The EdTech Connection

While teachers are unfortunately not able to add just any Chrome extension they want to their district laptop or panel, we do have a growing list of approved Chrome extensions that teachers can both choose from and add to! Here are my top five that I can't live without:

• Awesome Screenshot: This is my GO TO tool for screenshots (as if you couldn't tell that was what it did by the name). What I really love about it is how easy it is to annotate & mark up a screenshot using the built-in tools. It's a freemium, but even the basic tools are pretty amazing! You can use THIS LINK to get two weeks of the Professional Plan (which is what I pay for).
• Bitmoji: While not 100% strictly educational, I rarely teach a lesson or give a presentation that doesn't include my Bitmoji. Having my Bitmoji Chrome extension available on my FCS device just makes every day so much easier! NOTE: You must have already created your Bitmoji on your phone using an email address and NOT Snapchat, as Snapchat is blocked even for teachers, even if we have signed in with Classlink on our phones or on our laptop.
• Grammarly: Because neither itslearning nor Canvas have built-in spell/grammar checkers, Grammarly is a lifesaver for me! BONUS: Microsoft Editor does the same thing, I had just already fallen in love with Grammarly by the time it came on the market.
• Momentum: This extension sets your New Tab to be a beautiful scenic background with an inspirational quote, the time, and temp. There are probably other customizations, but those are what I use and all I find that I need. ;)
• Mote: The Mote Chrome extension allows you to leave voice comments on any Google file for students to be able to hear your voice as you give them feedback. Mote is a freemium, but you can use THIS LINK to get 60 days of the Unlimited Pro (which is what I pay for).

If you haven't already been using Canva for Education, I don't know where you've been! Once we fully make the switch to Canvas, you will find that Canva is one of your absolute best friends for designing a beautiful course page. So to help you get started, here are some of the things you absolutely need to know how to do!

• Be sure you've signed up for your FREE Canva for Education account (we can't have students use it unless you get specific signed parental permission, but for creating beautiful content for your online class, it is a MUST)!
• Canvas Page & Tab banners: I created a Page banner TEMPLATE and Tab banner TEMPLATE that you can copy and edit to make your own.
• Another fun thing to do is to create a Course Card image specific to your course! You can search in Canva for "Schoology Course Card" or you can create a custom size for 262px x 146px.

If you're anything like me, you've received so many reminder emails that you need an index just to keep track of them all! Here are just a few of the ones that I feel might be most handy as we are just days away from students entering our classrooms.

• Course merges in itslearning: All of your courses should be merged in itslearning thanks to the ITS Team (you can see the updates HERE), but let Angela or your school ITS know if something doesn't look right).
• Friendly course names in itslearning: We all know that course names in itslearning aren't the "friendliest." Teachers have until Labor Day 2022 to update their course name to a more student-friendly name by following THESE DIRECTIONS.
• Course update notifications: If you're tired of receiving those itslearning messages with updates about your course activity, you can turn it off by going to 360 Reports and turning off Notifications (unfortunately, you'll have to do that for each course you have).
• Creating Section Groups in IC: Unlike course merges, this is something that can only be done by you, the teacher. If you would like section groups in IC so that you have both of your 1st period rosters together (instead of 30305 and 32305 separately), you can follow these directions to create "section groups" in IC