Lukes Training Resources

The Word Processor icons matchup activity is a great activity to use in classes where you are teaching Microsoft Office products and specifically Microsoft Office Word. There are various icons for features such as Bold, Crop, Spell check, and participants have to try and match the icon with the word that it represents, helping participants associate features with the icons that are used in Word processor software.

There are 9 activity cards per page and each page corresponds with a column of words on the last page of the pdf. You can print the PDF document in duplex mode on cardstock paper for best results.

Try this activity in your next beginners IT class and teach your trainees about the various features available in Word processors.

If you use this activity in your classes please let me know how it goes in the comments section below.

Download the activity here: Word processor icons matchup.pdf

 Professional development is important in any career, it keeps you aware of changes in your industry and can provide you with new ideas or tools that you can use in your day to day job. The following is a list of 15 resources to keep you upskilled and informed in your particular industry.

• guides or resources
• newsletters
• fact sheets
• websites
• seminars, information sessions, and workshops
• online networks
• face to face catchups
• formal training
• action learning
• self-paced learning
• online courses
• mentoring / coaching
• research projects
• government standards and documentation
• industry specific associations

Today I release another free worksheet that I have created on digital footprints and internet privacy, this worksheet is a case study about a lady named Jill who is job searching and concerned that recruiters will find content from her on the internet that may sway their decision to hire her.

Participants can work by themselves or in small groups to try and find ways she can improve her digital footprint and remove some of the unprofessional content of her.

Some of these strategies could be:

• Adjusting her privacy settings on social media accounts
• Removing posts or photos that are inappropriate
• Requesting other people remove inappropriate photos or posts of her
• Deleting inappropriate content from blogs or other websites associated with her
• Ensuring all her social media posts are appropriate and use correct spelling and grammar
• Periodically searching for her name to ensure her digital footprint is professional

Cartoons can add some fun to training environments and can be used in a variety of places such as PowerPoint presentations, it can add a bit of laughter to your session and make it just that much more enjoyable.

As Technology is my focus area I've gathered a list of the best websites for finding tech based cartoons online, be sure that you check the usage rights if you intend to use any cartoons from these sites.

Joy of tech

Visit Joy of Tech

The Very Near Future

Visit The Very Near Future

Conde Nast

Visit Conde Nast

Glasbergen Cartoon Service

Visit Glasbergen Cartoon Service

Chumworth

Visit Chumworth

Dave Carpenter

Visit Dave Carpenter

We Blog Cartoons

Visit We Blog Cartoons

Incidental Comics

Visit Incidental Comics

John Klossner Cartoons

Visit John Klossner Cartoons

Pritchett Cartoons

Visit Pritchett Cartoons

If you teach internet basics to people then this is a great worksheet to use. There are seven statements with the key words missing, participants have to identify what the words are and fill in the gaps. There are eight words missing that need to be filled in.

Some of the words used in this worksheet are:

• internet
• search engines
• websites
• URL
• email
• web browser
• downloaded
• cloud

You can download this worksheet here

Make sure to check out https://luketeachestech.com for a growing collection of resources for learning and teaching people how to use technology.

If you run training classes for people learning basic computer skills then this worksheet is perfect for you. In this free computer basics worksheet, participants have a whole range of computer components and have to match up the correct name with the component.

This is one of my first worksheets and I'll be creating more very soon, if you have any feedback or comments on how this worksheet was for you please let me know in the comments below so that I can improve it for all.

The components that participants have to match-up include:

• Monitor
• Desktop
• Printer
• Mouse
• Keyboard
• Hard drive
• Flash drive
• Laptop
• Tablet
• Smartphone

The following is a list of tools and resources that are available for use when training, use this list as inspiration to find new tools to implement in your training sessions.

• technology (Computers, tablets)
• virtual reality and Google Cardboard
• flipchart paper and coloured markers
• training workbooks
• online videos or DVD's
• powerpoint presentations
• activities
• books, newspapers, magazines
• cartoons (You can find a variety of cartoons online that are related to the field you are training in)
• checklists
• worksheets
• instructions for activities, projects, and assignments
• workplace policies and procedures
• information sheets
• templates for adaption by trainers
• case studies and scenarios
• questions to generate discussion
• group activities

Photo credit: geishaboy500 via Foter.com / CC BY

In this article I have compiled a complete list of different types of workplace tasks, these are the different types of tasks you may have to complete in a workplace and may be a good reference point for trainers and especially anyone working with Australian Nationally accredited training from the foundation skills package.

This list serves as a useful starting point for anyone trying to create a training program, feel free to save a link to this page so that you can return to it for ideas and inspiration.

• sending an email
• turning on a computer
• using a letter folder
• printing a document
• creating a workplace document (see my other article here for ideas)
• making a phone call
• asking for, recording, or responding to feedback
• following procedures
• searching for information
• identifying requirements for a job
• creating a todo / checklist
• using graphs, tables and diagrams to visualise information
• collecting data for analysis

Throughout my training I've compiled a complete list of the different types of assessment methods that are available, these assessment methods could apply to a whole range of different types of training including but not limited to schooling, professional development, in-house training, and many more.

Feel free to copy down the link to this page so you can refer to it for ideas and inspiration in the future.

• online learning modules
• multiple choice
• short answer
• true or false
• role play
• essay
• quizzes
• case studies
• exhibitions
• written task
• demonstrations
• journal
• group activity
• book review
• report
• write a newspaper article
• oral presentation
• record a video
• verbal
• group discussion
• create a poster
• assignment
• debate
• interview
• multimedia presentation
• observation
• resource folder
• computer assisted
• portfolio
• practical demonstration
• checklists
• investigative projects

In this article I have compiled a list of examples of workplace documents, these are the different types of documents you may find in a workplace and may be a good reference point for trainers and especially anyone working with Australian Nationally accredited training from the foundation skills package.

Theres a brand new website on the net that allows users to improve their digital literacy for free with free courses on various topics including the android operating system.

Did you know you can save money on Google Apps for Work? by using my special URL you can save $10 off per user for the first year you use Google apps, that's just $5 per user on Google Apps (Usually $15) As a partner through the Google Apps program I'm able to share my link so you can get this amazing discount!

To get in on this great deal head on over to the following link and sign up for a free trial.

https://goo.gl/eegUFY

Once you have your account set up and verified you can get your special discount by getting in touch with me at lukefourfour@gmail.com to claim your promo code, then simply head over to your billing settings, choose a payment plan and enjoy Google Apps for Work at a discounted rate!

 Go to the available plugins tab and type in the search box "web", look for a plugin with the name "Java Web Applications", depending on the version of netbeans you are using you may need to add "Java EE Base" instead, click the check box then click the install button. You will be shown a wizard to install the plugin, just click next and then finish.


After that you should be able to open your projects fine. Thanks for reading!

This post has been moved to https://luketeachestech.com/hmm-something-went-wrong-play-games/

I recently had a problem with Google Play Games after the new update, it refused to show me my achievements, I could unlock achievements while I played games but when I went in Google play games to see what achievements I had and what I still needed to get I was presented with an error that said "Hmm, something went wrong in Play Games". I also noticed that this error affect some games where by is you tapped the achievements icon in game it would sign you out of Play Games for that particular game.



 If you are also experiencing this problem I have found a solution, I've tried many things I almost resorted to doing a factory reset but I didn't have to do that, here's what I did to solve the problem.
First navigate to settings > apps and find and tap on Google play games.



Next tap uninstall updates, then tap clear data.



 Next go back to the apps section and find Google Play Services, tap that then tap Manage space and then tap on clear all data.




 Now all you have to do is go into the Play store and manually update Google Play Games. I don't know how many of these steps are actually necessary but these are the steps I took to fix my problem and I hope it fixes yours too! Thanks for reading!

This post has been moved to https://luketeachestech.com/hmm-something-went-wrong-play-games/

Mapathon 2014 was a contest held by Google, back in March and April, to help improve Google Maps in Australia, making use of the Google Map Maker website, the contest was also to encourage people to use Google Map Maker to help improve maps in their cities. I was very happy to participate in this contest, I love Google and I use Google Maps every time I need to navigate somewhere new or just get but and train times.

The prizes for the contest were: Top 5 get a Nexus 7 and a $500 Red Balloon Gift Voucher, next 10 receive a Nexus 7, and all top 300 including the top 15 win a T-Shirt and Certificate.

So the contest started and I fired up my mapping engine, it was literally a race to win, I remember continuously monitoring one users profile because his number of edits kept catching up to me so I had to keep finding things to edit in Google Maps, an that I did, over the 30 days the contest ran for I racked up 1878 Edits.

So Google took their time in announcing the winners, it was pretty close between me and the guy I was monitoring, but there was no way I could tell just by the number of edits, because the winner is determined by the highest number of points and 3 points were awarded for places and business listings while 1 point was awarded for trails and roads.

So after all the waiting, one morning I got an email about Mapathon 2014, I got pretty excited, I read it and it said that I was a winner and have won a Nexus 7, $500 Red Balloon Gift card, T-Shirt and certificate, I was so excited and happy, I won!!! I checked the website and I came 5th Place! I beat the guy I was monitoring and probably came 1st place in South Australia.

Later that day my prize arrived, Google Express posted it, I was so excited, I signed for it, went to my room and was literally jumping up and down xD I have never won anything before and this was such a awesome contest to win, especially since it's a Google contest and I'm a Google fanboy ahah. It's really cool seeing my edits in Google Maps and often out in the real world I will see something I added to Google Maps and might even mention it to whoever I'm with, it's just so cool.

So here I present you with a photo of the winnings.

If you, like me, use Location History in Google services to enhance and unlock a more personalized experience, now thanks to a few nifty python scripts you can visualize all that history and render it on a jpeg image.

You can already do this using Google's location history dashboard here, but you are limited to only a selected range up to a maximum of 30 days, if you want to visualize all your Location history then that's not an option.
Below I have included an example location history map, which is what we will be making in this tutorial.


What you'll need

If you choose the simple route just download my zip file here: Visualizing Location History.zip which contains everything you need including some batch files to make the process easier, just extract it somewhere. Python and PIL(Python Imaging Library) are in the install folder, you will need to install these in step 1.

For the rest of you, heres what you'll need.

1. Python (https://www.python.org/downloads/) Make sure to get version 2.7.x at time of writing PIL does not support version 3.x.x
2. PIL, the Python Imaging Library (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/) make sure to get the right version for your version of python e.g. if Python 2.7 get PIL for Python 2.7
3. The following scripts:
• Location History JSON Converter (https://github.com/Scarygami/location-history-json-converter)
• Latitude History Plotter (https://github.com/snowdonjames/LatitudeHistoryPlotter)