Lemon Tech Tidbits

A couple of weeks ago, I was on Twitter and came across a post by Kathi Kersznowski about a new trend she invented called #Fliphunt. Intrigued, I clicked on the link to her blog where she provides step-by-step instruction to do the same. Below are a few Q & A from Kathi herself: What is a #Fliphunt? “It is a digital scavenger hunt that takes place on Flipgrid. You create the Tasks to engage your students and challenge them to show what they know with video Responses.” How can I use #Fliphunt in class? “Focus on an objective or your subject matter. Ask yourself what you want your students to know and how could you gamify it to make it fun? Connect your content and objectives to a Fliphunt “task” and let your students show what they know by giving them the opportunity to be creative with their Flipgrid Responses.” To see examples, go to her blog by clicking here or visit http://bit.ly/2TWLsFg . For more information, click here or visit http://bit.ly/2TPapmd

Remember playing this educational game when you were growing up? It was a fun and exciting way to learn about geography. You would spend hours trying to chase down the V.I.L.E. villain around the world. Recently, Google has announced her return with a series of games centered around Google Earth. The first game is titled The Crown Jewels Caper . In this caper, Carmen has stolen some jewels from London. Using your investigative skills, you must interview witnesses who provide clues to her next location. Once you have your clue, you must pick the next location. Since the game uses Google Earth, you can scroll around and explore the area. This game can be played from a website or mobile app on a phone or iPad. I did find it was easy to do simple Google searches to find the next location based on the clues even though they get a little more elusive as it goes on. However, I can imagine how fun this would be in with a large class using a projector. To play the game yourself, go to g.co

For many of us, the new additions to Google Classroom have been wonderful. But there are times when we wished things were like they use to be. For example, the Stream. In the new version, all materials pushed to the stream is in a condensed version. If a student makes a comment, it does not appear very easily. In addition, when a teacher looks at the stream, they don’t see how many students have completed and turned in the assignments. Yeah, you can see it in the Classwork’s tab by selecting each assignment but it just isn’t the same. Well now, if you liked the old Stream, you can RETURN TO USING IT!. All you have to do is select the class you want and then click on the gear located at the top right-hand side. Once you are in the gear, take a look under General and notice there is an option for Classwork in the Stream. Pull down the arrow and make your selection. You can now reset the stream to be like it use to be!

There has been a lot of discussions lately about accessibility issues concerning Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Sites, etc. How can we ensure what we use is readable and accessible for everyone, including our students? Google does have tools available to help you ensure you are meeting the needs of everyone. We just have to use them. In an article posted by Diane Benner titled Make Your Google Docs More Accessible ( click to access the entire blog article) are many best practices to use when creating a Google Doc. Many of these practices can carry over to other G Suite tools as well. These include: Use Headings Insert Alt Text when using pictures Clearly Describe Hyperdocs Use Color and Contrast Appropriately Google does have built-in accessibility tools and features. Click on this link to see a short video explaining a few of these features. In addition, Google has created a User Accessibility Guide as well over the different G Suite tool is available for all.