Here’s another of the workshop resources from last week’s Professional Development Day… This one is an overview of the ways that you can use Drive to collaborate with teachers and students.
Harness the Power of Google
This past week I had the pleasure of presenting 3 Google workshops to the staff of my district during a full Professional Development Day. I wanted to share the presentations that I created. This first one is called “Harness the Power of Google and Free Your Lessons” which is an overview of many Google services and how they can be used in a classroom. For the class, I address each issue and then go online and create/discuss it live. But, the basics of the presentations are here 🙂
Great Ideas for Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts can be a wonderful resource for teachers and students! Check out this recent article on Edudemic featuring 4 Ways to Enhance Your Class with Google Hangouts You do need to enable G+ to use hangouts on your account, and G+ is not available if you’re younger than 13. But you can use Hangouts as a teacher and create a “virtual field trip” with an expert over Hangouts! What a great idea.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s Try Tech Tuesday Challenge!
Google Basics for Teaching
Speaking of online resources… Have you seen that Google is offering a Google Basics for Teaching online course?
Click HERE for more information and to register for this self-paced course!
Don’t forget this week’s Try Tech Tuesday challenge!
Online Resources!
The magic of the internet (among many “magics”) is the willingness of so many people to share what they know! If you’re looking for ideas of new things to try in your classroom, or looking to expand your knowledge of something, fresh ideas and perspectives are just a click away! Google products like Drive, and Docs, and Forms, and Slides are all being updated constantly! One of my favorite ways to know about all the new features is to follow Google on G+ and also to follow may fellow GCT’s and other great teachers on Twitter… Another site is my “go to” for Google Updates… I love Google Gooru If you’re the slightest bit geeky, there’s a wealth of Google-y information available on the site, and they run Google Hangouts and courses to keep everyone up to date! Check it out when you have a minute (or 20) to spare!
Don’t forget to check out the current Try Tech Tuesday Challenge!!
Welcome to Try Tech Tuesday!
Welcome to the first edition of Try Tech Tuesday!! Every first and third Tuesday of the month I will post a “Try Tech” challenge! The second and fourth Tuesday I’ll post samples of the previous week’s challenge results. Once you complete the challenge, go ahead and share it via twitter using the #trytechtu and fill out the form at the bottom of the challenge page! Once the challenge closes I’ll be sending out digital badges for participation! I hope you’ll join in the fun and try some tech 🙂
This first challenge is one that I love to play with! When I first started touting Google Docs, the biggest push-back I got from people was the “lack” of cool fonts. Because it’s web based, the fonts were limited… Well, now there’s a TON of fonts that you can play with!! Happy Monkey is my personal favorite at the moment 🙂 This week’s challenge is to create a Google Doc using some cool fonts and share it. Make sure that your sharing setting for the Doc is set to “anyone with the link can view” and paste that link in the form below!
To access the fonts, log in to your Google account, go to Drive and either create a new Doc, or open one that you’ve already created. Up in the top edit menus, click on the current font (probably Ariel if you haven’t changed it), and in the drop down, click on “more fonts” at the bottom. There’s a whole host of fonts that you can add… Once you add them to your Doc, they are available in all of your drive… You only need to add them once. You can also use that same menu to remove them from your common font list (if you have too many to scroll through).
Please share this via twitter using the #trytechtu and also fill out the form below if you join in! When I post the next challenge (on the third Thursday) I’ll be sending along digital badges for this first challenge (as long as you share your email address… Emails will not be shared, just used to send out the badges).
Chrome Extensions: TabCloud
Happy #NaBloPoMo !
Today’s quick tip is one of my favorite Chrome Extensions, TabCloud. You can save a set of tabs to go back to later!! I’m kind-of an “open-tab-hoarder”… And really like to have “my” tabs ready to go! It’s especially helpful when presenting at workshops. I know that I want a specific set of tabs open for each separate workshop, and I can save them all and reopen them with a single click… Just click the button and voila! All the tabs I need open!
The Chrome extension is available in the Chrome Web Store (and it’s free). Once you have it installed in Chrome, you’ll be able to see it in your menu bar…
Click on it to sign in and start saving your favorite open tab sets!
**Don’t forget, if you’re a teacher and participating in #NaBloPoMo, please let us know by posting your information HERE so we can all follow each other! It’s not too late to join in the “party” 🙂 **
Calculator Tip
Happy #NaBloPoMo !!
Here’s another quick and easy tip for your search bar! If you need a calculator, of course you can search for the word calculator in any google search bar which will bring up a working calculator right in your search! But, did you know that you can simply type the expression into the search bar and get the answer? Try it! See, Google does have the answers to everything 🙂 This also works for all kinds of things, like word definitions too!
Also, I’m so excited that another of my #gtamtv cohort is taking up the #NaBloPoMo challenge!! Michelle Green looked through the list of participating blogs, and as far as she can tell, we’re the only edtechies 🙂 that are participating! Michelle started a Google Sheet that we can make a list in… I’ll also add a link over in my sidebar to any other ed tech blog that’s participating! We’d love to have lots of blogs to read! If you want to join in the bloggy fun, just add your info to the list on the Google Sheet and check out any other blogs listed!
Happy November!
I thought it would be fun to join in on #NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) for November! So, everyday (hopefully) in November there’ll be a post with a little Tech Tip! It’s the perfect month to start with the Try Tech Tuesday challenge as well! So, check in everyday and see if there’s something new!
This is a quick tip when you want to search in a specific website. Some websites have a handy search box embedded in their site, but if the one you’re looking for doesn’t, here’s a quick way to search for something specific within a site.
In your search bar use the search term site:
So, if you don’t want to scroll all the way through everydaytechteacher to find out how to disable YouTube comments, in the Google search bar type
disable youtube comments site:www.everydaytechteacher.com
Happy Searching!!
Coming Soon! Try Tech Tuesday!
I am so excited about my newest “project” Try Tech Tuesday! Starting on Tuesday, November 4, I’ll post a small technology challenge here on the blog. Challenges will be posted on the first and third Tuesday, with posts on the second and fourth Tuesday featuring challenge submissions. There will be digital badges for participants, and some really cool technologies to try. First challenge posts next week! Hope to see you then!
#TryTechTu