The Makers of ChatGPT Have Launched a Tool to Detect Text Written With AI

In this week's Practical Ed Tech newsletter I included a video overview of a tool called AI Writing Check that detects whether or not an article has been written with the use of a tool like ChatGPT. Two days after publishing my newsletter, the makers of ChatGPT announced the launch of their own tool designed to detect whether or not an article has been written by ChatGPT. 

AI Text Classifier is a new tool from Open AI, the makers of ChatGPT, that will detect whether or not a passage of text has been written with ChatGPT and similar AI writing tools. To use AI Text Classifier you do need to have registered for a free account on Open AI. Once you have an account you can use AI Text Classifier. To use AI Text Classifier you simply have to paste a block of writing (at least 1,000 characters, roughly 175 words) into the text field and click the submit button. AI Text Classifier will then rank the writing as very unlikely, unlikely, unclear if it is, possibly, or likely written by AI. For the record, AI Text Classifier classified my article about detecting writing created by AI as very unlikely to have been written by AI. 

Applications for Education
If you're concerned that your students have submitted work created by AI, AI Text Classifier could be the tool you need to check it. But before you get to that point, show your students how tools like AI Text Classifier work and have discussions about responsible use of AI tools.

Three Things You Should Know How to Do With TinyURL

I'm not 100% certain of this, but I'd make a substantial wager that TinyURL was the first URL shortener I ever used. I know I was using it before I started this blog and that's going on 16 years this year. The point being that TinyURL has been around a long time. It's that longevity that contributes to it often being the first tool people think of when they need to shorten URLs. 

Like all web tools that have been around for a long time, there are features of TinyURL that people overlook or simply forget about. Two of those features are the ability to create custom URLs that people can actually spell and the ability to generate QR codes for your URLs. Both of those things are demonstrated in the short video that is embedded below. 

Video - How to Use TinyURL

Whether you use TinyURL to shorten links or you're just clicking a TinyURL link, you should know how to preview where it's directing you to without actually clicking on the link. Here's a video overview of how to see what's behind a TinyURL without actually clicking on the link.

Get Ready for Groundhog Day With These Short Lessons

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day! Those of you who teach pre-K or early elementary grades you may have some students who are as excited about it as my pre-K and Kindergarten daughters are. If that's the case, you may be interested in watching the following videos that provide brief explanations of the origins of Groundhog Day.

Homeschool Pop offers a good explanation of Groundhog Day for kids. The video explains the origins of the tradition, where it's celebrated, and a couple of fun facts about groundhogs.



Turn to SciShow Kids for more fun facts about groundhogs. The video teaches where groundhogs live, what they eat, and how they adapt to get through cold winters.



This video from Storm Shield explains a bit of meteorology that goes into whether or not the groundhog will see his or her shadow.


This video from CGP Grey deals mostly with the origin of the tradition. Like most CGP Grey videos there is a fair amount of snark included in the video so review it carefully before deciding if it's appropriate for your students.

While not exactly about Groundhog Day, Why Do Some Animals Hibernate? is a good lesson to accompany discussion about Groundhog Day. 

Finally, Larry Ferlazzo has a growing list of many more resources for teaching and learning about Groundhog Day. Larry's list is where I found this short math lesson about Groundhog Day.

The Most Popular Posts of the Month on Free Technology for Teachers

Good evening from Maine where the sun has set on the month of January. It was a busy and fun month for me. I hope it was a good start to the year for you as well. 

This month I hosted a new Practical Ed Tech course called How to Create and Sell Your Digital Products in 2023. Dozens of people joined me in the course and many more have asked when I'll host it again. The answer is, soon. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to find out when my next course is open for registration. When you subscribe you'll also get my tip of the week sent directly to your inbox at the start of every week. 

Thank you to everyone who supported my work this month by taking one of my courses, sharing a post with your colleagues, or simply sending a note to say hello. I appreciate it very much! I couldn't keep this going without you!

These were the most popular posts in January:
1. 27 Google Drive Tips and Tricks
2. Dozens of Tutorials for Getting Started With Google Forms
3. Dozens of PowerPoint Tips & Tricks
4. Dozens of Google Slides Tutorials
5. AI Writing Check
6. A Cool Tool for Uncluttering and Saving Online Articles
7. How to Sort Google Sheets and Forms Entries in Reverse Chronological Order
8. Students Can Create Their Own Video Games With Construct 3
9. BookWidgets Adds a New Video Quiz Option to Use in Google Classroom and Beyond
10. Three Ways to Create Your Own Mobile App

Workshops and eBooks

If you'd like to have me speak at your school or conference, please send me an email at richardbyrne (at) freetech4teachers.com or fill out the form on this page. Book me for this school year and I'll include copies of my eBook for all of the teachers in your school. 

50 Tech Tuesday Tips!

50 Tech Tuesday Tips is an eBook that I created with busy tech coaches, tech integration specialists, and media specialists in mind. In it you'll find 50 ideas and tutorials that you can use as the basis of your own short PD sessions. Get a copy today!

Other Places to Follow Me:

• The Practical Ed Tech Newsletter comes out every Sunday evening/ Monday morning. It features my favorite tip of the week and the week's most popular posts from Free Technology for Teachers.
• My YouTube channel has more than 44,000 subscribers watching my short tutorial videos on a wide array of educational technology tools. 
• I've been Tweeting as @rmbyrne for fifteen years. 
• I update my LinkedIn profile a time or two every week.
• The Free Technology for Teachers Facebook page features new and old posts from this blog throughout the week. 
• If you're curious about my life outside of education, you can follow me on Strava.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission. Featured image captured by Richard Byrne.

How to Remove Apps and Files from Your Android Phone

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about why you should remove unused apps from your Google account and from your Android phone. One reader correctly pointed out that while I explained why you should do that, I didn't explain how to remove unused apps from your Android phone. To remedy that, I created a short screencast video. If you want to know how to clean-up your Android phone, watch the video that is embedded below. 

Video - How to Remove Apps and Files from Your Android Phone

On a related note, if it has been a while since you last did an audit of the add-ons connected to your Google Workspace products, now's a good time to do that. When you find something that you no longer need, remove it. This short video shows you how to remove add-ons from Google Forms. The process is almost identical for Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. 

Video - How to Remove Google Forms Add-ons

And if you have Chrome extensions installed that you no longer need, watch this video to learn how to remove them.

Video - How to Manage Your Chrome Extensions