STEPS
1. Go to the website that you want to install as a desktop app.
2. Stay on that tab. Click on the three dots in the top right corner.
3. In the dropdown menu, open 'Cast, save, and share'.
4. On the next pop-up window, choose 'Install page as app.'
5. Type out the name of the desktop use. Then click 'Yes'.
6. The website is installed as a desktop app immediately. It can be (1) pinned to the task bar, and (b) listed in the installed app under 'Start'.
A Padlet board can be 'presented' like a slideshow.
PLUS: A Padlet template shows the hierachical organisation of the whole presentation. This is something that PPT cannot do.
Problem: You still have to create the cards one by one.
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A Workflowy Presented
Minus: Unlike Padlet, it doesn't have a variety of "appearances". Just a bulleted list.
PLUS:
- You can present your planned rundown for a presentation IMMEDIATELY.
- The images inserted into a Workflowy will also show.
- You can still draw the audience's attention back to the overall organisation of the presentation by showing the original Workflowy (original tab)
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BOTTOM LINE: Workflowy is the best for the quickest presentation from an outline (ie, A Workflowy).
When all students have finished a classroom task, the teacher may want to show an overview of what students have done for free-response questions (eg, Drawing; Free Text; Upload a photo)
Goodnotes Classroom might be the best tool for that purpose. However, it seems that Goodnotes Classroom is good for students to handwrite their answers to a worksheet (on iPads). It doesn't have interactive activities. (I may be wrong.)
Bookwidgets
- has a REVIEW function
- shows figures only; does not show students' actual free responses
Formative
- the best in showing an overview of the class's free responses
- monthly subscription price: HKD101.4 for the extended question types
- Free plan: Draw your answer; Free response
Wayground
- gives an overview of students' free responses as a list, can scroll through the list
- not an overview, though
- while scrolling through the list, can click on one answer to expand for showing to whole class.
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BOTTOM LINE: Formative is the best for showing Ss' free answers an a whole-class overview. Followed by Wayground
剛發現Microsoft 的Reading Coach 開放予個人用户使用，以前Microsoft Reading Coach只供學校的Teams户口使用，而在中大如果要用Teams教學，要向中央申請並提出理由，非常麻煩。後來多得簡Sir仗義幫忙，把我加入他學校的Teams,我才得以向Computer Assisted Language Learning 學員展示如何利用Reading Coach 幫助學生通過reading aloud 去改善pronunciation 。
這新版Reading Coach 還有兩個新功能，一是讓學生用內裏的AI去生成自創的Reading passage, 另外教師亦可upload 自己的passage, 不像以前只能用內置的Readworks passages， 而Reading Coach 可以照樣assess 學生的pronunciation 。
當然Microsoft Reading Coach 仍然只能評核字的發音，其他suprasegmentals 例如intonation, weak forms， sentence stress and rhythm, Reading Coach仍然評核不到。
READING COACH BY MICROSOFT
This was not in the early design of Reading Coach.
Now you can paste in your own reading passage (of course, the reading difficulty will not be indicated).
Then proceed as above.
The platform will assess the user's performance as above: (a) overall accuracy percentage; (b) 5 words to practise.
This was the early design of Reading Coach:
Read a Passage
So far, this looks like the quickest way to create a checkbox question for a quick poll, if you already have a bullet list of items.
- For question type, choose 'Checkbox'
- In the options that follow, in the first answer option, paste in the copied list from another source. Immediately, the various items will appear as different options.
Zotero works like Refworks. It also has a WORD add-on.
So far, to me, its biggest plus is its Chrome extension, which enables me to import a useful webpage into 'my library'.
In 'my library', I can build Collections, and Sub-collections. Each collection can be exported as an RTF file.
Sometimes, it may be helpful to print out a PDF worksheet from an interactive game created, e.g., as follow-up homework (eg, Blank- filling; Short answers)
Quizizz has that built-in download (as PDF) function.
Bookwidgets and Kahoot do not have that built-in function, but when right-clicked to PRINT, they can also produce a PDF printable version.
All 3 apps are doing a good job in terms of enabling an interactive game to be printed as PDF (unlike Blackboard which does not allow for that.)
I've tried a few such apps. So far this turns out to be the best
IMAGY.APP
As a totally free app which resembles Notion, AppFlowy is commendable. But it has one drawback:
When a text extract written in different levels (indentations; numbering; etc.) is copied and pasted into a WORD document, the formatting will be lost. You only get one long bulletpoints of the same level.
Notion, and in fact also Workflowy, does not have this defect.
But having tried several apps today, I think https://tools.pdf24.org/zh/ is still the best choice for occasional dealings with PDF files.
It's absolutely free. (Many other apps are free only to a certain extent.)
Plus, there is also a desktop app.
Excellent for occasional use.
When it comes to converting a PDF file to a WORD file, all the apps I have tried require joining the paid plan.
This one is totally free, and the result is good. NOTE THOUGH, THAT YOU CAN ONLY CONVERT 5 PDFs within the same one hour. And there is a limit to the length of the PDF file that you can convert.
Just tried that, and this is possible.
Implications: Can start a Quizizz Lesson teacher-paced, then switch to Student-paced towards end of the Lesson for the Exit Quiz.
This saves the trouble of assigning Exit Quizzes through Blackboard, which does not provide a student's total score for all quizzes.
TO DO IN SEPT 2025:
1. Ss create a Student Account.
2. Create a Class and share the class code with Ss. Ss join the class.
3. When starting a Q Lsn with one class, ask them to sign in.
4. Start the Q Lsn. Ss still join in with Lesson Code.
5. Start in teacher-paced mode. When reaching the last part (exit quiz), switch to Student-paced.
6. End the lesson in due course.
Just tried that. The links in a PPT uploaded to Google Drive, when imported into a Quizizz Lesson, will still work.
But that's not the case if it is the PDF version of the PPT which is being imported into a Quizizz Lesson.
Just found a solution:
(I was doing my TP visits scheduling, and needed to convert my Dynalist list to an Excel file.)
Just visited Formative again. It has been acquired by Newsela.
The new Formative has many new useful functions:
- Flashcards
- Worksheets that can be teacher-presented on top of student-self-paced;
- the ability to create lessons. In this regard, quite like Quizizz Lesson, except that the gamification element is not strong. Many content types can be inserted.
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I'm still using the free plan. The question types I can use are limited, but overall, that's good enough. Compared with the free plan of Classwork, Formative allows me to create classes and do a lot more.
No doubt, Formative has much richer functionality than Classwork.
But for quick creation of a simple worksheet, Classwork ticks.
===
ADDING QUESTIONS:
Classwork: Insert question spots into worksheet.
Formative:
1. Insert question spots into worksheet.
2. Add questions on the right hand pane.
As someone with zero background in I.T., I dread any term with the word 'coding' in it. Anyhow, I came across the term 'vibe c...
