The Case for Teaching Digital Arts

You may be wondering why Ms. Computer Teacher focuses on providing “easy, fun digital arts projects for kids”. Or you may be thinking what are digital arts anyway, and what do they have to do with teaching my subject area? A Little Background Info Who is Ms. Computer Teacher? I am a middle school computer […]

The K-12 Educator’s Guide to Buying a 3D Printer

So you want to buy a 3D printer? After all, isn’t that what all the schools are getting these days? With makerspaces, STEM, and STEAM all the rage, it’s no wonder 3D printer sales are at an all-time high with schools being one of the fastest growing purchasing groups.  Before you run out and spend hundreds […]

Time to Vote! The Results are in: Vote your Favorite Middle School Web Design Competition Entries!

Update: Voting is now closed. Congratulations to 1st place winners Lindsay S. and Natalie M., 2nd place winner Emily S., and 3rd place winner Idara C.! After a lot of hard work the finalists in the first Web Design Competition held by Ms. Computer Teacher are ready to be announced!  This competition was open to […]

How to Use Symbaloo – an Awesome Bookmarking Service

If you’re anything like me, you visit 100 websites a day.  Ok, so maybe 100 websites is a slight exaggeration, but it feels as if I visit 100 websites a day sometimes.  I’ve tried several online bookmarking tools to help me keep track of all those URLs, but the one I’ve found to be the […]

The Importance of Learning to Code

Some schools do a fantastic job teaching students basic computer programming skills….others, not so much.  If your school offers programming classes, excellent!  If not, how can a student learn to code outside a traditional classroom?  Is it even important we all have at least a basic understanding of computer programming?  Why or why not? Let’s […]

A Review of the iPad Mini

Note: This review is by Anna M., an 8th grade student.  Thanks, Anna, for being a contributing author for MCT! So you’re walking around the mall looking for the best gift to get little Jimmy and your husband Brian. What should I choose? What would they enjoy? Luckily you have a little help. Recently I got an […]

An Introduction to Audacity – Free Sound Recording Software

This quick tutorial shows how to use the FREE software Audacity to record and edit sound. Among other projects, this is a great tool for creating podcasts and recording song. This video is just an introduction to Audacity. The software has many features beyond what is in the video.    

Using Google Scripts – Flubaroo for Quick Grading

Ever heard of Google scripts?  Scripts are snippets of code that can be added to Google products to increase functionality.  Flubaroo is a popular script that can be added to a Google form that allows for quick and automatic grading of assignments.  Flubaroo can also create score reports and email scores to students (or whomever completed the form)….all very quickly and easily! […]

How to Use Google SafeSearch

Sorry kids, this one is for the adults!  Did you know that the world’s #1 search engine, Google, offers a feature called SafeSearch that allows parents to set strict search filters for both text and images?  Even better, SafeSearch allows for password protection so that other computer users (children) can’t change the filter. Check out this video for how to […]

Move over iPad, the Surface is (almost) Here!

Update: Microsoft recently announced  the RT Surface model (see below for the Pro/RT differences) will be available October 26th, the same day Microsoft is releasing the Windows 8 operating system.  The Pro model is expected to be released 90 days later. So a few years back  I used to show my students a video of this […]