Google Drive
What is Google Drive?
Google Drive lets you store any file, so you can keep photos, stories, designs, drawings, recordings, videos, documents, anything - all in one place. Your files in Drive can be reached from any smartphone, tablet, or computer. So wherever you go, your files follow. You can quickly invite others to view, download, and collaborate on all the files you want – no email attachment needed. What's even better, is that with a DRET account, you have unlimited secure storage.
Classroom Ideas
Getting Student Work onto the Big Screen
“Do you want to get student work onto the big screen so you can model an answer or give feedback in some way? Using Google Drive offers an instant solution, quick enough to be able to walk around the room snapping pictures that will be available to view onscreen by the time you get back to the front of the class.”
Credit: C. King, Charles Read Academy
There are many reasons why you would want to show student work on the big screen, and there are many ways to do it – for example using a visualiser, scanning pages to PDF or taking a picture and emailing it to yourself.
The use of Google Drive simplifies the process of getting student work onto the big screen, and allows you to do it in real time as you are walking around the class. As long as you have access to a device that has an internet connection and a camera for taking pictures i.e. a smartphone or tablet, as a teacher you can walk around the room with the device in hand, taking snapshots of student work and uploading them into a folder in Google Drive, with just a few clicks. By the time you get back to the board, you can then open the photos on screen and discuss and analyse the work. If your board has built-in annotation tools, you can then draw over the top of the image for instant feedback to students. In this example, the ability to quickly snap a picture of student work, have it up on screen and to correct mistakes as a class, ensures that everyone is on the right track and can make further improvements to their own work.
Click here to learn how.
Digital Marking Using Google Docs
“If you already mark digital work, maybe in the form of a Word document, then converting to Google Docs will offer you many advantages to save time and work effectively. With the ‘suggesting’ mode feature you can directly add or remove text from the work, to automatically generate the suggested feedback in a comment box.”
Google Docs is a great tool to use with your class. Imagine setting an assignment for students to complete, but instead of them opening Word or PowerPoint, they open a Google Docs or Slides and they share it with you. You can then see the progress the students are making, and comment and feedback at any time.
In this example, an MFL teacher has made comments on a piece of work a student has shared, whilst commenting she can suggest text to add, delete and words/phrases as replacements – this is very useful for students learning and writing in a new language.
What makes this tool so powerful is that the feedback is instant, the student can open up their work whenever they want, see the feedback on screen and continue working.
Click here to learn how.
Credit: M. Wardle, Havelock Academy
Training Videos
Google Drive: An Introduction
An introduction to Google Drive: how to log in, create folders, upload files and share.
Google Drive: Assigning Tasks
A video describing how to assign tasks in Google Drive, for creating to-do lists and assigning different people different tasks within the same list, document, spreadsheet or slideshow.
Google Drive: Make Meetings Better with Google
A short video which takes you through the workflow of how to make the process of holding a meeting quicker and more effective by using Google Drive.
Google Drive: Using Drive with students and staff
A video showing how you can give students view only rights to folders but allow staff to edit and organise. Perfect for collating GCSE resources, revision guides etc.
Google Drive: Revision History Part 1 - Google Slides
Part 1 of 2 - using the Revision History in G Suite. In this video we explore the uses of the Revision History when using Google Slides.
Google Drive: Revision History Part 2 - Google Docs
Part 2 of 2 - Using Google Docs for coursework or assignments and how the Revision History can be utilised.
Google Drive: Add colour and symbols, emojis to your folders
A brief video showing how to easily add symbols, emojis and colour to your Google Drive folders, whether it be for organisational purposes or just for fun.
Top Tips
Have a look at some of our favourite top tips when using Google Drive and Docs.
Useful Links
Google Drive (drive.google.com)
Google Docs (docs.google.com)
Google Slides (slides.google.com)
Google Sheets (sheets.google.com)