Lemon Tech Tidbits

STORYWEAVER Do you wish for a place where children can read stories created by other children? Do you wish for a place where children can create and publish their own story? Than Storyweaver is the website for you! Storyweaver is an open source (ie free!) website that was created as a place for children to weave together the power of stories. “It is a place where students can create, read, translate, and download an endless stream of stories.” To see how to create your own story, watch this very short youtube tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDPyK_sOiv8 Other digital storytelling tools include Storywars , Storybird , Toontastic , and Bookcreator .

CREATING A PODCAST If you have not heard yet, Podcast are the next big thing in the Education World. Not only are there many articles listing the best Podcast to incorporate into lessons, there are many articles about how and why students should create one themselves. In the latest blog post by Richard Byrne, he talks about a new and improved site called Anchor.fm . This site is free to use and pretty easy to get the hang of. It lets you record a podcast in an easy to use format and then share it on the major podcast platforms with one click. In addition, you can combine recordings or segments into one without having to do any major editing. To see how it works, go to the Free Technology for Teachers blog and watch the video created by Richard Byrne titled How To Create A Podcast In Six Minutes Or Less: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NfKlcP_Yxg

DUBIOUS STATISTICS Every year in my high school tech class, we spend a great deal of time learning about Fake News and how to detect it. There are many different units we cover such as how to evaluate the sources, recognize the use of satire, understand bias and debunk deceptive statistics. Getting ready for this unit, I came across this blog post by Tim Stahmer over a BBC podcast over a debunking guide in the size of a postcard. If you are short on time can don’t want to listen to the podcast, here is a list of the advice (but you should really listen to the podcast, it’s less than 11 minutes): Remember confirmation bias - how you feel about a statistic is important. Understanding the claim - know what you are not being told in the statistic. Get the backstory - who is responsible for the statistic. Put things into perspective - things may sound better or worse than they are. Embrace imprecision - there are many things that cannot be precisely depicted. Be Curious - if a...

GOOGLE REMOVED “VIEW IMAGE” SEARCH Some of you may have heard the news already. Others may have discovered the change in the middle of helping students (surprise!). Google recently has removed the “view image” function in the Google Image search. Why? Google was recently taken to court by Getty Images for antitrust violations but to be honest, it was bound to happen sooner or later. While many people are outraged by the move, others are happy to see the change. Yes, it makes saving an image from the internet a lot harder but it also reinforces the need to make sure all images you do use follow appropriate copyright laws. WIth the “view image” button removed, users are directed to the actual website where the image was found. You can still save an image by performing a right click and then selecting open image in a new tab. However, the best practice is to show students how to properly find images online by using public domain and creative commons images such as Pixabay, Pics4Learni...

YELLKEY: Making URL shortcuts easier to share. If you are like me, you struggle with a way to share websites with students, teachers, and/or parents in an easy to use format. You can use a URL shortner such as Bit.ly or Goo.gl shortener but there can be problems as it is often hard to tell if it is an O or 0...or an l or 1. That is why I was excited when I saw Tony Vincent’s Instagram post about a product called Yellkey.com. Yellkey allows you to shorten a url into an easy to pronounce format based solely on words. It takes the url you give it and turns it into a “key” that can access on a temporary basis (from 5 minutes up to 24 hours). To see how this works, do the following steps: Click on this url in a different tab. Copy the entire URL (Command or Control C) Go to yellkey.com and paste in the URL (Command or Control V) Click Generate URL. It will then give you a word or “key” to use. Next, go to another tab and type in www.yellkey.com/ followed by the word used for the key....

TEAM DRIVE UPDATE You can now (or will soon be able to) email all the members of a TeamDrive without leaving the site. You can send the email either from the folder or from a specific file. This will be a gradual rollout over the next few weeks so some people will have this function earlier than others. Here are the instructions from the G Suite Update Blog: From the Team Drive: Navigate to the Team Drive, click the drop-down menu next to the Team Drive name, and click “Email members.”  From within a file that is in the Team Drive: While editing or viewing the document, open the File menu, and click “Email Collaborators.”   

DESIGNCAP: Free Online Poster Maker DesignCap is an easy way for students and teachers to make a quick poster. It is as easy as choosing a template, editing the text and/or image, and printing the final product. There is no sign in required although you do have that option if you want to save your work. There is no cost to print, download or share the finished product. DesignCap has built in tools that allow you to edit text and images. Students can use images from their download folder, Facebook, or one from the site thanks to Pixabay. There is even an option to  add clipart. Give it a try today!

LabCamera: A tool for your science department From the company: “ LabCamera allows students and teachers to carry out substantial scientific observations and measurements by using our software and a simple everyday webcam. Conducting physics, biology and chemistry experiments with LabCamera - both in the classroom and at home - brings natural science education to a new level.” Not only can the LabCamera be used to measure kinematrics or be used as a microscope, it also allows the user to create and share graphs of data. For the teacher, the site provides classroom materials and sample lesson plans. The site is free for teachers but does cost for students. You will need to contact the company for a price quote. For more information: http://www.labcamera.com/index.php?page=faq