Tech Tutor Mark

If you create any kind of online graphics professionally, you probably already know about Canva. But for those out there who don't, I have created a video tutorial which will get you up to speed pretty quickly. It is what I like to call a 15-minute mini-class .  Canva is used quite a bit by social media people who need a quick design template for their posts. It takes very little time to whip up something professional-looking with its helpful built-in design tools, such as frames placeholders and grids. Most of the included images and text designs are free, and you can save the designs that you create - to be used later or just upload your own graphics to re-use in future design projects.  Canva is extremely easy to use and will save you a great deal of time. Not that it is a replacement for Adobe Photoshop, but who has the time to use Photoshop for each and every graphic project we do? Canva even has some quick and dirty photo editing tools...and once you've cre...

This video tutorial shows the complete student workflow of recording a Google Slides Presentation using Screencastify and then turning in the video through Google Classroom two different ways. Many of the newest features of Screencastify's Tab recording toolbar are shown, including the timer, spotlight, pen, pause button, start and stop keyboard shortcut and the eraser.

This tutorial shows the workflow of how students can record class audio projects using Vocaroo and then turn them in through Google Classroom.

While I was working on a video editing project, I started picturing the final product in my head. I recorded an interview with my client. Then, I recorded him running (because he is an avid marathon and competitive runner). I then decided to play the audio of his voice from the interview underneath the clip of him running. Unfortunately, I have not yet installed any decent video editing software on my new laptop.  Being pressed for time, I only had a free video editor at my disposal which only allows for one video track and one audio track. So, the question was how to take the audio from one clip and add it to a different clip. This brought up a need for an audio extractor which could take the audio from one clip and allow me to export it as an MP3 file, for instance. I did a search and found  5 awesome online audio extractors to extract audio from video .  The article also explains how to extract audio from video with Filmora Video Editor. If you are looking for o...

On Wednesday, August 23rd, I will be presenting a session entitled " Transforming Videos into Formative Assessments with EDpuzzle " at Marysville High School from 11:15 to 12:15 in Computer Lab A101. Supporting resources for this session are found below: Transforming Videos into Formative Assessments with EDpuzzle (the full session presentation) Transforming Videos into Formative Assessments with EDpuzzle (Agenda and Class Notes) EDpuzzle Step-by-Step   (a very quick Getting-Started slideshow with steps & no pictures) EDpuzzle Teacher Instructions   (a step-by-step guide with screenshot pictures for teachers) EDpuzzle Student Instructions   (a step-by-step guide with screenshot pictures for students)

Roland Dean at Joyofandroid.com has put together the most thorough and advanced user guide for Google Docs and Sheets for Android that I have seen so far. I found it very useful and can see why he is so proud of it. The guide will help users get the most out of Google Docs, for instance, right away, as well as Sheets (Google's version of Excel) and even Slides (Google's version of PowerPoint). Here is a brief look at the file view in the screenshot below. I'm going to open this guide on my phone and/or tablet and keep it there. To check it out for yourself, head over to the site and read it right away, or just click on the link below: http://joyofandroid.com/android-advanced-user-guide-to-google-docs-and-sheets/

Desktop Apps to Use: In Google Docs ( docs.google.com ) , use the Add-In called Open ClipArt .  This adds ClipArt to your Google Docs. In Google Slides ( slides.google.com ) , go to the Insert menu and insert WordArt, Line, Shape and Image. In PowerPoint , go to Insert>>Pictures or Insert>>Shapes.   Use a different slide for each of your logo designs. Note : Upload to Google Drive when finished.   Legal Image Search Tips: In Google Slides : If you go to  Insert>>Image , use the Search tab.  It searches only images that are free and legal to use to use (not copyrighted).  Creative Commons (CC Search) :   What makes CC Search so great is that it is more than just an image search. Search 12 different media sites from within one page (including Flickr, Google and YouTube). It searches music and video sites as well as images. Pixabay.com : Free high-quality images. Only requires a login if you want to s...

Yes, the iPad and iPhone can speak to students. The accessibility feature called VoiceOver can be activated and used by students with reading accommodations. The presentation below shows you how to use VoiceOver and gives several useful tips.

You can now grade a quiz using Google Forms without using any add-ins. This makes it so that anyone can create a self-grading quiz which can be embedded into Google Classroom, a blog, website or sent by e-mail or QR Code to your students. While you can still use the Flubaroo add-on to make this magic happen, the new Quiz feature is well worth looking into. This video tutorial shows the feature in action, step-by-step, and it also gives you a look at some of the other features included in the new Google Forms.

Eno & Easiteach Workshop (2 Parts) Links, Handouts and Tutorials On Tuesday, July 19th and Thursday, July 21st, I will be leading sessions at the McKinley Administration Building on Eno Whiteboards and RM Easiteach Next Generation , the whiteboard lesson-creation software. Downloading & Creating Whiteboard Lessons with RM Easiteach Next Generation Easiteach Shared Training Folder RM Easiteach Next Generation - Agenda RM Easilearn (lesson downloads, demos and resources for Easiteach) Easiteach Widgets - with an explanation of each Easiteach Feature Videos (many tutorial videos) Easiteach Webinars from ToolfactoryInc (YouTube Playlist) RM Easiteach Website (downloads, videos and more)