Edcerpts for January 16, 2023

Internet Travels

Edcerpts are my weekly round up of interesting links and ideas I discovered on the internet. It is published on Mondays for the previous week

Apps

• HistoryMaps | Learn History Visually with Maps and Timelines – A great interface to looking at historical maps.

Pedagogy

• How to Use Comic Strips in a Science Classroom – Class Tech Tips – I really like the idea of writing comic and I like cross-disciplinary lessons, ad this checks both boxes!
• How to machine-proof student writing – Home – Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog – AI isn’t the end of assessment.
• In a World of AI, Our Students Need Project-Based Learning – John Spencer – As if anyone needed another reason to integrate PBL into their classroom.
• The end of the high school essay | Seth’s Blog – Seth has always been a big proponent of education, and this is a pretty provocative look at the use of essay writing.

Technology

• Google Workspace Updates: Improvements to voice features in Google Docs and Slides – Voice typing just gets better and better. This update affects voice typing in Google Doc and Slides, along with automatic captions in Google Slides.
• Google Workspace Updates: New option to view non-printing characters in Google Docs – Do you remember F12? Then this feature is right up your alley. And you may want to go lie down on the davenport and watch some Lawrence Welk. If you don’t remember F12, congrats! This option will let you see those returns and extra spaces that are causing you headaches when you are trying to format your Google Doc.
• Visualizing the Length of the Fine Print, for 14 Popular Apps – Visual Capitalist – Did you ever think about those Terms of Service that you agree to when signing up for a service? Here’s a look at how long each of them are for 14 popular apps.
• South Florida school districts react to ChatGPT bans, as bot can complete work for students – The banning of ChatGPT reminds me a lot about when a majority of districts were blocking access to YouTube. Blocking back then was a pain, but today there are so many ways to get around the block that’s it’s more grandstanding than anything. If you are a teacher and aren’t changing your assessment practices, banning technology isn’t going to make it any better.

Tips

• RSS Aggregation Made Easier with FeedBro – To paraphrase Monty Python, RSS isn’t dead yet! I use it every day to keep up on news, and if you listen to podcasts, you are using it too. Here’s a neat browser extension that adds RSS feeds back to the browser. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sync, but it still is useful!

Pop Culture

• Concentration Tips: How to Focus Like It’s 1990 – The New York Times – Oh, how much we have lost in the last 30 years! One of the best things I’ve ever done for myself is turning of notifications for almost every app. I hate the cognitive load introduced through the context switching of different tasks.
• Schools sue social networks, claim they “exploit neurophysiology” of kids’ brains | Ars Technica – It’s going to be tough for schools to say they have the standing to sue in this context, but it at least advertises the issue.

Pot Pourri

• HMH to Acquire NWEA – NWEA – This is not good news. Now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will recommend their own products that will help your students not learn any better, but how to help them take the MAP test better.
• Planning Fallacy – I’ve been trying to channel my internal Scotty, I mean, how else are you going to be known as a miracle worker?