tlah

Hour of Code is Good Enough | Ideas and Thoughts

Byryan June 14, 2016June 13, 2016

Hour of Code is one of those burgeoning ideas that is getting a lot of up take in schools. Proponents love it as an easy way to introduce the coding and computer science to students with little or no background needed from either the teacher or the student. Critics argue that it’s not enough and it dumbs down what is a critical and important skill.

Source: Hour of Code is Good Enough | Ideas and Thoughts

Hour of Code is a good start, but I agree with the critics. Take it farther, integrate it into the curriculum and use it to create thinkers.

tlah

Why you want to customize your computer

Byryan July 17, 2018July 16, 2018

Increasingly, though, I am uncomfortable with the distinction we casually make between “pro” users and “regular” users. I don’t think these sorts of utilities are useful just for computer nerds. (There’s another category we should leave behind us.) I think they’re useful for everybody. Put another way: we’re all “pro” users. I want to…

tlah

Clipboard History 2 offers a multiple item clipboard for Chrome

Byryan July 11, 2016July 10, 2016

One of the most powerful productivity tools that I use is the ability to store multiple items in the clipboard. I’ve written in the past how I do this, but until today I had not found one that worked on the Chromebooks (and the web clipboard in Google Docs doesn’t count). Clipboard History 2 is…

tlah

ⓔ Ready to move on from Scratch? Check out Pico-8!

Byryan May 4, 2016May 4, 2016

Scratch is a great introduction to programming. By using code blocks, students and staff can quickly assemble a working program. But, the limitations of Scratch become more and more apparent as you try to create more sophisticated programs. That’s where Pico-8 from Lexaloffle comes in. Pico-8 – the programmable virtual game console The Pico-8 is a…

tlah

Creative Commons Search helps you and your students find legal multimedia

Byryan March 14, 2017March 21, 2017

Sure, you can find pictures on Google Images, but unless you dig into the settings, a lot of those pictures are licensed to be used in school projects. Creative Commons Search fixes that. Creative Commons is a way to license works for use by others. It provides more rights than the all or nothing approach given by…

tlah

Quickly capture audio with CaptureCast

Byryan October 25, 2016October 24, 2016

I found CaptureCast to be a worth screencasting tool for Chrome and Chromebooks, and I have discovered a new use for it. Since you have full control of what CaptureCast captures, you can use it as a quick webcam recorder or as a plain audio recorder. To capture audio, click on the CaptureCast icon in your…

tlah

STEM, StoryBots, and GSuite Sites – Top 3 for the week

Byryan November 27, 2016November 27, 2016

Elementary classroom STEM challenges Twenty eight ideas for STEM activities in the elementary classroom. StoryBots Classroom is FREE for Teachers Videos, games and other activities for the PreK – 1 classroom. Introducing GSuite for Education Sites Google has modernized several features in the new GSuite Sites.

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