Tech Tuesday Tips

I was doing some research for a resource visit last week, and I came across this great resource from the University of Colorado Boulder. It is called PhET and it provides free interactive math and science simulations.   Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery. The simulations are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded to your computer. All simulations are open source and are free to all students and teachers. They are great to show on your interactive board. Here's a short video introduction to the PhET simulations: A couple of my favorite simulations are the Plinko Probability simulation, Balancing Chemical Equations simulation, and John Travoltage . Check out PhET and see how you can use it in your classroom!

This idea comes from working with Kathy Laney at Hicksville. We were looking at how to convert a paper form presentation rubric and came up with the idea of using a google form and submitting a record each time the student does a presentation. The results are tabulated in a spreadsheet  Here is a link to make a copy of the Form https://goo.gl/KHNgTA Once you have the copy of the form in your drive you will need to open it and click on the responses tab and create a new spreadsheet to hold your results. (click the Green icon)  You will notice that the questions from the form correspond to columns in the spreadsheet. Each question has one answer (a checkbox) with the value X. Checking a box will result in an X in that column in the spreadsheet which makes it easy to see at a glance who has been assessed and what they scored. To customize you can delete the demo students and add your own by editing the first question. Intermediate Ti

Have you ever heard of Google Keep? Its a little known google app that lives in your gSuite account and if you have not tried it for few months it may be worth your while to give it another look. So what is Google Keep? If you are familiar with Evernote or even Apple's notes app then you probably have some idea. Basically a note taking program that syncs across all your devices. So what are some of the uses that you can put it to? Save your shortened urls or QR codes Take notes at a parent teacher conference. Capture photos of a conference presentation. Record a voice memo Make a shopping list Share action items with your team. Google Keep is available in apps and as a chrome application. It works in iOS and Android as well as in your favorite browser. Give it a try and see if you find it useful. I certainly did this week.

It is helpful to create shared files in Drive so that multiple people can view, comment, and/or edit them. It is even better to create shared folders. The difference between a shared folder versus just a shared file is that you can set the permissions to the folder to be view, comment, or edit and then anything (doc, slide show, sheet, drawing, etc) that you move into that folder will automatically assume those permissions. To create a folder: Click on the Blue New button and select folder. Next ,  do a right click (control + click on a mac) and select Share. Choose how you want to share it (view, edit, comment) and type the email addresses or a contact group in the people box. Once this folder is created and shared, anything you drag into that folder will automatically assume those shared permissions. So, if you create a folder with view only rights to your whole first period class, then anything that you drag into that folder will have view only rights for your whole first period

by Kristie Hughes When you start to create folders in Drive, you will notice that they all have a gray color to them. You can change the colors of your folders to help organize your information and make it easier to find the folder you are looking for.  Step One: Create your Folder - Click on the Blue New button and select Folder.  Then, name your folder. Step Two: Right Click on your folder (control + click on a Mac) and select Color. Pick the color that you want.  This will change the color of your folder allowing it to be found easier and will help with organization.