Mailbag - Answers to Questions from Readers

Every week I receive a questions from readers of FreeTech4Teachers.com. Some of those questions are very specific to a classroom or school while others have a more broad appeal. Those with a broader appeal end up in my periodic mailbag columns. Here are some questions that I've recently received whose answers may benefit a number of people. If you have a question for me you can email me directly at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com or if you're an email subscriber just hit the reply button on any email I send out.

Question:
My colleagues and I are looking for a way for students to post ideas (but not a polling site). Do you have any suggestions?

Padlet.com is a tool that makes it easy for students to post ideas. Tozzl.com is another that I like for that purpose. A video on how to use Padlet is available here. A video on how to use Tozzl is available here.

Question:
I teach journalism and have been exploring apps to help my students record, edit and post audio interviews and, if possible, narrated slideshows. Any free apps for iPhone and Android that you can recommend?

A few options come to mind for your situation. First, StoryCorps.me is designed to help people conduct and record great interviews. The app includes a set of questions that you can use in your interview. The question sets are varied depending upon the relationship that you do or don't have with your interviewee. While recording your interview you can swipe through the questions to help you keep the interview on track. Completed recordings can saved on your device and or shared with the StoryCorps community. Second, AudioBoom offers an app (iOS and Android) for creating audio recordings. You can apply a background image to display with the recording when it is posted online. Finally, I often recommend ShadowPuppet Edu for making audio slideshows on an iPad, but I fear that university students might find it a little too simple.

Question:
My local professional org. wants to create a free website for our group. And, we are using smore for a monthly newsletter. Is there a way we can combine our needs into a website with pages that archive monthly content say with Google? Where would we find info/training vids on this?

When you say, "say with Google" I assume you're talking about a Google Account. If that is the case then Google Sites is a good option for developing a website for your organization. You can have multiple page formats including an announcements page within your site. If you're trying to divide the workload in your organization then you can add multiple editors to the site too. As for training, I have a tutorial on Google Sites that can be viewed here. I also offer online training on Google Apps.

Question:
With my students I have created bilingual dictionary in Google sheets (two columns, one for English and one for translation). Do you happen to know of any way to turn it into online dictionary with a search box?

If you share the Spreadsheet with students in a "view only" mode they should be able to search within the spreadsheet (Ctrl+F will bring up the search box). The process for doing this would be to publish the spreadsheet to the web as "view only" (that setting is found under the File menu) then post the link on your blog or simply direct to students to the link through a Goo.gl shortened URL.

Mailbag - Answers to Questions from Readers

Every week I receive lots of messages from readers who have questions about things I've written. I also receive a lot of message from people who are in search of suggestions for tools that solve a problem for them. Some of these questions are very specific while others have a broader appeal. Those with a broader appeal make it into my periodic mailbag posts. If you have a question, you can always email me at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com

Question:
My students will be starting a video project. They need to interview a teacher. They will be using Chromebooks for the assignment. Do you have any suggestions? I love tech but I'm a video novice?

My suggestion is to try WeVideo. WeVideo will allow students to edit raw video clips and splice-in transitions between segments of their interviews. WeVideo provides good tutorials for first time users. If you're just concerned with capturing the video and don't need a polished product, your students could record directly to YouTube. I have a video here that provides an overview of the basic YouTube setting teachers and students should know.

Question:
My current district ( I am leaving - moving away in two weeks) uses Google Drive for everything. Is there an easy way for me to "save" the things that I want to keep - take with me - when I go?

You can use the Google Takeout tool will to download everything from one account and then upload it to another. Otherwise, you can put everything in a folder (or two or three) then share that folder with yourself in your new account.

Question:
Which screencast software would you recommend and why please?

I use Screencast-o-matic.com for creating screencasts. It works well on every laptop I use and is free for recordings under five minutes long. The yellow circle that you see appearing in all my screencast videos is built into Screencast-O-Matic and I find it helpful in identifying a cursor in a screencast. The pro version of Screencast-o-matic.com costs $15/year and offers longer recording times along with removal of the Screencast-O-Matic watermark on videos.

Question:
I was wondering if you knew of any apps or online tools that students could use to create learning portfolios to take with them when they leave high school?

I generally recommend using Weebly or Google Sites for high school students to use to create digital portfolios. As long as they use personal email addresses rather than school email addresses, they will retain control over the portfolio for as long as they like.