Welcome Back!

Tech Tip Tuesday (August 20, 2024)

A great start to the year, even if summer does rock my socks.

Hey there, tech-savvy teachers!

Brian Krause here, your friendly neighborhood tech coach from the Learning Technology Center.

Ready to rock this school year with some cool new digital tricks?

If you've read to this point without rolling your eyes or clicking delete, congrats!

I'm happy to be back coaching teachers and staff this year, and watching educators explore, thrive, and transcend through the power of technology brightens my heart and give me my "why" (yes, I also groan when someone asks me that).

All joking aside, reach out with any inquiry, collaboration, or wanting to come teach with you. Learning and growing together makes the days brighter, and to be honest, easier.

Let's make some tech magic happen this year!

In the meantime, check out some new updates from some of your favorite edtech services!

Also, you can always reply to this email OR see my contact information below to get in touch.

Updates from some of your favorites!

Google for Education

Google is CONSTANTLY tweaking small things here and there, but they also roll out some big updates that can be helpful.

Check out some of the quick ones below by clicking the links!

Send signature requests & sign documents with eSignature

With eSignature, you can create documents for signatures and send signature requests in Google Docs and Google Drive. To complete eSignature requests, signers can easily fill in requested information.

support.google.com

Use tables in Google Sheets

In Google Sheets, tables can simplify data creation and reduce the need to repeatedly format, input, and update data by automatically applying format and structure to ranges of data. Tables are well

support.google.com

⬇️⬇️ ⭐️⭐️ Coming soon to Google Workspace!! ⭐️⭐️ ⬇️⬇️

Google Vids: Online Video Creator and Editor | Google Workspace

Create rich video content with Google Vids - a powerful online video editor infused with Google Gemini technology - from Google Workspace.

workspace.google.com

Kami

Create your own questions OR have the built-AI help you generate questions that can automatically grade inside of a Kami assignment. Add a hint to help them on out!

Make it a quick exit ticket and have the score automatically feed over to your LMS (Schoology, Google Classroom, or Canvas) for you!

How to use the Question tool in Kami | Kami Help Center

Use the Question tool for autograding assessments with our LMS integrations.

help.kamiapp.com

Schoology

I'm not going to lie. Schoology's update logs are super boring and as a teacher (and as a tech coach), they feel like a foreign language.

Let me do some translating from the last four months of updates:

Now supports Arabic and Thai within Schoology
New icons for materials and different aspect students and teachers use
Duplicate materials within a course so that don't have to make a new assignment for the same thing.
Grade comments will be displayed automatically (no need to check the box anymore).
Google Drive Assignments will display what time they were turned in (timestamp).

Canva

For this one, I'm going to tag in a great educational technology creator, Kasey Bell, to go over some of the cool updates and improvements for K-12 educators in Canva.

Check out the blog below!

Can't-Miss Canva Updates - SULS0212

In this episode, I sit down with Scott Nunes from Canva to explore the latest Canva updates that are perfect for educators. Discover how the new "Sort Stickies" feature can help you organize your ideas effortlessly. But wait...there's more! After you sort your stickies, "Transform to Doc" and then "Transform to Presentation" and let this new workflow blow your mind.

shakeuplearning.com

Seesaw

Seesaw can't make it easier or more alluring to jump on into using. They have stepped up their classroom data tracking for students for instructional insight, added new lessons for English learners & newcomers, and intergrated standards-based grading into their assessment structure.

Check out both below!

What's New - Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

2024 Enhancements What's New in Seesaw Discover new ways to gain actionable insights into student understanding, make learning more engaging, target instruction, and streamline your workflow with Seesaw. Seesaw Instruction & Insights Simplify Your Processes Sitewide Standards Curriculum Integrations Seesaw Instruction & Insights Expand the learning loop even further with new features built specifically to [...]

seesaw.com

Seesaw Curriculum Updates 2024

Seesaw Help Center: Getting started tips, tutorial videos, professional development, lesson plans, FAQ and more resources to help you use Seesaw for student driven digital portoflios and parent communication.

help.seesaw.me

While you're at it, check out to see where you can supplement your lessons from curriculum providers with content directly from the Seesaw library!

Huge gamechangers for reteaching standards OR a great one for the back pocket on sick days or extension activities.

Alignments - Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

Alignments Lessons Aligned to What You're Already Teaching The Seesaw Library houses supplemental curriculum that is directly aligned to state/national standards and specific curricula you use every day. Aligned to Over 30 Curriculum Providers The Seesaw Library houses supplemental curriculum aligned to over 30+ Curriculum Providers.Quickly find the best lessons to supplement your instruction with [...]

seesaw.com

Padlet

Padlet Sandbox is a new, safe space for teachers to experiment and create Padlet activities without affecting their main Padlet account. It allows users to create separate pages called cards and use a variety of tools to create content, including multimedia and interactive elements. Teachers can also use the presentation mode to view their content in a sequential order. It's a big digital whiteboard to expand your thoughts!

Sandbox

Use sandboxes to create activities using drawings, images, audio, and video. Get started for free.

padlet.com

There are SO many services that folks use, so reach out if you have a question!

I'm starting some new weekly recurring segments to help out with daily tasks in the classroom, office, or with instruction.

We are gonna start off 🔥HOT🔥 with one of my favorite freebie template sites, Vertex42.

Vertex42® provides many free spreadsheet templates and other printable charts, calendars, and schedules for educational purposes designed specifically for teachers & students.

Make a lesson plate template, a birthday calendar, or a custom attendance sheets. There are so many education-specific and general spreadsheet templates that make everything so easy to work with spreadsheets!