iTeach @ Leeward

Don’t Leave College Without These 10 Digital Skills

Graduation season is upon us, and that means college graduates everywhere are preparing to enter “the real world.” But chances are your liberal arts degree, as hard-earned and valuable as it is, doesn’t equip you with every digital skill you need.

We’ve put together a short list of fundamental skills that every college graduate should possess, from simply branding yourself online to learning basic coding. They’re guaranteed to increase your overall digital know-how, and you can learn them all on your own.

Did you graduate college a long time ago, or never attended? Don’t worry — it’s never too late to learn these skills. They’re useful to anyone.

1. Setting Up a Wi-Fi Network

These days, most students are lucky enough to go to colleges that already have wireless Internet set up in the dorms. By simply typing in a password on the provided network, the web magically appears on your laptop. But once you graduate, that’s no longer the case. To save yourself from this harsh reality, learn what it takes to get working Wi-Fi: setting up the modem, launching a new network and researching local companies and pricing.

2. Backing Up to the Cloud

With all those photos of your friends, your music library and a copy of your 40-page thesis, your entire world exists on the hardware of your computer, phone or tablet. You’re going to want to back all of that up to the cloud, either to preserve it, or so you can access your information anywhere. Whether you’re interested in iCloud or Dropbox, research the various services that are available and find the one that’s right for you.

3. Basic Photo Editing (Photoshop)

Even if you don’t plan on using Photoshop regularly after graduation, it doesn’t hurt to know the basics. More and more careers require Photoshop skills, whether it’s journalism, marketing or even non-profit work. Snag a cheaper copy of Elements and learn your way around a paint brush, layers and color correction.

4. Basic Video Editing (Final Cut Pro)

Just like photo editing, video editing can come in handy, too. Check if a friend or someone well-versed in multimedia at one of your school publications or libraries can teach you the basics of Final Cut Pro. At the very least, you’ll be able to cut some sweet YouTube videos.

5. Google Drive and Microsoft Office (Seriously)

These tools may seem obvious, but knowing the ins-and-outs of Google Drive and Microsoft office is a digital skill you shouldn’t go without. Learning how to make a proper Excel spreadsheet actually takes effort, and it’s still a specific qualification for many job listings. Google Drive includes docs, spreadsheets and forms, and it’s easy to collaborate with other users at the same time. Slideshow presentations still haven’t gone out of style, so re-familiarize yourself with Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Presentations or other sites like Prezi.

6. HTML and Basic Coding

Since our culture is increasingly web-centric, you should know the basics of crafting online content — and how to control the look and feel of it. HTML5 is the standard markup language used everywhere from web design firms to newsrooms. Other types of coding can help you make programs and easily get information from your computer (check out Codecademy andKhan Academy for beginners’ tutorials).

7. Setting Up a Website and Domain

Every college graduate should have a website, whether it’s to brand himself (see number 10 on this list), showcase his original work (art portfolio, writing samples, etc.) or just to learn for future instances. Coding can help you out here, but you can also use various website-building services, such as WordPress and Squarespace.

You should also learn how to create a custom domain: for example, “yourname.com” rather than “yourname.wordpress.com.” This looks more professional (and cleaner overall). Namecheapand GoDaddy are two popular domain name services and hosting sites.

8. Converting File Formats

Sometimes you’ll have a file format different from the one you need — DOC instead of PDF; WMA instead of MP3 and so on. Knowing how to convert these files is useful, especially when you’re trying to send your resume (or at least, getting that movie to play on your Roku USB Media Player). Certain programs, like Microsoft Word, will do the legwork for you, but you can find a variety of file conversion programs for those other tricky file extensions.

9. Online Banking

Who needs to balance a checkbook when you’re living in the digital age? Major banks like Bank of America and Chase feature very intuitive online banking systems and mobile apps. You can manage your finances anywhere you have an Internet connection. Instead of waiting in long lines at your local branch, deposit checks and make transfers right from your phone.

10. Branding Yourself

Companies are screening prospective employees through Google searches and social media — and since 94% of users click on the first page of results, it’s in your best interest to brand yourself properly before going on any big interviews.

What does this entail? Google your name and see what pops up on the first page. If you see anything problematic, learn how to fix it. In addition to setting up a website and claiming a domain name, you should establish a social media presence, especially on LinkedIn and Twitter, and post positive content. If there’s anything you wouldn’t want prospective employers to see (e.g., Facebook photos), make sure it’s completely private.

via Don’t Leave College Without These 10 Digital Skills.

By Sue Waters

The truth is, even though we support over 2 million blogs, we only get a handful of complaints each year when it comes to inappropriate behavior or a suspected “password hack” on Edublogs.

A ‘password hack’ is when someone has used the password of another person to write a post or change something on a blog. They’ve either guessed or found the password and used it to break in.

Almost all examples we’ve dealt with over the years could have easily been avoided with good password management.  It is important that as educators, we model and teach our students good password responsibility.

The most common causes of inappropriate behavior or suspected ‘password hacks’ are:

• Using a generic username and password for all students.
• Failure to use unique passwords for each student.  The teacher creates student accounts with a different usernames but the same password for all students or a standard approach to assigning passwords that allows students to easily guess other students’  passwords.
• Students telling other students (or siblings) their username and password.
• Failing to log out of accounts or using ‘Remember my password’ on shared computers.

Most our students do the right thing!  But occasionally there is a student who will do the wrong thing when they think they can’t be traced or made accountable for their actions.

Passwords are our line of defense for protecting our accounts.   Students will have to deal with lots of passwords in their lifetime and we believe they are never too young to be taught good password practice.

The aim of this post is to share tips and resource to help educators improve how they manage their own passwords and help to educate their students on good password practice.

Use strong unique passwords

The stronger your password the more protected your accounts are.  You should always use strong passwords for all accounts and use strong passwords that are different for each of your important accounts.

While remembering multiple strong passwords can be annoying, at least all your other accounts are protected even if a password is compromised for one account.

A strong password:

• Is at least 8 characters long
• Is unique and different from your other passwords.
• Doesn’t include terms that are significant to you like pet’s name, username, real name, date, phone number that are easy to guess or use complete words that make it easier for hackers who use dictionary attack programs.  Also avoid common word misspellings and words in which letters have been replaced by numbers or symbols because some dictionary attack programs also check for these.
• Contains a combination of uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and symbols (keyboard characters that aren’t letters or numbers).

Creating strong passwords

A common method used for creating a strong random password is to turn a sentence that you can easily remember and turn into a password by using the first letter of each word, parts of words, substituting numbers and symbols as appropriate.  Choose phrases that are meaningful to you or includes your favorite hobby or sport to help you remember.

For example, my phrase might be:

Rush Hour 3 is my favorite movie and I like chocolate might become rH/3iMfm&1Lchoc

or

I love football and cricket could become iLuVfb&CiK3t

An alternative option is to use a password generator tool such as Safe Password generator.  A password generator tool is a good option for ensuring you create a strong random password to ensure you aren’t susceptible to a ‘dictionary password attack’.

Check out this video by Mozilla on ‘How to choose strong passwords‘.

Keep your password secure

Password management isn’t just about using strong passwords; it is also about making sure you keep your password secure and others don’t access your account.

This means:

1. If you do write down your passwords don’t label them ‘password’ or leave them in plain sight on or near your computer.
2. Don’t use ‘Remember the password’ if you are sharing a computer with other people.  If someone knows your username, and you used ‘remember the password’, they just need to add your username to log into your account.   You can make sure your password has been removed after you log out by clearing stored passwords.
3. Always log out of your accounts if your device is around others and make sure all passwords are cleared if someone asks to use your device.
4. Don’t give your password to anyone except your parents or teacher- not even your friends or a sibling.

• Chrome
• FireFox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

Update your password recovery options

There are occasions where you will forget your password or need to reset it.  Most systems use your email address for password resets.

Make sure your recovery email address is kept up-to-date on all important accounts and uses an email account you can still access (here is how you update your Edublogs email address).

Creating student passwords

The most common reason why educators have issues with student accounts is they’ll create the account for their students using a different usernames but the same password for all students or use a standard approach to assigning passwords that allows students to easily guess other students’  passwords.

The best options are to:

• Educate your students on strong passwords and good password management practices.
• Practice password creation by getting students to suggest strong passwords and then go over them as a class by having the students explain why they think a student’s password is good or weak, and why.
• Get students to log into their account and make their password strong as one of their first activities if you’ve used a generic password or simple password naming systems.

Here are some resources you can use with your students:

• Commonsense media’s Password Tips student handout
• How to Choose Stong password video (by Morizilla)
• How to create a strong password (by Google)
• How to choose a safe password video (by Explania)
• Check your password – is it strong?
• Safe password generator 
• Lifehacker’s How to pick a good, strong password infographic (print off full sized infographic to display in class).

Using Password Managers

Most of us have a lot of online accounts and remembering all our unique strong passwords can be both painful and hard.

The alternative approach to remembering passwords is to use a password manager.

Password manager options include:

1. Saving logins in your web browser using the ‘Remember password option’.
2. Web based password managers such as LastPass which saves your passwords in an encrypted database.   You just need one master password to access all your stored encrypted passwords.
3. Local managers such as KeePass and 1Password which saves your passwords encrypted database on your computer or device.

You can read a review of password manager options here.

Your Password tips!

There are a range of different approaches you can use to manage passwords.

How do you manage your passwords?   What are your tips and the challenges you face helping students manage their own passwords?

Please let us know by leaving a comment below.

via Tips for Creating Secure Student Passwords | The Edublogger.

Ever wonder what makes the cartoon light bulb of creative inspiration turn on over someone’s head? Why some people experience more aha moments of true ingenuity than others?

Stanford University engineering professor Tina Seelig has devoted her career over the past 30 years to the question of how to get people’s creativity flowing. In her classes, both at Stanford and now offered free to the public online, she tests and teaches ways to catalyze breakthroughs in innovative thinking for everyone from artists to entrepreneurs.

Her now-famous “Five-Dollar Challenge,” which has been replicated in courses all over the world, involves giving students $5 or a simple object, such as a water bottle or handful of rubber bands, and asking them to create as much value as possible in several hours – with “value” defined by the students. In another assignment, Seelig challenges students to create as much value as possible from the contents of a home trash can.

“These interactive projects are designed to demonstrate that you can create remarkable innovations starting with essentially nothing,” says Seelig, 55, executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. “There are opportunities for creative problem solving literally everywhere.”

Online class teaches students to have that aha moment – Houston Chronicle.

By Richard Byrne

1. Pixlr is a great set of image creation and editing tools. Pixlr offers web-based image editing tools as well as image editing tools to use on Android phones and on iPhones. Pixlr also has Firefox and Chrome browser extensions for creating screen captures.Pixlr Editor is Pixlr’s most full-featured image creation and editing tool. You can create drawings from scratch using the pencil and coloring tools that they provide. Pixlr Editor also has options for uploading images or importing images from other places on the web. The selection of creation and editing tools is huge. There are options for making multiple layer images, dozens of filter settings, and of course tools for cropping and resizing images. Your images can be saved to your computer or you can send them to Flickr, Picassa, Facebook, or you can save them in a Pixlr account.
2. PicMonkey is one of my favorite online image editing tools. To get started usingPicMonkey you can upload an image by simply dragging it from your desktop to the PicMonkey editor. From there you can change things like saturation, contrast, size, and sharpness. You can then add custom frames and special effects like “Polaroid style” to your images. Want to add text to your images? PicMonkey provides a slew of font styles for your use. And if you have just one tiny part of an image that you want to enhance or obscure, PicMonkey gives you tools for that too.
3. GooEdit is a free image editing tool that operates as a Google Chrome extension. GooEdit allows you to edit images without having to leave your browser. You can add outlines, flip images, resize images, and do other basic image editing tasks in GooEdit. If you need a simple image editing tool for your students, give GooEdit a try.
4. Quick Picture Tools is a free service that offers twelve tools for editing and enhancing your pictures. Some of the things that you can do with Quick Picture Tools include cropping images, combining images, adding text to images, and creating calendar wall paper for your computer. Each of the tools provides the option to resize images and adjust the overall quality of your original image before you use it for a collage, calendar, or mini poster. 
5. Picfull is a free online photo editing service. To use the service just upload a picture and select an effect to add to it.  Picfull offers eighteen basic sets of effects. After you select an effect you can customize it to your liking. When you’re finished altering your photo you can download or share it via Twitter, Facebook, or email.
6. Picozu is a free online image editing tool. Using Picozu you can touch-up existing images or you can create new images from scratch. In the Picozu editor you will find tools for adjusting color saturation and clarity. The editor also includes tools for creating images containing multiple layers. And if you want to include text in your image Picozu has options for that too. Picozu offers the option to register and join their community or you can use the editing tools without creating an account. If you do choose to create an account you can save your images on Picozu and add them to the community albums. If choose not to create a Picozu you can save your images to your computer, send them to your Facebook account, or send them to your Dropbox account. 
7. Cropp.me is a beautifully simple web tool for quickly cropping your images. Cropp.me is a little different than a lot of the other services in this market. What makes Cropp.me different is its smart auto-crop option. If you choose this option, Cropp.me will auto-detect the focal point of your images and crop accordingly.Cropp.me allows you to upload and crop up to five images at the same time. You can crop your images to one of nine predefined sizes or you can specify a custom size.
8. Fotor is a free image editing tool available in your web browser, as a desktop application for Mac and Windows, as iPad app, as an Android app, and as a Windows 8 application. Fotor can be used without creating an account. With Fotor you can crop images, apply filters, add picture frames, insert clip art, and add text to your images. You can also create image collages on Fotor. All of your work can be saved on your computer or mobile device.
9. Phrase.it is a simple service that anyone can use to add speech bubbles and some basic Instagram-like effects to your pictures. To use the service just upload a picture and choose a speech bubble. Drag your speech bubble into place then type your text. You can change the font style in your speech bubbles. Click the “add more drama” button to add one of four image shading effects.
10. Imageoid is a free, simple service for adding a variety of effects to your images. To use Imageoid you just upload an image from your computer then choose the effect(s) you want to apply to it. You can combine effects if you like. If you don’t like the way your image looks with a chosen effect, just click “reset” to start again. Imageoid can also be used to resize your image. Imageoid offers twenty-two effects that you can apply to your image.

via Free Technology for Teachers: Ten Tools for Cropping, Resizing, and Enhancing Images Online.

May 2 – June 30

Learn how to teach digital literacies, master webmaking tools, develop your own educational resources, and take what you learned back to your communities and classrooms .Join us for this free and open online course. As part of our non-profit mission, Mozilla believes that web literacy—the understanding how digital things work—is an essential life skill for the 21st century. We want to empower users of the web to become makers of the web.

Participate in guided discussions, tackle hands-on activities, develop and remix teaching resources, and compare notes with a global community of makers, mentors and educators.We’ll introduce new topics and activties each week. You can drop in any time and work at your own pace. Want to join? Sign up and get started at webmaker.org/teach http://webmaker.org/teach

Is this for me?

• Estimated time: 2hr/week or as much time as you have. This experience is completely self-serve.
• Equipment needed: Laptop, internet and a G+ account
• Skills required: Just an interest in helping others to learn how to make things on the web. Oh, and a spirit of adventure.
• Sound doable? Read on!

Topics will include:

• teaching digital literacies through making, remixing and sharing
• incorporating openness and online innovation into teaching practises
• adapting educational resources to meet your learners’ interests and needs
• getting feedback from peers on your own resources and lessons

Who should participate?

Anyone curious about teaching the web and digital literacy  — through fun making and building. All levels of experience are welcome — from mentors, educators, teachers, instructors and librarians, to makers, youth, parents and Mozillians.

How does it work?

• Each week, we’ll introduce new topics and facilitate conversations and activities across a range of easy online channels.
• Sign up to the right and get started
• Join the Google+ Webmaker Community to meet fellow participants and discuss the course.
• Connect your blog to the course blog hub. Share what you’re making and doing, ask questions of the community and get feedback from peers.
• Get help and ask questions any time through #teachtheweb
• This is flexibile! Participate as your schedule allows. You can design your own participation in live sessions and online discussions.
• Check-in weekly each Thursday. Contribute to ongoing conversations via Google Plus and Twitter chats.
• Attend an online meet-up with other course participants on May 2, May 23, June 13 at 4pm UTC (Tech TBD!)

Categories: Teach the Web | Permalink

via Teach the Web.