Let's Talk EdTech

It's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the new technology coming out each year and many of us spend most of our time learning (or trying to learn) those new tools. In Brian's last summer soapbox, he argues for a different approach on choosing what to learn. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:50 TPACK Framework Technology, Pedagogy, and Content Knowledge 2:00 Visualize the Venn diagram How does technology influence pedagogy? How does your pedagogy change based on the content you're teaching? What technology do you have to support your content? 2:40 Your technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge 3:0…

The Chrome browser has 65% market share in terms of usage. In other words, six out of 10 people use it every day as their only tool for the web. If you're a Chrome user, Brian has some power tips for you to become a true wizard. Links Four ways to be a Chrome power user The super shortcut cheat sheet Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:44 What is Google Chrome? Also, Brian was wrong about the usage stats in the audio Vivaldi browser if you want to check out a cool alternative 2:27 Tip 1: Bookmarks Add a bookmark 3:13 Tip 2: Re-open closed tabs Control + Shift + T (Windows) Command + Shift + T (Mac) Rel…

Have you ever felt frustrated with another department, in particular, your IT department? That relationship can cause friction, especially if you're in edtech and running into roadblocks. Today, Brian shares some ideas on how to work better with your IT department. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:13 Tip 1: Get to know your technicians 3:25 Tip 2: Ask follow up questions Use non-confrontational language: "Please help me understand...", "Can you explain why...?" 4:28 Tip 3: Be as specific and detailed as possible when asking for help Never send "No subject" emails! Explain what you've tried Inc…

Brian is all alone this summer and needed to keep the podcast recording moving. In this episode, Brian talks about the best productivity tool for anyone trying to be efficient in their work. Links The BEST Productivity Tool for your Team Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:02 The best tool is the calendar 1:35 Don't use email to coordinate meetings 1:55 Share free/busy time on your calendar How to change your calendar settings 2:45 Attach documents to your calendar events 4:10 Use Find a Time to schedule large groups See calendars side by side to find a time to meet 5:30 What tips do you have?

Beth and Holly get together to talk about how to use translation tools to make text more accessible to your students. Brian also makes an appearance. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:10 Snap & Read Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Take a photo of text to have it read aloud Translate text found using OCR Text-to-speech, translation, and text-replacement in Safari 5:05 Google Translate Use the camera to translate print text live 5:55 Conversation mode in Google Translate One on one translating between two people Fast & easy to open Can be slow to translate 7:12 Microsoft Translator Conversation mod…

In Elkhart, we use iOS for our student device and Google for all of our cloud productivity tools, but which one is better ? Beth and Billie Jo break down when to use what and why you shouldn't discount iOS tools when it comes to your technology use in class. Links We have a summer conference! Sign up for your Canva Education account WATCH: Using Numbers as a template creator USE: Billie Jo's Great Lakes Numbers activity Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:55 Distracted by docs.new 1:40 Google Docs vs Pages Creating nice-looking templates Embedded media (video/audio) Placeholders for inserting their own…

The amount of technology in schools can be overwhelming, especially if you have a different device than your students for classroom use. In this episode, Beth and Billie Jo explain why they tried to use student devices more than their teacher device in the classroom. Links Join us at our summer conference! Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:50 Our technology tools 2:45 Ask yourself, "What's possible with the student device?" 3:50 Start simple: timers! Set a timer on iOS 5:28 Use Apple Classroom for transitions How to use multitasking on iOS 7:20 Take advantage of the camera 8:15 Organize the home sc…

The school year has come - or is coming - to a close. Beth and Billie Jo talk through their top tips for closing out your year so you're ready to jump back into teaching with technology in the fall. Links Filtering Gmail in 40 seconds Join us at the DOT Conference - August 7-8, 2023 Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:45 Clean up Gmail with filters and labels 4:00 Don't mark things as read when you filter 5:20 Filter emails by date to separate summer stuff 6:38 Delete "Untitled" stuff from Google Drive 7:00 Sort files by size and remove big stuff Click on "Storage" in the bottom left corner of Goog…

Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides which allows you to add interactive bits to your presentations. In this episode, Brian and Holly talk over what Pear Deck is and why it's a great tool to pull into your teaching. Links Formative vs Summative Classroom Techniques Helping students own vocabulary Adding audio to Google Slides Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:16 What is Pear Deck and how does it work? Learn more at peardeck.com 4:20 Using Pear Deck in different contexts Professional development conversation starters Substitute teaching activities 5:45 Watch thinking happen in real time 7:05 Using…

ChatGPT is all over the place and schools are trying to figure out how to manage some of the implications. We don't talk about any of that in this episode. Instead, Brian teaches Holly about what AI is and how it actually works. If you want to know more about what goes on behind the screen when you talk with ChatGPT, this episode is for you. Worth reading Explore ChatGPT in these curated resources ChatGPT is a Blurry JPEG of the Web Stephen Wolfram has a super in depth look at Large Language Model AI Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:30 When was the term "artificial intelligence" first used? 2:03 W…

Video is a powerful teaching tool - it can be used to introduce ideas, remediate, or extend what you're doing with students. And don't limit it to yourself - have your students create their own videos to show what they know. In this episode, Billie Jo and Beth go through their top tips for teaching with video. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:50 Beth wishes Billie Jo had introduced this episode 1:00 Why videos? Screen record on the Mac 2:58 Making videos with your phone or iPad Screen record on an iPad Different types of videos you can make 4:00 Using video in rotation stations 4:58 Loop videos in u…

We're taking a slight detour and using a whole episode to talk about stuff that's making us happy both at work and at home. Beth and Billie Jo share some of their delights that are sure to put a smile on your face. Join us this August at Elkhart's summer learning series. More details and registration information are on our website . Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:02 Beth's new superpower 2:05 Billie Jo discovers a Super Mario Bros. secret 3:13 Beth loves using AI tools at work Twee - ELA activities and questions generated from YouTube links Curipod - AI-assisted lesson builder 7:00 Billie Jo and p…

We're big fans of Canva in every way and this spring, they delivered 10 gifts for users. Beth and Billie Jo run through each of these new tools and why you'd want to try using them in your classroom. Check out the full announcement from Canva here Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:25 Magic Design - drag any picture in to automatically design a post using AI 2:25 Draw your ideas - draw on top of any template, design, photo, or video 3:10 Translate - translate any text in your design with one click 3:45 Magic Eraser - easily remove something from any photo 5:35 Magic Edit - clean up photos by describin…

iOS includes dozens of ways to make using the iPad more accessible. In this episode, Beth and Holly go over their favorite settings to use and why you should use them yourself and with students. Check out our video demonstrating most of these tools Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:00 Enable dictation 2:05 Speak Screen and Speak Selection 3:14 Use Alex as the Siri voice for a more natural sound 4:45 Reader View in Safari to clean up and annotate web pages Watch Beth annotate an article with Reader View 6:20 Use Guided Access to help students focus during work times 8:59 Let students make their own ch…

QR codes have been around for almost 30 years and really became popular during the COVID restrictions. In this episode, Beth and Billie Jo share 21 ways you can use QR codes in your classroom to make life easier for you and your students. Links Denny Hammond shares a great trick for using QR codes on Chromebooks Our one-click QR code video Other ideas for using QR codes Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:45 What is a QR code? 1:45 Nerd alert: how many possible QR codes are there? 2:40 Why use QR codes? 3:37 How do you make a QR code? Chrome Bit.ly Canva https://qrtiger.com 4:15 Static vs dynamic QR co…

All four coaches gather in this episode to discuss things that really bother us. Join us for our conference! Do One Thing (DOT) Conference August 7-8, 2023 Elkhart, Indiana Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:35 Explaining the idea of the episode 1:10 Why Holly doesn't like sandwiches 2:10 Brian doesn't know what Chik-fil-A sauce is 2:30 Are hot dogs or burgers sandwiches? 3:35 Adults cannot be picky eaters 4:30 Beth's frustrations with Bitmoji Classrooms Lack of accessibility, high stimulation, time spent vs impact on students 5:48 Putting work into your career is good, but not at the expense of meani…

Chrome Extensions are little plugins you can add to your browser. There are millions to pick from, so in this episode, Beth, Billie Jo, and Holly talk through their favorites and why you should consider adding them to your browser. Join us for our conference! Do One Thing (DOT) Conference August 7-8, 2023 Elkhart, Indiana Timestamps 0:00 Introduction 0:35 OneTab Save open tabs as saves them into sets you can reopen Good for saving projects or other things you want to explore later Keeps you from having to keep bookmarks for everything 2:40 Colorzilla Pick colors from websites to match in pr…

If you've ever attended a conference for professional development, how you prepare to go can make a big difference. In this episode, Beth, BIllie Jo, and Holly talk through how our team prepares and spends conference time to make sure every minute is as worthwhile as possible. Join us for our conference! Do One Thing (DOT) Conference August 7-8, 2023 Elkhart, Indiana Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:54 Plan ahead! Check out the conference sessions before you go Look at presenter slides or handouts if they're available Pay attention to vendor sessions 2:15 Contact presenters before you go to ask ques…

Hands up, gloves off: Beth, Billie Jo, and Holly try to create their perfect Google team in a draft format. For each category, the coach picks their top tool or feature, hoping to beat the others out. Producer Brian is the benevolent judge of all picks and ultimately decide who has the best team. Don't miss these links Slidesmania Google Docs are still Cool Use captions on your Google Slides presentations (video) Creating Google Slides themes (video) Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:57 The draft explained 1:25 Wheel of names 2:02 Round 1 - Google Calendar Billie Jo - Appointment scheduler Holly - Fi…

Epic is a free reading platform for kids. Teachers are able to set up classrooms and allow students to pick from books in the teacher's library. In today's episode, Holly talks about things she didn't use while teaching that she wished she had. Read : Holly's blog post with her tips Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:45 What is Epic? 1:45 Tip 1: "Read to me" books Books read and highlight text as it's reading Accessibility tools included Good way to have kids read above their comfort level 2:50 Create a collection of challenging Read to Me books for students 3:50 Tip 2: Use the audiobooks! Listening…

In today's episode, Brian blindsides Beth with an article claiming that virtual reality (VR) will be a big hit in 2023 to help students find community in schools. Listen to their hot takes on virtual and augmented reality as helpful tools for students and teachers. Did you like this episode? Let us know by leaving a review or by sending us an email at pd@elkhart.k12.in.us . Timestamps 0:00 Cold Open 0:30 Introduction 0:55 "Venture Capitalists say AI in the Classroom and Tech Meant to help Students will be Big in 2023" Read on Business Insider What is ChatGPT ? Our ChatGPT blog post 1:30 B…

Brian and Beth finally sit down to talk about their favorite things in Canvas. They managed to pick different things even though they didn't talk about their choices ahead of recording, so that's a win. Be sure to send us your favorite Canvas tips by emailing pd@elkhart.k12.in.us or by sending a tweet to @ElkhartEdTech. Timestamps 0:00 Cold open 0:30 Intro 0:42 Beth: Modules (and Mastery Paths) Modules allow you to chunk information Mastery Paths let you differentiate tasks based on their skill 2:20 Brian: Customize your course navigation Update your course navigation in Settings > Navigati…

Billie Jo sits down with Rickie Meyers, Elkhart's Dyslexia Coordinator. Her responsibilities include screening all students for characteristics of dyslexia, working with parents and families for students showing those characteristics, and providing training and support for Elkhart staff. Timestamps 0:30 Intro 0:48 What does a Dyslexia Coordinator do? 1:30 Rickie’s background 2:47 Characteristics of dyslexia vs diagnosis 4:00 Degrees of severity 5:10 What can teachers do? 7:55 Professional development options 9:20 Getting in touch Links Rickie’s YouTube channel ECS Accessibility Resources Ne…

Holly, Beth, and - for the first time, Brian - spend time talking to each other about how they learn new things. In this episode, you'll hear us forget how to start a podcast, how to grow ideas into your own, relying on huge groups of like-minded people, and more. Timestamps 0:25 We forget how to start the show 1:50 Brian clicks around a lot 2:40 Let's get on Google 3:20 Finding the best of the answers, but maybe not the perfect answer 4:00 Using specific search terms in Google 4:20 Holly's use of mega-group chats 5:10 Gold EDU Google Group 6:35 How do you choose what to focus on? 7:40 Keep…

Google Docs may seem like old school tech at this point, but there is are still new features being added and new uses for some good old word processing fun. Beth and Holly discuss when they first started using Docs and how it's still a major part of our work day to day. Timestamps 0:40 How old is Google Docs? 1:10 Turns out we're not as old as we thought 1:45 Beth's favorite way of using Docs Notes Agendas Anything you need to go back to at some point New ways to do more than just paragraphs 2:20 The power of the "@" symbol 4:05 Create email drafts in Docs 5:30 Keeping multiple email draf…

Canva is a free design tool you can use to make just about anything. One of the best things is that teachers get access to Canva Pro features for free! In this episode, Beth and Holly go over some of their favorite things about using Canva in your classrooms. Get your free pro account https://canva.com/education Log in with your school info Timestamps 0:45 What is Canva? 1:30 What can't you make? 3:05 Removing image backgrounds Also check out https://remove.bg 3:45 Font pairing to make your stuff shine 4:00 Use the jillions of pre-made templates 4:45 Embedding things from Canva Check out th…

Billi Jo interviews Elkhart's Elementary Media Specialist, Lindsey Walters. She shares what she does day to day, how she uses the library to engage teachers and students, and ways you can interact with your librarian to expand on class instruction. 0:00 Introduction 1:00 What does a media specialist do? 1:52 Developing a curriculum for the library 2:58 Technology in the library 4:12 Curating materials for teachers and students 6:22 Partnering with the local public library 8:04 Book tasting and guided reading circles 10:48 Indiana's read aloud committee 12:19 Reading as "windows, mirrors, a…

Billie Jo and Holly talk with Dodie Norris, the Elkhart elementary math coach, about a huge project they just finished. If you're using Math Expressions, you now have access to a complete set of Quick Practice slides you can use with your students. This saves you the time and energy to make your own and lets you get started now using quick practice routines in your class. Blog post announcement Classroom slides by grade level What's making us happy this week? Billie Jo: Slides templates in Google Slides for consistency Dodie: Optimal potatoes Holly: Our laptop docks also charge our computers

Do you use Seesaw? In this episode, Billie Jo and Holly bring their favorite things about Seesaw to discuss. You'll hear about the new Seesaw Library, how to manage communication with families, and some tips on using Seesaw Groups with your students to make life easier. Timestamps 0:00 Intro 1:15 Billie Jo is driving the Seesaw wagon 1:26 Tip 1: Seesaw Library 3:00 Daily routines in the Seesaw Library 4:22 Tip 2: Seesaw Groups 6:20 Can you use emojis on groups? 6:50 Tip 3: Scheduling activities like a boss 8:17 Tip 4: Seesaw Messaging 9:42 An actual example of Announcements vs Conversations…

Keyboard shortcuts can make your work more efficient and help with common tasks. Beth and Holly go through their favorite shortcuts and discover the magic of using "cut" instead of "copy/paste." Here's a handy reference sheet of everything we discussed - and more! 1:30 - Insert a hyperlink 2:10 - Cut text 3:20 - Toggle open tabs in Chrome 4:00 - Open a new Chrome tab 4:30 - Open a link in a new tab 5:00 - Switch between open windows or programs 6:15 - Reopen a closed Chrome tab 6:55 - Make a window full screen 7:55 - Select all content 8:55 - Emoji picker 9:55 - Screenshots 11:25 - Undo…

Beth and Billie Jo bring their biggest personal pet peeves they face in their Google accounts. Beth is converting all of her tab titles to emojis. Billie Jo explains what "carbon copying" is. 1:40 - Calendar event documents 3:15 - Too many tabs in Chrome 5:08 - Workona (Chrome Extension) 6:20 - Going to google.com to start a search 7:05 - Reply to all in Gmail 8:25 - Using “bcc” over “cc” in emails 10:20 - Managing your bookmarks bar What’s making you happy this week? Taylor Swift tickets Seesaw Youtube link tip

There is more than one way to send a message in Google. Google Chat is built right into Gmail and allows you to get in touch with someone without having to send an wait for an email to come back. Billie Jo and Beth go over where to find Google Chat and then why you would choose to use Google Chat over email. You'll also hear Beth get excited about names you can give your Chat Spaces with your PLC team. Tips: Where to find your chat Creating groups Creating spaces Searching for everything in spaces Beth's space name suggestions for all situations Google Chat conversation summaries are pretty…

Billie Jo and Beth share their four favorite tools within IXL. Why would you care about each of these and what difference do they make in your classroom? IXL Quizzes Live Classroom activities Assigning skills for students Adding audio support (check out Teaching Settings on your account) Links Googlify your PLC processes Elkhart PD Elkhart Instructional Technology blog Find us @ElkhartEdTech on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook