All students and teachers have Gmail accounts (firstname.lastname@student.dodea.edu). This is a secondary account for teachers that is primarily used to access Google Apps and Schoology, but can be use when messaging with students. Gmail can be forwarded to your Outlook email address if you do not want to check two email accounts.

Google Chrome is the browser we use for most because it is easy to access Google Apps and it connects us to Schoology. You must be signed into Chrome with your @student.dodea.edu account to login to Schoology.

Please make Chrome your default browser and save bookmarks for the sites you use most by clicking on the star to the right of the URL. Chrome will sync your history, bookmarks, and passwords to your Google Account on all devices where you are signed in.

You can set specific pages to open each time you log into Chrome, such as Aspen, GradeSpeed, etc by following these steps:

1. Open the pages you want to have opened each time you log in and close all other tabs.
2. Click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper right corner.
3. Choose settings and scroll down to "On startup"
4. Click on "Use current pages"

If you have a personal Gmail account that you use with Chrome you will want to keep these two accounts separate and be aware of which account you are using so that personal browsing history and passwords are not saved in your DoDEA account. DoDEA controls all browsing history when using your work account. You can set up separate profiles and check the upper right corner to check which account you are using before you start working.

You can create and store files in your Google Drive. You will have access to these files from any device with internet access. If you have files already stored on your device, you can upload them by clicking on +NEW and choosing File Upload or Folder Upload.

You can create folders in your Drive to organize your files. If you start in a folder when creating new files, the new file will be located in the folder. If you want to move files, you can drag and drop them into folders. You can view your drive in List View or Grid View by clicking on the toggle button in the upper right corner.

On the left side, you can click on My Drive to see all of your folders. You can click on Shared Drives to see all of your Team Drives. These are Drives that are shared among team members. You will find shared resources in these drives that you can view, edit, and contribute to.

Click on +NEW to create new files in any Google App. Remember, no student Personally Identifiable Information (PII) should ever be stored in your Google Drive.

We use Google Calendars for our Facilities Calendar and our Computer Carts and Labs Calendars.

You can view the Facilities Calendar in Google. If you want to reserve a space in our school for an activity, please email the front office. Then, check the Facilities Calendar to make sure you have the space reserved.

To reserve a computer lab or cart, you can edit the shared Google Calendars. Please follow the guidelines on the tip sheet to the left.

Google Slides is an online presentation tool. Like other Google Apps, presentations can be shared and worked on collaboratively. If you want to view revisions, you can click on File and choose Version History to see who has contributed or revert to a previous version.

You can see from the links on the left, that there are many ways to use Slides as a teacher and with students.

Google Slides is an online word processing tool. Like other Google Apps, documents can be shared and worked on collaboratively. If you want to view revisions, you can click on File and choose Version History to see who has contributed or revert to a previous version.

Google Slides is an online spreadsheet tool. Like other Google Apps, spreadsheets can be shared and worked on collaboratively. If you want to view revisions, you can click on File and choose Version History to see who has contributed or revert to a previous version.

The Flippity link gives teachers numerous ways to turn spreadsheets into online flashcards, games, and other helpful tools.

Google Forms can be used to create quick opinion polls, get feedback from students, formative assessment or other data collection purposes. Responses can be view graphically or in a spreadsheet. It is not the best tool for tests and quizzes. Schoology is better for that purpose.

Google Sites is a wonderful resource available to DoDEA educators to use for creative and interactive communication. However, according to the DoDEA Web Publishing Guidelines, these Google Sites come with specific responsibilities - both for the educator and their school administrator. For this reason, you should first verify with your administrator that they allow Google Sites to be used by the school.

According to the guidelines (§4.2.a.2), the building level administrator, among other things, must "[r]eview content/conduct content audit each semester. The audit will determine if the sites have been updated and should remain active." In order to do this, administrators must be aware of and have easy access to the sites for their school.

For that reason, you are required to submit any site to your school administrator through this form.

*IMPORTANT: Please make sure to add your administrator as a individual with "edit" permissions through their 'student.dodea.edu' account to any Google Sites you create.*