Yes I Can- A Mental Health Guide for Adult Literacy Facilitators – Written by Jennifer E. Hewitt. Published by Project Read ( Kitchener-Waterloo)
Webinar:
Mental Health Guide Q & A
In a recent technology coaching session with LBS program staff, technology consultant Matthias Sturm worked with a client to create a lesson plan and digital skills assessment tool.
The lesson plan and online tool were designed to provide learning opportunities while building the digital and self-efficacy skills needed to complete online forms like assessments and surveys. Take a look at our implementation of this tool.
Educators can adapt the lesson plan to prepare learners to use online surveys to build the confidence and skills needed to complete work independently. What’s more, the lesson plan integrates customizable surveys in French and English.
For more information about this tool check out our Tech Tuesday webinar archive, or contact Matthias Sturm.
Google Docs is more than just a free word processing and sharing tool. It’s a powerful equalizer for advocacy and activism. Yes, you can create, share and edit documents in collaboration with others, but it’s Google Doc’s ability to reach a wide audience instantly that makes disseminating of information and mobilizing a cause easier than ever before.
For example, the now hugely visited document entitled “False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical ‘News’ Sources” (nicknamed the Fake News Bible) was created by a college professor during the last US election and made available on Google Docs to help readers verify which information circulating in the media was factual and which was not.
Google Docs eliminates the higher monetary costs historically associated with organizing and processing, freeing up valuable time to focus on action, policies and instantaneous information-sharing anytime, anywhere in the world.
In the education sector, Google Docs can be used to compile resources or contacts as well as analysis on the policies and funding changes that impact our work or require a co-ordinated response.
Google Docs is free to use, and no account is needed to access or comment on an existing document. Documents can be distributed via social media or email and embedded into a website.
Our technology consultant Maria Moriarty created this three-minute video tutorial to show you how to:
Online quizzes and surveys are easy to create, eliminate paper, and simplify marking and feedback.
Did you know Google Calendar can generate Google Hangout meeting access links automatically?
Many people struggle with accessing the video calls. Complicated instructions, links and set-up times can delay calls and sap collaborative energy. In this two-minute Screencast video, Monika Jankowska-Pacyna, AlphaPlus Technology Coach and Consultant, teaches you to set up a meeting and create a simple access link for participants.
Avoid technical hiccups and use Google Calendar to:
Check out the Screencast video here!
LiveBinders is a digital classroom organizer that helps you package and share information in a single place. Information is packaged like a binder or book, which makes it intuitive to navigate. Instructors and program coordinators can curate digital resources, store them in one easy-to-access place and share them with learners using a single web link.
Use LiveBinders to create a customized textbook that includes videos, text content, images, PowerPoint slides, Google documents and spreadsheets — all organized with tabs and subtabs. Make the entire binder available to students at once or in sections as lesson plans progress.
Organizations working with AlphaPlus technology consultants use LiveBinders to:
LiveBinder It!
Install the “LiveBinder It” button on your web browser’s menu bar to add web pages directly to your binder. Simply click the button when you visit a site you like and LiveBinders will ask you to add it to an existing or new binder.
Never lose an assignment again
Learners can access the binder and revisit information whenever they like. They can also complete assignments and tests within LiveBinders, which means no more keeping track of multiple files and papers.
To bring LiveBinders of other teach we love to your organization, contact our technology consultants.
DownloadHelper (Free!)
When it comes to your organization’s technical know how, we can help you catch up, keep up, or stay ahead of the pack.
Whether you apply technologies at the beginner, intermediate, or advanced level, we want to help you adopt a range of tools that suit your needs.
That’s why this month we’re giving a Gold Star Recommendation to DownloadHelper.
What Is It?
Dubbed the most complete tool to extract and save online videos and image files, DownloadHelper is a free web-browser extension tool that is compatible with Firefox and Chrome.
Using the main add-on feature you can download Web videos to your computer or device and play them later off-line. With this tool teachers can carry on with in-class videos and presentations when Internet connections are poor or unavailable.
To learn more about DownloadHelper, contact one of our AlphaPlus Technology Consultants.
Our technology consultants are available on the phone, via chat, or email. But we love getting out in the community to learn more about the organizations we serve.
Site visits and in-house training workshops are where we learn about your clever technology solutions and time saving hacks in action.
Check out this terrific tip we learned from an LBS program we visited this quarter.
The Too Many Passwords Hack
Technology lets us work faster, smarter and from anywhere. But it also means setting and remembering dozens of secure passwords to access our work and media.
During a site visit, the AlphaPlus technology team learned a valuable hack for creating secure and easy to recall passwords: create passwords using your favourite song.
The Hack:
Use the first letter of each word in the title of a memorable song, saying, or poem to create an easy to remember password.
Need special characters? Add them at the end of your sequence for simplicity.
For example:
If you use a saying like, “Those who wish to sing, always find a song.”
Your password becomes:
Basic: twwtsafaas
Special Characters: twwtsafaaS!*
For longer passwords, repeat your favorite line twice or list your characters forwards and then backwards.
Open Badges, a new online standard launched in March 2013 by Mozilla, is open source, free software, which any organization can use to create, issue and verify digital badges to recognize and verify learning.
Many of us are familiar with and likely earned some kind of physical badge in our lifetime. Who can forget all those colourful badges sewn or pinned on a sleeve, jacket or hat of a Girl Guide or Boy Scout? These badges represent the accomplishment of various achievements and are often proudly displayed by the recipients.
Digital badges, originally introduced in games, are also used to recognize achievements and completion of specific tasks, but they are issued and shared digitally.
They are often treated as rewards and recipients seek them to:
Digital badge issuers use digital badges for:
To provide a common system for the issuance, collection, and display of digital badges on multiple instructional sites, Mozilla Foundation developed Mozilla Open Badges – free software and an open technical standard any organization can use to create, issue and verify digital badges.
Many educational institutions and learning management system providers, such as Blackboard and Moodle, quickly partnered with Mozilla to enable online teachers and administrators to issue Open Badges for course and activity completions.
Canva is a simple graphic design software that allows you to create beautiful web graphics, flyers, posters, Facebook covers, and more.
With a variety of layouts and quick drag-and-drop features it is a great tool for professional layouts and consistently stunning graphics. Whether it is for your program, your students or yourself you will absolutely love this tool!
Here is a quick Canva overview:
Sign up for Canva’s Design School to learn about it’s features.