Free Technology for Teachers

I am not necessarily a fan of free tech tools. Too often they are limited in ability, poorly supported, or trials to entice you to buy a pricier item. I take my job seriously and if I need good tools, I want them to work properly. If I have to pay for them, then it is because I value them and their developers.

That said, I checked out the website for the proposed speaker for SIDLIT 2016. Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers is a blog that hits the trifecta of being well-written, well-designed and up-to-date. The content targets a WIDE range of subjects and ages as well. As who is to say that an item targeted at high schools won't work for an incoming college freshman?

I also appreciate his style - a trendy, breezy one, but one that works well for online readers, using lots of short lists and chunked paragraphs. For a busy professional who wants to scan headings before digging deeper  - good reading.

Put it on a feed of your choice (RSS, Pinterest, Google+ etc) or do the old-fashioned thing and bookmark the site. Regardless, this is a site that instructors from all disciplines can dip into to find that tool to make your life and those of your students a bit smoother.

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IFTTT: One of my Productivity Secrets

I'm about to share one of my productivity secrets with you. I've gotten comments from people who know me or follow me on social media that I seem to be *everywhere,* and they wonder how I have the time.

The secret?  I don't have time.  I use technology to help me.  There's several things I use, but one of the biggest ones is IFTTT.  IFTTT stands for If This, Then That and it connects web applications through their recipes.  

Here's a short video that shares the basic concept of IFTTT.  It's an older video, but it explains what it is and what it does well:



Here's a few ways that I use IFTTT to simplify my life:

When I take a picture on Instagram, it posts to Facebook as well if I tag it.  That way I don't have to do any extra steps to add it to my Facebook account.  I can be two places at once!

I use the same formula to add tagged Instagram pictures to my travel blog.  When I travel, I can take pictures, make them pretty with filter, and post them to my travel blog all at once.  

I always update my Twitter when this blog makes a new post, even if it's at the crack of dawn or the middle of the night. I'm not hanging around, waiting for the blog to post so I can put it on Twitter- it's all IFTTT.

I also use it to keep track of what I've done at work.  I use my iPad's To Do list to keep track of things.  (Anybody who works with me knows that if I don't write it down, it does not exist!) When I check it off as done,  the task goes to a spreadsheet on Google.  This is really handy come review time! 

Those are just a few examples. As of this writing, I have 41 recipes created to help me manage my online life.  Some of them seem like such small things, but it helps me look like Superwoman with very little work on my part!

Wanna try IFTTT?  Here's a great step by step video on how to get started. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! 

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Feedler for Keeping up with Blogs

This post is courtesy of an email from Shanna Zimmerman.
"I just discovered an iOS app that I'm totally in love with for keeping up on blogs. It is called Feeddler and is compatible with both iPad and iPhone. I know there is a lite and a paid version. For some reason I upgraded to paid. I don't remember why or how much it ($4.99) was, sorry. Check it out!"

iPad Insight lists these features of the Feeddler Pro app:

• Support Google Reader.
• Cache RSS feeds. 
• Support sync all subscriptions, and sync subscriptions in a folder/tag. 
• Smart Sync shortens syncing time. First-time full sync may take some time. 
• Smart update to determine auto-refresh or read-from-cache for a feed. 
• Able to star/unstar, like/unlike, share/unshare, mark unread any RSS story. 
• Able to mark all read for any RSS subscription. 
• Use built-in browser for full articles and web pages. 
• Support in-app e-mail sharing. 
• Support Facebook sharing.

You might want to try the free version of Feeddler before deciding to purchase the pro version.
Thanks so much for sharing, Shanna.

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