Technology Notes and Resources

How to Use Twitter

Twitter is a worldwide social media app that people use to share opinions and thoughts, along with news that people feel should be shared. I have been on Twitter for a few years now and I absolutely love it. I think it is a very handy app and had no idea that many educational chats were super popular on it. People should be using this app a lot more because it is easy to manage and can be used in different ways. 

How to Make a Graph

• use google sheets to make a data table
• label which variable is the independent and dependent
• highlight the sheet you have made, click insert and then press chart
• click chart type to decide what kind of chart to use
• go to customization to add a title
• always make sure there is a label on the x and y axis
• have specific labels - not too long, not too short
• axis - left vertical is the y axis

Webinar: a seminar that happens on the web

• they're very fact based
• straightforward
• someone is talking as we look at slides that they explain (we don't see their face)
• used for learning from experts
• used for training
• better ones are visually appealing

My Passion Blog:

About page:
- Who are you? Don't share personal information
- What is it about?
- Why did I choose this specific topic?

Sidebar:
- Encourage visitors to subscribe to blog
- Short "about" - 1 simple sentence about you
- Include a photo - Choose a photo that reflects the image you want readers to associate with you
- Include links to any social networks that you want readers to connect with you

Easy Ways to Write a Title:
- Most popular title size: 20-36
- 67% people prefer black font
- Ideal length of title 6-8 words; 50-70 characters
- 4 ideas for optimizing your blog post titles:
~ focus titles on helping instead of telling
~ suggest a better way to do something
~ use positive superlatives for a strong emotional headline
~ share resources and valuable info

Blog Content Tips:
- 1st paragraph should be a short hook to grab reader
- Blog posts should be 300-500 words - keep it short and keep them interested
- use subtitles to clearly label different parts
- always include at least one piece of media
~44.5% prefer pictures
~33.2% prefer videos
~19% prefer info-graphics
- conclusion should be a short wrap up...summarize, mic drop, invitation to join the conversation etc

Designing a Strong Google Presentation:

Content:

- 10-15 slides including citation slide
- make sure certain slides are assigned and people get them done

Font:

- 30 point font 
- should not distract, keep uniform 
- make sure everyone is maintaining the constant font and size to keep it looking nice

Citations:

- cite all media and resources 

Media:

- let media tell the story
- photographs, graphs, charts, show don't tell 
- avoid clip art, pictures with water marks
- keep media high quality!

Information:

- YOU need to be the expert 
- YOU should already know what to say
what are the key components? what's important? what are the main take-away's?

Text:

- No complete sentences; words and phrases only
- less text is better

Mechanics:

- spell correctly
- have good grammar
- have somebody edit it to make sure there are no errors 
- make sure you give credit where it was due  

GOOGLE OPERATIONS: 

Tips:	Your Examples:
1.Use quotation marks around phrase to find results with that exact wording. EXAMPLE: “blended learning”	Example: “Chinese food is bad for you”
2. Limit a search to a particular website by beginning your search with “site:” EXAMPLE: site:nytimes.com flipped classroom	Example: site:pressdemo.com
3. Find related pages. If you have a web page with great information and you want to find more like it, begin your search with “related:” EXAMPLE: related:http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com	Example: http://khanacademy.org/
4. Search for a specific file type (PDF, PPT, XLS) by starting your search with “filetype:” EXAMPLE: filetype:ppt Great Depression	Example: filetype:ppt World War 2
5. Exclude a word from your search by putting a dash (-) before the word or site name. This is ideal if the word you are searching is a homophone or has multiple meanings. It is also helpful for eliminating sites like Wikipedia or About.com, which some educators may not want students to use in more formal research. EXAMPLE: recession -receding death penalty -site:wikipedia.org	Example: american revolution -site:wikipedia.org
6. Limit your search to a specific website domain (.edu, .org, .gov) by including “site:.[domain type]” in the query box. EXAMPLE:	Example: organ transplants:.gov
7. Let Google fill in the blank for you if you are unsure of a word by using an asterisk (*) in your search. EXAMPLE: Add * to the * site:.edu Shakespeare’s life	Example: great *
8. Find websites with a specific word in the title by starting with “intitle:” EXAMPLE: intitle:photosynthesis	Example: intitle:sunflowers
9. Search for related words that are similar by adding a tilde (~) before the word. EXAMPLE: ~college	Example: ~universe
10. Find out more about a website you want to reference by starting your search with info: EXAMPLE: info:https://owl.english.purdue.edu	Example: info:http://www.khanacademy.org