Bulldog Tech - Miscellaneous Tips

Libby App & Free Library of Philadelphia Perks

If you haven't downloaded the Libby App on your phone or tablet, you should! You can borrow ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from your local library as well as other libraries. What I love about this is that I don't have to worry about losing a book as it'll automatically return it in the 14-21 day window. If you have a Kindle or an iPad, you can download the book to your device. Even if you don't have an electronic reading device, you can read online on a computer or download the Kindle App on your phone to read there for a smooth reading experience.

You can register with your local library card and/or use our school credentials to access our library content. But what I wanted to also share is that you can create an account with the Free Library of Philadelphia without having to step foot physically in Philadelphia or without living there. The only requirement is that you live in Pennslyvania! A perk of applying online: You get access to your account immediately, meaning you can start using the library’s online resources, including streaming music and movies. What I love about this is that by creating an account with the Free Library of Philadelphia, you have an even wider selection of book titles than other libraries as well as access to their free classes (they're like Masterclasses), streaming options, and so on.

Signing up online is a pretty quick process. Just go to the Free Library’s website, click “Get a Library Card,” and then select the option to apply online. Then log on to your Libby App and add your library card to borrow up to six titles at a time.

Built-In District Phone Directory

You can search for a room extension from any phone in the district by doing the following:

1. With the phone still on its base, press the Directory button on the top row (labeled Dir).

2. Press the Extension button (labeled Ext).

3. Type the first few letters of someone's last name.

4. Using the up/down arrows, scroll alphabetically through names until you find who you're looking for.

5. Hit Dial, or simply pick up your phone from the base to begin calling.

Conker.AI: Make Formative Assessments in Seconds

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is all the rage these days since the ever-growing popularity of ChatGPT and its competitors. Recently, I stumbled upon an AI that is up and coming that may help teachers specifically as its designed to create formative assessments. You can create a quiz by topic or by a passage in seconds--have students complete the quiz digitally (even a Google Form) or print it out--the choice is yours! Conker.ai is worth checking out!

I made a video to show you what it looks like and how quickly conker.ai works and how you can assign it. In my video, I found an article on Joe Exotic's presidential aspirations from this week just to see what it can do, and it indeed made a legitimate assessment!

QuestionWell: AI-Generated Questions that Export to Canvas, Kahoot, Quizizz, Gimkit

Another AI for educators is on the scene, and I really like this one. It's called QuestionWell and it takes input (like some text, or a description of what you're teaching) and will identify and filter learning objectives and questions automatically. But what's really cool is that you can export it to Kahoot, Quizizz, Gimkit, Blooket, and Canvas, so you can use these questions in an engaging way on platforms you and your students already love and are familiar with. You can also simply print them if that's your preference as well.

I think exporting to Canvas is a significant feature. I experimented with this myself and was able to import questions AND the right answers with these AI Questions.

🅲🅷A🅽🅶🅴 🆈O🆄🆁 🅵O🅽🆃 on Canvas and Google Classroom for Modules and Topics & Elsewhere

Do you want your Canvas or Google Classroom Modules/Topics 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕒 𝕓𝕚𝕥 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 so students can easily find information?

Using a font generator online is your solution because, unlike some font generators that create images, these use Unicode so they universally work everywhere without having Rich Text Capabilities (like a Canvas page does).

Fonts are not just for fun; they're also for function. This tip also works in other unexpected places, like an email subject.

Steps:

1.) Go to this online fancy text generator (NOTHING TO INSTALL!) or other online font generators--there's plenty.

2.) Type in your word. For example, I wrote, "Today's Agenda."

3.) Scroll and find one you like and then copy and paste.

ⒷⓄⓃⓊⓈ: You can add an emoji to it to make your module, header, or topic stand out. Many of you know to click Windows key and . to get emojis, but you can get extra emojis on this website by clicking on the Emoji tab and copying and pasting those in.

"TeacherTok" Finds (Eduaide.AI, Gamma.App, & TEACHFLIX)

TikTok is not just for dance moves; there's a lot of professional learning community building and idea sharing that is quick and impactful. Hopefully, there's something for everyone here today.

For the penultimate tech tip of the year, I decided to share two AI-Assistant "TeacherTok Tips" I stumbled upon this past week. The first is about Eduaide.Ai, a specifically designed AI for educators that has a teacher assistant and a content creator. Check out the TeacherTok below!

📽Here's the video for Eduaide.AI

The second find is Gamma App as it's a way of making beautiful Slide Decks, documents, and webpages almost instantly through the power of AI, saving you tons of time.

Bonus Tip: I just found out about TEACHFLIX (especially for younger elementary, but applicable to all contents and grades), a website that has classroom videos that can be sorted by grade level and content. This is nice for substitute plans, for sure!

Snapdrop: (just like Airdrop, but with computers, Chromebooks, and phones)

If you're familiar with Apple's Airdrop, Snapdrop works in the same way without any need for special equipment or applications.

Without a need for an App, Snapdrop allows you to share files from device to device. Instantly share images, videos, PDFs, and links with other devices nearby safely. This could be from cell phone to computer, Chromebook to computer, etc. I think this would be useful for many applications, but one that comes to mind is to have teacher photos taken on a phone to be shared to your computer so it automatically downloads to your computer. I know many of our elementary teachers like to take photos and post them on their learning platforms, like Canvas, so this would work nicely for that.

Quizizz AI: Create Quizzes Automatically from Youtube, URLs, and Docs

Happy Tuesday!

Quizizz, a popular gamification platform many of our teachers use for formative review, now can generate content from any URL link, any text, and most impressively, a link to a Youtube video. Amazing!

Storyline Online

Storyline Online streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Oprah Winfrey, Chris Pine, Rosario Dawson, Viola Davis, Terry Crews, Connie Britton, John Lithgow, Jennifer Garner, Betty White and more.