Safe and Secure

We should have a unique, strong, and different password for all our accounts, especially for our computers since they are the gateway to many other accounts.  A strong password should be at least twelve characters with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.  Here are two effective ways to create strong, unique, and memorable passwords:

1.  Choose three characters in each of the following four groups:  symbol, uppercase letter, lowercase letter, and number.  For example, %>}QCPzbw762.  Now, you really only have to remember four sets.  Also, the letters and numbers could have special meaning to you to make them easier to remember.

2.  Choose a phrase or sentence with nine words.  For example, the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  Abbreviate it to the following with alternating uppercase and lowercase letters:  TqBfJoTld.  Finally, include two numbers and one symbol or one number and two symbols to get the final password:  TqBfJoTlD#&3.

Check out this great article for other ways to create a strong and secure password.

Downloading or installing something on your computer can put your electronic safety at risk.  Here are three fundamental ways to prevent yourself from downloading or installing something malicious on your computer, which could also end up damaging the entire network it is on.  First, never open an email or an email attachment from a sender you don't recognize or trust.  Just delete it.  Second, never download or install anything from a suspicious website.  If something just doesn't seem right about it, don't do it.  Third, always check to see if the website is running a secure protocol.  Look for this in the URL bar:

 

The "s" in "https" means it is secure.  If the "s" isn't there, don't download!  To automatically make every website you visit use HTTPS, install the HTTPS Everywhere Chrome Extension.  It's simply one more action you can take to keep yourself safe on the Internet.  To learn more about https, what it does, and how it works, click here.

Finally, although your password may be strong, once you're logged in to your computer, anyone can walk up to it and do anything they wish.  Here's a quick and easy way to secure your computer whenever you need to step away from it, so that it's not open for anyone to use.

If you need to leave your computer, press the Windows key (looks like a four-pane window next to the Alt key) and the L key at the same time.  This will lock your computer and require your password to unlock it.  To unlock it, press Ctrl, Alt, and Del at the same time as you normally would to log in, and then enter your password.

Now, when you have to step away from your computer, it will be protected against intrusion or just pranksters who, in the spirit of Halloween, want to change your background to this:

  

A Little Saving Goes a Long Way

In the spirit of saving resources, I'll keep this post short.  Here is a great way to save toner and paper while making what we print easier to read.

Meet the Print Friendly Chrome Extension.  This extension lets you modify things you want to print from the Internet in order to reduce toner and paper.  You can use this extension to easily delete text, images, whole pages, or other things you don't want on the printed copy.  Watch this brief tutorial on Print Friendly:

Once it is installed, you can go to a webpage (or almost anything you want to print from the Internet), and then click the green Print Friendly icon in the upper right of Chrome.  A window will appear in which you will remove things that you don't want printed.  All you have to do is click on what you want to remove and then delete it.  You can also save this as a PDF once you're done editing it.  Here's how to install it in Chrome:

1.  Open Chrome and click this link.
2.  Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3.  The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!

This is a must-have tool to save toner and paper while increasing the readability of what you print.  And it helps you save a tree!

First Edcamp

Today, I had the pleasure of participating in my first Edcamp.  I had heard wonderful feedback about Edcamps, so I was excited to experience it firsthand.  It lived up to its reputation.

For those who are unfamiliar with Edcamp, here is a quick overview.  An Edcamp is a casual, collaborative, and free (That's right; it costs nothing to attend!) gathering of educators that bills itself as an "unconference".  We strive to make our classrooms student-centered and differentiated to meet the needs of our diverse learners.  Edcamp does this for educators.  At an Edcamp, the day's topics, agenda, and sessions are not pre-determined.  The participants brainstorm and decide the unique things they want to learn about, and the sessions are created out of those topics.  Here is a photo of the sessions we created today:

There were sessions about competencies, Google Classroom, Breakout EDU, digital citizenship, genius hour, RTI, and even comic books in the classroom.  Participants wrote questions or topics they wanted to learn about on sticky notes and posted them on the session board.  Other people became facilitators of sessions and posted topics they would teach to us.  Inside the sessions, participants asked questions, discussed ideas, shared successes, and provided helpful resources and methods we could put to good use right away.  At the end of the day, everyone came back together for the Smackdown, which had anyone offer up the most interesting thing they learned during the sessions.

Overall, the goal of an Edcamp is to create a dynamic, responsive, and engaging professional development opportunity to help anyone in the education field.  And this Edcamp absolutely accomplished this goal.  Kudos to the organizers of this Edcamp for all their hard work in making it a tremendous success.

It was a refreshing and inspiring day with teachers teaching teachers in a relaxed and open environment.  I can't wait to share some of the things I learned with my fellow staff.  If you have the opportunity to participate in an Edcamp, I highly recommend it.

Put It in (Google) Drive

This Tech Tip is about saving what you find on the Internet to your Google Drive. First, for those that would like tutorials about using Google Drive, please click here.

Bookmarking websites and other web content is a great way to keep and organize helpful information.  Yet, what do you do when you come across documents, PDFs, images, spreadsheets, or slideshows that you want to keep and possibly modify for your own use?  You can often find these files on the Internet, and here is an easy way that you can store them in your Google Drive, so you can always have them at your fingertips.

Meet the Save to Google Drive Chrome Extension.  With this extension installed, you can save documents, images, and videos to your Google Drive with just a couple clicks.  Then, when you go to your Google Drive, what you saved will be right there.  For example, if you find a PDF on a website that you want to keep, you can right-click on the file, and an option to “Save to Google Drive” will appear.  Click on that, and that PDF will now be in your Google Drive.  Right-clicking on what you want to save is probably the easiest way to use this extension.  Here’s how to install it in Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and click this link.
2. Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3. The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!

Now, you can kick your online saving into overdrive with Save to Google Drive!

Subtract the Ads

Welcome to my blog!  Here you will find helpful information about Google, Chromebooks, iPads, Promethean and SMART boards, and many other education technology tools.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need any help with them.  Here's the first one - and some may already know about this.

First, if you haven’t made Chrome your default browser, you should because it will make using Google for Education applications and other Chrome products much better.  If you haven’t installed Chrome, please click here to download and install it.  Once it’s installed, here’s how to make Chrome your default browser:

1.  Open Chrome.
2.  Click on the three vertical dots in the upper right (Chrome menu).
3.  Click Settings.
4.  Under the “Default browser” section, click “Make Google Chrome the default browser” button.

For my first post, I thought it would be a good idea that it be something everyone, staff and students, can use.  It is the AdBlock Chrome Extension.  AdBlock helps to protect privacy, improve Chrome browser performance, increase webpage loading speed, and clear away distracting (and sometimes inappropriate) ads across the Internet.  Also, it removes ads in YouTube videos.  Finally, it's free!  Here's how to install it in Chrome:

1.  Open Chrome and click this link.

2.  Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.

3.  The extension will install.

4.  The extension icon will appear in the upper right of Chrome as a red stop sign with a hand in the center.

5.  Click that icon and click Options.  Uncheck the box that reads "Allow some non-intrusive advertising".

6.  Close and restart Chrome, and you'll be good to go.

Enjoy the wonderful world of zero ads! It's a true addition by subtraction!