Lemon Tech Tidbits

I have found myself using AI more and more as a tool for creating educational products for teachers. One of the sites I use a lot is Bard AI, created by Google. Recently, there has been an upgrade and a new name. Bard AI is now called Gemini .   Why the change? Google wanted to change the name to make a more unified experience for users. Before, Google had Bard as a chatbot AI and had Duet AI as an AI powered generator. Now, both are combined with the single name Gemini. Why should I be aware of this change? If you use Google Assistant (“Hey Google” on a device such as your phone), it will automatically pull up Gemini. It even sounds like Google will soon be phasing out Google Assistant (and it’s app) and replacing it with Gemini. You can already install the Gemini app onto your phone if you want to give it a try. You Still NEED TO CHECK the content: I wanted to see if Gemini would be able to give information on an event from yesterday so I asked it to explain who won the S...

  PBS LearningMedia builds on the strength of public media and is designed to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Resources are aligned to national standards and include videos and inter-actives, as well as audio, documents, and in-depth lesson plans for grades PreK through 12th grade. You can browse by standards, grade level, subject area, and special collections. You can also favorite and share resources with your class and colleagues. Best of all, PBS LearningMedia’s basic service is free for PreK-12 educators. I especially like the ability to easily add any lesson directly to Google Classroom.

  I found this presentation on one of the Facebook groups I belong to for school librarians. It is was shared by Christina Peet Nunez and all the work is hers. I wanted to share this as I found it to be very helpful and full of great information. The first slide has links to learning more about Google Docs, Drive, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Sites, and Chrome. Once you click on which Google product, you are brought to another slide that breaks down 6 to 8 different tutorials. If you pick one, you are brought to an instructional slide complete with a GIF to show you exactly how to perform that tip or trick. Even though I use Google products all the time, I still found ideas that I either hadn’t known or didn’t consider doing. For example, one of the tips shows you how to have students create a rubric together for a project using Google Forms!   Take a look for yourself.   

  I am sure you are like me and hate when you get emails from businesses and organizations that you would rather not receive. It takes a lot of time and effort to go into each email and scroll down to the bottom to select Unsubscribe, only to find you still get their messages. Google understands this problem and created a new way for users to unsubscribe from these unwanted emails. Now, if you see an email from a company you no longer want, you can hover over the message and a box will pop up asking if you want to unsubscribe. If you select it, an email will be sent to the company from Google asking they remove your address from their mailing list.  You can mark the message as spam as well. Just remember that when you mark the email as spam from a legitimate business or organization, it can negatively impact the senders email reputation. This can in turn negatively affect future emails from that company.  If you don’t notice this update, just wait. It will be slowly...

  Trello.com was designed for individuals and groups who have big and small projects to complete. It helps keep everyone organized and up-to-date.  Trello is a freemium site (free and paid subscription). For most people, the free version will work for what they need. It is easy to create a free account. Then, you are prompted to create a “board” where you can put all of the lists and other links necessary to complete the task or project. You then are prompted to create List and finally Cards. The cards are the steps you or the group need to complete. There is an option to add a date due to a card of when it needs to be completed. Finally, you can add or invite others in your group via email.  There are many things you can do with Trello. To find out, watch this quick video on youtube. For a longer tutorial, watch this video. (special thanks to Amanda Harrison for shouting out this tech tool)

  Mizou.com is a chatbot that was created for 1 to 1 student interactions in a safe environment. There is something from elementary to senior students to explore. With Mizou, teachers can customize and create an AI chatbot based upon their learning materials and rubrics. The chatbot can then be shared with students in a secure fashion (students do not need to login or sign up). Students can then interact with the chatbot using text, images, and audio. Students and teachers will receive automatic feedback identifying where students relate in context with the material.  If you don’t have a lot of time, try using one of the chatbots already created by another educator. You can search by grade level and subject. You can give them a try yourself before you share them with students. I tried a chatbot about learning the ABC’s and another where I conversed with Edgar Allan Poe. You could learn about mummification or get tutorial help in math. There are so many different and wonder...