Want to share a link with your class without having to go through Google Classroom? Do you have a website that you want your students to recall frequently and easily?
What it does:
Bitly shortens URLS and allows you to create your own web addresses, which doesn’t sound that revolutionary in but actually it can be really handy. Turn something like http://sheets.google.com/akfskdK84Jkf/#edit? in to bit.ly/11SiE in about 10 seconds. For example, my Y12 students can check progress on their writing and reading portfolios at anytime by going to bit.ly/vogelportfolios - it leads them to a Google Spreadsheet. You can send students to a Google Form (or any site) simply by writing an address on the board or just saying the address. It saves you from having to share the URL through email, Classroom or Schoology. I have even used it in staff meetings when I want people to go to a site.
Who I think it will be useful for:
Everyone. You can login with your howickgd account, and creating a URL takes about 10 seconds once you figure out how to do it.
This doesn’t really rate in the SAMR framework, as it is really more of a time saver and convenience thing. I just use it so often now that I couldn’t help sharing!