This blog is maintained by the Wenatchee School District's Instructional Technology Department to keep staff updated on tips and techniques for navigating the digital world. The content on this website in no way represents the opinions or beliefs of WSD.
I saw a retweet of some short tech videos and thought it was worth a blog post. Many things today are becoming shorter and to the point. Twitter is now referred to as micro-blogging and more and more we're digesting little bits of information and forming our own learning. One idea I've seen floating around the Interwebs lately is what I would call micro-learning, or getting your professional development in short chunks rather than full day sit-and-get sessions.
These Small Bytes tech videos fall into that category. Focusing on Google Drive, Slides, Docs, Classroom, Forms and other programs like AutoCrat and Nearpod, the creator offers up little bits of information that you can take in when you want. Don't want to sit through a ton of un-information just to get to what you need? Small Bytes will help.
EduSync is an online tool that I looked at last year and while I liked it, I dismissed it because it either didn't do what I wanted or I already had a tool that could do what it does. But a few days ago the developer, @builtbyteachers, made a post on Twitter hinting that there would soon be Google Classroom integration and that got me excited. Low and behold, now there is.
EduSync allows teachers to sync the calendar interface on EduSync's site to their Google Calendar AND to Google Classroom. So instead of teachers trying to maintain a Google Calendar and also post announcements and assignments to Classroom, it can be done all at once.
On the EduSync site teachers can easily add their classes and units and access the calendar. The interface is very easy to use with lots of options for teachers to identify the type of event, add dates and standards, and give instructions and objectives. It's very well thought out and you can tell it was designed by teachers, PLUS it's free forever.
To add an event simply click on the day on the calendar, adjust the details for your event and save. The beauty of it for me is the Google Classroom button on the bottom left that allows you to instantly add the event as an assignment or announcement to your Google Classroom. No more dancing between programs and cutting and pasting.
There are a few steps to pay attention to in order to sync your EduSync calendar with your Google tools, but it's as simple as ticking a few boxes in Settings.
Google Classroom is a game-changing tool for classroom teachers, whether they are in a 1:1 environment or just get occasional time for kids on computers. It links all of the creative work teachers do in Google Drive to the students and it just keeps getting better.
Today I learned about a Chrome extension called Add to Google Classroom that allows you take a website that you're visiting and add it to your Google Classroom as an announcement or an assignment with only a few, easy clicks. If you're an avid Google Classroom user you'll be excited to check it out.
Blendspace is a great site that a colleague showed me that does a few things very well. It helps teachers to organize all kinds of documents, links, and media in one convenient location. Plus, it gives a teacher a place to easily add student work onto one page to compile and show off what they've done. It's like a virtual corkboard that you would normally see on the walls of a traditional classroom.
Right off the bat you get to sign in with your Google credentials, which is becoming more and more popular, and rightly so, especially when you're dealing with kids who can't remember passwords (and teachers too). Once you're in you can create a lesson and you are presented with tiles on the left side that represent spaces where you can add stuff. The list of things you can add and the places you can add them from is pretty impressive: YouTube, Google Search, Flickr, Educreations, Gooru, any webpage, upload media from your computer, DropBox, Google Drive, and Common Core Standards.
I highly recommend you check it out as well as the video below.
I've written in a previous post about how Jeopardy-style games are great in the classroom for allowing kids to show what they've learned, challenge their peers, and have fun. One of the best sites out there for creating Jeopardy games is Jeopardy Rocks and today I learned they just came out with version 2. Their email blast said it now features image, video and equation uploading, printing games, accounts and more.
I read about a Google script that allows you to open a folder in your Google Drive account that other users can upload files into, even if they don't have a Google account. It doesn't require any coding at all and even a beginner can easily use this tool by following the simple steps in the video below. There are a lot of obvious advantages to this, like students turning in homework, uploading pictures, or just having a common place to store stuff.
After you run the script you will get a url that you can share with whomever you wish. Users add their name, choose their file, and press 'Upload'.
I tried it with on an iPad too and it allows a user to upload a file from Google Drive or the camera roll, or take an image with the camera to upload.
Google made a very slight change today and it made me smile. In the past, whenever you wanted to change the name of a file, usually from 'Unnamed document' to something that you really want, Google made you click on the file name, then it opened up a new dialog box that you had to click in, type in, then close. Now all you have to do is click on the document name, start typing the new name, then press 'Enter'. Small change, big impact for my efficient brain.
