Google Workspace for Education
Google Workspace for Education is a set of tools that can help teachers to lead a collaborative, creative classroom. Apps include Google Chrome, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms and Google Classroom.
Supporting Learning with Google Forms
I Love using Forms to give students support in learning their times tables. I set up a Form so that if the student answers incorrectly they are taken to a video or image that helps them to find the correct answer. View the slides presented in episode #42 of Teach Tech Play
Google Sheets Add on - AutoCrat
AutoCrat is a multi-purpose document merge tool that allows you to take data from a spreadsheet and merge it into a document via a template. Tell autoCrat which fields to merge via <<merge tags>> and then let autoCrat mass-generate personalised documents. You can even send the documents as email attachments. Make it fully automatic by telling autoCrat to run when new forms are submitted!
Gmail Updates
Google has just released an update to Gmail which contains some great new features including a snooze function, confidential mode, high priority notifications and a new side bar with customisable widgets.
Managing Shared Drives
Shared Drives are a welcome addition to the Google Drive structure as it removes the problem of individuals owning files that disappear when they leave the organisation. However, with teachers enjoying the simplicity of Shared Drives, some organisations are scared about privacy regulations. As administrators of a Shared Drive (someone with a manager role) we can adjust the settings to make Shared Drive files more secure. These settings can prevent members from sharing, downloading and printing files.
Organising Documents Made Easy
By making a table of contents for large documents, users can easily find specific sections with just one click! Each item in a table of contents in a Google Doc is hyperlinked to that heading. A great idea for school handbooks!
This Chrome extension is amazing! It allows users to share a document as a pdf, template, preview or force the person receiving the document to make a copy. This ensures users do not change your original copy. This extension works with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings.
Caution: Remember to ensure link sharing is on before using this extension!
When I find amazing videos that are useful for my lessons, I like to download them to ensure I can always use them. The Flash Video Downloader is a easy to use Chrome extension that does the job in seconds!
Digital Reading Logs
In my classroom students need to record their home reading every night. I created this reading log that not only captures which books they are reading but also asks them questions to check their comprehension. You will notice I used an advanced feature of Google forms that takes users to a particular section based on their answer to a question. I also use the Google Sheets add rowCall so that each student's responses are recorded on a separate sheet, making it easy to keep track of how often each child is reading.