My 2017 Favorite Windows 10 Apps/Programs #MIEExpert

It’s been ages since I’ve put together a list of all my favorite Windows apps. So, here goes with an update! What would you add to this list? 

Here are the questions this blog entry answers:

1. How do I update to the latest version of Windows 10?
2. How do I protect/secure my Windows 10 Computer?
3. How do I encrypt my data so hackers can’t get to it?
4. How do I secure my WiFi Connection from Hackers and Surveillance?
5. How do I capture/edit images?
6. How do I work with sound and video?
7. How do I quickly add or find free software?
8. How do I remotely control my Windows computers?
9. How do I read ebooks on Windows 10?

And, if you are looking for Microsoft apps for your surface book/table or, maybe just great Win10 programs, you can click those links to find TONS of info.



1. How do I update to the latest version of Windows 10?

• Use the Microsoft Update Assistant to start the process of updating your Windows 10 computer. I recently updated to Windows 10 Creator’s Update and so far, so good!

2. How do I protect/secure my Windows 10 Computer?

• Keep your Windows computer up to date, using Windows Update and Patch My PC
• Eliminate 90% of security issues by not running your user account in administrator mode
• Anti-Malware
• Malware Bytes* – Great to use when you think your computer has been infected with malware/spyware and you need your computer “cleaned out.”
• AntiRansomware – Although still in beta, Malware Bytes’ solution to ransomware offers real-time protection against ransomware, catching it before it can encrypt your files.
• Spyware Blaster*– An easy to use “inoculation” program against spyware/malware.
• Spybot Search and Destroy* – The best part of Spybot is the TeaTimer which protects your computer’s registry against contamination and immunizes your browsers (IE, Firefox) against malware.
• AntiVirus
• BitDefender Free – This free for home use antivirus works great and does not drive you crazy with advertisements.
• Sophos Home Antivirus – This is another protection free for home use.
• Run Windows in Virtual Mode
• VMWare Player – Free for personal, home use
• VirtualBox – Not as good as VMWare Player (in my opinion) but still does the job

3. How do I encrypt my data so hackers can’t get to it?

File/Folder Encryption?

• Mac/Windows/Linux computer? 
• Get the cross-platform version of ParanoiaWorks’ Secret Space Encryptor (SSE).
• Chromebook or use Google Chrome? 
• Try Minilock for individual file encryption
• Android device? 
• Get ParanoiaWorks’ Secret Space Encryptor (SSE) for Android from Google Play store.

Text/Email Encryption?

• iOS/iPhone/iPad device?
  • Get Paranoia Text Encryptor (PTE)
• Any device?
• Text Encryption (save then open in your web browser)

You may also want to get a copy of File Shredder for Windows to securely delete information from your Windows computer.

4. How do I secure my WiFi Connection from Hackers and Surveillance?

Not sure this is necessary? It is and increasingly so. Be sure to take this information to heart.

“Virtual Private Networks provide an important element of privacy protection for users,” Electronic Frontiers Association says. . .VPNs [are] one of the most effective tools for protecting privacy when using the Internet, due to the degree of anonymity they provide when accessing online services.

Free VPNs for Your Browser

1. Opera browser has a built-in VPN that works well
2. DotVPN Chrome add-on works with your Chrome browser

VPNs that Protect All Internet Traffic from Your Windows Computer

1. Private Internet Access (PIA) (approx <$40 annually or $6.95 per month)
2. Express VPN
3. NordVPN

Mobile VPN for Android and/or iOS

1. All VPNs above have mobile versions
2. OperaVPN (not to be confused with Opera browser) works great

5. How do I capture/edit images?

• Screenshot Tools: PicPick or Greenshot
• Paint.net (Free) – A simple paint program, but you can do some simple photo/image editing in it. Windows only.
• PaintBrush (Free) – A simple paint program, like Paint for Windows. Mac only.
• Pixlr.com (Free) – Provides an express editing, as well as a more detailed app you can work with! Also available as iOS app.
• Fotor Photo Editor Online (Free) – A great app to use for photo editing that works via your browser, Android or iOS device.
• IrfanView (Free) – A simple editor that allows you to resize images. Windows only.
• The Graphics Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) (Free) – A cross platform “Photoshop” like tool. Can be complicated for newbies.
• ON1 Effects 10 Free for Mac and Windows (Free)
• Blink Cliplets

6. How do I work with sound and video?

Audio

1. Audacity (Free)
2. Beautiful Audio Editor on Chrome browser) (Free)
3. Microsoft Sway for narrated images or podcasts
4. VLC Media Player (audio & video)
5. Convert YouTube Music Videos to MP3 Audio Files with ATube Catcher

Video

1. Shotcut (Free)
2. Powerpoint+Office Mix
3. Screencastify and other tools
4. Get this codec pack – XP Codec Pack
5. Video Conversion Tools? AnyVideo Converter or

7. How do I quickly add or find free software?

• Ninite.com: Install and Update All Your Programs at Once. Scroll down to see all the available apps. Get my favorite Ninite picks!
• Open Source Windows
• Compression Software (e.g. zip): 7-zip or PeaZIP
• File Copying/Moving or Management: TeraCopy and FreeCommander
• Text Editors: Notepad++, ConText
• Free Adobe Alternatives (Note: Descriptions come from the linked article from TechRadar)
• Scribus: Create great-looking, print-ready posters, newsletters and magazines
• GIMP: Refine your photos or create your own artwork from scratch, with support for Photoshop plugins
• LightZone: A digital darkroom for converting, editing and managing photos in batches or individually
• Inkscape: A versatile open source vector editor that’s ideal for hobbyist illustrators and web designers
• Unsplash: Professional-quality stock photos in the public domain – totally free to download and use

8. How do I remotely control my Windows computer?

Wish you could remotely control a computer from work or home? Perhaps you need to have an online meeting? Try one of these solutions.

• Join.me (Free with Paid Option)
• AeroAdmin (Free)
• TeamViewer (Free with Paid Options)

9. How do I read ebooks on Windows 10?

• FBReader
• Freda
• Amazon Kindle

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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Recording Audio/Video on #iOS #edtech

“I love using my iPhone for on-the-go audio and video recording, but the built-in mic just isn’t doing the job. What can I use to better record audio for those critical interviews?”

Every TCEA event, I find myself reaching for my iPhone to record audio and video and snap photos of people I’m having conversations with. And I try to take a fresh look at the tools I’m using. This past TCEA conference, I decided to try several tools for recording audio/video on my iOS device.

Come along with me as I share my journey finding iPhone microphones and apps that work well at a distance. And, please, if you have your own solution that works, share it in the comments below.

Audio Recording Tools

What is a problem that stumps amateurs like me? The answer is recording at a distance. When you’re standing next to someone, it’s not a big deal to get great audio. When you’re five to six feet away, however, then things start to get a bit tougher. Here are two great mics that can help you capture better audio.

1. Mikey Digital ($99) – Unbelievable that such awesomeness comes in a small package. This lightning-connected microphone attaches to your iOS device. This microphone captures audio quite well, in my experience, and is perfect for that six-foot space, both inside and out. My son has used this microphone with his iPhone when recording audio outside and loves the sound quality.
2. iRig Mic Cast for iOS/Android ($35) – Less expensive that the Mikey Digital, this offers solid audio recording. This is what I carry around with me for interviews. It also comes with iRig Recorder software. I like the fact that it plugs into your microphone jack on your device and includes another headphone jack for earbuds. You can also get a handheld microphone that plugs into your iPhone or iPad. As the website says, it features “unidirectional pickup pattern that minimizes background noise, making it ideal for single-source audio recording.” (The featured image for this blog post shows the iRig Recorder 3…I can dream, can’t I?)

Favorite Recording Apps

As you might imagine, while you can use your built-in iOS Camera app for recording audio or video, you may not get the best results. As a result, here are some of my go-to apps:

1. iRig Recorder: This free app offers many features and is definitely worth mentioning for those of us who sometimes need custom recording options. It works for both audio and video recording. Audio editing is a breeze and includes some handy in app purchases that enhance volume, a must in a conference situation.
2. ProMovie (Free but with $2.99 in-app purchase): What I love about this app is that it allows me to choose the microphone that I want to use. With other apps, I’m never quite sure if I’m using the Mikey Digital or iRig Mic, but ProMovie allows me to specify in the settings. What’s more, there are tons of settings for video recording. The in-app purchase ($2.99) removes the watermark.
   
3. Voice Recorder ($1.99 to remove ads): This easy-to-use voice recorder goes for a nostalgic look (cassette recorder appearance that makes using it easy and familiar) and it does a nice job in close quarters. It allows for WiFi sync, as well as cloud uploads to Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive. It also allows for pausing a recording and can export the audio as M4a format. You can take advantage of the “Open In” option to drop the audio file into Hokusai Audio Editor, also on my must-have list, which gives mobile users features similar to Audacity, a desktop audio editing program.
4. Voice Recorder Pro (Free): Although boasting a host of features, including converting to MP3, this app suffers from a poor user interface. But it does offer audio editing, which makes it a must-have tool if you need that feature. Audio engine calibration at the start of  a recording can also delay start, which is a problem if you’re recording a keynote or speaker who has begun to speak. Still, it is the best audio recorder available on iOS at no cost.

Conclusion

There are many other tools that could be included in this list, but my goal was to share a few that I’m using now. Armed with an iOS device, there’s no reason why you can’t record audio/video and publish online in the moment, on the go!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 #OneDrive Tips You May Have Missed

Looking for tips that will improve your productivity? Microsoft OneDrive offers incredible benefits, so why not take advantage of it? It’s an app that I use every day, both on my Windows computer and my mobile phone. Did you know you that you can scan documents, record video, and backup your images straight to this amazing (and free) resource? Or did you know that you can access your OneDrive files without having an Internet connection? Learn about these tips and more below.

Note: This blog entry originally published by TCEA TechNotes blog. Read other awesome blog entries by the TCEA team online at www.tcea.org/blog

Tip #1 – Engage in Conversations about Documents

Want to discuss OneDrive documents with others while you both review them? OneDrive and Skype are integrated to allow communication. With a few clicks, you and another person can Skype about a particular OneDrive document. This is a tremendous tool for having staff and students discuss and collaborate on files.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Documents with Others

Create Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Excel Survey, and OneNote notebooks using OneDrive on the Web. This is the quick way to create documents that you can share with others. You can also organize your documents and move and copy them from one folder to another. The app also makes it easy to share documents with others via a variety of options, as shown in the included image.

You are also able to embed content in a blog or web page. And, aside from saving files with others, you can also make it easy to get files off your own computer using the Fetch feature.

If you have the OneDrive desktop app for Windows installed on a PC, you can use the Fetch files feature to access all your files on that PC from another computer by going to the OneDrive website. You can even access network locations if they’re included in the PC’s libraries or mapped as drives.

When you browse a PC’s files remotely, you can download copies of them to work on. You can also stream video and view photos in a slide show. To access files on your PC remotely, make sure the computer you want to access is turned on and connected to the Internet. OneDrive also needs to be running on that PC, and the Fetch files setting must be selected. (Find out more).

Tip #3 – Create Files Using the Mobile App

With the mobile app on your phone or tablet, you can manage the web version of OneDrive, take photos, record video that bypasses your device’s photo gallery (a.k.a. camera roll), and create Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and Powerpoint presentations. Photos and videos are created in OneDrive and saved there. Office files are created and accessible via your device’s Office apps, as well as Office Online (e.g. Word Online).

Tip #4 – Scan Business Cards, Documents, and Whiteboard Using the Mobile App

Digitizing student work, important paperwork, photos, and more represent real tasks. The Scan component allows you to capture business cards, documents, and whiteboard work. Scan your paper notes, which are then turned into a PDF and sent to your cloud storage. Once notes are saved to cloud storage, you have the ability to share those with others. You can also use the OneDrive app to print, delete, rename, or open the file in another app.

Tip #5 – Use It as Your Digital Hub

OneDrive can work as your digital hub for documents, but it also notifies you when others share documents with you. You can enable notifications using the mobile app. But wait, there’s more! Did you know you can set up MS Office 2016 on your computer to save directly to OneDrive? Of course, you are also able to save files offline. Want to save space on your Surface Pro tablet or computer?

Map your OneDrive as a network drive with these instructions

In this video by Sean Ong, see how to set OneDrive to show all the files on your Surface or PC without taking up any storage space.

Here is a summary of the instructions shown in the video:

1. Log in by going to www.onedrive.com
2. Go into a folder in your OneDrive (any folder)
3. In the URL bar (navigation bar), copy the text that is between the “=” and the “%”
4. Go to “This PC” and click on “Map Network Drive” option
5. Type in “https://d.docs.live.net/[your copied text]/
6. Click finish, enter your credentials, and voila! You’re done.

More Tips

“I’ve taken so many pictures and videos, but I can’t get them off my iOS device!” Many fall into this trap. Caught up in the excitement of capturing and creating content, they fill the limited storage of their iPhone or iPad. Data is lost as teachers reset the device to clear content. Let’s take a look at an option you may not have considered, Microsoft OneDrive.

To the Rescue

Teachers attending a TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) event asked,”How do we use Office 365 accounts to backup photos and videos?” Another question that follows is “How do we share photos taken at school events with a wider audience?” The answer is Microsoft OneDrive, available for personal (5 gigs of storage) and work (1 terabyte up to 15 terabytes for school accounts).

The hub of Microsoft’s mobile apps, OneDrive makes interacting with various Microsoft apps possible. The iOS version offers an elegant interface (sans complex options) that you can use in the following ways:

• Access and open OneNote Notebooks
• Automatically upload camera photos, which feature camera information like camera used, shutter speed, aperture.
• Create photo albums to facilitate sharing
• Scan and digitize paper documents, whiteboards, and business cards

OneDrive now features Scan, a way to digitize paper documents and save them direct to OneDrive!

Miscellaneous features such as monitoring your storage space, the ability to modify settings, accessing offline files, and setting up multiple Microsoft Office 365 accounts are also included.

Once activated, OneDrive will upload pictures and videos from your device to your account. On your mobile, as well as online,  you also can organize items into albums for sharing, allowing viewing and/or editing. The Album image thumbnail rotates to give you a preview of the contents.

Save Photo or Record Video to the Cloud

OneDrive makes it easy to take a photo or create a video that can be saved directly to cloud storage. This eliminates the hassle of creating a video, then figuring out how to back it up. Instead, your photo or video is saved directly to your OneDrive account. See how you can do this with this guide.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the video recorded straight to OneDrive (bypassing the iOS Camera Roll) and appears with a time/date stamp. Sharing options for this Microsoft product (view/edit with a link or not) for Business/Education reflect your school district administrator’s preferences. OneDrive personal accounts provide individuals with more flexibility.

Interact with Photos Online

If you back up your camera roll to a personal OneDrive account, the photos will be available to you at OneDrive.live.com. You will see the “Camera Roll” folder appear inside your Pictures folder. To see Albums of Photos, and to access a specific Photos menu, be sure to click on the left sidebar, as shown below.

Share Albums and Photos

You can access photo albums and, as shown below, modify the sharing options:

One neat feature that OneDrive-based photos have is the auto-tagging option. OneDrive automatically tags photos, as seen below, with one-word tags:

Conclusion

Offering a multi-function feature set, OneDrive provides you with backup and creation options. You can backup photos or videos you have saved to the Camera Roll and use OneDrive to capture photos/videos direct to the cloud. Finally, you can use the iOS Send To menu to save to OneDrive. Give it a try and avoid the hassle of other, less effective methods.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Teleprompter Needed?

There are a million uses for teleprompters in every and any situation you can think of. In fact, if I could, I’d have a teleprompter every time I spoke to a large group. It’s quite reassuring to know what to say, when.

No doubt, you can think of lots of teleprompter uses in the classroom. Of course, using teleprompters shown above is crazy. What could you use instead? An inexpensive Chromebook and a free add-on perhaps.

The goal of this quick post is merely to point out two available Chrome add-ons you can use. Each includes a short description from the Chrome Store:

TelePrompter

Adjustable automatic page scrolling with mouse and keyboard shortcuts.
It’s easy to use this extension to automatically scroll any page while you read your favorite articles.
A few great features in this chrome extension:
✓ Adjustable min/max and initial scroll speed through options.
✓ Both the use of mouse and keyboard to control the scrolling.
✓ Change scroll direction with both the keyboard and mouse wheel.
✓ Toggle scrolling with a quick double click.
✓ Auto scroll start on page loads.

TellyPrompter

Simple, free teleprompter. Paste text into editor window, and click “Start Presenting”.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Tools for Making Quick Videos

Looking for some quick ways to craft videos? These tools are all wonderful and can help you put together a video quickly:

• Mobile Apps
  Combine your mobile device (e.g. iOS/Android phone/tablet) with an inexpensive tripod (duct tape works, too!) and use one of the following apps:
• YouTube Capture (iOS only): This phenomenal app allows you to quickly record video, save it straight to YouTube. You can do simple annotations/edits with the app.
• Shadow Puppet EDU (iOS only): Combine pictures, video and sound in this app to create a great video you can save to YouTube.
• Screencasting
  Screencasting often involves recording your screen. Most screencasting tools will allow you to capture you in a small preview window, enabling you to record your screen while picturing you.
• Screencastify: This easy to use Chrome browser Add-On allows you record Chrome browser tab with sound, your Desktop with sound, and include you in a preview window. You will have to pay more money ($20 onetime fee, well worth it) if you want to record longer than 10 minutes.  Watch tutorial.
• Nimbus Screenshot and Screencast:  Similar to Screencastify but free.

Bonus Tips: Take advantage of Green Screen tools to kick your video up a notch!  

• iOS Device handy? Take advantage of the Do Ink Green Screen app ($2.99) and a $1.00 Family Dollar green table cloth to put yourself into the screen.
• Windows 10 device? Use The Simple Green Screen app.

And, finally, Chrome browser with webcam laptop? Use a Google Hangouts background! You can combine Screencastify and Google Hangouts Chrome Add-On to get all Googly (terrible example). After recording the video, crop it to cut out all the unnecessary screen noise. Example shown right.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Five OneDrive Tips #msftedu

Looking for five OneDrive tips that will improve your productivity? Microsoft OneDrive offers incredible benefits, so why not take advantage of it? An app that I use every day is Microsoft OneDrive, both on my Windows computer and my mobile phone. Did you know you that you can scan documents, record video and backup your images straight to OneDrive? Or did you know that you can access your OneDrive files without having an Internet connection? Learn about these tips and more below.

Tip #1 – Engage in Conversations about OneDrive documents

Want to discuss OneDrive documents with others while you both reviewing them? OneDrive and Skype are integrated to allow communications. With a few clicks, you and another person can Skype about a particular OneDrive document. This is a tremendous tool for having staff and students discuss files.

Tip #2 – Create and Share Documents with Others

Create Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Excel Survey, OneNote notebooks, and Excel Surveys using OneDrive on the Web. This is the quick way to create documents you can share with others. You can also organize your documents, move and copy them from one folder to another. OneDrive also makes it easy to share documents with others via a variety of options, as shown in the included image.

You can also embed content in a blog or web page. Also, aside from saving files with others, you can also make it easy to get files off your own computer using the Fetch feature.

If you have the OneDrive desktop app for Windows installed on a PC, you can use the Fetch files feature to access all your files on that PC from another computer by going to the OneDrive website. You can even access network locations if they’re included in the PC’s libraries or mapped as drives.

When you browse a PC’s files remotely, you can download copies of them to work on. You can also stream video and view photos in a slide show. To access files on your PC remotely, make sure the PC you want to access is turned on and connected to the Internet. OneDrive also needs to be running on that PC, and the Fetch files setting must be selected. (Find out more).

Tip #3 – Create Files using OneDrive Mobile App

Have OneDrive mobile app on your phone or tablet? Then you can manage the web version of OneDrive, take photos, record video that bypasses your device’s photo gallery (a.k.a. camera roll), Word document, Excel Spreadsheet, Powerpoint Presentation. Photos and videos are created in OneDrive and saved there. Office files are created and accessible via your device’s Office apps, as well as Office Online (e.g. Word Online).

Tip #4 – Scan Business Cards, Documents, and Whiteboard using OneDrive Mobile App

Digitizing student work, important paperwork, photos, and more represent real tasks. The OneDrive Scan component allows you to capture business cards, documents and whiteboards. Scan your paper notes, which are then turned into a PDF and sent to your cloud storage. Once notes are saved to cloud storage, you have the ability to share those with others. You can also use the OneDrive app to print, delete, rename or open the file in another app.

Tip #5 – OneDrive serves as Your Digital Hub

OneDrive serves as your digital hub for documents, but also notifies you when others share documents with you. You can enable notifications using the OneDrive mobile app. But wait, there’s more! Did you know you can set up MS Office 2016 on your computer to save direct to OneDrive? Of course, you are also able to save files offline. Want to save space on your Surface Pro tablet or computer?

Map your OneDrive as a network drive with these instructions

In this video by Sean Ong, see how to set OneDrive to show all files on your Surface or PC without taking up any storage space.

Here is a summary of the instructions shown in the video:

1. Login to your OneDrive – go to www.onedrive.com
2. Go into a folder in your OneDrive (any folder)
3. In the URL bar (navigation bar) copy the text that is between the “=” and the “%”
4. Go to “This PC” and click on “Map Network Drive” option
5. Type in “https://d.docs.live.net/[your copied text]/
6. Click finish, enter your credentials, and voila! You’re done.

More Tips

If you want more Microsoft tips, join the TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Facebook group.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Drag and Drop File Management? No Way! #windows

Do you drag files between folder windows open on your computer? Some suggest that this is the approach to take:

Do you find it annoying moving files and folders using Windows Explorer? Why not use drag and drop! All you need to do is open two windows and drag and drop from one to the other. (Source: #1MinuteCPD)

While this approach works, I prefer a more enlightened approach using a program called Free Commander XE. A little bit about Free Commander XE:

FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take FreeCommander anywhere – just copy the installation directory on a CD or USB-Stick – and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.

As you can see from the image below, you get a two panel interface that allows for more than just drag-n-drop between windows:

You can also enjoy multi-panel joy for file management:

There are many solutions, including ones available for Mac.

If you work with big files, consider taking advantage of one of the following solutions as well:

• CopyHandler (Free) – “full control over the copy and move operations through pause, resume, restart and cancel functionalities, faster than integrated Windows copying.”

• Extreme Copy ($$$) – “ExtremeCopy is a Windows file copy tool which is able to copy and/or move your files extremely fast. The usage is simple and similar to Windows Explorer default file copier but it can increase the speed from 20% up to 120% faster than Windows default file copier. ExtremeCopy can integrate itself into your Windows seamlessly as copy tool.”

Of course, I typically prefer TeraCopy: 

TeraCopy is designed to copy and move files at the maximum possible speed. It skips bad files during the copying process, and then displays them at the end of the transfer so that you can see which ones need attention. TeraCopy can automatically check the copied files for errors by calculating their CRC checksum values. It also provides a lot more information about the files being copied than its Windows counterpart. TeraCopy integrates with Windows Explorer’s right-click menu and can be set as the default copy handler.

What are you using?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Access Restored to Popular Docs.com Service

Was your Office 365 school district unable to access critical Docs.com resources over the last week or so? If yes, you weren’t alone! Fortunately, access has been restored with an interesting caveat.

Users with work and school accounts have not been able to access Docs.com of late. We have heard your heartbreaking stories of student projects and classes not being able to proceed and I want to personally apologize for the disruption and confusion that we caused. We know that trusting your content to a service like Docs.com brings with it an expectation of availability and performance.  

We promise to do better. We are pleased to report that we have fixed the issues.  

Work and school sign-in is possible again, but, it does require an important step from your school, district or organization IT administrator. Docs.com is a consumer online service from Microsoft where users can publish and discover Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, and PDF documents. We have recently enhanced the service to better ensure your organization’s security and privacy. As result, we are requiring that your Office 365 Tenant Administrator of record “opt-in” for your organization to continue enabling users with organizational accounts to use the service.

Read the complete update online.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Understanding Microsoft vs Office 365 Accounts #msftexpert #msftedu @microsoft_edu

When I first started working with Microsoft and Office 365 accounts, I was pretty ignorant. And, in my ignorance, I ended up creating free Microsoft accounts using my Office 365 account. That meant that I had TWO accounts associated with my Office 365 email–a Microsoft AND an Office 365 account.

Source: Unsplash photo by Anton Repponen

This became a problem because it meant that I had two Onedrive accounts, too. A Onedrive account with 5gig limit (Microsoft), and a second one with 1 terabyte limit (Office 365). I’m not the only one who did this. Several colleagues also accidentally created Microsoft accounts. In retrospect, it seems obvious. And, as I’ve now had the chance to facilitate Microsoft workshops across Texas, others have made the same mistake, ending up with multiple accounts and not knowing what to do about it.

1 – Clarifying Login Screens

One point to keep in mind is that logging in, Microsoft itself differentiates between screens. I’m sure there is a web page somewhere that highlights this difference. I didn’t notice it until Lisa at a training in Kilgore, Tx pointed it out to me.

Microsoft Login – Access Your Personal Microsoft Account that is FREE:

You can see the login above by going to http://microsoft.live.com or http://login.live.com

Compare that login above with the one you see below.

Office 365 Login – Access Your Work Account (Not Free):

You’ll find the login screen for a work account below…as you can see, where the free account shown above is represented in the center of the screen, the Office 365 account login screen below appears far right of the screen. Pretty simple difference, right? I never noticed it until someone pointed it out to me.

To get to the Office 365 login, you can use https://login.microsoftonline.com/ or https://portal.office.com

Now, what can be confusing is if you create a free Microsoft account using an Office 365 email. At that point, you start to get screens that ask you, “Which account do you want to login with?” when you enter your email address:

2 – What To Do If You Get the Screen Above?

If you are getting the screen shown above–featuring Office 365 account displaying two options for how you want to login, either Work/School OR Personal Account–then you may be in the same situation. Microsoft, considerate of your needs, will display this choice on every login.

To eliminate it, you will need to remove your free Microsoft account associated with your Work or School email account. Here’s how I have begun the process:

1. Backup your data from OneDrive in the accounts to remove. I recommend CloudHQ.net as a solution to quickly move content from OneDrive for Business (Office 365) to OneDrive (Microsoft) or vice versa.
2. Go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=523898 and enter the Microsoft account username and password for the Microsoft account you want to remove.
3. Follow the instructions.
4. Your account will be removed in 60 days (and you can change your mind at anytime).

3 – But wait! I Accidentally Created My MS Education Account with Some Account

One of the mistakes my colleagues and I committed–not to mention other folks I’ve encountered–is that we all created our Microsoft Education Community account using one of these options but it was really the desired option. For example, we used Twitter or Facebook to create an account. Or, in my case, I used my Microsoft account associated with my GoogleSuite work email account. Now, I simply want to put them all together so that when I login in with my desired Office 365 account, all my stuff will be in one place.

When you try to join the Microsoft Education Community, you have lots of options:

 The Microsoft folks have been very helpful in combining accounts at places like Microsoft Education Community, which is where you go to access all their online professional learning options. To get their help, simply go to this web page for Support and click on the HELP button that appears at the bottom right corner:

You can see the orange button in the bottom right hand:

After clicking the button, you will see a window pop up that looks like this:

At this point you can write something like the following:

Hi, I have two (or three!) Microsoft Community Education accounts created. Could you combine them for me? Here are the accounts:

• mguhlin@work.com (GoogleSuite based account)

• mguhlin@work.onmicrosoft.com (Office 365 account)

• mguhlin@work.onmicrosoft.com (Microsoft account associated with Office 365 email)

Please be aware that I will be using the Office 365 account as my primary login from this point forward. Thanks!

After a short time, they will let you know the status and then when it’s done, what the disposition of your request is. My contact was fast and had a positive resolution!

Whew, it’s been a long time that I’ve been wanting to write this set of information up. I know I’m not the only one who has suffered through this and I hope this will help someone else!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

OneNote Case #1: Opening Notebooks #msftedu @microsoft_edu @office365

Question: Office 365/OneNote question: Some of our teachers click on the OneNote app within O365 but instead of taking them to a list of all their notebooks, it automatically opens up their @sites notebook. The only way for them to access a different notebook is by clicking on a direct link someone has shared with them. Has anyone else experienced this? Or now a fix?

Over the last few months, I feel quite comfortable working with OneNote. Just today, I moved my Sharepoint OneNote notebooks to a Microsoft based OneDrive. The reason why is the subject of another blog entry, but when I read the question above, I thought I would suggest the following approach that has worked for me. What would have been your response?

Are you trying to open a OneNote Notebook in OneNote 2016, and it’s not working? Try this approach:

1) Close out all Notebooks in OneNote 2016.
2) Remove all accounts in OneNote 2016
3) Add the account you use to login to OneDrive online.
4) Go to your internet browser, then go to OneDrive for Business (Sharepoint).
5) Open the OneNote Notebook stored at OneDrive for Business in OneNote Online.
6) Click on OPEN IN ONENOTE and then choose OneNote 2016. 
7) Give the notebook time to sync to your computer.
8) When done synching, the Notebook should be ready to go.

That approach aside, working with OneNote 2016 is a pure joy. I enjoy working with OneNote and I’m migrating much of my work from a Google Sites (old version) to a OneNote Online notebook (http://tinyurl.com/mgconnect). Find out more about my efforts online.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Exploring Meme Quote Generators

Memes can be ideas, values or behaviors that are contagious. There are many ways that these can be used in the classroom or to enhance publications, professional learning, etc. And, as such, I’m not going to list those here. 

Get ready for hours of fun….

Meme generators (none require an account) that tickle the funny bone:

• Meme Generator
• MyTextPix
• MyQuotePix
• ImgFlip Meme Generator

Here are a few more that just combine your text with backgrounds:

• Recite
• Quozio
• Instagram Quote Maker

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 Video Annotation Tools for Your Class @mrs_johansen @letsrecap @edpuzzle @flipgrid

Are you an educator fascinated with creating videos that feature great content, are available on popular media sites (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo), and feature YOU as the chief learning strategist and interpreter? What’s more, new tools make it easy to annotate videos. Annotating videos involves layering text, links, and comment bubbles into an existing video.

Note: This is a shortened, improved version of the blog entry appearing here at TCEA.org/blog

5 Video Annotation Tools

Minion Meme Generator

Here are a few tools you can use as a teacher to enhance interactivity with video content:

1. YouTube has built-in annotation tools, including speech bubbles, spotlight (highlighting areas in a video), adding text notes, titles, and labels.
2. EdPuzzle makes it straightforward to add notes and assessments to videos from YouTube, Khan Academy, Learn Zillion and others. This enables understanding checks. There’s also an iOS app you and/or your students can use.
3. VideoAnt, a web-based video annotation tool, also allows for annotations or comments to web-hosted videos.
4. This online annotation tool, Swivl’s Recap, is a student response and reflection app. Teachers can prompt students to respond to questions and students respond in video via their mobile device of choice. Watch this overview of Recap via TeacherCast.
5. Flipgrid works a little differently from the tools above, empowering you to create video-based discussion groups. The teacher posts videos and students respond to those. The “video group” can be passworded via a pin code, and then made accessible online via a web site.

3 Student VideoNotes Tools
Looking for tools that allow your students to take notes about videos? Check out this blog entry by Richard Byrne. In it, he highlights these tools:

• VideoNot.es and TurboNote are two tools that allow you to take notes off to the side of the video.
• Vialogues, not unlike Flipgrid, allows you to create conversations that revolve around a video.

How would you use these in your own classroom?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Yahoo Data Breach – I told you so #privacy #edtech

“I told you so.” The words popped into my head as soon as I read the headline this morning on my phone. Those annoying 4 words are for everyone I told to switch from YahooMail to something else, anything else. Of course, I promptly flushed those words in the toilet. Who wants to hear they were wrong? I get it. We all cling to technologies that we’ve grown familiar with, that, perhaps, we began our digital journey with.

Still, after seeing several people have their Yahoo accounts hacked through no fault of their own, I realized that Yahoo was just a way for bad people to get access to your contact lists, your username, and password.

A recent investigation by Yahoo! Inc. has confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers…Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen

Source: Yahoo 

You can check to see if you’ve been “hacked” or “pwned” online via this aptly named web site at https://haveibeenpwned.com/

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Google Enhancements! Multiple Columns

Engadget reports the following good news for GoogleDocs users:

the Drive team added a couple more often-requested features to the product today, including: autocorrect for misspelled search terms, the ability to split documents into multiple columns and an auto-save feature that creates a copy whenever importing and converting non-Google formats.

Sure enough, you can find it quite easily:

One neat feature is that you can highlight the content on the page and format it in two columns, as shown below:

Read this article

How long have you been waiting for GoogleDocs to include columns?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Backup To and Transfer Between Cloud Storage @cloudhq_net @multcloud

Just two weeks ago, I helped a colleague migrate their Microsoft OneDrive data from a Microsoft-based OneDrive account (personal) to an Office 365-based OneDrive for Business account (work-related).

Adapted from this image from Budget

There are several ways to accomplish moving data, whether Google or Microsoft or something else:

1. Use CloudHQ.net.  You can sync content back and forth between a variety of services, which makes it a pretty neat deal at $9.90 per month (if you need that level of redundancy).CloudHQ.net also offers the opportunity to have a 15-day free trial, which works well for staff who are leaving and may just need a one-time task. However, you can obtain additional days of usage by referring CloudHQ.net to friends and colleagues. Another benefit is that you can set ownership for documents that are transitioned to a new location. There is also a Chrome add-on, Gmail Label and Email sharing, worth investigating (watch video) when transitioning from one email system to another.
2. Try MultCloud.com. Using MultCloud.net, you are able to “transfer, migrate, backup, sync, move, integrate, manage many cloud drives such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, MEGA, SugarSync, Amazon Cloud Drive, Amazon S3 as well as FTP, WebDav, etc. And, transfer files across different cloud drives, such as transfer data from Dropbox to Google Drive.” MultCloud.net has also created a Chrome add-on that you can use to easily move/copy content. 

Making backups of critical data is important. These these tools make accomplishing that easy!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

How to Capture TwitterChat History/Analytics #nisdedchat @TCEA #tcea @danabickley

Earlier this evening, during dinner in fact, friend and colleague Dana Bickley asked via Twitter:

At first, I thought, “Wow, why can’t you do this with IFTTT.com?” But then Dana clarified….this is a chat that took place in the past. I’ve often used IFTTT.com in combination with OneNote, Evernote, or GoogleSheets to capture tweets as they happened (I set it up ahead of a twitter chat).

What was interesting was how to capture tweets from a past twitter chat? One approach that I stumbled upon–after running into various services that wanted to charge me for the service –was Twitter Archiving Google Sheets (TAGS), which is completely free and runs as a GoogleSheets add-on. Watch this video tutorial.

As you might guess, I took advantage of the easy version (TAGS v6.1). And, to be honest, it was pretty easy. You can watch a video about TAGS:

Here are the steps I followed:

1. Clicked on Get TAGS v6.1 – This will open up a copy of a GoogleSheet and add the TAGS scripts. In a moment, you’ll see it:
   
2. Be sure to SETUP TWITTER ACCESS, add your hashtag search term (use the dropdown to select something different).
3. Be sure to RUN NOW! and then add summary and dashboard…you’ll get awesome data like:
   

You can see the published GoogleSheet online here.

TAGS is pretty awesome! Thanks to mhawksey, TAGS creator!!!!

And, to think, none of this would have happened if @danabickley had not asked a question on Twitter!

Thanks!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Five Anti-Malware Tips for Schools to Share with Staff

Every other week, I read or hear about  a school district that has suffered a phishing attack, an approach distributed by email designed to trick you into giving your email username and password to criminals. Dealing with ransomware (a form of software that infects your machine when you double-click on it and encrypts your files, then demands you pay them for decrypting them) can be embarrassing, since it may result in the district having to pay to get its data. Or lose the data and tell only the federal auditors coming to evaluate your records for the last five years. Oops!

Join the ongoing TCEA Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) Conversation Online! Explore and share concepts at the intersection of teaching, learning, leading and technology!

In addition, ransomware may also be distributed to district users via email. Several districts and Texas education service centers have allegedly faced some of these challenges (allegedly because ransomware infestations travel through word of mouth):

It’s…thrown a kink in the school district’s scheduled…exams…The crypto-ransomware “has affected the district’s entire operations from internal and external communications to its point-of-sale for school lunches. It also has prevented any students from taking the scheduled…exams, which are entirely computerized.” Source: Network World

Follow these tips to safeguard your hard work in computer documents and files on your computer:

1. Look before you click! Avoid clicking on email attachments that come from people you do not know. Email attachments with “exe” and “zip” are suspicious. Also, do NOT go into your SPAM folder and click on the email attachments.
2. Connect before opening. Ask yourself, “Was I expecting a file from this person?” If yes, connect with them via phone, social media, or email and ask, “Did you send me this file?” If the answer is “no,” then delete it.
3. Avoid clicking on email attachments via your personal email on a work computer, especially if it’s a Yahoo email account. Multiple types of malware spread ads via that one service alone.
4. Scan files before opening them. You can right-click a file, save it to your computer, and then choose to virus scan it before opening it.
5. Backup your data to a cloud drive storage provider (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox). Ransomware can spread via cloud storage where your files are automatically backed up when you place them in a certain folder (e.g. Dropbox), so be aware that ransomware WILL encrypt those files and the encrypted files will be backed up. Back up manually to the cloud and/or to external USB drives. Avoid leaving the latter connected to your computer.

Staff that succumb to phishing attacks open the organization’s virtual doors to a ransomware infestation. For example, in my inbox, I received an email purporting to be from a colleague sharing some files with me via Dropbox, but this looked like a phishing attack. Let’s go through the process I went through together. 

Knowing that my colleague did not send this email, I opened up a fresh browser where I’m not logged into anything and tried the link: It didn’t work. That’s good! But if it had been a phishing scam, something like this would have popped up: When you examine the “Click here to view” link, you will find as I did that the link is to a non-Dropbox web site in the UK. That suggested to me that this link did NOT originate with Dropbox. As a result, I contacted my colleague via Twitter and asked, “Did you send me something via email that originated on Dropbox?” He responded after a short delay, “No, I didn’t.”

Notice how the screen to the left offers you the opportunity to compromise your login and password for multiple email providers. This suggests that the goal is to steal ANY email account credentials you have. This can be potentially catastrophic since school district personnel often save student/staff confidential content in the cloud.

Actual Example: One principal was shocked when her Google Apps for Education account started sending out phishing attacks to all the email lists she was a member of, including the district-wide principals’ list, her campus staff list, and district-wide news list. And her shock turned into horror as colleagues clicked and were infected themselves. Horror shifted to shame as her colleagues grew angry, inquiring why she had inflicted them with this plague of phishing. And all the principal had done was fall prey to a phishing attack from a dear friend.

Fortunately, this can be avoided with the five tips above. Raise expectations for staff to take responsibility for their email communications, and their technologies.

Bonus Tips for Home Users 

While many of us have district-purchased software to protect us at work (although even that will not help you if you deliberately ignore the warnings), our home computers may not be so protected. Below are a few software tools that I use on my Windows and/or Mac computer(s) to protect against infestation. Note that this does not constitute a purchase recommendation since these tools are available for free, personal home use:

I have all of the following on my personal Windows computer and wouldn’t dream of using it without having them installed. In spite of the fact that Windows Defender comes standard on Windows 10 computers, it’s important to have anti-malware and antivirus software loaded and working.

Anti-Malware/AntiVirus

• List of Mac AntiVirus Solutions
• Windows Solutions:
  • Anti-Malware
    • Malware Bytes* – Great to use when you think your computer has been infected with malware/spyware and you need your computer “cleaned out.”
    • AntiRansomware – Although still in beta, Malware Bytes’ solution to ransomware offers real-time protection against ransomware, catching it before it can encrypt your files.
    • Spyware Blaster*– An easy to use “inoculation” program against spyware/malware.
    • Spybot Search and Destroy* – The best part of Spybot is the TeaTimer which protects your computer’s registry against contamination and immunizes your browsers (IE, Firefox) against malware.
  • AntiVirus
    • BitDefender Free – This free for home use antivirus works great and does not drive you crazy with advertisements.
    • Sophos Home Antivirus – This is another protection free for home use.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Bend It Like Beckham, er… Google Sheets! #edtech

This blog entry first appeared at TCEA TechNotes Blog at http://www.tcea.org/blog

“Bend it like Beckham” is a term that meant little to me as someone not interested in soccer. That is, until I saw an engaging movie with my family a few years ago. One of my favorite movies, Bend It Like Beckam, is described in this way by Wikipedia:

The film is about the 18-year-old daughter of Punjabi Sikhs in London. She is infatuated with football (a.k.a. soccer in the United States) but her parents have forbidden her to play because she is a girl. She joins a local women’s team, which makes its way to the top of the league. Its title refers to the football player David Beckham, and his skill at scoring from free kicks by curling the ball past a wall of defenders.

So what does that have to do with Google Sheets? The idea is that you can use a technology (such as the free Google Sheets) to score and to get the job done, in spite of difficulties and obstacles. At a recent Google Educator Level 1 Certification class I had the opportunity to help facilitate, I had the opportunity to share some of my favorite Google Sheets add-ons and tools. Here is a quick overview of those:

Mail Merge Tools: Looking for a quick way to send out bulk email to others? Take advantage of one or both of these tools, listed in order of preference:

• FormMule – Allows you to quickly add create information in Google Sheets, then “email merge” it together. This is a great feature because it allows you to organize the mail merge fields in columns in Google Sheets, then drop the column headers into the text of the email, blending them together. It’s my go-to tool when sending email via Gmail and there is a need to send complex instructions or links that are customized for each individual (represented by a row in the Google Sheet).
• Yet Another Mail Merge – Allows you to quickly “spam” or bulk email people.

Styles: This add-on allows you to customize the look and feel of your spreadsheet, adding headers, coloring rows in alternating colors (e.g. row 1 is grey, row 2 is white, row 3 is grey, row 4 is white, and so on). It meets a need those of us who use MS Excel have to quickly customize the look and feel of a table in a spreadsheet. The Styles add-on makes it easy to achieve a similar effect.

QR Code Generator: This is an easy way to generate QR codes for students or to inventory items. One of my favorite uses for this involves creating HTML or web links to various resources with a QR code, then having QR Code Generator auto-create them. After that, it’s just a matter of printing them out on sticky labels or having students stick them on their intended targets. This add-on also makes it easy to create a text label for each QR code generated so you are not left guessing as to what you are looking at, or trying to scan it with your smartphone’s cross-platform (e.g. Android, iOS, Blackberry) Inigma QR Code Reader app.

Split Names: This is an absolute must-have add-on. Although you can use complex formulas to split names (e.g. “Juan Guhlin” to “Juan” and “Guhlin” in different columns), Split Names makes it a cinch. You are also able to separate out salutations and other elements commonly included.

PowerTools: This particular add-on has so much to offer, you probably will want to read the web site for it. Some of its best features include making the process of dealing with extra spaces, formulas and data in the wrong format, inserting or deleting cells and shifting adjacent data, changing case, or swapping values easier. Also, you can click once to AutoSum numbers in every row or column, as well as sum and count cells by color. PowerTools also makes it easier to search all selected sheets for certain values, formulas, notes, and hyperlinks, as well as split values in a column by any delimiter, string, or by position (think Split Names with more features). You can also automate a variety of tasks, and much more.

What are some of YOUR favorite Google Sheets’ add-ons that help you “bend it like Beckham?” That is, get the job done for free? Please share them in the Comments section below.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Books on Sale! via Packt Publishing

Be sure to check out Packt Publishing! They have all their books on sale for $10. I’m not sure how long this will last but definitely worth checking out!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

HowTo Get Videos into your iOS Camera Roll @readdle

Ever wonder how you can get videos (Youtube or otherwise) into your Camera Roll so you can use them in other iOS apps? You’re not alone!

Just today, I received the following question via email:

What is the best/easiest way to download a Youtube video or any other video from the web to the iPad – save to the camera roll? The ultimate goal is to the get that video into iMovie or Shadow Puppet, be able to edit it, and include it to the rest of the student presentation. Thanks for any help.  

My response was:

Step 1 – Get the Readdle Documents app (free). To begin, open the Settings for Documents:

a) Go to File Manager and enable iPod Music Library, Show Photos, iTunes Files : This allows you to get and put files (e.g. photos, videos) into your Photos folder in Documents, which is the same folder your Camera Roll pulls from. 

b) Go to Wi-Fi Drive and enable drive: This allows you to connect to your iPad/iOS device via Documents’ WiFi drive. That way, you can convert/download videos using your computer and then put them on your iOS device.

Step 2 – Get YouTube (or any) video you want and put it in Documents app on your iOS device. 

There are two approaches you can take, depending on whether you are doing this solely on an iOS device or if you also have access to a computer.

Approach A – 100% on iOS Device, no computer available:

a) Copy the YouTube Video URL: You can use the built-in web browser on Documents app view YouTube videos you want (or just copy the URL/web address for a YouTube video).  

b) Navigate to http://www.clipconverter.cc/ with Documents web browser and paste in the URL of the YouTube video you want. Then, download/save the video using the on-screen commands. 

c) Tap and drag the downloaded video into the Photos folders in Documents.

Go to Shadow Puppet EDU or any other app that accesses the Camera Roll and get it.

Approach B – Computer and iOS Device

On Your Computer

a) Find a YouTube video, and save it to your computer using Keepvid.com, ClipConverter.cc, or any other tool you use (e.g. Firefox’s Video Downloader add-on). 

b) Access the Documents WiFi drive (turn it on by tapping on the WiFi icon and connecting to the IP address via a browser). 

c) Upload/Put the video on your computer to Documents

then, on your iOS Device

d) Tap and drag the video you just uploaded from your computer into the Photos folder in Documents.
e) Go to Shadow Puppet EDU or any other app that access the Camera Roll and get it.

Wasn’t that easy? If not, watch this short video walkthrough the steps above:

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Creating Classroom eNewsletter Tools #google #msftedu #tceamie @touchcast

Read the rest online at TCEA TechNotes

“What do you mean,” I inquired in my haughtiest tone, “you think print newsletters are obsolete?”

“Yeah, you know,” my friend replied, “They are made out of paper, man! PAPER! You’re killin’ trees or something!”

Feeling like I was chatting with Cheech and/or Chong, I reflected on what he said. Why make paper newsletters that might go home every week, but never get read? Why not make something more engaging?

As a result, I’ve always been on the lookout for fresh ways to share classroom content. Here are some quick ways to revamp the classroom, or campus, e-newsletter….

Read the rest online

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

ClassroomTools: Surveys with Excel Online #MSFTEDU #MIE

As educators, we’re all about the data. But collecting that information can sometimes be difficult. If you’re an Office 365 user, then we have a great new way for you to collect survey data using Excel Online. (read more)

Read the rest of this blog entry!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Embedding a Non-YouTube in Google Slides

Problem: I work at a school where YouTube is blocked. Anyone know how to embed a non-YouTube video (or HTML) in Slides?

Alternative Solution:
I don’t know of any way to embed a non-Youtube video in Slides. 

Here’s an alternative approach:

1. Take a picture of the video hosted in Google Drive (which shouldn’t be blocked since it’s GoogleApps and you have unlimited storage), then paste the image on the slide
2. Link the image to the view screen, then you can 
3. Click on it during the presentation. Be aware of the note to get it to autoplay.

Video Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzgfbQxbeqTITVQwZVRwRlhNd0U/view?autostart=”true”

(Note: The boldface is what I added to the link to make it autoplay)

Video Link embedded in Slides: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PuOuHXuMoU_NCIN8a593Zc1__qeqWXu2uppro02qC0s/edit?usp=sharing

If someone knows a better way, I hope they will share it!

🙂

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 Tips for Organizing Your Supervisor

Like a one-person pit crew, secretaries and support staff make the difference between success and failure for the school leaders they serve. The more the support staff know, the better they can ensure success for all. In this blog entry, find five digital organizational tips to help your admin. (read more)

Read the rest

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Save Websites to Your @OneNoteEDU Notebook Quickly! @msonenote @onenotec

Read more

Wouldn’t it be powerful if you, as a teacher or educator, could bookmark content on the web and then have it automatically archived for student viewing in a Microsoft OneNote notebook? When I did that earlier today, the process worked like magic! And all you need is your free Microsoft OneNote account, a free Diigo for Educators account, and a free If This Then That (IFTTT.com) account.

Note: Do you have a OneNote Notebook for students set up? For the purposes of this blog entry, let’s call it “World History – First Period” without quotes. Inside that Notebook, create a Section called “Resources,” which is where your new web page links will be saved when you bookmark them using Diigo.

Step 1 – Create accounts, if you don’t already have them.

1. Create your free Diigo for Education Account.
2. Create your free IFTTT.com account.
3. OneNote, available at no-cost, requires a Microsoft account. If you don’t have one already, you can always set one up for free.

Read the rest of this blog entry at TCEA.org!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MGuhlin.org’s Top 5 Entertainment #iOS Apps #movies #tv #the100

Hard to believe any of us have time to watch television and movies, and, as you might guess, I seldom watch television anymore. Instead, I snatch moments of thrills and excitement via “small screens” using apps like those included below.  Note that most of these require subscriptions of some sort, but they are well worth the price.

1. Amazon Music – One of the best ways to take advantage of Amazon Prime account is to listen to the endless supply of music. I have discarded much of my MP3 collection–painfully ripped from my defunct audio CDs–and now simply rely on Amazon Music.
2. Amazon Video – Wow, what a wealth of great videos, series that are available. Justified, The Killing, and countless movies have kept me entertained while working at home on a project. Definitely encourage the Amazon Prime subscription.
3. Netflix – Looking for a great series or catch up on some movies? Netflix may provide the content. I won’t spend much time on this, but it’s definitely worth the subscription.
4. Hulu – If you need to catch up on a television series you’ve missed, Hulu is the answer! A new series, The 100, has enthralled us at home, but due to work and school, we can’t often catch it at its scheduled time. And, the family television set may be in use when we can watch it. As a result, Hulu makes it possible to “catch up” on our favorite shows (e.g. Criminal Minds) when we want, where we want.
5. Movies by Flixster – And, finally, since going to the movies is something we thoroughly enjoy, finding out when/where new movies are playing, available movie reviews, etc., then this is the app I use.

Some other apps include my Roku remote control app that makes for fun when others are using it (I have no idea how that channel changed!) and TimeWarnerCable suite of apps.

What are your favorite entertainment apps?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MGuhlin.org’s Top 5 Reading #iOS Apps #ePub #ebook

Are are you an avid reader? I know I am! It’s unbelievable how much content is available and demanding attention. Over the years, I’ve taken advantage of the following apps to feed my reading addiction!

1. Readdle Documents (Free) – As I mentioned in this blog entry, the Documents app makes it a cinch to read non-Digital Rights Management (DRM) ePub/PDF ebooks. There is a pile of content available you can carry around, and now, with GoogleDocs ePub export, you can easily carry around important documents in ePub format and read them in Documents. Loading up ePub/PDF files onto your iOS device is a cinch with Documents.
2. Google Play Books (Free) – Although an early Barnes and Noble Nook adopter (Amazon was on my never use list for years), I decided to begin investing in a book collection in Google Play. And, of course, there is a ton of free content on there too. What’s neat is that you can easily drop content into Google Play and it will sync across devices (including my Chromebook). This makes it easy to not only load content in, but also keep track of what page I am on. If you are moving across devices in the Google ecosystem, then definitely consider Google Play books.
3. Kindle (Free) – Like everyone else, I have fallen beneath Amazon’s spell. Fortunately, I have managed to keep my collection of ebooks in non-DRM (get them via Smashwords when possible!) and Google Play, but I confess to having purchased a few titles here.
4. Feedly (Free) – It’s not enough to just read books and magazines, so much awesome content is available in other people’s writings in blogs. Every time I open up Feedly, I am rejuvenated and inspired by so many others. Feedly makes it easy to read and share content into various content curation engines (like Pocket).
5. Medium (Free) – Although not at the top of my list for checking out other people’s writing (too unfocused) like Feedly is, I do confess that there are times when I tap on Medium in the hopes of great essays and content. And, wow, there is great stuff there!

What are your top “reading” apps?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MGuhlin.org’s Top 5 #Security and #Privacy #iOS Apps

Looking at my iPhone, I wonder how the FBI/NSA/local techie-crook could crack the security on my device! Of course, it would probably just take a wrench strategically applied, but that’s not why we protect our confidential, personally identifiable data in certain apps!

Here’s the run-down on my top 5 iOS Security and Privacy apps:

1. ProtonMail (Free) – If you have to send private, encrypted email, then ProtonMail has new apps for iOS and Android. You can now take the Switzerland-based encrypted email service–not unlike the now made defunct by FBI, Lavabit–on the go with your mobile device. It’s a cinch to use, and you have no excuse for sending top secret data unencrypted via email.
2. PIA VPN (Annual cost of $50) – Looking for a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to provide some security when you’re writing the great American novel or confidential write-up at Starbucks? Then, Private Internet Access (PIA) is a great VPN that works on every computer and mobile device, including my iPhone/iPad. I highly recommend it because it is drop-dead easy!
3. MiniKeepass (Free) – If you’re not using LastPass ($13 annual subscription), then you might consider creating a Keepass database (free, open source, no cost) and saving it on Dropbox or Drive. You can then open it on your mobile device with MiniKeepass app. This really is a life-saver when you need to access the 52 zillion passwords modern life demands!
4. P.T.E. (Free) – Need to quickly encrypt text messages or emails with confidential info? Then use Paranoia’s Text Encryptor (P.T.E. for short). It makes these encryption of text messages, etc. a lot easier. It doesn’t encrypt files (you would probably need AESCrypt for that) but I seldom have that need.
5. Google Authenticator (Free) – Are you using 2-factor authentication? If not, you should be! Google’s Authenticator app works great and provides you with the code you need to quickly login to your Gmail, Evernote (if you use that), Dropbox, etc. Definitely a must-have if you’re using 2-factor authentication (and you should be!).

Now, that’s a short list. Of course, I also have Signal, Peerio, iCabMobile browser installed on my iPhone. Do I actually use them? Not really but you never know as a citizen journalist (eye-roll) when I may be called upon to use them! Haha… 

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

MGuhlin.org’s Top 5 Utility Apps for iOS #iOS #free

Recently, a colleague shared she was on a search for everyone’s top, must-have app. The idea for her blog entry stuck in my brain, and I couldn’t help but wonder, What’s YOUR top 5 iOS app list? I started to wonder, what ARE MY favorite apps? I did a quick inventory of my iPhone, and this blog entry details what I came up with. In this entry, you’ll find my picks for the following:

• Multi-purpose music player, ebook reader, zip/unzip, download utility, file manager
• Podcast player
• Audio recording app
• Email
• Image editing/annotation

Here are the apps I load on an iPad or iPhone every time, without fail at least several times a day, if not more!

1. Readdle Documents (Free) – I was shaken (joking, Kasey!) to read that Shake It Up Learning had highlighted Simple Transfer app (clearly an archived post from 2014, but hey, it’s what inspired this particular app entry). This is the MUST-HAVE iOS app, enabling you to easily transfer–to cloud storage, over WiFi, WebDav server, FTP, email–data to and from your iOS.  You can play music, zip/unzip files, download files like PDFs and view them with a built-in browser, as well as read non-DRM ePub ebooks! In fact, I credit Readdle Documents with keeping me using my iPad when I was ready to throw it into the trash.
2. Overcast (Free) – Looking for a podcast app that doesn’t force you to navigate through tons of ads, and pretty images? Well, Overcast is THE app. I literally use this app (all of the ones on this list fall into that category) every day, but more importantly, it helps me maintain my sanity on long commutes. Need some content to start out with? Subscribe to Podiobooks content and TED talks.
3. Voice Record Pro (Free) – There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t need to record something quickly. While Voxer is a nice alternative, Voice Record Pro makes it easy to quickly record MP4 audio files, with built-in conversion to MP3, and you can do some easy editing, as well as save files to the cloud (e.g. Dropbox, Drive).
4. CloudMagic (Free) – This incredible email app makes it a cinch to check multiple email accounts, including Exchange/Outlook, IMAP/POP accounts. It also allows you to quickly save content to OneNote, Evernote, Pocket, and a variety of other locations. But wait, there’s more! It allows you to use ONE login/pwd then syncs all your email accounts. Since I have about 5-6 that I manage these days, it saves me some time after installing it. It also works on Android and Mac, too.
5. And, finally, for quick image editing, and this is tough because there are several contenders, I rely on Annotate, Over, and Aviary for creating those quote images that everyone loves to get in their Facebook feed. For quick framing/editing of a photo, LiPix does a nice job!

I hope this list is helpful to you!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Tracking Twitter Chats

During a Twitter chat–which I was monitoring on my iPhone while in the grocery store–I was shocked to discover Participate Learning, a suggested link from others participating in the chat. Wow, what an impressive and easy way to track Twitter chats:

It’s amazing, isn’t it? Just the grid and the schedule make it so much easier to see the breadth and depth of Twitterchats happening at any given time. If you’re not keeping track of Twitter chats this way, then they may help you be more purposeful about how you participate!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Mapping a Custom Domain to Google Sites

Earlier this year, I moved my domain (mguhlin.org) from GoDaddy to Tierra.net, my favorite domain registrar. The experience was marked by an hour of hair-pulling, keeping a tight handle on my temper, and wondering, why the heck couldn’t this process be easier? Of course, the real problem is that help is scattered across multiple Google Support pages–think of that cheerfully helpful neighbor that is maddening because he offers advice that isn’t specific to your problem or who buries it in a pile of helpful suggestions, and you’ll know the frustration I refer to–and it’s not obvious. And, it differs for different domain registrars.

Why Verify?

If you are the person who signed up your business for Google Apps that makes you the Google Apps Administrator. You need to verify that you own your business domain, such as your-business.com, before you can use Google Apps services, including Gmail. This ensures that no one else can use services or send email that appears to come from your business. Verifying your domain is the first step to setting up Google Apps for your business.
Source: GoogleSupport

The Problem
Google Sites needed to VERIFY that my new domain name–www.tceamg.org–is one that I own.

As you can see, the image above shows what success looks like. To get there, I had to modify the TXT entry on Tierra.net account. Here are the steps I followed:

My Approach to the Solution
Step 1 – Get verification code from Google by adding the TXT record by first going to this site, but replacing the mywebsiteaddress with your’s (www.supermanflies.net):

https://www.google.com/webmasters/verification/verification?siteUrl=http://mywebsiteaddress

This is what that looks like:

Copy and paste the TXT record (google-site-verification=longstringofvalues) then go to your domain registrar:

What had caused me to stumble was that I didn’t know what to type in the “Host” box. This chart helped me figure that out and in the end, it was quite simple–an @ symbol was used for domain verification. The only thing that worked in the chart below is the first row (highlighted)…

The first two attempts involved putting in “www” in the HOST box (step 1 above), but that didn’t work. What was needed was that @ symbol rather than anything else. 

Next time, I hope these notes will save someone (or maybe me) some time!!

Shout Out: I’d like to thank Virgil Kirk for knocking his head against the screen trying to figure this out as well yesterday. He and I spent about 20 minutes on it yesterday, and I’d say I spent about 2 hours on it. Never again! I hope these notes will save time.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Create ePubs with GoogleDocs! #google

Since there are a ton of folks starting to get into eBook reading–including bus drivers reading while driving–how can we easily create ePub documents for viewing on devices? There are a ton of ePub formatted ebooks available for reading in your iPad or Nook–and you can always use Calibre to convert them to the Mobi format for use in your Kindle–as I pointed out in this blog entry. And, ereaders are finding their way into schools. You can also create ePubs in a variety of ways.

My favorite FREE ePub readers:For Android, use Aldino’s eBook ReaderFor iOS, use Readdle’s Documents

You can also read ePub ebook format using Firefox browser and a special add-on. RonHoutman suggests GooReader for Windows computer; it is “a desktop application that allows you to search, download and read books and magazines available on Google Books.”

But what about turning your students into creators of ePub ebooks?  There’s now a new player in town that many of us have been eagerly awaiting–Google!

In a recent blog entry, they share the following:

To make it easier for authors, publishers, and academic institutions to create works that can be consumed digitally, today we’re launching the ability to export Google Docs files as EPUB publications. Simply go to the File menu > Download as > EPUB Publication (.epub).

For fun, I took the Safeguarding Sensitive Data Plan and converted it to an ePub book; get it here!

OLD Approach:
If you can save your document to HTML–and most word processors can these days–then you are in business. Here are some of the tools available to accomplish that:

1. ePubBud.com – Find out more online in their FAQ.
2. eCub Cross platform tool
3. eScape ePub Creator – Converts OpenOffice documents to ePub format.
4. ODFtoEpub – Converts OpenOffice files to ePub format.
5. BookGlutton – Converts HTML web pages to ePub format.
6. EasyEPub – Convert from Adobe InDesign or Quark format to ePub
7. Dave Solon’s Resources
8. BookBin

You can also use these tools to convert from existing documents to ePub format: 

1. Calibre – fantastic tool and comes with a great tutorial.
2. Sigil – Free cross-platform tool to edit ePub books

Of course, I should also mention that Apple’s Pages allows you to create ePub documents as well, a point first brought to my attention by Tim Holt. Now that creating an ePub document is as easy as going save as an ePub on GoogleDocs, wow, that is just phenomenal!

You can also find existing sources of ePub ebooks…imagine sharing this list with students, or having this wide selection of books to choose from!

1. 4ebooks.org
2. Baen Free Library of Science Fiction (I love this site)
3. Book Glutton
4. eBooks.com – This site supports lots of formats, not just ePub. . .and tons of titles!
5. Free ePub Books – They provide a nice list of eReaders supported, including the Nook. Tons of books here that I’m dying to explore.
6. Feedbooks
7. Free eBooks
8. FreeBookSpot.com
9. Globeusz.com
10. ManyBooks
11. MobiBooks – You may have to convert these to ePub format using Calibre (free, cross platform tool).
12. Waterstones

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

4 Tips for Securing Your Cloud Storage via @diben

Love this image! Found it on Linked In with no attribution. Drop a line in comments if you know source!

Be sure to check out Diana Benner’s Sprinkle Innovation article, 4 Tips for Keeping Your Data Secure in the Cloud! Here is the lead from her article:

While presenting on Social Media in the Classroom, I ran into a former colleague. She mentioned a fantastic presentation she attended on Cyber Security in the Classroom. Our conversation soon drifted to a discussion about passwords and how secure our passwords really are, especially with the amount of data we are storing in the cloud. 

When you think about it, the amount of information we are storing in the cloud is growing every day. Most of us no longer use USB flash drives to carry our docs because it so easy just to store our information in the cloud. However, we hear about data breaches happening all the time, so how can we be sure our information is safe and secure out there?

Find out more.

In her article, Diana mentions a few of my favorite tools, among them Secure Space Encryptor (SSE). Here’s my print tutorial and video!

1. Three Steps to Encrypting/Decrypting
2. View Video for Text Encrypt
3. View Video for File/Folder Encryption

And, you may want to read my article, 5 Steps to Protect Your Data!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Monitoring Social Media – 5 Tips #digcit

View video online at Netsmartz

Concerned about what others may be saying about you on social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram? Here are some tips on how to stay current on what is going on in social media that pertains to you:

Tip #1 – Be present.

If you want to control what is being said about you on social media, the best way to do that is to be mindful that everything you post portrays the image you want others to see of you. That image should be accurate to who you are…this isn’t a game of deceit, but rather of being open with others where appropriate. That means, yes, that YOU must make a dedicated effort to post positive content relevant to the person you want to appear as. Lack of participation on your part means, not silence, but rather, that other’s messages about you will rise to the top. Be present and share quality information with others. Avoid sharing information that tracks your location and actions, unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences (maybe someone can track your movements so they can rob your house/apartment). Instead, share information that is useful, important, and reflects what is best about you and your family.

Tip #2 – Google Yourself…Often.

If you aren’t “googling” yourself, then you may be missing out on what others are seeing when they search for you. Everyone is curious…what DOES Google say about me? By becoming aware of what is being shared online, you can work to counteract, or improve, on the messages that are being shared about you. In truth, the goal is to share what is happening that you wish to celebrate, or, what you have learned through reflection.

Tip #3 – Stake Your Claim on popular social media.

Imagine if someone stole your identity and began to impersonate you. That would be a problem, wouldn’t it? The same can happen online. Someone could, with little effort, go online and register your name on popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, LinkedIn, and immediately begin to impersonate you. They could create a Gmail account, a Google Voice number, and begin to build a social media presence that fails to reflect your reality, your unique brand of awesomeness.

That’s why it is important that YOU “stake your claim” on popular social media sites and put into practice Tip #4.

Tip #4 – Be Consistent.

Often, some will use their first name and last name to create their username on one social media site, but use a nickname for another. You must be strategic about your social media usernames. Create ONE username that is unique and you can use across multiple social media sites. In this way, you not only build a presence and stake a claim on social media. You can do the same thing with images and videos that you put out about yourself. 

If you’re going to be casual, say WHY it’s appropriate and be purposeful in sharing that why. After all, if you are a beachcomber, it may make perfect sense to share yourself looking like one. Otherwise, ask yourself, how can I look my best without being deceptive? Consider avoiding glamour shots or pictures you in evening wear. Instead, go for a professional or business casual look.

Tip #5 – Create Alerts.

If you simply left it to the first 4 tips, you would have a vibrant presence that you occasionally monitored via Google. And, while that’s OK, depending on what may be happening, you may need a more “in your face” system to make you aware of changes in your social media profiles. To accomplish that, you can use one of the following free tools to notify you when things are changing:

• HowSociable – Helps you gauge your impact online in various social media outlets, providing insight on the “magnitude” of your social media efforts ranging from 0 to 10.
• TalkWalker Alerts – Talkwalker Alerts are an easy and free alerting service that provides email updates of the latest relevant mentions on the Web directly to your email inbox.
• Social Mention – This search engine allows you to conduct multiple searches, then receive updates via email or RSS. You can use Feedly.org to track RSS feeds, enabling you to get many RSS feeds coming to one location, Feedly.
• Google Alerts – This tool has been around awhile and provides you with email or RSS updates to activity.

Conclusion
Applying these 5 tips can help ensure that you are reflecting your inner beauty via social media in ways acceptable in your community. Remember to avoid engaging in behavior that can be perceived to be hurtful or less than kind.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 Ways to Organize Content with @Centrallo

My best ideas arise from questions others ask.The problem is, there are so many questions and only so much time. How do I stay focused to get things done? One approach is to create to-do lists.To accomplish that, I’m depending on Centrallo, a note and list-making tool that allows you to house documents and other content in it, to facilitate idea collection, marination, and preparation:

Image Source

1. Reduce by Copying-n-pasting the smallest unit of information. Beguiled by pictures, colored text, some times it’s easier to go back to the written word in black and white, grasping for simplicity. As John Maeda reminds us, “The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. When in doubt, just remove. “ Rather than depend on a web clipper, copying and pasting requires you to be deliberate and “reduce” the content you are collecting to the bare essence. After all, what you are looking for is the germ of an idea, the smallest unit of information that will spark your own writing.
2. Organize your ideas through the use of hierarchical lists of notes. With Centrallo, you can quickly organize concepts.As John Maeda says, “Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.” Not only can you quickly organize notes into lists with Centrallo, you are able to color code your lists and/or notes, making important items jump out. And, with organization and prior planning, you can begin to make many appear fewer.
3. Capture relevant content to build context. Centrallo allows you to store audio notes, images and other types of documents in its notes. Instead of overwhelming you with the ability to capture everything, you choose to focus on what is needed to achieve your goal. You can add context to your notes by including documents such as images, and more.
4. Be open and share your ideas. Closed systems make it difficult for others to interact with content, to see it and gain their own insights. “With an open system,” points out John Maeda, “the power of the many can outweigh the power of the few.” Centrallo enables you to easily share a link to your notes with others via social media or copy the link to share via SMS or email. 
5. Minimize dependence on paper notes. While we know that taking notes by hand aids our cognition and memory, there’s no reason to hang onto the paper after we’ve completed the tactile act of note-taking. In fact, we can move to the next level by using Centrallo to minimize our dependence on paper notes. “More appears like less,” say John Maeda, “by simply moving it far, far away.” This means that as we move our paper-tracking into the cloud (far far away), we are relieved of the burden of managing bits of paper.

Note: For fun, I decided to adapt this article about Evernote, while revisiting an old favorite book of mine, John Maeda’s Laws of Simplicity. I hope you enjoyed the result!

From the Amazon web site:

Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We’re rebelling against technology that’s too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte “read me” manuals. The iPod’s clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that’s simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design — guidelines for needing less and actually getting more.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

TransDevice Admin: 9 Tips to Streamline Tasks with @Centrallo @Readdle @Voxer @Microsoft @Adobe

Are you a trans-device educator? That is, have you managed to transcend your device’s limits to work anytime, anywhere? If yes, then this blog entry is for you.And, note that you probably need to have an iPhone or iPad handy for some of the apps mentioned but you can certainly get it done with an Android device.

Copyright Notice [fake]: As far as I know, I made up “trans-device educator” phrase. As such, it is copyrighted and you can pay me royalties. If I’m not the original author, please leave comment with source. 😉

Tip #1 – Organize Your Email

“Hundreds of emails flow into my inbox,” shared one principal. “I’m always on the go. How am I supposed to figure out what to do with each one?” Whether you use MS Exchange, Hotmail, Gmail, you now have access to some easy to use email clients that work quite well.

CloudMagic–which works on Android, iPhone and iPad–or Readdle’s Spark (iOS only) are two great mobile email clients. Both it make it easy to sort your messages into folders and/or forward to somewhere else, like Centrallo to house your email content. In fact, CloudMagic Cards offers some even more exciting features, like saving content to favorite locations. 

Centrallo uses–here’s a video overview–two organizational principles, including List and Note. You can create a list that contains various notes, group notes according to lists. The interface is quite simple and easy to work with and fast on mobile devices!

Tip #2 – Collect and Organize Critical Documents

“Every day,” shares one administrator, “I have to manage a ton of documents, some of which are digital, others that are mostly paper. What tips do you have for me?” Whether it’s business cards, invoices, permission slips, you can easily capture these documents with an app like Readdle‘s Scanner Pro and save them to the cloud (e.g. Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Centrallo). Another great app–which also happens to be cross-platform–is Microsoft’s OfficeLens, which works on Android and iOS devices. Going on a field trip? Scan all the student permission slips with parent/guardian contact information in! Need to share a notebook or a single note with others? It’s easy to share the link, all from your mobile device or desktop computer.

But what to do with all these scans/pictures? I like to place documents in Centrallo because it’s easier to search for them, but you aren’t limited to that. For secure documents, I encrypt them first. Then, I put those documents online and add a short description to make them searchable.

To scan a lot of content, it’s as easy as running the stack of papers through a copier-scanner then emailing that document to yourself with your mobile device (Centrallo accepts emailed content) or saving it straight to your cloud storage. I no longer recommend buying a separate device when using an app like the free OfficeLens is available on Android and iOS! And, saving to the cloud is so easy with a more dedicated app like Scanner Pro.

Tip #3 – Manage Parent Contacts and Questions.

“Parents will email me, or catch me in the hall and ask me questions,” said one assistant principal. “The thing is, many of them are asking the same question and I’m giving the same answer.” Instead of answering the same question a thousand times, why not conduct a short interview or record an infocast that you can share via a Tweet, SMS or blog entry later? 

 

Voxer Pro on the Web

Or, better yet, invite parents to get the free Voxer app, then add them to your school’s Voxer broadcast chat (Voxer Pro required for you)! Then, you can share periodic updates. I like to record into Voxer’s MyNotes (a.k.a. Notes to Self) then forward that to the right Voxer broadcast chat (they receive it but have to respond to you) or chat (interactive with parents). 

Another approach is to quickly record the audio directly into Centrallo (it is saved in m4a format on an iPhone, but you can convert that to the popular MP3 format easily), then share the link to your audio note. This will enable them to listen to you. Take these and make them into a series of blog entries–that can be shared online. I have asked Centrallo if they would consider making an RSS feed of shared notes, and they are considering it!

Tip #4 – Check That Off Your List!

“What I like to do every morning is make a checklist of what I need to do each day.” She held up her phone and waved it in front of me with a smile. “If I run into new items, I just add them to my digital checklist and keep going!” A lot of us have “To-Do” lists but it’s so easy to see them as a list of items that never gets worked through. 

With Centrallo, you can put all your To-Do items in a list, inserting checkboxes in front of each. Funny thing, though, it puts the checkboxes at the top of the document, above the title (e.g. “Critical Checklist”). As you finish them throughout the day, simply tap on the checkbox to place a checkmark. What a great visual way of working through your To-Do list or a long checklist. I have to admit that I also like Google Keep for short-term to-do lists and checkboxes.

Tip #5 – You are the Storyteller-in-Charge!

Image Source: Social Branding via A Principal’s Reflections

Want to better engage parents, community, students and teachers? Assign yourself the job of “Storyteller-in-Chief” at your campus. This is your job, after all, and you can take advantage of various apps on your smartphone or tablet to capture pictures of great things teachers are doing, whether it’s a lesson or coaching a child. You can also capture student work, ask them to share what they were thinking and record that reflection as an audio note. 

One approach is to use one of these iOS apps to create a “digital story” of what is going on at your school just using your phone (this is drop-dead easy, so don’t put this off because you’re worried you aren’t “techy” enough!):

• Adobe Voice – This is an easy to use, wonderful tool that allows you to blend music (they provide it in the app), pictures, and your audio narration into an easy to share narrated slideshow.
• Shadow Puppet – Another easy to use, perhaps even more wonderful sans music in Adobe Voice, tool that lets you take pictures, add audio. 

Take pictures, drop them into Centrallo, and add some short text and audio recording to make it accessible online to others! In minutes, you’ve added another multimedia element to your school’s digital wall.

Tip #6 – Problems, Problems-Document!

Above: Picture in Centrallo

Above: Shared via Centrallo to the Web for Others to look at!

“The wiring in this cabinet,” pointed out a colleague, “is a mess. And, look at those cardboard boxes!” I picked up my iPhone, snapped a picture into Centrallo, shared the Room # and campus, then passed the link on. 

This was fun because it enabled me to quickly document issues that we needed to address as a department with the right people. And, I could always come back to it later.

As a school administrator, I run into problems daily. In the old days, I’d write a long email. Now, I snap a picture of the problem then quickly “Share Link” from Centrallo to the person who can get the job done. If necessary, I add some audio to the note so that way, the other person knows what I think needs to be done.

Tip #7 – Track Your Meetings

As an administrator, if you’re like me, you have to attend an endless parade of meetings. As much as I love meetings, there’s no way to keep track of them all. Many of the meetings, you’re going to type notes–or write them out longhand–that won’t make sense to others. I like to start up Centrallo and tap on the microphone. This enables me to record the entire meeting, even as I take notes with a keyboard or pad-n-pen.

In addition to saving my notes, audio recording of meetings, I also quickly snap pictures of meeting paper materials, including business cards, meeting agendas, and handouts. You can then share the meeting notes and materials with others.

Are you a fan of pad-n-pen? Think better with a dry erase marker in your hand and a wall-size canvas in front of you? Me, too! I like to snap pictures of my notes so I always have them with me and even if I lose the notepad, fresh ideas are still stored in the cloud!

You can also track vendor interactions. Any campus or district administrator knows that vendors are going to come calling. One of the challenges I face is limiting those vendor contacts, while keeping track of whom I’ve spoken to on the phone, received emails from, etc. Before, I would sort them into company folders in my email. Problem with that approach is that I’d have to remember who I was talking to, their company, etc. 

Now, I can organize by project and match vendors to the job. All of this information–including business cards–allows me to dig up the names of people matched up to projects.

Tip #8 – Track Travel Receipts

It’s amazing how little I travel now as an administrator. That said, even though I spend a lot of time at work, there are times when I do travel. Managing receipts has always been a chore. These days, I don’t bother with trying to keep all the paper copies. After checking with the Finance folks, I snap pictures of my receipts for food, pictures of my odometer, to help me keep track of everything that has to do with travel. What a relief to not have to manage little pieces of paper!

Tip #9 – Protect Confidential Notes

With Centrallo, you are able to “protect” sensitive notes that may contain confidential information. I always recommend encrypting sensitive data before putting it in the cloud but you can also add another layer of protection by choosing “Protect” on a Centrallo note. This allows you to add a password and that note can’t be opened without it. 

Here’s what “Protect Item” looks like in Centrallo.

Conclusion

What other tasks that you are involved in that can be made easier with digital tools? With only a few apps, you can streamline your work! A quick review of the apps:

• MultiPurpose Apps
• Centrallo – Great, easy to use, cross-platform note-taking, document archiving app that allows you to add audio, images, and files to notes, as well as organize them into nested lists of notes.
• Capture Apps
• OfficeLens – Capture pictures, whiteboards, documents and save them to your iOS Camera roll then use them in one of the narrated slideshow tools below.
• Readdle Scanner Pro – Easily scan documents (or anything) to the cloud storage of your choice. 
• Narrated Slideshow Apps
• Adobe Voice – This is an easy to use, wonderful tool that allows you to blend music (they provide it in the app), pictures, and your audio narration into an easy to share narrated slideshow.
• Shadow Puppet – Another easy to use, perhaps even more wonderful sans music in Adobe Voice, tool that lets you take pictures, add audio.

There are many other choices, but these are a few that impact my work flow daily.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

5 Steps to Protect Your Data

Last week, a local school district suffered a phishing attack distributed by email. In addition, ransomware was also being distributed to district users via email. Several machines were infected, including servers, as individuals clicked on email attachments that made no sense whatsoever. Other districts have faced similar challenges:

It’s…thrown a kink in the school district’s scheduled Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams, which are “high-quality, computer-based K–12 assessments in Mathematics and English Language Arts/Literacy.” The crypto-ransomware “has affected the district’s entire operations from internal and external communications to its point-of-sale for school lunches. It also has prevented any students from taking the scheduled PARCC exams, which are entirely computerized.” Source: Network World

Here are some of the recommendations I offer districts and folks who encounter these issues:

You are the best anti-virus protection District computers have. Follow these 5 steps to protect yourself and others from unnecessary loss of data. Help others you work with follow these steps. You are facing an imminent virus threat from “ransomware.” 

BACKGROUND

Earlier this year, you saw how emails were being used to spread a web site that sought to steal your GoogleApps login credentials. Over the last few days, staff opening ransomware–a form of software that infects your machine when you double-click on it and encrypts your files, then demands you pay them for decrypting them–included in email attachments have unwittingly spread the virus across the District. 

STEPS

Take these steps to safeguard your hard work in computer documents and files on your computer:

1. Look before you click! Avoid clicking on email attachments that come from people you do not know. Email attachments with “exe,” “zip,” are suspicious. Also, do NOT go into your SPAM folder on GoogleMail and click on the email attachments. Those messages are marked as SPAM because they are unwanted, inappropriate, and/or may contain malware email attachments.
2. Connect before opening. Even if you DO know someone sending you a file, ask yourself, “Was I expecting a file from this person?” If yes, call and connect with them…ask, “Did you send me this file?” If the answer is “No,” then delete it. If it’s important, they will reach out to you again.
3. Avoid clicking on email attachments via your personal email on a work computer, especially if it is a Yahoo email account given the types of malware spreading ads that find themselves displayed on that service.
4. Scan files before opening them. You can right-click a file, save it to your computer, then choose to virus-scan it before opening it. If you don’t know how, ask your campus technician or a tech-savvy person nearby.
5. Backup your Data to GoogleDrive. If you plug-in your USB external hard drive or USB stick/pendrive and work from there, be aware that viruses spread via USB drives and ransomware will actually make your data unusable. Even worse, if you have cloud storage–like Dropbox or GoogleDrive Sync–(where your files are automatically backed up when you place them in a certain folder (e.g. Dropbox)), be aware that ransomware WILL encrypt those files and they will be auto-saved to your cloud storage provider. Better to turn those services off and manually back them up (i.e. go to the Dropbox or Drive web site, click on the upload button). Make backups of your computer’s documents/files/data to Google Drive rather than just saving them on a USB flash drive. Watch this video tutorial

Just a few moments ago, I received an email from Ramsey M. purporting to share some files with me via Dropbox, but…I hesitated and that made all the difference. Let’s go through the process together…

When you examine the “Click here to view” link, I found a link to a non-Dropbox web site in the UK.

Knowing that Ramsey probably didn’t send this email, I opened up a fresh browser where I’m not logged into anything and tried the link: It didn’t work. Page Not Found error. That’s good! But if it had been a phishing scam, something like this would have popped up:

The goal of these sites is to steal your information! Don’t fall for it!

For Home Users who may be facing virus threats or fear they have been infected, use these tools. Note that this does not constitute a purchase recommendation since these tools are available for free, personal home use:

Anti-Malware/AntiVirus

1. List of Mac AntiVirus Solutions
2. Windows Solutions:
1. Anti-Malware
1. Malware Bytes* – Great to use when you think your computer has been infected with malware/spyware and you need your computer “cleaned out.”
2. AntiRansomware
3. Spyware Blaster*– An easy to use “innoculation” program against spyware/malware.
4. Spybot Search and Destroy* – Best part of Spybot is the TeaTimer which protects your computer’s registry against contamination and immunizes your browsers (IE,Firefox) against malware.
2. AntiVirus
1. AVG AntiVirus* – A nice antivirus program. 
2. Sophos Home Antivirus (Free for Home Use)

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Life-Changing Apps – Office Lens and @Centrallo

If I learned anything at the TCEA 2016 State Conference, it was overshadowed by a powerful app shared off-hand in a T-TESS presentation by Dr. Bruce Ellis. I had so much fun with the app I didn’t pay as much attention as I needed to the presentation! As such, I must share it with you, as well as add one of my own.

Life-Changing App #1 – Office Lens (No Cost)
In spite of the fact that it was a Microsoft created app–it was difficult to overcome my reluctance but I succeeded, thank goodness–I quickly pulled it down to my iPhone, which was my default note-taking app at the Conference (you know, taking pictures).

Amazingly, the Office Lens app works on both Android and iOS, making it a great choice. I shared this app with an iPad Pro user, who was hastily scribbling notes onto a full-size iPad Pro…and he immediately started using it, exclaiming at how wonderful it was. In fact, everyone I’ve shared it with has loved it! Why aren’t you using it yet?

Life-Changing App #2 – Centrallo.com 
($4.99 monthly/$44.99 annually)

Although I’ve already written about it, this Evernote replacement is worth mentioning again! Be sure to check out the Centrallo app for both Android and iOS, but also accessible via the Web. It’s easy to use and reminds me of a “fast and light” Evernote without the kitchen sink!

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Exploring 4 Alternatives to Everyday Learning and Sharing #tcea16

“Every day learning and sharing,” I observed one evening to myself (yes, I was talking to myself! Doesn’t everyone over 45 do that?), “has sure gotten easier!” I quickly ran over the catalog of phenomenal tools for everyday learning and sharing that I’ve encountered in just a short time!

Listen to Podcast

(not yet available)

1) Telegram – If you haven’t seen this WhatsApp-like app that is available for free, provides end to end encryption for private chats, and group chats that can include up to 200+ members, and works on every modern mobile device (e.g. Android, iOS, Windows, your computer’s browser) available, then you’re missing out! It seemed like the natural tool for a school district to turn to when the internet went down. And, since everyone seems to be equipped with a mobile device that has it’s own internet, I’m not surprised that it’s taken hold.

2) Voxer – Looking for an easy way to make curricular connections, as well as faciliate audio/text/video-based professional learning? Then look no further than Voxer. While Periscope is a wonderful just-in-time video app, you can’t beat Voxer for how easy it is to create a “chat” which is just another moniker for “community of learners” who can share information. In my mind, it combines the best of social media tools like Twitter and Plurk with Periscope, enabling fantastic connections.

3) Blab.im – Another neat way to connect with others includes Blam.im–available on your iOS or Android device–and facilitate video chats that can be easily recorded and saved. What’s more, some are using them in lieu of Google Hangouts and other tools as ways to instantly connect with others at a scheduled time.

4) Flipboard – If you haven’t encountered Flipboard, it’s a great way to curate content and share it with an audience. You can have multiple ezine contributors/editors, and they can view content available online via RSS feeds, news and media, as well as Twitter. All of this great content combines in a portable, mobile electronic magazine (“ezine”) that is quite convenient to have access to.

What app are you taking advantage of to facilitate every learning and sharing in your environment?

On Tuesday, February 2nd, at 10:00am, several of us will have a chance to share some alternative solutions that we use when network/internet fails, including Telegram and Voxer. I hope you’ll join us at TCEA16 ! If you can’t, just check back here for a podcast of the presentation, as well as links below:

Everyday learning and sharing opportunities abound with social media, PLNs, and just-in-time communication apps. In this panel presentation, you’ll hear from campus and district staff who have embraced social media as alternative ways to support their staff, communicate effectively, and scaffold learning and sharing for all. Getting the app is easy, changing human habits hard. Listen to how these leaders have helped transform their practice and that of their campus teams. 

 

Open Google Presentation

1. Apps You Can Use to Facilitate Communication
1. Telegram – View Tutorial for School District
2. Voxer – Using Voxer to Streamline School Communicationsvia Edutopia. An excerpt:
   Voxer is described as a free app that combines the best of voice, text, and photo messages into a high-tech walkie-talkie, creating a powerful, modern, personal and team messaging tool.
3. Remind – Remind for School Communications

Other Communication Tools

Tool	Cost	Use	Advantage
Facebook	Free	Seguin ISD: District, departments, campuses and classrooms use to share events, links, videos, news. New Braunfels ISD, Comal ISD(Campus News)	Ease of use, variety of media, patron proximity (It’s where they already are.)
Twitter	Free	New Braunfels ISD- district news Seguin ISD–districts news, some teachers/programs Manor ISD- External communication and Internal celebrations; Monthly Twitter Chat (3rd Tuesday, #ManorISD) for teacher PD credit. Del Valle ISD – district account (district announcements, events, etc.), Instructional Tech dept account (tech news, training announcements, etc.) Comal ISD(district and campus announcements)	Easy, many already use Twitter, searchable.
Schoolway	Free		Free, push notification, scalable
Edlio	$6000	Navarro ISD	post on website and Tweet at the same time
School Messenger		Del Valle ISD Liberty Hill ISD Round Rock ISD Seguin New Braunfels ISD	call, email, tweet, and post to site at the same time
Your Voice	Free
Google Sites	Free	share with everyone Round Rock ISD	not limited by platform
Google Communities	Free	RRISD:  Multiple communities that have become the basis for learning community chatter and sharing Manor ISD- Leadership Team and Novice teacher program	must be a GAFE district, but is easy to use and attractive
Remind.com	Free	Seguin: Teachers, coaches use to send reminders, news, etc. Comal ISD: Used in the high schools
K12 Alerts	$3000	Navarro ISD text, email, and voice messaging	Call, email, tweet and at the same time
WordPress	?	RRISD: Transitioning all sites above teacher sites to a robust WordPress Comal ISD: many teachers have transitioned to WordPress from IWeb.	Can populate content across multiple sites and our Comm dept can control style and improve info flow.
Zoom Google Hangout	Free	Manor ISD-Video Conferencing Zoom is part of ESC 13 services https://www.zoom.us/	Face to face conferencing across district without rushing around to meetings.
Google Hangout	Free
Telegram App	Free	This app can be loaded on staff phones (iOS/Android/Win) and can run parallel to District network when Voice/Internet communications are out.	Here is a brief tutorial of how ECISD uses it – tinyurl.com/ectelegrams
ParentLink App	Cost $$$	Enables an app to be share info with parents, students, etc. that is flowing from RSS feeds across district. Loads specific calendars, etc.	ParentLink also provides for a phone/SMS text messaging system for contacting parents.

• Develop a Strong School District Communication Strategy- http://goo.gl/5RFK07
• Inform…Listen…Engage- http://goo.gl/FXLaj2
• Dunlap Community Unit School Communication Plan- http://goo.gl/0ze0ll

Round Rock ISD Communications- https://roundrockisd.org/departments/community-relations/communications/

Georgetown ISD Communications- http://www.georgetownisd.org/Page/331

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

Evernote Clearly Replaced! Get the Alternative

Goodbye Evernote Clearly!

Were you an Evernote Clearly fanatic? I can’t tell you how many people I’ve run into that bemoaned the fact that Evernote discontinued support for Clearly on January 22:

Evernote to end support for Skitch, Clearly extensions for Windows on January 22nd
Read more

Of course, I immediately started looking around and stumbled on the Readable bookmarklet, which works just fine as a way to “unclutter” a web page. In fact, the bookmarklet works on Chrome and Firefox…it’s a cinch to use and get going without any of that Evernote overhead (which, unfortunately, is their Achilles’ heel!).

To get going with Readable, just go to the web site, make a few minor customizations to the screen below (or not, since that’s not a requirement for use), then drag the bookmarklet button to your browser’s toolbar:

Visit web site and get Readable

If you haven’t give Readable a try, you should!

For example, I went from this:

To this…

Nifty, huh?

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure