Monday, March 18, 2024

 Wait, How Did You Do That?

diverse group of happy babies sitting around a computer
The above image was created with Canva's text to image AI


@LisaBerghoff

There are many times during my time at school where I am in the middle of doing something and I hear, "Wait, how did you do that?". I know lots of great ways to get things done using technology, mostly because I am perpetually curious. Typically when I am asked that question there is not time to show how I did it because I am in the middle of demonstrating something, working with a class, or just at a time where there is no time. I want to circle back with each of you and show you individually but that is impossible so I decided to post a few here.
Here are some of the most recent- Wait, how did you do that? moments. 
Enjoy!

1. Use your phone as a clicker to advance slides using Remote For Slides or Canva.
I have owned several remote clickers for my computer. I tend to lose them, break them, or run out of batteries for them. Please don't judge me! Anyway, I always have my phone on me and I have been very happy with the Remote For Slides chrome extension. 


How To Do It:
1. Start by clicking here to get to the Chrome Webstore and add the extension to your Chrome profile.  
2. Open your Google slides presentation and choose: Present With Remote.
3. This will open your slides in presentation mode. Click the arrow on the right side of your screen to open the Remote For Slides panel.
4. Click to view the 6 digit code. (make sure to do this before you're connected to the projector so your students don't see it)
5. If you have an android phone, you can use the Remote For Slides app, or go to RemoteForSlides.com on your phone's browser, and enter the code.
You're good to go!




2. Share a link to specific text on a webpage.
We all know how easy it is to share a link with students or with colleagues. You can easily add a link to your materials page in Schoology and we can email or Google chat links to each other. However, when you grab the link from the URL bar (called the omnibox) you are sending the recipient to a webpage and counting on them to find the spot you want them to see. Did you know that you can create a sharable link that goes directly to specific highlighted text on a page?

How To Do It:
1. In Chrome, go to a page with text you want to share.
2. Highlight the text you want to share.
3. Right click on the highlighted text and select Copy Link To Highlight. If you don't see this option, it might not be available on the selected content.
4. Share the link by posting it in Schoology, emailing it, adding it to a doc, or however you want to share it.
To remove the highlight, right click the highlighted text and select Remove Highlight.




3. Create custom header images for Google forms, or anything really.
No offense to Google, but the image options in the Google Forms header gallery are pretty tired. When people fill out my form I want it to look customized. A customized Google form header signals to the person filling it out that this form is so important you took the time to customize it. This is easily done in Canva.




How To Do It:
1. Open Canva.com and sign in using your school Google credentials.
2. Next to "What will you design today?" click on Custom Size and enter 1600X400
3. Format your design and download as a png. 
4. On your Google form, click the theme (paint pallet) icon at the top and 
click Choose Image
5. Click upload and click and drag or click browse to locate your png that you just downloaded. Click done and enjoy.




4. Send an email or chat message to all attendees of a calendar event. 
Need to let the group know fast that the location of your meeting has changed? Are you running late and need to notify everyone in your meeting? You can do this quickly and easily from Google calendar. 

How To Do It:
1. In Google calendar, navigate to your calendar event/meeting.
2. Single click on the event to open the event details. 
3. Click on the chat icon or the email icon and craft your message and click send. If it's a chat message, Google chat will open in a new window. 



5. Quickly and easily access docs and files that have been shared in Google Chat Spaces.
Course teams and departments are making good use of Google Chat Spaces. Spaces allows for the ability to collaborate, share files, assign tasks, and review message history. You can also reply in threads in so you can more easily follow conversations. People often share links to docs, sheets, or other files in Spaces and if your group is very active, it can be frustrating to find those files. Spaces actually is already set up for you to both easily access files AND assign tasks.

How To Do It:
1. Navigate to your Google chat space by clicking the chat icon on the left toolbar of gmail.
2. Towards the bottom, view and click on one of your spaces.
3. At the top of your Space screen you will see three tabs: Chat, Files, Tasks.
4. Clicking on "files" will give you access to all files that have been shared in that space. You can also add a file within that tab and it will appear in the chat window.
5. Clicking on "tasks" will give the ability to assign tasks to members of the Space. Those tasks will appear on that person's Google task list and if there is a date and time added, it will also add to their calendar.



What did I miss? What are your favorites that people ask you- How did you do that? Are there any that you are hoping to learn? I'm happy to work with you and show you more!


Monday, March 11, 2024

"What Will You Dream Up Today?"

Adobe Firefly


@LisaBerghoff

I am loving all of the "what if" and "how might we" conversations that I have been having with colleagues around the world of AI in our educational spaces. First, I believe this massive shift that has happened over the 12 months has opened our minds to some new possibilities and sent us thinking in ways that we have not experienced before. Next, that shift has also energized us as we are understanding that the skills our students need are the same (communication, empathy, problem-solving, critical thinking) but also different (AI prompt engineering, analyzing information for credibility, managing our mental health in a world of social media) from what we experienced as students but also what we as educators understood our roles to be just a few years ago. I like to think of my own technology use in terms of consuming vs. creating. How much time am I spending using technology to consume and how much time am I using it to create? When the balance is tipped more towards consuming, I know I need to make a change because it is not good for my productivity nor is it good for my mental health.

What is Adobe Firefly?

According to Adobe's website, Adobe Firefly is a new family of creative generative AI models and is avaiable through features powered by Firefly, such as text to image generation and text effects. Adobe Firefly is free and is a standalone site from the rest of the Adobe suite but will work beautifully with the other Adobe tools.  Adobe shares that the images created by Firefly are "ethically sourced". It says that the ai training relies on a diverse and ethically sourced dataset which ensures that copyright laws and creative rights are respected. It was trained on Adobe stock images, openly licensed content, and public domain content, where the copyright has expired, and is designed to generate images safe for commercial use. 

In addition to the text to image generator, there are lots of other ai powered editing tools included with Adobe Firefly. 






Get Started With Adobe Firefly

To get started, go to firefly.adobe.com. That will take you to the main dashboard.

From there, you can go ahead and type text directly into the image generator, or you can scroll down and experiment with the other tools like generative fill (above), text effects, generative recolor, text to template, or text to vector graphic.

One thing that is really nice about Adobe Firefly is that it gives you samples and sample prompts that you can use to start with. I am someone who struggles when starting with a blank screen so this feature is really beneficial to me. 

This is the text effects tool:



Once you are happy with your creation, you can click the share icon in the upper right corder of your design. Hover your cursor and it will appear. From there you can choose to download it, copy it, edit in Adobe Express, or save it to your library. 




When you go to download your design, you will see a message that pops up explaining how Adobe is promoting transparency in AI. Content credentials are applied to let people know your image was generated with AI. There is also a link to learn more about content credentials.

This is a text image I created. The prompt was: woven thread in shades of blue. I had it match tightly to the shape.




Here is an image that I created in honor of women's history month and international women's day, using the text to image generator. I then edited it using Adobe Express to add the text. 




What will you and your students create using Adobe Firefly?

I can't wait to see! Want some help getting started? Let's connect and talk about how you can unleash your students' creativity using Adobe Firefly.




Monday, March 4, 2024

Google Tips And Tricks 



Things are changing all the time. This is true in all aspects of life. Not to get too deep on you here, but change is really the only thing you can count on. Learning how to embrace and accept change is one of those skills that we need to develop in our students because studies show that employers are looking for candidates who are adaptable, resilient, and innovative—qualities that are cultivated through a willingness to embrace change. By developing this skill in high school, students are better prepared for success in college, careers, and beyond.

As educators, it is vital that we model for our students what it looks like to embrace change. One way we can do that is by being transparent and having a growth mindset around technology. Google helps us do this often by instituting changes. While the changes are often subtle, they can also be powerful.

Here is a list of five of my favorite newer or lesser known capabilities within Chrome and Google Workspace. These are in no particular order.


1. Docs.New

Need to create a new Google doc, slides deck, google form, or google sheets?
Simply type: docs.new, slides.new, forms.new, or sheets.new into the ominbox (the URL bar) and voila! It will be created for you.


2. Make QR Codes Within Chrome

You don't need to use a website or other tool to create QR codes.
While you are on the site where you want the QR code to go, just click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner. Click on Save And Share and choose Create New QR Code.


3. Schedule A Time To Meet Directly From Gmail

You may not have noticed, but when you are composing a gmail message you will now see a mini calendar icon at the bottom of the screen. If you don't see the icon, click the three vertical dots, that's the "more" menu, and click where it says "set up a time to meet". You can choose days and times and then share them via email or create a calendar invite directly from gmail.






4. Snooze an email message

Struggling to manage your inbox? You're not the only one! Hover over, or click on a message in gmail and you will see a little clock icon. Click on the icon and you can snooze the message. It will disappear from your inbox and reappear on the date and time you select. Don't worry, it will come back, and then you can deal with it.


5. Easy Format With The Paint Roller Tool

There are times when we want the format of a section of text to match another section of text. You can do this in one fell swoop using the paint roller tool. Just highlight the text you like, then click on the paint roller and roll it over the text you want to change. Yes, it's that easy. You're welcome.



Have you tried any of these? Did I miss one of your favorites? Feel free to let me know.
Want some help with these or any other edtech project? Feel free to contact me or book a time on my calendar. 











Monday, February 26, 2024



Save Your Energy For Where You Shine Best!

MagicSchool AI 

@LisaBerghoff



 



In my 28 years as an educator, the phrase "teachers have too much on their plate" has been stated, at least  in some fashion, every single year. Not that it wasn't true before, it was, and it still is. It really really is true! Our roles in and out of the classroom continues to expand and grow, but not really evolve. More and more things get added to our to-do list each, and the lists from the previous years have not changed much. I am skeptical, leery even, of shiny new technology tools that claim to fix everything in education. Teaching is hard work. Learning is hard work. Both teaching and learning are complicated, nuanced, and fraught with misinformation.

That said, I do appreciate it when there are tools that I can use that may chip away at some of the more tedious and time intensive tasks that make being an educator less fun. Basically, I'm talking about anything that keeps me away from students. 

Magic School AI is one of those new tools that is designed to help manage all of the tasks that eat up our time when we are not with students. Need to write a rubric for an upcoming assignment? Formatting that rubric is going to be a real pain, so is coming up with the wording. How about creating questions to go along with a YouTube video? How many times will you need to watch the video before you get the questions just right? Need to write questions that align with the four Depth of Knowledge levels? These are all examples of what Magic School AI can do to help you. 


What Is Magic School AI?

Magic School AI is an educational technology platform that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help teachers personalize learning experiences for high school students. Developed by a team of educators and AI experts, Magic School AI offers a diverse range of interactive lessons, activities, and assessments across various subject areas, including math, science, language arts, and more.  According to their mission page, the folks at Magic School AI are "here to lighten the load, so teachers can save their envery for where they shine best-in the classroom, in front of students." They believe that relationships are at the center of everything and that Magic School AI can help save teachers time so they can devote their energy to working directly with students. They indicate that there are some things teachers don't need technology to help with, and so they have created tools to streamline tedious tasks that only educators would recognize. From the mission page: "Instead of only creating tools that address commonly understood aspects of teaching, we’ve drawn from research-based best practices, feedback from educators, as well as our own experiences in the classroom, to create tools that will save time on repetitive, tedious behind-the-scenes tasks that only teachers understand require tons of effort… things like generating relevant content, writing IEPs, differentiation, creating assessments, and supporting school discipline. That way, teachers can spend their time on the uniquely human, creative aspects of their work."


How to Use Magic School AI: 


1. To begin using Magic School AI, simply sign up for an account on the platform's website here. Once registered, you'll have access to a vast aray of  resources and tools designed to support your work with students.  You can also install the chrome extension which lives at the bottom right corner of your screen. You will then have easy access to all of the Magic School AI tools. 



2. Take some time to explore the content available on Magic School AI. Browse through the library of lessons, activities, and assessments to find resources that align with your curriculum and instructional goals. You can search and filter the tools from the top toolbar. If you find certain tools you will likely use again, just click the star and it will appear at the top in the favorites section. I find that I like the YouTube question generator. Click to view below. 





3.  Take advantage of Raina (chatbot). Raina is your AI instructional coach. Ask any questions related to best practices or work in a school. You can ask for ideas, advice, strategies, and more. 




Coming Soon! Magic Student

Magic Student is an AI platform designed to build AI literacy for students. It's purpose is to teach students how to use AI responsibly and also unlock learning opportunities that you can't get without generative AI. There is currently a waitlist and it will be rolled out when it is ready. Click here for more information. 

Magic School AI is a powerful tool that has the potential to change how we spend our time as educators. . By leveraging AI technology to personalize learning experiences, engage students, and provide valuable insights for teachers, Magic School AI can empower educators to create dynamic and effective learning environments that meet the needs of all students. So why wait? Dive into the world of Magic School AI today and unlock new possibilities for teaching and learning in your classroom. If you are new to generative AI, Magic School is a great place to start. 


Want some help getting the ball rolling? Reach out! I'm always happy to help. 

Monday, February 19, 2024

Need Visuals?

There's An Icon For That!

FLATICON


@LisaBerghoff

 There has been quite a bit of research about the benefits of visuals on teaching and learning. Our brains really connect to visual stimuli and that can also help with memory and recall. Sometimes I find myself spending way too much time exploring visuals to use with my students. I do Google image searches, I have even tried some of the text to image generators in the search for the perfect image to go with my content. In reality, the perfect image is not what will help students learn and retain information. Often, all that is needed is a simple icon. An icon is a simplified picture that represents a concept or an object. Even though it is simple, it can have a big impact on students. Think about all of the icons that we now know for our Google tools, commonly used websites, or our own HP logo. When we see those, we know exactly what they mean.

There are times when it may seem like an icon does not exist for the topic at hand. What does an icon for collaboration look like? What about analysis? Or historical? The thought of making my own icons for peer mentoring feels daunting. 

Flaticon is a website that allows you to search and find icons, stickers, animated icons, and interface icons. You can filter by color and shape and you can sort by time or by trending. These are designed for you to use digitally but you could certainly incorporate them on print material. 

Sometimes you just need a digital sticker of a happy chicken.

Chicken stickers created by stickerfolio - Flaticon




The icons are free for you to download as a png and use as long as you give the proper author attribution. The premium version, which is listed at $8.25 per month allows for unlimited downloads and no attribution needed. They also have some icon packs that were created by third parties and attribution is not needed for those even with the free version.

Idea animated icons created by Freepik - Flaticon

Think about it, we often organize material by color, why not add an icon to help spur your students' memory? Using icons can be a wonderful way to categorize materials by type, or topic, or learning standard. There are also icon "packs" that go together. These are fantastic for presentations or website design. The packs definitely cut down on the search time.




What if you had your students choose the icons? This would be less time intensive than having them create icons, though they certainly could. The process of your students looking on Flaticon and then searching for the one that resonates with them could be a fantastic step towards providing student voice and choice in a very non-threatening way. You can ask students to help with branding the class content! This would be an interesting activity. The students would need to distill the content area down into one or two keywords and then choose the icon that fits most appropriately.


You won't need them but here are instructions.
1. Go to Flaticon.com
2. Click log in and use your school Google account
3. Choose the type you want: icon, sticker, animated icon, interface icon
4. Type your keyword or words into the search bar
5. Click on the icon you want, choose download for free, copy the attribution link




How will you use icons in your classes? I can't wait to hear! 
Want some help getting started? I'm always happy to offer assistance.




Monday, February 12, 2024

Bring Aquaman To The Classroom!

The Achievery

@LisaBerghoff



Anyone can make a video and post it online these days. Finding the right video for your content, that has good quality AND is entertaining can be a huge challenge and a massive time suck. The use of videos for learning is certainly not new but finding really good video content for classrooms is getting more and more challenging as there is so much content available. I did a Google search for videos on forces of motion and got 30,600,000 results. I then filtered for high school, medium length, and high quality. That narrowed it down some but not enough. I don't have the time or the motivation to watch that many videos before I will decide that it's not worth it and won't use any video for my class. Or, I will settle for one of the first ones that I find that gets close and then have to explain to my class that the video is mostly relevant but misses the mark in several ways. 

I was thrilled when I found out about The Achievery.

The Achievery is a collaboration between AT&T and Warner Bros. According to their website, it's a free online platform that is designed to connect k-12 students to digital learning through stories that spark curiosity and content that entertains and teaches. The platform offers seven subject-categories and over 5- videos, including clips from some of the most popular movies and shows. Lessons are available for download, but I think the videos are what makes the platform worth checking out. The lessons are common core and ISTE standards aligned. They also have collaborations with many well known companies like Cartoon Network, CNN 10, Code.org, Common Sense Media, NASA, NBA, and more. 




To get started, go to theachievery.com. From there, you can enter a title or description of what you are teaching. You can also filter and sort by grade level, category, subcategory, collaborator, and common core standards. The categories available are Digital Arts, Digital Literacy, English, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Emotional Learning, and Technology and Engineering. Within those categories, there are many subcategories which should make it easier to find what you are looking for. 

I did a quick filter for all high school content from Warner Bros. Here is what it looks like:



Currently, The Achievery is approved for use in the classroom for teachers to show the videos. It is under review on the LearnPlatform for SOPPA compliance. Once that is approved, students will be able to log in and view on their own.

That said, I would rather show these short video clips to a whole class. There is so much to connect and unwrap together. 

Here is what I like about The Achievery:

1. The video clips are high quality and for the most part engaging. I did find a few that I would not use, but that's when I decided to filter by collaborator and then I knew I was going to find great content.

2. They are standards aligned so you don't have to figure out how you're going to fit them in to what you are teaching. They already fit.

3. They are short. Who has time to watch a whole movie in class? These are short clips that get to the point. You don't have to waste 45 minutes of a movie to get to the heart of the matter.

4. They include digital literacy and social emotional learning.


Many of the lessons contain multiple clips and you can disperse them throughout your teaching cycle. Here is an example of a lesson on momentum and impulse. There are clips from Scooby Doo and Craig of the Creek. 



Then, the lesson plan has the academic connection. Here is the one on momentum from Scooby Doo.




This is just one example.

I suggest you check out The Achievery and see what it has for you.

If you would like some help getting started, let me know. I'm happy to help!




Tuesday, February 6, 2024

 Encourage Engagement!

Curipod


@LisaBerghoff


Artificial intelligence is pushing the boundaries of what we previously thought possible in many fields. From healthcare to finance and of course, education. When I am looking at a new tool that uses AI I generally look for three things. First, the interface. If it is simple to understand how to use it, that means a lot because we are busy. We don't have tons of extra time trying to figure out how to use the thing that supposedly is going to save us time. Next, the mission, or goal of the tool. Does it say it's going to basically do your entire job for you so you can sit back and do nothing? That is impossible and also unrealistic. I am leery of anything that claims to do too much. I am more interested in tools that have a clear and practical use that can be added to my list of go-to gadgets that I can pull out when I need it. Finally, the outcomes. We all know by now that writing a solid AI prompt is much more likely to yield a response that you are happy with and can use. However, some AI tools are more flexible and usable than others. I prefer a tool that gives me outcomes in an obviously ready to use format for the classroom.

Curipod checks all of the boxes.

What is Curipod?

Curipod is an AI tool for education that creates interactive slides for classroom use. The founders say that they are on a mission to spark curiosity, discussion, and critical thinking in the classroom.  Instead of recall, memorizing, and remembering, the folks at Curipod have a goal of helping teachers create lessons that are interactive and engaging. 

At the surface, it seems that Curipod is just another way to create interactive slides, but the AI powered tool will actually generate entire lessons that you can edit and adjust to meet your needs. If you have slides already created, you can certainly use their "curify my slides" tool to automatically create some interaction. But, if you are starting a lesson from scratch, Curipod can really save a lot of time and help you create something that can be utilized right away in class. Students join by going to curi.live and entering a code or scanning a qr code.

How Do I Use Curipod?

To get started, go to Curipod.com and log in using your school Google account.

The Curipod homescreen will have many suggestions for you to try. This is to help you narrow your focus and think about the learning goal for your lesson. Instead of using one of the suggestions, you can also click the "Create Lesson" button.


The "Create Lesson" button will give you a full lesson, based on the grade level and prompt you enter. If you don't want to use the AI generator, you can also click on "Create Your Own" and you can build your lesson directly in Curipod.

Start by narrowing by subject and grade level, then type in your prompt. If you have a specific lesson standard, you can copy and paste it directly into the generator.

Then, click the "Do Magic" Button.



What you will get is a slide deck with content as well as interactive slides. Each deck starts with this statement. I really like that they call it a "lesson draft".



You now have a whole deck that you can edit, adjust, and use in a way that makes sense for your students.

What Types Of Interactive Activities Can I Create With Curipod?

You have five options of interactive slides.

  1. Poll- Give choices, have students select one
  2. Word Cloud- Students write short answers (up to 30 characters) and the results are shown as a word cloud on the big screen.
  3. Drawings- You can add a background, like an equation or a diagram or a map, and have students draw on it. You can also enable voting so students can choose a top answer. 
  4. Open Question- Students answer the question in longer sentences and can also vote for the best answers. Results will be displayed on a podium. 
  5. AI Feedback (limited in the free version to 1,000 characters) This will enable AI to give students feedback on their answer. You have an opportunity to test the feedback before assigning. Answer character limit is 1,000 characters for students to enter. 

Other settings that you have in your control:

  • Set time for interactive slides.
  • Add your own background for drawing slides
  • Enable or disable voting
  • Poll allows up to 10 options for students to choose.
  • Open answer and word cloud slides have a setting where you can decide how many times students can submit an answer. 
  • Translation for all slides or just specific slides. 
What Makes Curipod Different From Other Interactive Slides Tools?
 
The AI powered templates that are built into Curipod are really useful! Here are a few that I think are worth checking out.
  • Curi-Quiz: Designed for students to pair up as a team! they need to write in as many right answers/words as they can in 2 minutes. Every correct answer gets 1 point. Scores then earn students ranks. Just enter an open question that has many right answers. For example, write all the prime numbers you know. This is a wonderful activity to practice vocabulary and concepts. 

  • Feedback from a historic figure: Ask a question and let students get feedback from a historic figure of your or their choice. Students then get to reflect on the feedback and think about whether or not the historical person's opinion might impact the feedback they got.



  • Write, Feedback, Repeat: Students get AI generated feedback on their response to a writing prompt. They then get a moment to reflect on the feedback they received before attempting to answer the prompt again. This is a great way to model AI use!


There are many more, but I would rather you stop reading and use your time to explore Curipod.
I am happy to help you and your students get started! Feel free to reach out.