What's the Big Kahoot?

Have you ever done an activity with your students where they love it so much, that they ask to do it again?  Every day?  Multiple times a day?  Meet Kahoot!  Try it once and your students will be begging for more.  Don't worry - you will happily oblige because they secret is that they are having so much fun that they don't even realize how much they are learning.

What you need: Some devices, ideally one per student.  They can use tablets, laptops, cell phones, iPods - anything that has an internet connection and a web browser.  You will also need a device for yourself as the game administrator.  Again, it can be a laptop, iPad, etc.  A Smartboard is very helpful, especially one that the students can view easily.  If your laptop is connected to the Smarboard, that will also be extremely helpful!  Speakers are not required, but the music is catchy!  They change up the suspenseful tunes every so often, but it adds to the competitive mood of the game.

To start the game: On your teacher device, you will go to https://getkahoot.com.  Go ahead and make a bookmark for yourself.  Click on "Get My Free Account" and follow the quick steps to set up your account.  You may want to choose a username that is easy for you to remember, especially if you want to share quizzes later.  The login screen will look like this:

On each student device, students will go to https://kahoot.it.  Again, have them bookmark the site.  If they are using an iPad, iPod or iPhone, they can click the Share icon (located next to the address bar; it looks like an envelope with an arrow coming out of it), and then select "Add to Home Screen."  If will save the Kahoot! site and appear on the home screen, similar to an app.  The icon is a purple square with a white "K!" Your observant students will quickly notice that the background to the website changes colors.  It will look like this:

As the teacher, you will login to your Kahoot! page and choose a quiz.  You may create your own quiz, which is very easy to do.  You may also choose a quiz from the thousands of publicly shared quizzes.  (Please take a moment to preview the quiz before you show it to your class!)  Once you "LAUNCH" the quiz, students should see your teacher page on the Smartboard, and they will see a Game Pin number.  Students will enter the Game pin on their Student page to join the game.  After they enter the pin and press Enter, the next screen will ask them for their Nickname.  (I usually ask my students to use their real name to avoid confusion.)  As soon as they enter their name and press Enter, their name will appear on the Smartboard to show that they have joined the game.  Once all of your students have joined, you can go ahead and begin.  I have played Kahoot! with more than 200 people, so I am not certain there is a limit - you are only limited by the number of devices you have.  

When you begin, the Smartboard will show the question first.  After a few seconds, it will show the question with some answer choices.  Each answer choice correlates to a color and shape.  These images are shown on the student devices.  (Students do not see the questions or answer choices on their device.  This is why they need to be able to see and read the Smartboard.  Or you can read the question and answer choices to the students.)  Students will select which answer they think is best on their device by touching or clicking the color/shape combo.  Then they will get a message that they are waiting for other players until everyone has answered or time runs out.  After everyone has answered (or time has run out), students will see if their answer was correct or incorrect.  As the administrator, you can advance the screen to show a bar graph or overall student performance.  It will not show which students got the answer right or wrong, but a summary of the responses.  

There are lots of features and options to check out to enhance your Kahoot! experience.  I hope you and your students will enjoy playing Kahoot! as much as my students and I enjoy it!  Please feel free to post comments if you try it out!  Thanks for reading and Happy Kahooting!  :)

ChromeBooks in HCS

Hello Tech Ninjas! I was asked to do a short post on ChromeBooks in the district. I definitely see ChromeBooks as the device of the future for Harnett County Schools. We have purposely not made the foray into the ChromeBook world yet for two main reasons: 1) we were waiting for a more robust machine to come out that would work better in our environment; and 2) we were not sure that our staff as a whole was ready to go "all-in" with Google Apps.

I believe that Dell's release of a ChromeBook with 4GB of RAM and an 11-hour battery life helped to address the first concern. I have been using a Dell ChromeBook 11 since they were released and have been extremely impressed with the performance of the machine. Going from Off to On, logged in, and working in less than 20 seconds is definitely a strength of the device and one that our students and staff will, I am sure, appreciate. The battery life definitely sets the ChromeBook apart from any other laptop.

The second issue of staff readiness is a little more difficult to quantify, but I am confident that our planned staff development will adequately address it. ChromeBooks have been purchased for each Curriculum Director, Literacy Coach, Instructional Coach, Technology Facilitator, and Media Coordinator to allow these integral staff members to begin preparing for the transition to the new devices. Also, several 1:1 ChromeBook classrooms have been funded across the district and at each grade configuration so that some of our early adopters can put the devices through the paces in the classroom. It is also planned that the new Highland Middle School will open as a 1:1 ChromeBook school.

Like any device, there are certainly strengths and weaknesses of ChromeBooks. I feel confident that the strengths of the Dell ChromeBook 11 greatly outweigh its limitations - especially considering we can purchase between three and four of them for every Mac and/or PC laptop that we typically purchase. It will certainly be interesting to see how the deployment of large numbers of ChromeBooks go in the future, but I strongly believe that the devices can be used in an instructionally appropriate manner to engage our students and further their education.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at jpittman@harnett.k12.nc.us.

Thanks!
Jeff Pittman
Chief Technology Officer
Harnett County Schools

Faster Web Experience with Disconnect

Hello fellow Tech Ninjas! I have a very unique job that really gives me the opportunity to learn something new almost everyday.  Did you know that when you go to some websites that there are invisible websites that track your search and browsing history? Well I didn't.  When I learned about this my friend, Tech Jedi, Lou Plummer told me about the chrome extension Disconnect.  It boost speed, encrypts data shared with other sites, and stops tracking by third party sites.  It is an open source pay what you want software. I think the minimum is 10 dollars and as an added bonus part of your payment goes to a charity and you decide how much of your payment goes to charity.  I have been using Disconnect for several weeks now and pages do seem to load faster. So if you want a faster more secure web experience give Disconnect a try!  

A Look Back: Ninja Focus on Soundcloud

We have been asked by several followers of the The Tech Ninja Blog  to share some of our favorite tools.  We thought that we would share some of our early posts about the tools and why we like them.  You can link to the original post by clicking here.

Pic from SoundCloud.com

Hello my fellow technology ninjas and gadget Samurais, I wanted to tell you about a website I came across called SoundCloud.  It is a site where you can create, upload, share, and follow sound.  I signed up for the free account which will give you a limit to the amount of sounds you can upload.  I think it provides an easy way to make your music, podcast, or audio bites public.  It provides you with some cool statistics about your uploads like the number of plays per day and where in the world your uploads are being played. When I clicked on the explore tab a list of music genre appeared along with some other subjects like business, technology, comedy, and books just to name a few.  If you have the dollars to do so you can opt to go for the upgraded paid version SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited. This of course gives you more upload space and access to some other features that I have not looked into yet, but will.  I am not sure of the price because it advertises the price in Euros (I think).  Anyway,  I just started looking into this site and as I learn more about it I will post my discoveries.  Here is a sample of one of my uploads. http://snd.sc/1258BiJ 

A Look Back: Camel Camel Camel

We have been asked by several followers of the The Tech Ninja Blog  to share some of our favorite tools.  We thought that we would share some of our early posts about the tools and why we like them.  You can link to the original post by clicking here.

Picture by Johnny Automactic

http://openclipart.org/

             So I love buying new tech gadgets and accessories.  I have more bins of wire and cable than some people have clothes.  Yet, I am a teacher, so I am always looking for a good deal.  One of my favorite places to shop, Amazon.com .  Now on many things Amazon has a great everyday price and there is no hesitation about buying what I need.  But if I have seen what I am look for on sale for a lower price in the past, I always hesitate about buying.  I’m not only a tech ninja, but a thrifty ninja as well.

            So that’s where http://camelcamelcamel.com/ comes into play.  It is an Amazon price tracker.  You just put in the URL for the Amazon product that you want, and then you can see the price history with the date of the highest price and lowest price.  The coolest part, you can set an alert to you are notified when the item you want hits your target price.  Never miss out on a good deal again. 

            Now I may not know why its called CamelCamelCamel, but then I just call it awesome.  Don’t forget that besides from just following the blog you can like us on Facebook 

A Look Back: ThingLink

We have been asked by several followers of the The Tech Ninja Blog  to share some of our favorite tools.  We thought that we would share some of our early posts about the tools and why we like them.  You can link to the original post by clicking here.

The next awesome online application I want to post about is called ThingLink.  The following description is from their website, "ThingLink interactive images help students develop 21st century skills and enrich their enthusiasm for learning. Teachers can use ThingLink images as interactive learning modules (ILMs) that activate and inspire students with creative and effective learning experiences. Our Basic (free) account provides teachers and students with the ability to store and tag 50 images at ThingLink.com." I was told about ThingLink by a friend of mine that also happens to be an awesome 2nd grade Teacher.  She did a project with her class on the life cycle of eggs and chicks.  The students created a presentation image using Google Draw and then used ThingLink to link sections of the image to informational sites about the life cycle.  If you want to find out more about her lesson using  ThingLink just visit her blog at http://mrsnolans2ndgradeowlsperch.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-post.html or hear one of her students talk about it at http://vocaroo.com/i/s0T4JBlYwChk.  

A Look Back: Google Draw

We have been asked by several followers of the The Tech Ninja Blog  to share some of our favorite tools.  We thought that we would share some of our early posts about the tools and why we like them.  You can link to the original post by clicking here.

Greetings fellow techno geeks!  I want to talk a little about Google Draw and how it may be one of the most under utilized features in Google Drive.  The Google Draw application is really user friendly which makes it perfect for K-2 students to use for instruction.  I have already collaborated with several teachers on projects where students use this application to illustrate stories, work math problems, create tessellations, and learn shapes.  The shape tool gives you a drop down menue of shapes that include their geometric title when you hover over them with the mouse.  Shapes can be resized and rotated within the picture plane.   I thought that this would be a great tool for teaching Geometric shapes and angles.  When shapes are rotated a display shows you the degree of the angle that it is rotated.  Another feature I thought was helpful is the scribble line.  This feature allows you simply to use the mouse or track pad to free draw lines and shapes into the picture plane.  Students used this to demonstrate to their teacher how to solve a three digit addition problem and then shared it with her via the share feature within Google Drive.  If you haven't checked out Google Draw go ahead and give it a try.  I think you will find that it can add a little creative spice to your instruction!

Quilt Project Created With Google Draw

A Look Back: Vocaroo

We have been asked by several followers of the The Tech Ninja Blog  to share some of our favorite tools.  We thought that we would share some of our early posts about the tools and why we like them.  You can link to the original post by clicking here.

So Jay let me know about this cool website, www.vocaroo.com.  It lets you record your voice ( or anything else for that matter) and then creates an URL to an MP3 of the recording.  He had a teacher at his school using it for a biography project, he had a picture of the person the students were researching an then used the Vocaroo url to create a QR code, then put the QR code over the mouth of the person.  Then when you scan the QR code the student explains all about their person in their own voice.
     I LOVE this idea and I would almost say that any piece of student work that is out in the hallway or even hanging up in the room should have a QR code that explains about that project.  Now I know everyone might not be that extreme about it, but I am interested in the possibilities and see that as a better way to use QR codes them some of the other-ways that I see them being used.
     Now what about if you are not a teacher, you have a child that you have to be away from, you could create a Vocaroo for each page of a book, turn it into a qr code and paste it into the corner of each page, then your child could listen to you reading the book to them even if you are not there.  Just some ideas and I am sure more will pop up.

Heart Bleed: What is it and How to Avoid a Broken Heart

Millions of passwords, credit card numbers and other personal information may be at risk as a result of a major breakdown in Internet security revealed earlier this week.  The damage caused by the “Heartbleed” bug (note this is not a virus and normal security software will not catch it) is currently unknown. There isn’t much that people can do to protect themselves until the affected websites implement a fix.

What is the Heartbleed bug?

Heartbleed is a flaw in OpenSSL, the open-source encryption standard used by the majority of websites that need to transmit the data that users want to keep secure. It basically gives you a secure line when you're sending an email or chatting on IM.

Encryption works by making it so that data being sent looks like nonsense to anyone but the intended recipient.  Occasionally, one computer might want to check that there's still a computer at the end of its secure connection, and it will send out what's known as a heartbeat, a small packet of data that asks for a response. 

Because of a programming error in the implementation of OpenSSL, the researchers found that it was possible to send a well-disguised packet of data that looked like one of these heartbeats to trick the computer at the other end into sending data stored in its memory.

According to the researchers who discovered the flaw, the security hole exists on a vast number of the Internet’s Web servers and went undetected for more than two years. While it’s conceivable that the flaw was never discovered by hackers, it’s nearly impossible to tell.

Q: Am I safe now that it's been identified?

A: It depends on the website. A fixed version of OpenSSL has been released, but it’s up to the individual website administrators to put it into place.  Yahoo Inc., which has more than 800 million users around the world, said Tuesday that most of its popular services — including sports, finance and Tumblr — had been fixed, but work was still being done on other products that it didn’t identify.

Q: So what can I do to protect myself?

A: Ultimately, you’ll need to change your passwords, but that won’t do any good until the sites you use adopt the fix. It’s also up to the Internet services affected by the bug to let users know of the potential risks and encourage them to change their passwords.  Mashable has list some of the most popular websites and tells if they were affected and if they have patched their site yet.

Now you are able to check to see if the websites that you use that have been patched.  You can go to https://lastpass.com/heartbleed/ and paste in the link for the website you want to test.  I wouldn't test the homepage of the site, but rather the login in page.

Tips for changing passwords

(from ConnectSafely.org)

Don’t fall for “phishing” attacks: Be very careful before clicking on a link (even if it appears to be from a legitimate site) asking you to log in, change your password or provide any other personal information. It might be legit or it might be a “phishing” scam where the information you enter goes to a hacker. When in doubt, log on manually by typing what you know to be the site’s URL into your browser window.

Never give out your password to anyone (except your parents). Never give it to friends, even if they’re really good friends. A friend can – accidentally, we hope – pass your password along to others or even become an ex-friend and abuse it.

Don’t just use one password. It’s possible that someone working at a site where you use that password could pass it on or use it to break into your accounts at other sites.

Create passwords that are easy to remember but hard for others to guess. When possible, use a phrase such as “I started 7th grade at Lincoln Middle School in 2004” and use the initial of each word like this: “Is7gaLMSi2004.”

Make the password at least 8 characters long. The longer the better. Longer passwords are harder for thieves to crack.

Include numbers, capital letters and symbols. Consider using a $ instead of an S or a 1 instead of an L, or including an & or % – but note that $1ngle is NOT a good password. Password thieves are onto this. But Mf$1avng (short for “My friend Sam is a very nice guy) is an excellent password.

Don’t use dictionary words:  If it’s in the dictionary, there is a chance someone will guess it. There’s even software that criminals use that can guess words used in dictionaries.

Don’t post it in plain sight: This might seem obvious but studies have found that a lot of people post their password on their monitor with a sticky note. Bad idea.  If you must write it down, hide the note somewhere where no one can find it.

Consider using a password manager: Programs or Web services like RoboForm (Windows only) or Lastpass (Windows and Mac) let you create a different very strong password for each of your sites. But you only have to remember the one password to access the program or secure site that stores your passwords for you.

Make sure your computer is secure: The best password in the world might not do you any good if someone is looking over your shoulder while you type or if you forget to log out on a cybercafe computer. Malicious software, including “keyboard loggers” that record all of your keystrokes, has been used to steal passwords and other information. To increase security, make sure you’re using up-to-date anti-malware software and that your operating system is up-to-date.

So what do the Tech Ninja's recommend?

1. First follow the Tech Ninja Blog 
2. Make a list of the websites that you use that use a password (and group them together if you use the same password)
3. Do a Google search to see if the websites have been patched from Heart Bleed
4. Check https://lastpass.com/heartbleed/ and see if any websites were you store personal or financial information is safe.
5. Change your passwords to a secure, unique password.  Check out our post on Last Pass to see why this would be such a great resource to use.  LastPass will not only alert you to which sites are vulnerable, but also tell you the last time you updated your password for the site, when that site last updated their certificates and what action we recommend taking at this time.

Tech Ninja Roundup

Want a way to keep your online passwords in order?  Try Last Pass which is easier to use than find out Ryan Gosling's phone #

We discuss that Facebook's purchase of Oculus VR means for the future of both companies

If you are stuck using a PC and are looking for a fast way to install programs try Ninite

Jay talks about how to become a tech ninja you need to Transform into a producer rather than a consumer of technology

Learn about some great 3D & 4D apps for you to expand your dimensions