Google Takeout for Students

If you are leaving Seoul Foreign school at the end of this year, you probably want to take your Google data with you to your new school.  Here is a video that will show you how to use a Google tool called Takeout that allows you to easily export all your information and take it with you when you leave.

Here is a link to Google Takeout

New Google Sites allows HTML embedding

From January 2 you will be able to embed HTML and Javascript into your Google Site.
This was available in the old version of Google Sites but disappeared when the new version was launched.

This was very frustrating if you wanted to embed objects in your website that were not a Google Product such as YouTube. It was impossible to embed features such as a Twitter feed or a 360 degree player creating a site that felt easily customisable, but that has now changed.
Great move Google, making Sites a more flexible platform.

More information available at:

https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2017/12/embed-html-and-javascript-in-new-google-sites.html

Best Apps and Websites for Learning Programming and Coding

Link to CommonSense media blog post

Eight essential phone apps

There will always be debate about what are essential phone apps. Here is a list of some that the DLCs think are of real value across a range of areas. We deliberately selected apps that were not platform specific.

Editing With Snapseed - Getting The Best Out Of Your Photos

"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear! ..."

One of the most common statements heard in this day and age of photoshop runs along the lines of:

"Oh.  You just photoshopped it."

People have been manipulating images from the moment the technology existed to create them. Previously manipulation occurred either at the point of shoot, or in the darkroom.  Photographers were always looking for ways to capture the scene in front of their eyes.  Today is no different.  Only now our darkroom is digital.  It is impossible to photoshop a great picture out of a bad one.  You have to start with good raw material.  Editing is about bringing the best out of the picture you took:  colour balancing, contrast, sharpening and the other tools of the digital darkroom all help.

Snapseed is an awesome free app for your phone or tablet.  It allows you to do detailed editing on your images and is a powerful app.  As well as allowing you detailed editing, it also has a set of filters for those of you that like to go that route with your pictures.

Lets take an image of Pompeii and see how we can effect changes to balance the picture.

The Tools

To select your tools, tap the picture, then tap the pencil in the lower right corner.  A selection of tools will appear.  Tap the one that you wish to use.

Most of the tools are self explanatory - but a few are important.

Tune Image: - this is where you will find adjustments for highlights, shadows, contrast, etc.  It's the main place you will work.

Details: - The sharpening and structure tools are here.

Brush: - This allows you to use your finger as a brush and make adjustments to just one part of the picture.

Once you have selected a tool you will be dropped back in your picture.  If you run your finger up and down, a menu will appear and you can select from that.

To use the tool simply run your finger left and right and watch the changes.

Watch the videos below to see how to use the tools and see Snapseed in action.

Simple Editing Using The Tune Image and Details Tools

Editing Isolated Parts Of Your Image

More Photography Tricks and Tips?!  Check Out Our iPhone Photography Series ...
Part One  - What's The What? An introduction to the basics of the iPhone camera
Part Two  - Panorama Mama!  Getting the best out of panorama mode on your camera
Part Four - Going Further! Some great apps to take things further in your photography

Register Today for January's Parent #TechTuesday Sessions

The DLC team is again offering Parent #TechTuesday sessions at 2:15PM - 2:45PM focused on upskilling parents in the use of digital tools. The January sessions will focus on specific questions for you, the parents. The three sessions will be run in a Q&A format. Please submit the question(s) you have HERE so we can prepare to serve you when you attend. We ask that you bring a device if you have one so you can click along during our sessions. Laptops, tablets or phones will be handy.  The sessions will be in the DLC office on campus.

Please REGISTER for an event on the events calendar on the right side of our ET blog. When you click on the event title, you will then click the red "register" button.

The DLC Team hopes to see you a session!

Tips For Keyboarding at Home

Good keyboarding skills are essential if we are going to use our computers effectively and efficiently. The most important thing with keyboarding is realizing that good keyboarding is based on neurological patterning ... we groove this into our brain.  To do this well it is essential that we type with our fingers on the home keys in a consistent manner.

Home Keys:

Learning to base our hands on the home keys will help us become very fast, efficient typists.  We can find the home keys by the raised dot or bumpy lines on the F and J keys.  Index fingers rest there and other fingers rest beside them in a straight line.  Thumbs rest on the space bar.  Imagine your fingers are glued to these keys and that one finger at a time can stretch up or down to other keys, but immediately springs back to its home once it has typed the letter.

Wrist Position
It is really important not to rest your wrists on the computer or the table as you will build an incorrect neurological pattern and a bad habit.  This could cause problems if keyboarding a lot later in life, as you will be putting ongoing pressure on the medial nerve in your rests and could cause repetitive strain injuries.  Aim for a straight line across your forearm into your hand as in the third picture below.

Seating

It is difficult to have a good wrist position if you are not seated at the correct height table and chair.  Ideally your feet should be flat on the floor and your shoulders relaxed, allowing your forearms and wrists to come straight over the keyboard.  

How Do I Know If I am Doing Ok?

Typing is a balance between speed and accuracy.  Accuracy is the most important.  You are aiming to keep you accuracy percentage between 90 and 95%.  If it's higher than 95%, focus more on improving your speed.  If it's lower than 90%, slow and down and focus on your accuracy.  Speed will come if you stay consistent on home keys and accuracy.

If you are using keyboarding online, we have preset the accuracy for you and allowed quite a slow speed, so just focus on home keys and being as accurate and consistent as possible.  Try and keep a steady rhythm.

Have fun!

Parents and Digital Media

"Nine hours and 22 minutes is the average time parents spend with screen media daily, including for personal and work use. 7:43 of that time is devoted to personal screen media ..."

Common sense media just released (December , 2016) their latest research on parents and digital media.  It highlights parent personal use, thoughts and concerns about their children's use and provides some fascinating reading.  For a more indepth look at their report, you can go here or to their website.

Design your own games

Students...Want to design your own games?   Gamestar Mechanic

Gamestar Site

Is Mastery the goal? Salman Kahn at TEDTalks

VoiceThread - New features

1. The ability for students to add their own media to your Voicethread without being a teacher. This is a great way for them to add what they know to the topic using voice, video or a file. I believe it will also allow other to comment on other students slides as well.

2. Coming soon will be the ability to integrate with Google Drive. It will be easy to draw content directly from your Drive into your VoiceThread.

For more information on using VoiceThread at SFS, contact alan.hoskin@seoulforeign.org

Collaborate with Commenters

For over 10 years, VoiceThreaders have created vibrant, engaging conversations and projects. Now creating collaborative VoiceThreads is even easier!  Next week commenters will be able to add slides to VoiceThreads without needing full edit access.

This feature will be available on Friday, October 28.  Learn more here.

What else is new in VoiceThread?

Find Comments
It’s quick and easy to find all comments made by a specific person on a VoiceThread! Whether you’re evaluating student work or just want to hear everything a particular person has to say, use the new comment search feature to quickly pull up anyone’s comments.  

YouTube Imports
Just grab the share link for any YouTube video and use that in the URL import option when creating a slide. This will pull that YouTube video into your VoiceThread so that you can record comments and doodle on it.

Copied Settings
Now when you copy a VoiceThread, the preferences you set on the original are copied over to the new one.  This is a small update with a big impact, especially when it comes to using VoiceThread for multiple projects or courses.

Coming Soon!

Google Drive Integration
Import your documents and other Google Drive files into VoiceThread. Any files that VoiceThread can accept normally can be imported from your Drive, including your active documents.

Kaltura Integration
Integrate VoiceThread with your institution’s Kaltura License to quickly and easily pull your video content into VoiceThread.  This is a great way to have dynamic conversations around the content you’re already creating.

Register Today for Parent #TechTuesday Sessions in November!

The DLC team is again offering Parent #TechTuesday sessions at 2:15PM - 2:45PM focused on upskilling parents in the use of digital tools. The November sessions will focus on the Google's G Suite. We ask that you bring a device if you have one so you can click along during our sessions. Laptops, tablets or phones will be handy.  The sessions will be in the DLC office on campus.

Please REGISTER for an event on the events calendar on the right side of our ET blog.

The DLC Team hopes to see you at an event!

New Handy iOS 10 Features

On October 11, 2016, the Parent #TechTuesday Session covered some of the new features inside of iOS 10 for the iPhone and iPad.

Below is the presentation that was shared with the Parents that attended.

Group brainstorming a waste of time?

#whyopen brainstorm | by hardcorekancil

We all have used brainstorming sessions in our classes to find out what the students know or for that big idea. But is it the best way to find the pulse of the group or the best and most creative ideas?

The following article by Claire Karjalainen on the Trello Blog, exposes the myths and pitfalls of using brainstorming. Although this is written for a business context I think you will agree that the factors she lays out can apply in classroom situations as well.

Thankfully Karjalainen also give some pointers on how to get those great ideas from the group.

Why Group Brainstorming Doesn’t Work

EdTech Team U. Online training courses available

Tracy Purdy Director of Online Learning

Announcing EdTechTeam U EdTechTeam now offers anytime, anywhere learning to help you advance your skills and knowledge! Explore and discover our ever expanding catalog of online courses that have been built and designed with U in mind. Our courses include 15 hours of deep learning, application, and authenticity.  Each course connects you to global experts on each topic and build you a valuable and supportive learning community.

1 Credit Courses Launching October 3rd: Google Drive and Docs Google Forms and Sheets Google Slides and Drawings 1 Credit Courses Launching November 7th: YouTube in the Classroom Gmail and Calendar Assistive Technology Math and GAFE Even More Courses Coming soon! iPads and GAFE The New Google Sites Design Thinking REGISTER NOW for EdTechTeam U

Register Today for Parent #TechTuesday Sessions in October!

The DLC team is again offering Parent #TechTuesday sessions at 2:15PM - 2:45PM focused on upskilling parents in the use of digital tools. The October sessions will focus on Apple operating systems on the MacBook and iPhone. We ask that you bring a device if you have one so you can click along during our sessions. MacBooks will be handy for the October 4 and October 18 sessions. An iPhone will be handy for the October 11 session. The sessions will be in the DLC office on campus.

Please REGISTER for an event on the events calendar on the right side of our ET blog.

The DLC Team hopes to see you at an event!

Web Search with Reading Lexile rating

Looking for web content that is suited to your students reading level or even having them find the material themselves?

Our library system has this ability, it is called WebPath Express.
Go to the following link to start the search process. You do not need to be logged in to conduct a search but you do need to be logged in (with school account details) if you want to save the search for later.

Talk to your Section Librarian for further information and how to share a saved list of searches with your students.

WebPath Express

For information on Lexile (including the scale).

Online VoiceThread Workshops for October

No Images? Click here

Join us in October for our free workshops! If you are new to VoiceThread or just want some new ideas, we can help you with these interactive and hands-on sessions.

See All Workshops

 

VoiceThread Mobile​
October 4 at 7:00pm ET - Register here

Online course design has changed a lot in the last 10 years. Over 80% of students now use smartphones and tablets for academic work. In this workshop, participants will learn how to design lessons with mobile learners in mind. We will explore the differences between VoiceThread’s mobile app and the traditional browser version, and participate in hands-on activities.

VoiceThread and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)​
October 18 at 7:00pm ET - Register here

Participants will learn how VoiceThread can help educators provide multiple means of engagement, representation, action and expression for their courses. Participants will learn how to use VoiceThread’s multi-modal communication platform, closed captioning feature, and VoiceThread Universal to design accessible lessons.

VoiceThread and Common Core Lesson Design​
October 25 at 7:00pm ET - Register here

Are you looking for innovative ways to create lessons aligned with Common Core standards? In this K-12 focused workshop, participants will discuss lesson design and learn to blend Common Core and VoiceThread in a variety of ways. We will show examples for ELA, History, Speaking and Listening, and Math standards.

VoiceThread Basics 1 - Upload, Comment, and Share
November 1 at 7:00pm ET - Register here

Participants will learn how to upload media, comment and annotate on that media, and share it with others. This will be a slow paced, step-by-step, hands-on workshop. It is open to both VoiceThread license holders and free members.

 

About the Workshops

These workshops are completely free.  Each one is led by George Haines, an instructional designer, online educator, and former K-12 teacher.  George will share his expertise to help you get the most from VoiceThread.

Important iPhone Update

Apple have a new update (iOS 9.3.5) which you need to download on your devices.  The download is a fix for recently known security issues.  As always, you can do this directly on your device.

The Mac Observer writes the following:

Last week a mobile security company (Lookout) and the advanced research laboratory at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto (Citizen Lab), released details of a sophisticated, targeted, and persistent mobile attack on iOS devices. The big deal is that this attack can jailbreak an iOS device without the user’s knowledge and collect information from apps including Gmail, Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Calendar, FaceTime, and more.

Apple quickly released an update to secure user phones/ipads, which is why you need to update.  For more information from Mac Observer you can go here.

To update your devices, go to Settings > General > Software update.  If 9.3.5 is available, download and update asap!

Interactive Video adding a new dimension to your instruction

Touchcast is a free app available for the iPad that allows you to create videos with interactive elements. While recording introduce other videos, images, twitter feeds, Google Maps as well as a host of other vapps.
Create a presentation with embedded video clips so viewers can view specific content. The main video stops and will resume when viewers return to it.
See the example below of what is possible. Touchcast is an excellent apps to have for the flipped classroom.

Come and talk to the DLCs about this app or about setting up a recording session.

Facebook Twitter Email Website

Featured Ambassador Series: Megan Endicott TouchCast Ambassador Megan Endicott shares how she uses TouchCast for personalized learning with her 700 music students! She also includes great examples in her touchcast.   WATCH