How to create and share a tour in Google Earth.

The other day I shared a tour of all 30 baseball stadiums - Google Earth Tour of all 30 Major League Baseball Team Stadiums created in Tour Builder.

Today you will see how to create a tour in Google Earth with Tourbuilder. A few items to point out while creating a tour:

• Make sure you are signed in to your Google Account
• Simply name your tour and your name
• Feel free to add a cover photo as well as any additional information you would like your audience to have. There are additional options below including type of story (2-D, 3-D), as well as path color.
• You can then add a location.
• Continue to add as many locations as you would like and then select done editing.
• You can then share your tour by email, or change your sharing settings and copy the url and share away!

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 2 minute and 21 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Google Earth Tour of all 30 Major League Baseball Team Stadiums created in Tour Builder

With MLB Baseball getting into full gear, I thought I would create a Google Earth tour using Tour Builder of all 30 MLB stadiums.

The stadiums are organized by league and division.

Click here for a link to the tour in Tour Builder and click here for the KMZ file to upload to view specifically in Google Earth.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 57 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Adobe Spark Post - Create an image for Social Media Post

The Adobe Spark Post app is a great app to quickly create a post with stunning graphics. You can simply use Adobe's templates, or create your own.

In the example below I created one from scratch and chose to load an image from their free database. Once the picture, or pictures are found, you then have the options below for what social media site you would like to use.

Once created you then have additional options as well. The one I focused on dealt with effects. I altered the way the text was presented and then downloaded the newly created 4 second "video". I would recommend downloading the video and then uploading to Giphy to make it into a GIF. You can then share it where you would like to.

Embedded below is a 2 minute and 24 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Wheel of names - awesome random name picker

Wheel of names is an amazing random name picker. Below are reasons why it is awesome:

• Can add as many names as needed
• Use full sentences / paragraphs
• Use images
• Customize the color, speed of spin, as well as what message is displayed when winner's name comes up
• You can search by hashtag to import users
• You can save your list (must have a Google account)
• You can share your list with others as well.

Embedded below is a GIF (showing a Twitter search) followed by a 2 minute and 24 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Use yellkey.com to generate a url that is easy to share with a group of participants

Tony Vincent shared the other day about using yellkey to an easy to share url with your participants.

All you need to do is copy the link and enter into yellkey, choose the amount of time (5 minutes to 24 hours) you would like the URL to be live, and generate yellkey.

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

Take care,

Brad

Quizlet Live combines teamwork and communication!

Quizlet Live! is an amazing tool built into Quizlet's platform. In Quizlet Live! students work in teams to correctly match terms and definitions. What sets Quizlet Live! apart from others is the fact that students are grouped into teams (you need at least 4 students to play), each with a device, and the players on each team have the same question asked. However, only one players has an answer that is correct. So students must collaborate and agree on a final answer. There is no time limit; however, if students get an answer wrong they go back to 0.

Embedded below is a 2 minute and 9 second YouTube tutorial I created as well as a 2 minute and 2 second YouTube tutorial from Quizlet.

Take care,
Brad

Sound playing in a Chrome tab and want to quickly mute it? Right click and "Mute Site"

In the past you would have to check out Chrome Flags and allow audio muting  UI control. Click here for a blog post I created  April  of 2018 about it.

Now, all you have to do is simply right click  on the tab and select Mute Site.

Why is this great? Say you are playing some music in one tab and working on something in another tab. Someone comes into your room and you can just select the mute sound in the tab.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 24 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Let Siri streamline actions for you - ask to Start a Run, play ESPN radio, text a friend, etc.

If you would like to add some items for Siri to perform for you, simply go into Settings - Siri and Search, then tap + to add a phrase.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 3 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Wakelet new Feature! You can now save content from other people's collections.

A great new feature is available now in Wakelet. You can easily add content from other user's collections into your own.

This is great for making your collection as personalized as you can with the content that is right for you.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 54 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Look at this - watch the rise and fall of the 10 biggest cities in the World since 1500

John Burn-Murdoch  shared his project showing the changing ranks of the 10 biggest cities in the world since 1500.

Take a look at the embedded Tweet below to watch the rise and fall of cities. So many ways educators can use this. Why were these cities so populated? What caused them to fall/rise? What continents showed the most rise in population in the 1500s/1600s/1700s/1800s etc? A lot of research can be done to explain the how and why. Flipgrid would be an amazing tool to allow students to share their findings.

Fascinating to watch giant cities vanish after falling in conquests, and amazing that three UK cities were in the top 8 in the late 1800s. pic.twitter.com/KglMZbYobr

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) March 18, 2019

Take care,
Brad

Teaching Measurement? Use Google Earth's measurement tool to make learning come to life.

If you are teaching measurement to your class, a great real life way for students to get a deeper understanding of what measurement looks like, try Google Earth's measurement tool (bottom left side in Google Earth).

Simply select the measurement tool and measure perimeter, area, distance in meters, km, miles, smoots 😉, etc.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 2 minute and 23 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Teachable Machine - an experiment in Google that lets you explore how machine learning works

Teachable Machine is an experiment in Google that lets you explore how machine learning works. You can teach your machine using your camera and make it respond through GIFs, Sound, or Speech.

When you launch the experiment you will need to enable the camera. You will see that there are three GIFs that are loaded and ready for you. If you would like to adjust them, simply select the GIF and search for the GIF you are looking for.

When you are ready, make the facial expression, movement, etc. that you would like a GIF to trigger and hold down Train Green. When ready, change your expression/movement and select Train Purple, and finally Train Orange.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 59 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Wakelet - Enable Wakelet extension for new tabs - create a collection or drag individual tab to a collection

Wakelet is an amazing tool that allows you to create a collection of anything you like that has a link. Wakelet's extension allows you to create a collection of open tabs as well as one I overlooked in the past. The overlooked feature is the ability to drag individual tabs to a collection in Wakelet.

Embedded below is a 37 second YouTube tutorial as well as a collection about Wakelet.

Take care,
Brad

6ABC Weather School - see and understand how different weather concepts work plus be able to ask questions

In the Philadelphia area, 6ABC's Cecily Tynan annouced that she will be launching 6ABC Weather School. Embedded below is Cecily's Tweet about 6ABC Weather School as well as her introductory video. 

What is also great is that if you have any questions or if there are additional topics you would like Cecily to cover you can submit them in a form (click here or see form below).

Proud to announce "@6abc Weather School" I hope this will be an interesting, informative & useful resource for teachers, students anyone who wants to learn more about meteorology. How appropriate this is launching on #DressforSTEM day! https://t.co/KhxNeVWHKC

— Cecily Tynan (@CecilyTynan) March 14, 2019

If you have questions you can fill out the form you see below.

Take care,

Brad

Where on Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Google Earth and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have joined together to bring you an homage to the original game.

To launch Carmen Sandiego look for Carmen's icon or "Launch button" in Chrome, iOS, as well as Android.

Once Carmen Sandiego has been launched you select Begin the Chase you will need to accept the first assignment (The Crown Jewels have been stolen from London). You will then see the ability to use the magnifying glass to interview witnesses in each city, the airplane when you think you know where the suspect has gone.

Just like in the original,  along the way you  will learn facts about each city you travel to. Once completed I am sure you and your students will be wishing for more, well, there is good and bad news. There are no more available right now; however, there are two more adventures set to be released at a later date (see pictures below the GIF and YouTube video).

Another bit of good news - if your students are really into Google Earth check out their picks, games, layers, nature, culture, travel, and education by clicking here.

Embedded below is  a brief tutorial (on Chrome).

As always, if any questions please let me know.
Brad

New Wakelet Feature! Share your collection in Remind

Wakelet just keeps coming out with new features. The newest one is the ability to instantly share a collection with those who are in your Remind class (families or students). This is great to share everything from your newsletter to a collection of resources for an upcoming topic students will be studying.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 28 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Wakelet new feature - create your own newsfeed

Wakelet continues to add more and more features that well, continue to just get better!! With this new feature (available in Beta on iOS devices) you can select news and create your own newsfeed from sources that include Entertainment, Science, Sports, Technology, Health, and Business. You have to include at least three sources to start your feed.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 12 second YouTube tutorial. You can also see a collection of blog posts revolving around Wakelet by clicking here or embedded below the tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Right click on a link to instantly add it to a collection in Wakelet

Another great feature has been rolled out by Wakelet - the ability to right click on a link and add it to a collection. If you are not sure what Wakelet is, Wakelet is a website that allows you to create collections of anything that interests you that has a link. To find out more about Wakelet - click here for a collection of blog posts I created about Wakelet.

To enable this feature, make sure you have enabled the Wakelet extension in Chrome. To add the extension click here. 

Embedded below is a GIF as well as a 1 minute and 33 second YouTube tutorial showing how quickly you can add links to a collection by right clicking.

Take care,

Brad

Classroomscreen.com - New backgrounds in drawing tool.

Classroomscreen has continued to add on to this amazing tool. This update revolves around the drawing tool and the ability to add new backgrounds. Take a look at the GIF below as well as the 42 second YouTube tutorial. For more tutorials revolving around Classroomscreen, see the embedded Wakelet collection below or click here.

Take care,
Brad

Team Drives basic info + how to add files on both mobile and notebook devices

If you take pictures and would like to have a common place for your whole school (or District) to store those photos/videos/files  - Google's Team Drive is a solution.

Click below for a blog post I created in December:
 Team Drives - A brief overview showing the basics of Team Drive in Google Drive

Team Drive - add photos and files on mobile device click on the embedded 2 minute and 27 second video below.

Team Drives - How to add photos and videos on a notebook - click on the embedded 1 minute and 50 second YouTube video below.

Take care,
Brad

Great add-on for foreign language teachers called Easy Accents

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to add accents in Google Docs (or Slides) try the Easy Accents add-on. Click here for the link.

For a list of shortcuts on how to add accents on your Windows-based device - click here.

For a list of shortcuts on how to add accents on your Mac device - click here.


Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 17 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Use Google App to search images, voice and quick searches, as well as search Incognito.

Google's 3D Touch allows you to have an Instant image, voice, quick searches as well as ability to Share Google and Search Incognito.

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

Take care,
Brad

Quizalize - Differentiation feature Student and teacher point of view

A great feature in Quizalize is the ability to add a differentiation feature when students score under 50%, between 50-80%, as well as over 80%. Teachers have the ability to add a PDF, web link, or YouTube link.

Once students take the assessment, check their results, and select Finish, they will then be taken to the differentiation feature (in this case a YouTube link). As the teacher you can see the results of the assessment as well as who has said they watched the video and who did not.

Embedded below is a 3 minute and 42 second YouTube tutorial.
For a blog post I created about how to create an assessment in Quizizz - click here. Please note it was made 2 years ago.

Take care,
Brad

You can now add a table of contents in Google Sites

A nice feature has been added that allows you to add a table of contents in any pages that you would like to. This is a great feature as it allows the user to quickly find the information they are looking for on your site.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 52 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Spark 🔥 responses in Flipgrid

Flipgrid is an amazing platform that gives everyone a voice.

When a response is one in which you believe it would spark further discussion, this is where "spark responses" comes into play.

To the right of the response you will see the Actions button. Select that and then choose Spark Response. From there you you will have the ability to  create a Topic using the student's video as the Topic Resource. You will be able to edit the settings for this new Topic once you select Spark.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 1 minute and 18 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Delete or archive an email on your iPhone / iPad by mistake? Here's a simple way to get it back.

Tony Vincent shared on Twitter this simple trick. If you use the mail app on an iPhone or iPad and you delete or archive an email by mistake, simply shake the device and then select Undo when the Undo Archive pop up window appears. Even works when delete or archive multiple emails.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 22 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,
Brad

Showcase amazing student videos using the Mixtape 📼 option in Flipgrid 📼🔥

Share "mic-drop" moments with an audience!

Flipgrid's mixtape option enables you to pick from any response in any of your Grids and share it in a view-only format.

MixTapes could be from a parent night, movie night, STEM class, Physics experiments, etc. These mixtapes could also be shared with a community and they could Follow your MixTape to receive updates when new videos are added.

For more information, watch the embedded GIF, 1 minute and 50 second YouTube tutorial below, or click on this link.

Take care,
Brad

Send your location using Apple or Google Maps

Apple and Google Maps are amazing apps that enables us to navigate to our destinations. A little known aspect of these maps is the ability to send your exact location to others through text, email, social media, etc.

This is great for numerous reasons, one I think of right away is when a friend doesn't know exactly where they are - now they can give you exact directions.

Embedded below is a 28 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

More user actions in Twitter Mute, Block, Report, Turn off Retweets, etc.

If you use Twitter it is important to note that there are options to Mute, Block, Report, etc. The reason I am pointing this out is because lately I have had some colleagues and friends ask if they could still follow a company, but kind of take a break from them. Make sure to select Mute and you are good to go.

Embedded below is a GIF followed by a 39 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Looking for an amazing free Run app to keep your stats as well as inspire? Try the Nike + Running App

I can not say enough positive comments about an app that keeps track of your running stats, allows you to add music in the background, challenges you, and motivates you - it is the Nike + Running App.

The ability to quickly start the run (even using Siri) is outstanding; however, the aspect of the app I love the most is the guided runs, especially the Headspace runs with Andy Puddicombe and Coach Bennett. The ease at which they start the run is absolutely perfect; however, it is the wisdom and knowledge they drop on you throughout your guided run. I have used their advice and applied it to my own like, be it at school or at home with my wife and 2 children. I am forever grateful to them both.

Embedded below is a 2 minute and 36 second YouTube tutorial.

Take care,

Brad

Kodable - Programming for kids with lessons focused on student outcomes. How to sign up and student POV.

Kodable is an amazing website and app that has programming lessons for students (4-11) that are focused on student outcomes.

Kodable is free for educators and is simple to sign up and create multiple classes. Yes, you can even use your Google Classroom to sign your students up for an account.

The lessons start off with a nice tutorial and students ages 4 will be successful. Yes, over time the lessons do become more challenging, but that is the beauty of the site. That plus very likable characters makes Kodable a no-brainer for teachers in K-5.

Parents can sign up as well. If you sign-up by the month it is $6.99 a month, if you sign-up for the year it is $59.99 or $4.99 a month.

Embedded below is a 3 minute and 15 second YouTube tutorial showing how to sign-up as a classroom teacher as well as what it looks like from a student point of view.

Take care,

Brad