Tech Tutor Mark

If you're looking for an audio recording tool to use with your students, there are several to choose from. Audacity is a free software tool that can be downloaded and installed. It will allow you to record from any microphone, or from your computer's sound card. However, it is software that must be downloaded and installed on every machine that uses it, and there is no iPad app version of it. It is purely desktop software. What might be simpler? How about a web tool called AudioBoom ? Never heard of it, you say? AudioBoom is an online tool that will allow virtually anyone to record audio and save the files online.  This article gives a perfect example of how AudioBoom was used in a classroom of 2nd graders to improve reading fluency. To start using AudioBoom, click here  and sign up. You will be presented with a typically overwhelming social media-oriented Dashboard. Just click on the red "Record" button in the top right corner. Now you will be in the Recording wi

If you haven't seen Yet Another Mail Merge yet, it is an add-in for Google Sheets. You can find a link to the add-on here .  What makes this so important is that it fulfills a need that many teachers have when communicating with parents. This add-on lets you compile a list of differing comments for each student (listed in the columns of a Google Sheet) and send them all as a mail merge to various parents through your Gmail account. Maybe it's letting the parents know how their child is currently doing in your course. Maybe it's letting the parent know about an important upcoming test or event in your classroom.  To save time,  Yet Another Mail Merge lets you personalize the message to each individual parent. All you need is each parent's e-mail address. Comments or messages are typed into the fields of the spreadsheet and then merged into your Gmail. The add-on pulls each field you want from the spreadsheet. It then creates an additional column letting you know exact

Author, tech consultant and traveling speaker Matt Miller compiled this impressive list of classroom video resources in what he calls the " Classroom Video Manifesto ." It's an impressive list of tools and sites that will help you (the teacher) get up and running with using video in your classroom with students. This is just one of the manifestos that Matt includes in his blog . Also check out the book and Twitter page which correspond with his DitchThatTextbook series. 

I'm reprinting a good article written by David Ly Khim from Sidekick. This is the second tip from them so far that I am passing on to readers. I hope it helps you. This situation might sound familiar: You write out an email and you actually  remember to attach the file . You click send and then ... Come on. So how are we supposed to send over that important file in time for the meeting that’s starting in … 11 minutes? Regardless of the email client we’re using, we’re bound to run into this problem every now and then. Particularly because these are the max file limits for each email provider: Gmail: 25Mb (per email sent or received) Outlook.com and Hotmail: 20Mb (per file attachment) or 300Gb (we’ll get to this) Yahoo Mail: 25Mb (per email) or unlimited (again we’ll get to this …) AOL: 25Mb (per email sent or received) Mail.com: 50Mb (per attachment) and 10Mb (per file) Zoho Mail: 12Mb (per email) and 10Mb (per file) GoDaddy Workspace: 30Mb (per email) and 20Mb

I recently reviewed Sidekick, which I like to use as a Gmail add-on. Today I received this tip from them in my Inbox, and surprisingly, this tip is exactly something that I've been wanting to know how to do. It's certainly a long-term problem which Google has apparently fixed. Namely, getting your e-mail links to actually open in Gmail. It seems like it should be simple, and it is if you have an email client like Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. But what if you have Gmail? Here's how to make email links actually open in Gmail , and the tip is courtesy of Scott Tousley of Sidekick...by Hubspot. 

I have just started using Sidekick by Hubspot. It is a Google Chrome add-in that lets me know when someone has opened an e-mail I sent. Sidekick is a much better solution than sending a Read Receipt. You are limited to 200 notifications per month, but that's not bad - because you can check the little check box in the bottom right corner and then click the orange (instead of the normal blue) Send button when you want to use it.  I don't really need to know exactly when each of my email recipients opens my message, but for some of them, I really do want to know. When you check the Sidekick checkbox and send the message, it is tracked, and as soon as your recipient opens it, you receive a popup message in the lower right corner of your window.  Another feature that I really like is the Sidekick link at the left of my Gmail (known as a Label) which I can click on and see all of the emails that have been tracked. It shows each person's name and picture (if they have one)