Three Old School Tech Integration Tips

Keeping up with the latest emerging technology is harder than keeping up with the Jones family three blocks down. Every conference I attend focuses on what is new, hot, and emerging in the field of instructional technology. Sometimes the seasoned professionals at these conferences forget that the majority of their audience has little to no experience with true integration of technology in the classroom. In my seven years of technology leadership, I discovered that the 20-60-20 rule applies the majority of the time when training people. The bottom 20 percent could care less what you say, the top 20 percent will immediately jump on board the bus, and 60 percent (most of your audience) is on the fence. The goal is to convert the 60 percent towards the top 20 percent.

Let's grab the Member's Only jacket, acid washed jeans, your latest mixed tape, and journey back a few years to some old school basic tips that may just grab a hold of the 60 percent. We are going to cover  my three favorite tips for converting people to the world of technology integration. Start with screen capturing, ease into my favorite SMART Notebook move, and then finish with the best Google search tip of all time.

Screen Capture:
Visual reference points are desired by most students and teachers when it comes to effective written directions. Screen capturing software allows users to grab anything on their screen and save it as an image. Most computers have built-in screen capture software, but my all time favorite is Gadwin PrintScreen. Gadwin is free and provides multiple capturing options such as full screen, window, or rectangular.  Instead of telling your students to click on the sideways, slanted looking I, give them a cool screen capture as a visual reference (see below).

SMART Notebook Screen Shade:
This simple tool packs a lot of power, and helps the teacher to build excitement about the lesson. Screen Shade covers the screen in Notebook, and allows the teacher to reveal certain parts of the screen when they are ready for the audience to see it.

• Directions from SMART (Notice the Screen Capture being used in the directions)
• YouTube Video with directions and more examples (2:59 in length)

Using quotes in Google Search:

If you want to search for an exact phrase or word in Google Search, go ahead and put quotes around your phrase or word (e.g., "Win the lottery") You can reduce the number of search results by the millions. This will help you research lessons more efficiently, and create more accurate guides to help your students research curriculum topics.

Abraham Lincoln without quotes 92 million, with quotes 41 million

Repairing my VCR without quotes 3 million, with quotes 10,000

Flux Capacitor without quotes 3.1 million, with quotes 1.1 million

Technology Can Bring Families Together

Let us all admit it, the picture above has played out a hundred times already this year in our families. When everyone in your family has some type of device, including +Lee Green's family wearing Google Glass, it almost seems impossible to have good ole' fashion family time. Nay, I say to thee! Here are three ways technology can bring the family together: Friday night fun time, Making your children millionaires, and Country boy living.

Friday Night Fun Time 

• Buy Chromecast ($35 at Staples) use it to cast History of Rap 1 with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake on your TV. (Everyone will smile and you can relive your glory days back when rap was fun)
• Use Chromecast to broadcast Jimmy Fallon's Lip Sync Battle on YouTube. Hilarious, but wait, there's more.
• Now turn on Pandora (Chromecast compatible), go to any 80's channel and proceed to embarrass your wife and children with your killer lip sync skills. No doubt, they will all join in.

This is exactly what we did the first Friday out for Christmas break. Who would have thought one simple device would turn into hours of fun and laughter in the Ellison household? Thanks for the gift Lee.

Making Your Children Millionaires

• Use your phone, computer, or tablet to research investing ideas for kids. Look up companies they know such as Under Armor, Apple, and Disney, so they can see how their stocks have made money over the years.
• Open up a Sharebuilder.com account and teach them about mutual funds and IRA's for long term growth and compounding interest. 
• Find resources that graphically represent compounding interest, and the benefits of early investing vs. long term investing. Dave Ramsey's Ben and Arthur are easy to understand for everyone.

I have done this with my own children, and it is amazing how they get so interested in the topic of investing. Really, who doesn't want to be a millionaire?

Country Boy Living (Anything that interest them, but my family likes to hunt, fish, and ride dirt bikes)

• Use your device and pull up YouTube videos on cooking duck breast. Of course, this is more fun when you actually duck hunt with your children and have some fresh duck for the kitchen.
• Get something that needs to have a nice Camo paint job (boat, blind, or homemade redneck duck retrieving pole), then Google around and find some tutorials or videos on the subject. Go outside and give your kids some spray paint and enjoy. 
• Visit some forums on subjects that interest them such as dirt bike riding. Research places to ride, riding tips and build up project bikes. Take the time to show them how to post on a forum, explain what Trolls are, and teach them about being a good digital citizen in the world wide web. 

You may not like these topics, but pretend it is a Mad Lib, and substitute ducks, Camo and dirt bikes for any other subject that interest your family.

We all ignored our parents at some point in our childhood, and today's children have a lot more ways to do so. Harness the power of these devices to bring the family together versus isolating everyone in their own digital worlds. You never know, your child might just become the world's greatest wild game chef, next multi-millionaire, or dirt bike racing champion. Regardless of what they become, I promise you they will remember the time spent with them for the rest of their life.