Using Technology Better Update

Hey Reader

I’ve been missing in action for the last couple of months as I worked on 3 exciting changes.

The following update video explains these changes and how they will benefit you as a teacher and your school community.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:

0:40 What I am doing with the Using Technology Better Brand – How this will help your school

2:00 I am the only trainer endorsed by Google and Microsoft and what this means for you and your school

2:56 A new unlimited support program – how you can get access at a foundational price

TRANSCRIPTION:

Mike:  Hey, Mike Reading here.  I just wanted to make a quick update video for you and just to let you know a little bit about what I’ve been up to over the last couple of months. You might have noticed that I haven’t been as active blogging and on social media and so on.  And I’ve just been taking some time out just to reorganize and restructure a few things to really benefit schools moving forward.

And so I’ve been working on three great changes and I want to just quickly share them with you.

So the first change that I’ve been working on is creating a new brand and with that, a new website.  So the new brand is “Using Technology Better” and the new website is www.usingtechnologybetter.com.  I really wanted to change the name of what I was doing for two reasons.

The first reason was that for those of you that have followed me on my journey of professional development, I really did start off teaching teachers how to better motivate and engage their students.  And so I had a Teachers Training International website and always writing a lot about classroom management, student engagement, intrinsic motivation and so on.

Well over time that progressed that’s why I became a Google Certified Teacher and a Google Certified Trainer and I started to blend the two topics together of classroom management and student engagement and then blend that in with the technology use and especially around Google.  And so over time I also build up a fair reputation as a Google trainer in schools and spent up most of my time on the road speaking in schools in New Zealand and in Australia and I had a great time with that.

But I wanted to just consolidate the two thoughts and really bring them together under one website.  And so that new website is the www.usingtechnologybetter.com website.  I’d love you to go over there, have a look and tell me what you think of it.

The second change that I’ve been working on for over the last couple of months is that I really wanted to be able to help schools not just with their Google use but with technology use in general.  And so I’ve embarked on a bit of a journey of retraining myself, learning a lot more and have actually now come out as a Microsoft Master Education Trainer as well as a Google Certified Teacher and Trainer.

Now what that means for you as a school or for you as a teacher is that regardless of the platform of your choice, the platform that you want to use whether that’s Google or Microsoft, my team and I can now provide endorsed training on the best way to use that technology to engage and motivate your students.

And so I’m quite excited about this change, certainly I still love what Google is doing, I love what have happening around their particular brand and all the new additions that are coming out with that and we’ll still be very involved in that.

But also I’m quite excited about some of the new changes that are coming through Microsoft right now and they really are progressing in leaps and bounds and have some real great things to offer to teachers and students.

The third change that I’ve been working on and it’s nearly ready to be released is that I wanted to create a support option for schools, an online community where teachers and students can come and share ideas and resources, ask questions and so on.  Now this is a concept I’ve been working on for over a year now just refining it, testing it with a few schools and a few teachers and then pulling it apart and retesting it.  And I think I’ve got it to the point where I’m happy with it to be released out to the general public.

You know the one reason that I really wanted to create this community was that quite often, I’ll go and speak at a school and then a couple of weeks, a couple of months later, the teachers will want to come back and revisit what I’ve said but they just can’t connect the dots, they can’t remember the flow of how things happen or even why they happened.  And so I wanted to create a 24-hour, seven-day a week online support option which supports your staff and your students in their technology use.

And so if you have a look at the www.usingtechnologybetter.com website, then you are more than welcome to have a look at the section that says “Community,” see a little bit about what’s coming, and then there will be an option for you to just raise your hand and say “Hey I’d be interested in joining this community at a foundational rate.”

So it is going to be a paid community but it will be at a – we’re going to release this at a very reduced price, so if you want to be one of the first schools or the first teachers to be involved in the community at this foundational rate then just raise your hand and say “Hey I’m interested” and as soon as it’s ready, we’ll let you know.

After about a month or so we will put that price up.  So this will have a deadline on it.  You will see a link either on the blog in this video.  You might even see a link in an email in some way, wherever that link is, just click that link and say “Hey I’m interested” and we will add you to our list of first people to be notified.

And so I hope those three changes that I’ve been working on are really going to benefit you as a teacher, they’ll benefit your students.  So head over to the www.usingtechnologybetter.com website, see a lot of the changes that are coming and then just shoot us an email or leave a comment in the comment section and let us know what you think.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Now that all these updates are pretty much over and done with, I’m going to get back into blogging, back into making how to and instructional videos for you, jumping back on social media, sharing ideas, resource and links and we’ll also be in the community helping people there as well.  So I hope to see you in the next video or on the next blog post.

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Privacy Policy

Using Technology Better Privacy Commitment

Introduction

We hold the privacy of your personal information in the highest regard.

Using Technology Better regards customer privacy as an important part of our relationship with our customers. The following privacy policy applies to all Using Technology Better users, and conforms to Internet privacy standards.

This policy will be continuously assessed against new technologies, business practices and our customers’ needs.

If you have questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should first contact the support team on our Contact Us Page.

Collection of Information

In order to use the Using Technology Better website, we may require information from you in order to provide the best service possible.

All correspondence may also be collected and stored, particularly in regard to sales, support and accounts, including Email.

Any information collected by Using Technology Better is collected via correspondence from you or your company. This may be via the telephone, Email, mail, fax or directly through our website.

Visitors and customers of japan.usingtechnologybetter.com will have their information shared back to DAIWABO INFORMATION SYSTEM CO., LTD. and DIS Service & Solution Co., Ltd.

Use of Collection Information

Any details collected from Using Technology Better customers is required in order to provide you with our

products and/or services, and a high level of customer service.

Correspondence is recorded in order to provide service references, and to assist in our staff development.

Web Site Use Information

Similar to other commercial Web sites, our Web sites utilize a standard technology called “cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and web server log files to collect information about how our Web site is used.

Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our Web site, and the Web sites visited just before and just after our Web site.

Storage of Collected Information

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card numbers) on our website, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

When Credit Card details are collected, we simply pass them on in order to be processed as required. We never permanently store complete Credit Card details.

We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.

If you have any questions about security on our Website, you can email us at <ContactEmail>.

Access to Collected Information

If your personally identifiable information changes, or if you no longer desire our service, you may correct, update, delete or deactivate it by emailing us at <ContactEmail>.

Orders

If you purchase a product or service from us, we may request certain personally identifiable information from you.

You may be required to provide contact information such as:

Name

Email

Postal address

Your school or organisation

Financial information (such as credit card number, expiration date, name on card, card billing address).

We use this information for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we will use this information to contact you.

Communications

Using Technology Better uses personally identifiable information for essential communications, such as

Emails

Accounts information

Critical service details.

We may also use this information for other purposes, including some promotional Emails.

If at any time a customer wishes not to receive such correspondence, they can request to be removed from any mailing lists by contacting support.

You will be notified when your personal information is collected by any third party that is not our agent/service provider, so you can make an informed choice as to whether or not to share your information with that party.

Third Parties

Using Technology Better may at its discretion use other third parties to provide essential services on our site or for our business processes.

We may share your details as necessary for the third party to provide that service.

These third parties are prohibited from using your personally identifiable information for any other purpose.

Using Technology Better does not share any information with third parties for any unknown or unrelated uses.

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a Web site, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies.

Each Web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a Web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

Browsers are usually set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies.

If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our site will not function as effectively when viewed by the users.

A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or pass on computer viruses.

How Do We Use Information We Collect from Cookies?

As you visit and browse our Web site, the site uses cookies to differentiate you from other users. In some cases, we also use cookies to prevent you from having to log in more than is necessary for security.

Cookies, in conjunction with our Web server’s log files, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our Web site and which parts of the site are most popular. This helps us gather feedback to constantly improve our Web site and better serve our clients.

Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you and we do not intentionally store any personal information that your browser provided to us in your cookies.

Legal

We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Website.

Links

Links on the Using Technology Better site to external entities are not covered within this policy. The terms and conditions set out in this privacy statement only cover the domain name of usingtechnologybetter.com

Changes to Privacy Policy

If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it periodically. If we make material changes to this policy, we will not use the personal information you have submitted to us under this Privacy Policy in a manner that is materially inconsistent with this Privacy Policy, without your prior consent

Delivery Policy

Most goods are digitally delivered instantly via email.  Our services may be delivered either via an online medium or live in person.

For our online delivery see below.  For services delivered live onsite, please refer to our speaker agreement form which is emailed to you on confirmation of booking.

Refund Policy

We do not offer refunds or returns unless we cannot supply goods or services or the goods or services are not delivered as promised.

Australian law is the governing body for all work, goods and services supplied by Using Technology Better.

Marketing Release

Using Technology Better (UTB) may film, record, and photograph me (the results of which are the “Recordings”). UTB may also incorporate into any production(s) any separate content (e.g., quotes, testimonials, biographical information, profiles, photos, videos, sound recordings, artwork, etc.) I provide to UTB or approve in writing (“Materials”).

1.License

I grant to UTB an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to, in its sole discretion, (i) edit, translate, and modify the Recordings and the Materials, (ii) attribute the Recordings and Materials to me by my name, age, and city and state of residence, (iii) incorporate the Recordings and the Materials into content to promote UTB, its programs, or products (“Content”), and (iv) publicly use, distribute, reproduce, create derivative works from, and perform/display the Content, and any excerpts thereof, in any language.

2. No Compensation.

I grant this permission without any financial or other obligation of any nature.

 

For any issues or concerns please contact us