Wednesday, September 25, 2013

If This Then That - IFTTT

If this, then that. We call 'this' the Trigger, and 'that' the Action. Together, it is a Recipe. 
Technology is supposed to make your life easier, but when using social media and other sites it seems to add more to an already full plate for most educators.  So how can you still use technology and make it simpler?  Well one way is to use IFTTT, which stands for If This Then That.  IFTTT is a site that allows you to make technology recipes.  For example, let's say that I am art teacher and I use my smartphone to take pictures of my student's artwork.  At the end of the day I go home and upload these pictures to a photo website such as Flickr to share with staff, students, and parents.  By using the IFTTT website I can instead create a recipe like this: IF I take a picture THEN automatically load that picture into Flickr (set them private, so you can choose later which pictures you want to share).  Let's say I have a classroom blog, then I could create a recipe that looks like this:  IF a blog post is created THEN email parents to let them know a new post has been created.

IFTTT already has many recipes already made by others that you can use.  Just think of the possibilities!  This would also be a great site to use with students aged 13 and older. 

You have to sign up for an account in order to use IFTTT, but the sign up is easy and takes 2 minutes or less.

This is a great video made by Matthew Woodward to help get you started.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Quick and Easy Timer

Need a timer for your classroom and need it now?

Go to google.com. Type your search like this: timer for 8 minutes
 
As soon as you search for a timer for that time period, it begins counting down. You can stop the timer, reset the time and mute the volume of the notification at the end of the time period. There is also a progress bar that moves along as the time progresses.
 
You can create a timer with hours, minutes and seconds.
 
 




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Welcome Chromebooks!

Welcome back to the 2013-14 school year and welcome to the Chromebooks that are in your classrooms in carts or crates. 

Today's post is a link to view shortcuts on the Chromebooks. This list is very nicely put together into groups:
Tabs and windows | Page shortcuts | Browser settings | Text editing

Click the links above or below to access the full page of shortcuts. 
Chromebook Shortcuts 

Enjoy!


Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The New Overdrive



Overdrive, our ebook system, has changed again.  It has made it even easier for staff and students to check out ebooks.  Many of our books are available without download.  Search by genre, reading level, lexile level, interest level, and more.