Google Tools You Have Never Heard Of 

@LisaBerghoff*

There are only a few short weeks of school left and I am not sure our brains can handle too many new things right now. We are hyper focused on what we need to do to get across the finish line of the school year. However, while we are encouraging our students to keep learning, I thought it would be a good idea to give you some helpful, interesting, and lesser-known tools within Google that are not a heavy lift in terms of brainpower, but can be powerful in the classroom. 

Here are five. You can manage five.

1. Reverse Image Search:

You can upload a picture to Google's image search at images.google.com to find out more information about that picture. This is a great way to find out more about products. Have that item in your classroom that you love but can't remember where you got it? Snap a picture and do a reverse image search.

2. Fact Check Tools

This is a search tool from Google that allows you to browse and search for fact checks on any topic. Facts are provided by journalists and researchers. This is great to help bust information that is circulating around social media. Items will have a rating to help you determine its credibility. It will also indicate how often it has been checked. 

Go to toolbox.google.com/factcheck/explorer

3. Google Fonts

Google provides over 1,400 web fonts that you can use within Google tools or download. Go to fonts.google.com You can filter and search the fonts to find just what you are looking for. 

4. Verse By Verse

Write a poem with AI-powered help from famous poets. 

Go to sites.research.google/versebyverse

You can select up to three poets as your muses. Then, you choose your poem structure and the number of syllables in each line of verse. Finally, you will begin typing your poem. After your first line, you can look to your muses for ideas. 

5. Data GIF Maker

We know that visuals can have a strong positive impact on learning. We also know that data literacy is a skill that is highly valued in the workplace and will likely be even more so in the future. The data gif maker is a simple but powerful tool that allows you to compare data and create stories with gifs. You can choose from three different styles. Just enter your data and click to create your gif.

Did you already know about these? What are some that I missed? 

*Special thanks to Eric Curts for inspiring this post and sharing his resources under a creative commons license. 

Your New Favorite Time Saver!

TextBlaze

@LisaBerghoff

We have made it to May! This is such an exciting and exhausting time of year. There is so much to do and now we are running out of time but also, we really really need a break and summer can't come soon enough. I am grateful for any technology that can help provide shortcuts and I was excited to learn about TextBlaze, a chrome extension that allows you to save text and templates that you can input with shortcuts or by clicking on your list of saved snippets. Are you tired of typing the same text over and over again in emails? Typing the same feedback for students repeatedly? Want to save multiple text threads to your clipboard to be used later? You can do all this and more with TextBlaze.

What Is It?

TextBlaze is a website and chrome extension that allows you to streamline your work by creating smart text expansions. You can eliminate repetitive typing by creating customized templates and automating their use. You can also eliminate the constant circle of copy/paste for multiple items. Your snippets can have styled text including bold, underline, colors, links, and lists. TextBlaze can also insert the current date or a date relative to the present. For example, it can calculate and insert the date 2 weeks from now. According to the website, "TextBlaze works with Gmail, Google Docs, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and wherever else you may be." You can also share and collaborate. TextBlaze is a fremium tool. Check out what you get with the free version here. You can organize your snippets into folders, insert a dynamic form, and more.

How To Get Started:

Go to blaze.today and create an account using your Google account. From the homepage, you can install the Chrome extension.

Check out this 90 second video showing a quick get started guide for educators.

Once you have your account created, go to the dashboard and TextBlaze will walk you through how to create your first snippet.

 To create a new snippet, just click the plus button. You can choose the shortcut, give it a label, and create the text that will be inserted when the shortcut is typed.  There is also a built-in AI generator to help you create your text. There is also the ability to rewrite everything in Spanish. 

Beyond Getting Started:

Want to explore all the things you can do with TextBlaze? They have a wonderful page filled with easy to follow guides with short videos that accompany them.

TextBlaze is simple, straightforward, and it delivers on what it promises. This is the perfect time of year to consider using some tools to help streamline and automate those tasks that get repetitive. 

Are you ready to give TextBlaze a try?

You Can Do That With Canva?

 

@LisaBerghoff

The finish line is in sight and we are tired, fatigued, exhausted from the race. But we also see that the days are getting longer, the tulips have bloomed, and summer is around the corner. Is this the time to slow down or even stop? Absolutely not. This is the time to reenergize for the final push. This is a wonderful time to tap into your creative side and even try something new. Canva has been taking the business and educational worlds by storm and they are certainly not showing any signs of stopping. There is so much you can do with Canva and I know it can feel overwhelming. Here are five new-ish and simple things that I bet you didn't know you could do.  I hope you will give these a try with your students. They deserve a spark of creativity too.

1. Canva Whiteboard Sticky Notes Sorting

Canva has a wonderful whiteboard feature with lots of templates. You can also just start with a completely blank slate. (RIP Jamboard). The new feature is that you can select and sort sticky notes on your whiteboard. Choose your sorting preference by name, color, or topic.

How To Do It: 

• From Canva's homepage choose whiteboard and choose a blank or a specific type. You will then see many templates to choose from. You can search for a specific type, like "mind map". 
• Add sticky notes from the Elements menu on the left. You can make this collaborative by having teams of thinkers on the same whiteboard.
• Click and drag to highlight the sticky notes and choose Sort. Pick how you want the notes sorted and let Canva do the rest.

2. Tell A Data Story With Animation

Canva's newest animation- Bar Chart Race, effortlessly turns data into beautiful animated visualizations that vividly illustrate data changes. 

How To Do It:

• From your Canva project choose Bar Chart Race from the Elements menu on the left.
• Click to add or upload your data.
• Configure your labels, values, and more in the Settings tab.
• Click to play and view your animated data story. 

3. Convert Your Canva Doc Into A Presentation 

OR A Website With One Click

When creating a presentation or website, it's a good idea to get all of your content down before you go down the design rabbit hole. Canva allows you to take your text and easily convert it from a doc to a presentation. You can also publish your doc to the web and instantly create a website. This could be a wonderful option if you are sharing and don't want your recipients to be forced to log in to Canva.

How To Do It:

• From your Canva homescreen choose docs and generate your content.
• Click the Convert button and choose your presentation layout.
• To create a website, click the Share button and choose Website. 

4. Extract Audio From Your Videos

There has been some disappointment in the Canva video editor. It is not as robust as we would like. In the age of creating massive amounts of video content, we want to be able to do a lot. The folks at Canva seem to be working on it. You now have the ability to extract the audio from your video files. This can be a great way to use voice over content, split audio, or incorporate b-roll. Tell your students about this capability and I am guessing they will come up with lots of uses for it.

How To Do It:

• From the Canva homescreen choose video.
• Upload your video content.
• Right click on the video viewer and choose Extract Audio. The audio waveform will appear below the video. You can then enlarge the thumbnail to get more granular with the editing.

5. Utilize Apps Within Canva

When I am doing a mini lesson using Canva in your classes, I always love when there are a handful of students who just take it and run with it. They often create something so unique that they are really proud and want to show how they did it. One hundred percent of the time when this happens, they have discovered and used an app within Canva. I know, Canva itself is amazing, but just think about the possibilities when you can incorporate YouTube, Google Drive, AI talking characters, and more.

How To Do It:

• From the Canva homescreen choose what you want to create.
• From the left toolbar, choose Apps.
• There are featured apps, trending apps, more from Canva, AI powered apps, apps to automatically add subtitles, and more. 
• Once you use an app, it will appear in the Your Apps tab.

Note: Some apps are freemium.

I have used apps within Canva to embed YouTube videos, animate images, import from Google Drive, 

Here is one that automatically colorizes black and white photos. 

What are some things you do with Canva that would surprise us? Which of these are you ready to try? Let me know. I would love to help you get started. 

 Need A Generative AI Tool For Research?

Try Perplexity

@LisaBerghoff

Sometimes I feel like I am a personal shopper for edtech tools. I actually really love it. Come to me with a task you are trying to accomplish or a problem you want to solve, and I will bring you a few options to try on and see what fits best. Lately I am getting a lot of questions about generaive AI and the "best" tools to use. For those of you who are newer to AI, generative AI tools basically generate new content based on a variety of inputs. AI tools are different from doing an internet search such as Google because instead of searching, filtering, and sorting, AI tools create content that is new and are designed to work through a series of conversational style queries. You have probably heard of some of the most common generative AI tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot are some of the big ones. The task of figuring out which is best becomes tricky because there is so much crossover from one tool to the next. I have my favorites, and I will tell you what they are and why, but ultimately you need to see what works best for you. 

One generative AI tool that stands out to me for research use is Perplexity. Let me explain what it is and why I like it.

What is Perplexity.AI?

Perplexity AI is a powerful AI-powered search and conversational tool.  In simple terms, Perplexity AI is like having an expert research assistant at your fingertips. It can quickly find and summarize relevant information from the internet in real time on any topic you're teaching or learning, providing detailed, well-researched responses. 

Perplexity AI works by using advanced language models and algorithms to understand the context and meaning behind your queries, rather than just matching keywords. This allows it to provide more relevant and insightful information compared to a typical search engine. With the help of the advanced answer engine, it processes your questions and tasks It then uses predictive text capabilities to generate useful responses, choosing the best one from multiple sources, and summarizes the results in a concise way.

Importantly, Perplexity AI also clearly cites the sources it uses, allowing you and your  students to evaluate the credibility of the information. This promotes critical thinking and information literacy skills.

What Should I Use Perplexity.AI For ?

Here's what the website has to say about that:

How Do I Get Started With Perplexity.AI?

1. Go to perplexity.ai and log in.

2. You can start typing in the "ask anything" box and click the arrow to get your response.

That's it! Here are a few more things for you to know:

• If you click the Focus button in the "ask anything" box, you will see some options. More about those below.
• Once you get your results, you will see the sources used. You can also choose to eliminate certain sources.
• You can  share the results with a link, or click the rewrite button to have it give another try.
• Underneath your results you will also see some suggested follow up prompts, or you can write your own. 

Watch below to see how it works:

How To Use Search Focus:

When you click on the focus button, you will see several options. Here is what they mean.

1. Writing Mode: Writing mode enables you to have a conversation and perform tasks with the help of AI assistant without accessing the internet. This is particularly useful for generating and processing text and code.

2. All: This is a comprehensive search of everything on the internet.

3. Academic: A specialized search within scholarly articles and educational publications.

4. Wolfram Alpha: A focus on computational data and mathematical calculations.

5. YouTube: Allows for targeted searches within YouTube, offering timestamps and the option to watch videos in-platform.

6. Reddit: Focuses on community discussions and opinions, providing a streamlined experience that filters out irrelevant content.

How Do I Know What To Ask?

Crafting an AI prompt is quickly becoming a necessary skill and one that we should be teaching our students, in my opinion. It takes practice and patience. Here are some good tips from Perplexity.ai to get you started.

Ready to give Perplexity a try?

Let me know! I am happy to help get you started.

Accessibility Features 

(For EVERYONE) 

In Schoology

 

@LisaBerghoff

Some of you are familiar with Universal Design For Learning. I found the UDL framework from CAST about the same time I became interested in Design Thinking and the intersection of the two led me to believe that much of the way I thought about teaching students who struggle with learning was just plain wrong. In case you're new here, let me catch you up. Universal Design For Learning is a framework, based in neuroscience, that emphasizes the need for options for students in the areas of engagement, action and expression, and representation. The UDL guidelines 3.0 are being unveiled in July of 2024 and I am so excited to see the updated version. To see the current version, click here. The basic gist is that as educators our job is to try to remove barriers to student learning by providing multiple means for students to be engaged, take in information, and show what they know. Universal Design is a design principle that states that environments should be accessed and understood by all. 

It is through these ideas that I have come to understand that when we design for the edges, everyone benefits. Accessibility tools may be created for people with specific disabilities, but by allowing everyone to use them, there will be advantages for all. 

With spring assessments coming up, this seemed like a good time to take a look at the accessibility features found within Schoology.

1. Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader is built in to all Schoology assignments, pages, and discussion boards. It rolled out a few years ago but it's kind of incredible to me how few people have actually clicked on it. When you open immersive reader, you will notice that the text loads in a dyslexic friendly font. You have the ability to have the text read to you, and of course the ability to adjust the reading settings, including the reader speed and voice. In addition, you can have the text translated into many languages. You can also have the syllables separated and the parts of speech color coded. There is also a line focus feature which only shows a small amount of text on the screen and a picture dictionary. 

Here is what it looks and sounds like:

Check out the other features here:

2. Accessibility Checker

In case accessibility is not in the forefront of you mind at all times, there is a built in accessibility checker that will help you make sure your content is accessibility friendly.

When you are in the editor, just click on the accessibility icon and it will walk you through any issues you may have and what to do to rectify them. Take a look at how it works:

3. Assessment Settings

The assessment toolbar settings can offer many options to students that can help keep them on task and lower anxiety. As the teacher, you need to adjust the settings to make these features available. 

Allow students to be able to flag questions so they can go back and review them later.

Allow students to eliminate answer choices in multiple choice questions.

Allow for the use of a calculator, ruler, or protractor.

Allow students to highlight text.

Provide a notepad for students. 

4. Create Pop-Up Content In Assessment Questions:

Did you know that you can add pop-up content in your assessments? Help your students help themselves by including clarifying information for them. If a student asked you during the assessment, you would answer, so why not provide it to all and let them click instead of calling you over for help. When you are editing your question, highlight some text and then click the icon to add pop-up content. You can then type in clarifying text or you can even add an image. Click on preview to see how the question appears to students. Here is what it looks like when it's done.

5. Allow Students To Submit In Text, Audio, Or Video. 

Discussion questions are a wonderful way to continue the sense of community you create in the classroom. It can also give opportunities for students to participate in ways that they might not when you are in class together. When you create a discussion question in Schoology, all students have an equal opportunity to share and be heard. Students can respond to Schoology discussion prompts by typing text, recording audio, or recording video. What is nice is that the recordings happen right in Schoology so there's no saving, downloading, or uploading to do. You and your students can also respond to each other in the same manner. All your students need is permission from you to give it a try.

When you click in the discussion box to respond, all you need to do is click on the microphone icon. 

Then, choose the recording type.

Click to begin recording.

Click again to stop recording and then choose insert audio/video. If you don't like it, you can always rerecord.

By allowing students to choose the mode in which they respond, you can make your online discussions more accessible to all students.

Ok, these are my top five favorites. Which ones do you love that I missed? Which ones will you try? Want some help? I'm here for you!

Watch Your Words Come To Life!

Ideogram AI

@LisaBerghoff

There is lots of buzz around artificial intelligence, what it can and can't do, what it should and shouldn't do. When I talk to educators, one of the biggest questions that I get asked is about use of generative AI to create images. This is such wonderful news because images are very important in learning. Using images along with words can help students remember, retain, and make connections, so let's look at how to create images.

There are so many AI text to image generators out there and some are better than others. Through trial and error we are also seeing that generative AI is good at creating some types of images and not so great at creating others.

I was recently introduced to an exceptional AI generative text to image tool called Ideogram.AI and I was very impressed. Here is what you need to know.

What is Ideogram.ai?

From the website:

Ideogram (pronounced "eye-diogram") is a new AI company on a mission to help people become more creative. The company is developing state-of-the-art AI tools that will make creative expression more accessible, fun, and efficient. It's pushing the limits of what's possible with AI, with a focus on creativity and a high standard for trust and safety. The company has built its own foundation models for text to image synthesis and as a result, Ideogram v0.1 and v0.2 have unique capabilities, such as rendering coherent text into text. Click below for a 1 minute introduction to Ideogram.ai.

How To Use Ideogram.ai

1. Go to ideogram.ai and login or sign up using your Google account.
2. Pick a username/display handle. 
3. Describe what you want to see and click "generate". You will see four options appear. Click on one to choose it. Yes! You can prompt in other languages!

4. From there, you can click "retry" to generate again. You can also copy your prompt as well as the "magic prompt", which is an ai generated version of your prompt that has a lot of detail. You may also share or download your image.

Here's one that I made. It took three prompt changes to get what I wanted but even the first attempt was very good. 

Image created by Lberghoff on Ideogram.ai

What Else Can You Do With Ideogram? 

Click "explore" and "top" to see what others have created. If you like something that was already generated by someone else, you can click on it to see the prompt. You can also choose "remix" and adapt the prompt to meet your needs. This can be a huge time saver as well as a great way to learn how to prompt ai for images. 

You can also choose to follow creators who make things that you like. Those will appear when you click "following". When you open an image created by someone else, you can click the follow button to see everything that they generate.

Want to go back and see what you have already created? Click on your profile in the upper right hand corner and you will see all of your images on the screen. 

Image created by Jennrobi on Ideogram.ai

Is Ideogram free?

Yes-ish. There is a free version that allows up to 25 prompts per day in what they call the "slow queue". I have not experienced an issue with generation speed but the paid versions have access to their "fast queue". Also, all images generated using the free version are considered public.

Consider having your students use Ideogram to create logos, images to go with their presentations, images that can demonstrate their understanding of a particular concept, and more. Another interesting activity would be to click on the "explore" tab in ideogram, click on an image, and then look at the prompt. You can also have students compare the prompt to the magic prompt. What words were used to create the image? When you read the words, do you see a different image? This is a wonderful entry point into the world of AI prompting for students. Remember, students can also remix images that they find. Students an also create on Ideogram and then put those images into Canva to be even more creative. 

How will you use Ideogram?

Want some help? I am always happy to work with you!

 

Communicate With Students And Families 

Using Remind

@LisaBerghoff

With the wide range of ways we get our information, texting seems to be at the top of the preferred list for both students and parents. It makes sense because it is fast and easy and text messages tend to be short and to the point. If you are sending lengthy emails, chances are, they are not being read carefully. While this may be frustrating, it can also be liberating. You don't need to craft long email messages, hooray! And you don't need to be stumped by how to send text messages safely because we have Remind, a communication platform designed to reach students and families that is approved by our district for educator use.

What Is Remind?

Remind is a communication platform that gives you the ability to communicate solely by text with parents, teachers, and students without giving them your personal phone number. You can also adjust the settings so students can text you back in a district approved environment. Since we have a district account, Remind automatically creates classes based on your Infinite Campus roster so there is no need to give students a code to join. Yes, there is an app, but it is not necessary to have the app to receive messages. Everyone can customize their notification preferences to determine how they want to receive messages. 

How Do I Use Remind?

Remind can be accessed from your computer or your phone. It's a good idea to start on your computer. 

1. Go to Remind.com and log in using your school Google account.

2. From the dashboard, choose a class and click "New New Message" 

3. Select or search a class or a specific person and click continue

4. Type your message at the bottom and click send. 

You can also schedule your messages, add content such as photos and videos,  and translate to other languages. 

Types of messages:

Announcement: These messages can be sent at the class level and allow you to send something to everyone in the class, or multiple classes, at the same time. Even though the message is being sent to the entire class, replies will only go to you.

Role-Based Messaging: You can select specific roles to receive your messages, like students and parents. Just like with a class announcement, only you will see the replies.  

Let's take a look at the Remind dashboard from the computer. As you can see, you have the list of classes that you own followed by the list of classes you have joined down the left side of the screen. At the top, you can see all messages sent, files, the list of people in the class, any calls that were made, and the settings for that class. It is in the class settings where you can see the class code to join, as well as the class settings for visibility and messaging options. 

To adjust your notification settings, click your name in the upper left and then click on Account Settings and then Notification Preferences. This is where you can decide if you want text messages sent to your phone so you don't need to use the app. The choice is yours to make.

Want to know more? You can check out the Remind Learning Center where there are articles and short "courses" you can take to learn more about how to get the most out of your Remind account. Just click on your name and then click "Learning Center".

Want some help getting up and running with Remind? Let me know. I'm always happy to lend a hand.