Google Apps for Education is Google’s suite of web-based tools that help the busy teacher work more efficiently and effectively for working with students, collaborating with colleagues, and communicating with parents.
Here are some of the most popular Google Apps for Education:
Google Drive: Teachers are using Google Drive to store all of their important documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms. Google Docs is now part of Google Drive.... More →
In my classroom I am constantly recording what my students are doing and putting it on my class Web site. Finding an easy way to accomplish this feat has been cumbersome at times because there have been too many steps such as loading video onto my laptop, editing the video, converting the video for the Web, and then uploading it to my site. Victory was... More →
This post is the first in a monthly series of posts about Google Apps for Education and how it can make an Administrator’s life more efficient, so you spend less time with paperwork and more time in classes, at school activities, and with parents, students and teachers. If you’re not familiar with the power of Google Apps for Education, welcome! Here’s a quick overview:
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So you have one tablet, does it have any use in a busy classroom of learners with an already busy teacher? YES!
Having a limited supply of any tool or resource means we need to be even more thoughtful and intentional about how we use that tool. Here are a few ideas for integrating your tablet into the teaching and learning in your classroom, even if you only have one... More →
On Monday January 21, Google users discovered a powerful new search tool had been unleashed, the ability to search for applications. Tell the powerful search engine what you are looking for and let Google search not only places like the Play Store but all app review sites and blogs.
In the example on the left, I searched for Android Whiteboard apps and was handed a couple of suggestions quickly as well... More →
Throughout the majority of most educators careers augmentative alternative communication devices (AAC’s) have been both limited in number and rather hefty in price. Rigid solutions such as Go Talks could range up to $300 and were toy-ish in appearance without the ability to customize very much at all. More Robust options could literally be thousands of dollars, and while well made, stood out as different from technology... More →
I love to read. Don’t you? I love books, magazines, manuals, blogs, and more. One of the challenges teachers face is how to instill that love of reading in their students. Thinking about the digital students we have today, I thought about what we can do to instill that love of reading with technology. Here are some suggestions.
Connect with other readers online.
Scholastic has a community for... More →
When rolling out the Google Apps for Education Suite to educators, Google Drive is easily in the first three application shared. And why not? It’s different yet familiar, it’s collaborative and you can do some neat tricks with it. Like a puppy. But with less mess.
Google Drive is great to show teachers and they will come up with some great plans to use with their... More →
If you are in the classroom like me, then you know that getting a one-to-one reading assessment completed without interruptions is a miracle. I have perfected the art of peripheral vision scanning of the other students as I conduct running records, and my frantic hand gestures to those that would interrupt are unmistakable. What I have not perfected is the art of completing the forms... More →
One of the most powerful tools for administrators is the almighty calendar. I have yet to find a calendar that is as robust and useful for school administrators as Google Calendar, and here’s why:
Google Calendar allows you to embed multiple calendars into a web page and change the way they look and the colors that are used.
You can easily attach documents, or invites to Google+ Hangouts ... More →
With the Google Voice app you can easily put a new spin on formative assessment. By installing the app and then signing up for a free customizable number (I was even able to get my last name in mine.) teachers can create a feedback hotline for students and parents to leave comments, reflections, or questions.
Here is an easy example. A teacher asks her class to read three poems by... More →
In an earlier resource, I discussed how you could use your Xperia tablet as a wireless microphone in order to dictate to text with Dragon. This is still a fabulous speech-to-text program, but it has two distinct drawbacks. First, you can not dictate directly into the tablet, rather it remotely transmits to a desktop or laptop computer which has Dragon Dictation installed on it. Second, Dragon is... More →
We’ve all grown attached to our email programs, but there are some distinct advantages for using GMail as your email client when you’re an educator, and particularly as an administrator.
Here’s my top five reasons to use GMail in an educator’s life:
1. Ability to search all emails - using the search box at the top of the page, I can search... More →
Many teachers love the collaborative nature of documents in the Google Drive system, but have difficulties keeping what is shared with them organized. I have some recommendations on how to handle that, and hope this will help you take advantage of all that collaborative documents make possible.
Note that if you are brand new to Google Drive, this post may be confusing. I am assuming an understanding of... More →
Google Drive allows students to write collaboratively. This falls in the Big Whopping Deal category, as students tend to be far more interested in producing higher quality work when the audience expands beyond the teacher. Student work can be reviewed, commented on, and discussed by peers in order to improve it before "turning in" the final draft to the teacher.
In Part 1, I described an approach to keeping... More →
Last month Google announced a new, handy little tool called Google Keep. First of all, I really like the simplicity of this app. Like the other Google Apps, it's tied to your Google account. More specifically it's connected to Google Drive. You can head here to download Google Keep from Google Play.
Once you've created notes, you can view them by going to drive.google... More →
I love challenges. Someone asked me if it was possible to get a Google Drive and a Box.net account to work together. I accepted this challenge and got to work figuring it out. I found that I can use both together. I already had Google Drive on my laptop and the Google Drive app on my Sony Xperia Tablet. I also had a Box.net account, Box sync... More →
This is an introductory activity to get to know the features of the Sony Xperia Tablet and a few of the apps. You can do the activities with a partner or by yourself. Tasks can be completed in any order.
All answers should be written down on the Sony Xperia Tablet. What app would you use for that?
Find the telephone number for the... More →
Here are four fabulous ways you can leverage Google Drive in your work as an Administrator:
1) Go paperless! Set your environmentally-friendly tone and standard for your teachers, students and community by making paperless versions of agendas and minutes the norm and printing FAR fewer to make available when necessary. We had an 8th grade student as our Secretary for School Site Council and she took the minutes directly in a... More →
It is my ultimate dream to create a paperless classroom. I could take the stance that this goal is purely from an eco-conscious standpoint, but selfishly I am tired of dealing with broken-down printers and copy machines. Wouldn’t it be great to avoid them altogether? Why not have your students do all of the work on your Xperia tablets and then email them to you, export... More →
So, you likely know about Android devices, and you probably have some experience with Google Docs (aka Drive). If not, check out these posts from other Ambassadors. However, have you considered all of the possibilities of using Google Drive on an Android device? If not, read on for all you’ve ever wanted to know about Google Drive for Android.
First, the basics.
With Drive, when... More →
It's that time of year for educators. The Summer is vanishing infinitely faster than any physics teacher ever thought naturally possible, and we are faced with planning the daunting number of lesson plans, professional growth goals, and student learning targets necessary to succeed in the upcoming year. For the facilitator/administrator the feeling of being overwhelmed, especially early on in the year, is all too real. ...; More →
The future doesn’t always deliver on the promises it makes to us as children, but video chats are one place where The Jetsons didn’t let me down. I may not be able to travel by pneumatic tube to school, have a delicious steak delivered to me in seconds at the touch of a button, or rely on my robot to clean up my messes, but I... More →
