Importing a Word document into MS Forms to create a poll

Just found out how to import a Word file into MS Forms to create a poll. This is quite a useful function. 

I'm now resorting to MS Forms more and more than I use Google Forms. 

Padlet's CUSTOM-AI function

I then tried the Custom-AI function of Padlet. I asked it to give me 12 activities for raising junior secondary students to signs, symbols, and icons found in public places in their daily life. (And of course I had multimodal literacy in mind when I was writing the prompt.) The results are really impressive, in that the activity ideas are really useful and interesting, and they are contextualised in Hong Kong!

https://padlet.com/szepaul/signs-symbols-and-icons-in-public-places-npl2ysiaai3xsyje

PADLET for generating an Assessment Poll

 As you may know already, Padlet has jumped on the GenAI bandwagon: there are now 8 types of content/padlet formats that it can generate for you from a prompt. 

I have tried all the 8 types of content that it can generate. The 'Lesson Plan', the 'Classroom Activity List', and 'Reading List' results are not that useful. I quite like the 'historical timeline', and the AI-generated map functions. The Assessment Poll turns out to be a pleasant surprise. I typed in 'the phonemes of British English' as the prompt; in less than a minute, it gave me a Padlet board consisting of 8 poll (MC) questions, which ARE relevant to the topic. 

The generated Assessment Poll Padlet, thus, can be used at the beginning of a lesson for a quick recap of previous learning. It can also be used as a whole-class 'exit ticket' to round off a lesson! (Of course the limitation is that the prompt topic you type in has to be a general one, unless you actually input a content summary of a lesson.)

https://padlet.com/szepaul/linguistics-assessment-polls-on-british-english-phonemes-oqmbjiqs4uf9dr4m?fbclid=IwAR2RWTezWnurhI1FIQefUe_rIOhXaVTCRWpxQlak0bo90dvga0qqqvITB3M_aem_AasByokIAjSE--od-MrygXvufS8BZobklNlr5MkyAzGR7FUk5IVlIKShB2oh_pVnOou1aIQJ5rNB5lhmDUgbcTb0

Runway: An GenAI platform

 Runway is a GenAI platform that can do a variety of things

https://app.runwayml.com/

Training your image Gen-AI tool

 Found out that on top of writing a prompt, we can train the app to give us an image which more accurately meets our needs. 

https://youtu.be/f6ApBqlF1j4

Padlet's new poll function

 Have tried Padlet's new Poll function, and created the following Padlet: (a) Students will view each TSA reading aloud video, and (b) grade the performance via the Poll.

The Poll is easy to use. One minus is that the poll choices are confined to 4 only. 

https://padlet.com/szepaul/tsa-reading-aloud-performances-73u14i6xkmms2pmn

Learning about a school's work in AI in Education

 收獲滿滿的早上，探訪AI in Education 走得超前的沈中，謝謝Spike Ho 和Suzanne Suen 犧牲假期回校向我介紹沈中在STEAM 和English Language Education 引入AI的最新發展，真是大開眼界。認識這些既passionate 又creative的educator,使我也不敢怠惰。

A Microsoft Forms Practice Quiz that I have created

 Upon learning about Microsoft Forms' new "Practice Mode", I created the Practice Quiz below, which I tried out yesterday evening with my Language Awareness course participants. My purpose was threefold: (1) to guide them to grasp the correct usage (in terms of language form) of the verb 'suggest', which is tricky to use in a sentence; (2) to use the practice quiz as one example of a grammaring (Diane Larsen-Freeman) task, and (3) to illustrate how to use the Practice Mode of Microsoft Forms as one example strategy for nurturing students as self-directed learners. 

If you're interested, you might give the following practice quiz a go. (It doesn't collect respondent information.) After answering a question, click Submit, and see whether you have got it right or not. If not, you can then either 'skip', or retry the question. When you have finished the whole practice quiz, click on 'Recap Questions'. You will then see an overview summary of your performance. This summary is useful for respondents to deduce,  in this particular example, the correct usages of 'suggest'.  (And feel free to share your artifacts with me if you have other ingenious ways to use Microsoft Forms' practice quiz function.)

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=gTdBhKa7s0W74E8XxpDaauAvgCsoRCxKscTBnjrnFX1UNEtTS1o2NklBRjNBQkNKVzY1Wlo2QTVSSy4u

A Microsoft Forms Quiz I created for Practice: How to use 'suggest' in a sentence

 Here is my practice quiz: 

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=gTdBhKa7s0W74E8XxpDaauAvgCsoRCxKscTBnjrnFX1UNEtTS1o2NklBRjNBQkNKVzY1Wlo2QTVSSy4u

New Quiz Mode in Microsoft Forms

Quizzes created with Microsoft Forms can now be assigned in the Practice Mode, as opposed to the previous 'Test only' mode. 

This is useful for creating practice tasks, and for promoting SDL. 

Youtube Trimmer vs Youtube Clip

 Youtube has a built-in function called CLIP. You can capture a segment (clip) of a Youtube video, and share this clip via a link. 

The app Youtube Trimmer serves the same function. But the Youtube Trimmer dashboard is easier to work with in capturing a segment. Plus, the resulting segment in the form of a link, when played, will occupy the whole window, unlike Youtube segment link which will play in the default Youtube interface. 

Using the 'Present' function in Sutori

 Sutori also has a Presentation function. 

Minuses:

- 'Presentation' always works in full screen. 

- Once you click on the link in a card, the webpage will appear in a new tab. But the Presentation mode will be ended, and you will be taken back to the original Sutori. If you wish to continue presenting, you have to click Present, and start from the beginning again. 

Pluses

- Videos and Audios will play automatically during a presentation. 

- An image inserted in a card, if clicked on during a presentation, will pop out large. 

Using the Slideshow Function of Padlet

 A few days ago I had to conduct a staff development workshop at a school. I took the opportunity to create a Timeline Padlet, which shows the rundown of the workshop, and presented it as a slideshow during the workshop. I did not have a separate PPT for the event. 

One advantage of that is that while presenting the Padlet, the original links in the various cards on the Timeline Padlet are clickable. 

However, on that occasion, as I already had the links opened as tabs on my laptop, while presenting the Padlet, I didn't really have to click on the embedded links. I simply jumped to the browser tabs. 

Nevertheless, there is still one plus with presenting a Padlet like a slideshow. When you start presenting, it will open in a new tab. The original timeline tab is still there. That means that while presenting, any time you want to show the Timeline Overview again, you can jump back to that tab. This is something that Nearpod, PPT, and Google Slides, cannot do. 

https://padlet.com/szepaul/240319-spccps-workshop-reading-pedagogy-and-generative-ai-y8djcs2rkv7eshr4

Also, I used the 'Section' function to display a timeline for each part of the workshop (there were 3 parts).

Exporting a Padlet as PDF: Handout vs Slideshow

 A Padlet can be exported as a PDF file. There are two choices when exporting: 

A. Handout:

The resulting PDF will be in the usual WORD or PDF orientation. 

B. Slideshow

The resulting PDF will be for a slideshow, i.e., in horizontal orientation. 

++++++++++

Yet, one major difference is that in the Handout mode, the embedded links are still clickable, while in the Slideshow mode, they are not (this is a bit difficult to understand). 

Handout mode: 

Creating a teacher-led whole-class language awareness task using Padlet

 This is a consciousness-raising task to alert students to 3 kinds of nouns in English: Count; Noncount; and nouns which are both Count and Noncount. 

The screen will show a table with 3 columns (with Headings as 'Count', 'Noncount', 'Both Count and Noncount'. Near the bottom of the screen are 12 nouns. The teacher will guide Ss, or invite them to, drag the 12 nouns into the 3 columns. (Note that this is not a test of students' knowledge;  purpose is awareness-raising). 

Padlet has a board type called 'Canvas' which allows cards to be created randomly and dragged around on the board. Padlet also has a board type called 'Columns', but once this board type is chosen, any card created will have to go into one column, and not scattered around near the bottom of the page. 

So, i created a table using PPT, and I saved this table as an image. I then created a new Padlet using the Canvas format, and uploaded the above image to serve as the wallpaper. I then added the 12 cards (one noun on each card). 

Below is what the product looks like: 

https://padlet.com/szepaul/3-types-of-nouns-zxcoh3jcj5o1npyp

CapCut vs ChipChamp

 Just tried the two apps for quickly creating a video from a set of pictures. 

Interestingly, the two apps functions in almost exactly the same ways, so that I can't tell any difference between them. 

"Mark Sentence' function in Bookwidgets

 The "Mark Sentence' function can be used as follows: 

1. Display a short text, or a paragraph. 

2. Ask students to mark (ie, highlight) those words that they don't know, or wish to follow up on, etc. 

Below is an example from the Bookwidgets Gallery: 

https://www.bookwidgets.com/play/5JjdwuV1-iQAEZsPQ-gAAA/TFE4BT3/mark-sentence-q?teacher_id=5480712025145344

At this point, this comes across as a useful task type to start a class session, and to train up Ss as self-directed learners. 

Bookwidgets Webquests as Microlearning units

 Webquests is one of the task functions within Bookwidgets. 

Just now while I was browsing the 5 examples, it dawned on me that the Webquest is quite a suitable format for a microlearning unit. 

True that the examples in Bookwidgets are not that aligned with the conventional framework of a webquest (which includes 5 stages). But Bookwidgets has the advantage that it can embed other information sources and Bookwidget tasks, making a webquest more self-contained and task-based. This is good for a, say, 15-minute, microlearning unit. 

Will give it a try in my classes. 

Example from Bookwidgets' Gallary: 

Shakespeare: 

https://www.bookwidgets.com/play/qN3bpKk9-iQAFEavQ-gAAA/JFE7QJ5/shakespeare?teacher_id=5480712025145344

Microsoft Forms outperforming Google Forms

 Microsoft Forms 最初出現時，只是Google Forms 的翻版，但它不斷加入新功能，變得比Google Forms好用，最新的毒招，使容許學校或机構的admin可以把現存的Google Forms migrate 成Microsoft Forms. 看來Google 要加倍努力了。

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-forms-blog/what-s-new-in-forms-mar-2024/ba-p/4090181?fbclid=IwAR1vatKa1bqFq-Nwdb2cQk3KB1AcI3BK-Wq4R53BYZaREqbcqtbZoBSCHg4

Microsoft Clipchamp for creating a video from pictures

 Microsoft Clipchamp (a desktop app) is very handy to use for creating a video from pictures. It has built-in music audio files which you can add easily to your picture track as background music. The resulting video is an MP3 file which you save in your own computer, or upload to Youtube. 

Ocean of new knowledge

 Machine learning, Deep Learning, Algorithm, Big Data, DALL-E，artificial neural network ... ...., 唉，吾生也有涯，而知也無涯，惟有專注於科技於英語教學的應用層面。

Stormboard and Miro vs Padlet for Presentation

 Checked out Stormboard, and revisited Miro, to see if they were good for on-site presentations. 

I think they are good for creating an overview diagram for showing (the relationships between) subtopics and ideas. 

Although Miro does have a Presentation mode (with contents marked as frames), the effect is not that good. 

My tentative conclusion at this point is that Padlet is still the best choice, in that you can start by showing the overview Padlet, and then proceed to the Presentation mode. You can return to the Overview padlet any time you like. 

In the presentation mode, each card constitutes a 'slide'. The embedding function of each slide is praiseworthy: You can play a Youtude video, an uploaded PPT within a slide. Now, when creating a Padlet, you can use the screen-recording function, and record a narrated webpage, which will become a separate slide. 

In sum, Miro and similar apps are good for viewing by others; Padlet is good for realtime presentations. 

Deleting line breaks in copied text in WORD

 So far, this is the best solution that I've found: 

Method 1: Use the Find and Replace feature

1. Highlight the text that you want to remove the lines from.
2. Press Ctrl+H to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
3. In the "Find what" field, type ^p. This will find all hard returns in your text.
4. In the "Replace with" field, type a single space.
5. Click the "Replace All" button.

This will replace all hard returns in your text with a single space. This will remove the lines from your text.

Are we doing anything to support EMI students' learning of the content subjects through English?

 這陣子中學觀課，偶然看看學生其他科目的教科書，內裏的篇章無論是文字和概念都比同級英文教科書的篇章深得多，今天终於忍不住，把學生中二Science教科書的其中一頁影下來，供 language awareness一科 的学員在稍後的 language across the curriculum 一節中討論。

有時不禁想，今天英文科閱讀教學仍在甚麼text type和reading skills 中糾纏，固然英文科有我們的課程目標，但從學生角度，直覺就是英文科的英文「淺」得多，會不會因而輕視英文科？

Young teachers' AI buy-in

 今年Part-tme PGDE觀課和去年有一個很明顯的分別，就是今年不少老師用AI 去create teaching resources, 他們都是教齡一至三年的年青教師，對新技術接受度高；有時候是倒轉頭我從他們獲得使用AI的點子呢!

Youtube Trimmer

 Now that Vibby is apparently gone forever, I've been looking for a good alternative. 

Youtube Trimmer is easy to use. You can easily set the start and end of a Youtube segment, and share the clip with a link. 

https://www.youtubetrimmer.com/

Photo Gallery widget in Start.me

Been using Start.me for a while, yet it was not until 5 minutes ago that I found out this useful widget within Start.me: Photo Gallery. It works like a self-progressing photo album. 

Which means it will be useful for a Start.me which is shared like a website for other people to view. 

 

Downloading a Wakelet Collection

 Wakelet collections can be downloaded as a PDF file. The featured links in the original collection are clickable in the downloaded PDF. 

Use Onenote to OCR from an image that contains text

 Some tools can convert a pdf document to editable text. But if the pdf document was made from an image (e.g. a picture taken of a book page with a mobile phone), the conversion may not work. 

In this regard, Google Keep is doing a marvellous job. 

But for desktop work, so far, Onenote's OCR capability is still the best; and it's totally free. 

Just copy or insert an image (containing text) into a page inside Onenote. Then right-click, and choose "Copy text from picture". There you are!

The Text Recognition function in Kami

 It does not really grab the text from an image (containing text) that you upload. It simply turns your uploaded file (docx; pdf; jpg) into a PDF, which you can then edit (e.g., highlight; add text box; add audio comment) within Kami. 

Text Chat Animator

 TExt Chat Animator is a desktop app for creating a fake text chat. 

https://chat-animator.com/

The Pluses: 

- You can submit a picture to use as an avator. 

- Four people can take part in a chat. 

- You can insert emojis. 

- The generated chat appears like a movie. 

The Minuses:

- You don't start from scratch with your chat. You have to delete each sentence in the provided chat and type in your own sentence. 

- As it is all web-based, this process is not that smooth. 

- The final product must be in the form of a movie, or a GIF. But the generation process is slow and lagging. 

Use Autotext for giving Stock Comments

 In WORD, the function Autotext can be used for giving stock comments. 

But after my testdrive, I think that instead of saving the first few words of your written comment (on an assignment submitted in WORD) as autotext, if you have several stock comments to use, it is better to list them out in a separate document, and give each a code. Then, when you need to give a stock comment while looking through a document, type the code to get the stock document. 

In doing so, we can avoid having the autotext pop up when typing a word which happens to be included in one of the stock comments. The separate document will also provide an overview of what stock comments that we can use. 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/shortcuts-for-word-to-add-quick-text-commonly-used/284c20fc-087e-4df0-86c9-4de752a978d4