UNLEASH

ED

Tag: google apps

  • Lockdown Learning – List of Resources

    Last week I posted that I would make a list of resources, apps, software, and programs that would assist you in providing remote learning.

    I regret mentioning it. Because I have decided that this is counter-productive for two reasons.

    Firstly, others have already started doing the same thing. Most notably, the Ministry of Education.

    Secondly, due to reflecting on this over the last week or so, I’ve determined that actually, the saturation of these apps and free trials of products is overwhelming and unproductive for many teachers, and actually, Teachers will be better to stick with what we know. It will not only help us to keep our remote learning plans programme manageable (and therefore sustainable) for us, but also will be familiar and accessible to our students who are learning from home and don’t really need to be learning how to use software at the same time. If we know they can already use it because we used it when we were at school together, then we’re more confident that they’ll be able to complete the tasks we’re asking of them.

    So, in short, this is us saying we’re not going to be adding a list of notable software, products that have been made free, or recommended apps for different tasks.

    Use what you’re familiar with. Use what you know works for you and what works for your students.

    If you’d like a list of software, apps, and ideas that can be used to assist you in delivering your remote learning plans, please visit these two sites:

    Learning from Home – learningfromhome.govt.nz

    Teach from Home – teachfromhome.google

  • BYOD: It’s not as compulsory as you think

    As a bit of a tech guru, it saddens me to see parents trapped in the psyche that they need to not only “Keep up with the Joneses”, but need to provide their child with a $300+ device to use at school. Let alone stationery, let alone uniforms.

    The reality is that schools should be providing the devices for the students, but this runs into many issues. One is the ongoing costs to the school which many simply don’t want to budget for or have other priorities and are not funded adequately enough to provide for one-to-one devices in their school. Then there’s the requirement to maintain these devices and issues surrounding damages and repairs and whose responsibility that is, along with many others. So instead of dealing with this, schools have been farming this cost off onto their community and expectations land on the parents to provide these.

    Here’s the other reality though. If you can’t provide one, because of whatever reason (including any moralistic ones), then you do not have to. Schools cannot enforce it, and it says so in the following article. It’s against the law. Schools can’t even demand a particular kind of device – they can’t demand any device. These are only recommendations so that they have devices that are all similar and therefore easier to manage within the classroom so that unskilled teachers don’t have to learn how to use a range of device types in order to assist and help with any technological problems.
    But, as we’ve come to know, most devices are usable by the general population and are rarely so dissimilar that they become problematic. Add to this the fact most schools are running Google Apps, which operate on the big cloud in the sky and runs off the internet – therefore look, run, and work all the same regardless of the device being used (allowing for differences between tablet apps and browser based versions).
    Simply put, any device will do. Shop around, and select one that matches your budget, and then your needs, not the other way around.

    Parents who aren’t in the position to splash out for a device that will likely only last 3 years and then you’re up for another one,  should swallow their pride and go and talk to the school. If the school is worth their weight, they’ll explain, discuss, and come to some arrangement for you. It is more than likely some compensation can be made, and in most cases, schools will have a (albeit limited) supply of devices available for student use.

    If not, then it’s more a reflection on the school than you as a parent.

    Don’t just accept it and remortgage your house or go without food for a week to pay for it. It sickens me that this happens because parents don’t want to go to the school.
    Go and talk to the school. Yes they are closed at the moment, but they’ll be open soon enough. Go and have a chat and explain your position. Yes, there may be shame, but it’s not worth just going along with the list of demands, complaining about it later, and missing out on other more important things. Like school lunches.

    I’ve always said schools need to sort out BYOL before they sort out BYOD. If every student is a “Bring Your Own Lunch” student, THEN, and only then, should you start thinking about becoming a “Bring Your Own Device” school.

    Original Article: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/88562690/schools-byod-or-bring-your-own-device-demands-are-a-rising-cost-to-parents?rm=m

    For many parents, preparing their children for the school year means finding ways to cope with the costs of BYOD.

    BYOD stands for “bring your own device”, and refers to pupils owning devices like laptops, iPads and Chromebooks for use in the classroom, and for homework.

    Prices quoted by electronics retailer PB Tech, which has built a “shop by school” search tool, show the costs of devices expected at schools vary from Chromebooks starting at just over $300 up laptops costing $2000 or more.

    In both cases there can be extra costs for shock-proof, waterproof cases, and accidental damage insurance.

    Schools have worked hard to negotiate deals, and affordable payment plans for families, knowing the extra pressure BYOD policies can put on hard-pressed families.

    But parents without ready cash can find themselves being steered by schools towards finance companies, or even Work and Income.

    It’s not clear exactly how many people do get government help to cope with BYOD costs, but the first three months of last year, covering the back-to-school period, saw 24,278 instances of “hardship assistance” made by Work and Income, adding up to just under $5.3 million in payments.

    DEBATE OVER

    The debate over whether devices have a place is the classroom is largely settled at intermediate and high school level.

    But some primary schools have introduced BYOD for their older pupils, and retailers like PB Tech sometimes pictures of primary-age children on their website.

    The Ministry of Education says ultrafast broadband is transforming education, and has invested heavily in helping schools and teachers to “equip students with the necessary digital skills to take part, create and thrive in a fast-evolving world”.

    Schools cannot legally force families to buy their children devices, but it’s now common practice for them to use words like “require” and “expect” in their BYOD policies and menus of devices.

    Intermediate and high school parents may feel they have no choice but to fund BYOD, and there’s even signs of pressure on some parents of primary school children.

    Primary schools often own a number of devices, but as Buckland Beach Primary School tells parents: “Parents are now offered the chance to improve the access their child has to ipads. This is offered through BYOD where students bring an ipad from home.”

    Other Articles: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/88562690/schools-byod-or-bring-your-own-device-demands-are-a-rising-cost-to-parents?rm=m

  • How to use Realtimeboard in the Classroom

    Yesterday I posted about Realtimeboard, an online whiteboard I have begun using in my class to collate and collect the work that we work on together.

    Today I plan to take you through the steps for getting started, making your first board and general use of the app. I’m sure that I won’t be able to cover everything that the app can do, but hope to give you enough of a start so that you can realise for yourself the power of this software and how you might start using it in your classroom.

    Step 1. Getting Started

    I am going to assume that you’ve managed to get yourself signed up, and hopefully have managed to get approved for an educator account. If not, I highly suggest that you do. Go to realtimeboard.com/education/ and fill in the form. They actually get back to you a lot sooner than they suggest.

    Once you have signed in, you’ll be greeted by your dashboard. You may get a “What’s New” as is customary these days with these kinds of apps.

    The dashboard is relatively straight forward. You have your created boards at the top, and some demo boards below.

    Clicking on the Google inspired blue “plus” circle will create your first board.

    Realtimeboard has done well to make this app resemble any of the native Google Apps, by including “Shared with me” and “Last Opened” menu filters on the left hand side.

    At the top right, there are account links and settings options.

    Click the plus to create a new board.

     

    Step 2. The Workspace

    Navigating

    The Realtimeboard workspace is essentially an infinite ‘canvas’ or board stretching out beyond the edges of the screen. There are a few, quick tips you’ll need to know for getting around.

    1. Using the mouse roller button, or doing two finger scroll on most trackpads these days will zoom in and out from your canvas. It zooms towards or away from the position of the mouse cursor on the screen.
    2. Clicking on the canvas and dragging allows you to move around the canvas at the current zoom rate.
    3. Clicking on an object selects that object and allows you to perform different operations with them.
    4. Double clicking will centre and zoom (in or out) to fit the selected object to the whole viewport.
    5. Arrow keys also allow you to move around the canvas
    6. Esc key exits from the current operation. If you are typing text, it will go back and show the selection of the text box. Pushing Esc again will deselect the textbox. Obviously, if you’ve only selected a shape, pushing Esc once will deselect it.

    Zooming in and out allows you to get right into the little details, as well as zoom out to see an overview of your board. Using these together, especially with frames mode creates great transition animations as the viewing screen zooms in and out to fit the screen.

    Top Left

    The top left, as with many Google Apps that Realtimeboard has mimicked, includes the Title & Document Name and a Home button to return you to the Dashboard.

    In addition, Realtimeboard offers an “Export” button, which allows users to save the board off in a range of different formats. This is incredibly useful for a number of reasons and uses, such as including the board in a different document, keeping an archived version of the board, or merely just backing up. It also allows you to save it straight to your Google Drive; if you have linked your account.

     

    Tools

    Realtimeboard includes all the tools you would expect to find in such an app. Each tool even has a shortcut key which is incredibly helpful for quickly changing tool. I’ve included these in square brackets.

      The pointer tool has two options. One is the standard Select tool [V], and the other is the hand, or Pan [H], which allows users to drag the viewport around the canvas. The select tool defaults to the hand tool when clicking on the canvas background instead of an object on the board.
      The Text tool [T] brings up a standard text cursor that users can use to create text boxes on the whiteboard using click and drag
    Hello Sticky Notes [N]! This is possibly one of the cooler tools that can be used to show key bits of information, or student’s ideas and suggestions. You can post one at a time, square or landscape, or create multiple notes at once. Great for writing down different student views from around the class!
    It wouldn’t be a whiteboard without the Shape [S] tool. Gone are the days of teachers having to practise drawing perfect circles on their blackboard. Now, just select the shape and then click and drag it to the desired size on your canvas.

    You can also add text to shapes!
      The Pen [P] and Eraser [E] tools are great additions for the whiteboard. You can quickly select the desired size and then free hand draw or write onto the canvas with a selection of colours. While these are initially limited, you can also add your own custom colours from the spectrum.

    The eraser tool works really well, but only for lines drawn with the pen. It does not erase shapes for example.

     
    Comments [C] are integrated into Realtimeboard much like they are in Google Apps. You can even mention other collaborators directly. Like in Google Docs where you can assign comments to words or lines or sections, you can place comments on any part of the canvas.
       Undo [Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z] is the most used tool, and it’s no surprise that the folk at Realtimeboard have built this into their app, along with the common shortcut people will be used to.
       Lower down the tool menu, Frames [F] (which I am quite impressed with as mentioned on my overview). This tool allows you to create “pages” or “views” within the whiteboard. You can then navigate between them using the arrow keys (only when in Frames). When using this tool, you can select the size and drag it to incorporate whatever you like to appear in the ‘view’.
       Fullscreen does just that. No bells. No whistles. But quite useful none the less, especially when displaying this on an actual whiteboard.
      The last tool is the Minimap [Z], or zoom tool. This essentially allows you to return to the default zoom or size of the document, as well as showing a mini-map of your board (remembering that it could be gigantic on an infinite whiteboard!).

    Inserting Media

    The other tool is at the top of the whole list. It allows you to do a range of different things:

    • Choose a template from a range of different layouts and examples of what Realtimeboard can be used for.
    • Uploading images, files from your local computer.
    • Uploading images etc from a URL.
    • Screenshot of a webpage.
    • Recently uploaded files that you’ve already uploaded.
    • Files from the Realtimeboard Chrome Browser Extension.
    • Files from your Google Drive (if you have connected your account in settings).
    • Wireframes are great! They are a quick-select library of templates or layouts which are quick and easy to add into your board. See below for the examples.
    • Tables and Charts to give a quick visual of data or statistics is built into this app nicely.
    • IconFinder allows you to add a selection of icons to make your board more visually rich.
    • Vimeo allows you to select video from Vimeo.com.
    • Adding videos from YouTube.
    • Add images from Google Image Search.

     

    Top Right

    Once again, Realtimeboard have been smart in keeping the same kind of features they offer in the same location as Google Apps. In the top right, includes a Share button to add ‘viewers’ or ‘editors’ and ‘collaborators’. You can invite people using their email addresses, and you can set the level of privacy, from ‘Can View’, to ‘Can Comment’, and ‘Can Edit’. You can also get a ‘Public’ link that allows you to easily share it out to everyone.

    Next to the share button are the ‘Comments’ that have been made, all available in one place.

    The Information button gives you quick links to feature pages of Realtimeboard. These are not related to the document.

    The Search button does just that; searches your board for a given word or phrase.

    Other Features

    The only other feature is key to real-time collaboration with others, and that is the Chat Feature in the bottom right corner. Video Chat requires a premium account, but screensharing appears to be available – although I have yet to try this. I can imagine this might be quite useful for view only collaborators.

    The other great feature of Realtimeboard is that it automatically saves, just like Google Apps.

    3. Creating Content

    Adding Text

    One of the most common tasks you’ll want to do is adding text.

    1. Select the Text tool [T]
    2. Click on the board where you want the text to start.
    3. Start typing…

    As with most text tools, there are a number of formatting tools for use. From left to right;

    • You can choose the font size
    • Set the text as Bold, Italic, or Underlined, or a combination of all three.
    • Change the font colour, or the Fill colour. The fill colour sets the background of the text box to the colour you select.
    • Set the alignment of the text within the box, from left, centre, or right.
    • Create a bulleted list.
    • Create a link.

    Modifying Objects

    With all the objects placed on the board, the orange outline shows the object that is selected. This goes away when another object is selected, or you click off that object (or press Esc).
    The white circles around the outside of the selection allow you to change the dimensions of the box by clicking and dragging them in the appropriate direction. The corner circles allow for diagonal adjustments, and with text boxes, or if you hold down shift as you drag, these will keep the proportions as you adjust them. The circles in the middle of each outline allows for adjustment in either the horizontal or vertical direction only.
    The arrow on the end of a looped three-quarter circle allows you to rotate the object through 360 degrees.

     

    If you right click on an object, there is a drop down menu that will appear with a range of options. These are different depending on the type of object. Most of them however include the following tools:

     

    Right click menu on any object

    		  Right click menu on any image  

    Right click menu when multiple objects are selected (using Shift)

    Holding down Shift as you click on different objects allows you to select multiple objects at once. Right clicking on these selected object then allows you to group and/or align objects together, as well as other functions.

    The key menu items I use from these are definitely the ‘Bring forward’ function, or the ‘Send backward’, which allows me to put things behind or in front of other things, particularly important when adding shapes and text to work in with each other.

     

    Examples

    I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. Below I’ve just put up some examples of the content our class is currently experiencing through the Keeping Ourselves Safe programme run by the New Zealand Police. I spent a bit of time after our last session going through and adding a bit of flare to the content, more to show what is possible. I’ve included a few notes about how each was created.

    Example 1

    • Square shape, dragged to rectangle, filled with black.
    • Text, text colour changed to white.
    • Text, header box given a ‘pink’ fill, text colour to white.
    • Same pink colour for down arrow (Shape).

    Example 2

    • Square shape made into rectangle, thick border, purple/blue (custom colour)
    • 4x text boxes for each numbered point. Bold first line. Examples unbolded.
    • Text header, given same fill colour as border of square. White text colour changed.
    • Post-it Note added to right hand space. Font changed on note to ‘handwritten’.

    Example 3

    • Star Shape, Yellow Fill.
    • Star shape (small), orange fill, duplicated 4x.
    • 4x text box next to each small star.
    • STAR heading. Rotated 90 degrees. Bold text.
    • S.T.A.R, bold first letter. Bring to front over top of Star shape.

    Each of these examples look like a Powerpoint slide, but these are just the tip of the iceberg of how you can create content, and then add to it to make it visually impactual for your class. Adding in frames allows you to present it like a slideshow, or simply use the Pan tool [H] to move around the content. Each of these three examples exist on the one Realtimeboard, and are visually linked by arrows that viewers can follow the lesson progression as we worked through it.

    Right. That should be enough to get your feet wet. I’m sure that you’ll get the hang of it in no time, and begin creating a variety of creative and amazing content that will engage and inspire your students.

  • Realtimeboard: The Online Whiteboard for Teachers

    So you need some whiteboard software?

    Basically, there is software that is out there that mimics a whiteboard.

    Then there’s Realtimeboard.

    Online, creative, systematic, intuitive, custom, automatic, flexible. All the things you want in many software apps. But without adding so many options that it wipes out any function.

    I’ve been using Realtimeboard for a while now, but was always limited by their “3 board for free” policy, where free account users could only create three ‘boards’. Being that I would probably prefer to have one board for each subject, or one board for each topic, or even one board per lesson, the 3 board for free policy wasn’t really going to work.

    Recently, there has been a big push (even by Apple) for schools to ‘prove’ that they are a school, in order to offer educational packages to certified education institutions. Realtimeboard recently created a ‘education’ account that educators could sign up for. Their education package includes essentially their premium features, for the free package price. You can’t complain about that!

    Features

    Six-hats

    Below are some of the features that make Realtimeboard my new app of choice:

    Online

    If you want your app to be successful, it needs to be online. No question about it. People need to be able to access it on any computer, or even, any device; phones, tablets, netbook, notebook, laptop, or desktop computer.

    Realtimeboard is exactly that. It runs from the website, realtimeboard.com, much like Google Docs does, or WordPress. And like those, it has a dashboard that you’re taken to when you log in, with a grid or list view of your ‘boards’. As mentioned, the free account allows you to create only three boards, however, with the Education or Premium plan you can create as many as you like.

    Sharing

    To spread the use of your app, there is one thing above all else that will do that. The ability to share. Google does this seamlessly with their host of apps, all tying into Gmail and user contacts.

    Likewise, Realtimeboard allows you to send your board to any email address to share it. You can set the privacy to be view only or edit – though I suspect that such users may be required to sign up to the Realtimeboard service as well – which is how they spread their product.

    Sharing, in turn, also leads to collaboration, and is a key buzzword with anyone talking about technology and teaching together.

    Google Drive

    Integrating with a larger company’s product is a must. Realtimeboard not only allows you to sign up to its services using a Google Account, but then allows you to link with your Google Drive, and use your existing Google contacts list. This makes sharing boards a lot easier, especially with those on the same domain or those who also use Google Apps (which is most teachers these days). Add to that the fact that this will also work for students on Chromebooks, and it makes Realtimeboard an incredibly powerful tool.

    Web App on Chrome

    So more and more people are using Chrome, and people are discovering that they can add Web Apps to the home screen. Realtimeboard also does this, as well as having a Google Extension that users can add to quickly copy content from webpages into a board of their choice in Realtimeboard.

    The web app itself is little more than a link to Realtimeboard.com, but it sits nicely next to your Google Apps to remind you that it’s there, waiting to be of service!

    Templates

    With Realtimeboard, you can create a blank board, or use one of numerous templates which come pre-built with different layouts, different features, and different looks and feels. With that said, I mostly use a blank template to begin with, but in time, I can see the benefit of the templates if you have a specific learning module that requires one of the layouts seen in a template.

    Presentation

    Using the ‘Frames’ mode, users can use a frame to show a progression, turning Realtimeboard into a powerful presentation tool, much like Prezi or Impress.js. Each day in a series of lessons, or each lesson in a unit over the course of a term could be ‘framed’ up and put into a selective order. This makes it very flexible and usable for more than just keeping notes, or jotting down brainstorms.

    More

    As I say, I have only just started paddling in the pool of possibilities with this app. There is no doubt a range of uses and applications for it, both in the classroom as teachers, but also for students.

    So go ahead and get signed up. Get using it. Explore a new realm of possibilities in real time.

     

    Keep an eye out for an upcoming Check out my post on this site for how to use Realtimeboard, with real screenshots of the different tools and functions that the app offers.

  • Google Drive vs. OneDrive

    Sorry. Did I say versus?

    I meant AND.

    About four years ago, our school made a shift to using Gmail as our email client. We’ve never looked back.

    This year, we began delving into Google Drive, and Google Docs as a staff. We moved our Documents from My Documents to our Google Drive without so much of a hitch. We developed an Integrated Unit Plan to use in Google Docs that we could share and collaborate with our colleagues.

    But three terms on, and the full extent of Google Apps has yet to be fully embraced.

    Why?

    Quite simply, it comes down to one thing.

    Familiarity.

    Change is hard. Change is often unwelcome. And unless that change demonstrates it is a better option to the point where you can’t do without it, reverting back to your old ways is almost inevitable.

    Unfortunately, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides can all be done without by teachers. All because of one thing.

    Microsoft Office

    Ever since its release, teachers (and other professionals) have begun using Microsoft Office for everything. I know myself, that I very rarely turn to any other solution when needing to use a word processor, layout, A4 print, or anything else.

    Now don’t get me wrong; I have made every effort to convert myself into a Google App user. I’ve used it in almost ever faucet of my teaching computer use, including analysis of data, collection of data, unit planning, weekly planning, student collaboration, and more.

    Obviously my use of Microsoft Office continued, with report templates, data sheets, and pre-existing templates being used by the school still in Word or Excel. Other teachers avoided Google Docs because of its limitations, because it looks and feels different to Word, and because they prefer to use what they know, rather than spend a lot of time converting over to Google Docs. And I can’t blame them at all either. It requires a lot of time tweaking, adjusting, moving, changing, to completely adopt Google Apps and have a perfectly working Google Doc rather than an existing Word version. (And yes, I’m well aware you can open a Word document in Google Docs, but it doesn’t always get it right, and it always tries to save it as a Google Doc afterwards.

    The Switchback

    There is a new player on the court.

    It’s name?

    OneNote.

    It’s being heralded as a game changer and I can instantly see why.

    Yes, I’ve used Evernote. Then it became too mainstream and clunky with its high-brow graphics. It began doing too much, like food reviews and becoming social.

    Google’s version, Google Keep, is little more than a gimmick, imitating post-it notes. Don’t get me wrong; teacher’s do love a good stack of post-it notes. But guaranteed, when the rubber hits the road, and a teacher has to run out of the class in a fire; are they going to save the stack of post-it notes, or grab their planning folder and diary?

    Microsoft OneNote has that potential to become the central hub of everything a teacher does. Much like a ringbinder, I can see it becoming a filing cabinet, a student profile book, a manila folder, and a clearfile all in one.

    And one thing that makes OneNote a game changer is it’s ability to sync on mobile devices and share with colleagues. However, to do this, it needs OneDrive activated. Obviously Google and Microsoft are at war, and Microsoft won’t allow OneNote to sync using Google Drive instead of OneDrive.

    Two Peas in a Pod

     

    So suddenly we find ourselves wanting to get OneDrive set up. Both OneDrive and Google Apps are essentially ‘free’ for Education. So we have access to both.

    Initially, it would be fine just to use OneDrive as a means to an end, if only just to run OneNote it would be worth it.

    However, my thinking is, why not use all of Office 365, Microsoft’s answer to Google Apps. If teachers are sticking to using Word because of familiarity, why not
    just extend this to Office 365 and get all the benefits of Google Docs, but in a familiar setting. Perfect.

    Except we have Google Drive all set up. We have Google Doc templates. I’ve spent all year changing myself over to Google. And what’s more, our school has just invested in providing Chromebooks for use by our senior students, which all run off Google Apps.

    So teachers will still need Google Drive, and Google Apps.

    Or vs. And

    In most battles, it’s always an “or” that is used. Holden OR Ford. Marmite OR Vegemite. Rugby OR League. iPhone OR Samsung. Facebook OR Twitter. Microsoft OR Apple OR Google.

    However, in this case, because Google have nothing that even compares to OneNote, or the familiarity of Microsoft Office with Office365. But in the same sense, we definitely need to keep Google Drive and Google Apps. There is no way we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    So, at our school, we will be adopting an AND mindset.

    We will be using Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365. We will make use of Google Drive, and OneDrive. We will collaborate and share with students in Google Docs, and will organise ourselves through OneNote.

    Essentially, we will find ways that we can have the best of both worlds.

  • Moving Google Sites to a different Google Account

    ePortfolio on Google Site

    When I first thought of a way to gather all my evidence as online documents, rather than print outs and photocopies that gradually fill up a clearfile every year, I knew that Google Sites was going to be the way. It’s seemless link into Google Drive allows for me to create an “Evidence” folder, and then link to any document inside those folders. Using the Practising Teacher Criteria as a guide and a structure, I created folders inside the ‘Evidence’ folder, and began collating and sorting the evidence appropriately.

    However, at a NZEI cluster meeting where I shared this with other teachers in the area, many were concerned that hosting this on the school’s accounts would be problematic should one leave that school and move onto another. They mentioned that being able to somehow host this themselves on a personal site would be better.

    Luckily, this isn’t too hard to do, even if you’ve already set up your site on your school account like I had!

    Gmail or Google Account

    If you have your own personal Gmail account, you essentially already have Google Sites. Next to your account name, there is the Google Apps ‘9-square’ button. Clicking on this will open up the available apps, including Google Sites (hopefully!) If you haven’t already created your site, you can create a new one by clicking on the red ‘Create’ button.

    However, if you need to move your existing Google Site to your own domain, or your personal account, then you’ll need to complete the following steps. These can be found at E-Portfolio Apps. I have added to these to match the current Google Apps UI.

     

    Moving a Google Site out of an Educational Domain

    Steps to take place under the Educational Domain:
    1. To begin, open the site from within the educational domain.
    2. Go to More Actions () -> Manage Site.
    3. Select the “Sharing & Permissions” (or select this from the More Actions button in step 2).
    4. In the section titled “Invite people:” type in the email address of the personal account.
    5. Select “Is owner” from the drop down box. 
    6. Click Invite these people. This will send an email to the account listed above which will include a link to the sites current location under the ed domain.
    Steps to take place in the personal Google account:
    1. Open Google account and Gmail to view the link to the account we just shared.
    2. This will take you to the Ed Domain log in page. At the bottom of the sign in section there is an option to “Sign in with a different account”. Enter the personal account log in and password here.
      Note: To avoid all this, try opening the link in a different browser.
    3. Once you are logged in, open the site and click the More Actions –> Manage Site options.
    4. Select the General option.
    5. In the middle of this page, there is an option to Copy this Site. Select this. 
    6. Type in the site name and take note of the new URL which should read:
      http://sites.google.com/site/(new site name here)

    7. Click the button to Copy Site.

    To remove the school account as an owner of the site:

    Go to More Actions –> Sharing & Permissions and remove the school account as an owner of the site.
    Note: I didn’t do this as I still wanted to have access to this from my school account at this stage.
    At any point the school site can now be deleted.

    Instructions written by Heather Stafford, Technical Communications Instructor at E-Portfolio Apps. These have been edited by Al Ingham to match the current Google Apps layout in August 2015.

    Conclusion

    And that’s all there is to it. Easy ay!

    I even went a step further, using my alingham.com domain to create a sub-domain for my eportfolio to sit in. Editing this is relatively straight forward by following this article.

    It is also important to remember that, unless you want to go through all your evidence and black out student names, you should keep your eportfolio as ‘private’, and never publish the site as ‘public’. This means that any sub-domain you’ve created will simply point to the sites.google.com url, but the information will remain private to you and anyone that the site has been shared with.

  • Saving Recent Downloads to Google Drive

    So you’ve gotten used to saving attachments from your G-Mail straight to your Google Drive. It’s pretty handy isn’t it!?

    But what about when you download that PDF resource? You can’t just select your Drive and it goes straight there (unless you have Google Drive for your PC).

    Not to worry. There is a very easy way to do this seamlessly using Google Chrome.

    Step 1

    First you will have to open up your drive in another tab. http://drive.google.com

    Step 2

    Your downloaded files have finished (hopefully) and are now displayed down the bottom of your browser.

    All you have to do, is drag the file from the bottom of the browser into your drive window. They will then begin uploading straight away.

    Step 3

    And you’re done! You will see the little Uploads black box in the bottom right corner and be able to watch your files be uploaded into your drive.

    Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 6.08.15 pm

    No more looking through your Downloads folder or trying to find where you downloaded them to before uploading them manually to your Google Drive. You can do it all from inside your browser window!

     

    I suspect that this trick will work in other browsers that list downloaded files, but have not tested it. Let me know if you’ve tried it and it works in Firefox or IE10!

  • Creating Unit Templates in Google Docs


    One of the big shifts forward in our school this year has been the introduction of Google Docs, Google Drive, and collaborating. This also coincides with a drive and a passion to integrate our unit plans and follow the “Less is More” policy (especially in regards to paper usage!). With a Term 4 being a huge success, we are stepping out into 2015 with our best foot forward.

    Part of my role as the “IT Guru” (Computer Wiz, TechGeek, whatever-you-want-to-call-me) is to make sure that

    1. The introduction of new technology happens seamlessly. This means having things up and running in the background before unleashing it to the general populous.
    2. That teachers are introduced to the new technology in a friendly and non-threatening way so as to learn, engage, and use it effectively to enhance their practise.

    Before running my tutorial on using Google Docs and Google Drive, I had to make sure things were set up and ready to be used in the easiest way possible. Ease of use for the end user is high on my list for anything I’ve ever done in regards to IT and teachers. If it is made easy for them, then they’re more likely to want to use it.

    One of the keys to this, was first making a template for the collaborative and integrated unit plan. This would enable other teachers to make a unit plan using a default (and schoolwide) template.

    1. Create a document in Google Docs by clicking on the blue plus (+) sign.
    2. Rename your new file by clicking on the title. Call it “Unit Plan Template” or something similar.
    3. Make your template for the minimal outline of the template. Add in the text, colours, stylings to build up the template with the default text and features. These should be things that are common across ALL unit plans; not just yours. For instance: instead of having “Term 1, 2015”, have “Term X, 20XX” so that others that use the template won’t forget to change the date.
    4. The next part is a little confusing. I suspect possibly because either Google has moved away from using templates, or they’re re-developing how it is to be integrated. Anyhow, this is how you make your template available to others in your organisation.
      You will need to go to “File > New > From template…“. This should load up the template gallery in a new tab.
    5. On the far right you will see the text “Submit a template“.
    6. This will bring up a standard form for you to submit your own.
    7. Click on “Choose from your Google Docs” and find your document “Unit Plan Template”. You can search for it in the search box at the top, or scroll through your recent documents.
    8. You can choose whether to enter a description. This could be quite useful if you’re planning on making a lot of different templates.
    9. You can decide on your own category. I put mine under “Planners”.
    10. The rest I left as is, but obviously you can set a second category if it applies, and change the language should you need to.
    11. Click on “Submit template“.
    12. It may take a while to appear in your list, as it has to be checked that it will work. I’ve never had any issues with this process. Usually within 5 minutes it will be made available to use.
    13. It should appear under your organisations tab for templates. It will also be available under “My Templates“.
    14. It will appear in this place for all the teachers in your organisation, and so they will be able to follow the process of clicking “File > New> From template…” and then clicking on the “Use this template” button.
    15. Once I’ve done that, you’ll see that the document is still in your Google Docs and Google Drive. I like to create a folder called “Templates” in Google Drive and drag the file into it. That way it doesn’t get in the way and is nice and organised. It also means all my templates will be in one spot on my Google Drive. The other benefit of having the file still, is that when you edit the template file “Unit Plan Template“, the change will automatically update for the Template Gallery. Useful!
    16. And you’re done!