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Friday, 16 August 2013
TechForum Edtech Conferences coming up soon!
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Edmodocon is Aug 7th - free online conference on using Digital Tools in the Classroom
Edmodocon is a free online conference on using Digital Tools in the Classroom. It will be held August 7th. It is hosted by Edmodo, a free online classroom management system. Edmodo features a social media section, class files, bulletin boards, and much more.
Edmodocon is a great way to get some free professional development and learn some new things to use in the new school year.
You could even attend while sitting at the beach or pool!
Click HERE to register (for free).
Related:
Edmodo - first year using it with my students - so far, AWESOME!
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Google Reader is Shutting Down July 1st - here's a great replacement
Lots of people use Google Reader as their RSS feed reader, including a few thousand who follow this blog using the RSS feed. Google is shutting down Google Reader as of July 1st. Here's how you can backup your subscriptions and a great replacement you can use.
You can export your Google Reader Data (subscriptions) using Google Takeout. Google Takeout actually lets you export pretty much all your Google account data. You go to Google Takeout, and go to the Reader page and click "Create Archive". This will then download all of your feeds, people you follow, starred items and more. When the file is completed, click download. The subscriptions.xml file in the zip file is your subscriptions that you will need to import into other readers.
The app I am using to replace Google Reader is Feedly. It has a web version, plus an Android and iOS app. It's easy to use, can be setup to look like Google Reader, or even better with some cool views with pictures and preview text. The apps sync with the web so no matter what device you use, your feeds will be up to date. It's also free. I've been using it for about a month and love it.
Feedly even has a one-click Google Reader import to make it easy to switch.
Remember, you need to export your data, or import into Feedly before July 1st!
Related:
Google Takeout - Take your Google Account Data with you (or just back it up)
Why I Use Google's Products as an Educator
Friday, 21 June 2013
Adobe Announces Updates to Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud was launched last year as a cloud offering of many of it's most popular applications. This month Adobe has announced a major update to it. The update adds new features, including cross device collaboration, syncing, and publishing. There is also an expanded community of users.
Adobe has also launched Create Now: a Celebration of Creativity, where Adobe will hots a variety of projects and programs and projects. You can read more about it here: http://adobe.ly/createnow
For more information about Adobe Creative Cloud and the updates, visit: https://creative.adobe.com/plans.
Evernote releases some great new features
Evernote is my go to app. In fact, in my position as CIO, I use two apps for 90% of my work - Outlook for email and calendar and Evernote for all my notes, project planning and more. I keep meeting notes, project management, reference files, clip websites and even save emails with Evernote clipper for Outlook. I use it on all my devices: desktop, smartphone, Nexus 7, Livescribe pen, and ScanSnap scanner and Chromebook and it is an indispensable app.
One thing I love about Evernote is that they are always working to improve it. This month, Evernote has announced some great new features.
The first new feature is reminders. Reminders allow you to add alarms to notes, create a to do list by pinning notes and mark tasks as they are complete. I use them for tasks and even to remind me to check notes for other information and tasks inside meeting notes. This feature is available on all platforms.
The next feature is using the Chrome web clipper to clip Gmail emails and attachments. I use the Outlook clipper and it's a great way to save emails, and their attachments, to Evernote. With Gmail being so popular, and so many schools using Google Apps for Education, this is a great feature to have. Save the important stuff to your Evernote account and keep you email account clean.
Evernote has also improved Penultimate for iPads and Evernote Food.
The Evernote blog is a great way to find out about features and tips. This weeks tip is organizing your notebooks in Notebook Stacks, which is a great way to keep things organized. Learn more →
Evernote is a great tool, that just keeps getting better.
Evernote for Education Resources
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Google accepting applications for next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Chicago July 24-25
Google is now accepting applications for the next Google Teacher Academy (GTA) in Chicago, Illinois on July 24-25. This is a great, free, professional development experience for educators that Google runs around the world. Teachers who have attended always give it rave reviews. If you use Google's tools, or plan to, and want to learn how to use them more effectively in education, this is your chance.
The GTA is a free professional development experience designed to help educators from around the globe get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, two-day event during which participants get hands-on experience with Google's free tools, learn about innovative instructional strategies, share with and teach colleagues, and immerse themselves in a supportive community of educators making impact.
Educators who attend a Google Teacher Academy become Google Certified Teachers (GCTs). GCTs are:
- Outstanding educators with a passion for using innovative technologies and approaches to improve teaching and learning.
- Creative leaders who understand opportunities and challenges, and have a desire to help empower others in their local community and beyond.
- Ambassadors for change who model high expectations, life-long learning, collaboration, equity, and innovation.
They also receive access to more resources and events from Google.
Monday, 20 May 2013
CloudConvert - online file format conversion
CloudConvert is a free, online file format conversion service that lets you easily convert files from different formats. Simply select, or drag and drop, your files, select options (email when done, send to Dropbox, send to Google Drive) and off you go. As it's name implies, everything is done in the cloud with no software to download. It also works in mobile browsers so you can convert files on the go to be able to view them on your mobile device.
The send to Dropbox and Google Drive are options that most conversion services don't have. Most of them send you an email with a link that you click on to download your converted file. This makes things more streamlined.
It supports over 100 audio, video, document, archive, image, ebook, spreadsheet and presentation formats with advanced options for each.
Guest users (no login) get 5 daily conversions, with up to 2 concurrent and a 100MB file size. Registered users (can user Google+, Facebook, Twitter, or create account) get 25 daily conversions and up to 5 concurrent conversions with a 1000 MB file size.
Related:
VLC - Awesome free video and audio player (and converter)
Lots of PDF resources - print, markup, convert and more
Media Converter - fast free online audio and video converter
Free Video Format Conversion Software (3 of them)
Zamzar - free online file conversion - great resource
Online Converter - convert file formats of audio, video, docs, eBooks, images and more
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