3 Good Chrome Extensions to Convert Web Pages to PDFs

August 7, 2014
Below are three of my favourite Chrome extensions which you can use to convert web pages to PDF documents. I particularly use these extensions to convert long articles ( for instance articles from Scientific magazine) into PDFs which I would usually download into my computer. In this way I have a PDF format of the article which I can access and read without the need for Internet connection.

1- Save As PDF

This extension lets you easily save web pages to pdf. It uses https://pdfcrowd.com html to pdf online service. The extension works right out of the box using the default settings. If you want to customize the pdf you can sign up for a paid account at Pdfcrowd. The available options include page size, page orientation, margins, password protection, initial view, etc.
2- FromDocToPDF

FromDocToPDF is an extension that allows you to :

• Quickly convert between many file formats for FREE. 
• FREE conversions to .DOC, .TIFF, .JPG files and more! 
•  Easily translate into multiple languages for FREE.

3- Web2PDF

Webto PDF Converter is a good Chrome extension that allows you to easily turn any webpage into a a downloadable PDF document.

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A Must Have Chrome Extension for Teachers

August 4, 2014
Extensity is definitely a must have Google Chrome extension for anyone using Chrome browser.As a chrome user, you probably have installed several extensions on your toolbar and chances are some of these extensions are not even used anymore. Having multiple extensions on your toolbar might cause loading issues for your browser and sometimes even result in critical  issues with the security of your computer.

To keep my Chrome working sleekly, I always do a general check up of the extensions I have  been installing. I check for those add-ons that I have no used for sometime and I manually delete them. Now  Extensity does this job for you and pretty accurately. Extensity basically helps you instantly enable or disable extensions on your Chrome. It does three main things:

• Keep your browser fast - disable extensions that you won't use right away.
• Keep your toolbar clean
• Ideal companion for extensions collectors.

Here is how Extensify works:

First  install Extensity from the Chrome app store.

Once installed, Extensity icon will be displayed on your Chrome toolbar. Clicking on it will pull up a list of all the extensions you have installed on your Chrome. To disable any one of these extensions, you simply click on it. Click again to enable it. Yes it is that simple.

Courtesy of Cool Cat Teacher.

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Padlet Mini A New Tool to Easily Bookmark and Share Resources with Students

July12, 2014
As a follow-up to "teachers' guide to the use of Padlet in class" in which I featured a variety of tips and ideas on how teachers can create a classroom padlet and how to use it with their students to enhance their learning, today I am sharing with you this excellent Chrome extension called " Padlet Mini".

Padlet Mini is easy and simple to use. Once you install it on your browser you can then easily bookmark websites with one click.  Padlet Mini allows to either add the bookmarked website to an existing Padlet from your account or you can add it to a new padlet that you can create right from the extension as seen below.

If you have already created a Padlet for your class then students can use Padlet Mini in their browsers to instantly add links and resources they find online to the class wall. Just remind them to select the name of the class padlet when they want to add a resource through Padlet Mini.

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A Handy Chrome Search Tip for Teachers

July 1 , 2014
Here is a quick and handy search tip I learned today from Ana Hoffman's post on Google Plus. For those of you who are using Chrome browser this nifty tip will allow you to search for content on any website right from Chrome address bar. This means that you do not need to access the website to use its search engine to look for content hosted on it.

Here is an example of how this tip works. Imagine that you want to search for some screen sharing tools on this blog. Instead of going to www.educatorstechnology.com and then use the search engine on the left hand side, you can just type the address of this blog in your Chrome bar and once you see the  suggested URL of the website, press the tab button on your keyboard to activate the search.

The URL of the address bar will then be converted automatically to a search engine saying "search educators technology.com:".

 For this trick to work, you need to make sure that you tap the tab button on your keyboard only when you see the root URL (eg. site.com) on the address bar. Try out it now.

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A Nice Tool to Enhance Students Online Reading Experience

May , 2014
Evernote Clearly is one of my favourite tools that I have been using to read articles online. Evernote Clearly cleans webpages of any distractive features around the content and  provides you with a better reading experience. This is a ideal extension for students to use when reading online. Evernote Clearly is available for free download for both Chrome, Opera and Firefox.

Here are the main features Evernote Clearly provides to users:

• A distraction free environment where you can enjoy your reading
• You can customize your reading experience by changing the text fonts
• You can choose a theme for the background of your page
• You can highlight passages and save the whole page with highlights to your Evernote account
• Premium users can benefit from text to speech functionality

Watch the video below to learn more about Evernote Clearly

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11 Good Chrome Extensions for Teachers and Students

May 18, 2014
Today I am sharing with you a list of handy Chrome extensions that you can use to improve your browsing experience. Using these add-ons, you will be able to do a wide variety of tasks  : from archiving web pages for offline reading to printing web content in clean formats. For more Chrome extensions that are specifically curated for teachers and students, visit the Educational Chrome Extensions section here in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning.

1- Clearly

Clearly makes blog posts, articles and webpages clean and easy to read. Save them to Evernote to read anywhere.

2- Search By Image

Search by Image is an add-on designed by Google Image team that allows you to to initiate a Google search using any image on the web.

3- Page Archiver

PageArchiver extension is a "scrapbook-like" extension for Chrome.. It helps you to archive web pages for offline reading

4- Chrome Remote Desktop

Chrome Remote Desktop allows users to remotely access another computer through Chrome browser or a Chromebook

5- One Tab

Whenever you find yourself with too many tabs, click the OneTab icon to convert all of your tabs into a list. When you need to access the tabs again, you can either restore them individually or all at once.

6- History Timeline

Chrome History Timeline is an extension that makes a visual timeline of your browser history using OpenGraph data and traditional meta-data. Like History, but with pictures.

7- Web Timer

Web Timer is a simple and intuitive extension that lets you keep track of how you're spending your time on the web.

8- CleanPrint

CleanPrint puts you in control of saving paper, ink and money when printing from the web. You can edit content before saving articles to Print, PDF, Google Docs, Google Drive, Dropbox or Box.net.

9- Stay Focused

Stay Focusd increases your productivity by limiting the amount of time that you can spend on time-wasting websites.

10- SpeakIt

SpeakIt reads selected text using Text-to-Speech technology with language auto-detection. It can read text in more than 50 languages.

11- DotEpub

dotEPUB allows you to convert any webpage into an EPUB or Kindle e-book. Download webpages to any device: e-readers, tablets, smartphones, netbooks, desktop computers...

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A Handy App to Easily Save Anything from The Web to Your Google Drive

May 18, 2014
One of the easiest and simplest ways to save anything from the web to your Google Drive is through the use of "Save to Drive Chrome Extension". This app has been been designed by Google Drive engineers  and integrates seamlessly with your Drive.  I have been using it for more than a year now and I find it really helpful.

Save to Drive Chrome Extension allows you to   save online files – including images, HTML5 audio, video and even documents – to your Google Drive with a click. You can save documents, images, and HTML5 audio and video all by right clicking and selecting 'Save to Google Drive'. You can also save an image of an entire page or an image of the visible page.

After your content is saved, the progress dialog allows you to open the file, rename, or view the file in the Google Drive document list. From the document list, you can organize and share your new document.

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