As someone who grew up utilizing the google workspace in school, I found this unit very interesting. We always used google’s tools such as google docs, google classroom, etc. but as a student we never really had the chance to understand why we were using these things. My use of the google workspace came to my mind right away when asked how technology has impacted my life. It was easier for me to communicate with my teachers, my homework was completed more quickly, and I was able to learn new information as soon as computers became the main tool in school. I think this unit resonated with me because it really goes hand in hand with my personal experiences in school. 

While the use of google workspace was a consistent piece of my schooling, one thing that I think wasn’t touched on enough for me growing up was the idea of the digital footprint. One of the key takeaways from this unit was how teachers are attempting to teach their students about their digital footprint. As mentioned in the first teacher voice memo under “Exploring Digital Citizenship”, he has students look up their names online to see what pictures and information come up that they didn’t even know was on the internet. Seeing first hand how connected everything is online is an important step in making students understand that whatever they do online is never going to go away. People, especially younger people. post things thinking that they will not be important in the future, but the content of the internet never goes away.

I am always a person who needs to write things down in order to keep track of everything that I have to do. I constantly have a million things going on and try to use different tools to best keep myself in check. Even though I have been using Google Calendar for a very long time both in and out of school, I found it very interesting and useful to find out how to use it more effectively. Being able to organize events by duration, location, description, etc. will allow me to have more of an idea of exactly what tasks are due and exactly who/when they are for. 

I never knew that Google Tasks and Google Keep were options to utilize through Google. Google Tasks was very intriguing for me to learn about because it makes life a lot easier when apps/google features are connected with each other so that there is less confusion on where things are saved or where tasks are listed. Because of this unit, I am going to spend more time looking into Tasks and Keep to try and keep up organization skills for both my school work and personal life, just as mentioned throughout the unit. 

Note-Taking | Google Keep

The first note-taking facilitation tool I decided to explore was Google Keep. Keep is a simple tool that is a part of the google workplace, and it is used to keep track of notes and things to do. There are a lot of different ways to customize the notes/lists and make them easy to follow on one simple page. The artifact that was the best to create for this tool was to make my own set of to dos/lists within my Keep. I took a screenshot of the page of lists to show how Keep works and how the different customizable features can be utilized to benefit usage. 

I started off by creating a label, “lists”, which is similar to the labels in gmail, and keeps the notes organized in case they are for different things (work, personal life, etc). I also utilized different customization tools to change the colors of the notes, as well as add a photo to one of my to do lists. I explored the different tools within Keep and found that you can add voice memos and drawings along with images to make the lists/notes more in depth. One of the features that I found the most helpful was the ability to add a reminder to a note. The white note labeled “greek grind practice” will notify me at 8:00PM that I have an event to attend. This tool allows these notes to work almost like a calendar. 

Note-Taking | Notability

The second notetaking facilitation tool I explored was notability. Notability is an app that works best on an iPad and is good for taking notes in class, doing homework, and writing things out with either a stylus or your hand. There are a lot of different tools that can be used to make notes more manageable and easier to follow along with when studying or going over things from class. There are also a lot of different templates that Notability includes in the free version of their app, so you are able to have different things like a calendar, to-do list, homework, etc. all in one place. 

The artifact I made for this tool was an example notebook if I utilized Notability on a daily basis. On the left side, I explored the calendar template that was given by Notability. In the calendar, I used the highlighter feature, the pen feature, the color changing ink feature, the text box feature, the photo import feature, and the pencil feature. All of these tools allow the calendar to be colorful, neat, and practical. The features are very easy to use, and having a calendar that is consistently editable is a plus. The second page that I created was an example prompt for an English class. I was able to practice with the highlighter tool, the shape tool, and the pen tool, to make the homework easy to understand. All of these features make Notability user friendly and good for students to use for their work on a daily basis.

Reflection