Thursday, October 3, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 10-3-24

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Google Docs Calendar Templates for the 2025-2026 School Year

Several years ago I created some Google Docs templates for a colleague who was looking for a simple one-page document to show important calendar dates for an entire school year. The templates were a big hit and many people found them to be helpful.

Although it still feels like the school year has just gotten started, I have already received emails from folks asking if I have made a version for next year ... the 2025-2026 school year.

So for all of you super organized people who are already planning for the next school year, I am happy to say, yes, I have versions for 2025-2026. See below for the links to get your own copies of these templates, as well as some basic directions on how to edit them for your own use.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

What's New in Google - September 2024

Catch up on everything new in Google Workspace for Education from September 2024, and see great ideas and resources!

Below is the recorded video from our September 2024 Google User Meeting, along with the meeting agenda with all the awesome resources and Google updates from the last few months. This includes lots of new Google updates and Google resources for your class.

The monthly meetings are hosted by the Google Educator Group of Ohio, but are open to anyone from any location. The purpose of these meetings is to:
  • Connect Google-using educators
  • Share the latest Google Workspace news and features
  • Provide tutorials, demonstrations, and how-to’s
  • Share best practices of how Google Workspace is being used within schools
  • Ask questions and get answers
The video from the meeting is recorded and available for later viewing for those who cannot attend or connect live. See below to view the recorded video, agenda, and all the resources from the September 2024 meeting:

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Podcast Spotlight: Teaching 'N Tech with Allan & Chad

I recently had the pleasure to be a guest on the "Teaching 'N Tech with Allan & Chad" podcast.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love podcasts and am always mentioning something new I learned from one of them, so I was super excited to get to join an episode of this podcast.

The podcast is hosted by Allan Brown and Chad Hoffman and is described as follows:

Allan Brown and Chad Hoffman host this podcast series highlighting effective instructional strategies implemented by educators in Northeast Ohio. Episodes focus on successful teaching methods from their experiences in the classroom and special guests provide insights as well.

I had a wonderful time chatting with Allan and Chris about three of my favorite AI tools for schools, as well as ideas for embracing technology in the classroom, even for teachers who are unsure.

Take a look below to listen to the episode, access the resources that I shared in the episode, and explore more about the podcast.

Thursday, September 26, 2024

EdTech Links of the Week - 9-26-24

Each week I keep an eye out for the latest edtech resources through blogs, social media, podcasts, videos, user groups, and more. I then try to reshare these resources in many ways.

One way I share these is here on the blog in these "EdTech Links of the Week" posts. See below to explore the latest batch of resources, and be sure to share with others who may benefit.

If you want to make sure you don't miss new resources, you can:
🔗 View all EdTech Links of the Week: bit.ly/caa-links
📰 Sign up for my weekly email newsletter: bit.ly/curts-news
📧 Join the "Control Alt Achieve" email discussion group: bit.ly/caa-emailgroup
🔔 Get new blog posts automatically through email - FollowIt link

And as always, please let me know of any resources that you recommend. I would love to learn from you!

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Jam Slides - Google Slides Replacement Template for Jamboard

Last year Google announced that they would be shutting down Jamboard, which was a collaborative digital whiteboarding tool. According to Google's timeline, as of October 1, 2024, Jamboard will become view-only, and as of December 31, 2024, the tool will shut down entirely.

This announcement was a great disappointment to many educators who have come to rely on Jamboard for teaching and learning.

Since then many other tools have been explored as potential replacements for Jamboard including Figjam, Lucidspark, Miro, Padlet Sandboxes, Canva, and more. I have even hosted an intro and advanced webinar on moving from Jamboard to Figjam.

All of these are excellent tools and I encourage you to test them out. However, I would like to suggest one other option to consider … Google Slides.

Although no tool is an exact replacement for Jamboard, Google Slides is actually very similar. In addition, it is a Google tool, so you and your students already have access to it and are probably pretty familiar with how it works.

To make this transition even easier, I have created a free Google Slides template that you can copy and use. This "Jam Slides" template is designed to help you mimic all of the features from Jamboard in Google Slides.

See below to get your own copy of the template, and to watch a tutorial video where I use this template and go through each Jamboard feature one by one and show how they can all be done in Google Slides.

Thursday, September 19, 2024

Join Me for MoteCon24

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the free, virtual MoteCon24 event on September 30th!

MoteCon is a totally free, online conference with loads of great sessions on using Mote, the awesome Chrome extension that lets you and your students record your voice and add that recording to websites and web tools including Google Docs, Slides, Forms, Classroom, Gmail, and more.

In past years I presented at MoteCon22 and MoteCon23. This year MoteCon will be streamed live on YouTube on September 30th from 5pm to 8pm Central Time (6pm to 9pm Eastern). For those who can't watch live, the recorded videos will be available for on-demand viewing afterwards,

See below for all the details and how to register for free. I look forward to learning with you!