Today we look at what Google Add-ons are, and how you can use them for your own classroom needs. We also look at a variety of techniques you can use with presentation software like PowerPoint and Google Slides in order to be more effective and to avoid the dreaded “Death by Powerpoint”.

Michelle Pacansky-Brock of the California Virtual Campus – Online Education Initiative comes on the show to tell Tim & Brent about the Can Innovate online conference. Listen in as she explains the history of CVC OEI and how the conference can help teachers teaching online and offline. 

Make sure to register for the conference if your school isn’t already planning on holding a viewing, there are a lot of great speakers!

Brent and Tim welcome in their first interview, IVC Library Chair Cheryl Bailey. Cheryl breaks some misconceptions about what librarians do, and shares thoughts on how both students and teachers can better take advantage of the library’s service.

This episode winds up the mini-series on quizzing platforms for formative assessment by looking at Gimkit, a flashcard based program with a unique twist.

Brent & Tim get timely with the options available in Canvas Calendar. We look at ways to organize your classes, make assignments, share events, and help your students improve their time management skills. We also continue our series on options for quizzing with Quizlet, which has some excellent options for collaborative learning unlike any of the other platforms we’ve looked at so far.

While there is a lot of tech available to choose from, overwhelmed teachers may not make the best decisions when preparing for their classes. Brent and Tim discuss some of the things teachers should be thinking about before they make their choices on what tech to integrate. Additionally, to continue the quizzing series, we look at Canvas’ “New Quizzes,” formerly called “Quizzes.Next”

In episode 7 of the Higher EdTech Podcast, Brent and Tim discuss the roles and responsibilities of an Instructional Technologist, how it is different from IT (Information Technology) and Instructional Design. They also jump into the unique options afforded in Quizizz in part 2 of the mini-series on low stakes quizzing and formative assessment.

Brent and Tim dive into having a better understanding of how to use Canvas Analytics to better understand and serve your students. They also begin a series on quizzing options in the classroom, starting with Kahoot, the classic fast-paced challenge game to engage students and check for understanding.

Tim and Brent take a look at a highly functional but often overlooked tool in Canvas – the Gradebook. With a newly updated gradebook, there are a lot of excellent features that teachers can use to support their students and help them succeed. In part 2, we jump into a primer on Flipgrid. While Flipgrid is huge in K-12, it may be severely overlooked in Higher Education, and some of the new functionality may have professors willing to take a deeper look into how it can improve their classes.

Tim and Brent discuss video databases and their uses for the classroom, as well as how to choose the best database for your purposes. They also discuss ideas for combating plagiarism in the classroom in addition to using services like Turnitin and Google’s new plagiarism checker.

In this episode, Tim and Brent discuss best practices for using video in the classroom, including resources available to make videos, and techniques for engaging students. They also look at Google’s new integration for Canvas – Course Kit. They compare the pros and cons, and see how it works in comparison to Google Classroom.