Bit-O-Tech - March 2025

 The Calendar Says It's Spring . . .

... but I live in Ohio.  We have 12 seasons.  If you didn't know them, they are Winter, Fool's Spring, Second Winter, Spring of Deception, Third Winter, The Pollening, Actual Spring, Summer, Hell's Front Porch, False Fall, Second Summer and Actual Fall.  I believe we are currently in Third Winter with The Pollening just around the corner.  A lot of us have either just had, are on or are getting ready for our Spring Break.  But no matter where you're at in your "Marchness," for teachers, this month signals two things.  One, state testing is coming.  Two, the end of the school year is just after it.  It seems like after Spring Break things move decidedly faster than they did in January and February.  And before you know it, you'll be wrapping things up on another school year.  But before you do, there's still some education to be done and since must of that education is now somehow connected to technology, I offer you a couple of tips and a couple of new resource websites.  Let's get to it.

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Extensity: We Heard You Like Extensions, So We Put an Extension in as Your Extension Manager

It's no secret.  I love the Chrome web browser.  I love how it works with all of my Google applications.  I love all of its features for grouping and pinning tabs.  I love how it's bookmarking system works.  I love all of the extensions.  Extensions might be what sets Chrome apart from just about any other browser out there.  But that love comes with a price to pay.  Chrome is a resource hog.  And when you begin running extensions you'll probably notice your Chrome browser not running as efficiently as it used to.  You might start blaming your internet because websites might be running slower or nothing just seems to run as fast as it used to.

Well, the culprit just very well may be all of the extensions you have running.  They are all competing for your browser and your computer's computing resources.  And the thing is, you don't really need all of those extensions running all the time. You should only have to run those extensions exactly when you absolutely need them.

Well, let me introduce you to one more extension.  It's called "Extensity."  Extensity is an extension manager and it works right from your extensions.  You can quickly turn on and turn off any extension that you have installed with just a few clicks.  You can now download all the extensions you want and not have them bog everything down in your browser.

Check out the extension in the Chrome Web Store.

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Don't Tell Canva I'm Just Using It for My Google Slides

I love using Google Slides.  There are several presentation tools out there and they all have their value.  But for me, I've always loved the simplicity of Google Slides.  I don't have a ton of choices for animations or transitions.  It always me to really focus on my content without distraction.  I can insert and imbed and connect with most all things inside my Google account (and beyond).  My only real issue is the lack of templates that fit my style or desire based on the presentation.  Yes, there are some great Google Slides' template websites (Slidesgo, SlidesMania) but then I jump down a rabbit hole of trying to find
something that fits exactly what I want.

I CAN design directly in Google Slides BUT then along comes Canva.  Canva is so pretty and makes it very easy to design a REALLY good slide background/theme.  Canva has a it's own presentation component.  And I've used it for several presentations but it doesn't have some of the features/controls that I like using in Slides.

So ... what I've started doing is designing my slide background in Canva using a 16:9 template (1920x1080 px).  I can even make the design using multiple pages and variations.  Once I'm satisfied, I download it all as a png and then go into a Google Slides presentation, select Slide > Edit theme.  And then I just make me Canva creations the backgrounds in my Google Slides presentation.

But don't tell Canva.

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Hands on Mathematics with Polypad

First, let's get the most important part out of the way: Polypad is FREE.  It calls itself a "mathematical playground" and comes with a multitude of immersive math tools (say that 5 times real fast) that engage students at different levels of apptitude.  The manipulatives are grouped by topic: Geometry, Numbers, Fractions, Algebra, Probability and Data, and Games and Applications.  No account is needed to use BUT you can set up and create free accounts for teachers and students that will allow students to save and share their work.  

As educators are looking for more ways to "make it stick," this immersive application will help students with making the content more real because they get to interact with it.  Check it all out here.

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Teachers Doing Great Things With Tech

I want to give another shout out to teachers doing great things with tech.  This one goes out to Sarah Nafziger, the Archbold Elementary Computers Special Teacher.  Sarah has been doing all kinds of great things with her elementary students including teaching digital citizenship and helping her young students get acquainted with using Google Workspace applications.  But I was able to observe Sarah in action as she was teaching her upper elementary students how to begin using Canva to design flyers.  She guided these students through how to begin a new
design with the right size and how to find a template to start from.  After that she taught them how to use several of the design tools that Canva offers.  The students were off and running.  When they finished their flyers she printed them out and hung them up for everyone in the school to see.

A few weeks later she had her fourth graders using MagicSchool AI's image generation tool and began teaching her students about prompt engineering.  Keep it up Sarah!

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