Tech tip #50 - cloud storage (and some astronomy stuff!)

This should be the last tech tip of the school year. I plan on starting them up again in September! Let me know if you have any tips to share.

Astronomy:

Firstly, tonight at 9:24 PM is the June, or northern, solstice when the northern hemisphere of earth is most tilted towards the sun. The sun itself will cross from the constellation Taurus into Gemini (though astrologers would have us think it is entering Cancer…) tomorrow morning. In a couple of weeks on July 3rd, (1:11 PM) the Earth will be at aphelion, its furthest from the sun), almost five million kilometres further away than in January (152,092,504 km as opposed to 147,100,998 km on January 4th this year). For more information on the June solstice and aphelion, check out: https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html  and https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/perihelion-aphelion-solstice.html

Cloud Storage:

Many of you are using various types of cloud storage for storing files and I thought it would be worth a few words to explain what this is. If you use Google Drive or Onedrive, then you are using cloud storage. (Other well-known cloud storage services include Dropbox, Box, and iCloud). Basically cloud storage is where your data is organized logically into pools, but physically may be stored on several servers in several locations. The data is then accessible from any Internet-connected device (phone, tablet, computer etc). Interestingly, Iceland is a popular location for cloud storage since they have very low costs for “green” electricity.

You can access files stored in “the cloud” via a web browser (such as going to http://docs.smus.ca)  or using a client program which downloads copies of your files to your local device. If you are running the google drive or onedrive program on your computer, or the apps on your phone, these can store copies of some or all of your cloud files locally. Files stored in the cloud are also easy to share (see http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca/search/label/sharing) .

Personal Microsoft or Google accounts come with 5GB and 15GB of free storage with options for you to pay for more. Our school accounts come with a lot more: we get half a terabyte in onedrive and unlimited storage with Google drive!

If you want some information on other free cloud storage services, check this page out: https://www.thebalance.com/free-cloud-storage-1356638 . There are even services which allow you to combine the free storage from different providers (for example https://www.odrive.com/) and others that make all your cloud storage appear like a local drive (https://www.odrive.com/ not free!)

Cloud storage is great for making files accessible anywhere and easy to share and can provide a backup of files stored locally.

If you need to move a bunch of files from one system to another, this article (https://www.howtogeek.com/202484/how-to-move-files-from-one-cloud-storage-service-to-another/) has several suggestions.

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

You can see a list of all the tips here: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca/p/toc11.html

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

Cheers and have a great summer. I am off to be a naturalist in Haida Gwaii and south-east Alaska (as well as a trip to view the August 21^st eclipse!)

Mike

Tech tip #49 - Finding free usable images (and today's supermoon)

The article linked below shows you several ways to find free, usable, images. This is especially important since Google does not always make it easy to find images that match certain usage rights (such as Creative Commons). We should be encouraging and guiding our students to use images that they are legally allowed to use (as well as doing that ourselves!).

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2017/05/5-ways-to-find-free-images.html#.WSc4a2jyvic This link has a 6 minute tutorial vide on searching for images that we are allowed to use.

On the Earth Science/astronomy front, it might be of interest to know that today is a super(new)moon, the closest in 2017. This is the first supermoon that is a new moon since 2009. Even though it is a supermoon (due to being relatively close to Earth), you won’t be able to see it since the moon is between the Earth and the Sun. About the only effect you may notice is that we are having particularly high and low tides today and the next couple of days.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/no-proxigee-full-moon-in-2017

If you want to learn more about supermooons and such, check out http://earthsky.org/space/what-is-a-supermoon

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

-------------------------

Mike Jackson, Science Teacher

Senior School Technology Coordinator

St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

(Not) Tech tip #48 - The great American eclipse August 21, 2017

So this is not a tech tip! … J

I remember talking to my classes about this eclipse back in 1998 after I saw my first total eclipse. I was hooked! Experiencing a total eclipse of the sun is a truly amazing experience. A total eclipse is one of nature’s great spectacles.

Monica and I booked a year ago, to go to Idaho to camp in the path of totality, and this will hopefully be our third total eclipse.

The “Great American eclipse of 2017” basically runs from the west coast to the east coast on August 21^st 2017. If you have a chance to see this one, I highly recommend it as it is the most accessible eclipse in some time. The next one to come anywhere close is in 2045!

You can find lots of information about this eclipse and where to view it on some of the following sites:

https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/

https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/

http://www.eclipse2017.org/eclipse2017_main.htm

If you decide to stay in Victoria, you will see a big bite taken out of the sun (if you look through eclipse glasses!) as up to 89% of the sun will be covered by the moon.

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

-------------------------

Mike Jackson, Science Teacher

Senior School Technology Coordinator

St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

Tech tip #47 - Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite software for teachers

In case you did not know, Faculty and Staff at SMUS are eligible to use the Microsoft Office suite for free on up to five devices and to purchase Adobe Creative Suite for $9.75 a year.

To access these deals or to see the instructions, go to SDS and look under “Staff menu” -“Teachers” – Software.

Direct links are here:

Office: https://sds.smus.ca/index.php?next_page=admin/mis/access_ms_office.php#

Adobe: https://sds.smus.ca/index.php?next_page=admin/mis/access_adobe_hup.php

We do also have access to Microsoft Dreamspark developer tools in case you want to create some software!

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share! 

Tech tip # 46 - Off-line maps for travelling with your phone or tablet

In case you are travelling where there is no cell-data service available…

Many of us like to travel and quite often we can find ourselves in a place where we have no cellular data to use Google maps on our phones or tablets. Sometimes we can be on the road in areas with no signal and need access to a good map (PS, I still like paper maps too!)

To help here, there are some apps that allow you to download maps to your phone or tablet and then use the map while your phone is in flight/airplane mode. These apps make use of the crowd-sourced Open Street Map project data: https://www.openstreetmap.org/ . Basically these apps turn your phone or tablet into a full-featured navigation device like a TomTom.

To use these apps, your phone or tablet must have a true GPS (some tablets don’t have a real GPS inside, but use wifi and cell signals to locate you)

My favourite of all of these apps is OSMAnd (http://osmand.net/), which was originally designed for Android, but is now also available for iOS.

On Google Play for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand&hl=en

On the iTunes store: https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id934850257?mt=8

Another good one is Maps.Me (http://maps.me/en/home)

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id510623322?_1lr=1

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapswithme.maps.pro

Both of these apps are free for light use, but are not expensive to buy the full versions that allow you to download maps of any region.

I have used these apps successfully in the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Ecuador, several US states, France, Switzerland and more. OSMAnd has been one of my most used apps on my phone.

I am sure there are other good apps out there. If you know of one, please let me know!

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

(PS, sorry for 3 tips in one day! I had a bit of a back log.)

	Michael Jackson MA (Cantab) MEDes (Calgary)
	Science Teacher Senior school Technology Coordinator
	Senior School, St. Michaels University School
	3400 Richmond Road | Victoria BC | V8P 4P5 | Canada Phone: 250-370-6182 | Fax: 250-592-2812 Cell: 250-888-8783 Twitter: @MikeJ_SMUS www.smus.ca
	.

Tech tip #45 - new photocopier tips

New photocopiers are being installed in the senior staff workroom and seem to be working well. Many of you may have noticed that the screens for controlling the copier have changed...

One useful tip: if you want to make copies, or scan, using the old-style interface, there are a couple of tabs up at the top of the screen with “(classic)” in the label. These basically take you to screens that are just like the old copier screens…

The two photocopiers will be available as “printers”, just like the old one was. The printer driver allows you to choose double siding, hole punching and stapling etc from the print dialogue. You will be able to release jobs sent to this queue by scanning your card or phone app at either of the copiers.

	Michael Jackson MA (Cantab) MEDes (Calgary)
	Science Teacher Senior school Technology Coordinator
	Senior School, St. Michaels University School
	3400 Richmond Road | Victoria BC | V8P 4P5 | Canada Phone: 250-370-6182 | Fax: 250-592-2812 Cell: 250-888-8783 Twitter: @MikeJ_SMUS www.smus.ca
	.

Tech tip #44 - Pro D day materials

Dear colleagues,

Many of you were able to attend the Educational Technology sessions at the Pro D day at the start of this term. The team has assembled many of the resources from that day and these are shared below in case you want to follow up on anything.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/0B4y8vF5ZOb9vWEc5S0lJUlZyNkk

In this folder you will find materials from the 2d graphics, 3d modelling and data sessions as well as Dave’s slides and copies of the big round chart.

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information.

These tips are now being archived at the following location in a blog format: http://smustechtips.blogspot.ca

Also, please let me know if you have any tips you would like to share!

	Michael Jackson MA (Cantab) MEDes (Calgary)
	Science Teacher Senior school Technology Coordinator
	Senior School, St. Michaels University School
	3400 Richmond Road | Victoria BC | V8P 4P5 | Canada Phone: 250-370-6182 | Fax: 250-592-2812 Cell: 250-888-8783 Twitter: @MikeJ_SMUS www.smus.ca
	.