Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

Welcome to my technology blog.
Follow me on Twitter, @noelerskine
Noel's Home Page

Tech tools and tips - TONS of free music, Free eBook with Audio and more!

Thursday, October 15, 2015


Quick Tip: Are you checking your Gmail Spam filter daily? You should be!  This site will help you find it if you are having trouble.  I check mine 1-2 times a day! 


Google Feud - Pretty Cool! If you have not seen this, it's worth a look. Like the name says, it's like Family Feud guessing "HOW DOES GOOGLE AUTOCOMPLETE THIS QUERY?". 

Amazon has theTreasure Island Book (Kindle e-Book & Audiobook) for Free. http://goo.gl/sMQWWT (Remember you can use these via their web player, IOS app, etc...) 

Clipular: Screen capture, screenshot, share/save. Chrome Extention  
Capture a region, visible content of a tab, or a horizontally/vertically scrollable page as a searchable image & bookmark it.

Google Apps Script and Add-on Feature: Form Limiter 
Google Forms are used for many scenarios ranging from sign-up sheets and surveys to classroom quizzes. In many cases, it would be very beneficial to have the form shut off and stop accepting responses automatically according to a deadline or quota. Visit this quick overview for more info. 


FREE Music!

(Thanks to the slick deal's website for this list!)
Play.Google.com has many Playlist: The Very Best Of Various Artist (MP3 Digital Album Download) for Freelisted below. 

Note, must be logged into your Google Play account in order to take advantage of these offer(s). I do both my personal gmail account and my nsdtitans.org (School) account! 

Tech Tools, FREE music, Apps and more!

Monday, October 12, 2015

Web tools and sites:

Easily create MP3 recordings on any device with SpeakPipe (speakpipe.com/voice-recorder)

Are you doing a blog instead of a website for your students? (I know several of you do!)  Create a Physical Record of Your Blog With BlogBooker. This is a pretty cool way of keeping a record of your past year's postings to parents, etc...

Audience Interaction Made Easy - Live Q&A, Polls  and more.  Similar to Today's MeetSli.do gives you ways for students to ask questions and for you to take polls free. 

Free Music - Grab it while you can!  (FYI - I grab these with both my gmail and nsdtitans school email addresses.) Thanks to slickdeals for this one!



I recently had an elementary teacher ask about timers, so you know us tech guys... we find some technology that may work!  Thought I would share this within this posting as well:

Online Timers (Use with your computer and projector) 
With the online timers, you can always use the zoom feature in your browser to enlarge them... or the zoom-it tool that starts each time with your computer. 

This online timer is like your grandmother's old timer: http://timerrr.com/
Online Egg Timer - http://my.online-eggtimer.com/ 
Online Stopwatch is a free website that gives you the choice of a stopwatch function or a countdown function. http://www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch/

The Zoom-it tool is on every computer within our District.  This allows you to zoom in on the screen... but also has a built-in timer.  This doc should help with that program. 

Timer Apps for your iPad (Use with iPad or mirror it to your Apple TV.) 
Red Light, Green Light - Free App
Best Sand Timer - Free App
With the iOS 7 update and above, the iPad clock has a timer with a great visual that shows how much time has passed.  You can even change the sounds to ringtones or other cool sounds. 
There are many other apps... you may have to do a Google search to find the right app for you needs. 

Google tips and tricks:
Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week – Take Advantage of the Google Drive Template Gallery

10 Google Docs Tips that Take Seconds & Save You Time

12 Google Search Tricks You Probably Didn’t Know

Video Blog (Short 4 minute video): Google Apps for Drawing and Artwork in the Classroom - Via Synergyse -Some great apps in this one! 

Google Apps Script & Add-on Feature: g(Math) - Via Synergyse

Google Draw:
How to Use Google Drawings to Create Mind Maps

Gmail:
If you are looking for an advanced email signature... WiseStamp - Email Signatures for Gmail is a nice option that has gotten good reviews.

Google Classroom:

WOW - Google calendar integration comes to Google Classroom! 

NEW! Forms integration in Google Classroom! -  Nice 1 Minute video

Classroom overview with 2015 updates. Nice, quick overview if you are not using Google Classroom.