Welcome to the latest UTB newsletter!
For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, we hope you had a great break and are recharged, ready to go for the last term of the school year!
I (Mike) have been in Bali for a month with my family. It has been a great mixture of work and pleasure for us. This year we put our kids (14 and 16) into an online school so they could travel with my wife and I. We have had the opportunity to travel to a number of countries and cultures this year, all based around my work.
It has been a great year of learning for us. There has definitely been a tension between having the flexibility to learn anywhere and anytime, and to some extent, anything, compared with 'traditional schooling' where there is an expectation to still get through content, managing how much work needs to be submitted and when.
Couple this tension with the increased trends we are seeing in technology where tasks are becoming automated, computers can do the learning for us, and it definitely feels like we are at a point of permanent change; the point of no return. This type of change has been spoken of a lot in conferences and presentations, but to be honest, we are yet to see this become fully worked out in reality.
I don't know exactly what the change will look like, and I probably have more questions than answers, but from where I sit in a global community, it seems to me that the trends towards student well being, a well rounded curriculum where students can specialise based on interests, the ability to think, collaborate, empathise with others, and make decisions when under pressure is the type of learning the world needs.
At UTB our aim is to fuel your thinking around these things and equip you with the skills to take your students forward. Enjoy the articles and tips and tricks below!
IN THIS ISSUE...
- Something we think you'll like.... Think Like a Coder from TedED
- 3 things to do today to improve your online account security
- Blog posts
- Something we think you'll like... SlidesGo
- Tips and Tricks
- Looking ahead to 2020
- An awesome tool to support learners
- Want to join the UTB team? Now's the time!
- Find out how you can win a FREE ONLINE course with UTB
something we think you'll like...
Think like a coder!
I'm a real fan of the TedEd resources and was really excited to see this land in my inbox.
They're developing an epic adventure (a series of ten videos) that will challenge viewers with programming puzzles, as the main characters— Ethic and her robot companion, Hedge— attempt to save a world that has been plunged into turmoil.
The series, called Think like a Coder, is designed to develop computational thinking skills.
In episode one Ethic awakes in a mysterious prison cell. Step 1: escape! Help Ethic and Hedge solve the programming puzzles that will help them break free.
We think these videos could be an awesome collaborative challenge for you and your students. Try watching the video together - pause it so they have time to work on their solutions, then watch the rest of the video to see how they got on.
This link will take you to the information page where you can find the link to the first video as well - check it out!
3 things to do today to improve your online account security
Last week in Australia was 'Stay Smart Online' week, which is a timely reminder about the importance of keeping yourself safe and secure online. I know this is a topic that many of you chat about with your students, but how secure are your online accounts?
Here are three things you can do today to boost your personal online account security:
1. Do a Security Checkup for any Google accounts you have.
2. Set up 2-step authentication for your Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts (and any others you have!). Using 2-step authentication provides a strong defence against account hijacking, even if your password is compromised.
3. Begin using a password manager - and stop using the same weak password on multiple websites!! Learn more about that here.
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.
How to do an Inbox spring clean in Gmail or Outlook)- Spring has sprung here in the Southern Hemisphere, so it is a perfect time to do an Inbox Spring clean! Imagine what it would be like to open your Inbox and have only one page (or less) of emails sitting there...that’s what an Inbox spring clean can help you do. - By Samantha Vardanega
Getting started with computationl thinking - Ask many teachers what computational thinking is and they’ll look at you with a blank face. I used to feel like that! But actually, it’s not that complicated at all. This blog will unpack what it is and give you some simple ideas on how to get started with unpacking what it could look like in your classroom. - By Donna Golightly
Something we think you'll like...
SlidesGo
Looking for ways to improve your use of Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations?
SlidesGo is a website with numerous free templates you can use to create dynamic and visually interesting slide decks.
You're able to filter by categories or use the search engine to look for a more specific theme.
The templates are all editable and each has a brief description accompanying it.
If you've not seen it before - check it out, and maybe leave yourself enough time to get lost in all the amazing designs that are on the site. 😃
TIPS AND tricks
Taking a screenshot on your iPad with your pencil.
If you have updated your iPad to iOS13 and you're lucky enough to have a pencil - did you know you can take a screenshot by simply placing the pencil in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and dragging inwards diagonally?
Once your iPad has snapped the screenshot you can then edit it by cropping it or using the pencil to markup on it.
Simply brilliant!
Keyboard shortcuts in Google Drive
I love keyboard shortcuts! Here's a few to try in Google Drive.
- Shift + p - will create a new presentation/Slide
- Shift + d - will create a new Drawing
- Shift + o - will create a new Form
- Shift + f - will create a new drive folder
- Shift + t - will create a new Doc
- Shift + s - will create a new Sheet
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!
Getting your students or fellow teachers familiar with Immersive Reader
If your school (or workplace) uses 0365 then you have access to the immersive reader tool in a number of places. You can read more about what it is here.
If you don't use 0365 you will still see immersive reader in tools like Flipgrid and Wakelet.
A fun way to get your students or fellow teachers familiar with the features is to give them a tic tac toe activity to complete. Check out this example and then adapt to suit your own context.
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 Online 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!
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 Twitter or Instagram and tag us in with @Usingtechbetter, #utbSHARE and #utbPD
- Not on Twitter or Insta? No worries - email it to us at support@usingtechnologybetter.com and we'll share it out on our social media
NB: Please make sure that you have permission and that you also give us permission to share any photos! It's often a good idea to put smiley stickers over students faces and anything else identifying in the image. OR just share images that don't have students in them.
Check with your school administrators what your policy on this is! Safety first everyone! :)
NO ENTRIES THIS FORTNIGHT! 😢
SHARE TO BE IN TO WIN NEXT FORTNIGHT!!!
Credits:
Created with images by nastya_gepp - "girl young student" • John Salvino - "untitled image" • garageband - "abstract art background" • Praewthida K - "untitled image"