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UTB Newsletter - Issue 24- 2019 the final utb newsletter for 2019

In this issue...

  • A year in review - a note from Mike (our Director)
  • A Christmas gift from Team UTB... 10 ideas for your classroom
  • Something we think you'll like
  • FREE professional learning in the North Island - Jan 2020
  • Online Course - G Suite Deep Dive
  • Join us for a FREE WEBINAR
  • Something we think you'll like!
  • Blog posts you may have missed
  • Alternatives to Bitmoji
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Looking ahead to 2020
  • Want to join the UTB team? Now's the time!
  • Find out how you can win a FREE ONLINE course with UTB

Welcome to the last newsletter for 2019

A note from Mike

What a year it has been! I have just been looking over our end of year reports, and it always blows my mind what we can achieve, given the fact that I am certain the years are somehow getting shorter.

For those who like to see some stats, these ones are the fun types...

* The UTB team provided training to a number of new customers this year. The most notable ones were the furry type that Lara seemed to attract in her sessions (dogs, alpacas, cats, goats etc) you name it, she seemed to find them in the school yard. πŸΆπŸˆπŸ

* Despite the fact that we don't include these animals in our training numbers, we still managed to almost double the number of people we trained this year to over 22,000 people. This was from our education, government, and corporate clients.

* In addition to these numbers, we were excited to have more than 500 people join one of our online courses, whether this be one of our getting started courses, or high level certification courses.

* With all of these people trained, the team has needed to grow - nearly doubling in size with us bringing on a General Manager, marketing person, designer, and a range of new trainers who are serving you in a full time or part time capacity (with one more exciting announcement to come just before Christmas to bolster our Apple and AR/VR offering to schools and businesses). If you would like to join our team on a part time or casual basis, let us know!

* Through our training we have had the privilege of seeing much of the world, from rioting Hong Hong to peaceful outback Australian towns. From flooded NZ to a desert-like Western NSW.

We have had evacuations from hotels, been chased by goanas (that guy in the photo didn't stay there long, and I wasn't looking back to get the shot!), and discovered that the team that wakeboards, snowboards, snorkels, eats, drinks and parties together... stays together... Have I mentioned how much I love and appreciate the UTB team?? πŸ˜€

As we look forward to 2020 we are excited about our FREE JUMBO DAY in Rotorua, NZ, our Back to School workshops with Google, NZ and AUS, as well as some cool online course initiatives which are ready to land in your inboxes :)

In the meantime, we wish you a Merry Christmas a truly refreshing break!

The UTB team

a Christmas gift, from us to you!

Christmas + Digital Technology + STEAM

We've put together 10 Christmassy themed ideas for activities for your classroom as you wrap up for the year. Feel free to make a copy, adapt it, share it - whatever you like! Enjoy!

Let us know what you think by tagging us in a post on Twitter or Insta! #utbSHARE - you might just win a free online course!

something we think you'll like...

A quick & easy way to digitise your old photos!

Do you have boxes of old photos and photo albums in your house? Particularly ones that are at the top of your 'must evacuate with me' list should distaster strike (we're pretty mindful about this in Australia during the fire season)?

If so, you're going to love this new app from Google! Photo Scan by Google Photos -available for Android and iOS

It's a new app that lets you scan and save old printed photos using only your phone. The app promises a glare-free result that doesn't look like you've taken a photo of a photo.

So, if you're looking for a project to keep you busy over the Christmas holidays, digitising your old photos just became a whole lot easier!

UTB WEather watch

With our team spread across three countries (Philipines, Australia and New Zealand) we find ourselves quite often comparing temperatures and weather conditions.

This week the conditions probably couldn't get much more varied from where Sam and Adrian have been training and where both Mike and I are based.

Sam and Adrian have been working in Gunnedah, New South Wales. They've been blown away by the drought conditions there and made this short video to share with you.

Meanwhile in the south of New Zealand we have the opposite. As I write this on Friday night it is pouring with rain and both Wanaka and Queenstown are under serious threat of flooding as lake levels continue to rise. Hopefully the rain will ease and the impact of flooding won't be as severe as is predicted. - Lara

free professional learning with the whole utb team!

We are excited to share with you that we will be running a completely FREE training day in Rotorua on the 31st of January 2020.

Location: Rotorua Library - 1127 Haupapa Street, Rotorua 3010

Time: 12.30pm - 5.30pm

What to bring: Your laptop / iPad / Chromebook

We are asking YOU to let us know what sessions you would like us to run. Current sessions of interest:

  • Engage and excite your learners with fun and meaningful digital maths activities.
  • Taking and creating virtual journeys with Google tools.
  • Make an automatic watering system using design thinking and Micro:bit.
  • Take Sphero Bolt to the next level by stopping a deadly virus from spreading.
  • Save the stranded people by design thinking a solution using Sphero and leftover party supplies!
  • Light up your Literacy programme with Digital Technology - engage and excite your students in meaningful ways.
  • Getting creative with 3D tools and augmented reality - way more fun than 3D printing!
  • AI in Education.
  • School transformation and change leadership.

What? you want more free stuff???

go on then...

To help you settle back in to a new school year, we are working with Google for Education to bring you a series of FREE Back to School PD for educators!

THAT'S RIGHT..... FREE!!

We'll be in.....

  • Melbourne - January 21, 2020
  • Sydney - January 22, 2020 (NESA Accredited)
  • Sydney - January 23, 2020 (NESA Accredited)
  • Auckland - January 29, 2020
  • Auckland - January 30, 2020

Spaces are limited so register now!

FEATURED ONLINE COURSE...

g suite for education deep dive

We are loving the feedback we have been getting about this course!

We've dived into the key G Suite apps and broken down what you need to know with short, easy to follow videos. This course will take you to the next level with your understanding and mastery of G Suite, for your own efficiency and within the classroom.

Watch the video below and Adrian will tell you everything you need to know!

Meet Brainpop

FREE WEBINAR FOR TEACHERS

Join Lara and Donna for a one hour webinar introducing you to BrainPOP.

See how this awesome resource aligns with not only your curriculum but with excellent teaching pedgagy and contexts beyond the standard textbook.

Tuesday 17 December - 7pm AEDT

The focus for the next webinar is around Literacy and Computer Science.

We'll show you how you can use BrainPOP to enhance your classroom programme - providing your students agency, scaffolding lessons and accessing excellent resources to help your students learn and share their understanding in creative ways.

It's totally free! All you need to do is click here to register.

Something else we think you'll like...

Autodraw is built into Book Creator - now on the iPad app too!

We know that many of you love Book Creator just as much as we do so you'll be pleased to know that AutoDraw is now available in the app version.

AutoDraw has been available in the browser version since mid year so it's really exciting to now be able to access it on both platforms.

If you haven't used it yet - check it out. You'll find it when you select your pen type in the drawing tool.

blog posts you may have missed

Check out the practical, helpful tips in our blogs below.

Something you want us to blog about? Make a request here or check out our website to see all our posts.

It's about respect - I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do what I do - but sometimes, just sometimes - it frustrates the heck out of me! And everytime I get this feeling, when I stop and analyse it, I realise what’s frustrating me always comes back to one word, respect. Or more often - lack of! Why is that? Read on to find out more. - By Donna Golightly

Top tip for Google Sheets - You use your translate but in Google sheets you can actually do it yourself, so let me just wipe out some formulas here and show you how it works, so let's pretend that we've type been something over here in English..- By Adrian Francis

One from the archives - Four ways schools can make their technology PD more effective - Professional development is an essential part of helping teachers integrate new digital technologies into their classrooms. Many schools will require their teachers to undertake technology PD next year, check out Sam's tips for making the most of it. - By Samantha Vardanega

Alternatives to bitmoji

Everyone loves a good Bitmoji - don't they?

However, to create an account and launch your world of avatar creating you need to be over the age of 13 - which of course primary school students are not. While this frustrates many teachers, it is a good thing as some of the Bitmojis are not suitable for a younger age audience.

So we often get asked by teachers what else can they use with their students to create digital representations of themselves?

As a special treat for you 🎁 we've put together a resource you can easily use to find alternative avatar creators.

They all have free options, although some you need to login to downoald your avatars while others you don't.

Have fun exploring them!.Happy creating!

TIPS AND tricks

Version history is coming to Google Sites

By March 2020 new Google Sites will have the Version History feature available and by the end of 2020 it will be rolled out to exisiting sites.

This will enable you to revert to previous versions, restore deleted content and view who has made changes.

You can check out all the details here.

Floating keyboard in iPadOS

If you are using the latest iPadOS there's a nifty feature with the keyboard.

One of the things that has sometimes frustrated me when working on the iPad is the way the keyboard often covers much of the page I'm working on.

Turning it around from landscape mode to portrait mode has helped but now there's an even better solution - simply pinch in with your fingers on your keyboard. That gesture minimises the keyboard and allows you to move it anywhere you want. Super handy!

Pinch out to make the keyboard full size again.

looking ahead to 2020

The UTB team are planning out their calendars for next year. We are aiming to make sure we are giving you what you need, where you need it!

This would be a great time for you to let us know what sort of training and workshops you'd like to see us offer near you. Our plan is to get dates and locations locked in now so you can talk to whoever is in charge of the PLD purse strings at your school and get booked in early.

If you've never been to any of our training you can check out some of our feedback here -we're pretty proud of our 4.84 out of 5 rating from over 1700 workshop trainees!

So fill in this form and let us know what you're after! We'll let you know our plans soon!

Join the UTB Team as a trainer!

We have a few training opportunities to join the UTB training team in Australia and New Zealand.

We're keen to hear from people who may be interested in full time, part time or casual work with us.

If you are a passionate educator, digitally savvy and keen to explore training options fill in this form to express your interest. We'll get back to you with more details!

WIN A FREE UTB COURSE!

SHARING IS CARING!

We love getting your feedback about ideas you've used from this newsletter or from one of our training sessions!

In fact, we get such a kick out of it that every fortnight we want to give someone who shares the love a free online course of your choice - valued at up to $300!

Click here to check out our courses!

All you need to do is a share a photo or video of an activity that was inspired by something we shared with you (could be from face to face, online training or the newsletter), with a quick caption telling us what's happening in it!

Here are a couple of ways you can share...

  • Share it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and tag us in with @Usingtechbetter, #utbSHARE and #utbPD
  • Not on Facebook, Twitter or Insta? No worries - email it to us at support@usingtechnologybetter.com and we'll share it out on our social media

SHARE TO BE IN TO WIN NEXT FORTNIGHT!!!

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Credits:

Created with images by Joanna Kosinska - "A collection of vintage photos" β€’ redcharlie - "untitled image" β€’ Sarah Dorweiler - "Fresh leaf near a MacBook" β€’ Neven Krcmarek - "Blue pencil against black paper" β€’ Pierrick VAN-TROOST - "A little magic in UNSPLASH" β€’ Erol Ahmed - "Fragrant bay leaves grow on large deciduous trees. When collected, they can be dried and added to recipes for a herbal flavor and scent. I collected these from the San Francisco Flower Market and clipped them off the branches. I hope they all dry well for cooking." β€’ Anton Darius | @theSollers - "untitled image"

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