Digital Learning at Grant Wood AEA
  • Home
  • Learn
    • Green Screen
    • Stop Motion
    • Physical Computing
    • Free Media
  • Think
    • Blog
    • BrightBytes
    • Tech Coaches
    • Blended Learning
    • Think Make Innovate
    • Edtech Take Out
  • Grow
    • Pear Deck Resources
    • Makerspaces
    • GWAEA Online Resources
    • OER
    • Computer Science
  • COVID19
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Learn
    • Green Screen
    • Stop Motion
    • Physical Computing
    • Free Media
  • Think
    • Blog
    • BrightBytes
    • Tech Coaches
    • Blended Learning
    • Think Make Innovate
    • Edtech Take Out
  • Grow
    • Pear Deck Resources
    • Makerspaces
    • GWAEA Online Resources
    • OER
    • Computer Science
  • COVID19
  • Contact

PDF Candy For All Your PDF Needs

9/5/2018

4 Comments

 
A piece of paper, centered on a brown tablecloth with a cup of coffee to the left and a pen to the right. The paper reads, PDF Candy for all your PDF needs
Click play to listen to this blog post
PDFs are incredibly useful for all kinds of things. For instance, they are a universal file format that works well on all devices and don't need any additional software for viewing their contents. However, they can also be a very frustrating file format. Have you ever tried to split a PDF, merge it with another PDF, or convert it to another format? Adobe will sell you a subscription that will let you do all this and more. Preview on the Mac has a number of useful options for this too. However, if you don't have access to either of these options, you can take a look at a tool I saw courtesy of Leslie Fisher. It's called PDF Candy.

With PDF Candy you can do all kinds of useful things with your PDF. You can rearrange pages, extract text, unlock password protected PDFs, and convert them to all kinds of useful formats. You can add watermarks, use page numbers, delete pages or add to the header or footer of a PDF. All you do to get started is head over to PDFcandy.com and choose the feature you need. Then, upload your PDF and get editing!

Of course, one of the reasons that people use PDFs is to try and make it harder to copy or alter their original work, so be mindful of copyright and respect the rights of the original author. There are a lot of powerful tools at PDF Candy, but as Uncle Ben (and others) would caution, with great power comes great responsibility!
screenshot of the website PDFcandy.com

More PDF Tips for Teachers

  • You can create PDFs in Word or Google Docs. Simply create the document as you normally would and save it as a PDF format instead of a Word or Google Doc format. You can do the same with PowerPoint and Google Slides!
  • If you upload a PDF to Google Drive and open it with Docs, Google will extract the text of the PDF for you and paste it into a Google Doc
  • You can save any webpage as a PDF in Chrome using the Print menu. Simply navigate to the website of your choice and then go to File > Print and change the default printer to Save as PDF. This works in other browsers to thanks to the PDF Print drivers on Mac and Windows.
  • iPhone and iPad users can save websites as a PDF from Safari. Simply tap the Share arrow and looks for the Create PDF. Use the built-in annotation tools to markup the PDF or tap the Share arrow again to choose where you want to send your PDF.
  • You can scan paper documents and turn them into PDFs with mobile scanning apps like Word Lens, Adobe Scan, Camscanner, Scanner Pro, and more.
  • Sites like DocHub.com will let you sign a PDF for free using their website or Chrome extension. You can also do this with Preview on the Mac, or with the built-in annotation tools on an iPhone or iPad.
  • Speaking of annotation, the Google Classroom app for iPad will also let students annotate a PDF if you assign them a map or a graphic organizer to work on in a PDF format.

Have you used PDF Candy before? What are your favorite PDF tips and hacks for teachers?

Jonathan Wylie (@jonathanwylie)
Digital Learning Consultant, Grant Wood AEA
4 Comments

Formative Assessment at your your Low-Tech Finger Tips

2/9/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Check out this LOW TECH option for student responses
What is a Plicker?  ​

It is a Paper CLICKER and a formative assessment tool that only requires one device - for the teacher.  Students each have their own paper answer tool. Turn the shape from side to side and letters A-D answer the quiz question on the projected screen.  

Getting Started

First step is the Plickers website.  Create a teacher account.  Download the free card deck and assign a page to each student. It's important to make sure that the roster matches the card number, because that is key to the formative assessment. When the teacher scans the room, student roster names show up on the teacher's device attached to their answer.   
Creating & Scanning the Quiz

​The next step is creating the quiz.  
Choose the Library tab to create either true/false or multiple choice questions. Connect your computer to a projector and choose the Live tab and students will see the questions on the screen.  

And then it is time to let Plickers do their magic. As the teacher scans the room with the Plickers App for IOS or Plickers app for Android  the student results are recorded immediately.
Picture
Picture
Things to Remember
  • As the teacher scans the room the Plicker app reads the student's Plicker and records the results.  
  • Each student's answer will only be recorded once.  
  • The results are displayed in bar graph form
  • No two plickers are the same


This is an excellent option for schools where devices are scarce or wifi is spotty.  Plickers work well with students of all ages.  Take some time to check out this low-tech formative assessment tool.

Additional Resources

​Link to Plickers website 
Link to the Plickers Card Deck
​Link to Plickers Tutorial by EdTech Tidbits


~ Beth Swantz, Technology Consultant, GWAEA @betswan

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+. We even have our own podcast you can listen to.

0 Comments

Best of the Web: Wikiwand for Wikipedia

8/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently I came across an interesting browser extension called Wikiwand. It is available for free for Chrome, Firefox or Safari web browsers, and there are companion apps for iPhone and Android. Once installed, Wikiwand automatically transforms any Wikipedia page that you visit into a visual feast for your eyes!

The first thing you will notice are the big, vibrant, cover images that dominate the top of an entry and provide context to the content of the article. There is a convenient table of contents on a sidebar on the left that remains on the screen no matter how far down you scroll. Links in the article have pop-up previews when you hover over them and give you a summary of what is being linked to. There is even  a media slideshow that you activate by clicking on any of the images. The slideshow has all the images from that Wikipedia page.

Not convinced yet? Take a look at the images below for a before and after shot of Wikipedia and the Wikiwand version of the same page. You can also check out a random Wikiwand page by clicking here.
Picture
A standard Wikipedia page about NASA
Picture
The same Wikipedia page viewed with the Wikiwand extension
Wikiwand does not provide any additional information to the page you are looking at, but it does make it a lot nicer to look at. It makes Wikipedia pages easier to navigate and easier to read (thanks to the hyperlink pop-ups). There is a text-to-speech feature that you can activate by clicking the speaker in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, but the voice is not as good as some other options you have in this area, so it may not be as useful as you might hope.

However, in a world of visual learners, where design is becoming increasingly important in our lives, Wikiwand stands out from the crowd as a way to access information in a clean and efficient way. If you haven't tried it yet, it is well worth a look. Check it out at www.wikiwand.com.


Jonathan Wylie, Grant Wood AEA Technology Consultant, @jonathanwylie

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+.
0 Comments

Don't Leave Your Students Alone in the Text!

4/28/2015

0 Comments

 
This post is geared primarily toward literacy teachers, but in case you didn’t know, that is everyone. Yep, even you Mr. PE Teacher are a literacy teacher.  All of us are responsible for incorporating literacy activities in our classroom.  Now I’m not saying let’s read Ivanhoe in Algebra I (that’s just silly), but why not have your students  take a look at this non-fiction article and debate the merits of Algebra. And in fact, the Common Core advises that students should, by 12th grade, spend 30% of their time reading literary texts and 70% of their time reading informational/non-fiction text, furthermore suggesting that a great deal of non-fiction reading in grade 6-12 can happen in classrooms outside of ELA.

All right, descend from soapbox and let’s take a look at a tool that will help us in the teaching of literacy.  This tool is called Actively Learn.  It is one of my new favorite tools for ELA, well it’s not new, just newish to me.  If you are not familiar with Actively Learn, watch this short video to get a quick overview:


Teacher Overview from Actively Learn on Vimeo.

 So why do I love Actively Learn?  Here is my top three list:

  1. Content - the content available in Actively Read is phenomenal.  I taught the gamut of HS ELA classes (everything from English 9 to AP English Lit and College Composition) and in the available content in Actively Learn is representative of most of the texts that I taught.  Additionally, texts are Lexiled and sorted by grade level and subject.  Additionally, teachers can add their own content by going to the “Create Assignments” tab and selecting “Add Content”.  They can add  from a URL, Google Doc or PDF.  So go ahead, add those lyrics from Thunder Road or Don’t Drink the Water, they will work.

  2. Support -  The Actively Learn interface has a ton of support built right into the tool.  When teachers log in, the first stop is their “Checklist” which shows them what they need to accomplish to fully leverage all of the features built into Actively Learn.  The checklist links to a help video on the topic as well as text instructions with screenshots.  Additionally, you will always find a helping hand hanging out in the lower right hand corner of the app.  Click on the photo of the support person and you can launch into a live chat.

  3. Collaboration - My mantra has always been “comprehension is collaborative”. Ok, I don’t think that I came up with that one on my own, but it is true.  Comprehension hinges on the student’s ability to build/activate their schema and make connections and the best way to support this in an ELA classroom is to create a collaborative reading experience (my other thoughts on schema building).  Kids should be talking about text, they should been sharing what they see in the text, and they should be having debates about the text.  Actively Learn allows this to happen at anytime.  No longer is a student “alone in the text”.  They can post notes for their fellow students to comment on, they can send a private “I don’t understand” flag to their teacher, and they can accommodate for themselves as needed (i.e. have the text read aloud, look up definitions of words, etc.).  In short, they have a community of learners to aid in their comprehension.  Additionally, teachers can co-author assignments together and they can co-teach classes.


Actively Learn truly puts the student experience at the forefront.  Students have great opportunities to collaborate and connect with their classmates and teacher via the text and this helps aid comprehension and the development of schema. So, if you are a literacy teacher (and I know you are) give Actively Learn a look and don’t leave your students “alone in the text”.


- Gina Rogers, Technology Consultant, Grant Wood AEA (@grogers1010)

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+.
0 Comments

Best of the Web: The Free YouTube Audio Library

2/25/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Ever been stuck for some good free music to use with student video projects? You're not alone. Iowa educators are lucky to have access to the Soundzabound library, but not everyone has access to a paid subscription like this. Recently, I came across a tweet by TechSmith's Camtasia for Mac account that reminded me of a great free audio library on YouTube. Here's how it works.

Simply navigate to https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music to get started. Here you will find dozens of free tracks that you can download and use in any project you care to create with no restrictions on copyright or anything else. Just make sure you select the Free Music tab at the top of the page to find the royalty free tracks.

Music can be sorted by genre, mood, instrument or duration to make it easier to find the style of music you need. Clicking the play button next to the title of the track can be used to preview any track before you download it, and the star on the far right-hand side can be used to shortlist your favorites. You can even see the popularity of a track by looking at how full its horizontal bar is.

When you find what you need, click the down arrow (highlighted below) to download the music to your computer for use in video editing software like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. Finished videos that are then uploaded to YouTube will not be flagged by YouTube's Content ID scanner because it recognizes that your music is from the YouTube Audio library.
Picture
There are a wide variety of music styles here, so you are likely to find something to fit most student (or teacher) video projects, and with any luck, YouTube will continue to add more free music to this library so that the variety of audio on offer here continues to expand.

Other possible sources of free music for schools include Freeplay Music or ccMixster, but if you have favorite sources that you like to use, please share them in the comments below.


~ Jonathan Wylie, GWAEA Technology Consultant

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+.
0 Comments

Best of the Web: Photos for Class via @kvnmcl

2/17/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
This is the first of a brand new series on our blog called Best of the Web. Each week we will look at a classroom technology resource that was shared by a teacher we follow on social media. This week's pick come from Kevin McLaughlin, an elementary educator from the UK. Kevin is a Google Certified Teacher, a Google Education Trainer and an Apple Distinguished Educator. You can follow him on Google+ here, or on Twitter at @kvnmcl.

Recently I was intrigued by a resource Kevin shared on Twitter called Photos for Class. With Photos for Class, you can search and download creative commons images that are automatically cited with the correct attribution (as seen in the image above). Photos for Class uses your keyword searches to scan through the Flickr database of Creative Commons images and deliver a page of filtered images that are safe and licensed for re-use.

Citations are added as a watermark at the bottom of the photo you choose and include the name of the author, the name of the photo, a link to the original photo, as well as the name and type of Creative Commons license that the image was released under. Photos for Class only shows images that are free to use and allow for derivative works, but because Flickr has a huge repository of images, the variety, choice and quality available is often very good for schools.

Proper citation of images is obviously still an incredibly important skill for students to be taught, but for younger students, or just plain convenience, this site is hard to beat. It can also be a great time saver for teachers who know how to cite, but are just looking for some quick, legal images to use while still setting a good example for students who view the images they choose.

And so, it is with due deference that we doff our hat to Mr. Kevin McLaughlin for sharing this useful website for teachers. If you have a resource that you think should be features in our Best of the Web series, we'd love to hear about it. You can connect with us on Twitter, Google+ or Facebook, but if you would prefer to email us you can do that too! :)


~ Jonathan Wylie: Technology Consultant, Grant Wood AEA

For more posts like this, please subscribe to our blog! You can also connect with us on social media if you Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+.
1 Comment

    Connect



    Blog Feed

    RSS Feed


    Like Us on Facebook

    Digital Learning at Grant Wood Area Education Agency

    Promote Your Page Too

    Our YouTube Show

    Picture

    Our Podcast

    Picture

    Our Tweets!

    Tweets by @DLGWAEA

    Authors

    Stacy Behmer
    Jonathan Wylie
    Gina Rogers
    Amber Bridge
    Beth Swantz

    Mindy Cairney
    Lynn Kleinmeyer
    Corey Rogers


    Archives

    November 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014


    Categories

    All
    3d Printing
    4Cs
    Assessment
    Augmented Reality
    Best Of The Web
    Blogging
    Board Games
    Coding
    Collaboration
    Communication
    Computer Science
    Connected Classrooms
    Creativity
    Device Deployment
    Digital Citizenship
    Digital Classrooms
    Elementary
    Flipped Classroom
    Formative Assessment
    GAFE
    Google
    Google Apps EDU
    Google Expeditions
    Green Screen
    Hattie
    Innovate
    Ipad
    ISTE
    Literacy
    Make
    Makerspace
    Office 365
    Pear Deck
    Personalized Learning
    PLN
    Podcast
    Professional Learning
    Research
    Service Learning
    Student Choice
    Think
    ThinkMakeInnovate
    Update
    Video
    Virual Reality
    Wakelet
    Web 2.0
    Youtube

Grant Wood Area Education Agency extends equal opportunities in its employment practices, educational programs and services, and does not discriminate on the basis of color, gender, race, national origin, religion, creed, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, veteran status or as otherwise prohibited by law. If you believe you or your child has been discriminated against or treated unjustly, please contact the Agency’s Equity Coordinator, Maria Cashman, at 319-399-6847 or 800-332-8488. Grant Wood AEA, 4401 Sixth St SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404.

It is the goal of Grant Wood Area Education Agency that the information on our website be accessible to individuals with visual, hearing or cognitive disabilities. Good faith efforts have been made to ensure that our site complies with the world wide web consortium’s web content accessibility guidelines. Learn more here.