a 59 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad