Tech Tip #53 - 5 Google search tips

Hello all,

I thought I would draw your attention to a nice blog article about “5 Google search tips”: http://www.alicekeeler.com/2017/11/28/5-google-search-tips/

This article has good tips on how to refine your search by:
using the menu
turning on “tools” to filter the search by time etc
search for images with the right rights
search by voice
and use advanced search.

By the way, in just over a week, we will have the earliest sunset of the year (December 7^th) – ater that the evenings will start to get lighter!
For more details, check out http://earthsky.org/earth/winter-solstice-and-late-sunrise and
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/equation-of-time.html


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!

-------------------------
Mike Jackson, Science Teacher
Senior School Technology Coordinator
St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC



-------------------------
Mike Jackson, Science Teacher
Senior School Technology Coordinator
St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

Tech tip #52 - Sharing calendars in Outlook/Google

Hello all,

Many of us use an on line calendar and need to share it with someone else or a group and this is quite easily done using our Office 365 Outlook system. This could be useful for a department or a boarding house team etc.

If you would like to have a shared calendar for a group, our advice is to create a calendar in your account for the group and then share it with the appropriate people using the appropriate settings. If you want others to be able to add/modify items in the shared calendar, make sure you allow “edit” in the sharing settings.

I have created a short (2 minute) video showing how to do this: https://www.screencast.com/t/jAk8azhFBii

One of the things we have discovered is that sharing a Google Calendar with our system does not work very well and is not recommended.

Let me know if you have any questions, or would like more information. If you need help, feel free to contact anyone of the Ed tech team folks.

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!

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

Mike Jackson, Science Teacher

Senior School Technology Coordinator

St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

Tech tip #51 - Google Classroom Updates

For those of you who are using Google classroom to manage your students’ Google docs, they have made a number of useful updates which are outlined in this blog post:

https://www.blog.google/topics/education/10-ways-were-making-classroom-and-forms-easier-teachers-school-year/

Some key features are:

• Single view of student work
• Reordering of classes
• Decimal grading
• Transferring class ownership
• Large display of class code – great for signing students up

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!

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

Mike Jackson, Science Teacher

Senior School Technology Coordinator

St Michaels University School, Victoria, BC

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!